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only your sleepless eye; whose necessity you, O Master, know, and no one else *** forever; so being separated by these things, having been removed to the end of the inhabited world, having then forgotten the churches, not knowing the day of the feasts. Show a little mercy to them, O Master; for I do not ask for much. Come to them, O God, who has disciplined them; come to those who were once your children, for they too were once your children, for they too were once Christians, and they were once your flock, and they were once your members, and they once partook of your undefiled body, and now they partake of the bodies of irrational animals. Therefore, O Master, look upon them with your mercy and compassion. See the violence against those wretched ones, and grant loving-kindness; see their nakedness, and grant deliverance; see the deep desolation, and show your tender mercy. For even if you have justly disciplined, yet heal; even if you have worthily handed them over, yet gather them together. You have scourged, comfort; you have handed them over, redeem. Even if we have sinned many times, yet remember us again, and again be persuaded by our prayer, and especially for our Christian brothers, your people, in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the child of the earth in impassable places. For even if we are in churches with the faithful, yet they are in deserts with the enemies; even if we are joyful in the feasts, yet they are in great darkness. Great is their misfortune; great is their suspicion; terrible is their wound, bitter is their calamity; their destruction is indescribable, great is their sting, great is their tragedy, O Master. Do not leave them outside, but with 43.477 the discipline show also your loving-kindness, so that the Jews may not boast to the end, so that the nations may not say concerning us: Where is their God? Where is their Christ? Where is their cross? Where is their hope? Where is the faith of the Christians? So that they may not say these things, they will quickly see your mercies towards us; Let your compassions quickly come upon us, O Lord, for we have become very poor, for we have been brought very low, for we have been greatly diminished. Therefore let the groaning of the fettered come before you; the tears of the innocent infants who are being slaughtered will entreat you; the lamentation of mothers who are being made childless will supplicate you. Saying these things we pray, we do not contend, O Master; we pray, but we do not litigate against you. We pray, because we are reproached by the lawless, because we are worn down by pagans; we do not contend, but we confess. We weep, because the rest are also in danger. For even if we are sinners, yet we are Christians; even if humble, yet a people of your faith; even if unworthy of loving-kindness, yet we are sheep of your Church, gathered together as one. This supplication we, the poor, offer to you on behalf of the multitude of the people in captivity, on your three-day resurrection: priests and people, young men and maidens, old men with younger men, infants with mothers, every soul of those who believe in you; whom redeem, all of them, from every impending threat, and make them worthy of your kingdom, by the grace and loving-kindness of your only-begotten Son and Master, God, and our Savior Jesus Christ, with his all-holy and life-giving Spirit; now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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μόνος ὁ σὸς ἀκοίμητος ὀφθαλμός· ὧν τὴν ἀνάγκην σὺ, ∆έσποτα, γινώσκεις, καὶ ἄλλος οὐδεὶς *** εἰς αἰῶνα· λοιπὸν δι' ὧν χωρισθέντες, τῆς οἰκουμένης τέλος μακρυνθέντες, τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν λοιπὸν ἐπιλησθέντες, τῶν ἑορτῶν τὴν ἡμέραν ἀγνοοῦντες. Ἐκείνοις μικρὸν ἔλεος ποίησον, ∆έσποτα· οὐ γὰρ αἰτοῦμαι πολύ. Φθάσον ἐκείνους, ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ παιδεύσας ἐκείνους· φθάσον τά ποτε τέκνα σου, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοί ποτε τέκνα σου, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοί ποτε Χριστιανοὶ ὑπῆρχον, καὶ αὐτοί ποτε ποίμνη σου, καὶ αὐτοί ποτε μέλη σου, καὶ αὐτοί ποτε τοῦ ἀχράντου σου μετελάμβανον σώματος, καὶ νῦν σωμάτων ἀλόγων μεταλαμβάνουσι. ∆ιὸ δὴ, ∆έσποτα, ἐπίβλεψον ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἐν ἐλέοις καὶ οἰκτιρμοῖς σου. Ἴδε ἐκείνων τῶν ἐλεεινῶν τὴν βίαν, καὶ δὸς φιλανθρωπίαν· ἴδε τὴν γύμνωσιν, καὶ δὸς τὴν ἀνάῤῥυσιν· ἴδε τὴν βαθεῖαν ἐρημίαν, καὶ ποίησον τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ δικαίως ἐπαίδευσας, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἴασαι· εἰ καὶ ἀξίως παρέδωκας, ὅμως συνάγαγε. Ἐμάστιξας, παρακάλεσον· παρέδωκας, λύτρωσαι. Εἰ καὶ πολλάκις ἡμάρτομεν, ἀλλ' ὅμως πάλιν ἡμῶν μνήσθητι, καὶ πάλιν ἡμῶν τῇ δεήσει πείσθητι, καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ἐν ἐρημίαις, καὶ ὄρεσι, καὶ σπηλαίοις, καὶ ὁ παῖς τῆς γῆς ἀβάτοις τόποις ἡμῶν ἀδελφοῖς σου Χριστιανοῖς, σοῦ δὲ λαοῖς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν ἐκκλησίαις μετὰ τῶν πιστῶν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι ἐν ἐρημίαις μετὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν· εἰ καὶ ἡμεῖς φαιδροὶ ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι ἐν μεγάλῃ σκοτίᾳ. Μεγάλη ἡ ἐκείνων δυστυχία· μέγα τὸ ἐκείνων ὕποπτον· δεινὸν τὸ ἐκείνων τραῦμα, πικρὰ ἡ ἐκείνων συμφορά· ἀδιήγητος ἡ αὐτῶν καταφθορὰ, μέγα τὸ ἐκείνων κέντρον, πολλὴ ἡ ἐκείνων τραγῳδία, ∆έσποτα. Μὴ ἀφήσῃς ἕως ἔξω, ἀλλὰ μετὰ 43.477 τῆς παιδείας δεῖξον καὶ τὴν σὴν φιλανθρωπίαν, ἵνα μὴ εἰς τέλος οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι καυχήσωνται, ἵνα μὴ τὰ ἔθνη περὶ ἡμῶν εἴπωσι· Ποῦ ἔστιν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῶν; Ποῦ ἔστιν ὁ Χριστὸς αὐτῶν; Ποῦ ἔστιν ὁ σταυρὸς αὐτῶν; Ποῦ ἔστιν ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτῶν; Ποῦ ἡ πίστις τῶν Χριστιανῶν; Ἵνα μὴ ταῦτα εἴπωσι, ταχὺ τὰ ἐλέη σου εἰς ἡμᾶς θεωρήσουσι· Ταχὺ προσκαταλαβέτωσαν ἡμᾶς οἱ οἰκτιρμοί σου, Κύριε, ὅτι ἐπτωχεύσαμεν σφόδρα, ὅτι ἐταπεινώθημεν σφόδρα, ὅτι ὠλιγώθημεν σφόδρα. Λοιπὸν εἰσελθέτω ἐνώπιόν σου ὁ στεναγμὸς τῶν πεπεδημένων· δυσωπήσει σε τὰ δάκρυα τῶν ἀκάκων νηπίων, τῶν κατασφαζομένων· ἱκετεύσει σε ὀδυρμὸς μητέρων τῶν ἀτεκνουμένων. Ταῦτα λέγοντες δεόμεθα, οὐ μαχόμεθα, ∆έσποτα· δεόμεθα, ἀλλ' οὐ πρὸς σὲ δικαζόμεθα. ∆εόμεθα, ὅτι ὑπὸ ἀνόμων ὀνειδιζόμεθα, ὅτι ἐξ Ἑλλήνων καταπονούμεθα· οὐ μαχόμεθα, ἀλλὰ ἐξομολογούμεθα. Κλαίομεν, ὅτι καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ κινδυνεύουσιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὶ, ἀλλ' ὅμως Χριστιανοὶ τυγχάνομεν· εἰ καὶ ταπεινοὶ, ἀλλ' ὅμως τῆς πίστεώς σου λαός· εἰ καὶ ἀνάξιοι φιλανθρωπίας, ἀλλ' ὅμως πρόβατα τῆς σῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐσμὲν ἐν ἑνὶ συνηθροισμένοι. Ταύτην σοι τὴν ἱκεσίαν οἱ πτωχοὶ ὑπὲρ πλήθους λαοῦ αἰχμαλωσίας, ἐν τῇ σῇ τριημέρῳ ἀναστάσει προσάγομεν ἱερεῖς καὶ λαοὶ, νεανίσκοι καὶ παρθένοι, πρεσβῦται μετὰ νεωτέρων, νήπια μετὰ μητέρων, πᾶσα ψυχὴ τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς σέ· οὓς λύτρωσαι πάντας πάσης τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀπειλῆς, καὶ τῆς σῆς βασιλείας ἀξίους ποίησον, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ μονογενοῦς σου Υἱοῦ καὶ ∆εσπότου Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματι· νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.