Homily One on the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily One on the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian

"Give Me Not a Spirit of Idleness, Despondency, Lust for Power and Idle Talking"

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1962)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Dear brothers and sisters, during Great Lent we hear how at each Divine Lenten service the priest reads a short but touching prayer:

Lord and Master of my life,
give me not a spirit of idleness,
despondency, lust for power, and idle talking.
 
Bestow on Your servant instead
a spirit of chastity,
humility, patience, and love.
 
Yes, Lord King, grant me to see my own offenses,
and not to condemn my brethren,
for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

This prayer consists of only ten petitions, but its penitential spirit and ability to bring a person to heartfelt contrition surpasses many other prayers, which is why it is customary to read it during Great Lent, when the Church calls us to the renewal of the soul, to the feat of self-examination, to intense prayer and repentance, to the cleansing of our sins. Each word of it finds a response in our soul, and helps us to recognize our vices and desire virtue, and disposes us to prayerfully appeal to God for help in the struggle with our passions. The author of this prayer, Saint Ephraim the Syrian, wept all his life, and therefore it is filled with such a deep penitential edifying feeling and consolation.

Saint Ephraim begins his prayer by addressing God: "Lord and Master of my life." The word of God reveals to us that our life is connected with God, depends on Him and is held by Him. In His merciful hands is the fate of the righteous and the unrighteous, the good and the evil, and of all the animal and plant worlds. No one and nothing can exist for a day or an hour without His creative power of the Holy Spirit, which supports the existence of every created living creature. Therefore, feeling God in our hearts, we cannot begin, continue, or complete any work on earth without prayer to Him, without His blessing. God truly is the Lord, the Chief, the Master of our life.

In the first petition, Saint Ephraim asks God not to give him a spirit of idleness. Idleness is clear to everyone - it is laziness and carelessness about the most pressing matters and, above all, about one's salvation. It can bring a person to immobility, to complete stagnation both in spiritual life and in necessary daily activities.

External idleness is understandable to almost everyone, because we are all, to one degree or another, partakers of this spiritual illness, when we give in to negligence and laziness and allow ourselves to neglect our home prayer, omit going to church, or when we allow ourselves to rush through prayer in order to finish it as quickly as possible and indulge in rest or vain talk; but when this illness strikes all our spiritual powers, then a grave moral and spiritual state sets in. Then a person no longer lives a normal, real life, because he does not have in his soul a constant life-giving principle for full-fledged human activity, but lives a ghostly, fictitious, useless life, of no use to anyone. He loves to indulge in useless dreams and idle vain conversations and is incapable of any good deed.

This idleness, this relaxation and negligence distract us from our main concern – salvation. Therefore, we pray that the Lord will deliver us from this affliction.

In the second petition, Saint Ephraim asks the Lord to deliver him from the illness of despondency. Despondency is such a gloomy, melancholy state of mind, when everything in life appears to a person only from the dark side. He is not happy about anything, nothing satisfies him, circumstances seem unbearable to him, he grumbles at everything, gets irritated at every occasion - in a word, life itself then becomes a burden to him. Despondency comes, as the Holy Fathers teach, from the same idleness, from lack of faith, unbelief, from lack of repentance for one's sins. Despondency can also be caused by previous anger or offenses caused to someone, the absence of the fear of God, verbosity, or failures in personal life, work, and similar unpleasantness.

At the same time, very often despondency itself leads to another, more dangerous state of mind, called despair, when a person often allows the thought of premature death and even considers it a significant benefit on the path of his earthly life.

To give in to despair means to cut off contact with the surrounding world and to have no communication with the Source of our life – God. “I don’t want to live, I have lost interest in life, and there is no meaning in it” – such words can be heard from a person overcome by despair. Since this illness is very serious, the Saint asks the Lord to deliver him from it. This vice is such that it is necessary to pray against it with persistent, unceasing prayer. The Savior Himself teaches us this in the Gospel, saying that we should never lose heart, but should always pray (see: Luke 18:1).

Persistent, constant prayer, combined with faith in the power of prayer and God's help, will restore the connection with the surrounding world and save you from despondency. With prayer, one must also combine the work of cleansing one's conscience in the Mystery of Repentance, which also gives the grace of God, strengthening our spiritual strength. Reading spiritual books and living according to God's commandments - all this will best protect one from the destructive spirit of despondency.

In the third petition, Saint Ephraim asks the Lord to deliver him from the spirit of lust for power. The passion of lust for power is inherent in our sinful, proud nature, and it manifests itself in all areas of human life. For example, in the attitude of a father to his family, a boss to his subordinates, a mentor to his students, older people to younger people: everyone wants to subordinate others to their influence, to dictate their will to them. Such a spiritual disposition is contrary to the teaching of the Gospel, the teaching of Christ, Who Himself showed an example of the deepest humility and repeatedly said that he who wants to be great must be a servant to all (see: Matt. 20:26-27; Mark 10:43-44; Luke 22:26).

This vice is connected with a hidden secret pride, and therefore when we have a passion to teach others, to instruct, to rebuke, then this is a sure sign of the possession of our soul by the spirit of lust for power, love of power. This spirit makes a person disgusting to everyone around him, and besides, incapable of fighting his passions and vices. That is why we pray to the Lord that He would deliver us from it and not allow it to take possession of our soul.

In the fourth petition, Saint Ephraim asks the Lord to deliver him from the spirit of idle talking, to which almost all people are also a partaker. Everyone loves to gossip, while the gift of speech is given so that we glorify God with our lips and through the word have fellowship with each other, serving for mutual edification. There is a wise folk proverb that asserts that speech is silver, and silence is gold. And many saints adhered to this truth, who closed their lips, although it was necessary - for edifying purposes - to open them for conversation.

By verbosity a person empties his soul, weakens it and makes it absent-minded. Let us look at the Savior, how brief He was in His teachings and instructions! The Lord's Prayer is given in only seven petitions, and the Beatitudes in nine verses. The angels glorify God briefly: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Sabaoth!"

Just as a vessel that is often opened does not retain the strength and aroma of the fragrant substance placed in it, so the soul of a person who loves to talk much does not retain good thoughts and good feelings for long, but spews out streams of condemnation, slander, slander, flattery, etc. That is why the Church prays during Lent: "Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of protection about my lips. Incline not my heart to wicked words" (Ps. 140:3-4). Just as weeds clog the soil and prevent good grain from growing on it, so empty, rotten words kill the soul and do not allow good thoughts and feelings to grow in it.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, remembering and preserving the good lessons hidden in the prayer of the Venerable Ephraim, following them, we will certainly attract the grace of God to ourselves and become dear to our Heavenly Father, we will be worthy to see the Heavenly Jerusalem and be blessed with all the Heavenly Powers and the souls of the righteous.

And so always, and especially during the days of Great Lent, let us cry out more often:

Lord and Master of my life,
give me not a spirit of idleness,
despondency, lust for power, and idle talking.
 
Bestow on Your servant instead
a spirit of chastity,
humility, patience, and love.
 
Yes, Lord King, grant me to see my own offenses,
and not to condemn my brethren,
for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.