From A Spiritual Psalter

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St. Theophan the Recluse collected excerpts from the works of St. Epraim the Syrian and arranged them as 150 “Psalms”. the following is Psalm 11.

I Can Control Neither Myself nor the Enemy. Help Me, O Lord!

No one can heal my disease except He Who knows the depths of the heart.

How many times have I set boundaries for myself and built walls between myself and sin! But my thoughts transgressed the boundaries and my will tore down the walls, for the boundaries were not secured by fear of God, and the walls were not founded on sincere repentance.

And again I knock at the door, that it may open for me. I do not cease to ask that I may receive what I request; and I know no shame in seeking Thy mercy, O Lord.

O Lord, my Savior! Why hast Thou forsaken me? Have mercy on me, O only Lover of mankind. Save me, a sinner, Thou only Sinless One.

Wrench me from the mire of my iniquities, that I may not be forever sullied by them. Deliver me from the jaws of the enemy, who roars as a lion and desires to swallow me up.

Rouse Thy strength and come, that Thou mightest save me. Beam thy lightning and disperse his power, that he may be struck with fear and flee from Thy face, for he has not the strength to stand before Thee. As soon as he perceives a sign of Thy grace, he is taken with fear of thee and withdraws from such with shame.

And now, O Master, save me, for I flee to Thee!

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.



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6 responses to “From A Spiritual Psalter”

  1. Catherine K. Avatar

    The Spiritual Psalter is indeed wonderful – the combination of St Ephriam and the choices of St Theophan who chose and arranged his selections is a powerful one.

    Thanks for the reminder, I have this book, and there is a little too much dust on the cover. Time for some dusting 🙂

  2. Steve Avatar

    Oh wow. That is *good*.

  3. john Avatar

    The Spiritual Psalter of St. Ephraim, in my opinion, is the most sublime Christian writing outside of the Psalms. The 11th “Pslam,” above, is one of my favorites.

    This book makes a wonderful gift. A good place to purchase it can be found here:

    http://www.skete.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1172&Category_ID=10

  4. Jack Avatar
    Jack

    Thanks. I just passed up “Hymns on Paradise” in our church bookstore. My mistake.

  5. […] finally a prayer for the day, from Glory to God for All Things blog by Fr Stephen, prayer by St. […]

  6. angels Avatar

    I couldn’t really understand your meaning here, but none the less an excellent read.

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