Third Kneeling Prayer of Pentecost

O ever-flowing Fountain of life and light, creative Power and co-eternal with the Father; Who hast most excellently fulfilled the whole dispensation of the salvation of mortals, Christ our God, Who didst burst the indestructible bonds of death and the bolts of hades and hast trampled down the multitude of evil spirits; Who didst offer Thyself as a blameless victim, giving Thine immaculate body as a sacrifice, unblemished and inviolate of all sin and, through that dread and indescribable act of sacrifice, bestowing eternal life upon us; Who didst descend into hades and break down its eternal bars, showing forth the way up to those who sat in the lower world; Who with allurements of divine wisdom didst entice the author of evil, the dragon of the abyss, and with cords of gloom didst bind him in hades in unquenchable fire, and didst confine him in outer darkness by Thine infinite might; Thou, Who art the greatly glorified Wisdom of the Father, didst manifest thyself as a great Helper to the oppressed and didst enlighten those that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death; Thou, Lord of eternal glory and beloved Son of the Father most high, Light everlasting of Light everlasting, Sun of righteousness: Hearken to us who pray unto Thee, and give rest to the souls of Thy servants, our fathers and brethren, who have fallen asleep before us, and our other kinsmen after the flesh, and all Thine own who are in the faith, for whom we now make memorial, for in Thee is the power over all, and in Thine hand Thou holdest all the ends of the earth.

Almighty Master, God of our fathers and Lord of mercies, Maker of the race of mortals and immortals and of every nature of man, of that which is brought together and again put asunder, of life and of the end of life, of sojourning here and of translation there, Who dost measure the years of life and set the times of death, Who bringest down to hades and raisest up, binding in infirmity and releasing unto power, dispensing present things according to need and ordering those to come as is expedient, quickening with the hope of resurrection those that are smitten with the sting of death. Thyself, O Master of all, God our Savior, the Hope of all the ends of the earth and of those Who are far off upon the sea, Who, on this last and great saving day of Pentecost, didst show forth to us the mystery of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial and co-eternal, undivided and unmingled, and didst pour out the descent and presence of thy holy and life-giving Spirit in the form of tongues of fire upon Thy holy apostles, appointing them to be the evangelists of our pious faith and showing them to be confessors and preachers of the true theology; Who also, on this all-perfect and saving feast, dost deign to receive oblations and supplications for those bound in hades, and grantest unto us the great hope that respite and comfort will be sent down from Thee to the departed from the grief that doth bind them.

Hearken to us, Thy humble and piteous ones who pray, and give rest to the souls of Thy servants who have fallen asleep before us in a place of brightness, a place of verdure, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow and sighing have fled away; and do Thou place their souls in the tabernacles of the righteous; and make them worthy of peace and repose. For the dead praise Thee not, O Lord, neither do those in hades dare to offer Thee confession, but we, the living, bless Thee and supplicate Thee and offer propitiatory prayers and sacrifices for their souls.

O God, Who art great and eternal, holy and lovest mankind, Who hast vouchsafed us also to stand at this hour before Thine unapproachable glory, that we may hymn and praise Thy wonders: Be gracious to us, Thine unworthy servants, and grant us grace that, with contrite heart and without presumption, we may offer Thee the thrice-holy glorification and thanksgiving for Thy great gifts which thou hast granted and dost ever grant us. Remember, O Lord, our infirmity, and destroy us not for our transgressions, but be merciful to our humility, that, fleeing from the darkness of sin, we may walk in the day of righteousness and, clothed with the armor of light, may persevere unassailed from every attack of the evil one, so that with boldness we may glorify Thee in all things, the only true God and Lover of mankind.

For Thine in truth is the great mystery, O Master and Maker of all, both the temporary dissolution of Thy creatures and their restoration thereafter, and of eternal rest. We confess Thy grace in all things, in our coming into this world and in our going forth therefrom, which things faithfully pledge unto us, through Thine unfailing promise, our hopes of the resurrection and of life incorruptible, which we shall receive hereafter at Thy second coming. For Thou art both the Author of our resurrection and the impartial Judge of those that have lived and the Lover of mankind and the Master and Lord of recompense, Who didst partake with us, on equal terms, of flesh and blood, through Thine extreme condescension, and of our irreproachable passions, wherein Thou didst willingly submit to temptation, since thou dost possess tenderness and compassion, and thyself, having suffered temptation, art become for us, who are tempted, the Helper which thou Thyself hadst promised to be; and therefore, Thou hast led us to Thy passionlessness.

Receive, therefore, O Master, our prayers and supplications, and give rest to all the fathers and mothers and children and brothers and sisters of each of us and to any other of our kindred and of our people and to every soul that hath gone to rest before in the hope of resurrection unto life everlasting. Set their spirits and their names in the book of life, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the land of the living, in the kingdom of heaven, in a paradise of bliss, leading all, by thy radiant angels, into thy holy abode, raising up also with thee our bodies in the day which hath been appointed according to thy holy and unfailing promise. There is, therefore, O Lord, no death unto thy servants, when we go forth from the body and come unto thee, our God, but a change from things most sorrowful unto things most good and most sweet, and rest and joy. And, though we have sinned against thee, be gracious unto us and unto them, for none is pure of stain in thy sight, though his life be but for one day, except thou alone, who didst reveal thyself sinless on the earth, O Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we all hope to obtain mercies and the forgiveness of sins.

Do Thou, therefore, as the good God Who lovest man, remit, forgive, pardon them and us our offenses, voluntary and involuntary, those done with knowledge or in ignorance, those manifest or unnoticed, those of deed, of thought, of word, those of all our acts and movements; and to those who have been taken from us give freedom and respite, and bless us who are here present, granting a good and peaceful ending to us and to all Thy people, and open to us Thy tender mercies and Thy love for mankind at Thy dread and fearful coming again, and make us worthy of Thy kingdom.

O great and most high God, Who alone hast immortality and dwellest in light unapproachable, Who hast made all creation in wisdom, Who hast divided the light from the darkness and hast appointed the sun to rule the day, the moon and stars also to rule the night, Who hast vouchsafed unto us sinners at this present hour also to come before Thy presence with confession and to offer unto Thee our evening praise: Do thou Thyself, O Lord Who lovest mankind, direct our prayer as incense before Thee, and accept it as a savor of sweet smelling fragrance, and grant that we may pass the present evening and the coming night in peace. Endue us with the armor of light. Deliver us from the terror of the night and from everything that walketh in darkness, and grant that the sleep which thou hast appointed for the repose of our weakness may be free from every imagination of the devil. Yea, O Master of all, Bestower of good things, may we, being moved to compunction upon our beds, call to remembrance Thy Name in the night, that, enlightened by meditation on Thy commandments, we may rise up in joyfulness of soul to glorify Thy goodness, offering up unto Thy tender love prayers and supplications for our sins and for those of all Thy people, whom do Thou visit in mercy, through the intercessions of the holy Theotokos.

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