Oratio Antiocheni Quam Sub Die Passionis Suae Dixit [Incerta]

The Prayer of Cyprian of Antioch, Which He Spoke on the Day of His Passion. Holy name, Father hagios, God hagie, and hagie God in Christ, for who is greater than you? I offer thanks and praise to you, God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, God of our fathers, God of the apostles, and God of the prophets, and God of the martyrs, who were before the ordering of the world, God of the living, who will come to judge the living and the dead: who are the true God, who sit upon the Cherubim and Seraphim, the seat of your honor, and look into the abysses; who see all things before they are born; who have the power to kill and again to restore; who have the power to make green from dry. You, Lord of lords of all, free me from this age, and hear me praying, as you heard the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, and those who believed in you, and your servant Moses. Woe to my sins! When you rise up to shatter the earth, under what fissure of rocks shall I hide myself from before your power? To what mountain shall I say: Fall upon me, and to what sky: Cover me from before the fear of the Lord, when you rise up to shatter the earth? I ask, Lord, help me: do not judge me according to my deed, for I have obeyed nothing in your commandments. Hear me praying, as you heard Jonah from the belly of the whale, so may you hear me, and cast me from death to life. As the Ninevites put on ash and sackcloth, and did penance before the Lord.

Making confession before your sight for all my sins, you who are the lover of penitence, have mercy on me. But also David says: "Lord, on account of your name, blot out my sin." And I, beseeching your majesty: blot out all my sins, and hear me praying, just as you heard the three youths from the fiery furnace, Ananias, Azarias, Mizael: and you sent your angel with a cloud of dew, and Nebuchadnezzar, the prefect of the kingdom, was confounded: for you are the King of those who reign and the Lord of those who rule, who alone have immortality; and you dwell in an inaccessible light, which no man sees, nor can see. Hear me praying, just as you heard Daniel from the lions' den, and you sent the prophet Habakkuk, and he brought him his meal, and said: "Eat the meal which God has sent you." And Daniel said: "The Lord does not abandon those who seek him." Hear me praying, just as you heard Tobit and Sarah while they prayed in the court of their house: then the angel Raphael offered their prayers for them: so may you also hear my prayers, and admit my prayers into your holy court, and continually send your angel, who may blot out all my offenses, just as you blotted out the unclean spirit from Sarah, daughter of Raguel: and illuminate my heart, just as you illuminated the eyes of Tobit. Hear me praying, just as you heard Susanna among the hands of the elders, so free me from this world, for you are the lover of a pure conscience.

Hear me praying, as you heard Hezekiah, king of Judah, and removed infirmity from him: so also remove from me the infirmity of the flesh, and increase faith in me, as you increased fifteen years of life for him. Deliver me from the midst of this world as you delivered Thecla from the midst of the amphitheater; deliver me from every infirmity of my flesh. I beseech you, Father of majesty, who at the end of times took pity on us, sending us Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord God and Savior, born of the Virgin Mary from the Holy Spirit, announced by the angel Gabriel, through whom you freed us from the peril of imminent death. And I beseech you, Son of the living God, who performed so many miracles: who in Cana of Galilee made wine from water for the sake of Israel; who opened the eyes of the blind; who made the deaf hear; who restored the paralyzed to their limbs; who loosened the tongues of the stammering; healed those vexed by demons; made the lame run like deer; freed a woman from a flow of blood; raised the dead; walked upon the water; gave a hand to the falling Peter; who founded the sea and set its boundary, and said: "Thus far you will come, and here you will break yourself against my power." I beseech you, Son of the living God, on account of all my offenses, you who are in heaven, Son in the Father and Father in you forever, who sit upon the Cherubim and Seraphim, the seat of your honor.

Angels, archangels, an innumerable number stand by you, fearing and trembling at your honor and power, crying out with a loud voice and saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. You yourself made a testament for us: Ask, and you shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened to you. Whatever you ask of my Father in my name, I ask of the Father that you may receive. I ask, that I may receive; I seek, that I may find; I knock, that it may be opened to me; I ask in your name, that you may ask of the Father, and it be given to me. I am prepared to pour out a sacrifice of blood for your name, and to endure any torment. You are, Lord, my hearer and defender: defend me from my adversary. May your angel of light protect me, since you said: What you believing ask through prayer shall be given to you. Every man is a liar, you are truthful. Just as you promised, you have the power, Lord, to give me every heavenly sacrament of yours, that I may be worthy to see the face of your saints. May the spirit work in me, may your will be done in me: since I pledged to you for all the days of my life, you who suffered under Pontius Pilate, a good confession, you who descended crucified, and trampled the sting of death. Death is conquered, the enemy devil is conquered. You rose from the dead, and appeared to your apostles; you sit at the right hand of the Father, you who are to come to judge the living and the dead. You will rule, free me from the hand of the one seeking my soul.

Through your name, free me from the adversarial power, that you may grant me the strength to overcome my enemy: for you are the powerful defender and advocate of our prayers and petitions, of our souls. Day and night, intercede for my sins, bear my prayer to your Father. And you, holy Lord Father, deign to look favorably upon my prayers, just as you looked upon the offerings of Abel. Deign to free me from fire and eternal punishment, and from every torment that you have prepared for the wicked, through the good and blessed Jesus Christ our Savior, through whom praise, honor, power, and glory are to you, forever and ever. Amen.