Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on the Saints

You, oh Christ, are the Kingdom of Heaven;

You, the land promised to the gentle;

You the grazing lands of paradise;

You, the hall of the celestial banquet;

You, the ineffable marriage chamber;

You the table set for all,

You the bread of life;

You, the unheard of drink;

You, both the bowl for the water

and the life-giving water;

You, moreover, the inextinguishable lamp

for each one of the saints;

You, the garment and the crown

and the one who distributes crowns;

You, the joy and the rest;

You, the delight and glory;

You the gaiety;

You, the mirth;

and Your grace, grace of the Spirit of all sanctity,

will shine like the sun in all the saints;

and You, inaccessible sun,

will shine in their midst

and all will shine brightly,

to the degree of their faith,

their asceticism,

their hope

and their love,

their purification

and their illumination

by Your Spirit.

Symeon the New Theologian, English version by George A. Maloney, S.J.

O Merciful God, who came in Jesus Christ with saving power to a world that walked in darkness and in the shadow of death, we praise and bless you for all those your servants who helped prepare the way for his appearing, and for those who received him and gave to him the worship of their hearts and lives.

For prophets who in the face of tyranny declared your truth and your righteousness, for psalmists who in days of gloom still believed in your great goodness and sang praises unto your name, and for innumerable regular saints who waited in patience and unfailing hope for the manifestation of your glory, we raise to you our grateful praise. Grant, we ask you, that we in this time may show forth your salvation. Help us to put away all untruthfulness and all selfishness and greed, all malice and prejudice and cowardice.

Let your Holy Spirit cleanse us from all our sins, and teach us to love one another even as you dost love us, that we may make manifest in our lives what you can do for your faithful people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Ernest Fremont Tittle, Language modernized by Stuart Strachan Jr.