Kneeling Prayers of Pentecost
Sunday of Pentecost is one of the most important days of the year in the Orthodox Church. The highlight of Pentecost services are the Kneeling Prayers, usually done at the end of the Pentecost Liturgy. During the 50 days after Easter we do not kneel, and we wait to kneel for the first time at these Kneeling Prayers on Pentecost Sunday. They are profound and can teach us how to pray to God the Holy Trinity. The prayers show us that our lives are indeed lived under the gaze and grace of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three prayers are offered here in shortened versions.
(The First Prayer:) Incomprehensible, unsurpassable Lord, you dwell in light unapproachable and you are the creator of everything that exists. You are the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who for us and for our salvation came from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and of the virgin Mary. He showed us and enables us to offer to you prayers by the bending of our knees and our hearts. Hear us in your great mercy and love as we call upon you on this day of Pentecost, on which we remember how the Lord Jesus, after his ascension and sitting at your right hand, sent the Holy Spirit upon his holy disciples and apostles. They were filled with your inexhaustible grace and began speaking with other tongues and prophesying, proclaiming your greatness. Hear us who pray to you, and remember us. Turn back the captivity of our souls and receive us as we return to you. We have sinned, yet we have been cast upon your mercy from our childhood. Our days have been spent in vanities and thus we have been deprived of every defense. Emboldened by your compassion, we call out: Remember not the sins of our youth and ignorance, and cleanse us of our secret sins. When our strength fails, do not forsake us. Help us to return to you before it’s too late. Measure our sins according to your compassion, and look down upon all of us assembled here today. Visit us with your goodness. Deliver us from the power of the devil. Preserve our lives in your commandments. Gather us all into your Kingdom. Forgive those who hope in you. Purify us by your Holy Spirit, and destroy the traps set for us by the Enemy.
The First Prayer is addressed to God the Father. He is the source of all life, including the life of the Trinity. So all our prayers ultimately end up in the heart of God our Father. Here in this opening prayer we recognize the great gift of God’s goodness to us and for our salvation – namely our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is always good and needful for us to remember in our own prayers Jesus Christ as greatest gift by God to us. You may want to personalize the portions that I’ve highlighted and include them in your own prayers by replacing the plural pronouns with the singular if you’re only praying for yourself or keep the plurals if you’re praying for your family and other loved ones.
(The Second Prayer:) Lord Jesus, you gave your peace to us, and you are always present to us, giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit. You sent down this grace in a manner most clear upon your holy disciples and apostles, and opened their lips with tongues of fire. Through them and others, the nations of the world have received the knowledge of God and have heard the message, each in their own language. We have been enlightened by the light of the Spirit, and we have been freed from delusion and darkness. Through the distribution of tongues of fire, we have been taught to worship one God in Trinity. You, O Christ, are the radiance of the Father and the exact image of his nature; you are the fountain of wisdom and grace. Open our lips and teach us how to pray. Order our lives and make known to each of us the way in which we should walk. May the Spirit of wisdom cover all my reasoning, and may my foolishness be overcome by the Spirit of understanding. Overshadow my deeds with the Spirit of reverence and the fear of God, and renew a right spirit within me. Establish my faltering mind with your guiding Spirit so that I may be guided every day by your good Spirit toward what is useful, to keep your commandments, and always to remember your fearful and glorious second coming. You, Master, promised us that whatever we ask in your name shall be freely given to us by your Father, the eternal God. Therefore, we supplicate your goodness, that you guard us in your salvation, for you sinlessly became the merciful partaker of our nature, to become atonement for our sins. Sanctify us now by your saving power. Against you, you only, do we sin; but you alone we also adore. We know not how to worship a strange god, nor how to stretch our hands to any other god, O Master. May our prayer rise as incense in your blessed Kingdom.
The Second Prayer is addressed to Jesus but emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in keeping us united to Jesus Christ and His commandments. It’s a beautiful prayer and there’s hardly any need to highlight any portions of it. But do take notice that when looking to the Holy Spirit in our lives the focus is on how the Spirit is the source of wisdom and understanding. Never hesitate to ask the Lord to illumine and enlighten your life with the Holy Spirit.
(The Third Prayer:) O Christ, ever-flowing fountain of life, Creator coeternal with the Father, you fulfilled the whole dispensation of our salvation. You destroyed the bonds of death and the bolts of Hell and you trampled down the multitude of evil spirits. You offered yourself as a blameless victim, giving your immaculate body as a sinless sacrifice so that we may have eternal life. You descended into Death and broke down its bars, opening the way to the light for those who sat in darkness. You are the wisdom of the Father, the helper of the oppressed, the enlightener of those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. You are the Lord of glory, the beloved Son of the Father, Light everlasting from Light everlasting, the Sun of righteousness. Hear us and give rest to the souls of the righteous who have preceded us in faith. You are the Maker of life and Master of the end of life. Quicken with the hope of resurrection those who have fallen asleep in faith. You are the Master of our coming into this world and our going out from it, and you are the giver of resurrection at your second coming. Because you shared in our flesh, you are a Helper to us in our need and temptation, and you will also judge us with no partiality. There is no death for your servants, O Lord, when we go forth from the body and come unto you, but a change from things most sorrowful unto things most blessed and sweet and joyous. Forgive us, O Sinless One, of all the things which we have committed in your sight and grant us a good and peaceful end as your prepare for us your Kingdom.
The Third Prayer opens with theological statements about Jesus Christ. Theology is not just for theologians. Perhaps we can all become more comfortable with theology if we make theological prayers like this one part of our personal spirituality at home. Remembering what God has done for us, why we call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and why the Holy Spirit was sent to us, is important to us becoming mature Christians who will not be shaken or blown by the winds of change and controversy. The final section of this prayer is a beautiful meditation on death and the importance of praying for our loved ones who have gone ahead of us to eternity. Though we have memorial services in our church, it is always appropriate to remember our loved ones in our own private prayers.
Finally, you may have noticed that even though Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit, none of the prayers is addressed directly to the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, there is only one commonly used prayer in our Orthodox tradition that is addressed directly to the Holy Spirit. This prayer opens the service of Matins and many other services of our church, and it should be part of every person’s prayer life. You may even learn to sing it as you open your day. Our young chanters at Holy Trinity Church open every Sunday Matins with this hymn to the Holy Spirit. Learn the words and ask one or more of our Matins chanters to teach you the melody. Or come to Matins on a Sunday morning and join the young voices that sing this beautiful hymn and prayer to the Holy Spirit:
O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere and fillest all things; Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Or, in a slightly modernized version: O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life: Come and abide in us, and cleanse us from all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.