Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem of Syria, Translation of Poem by Aleksandr Pushkin, "Отцы пустынники и жены непорочны," "The anchorites in deserts and the women pious, chaste,"

 

 

 

Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem of Syria

(from Wikipedia)

 Kievan version of 1639, in Old Church Slavonic and in English Translation

 Господи и владыко живота моегω, духъ оунынїѧ, небрежεнїѧ, любоначалїѧ и празднословїѧ ѿжεни ѿ мεнε.

Духъ же цѣломѹдрїѧ, смиреномѹдрїѧ, терпѣнїѧ и любве, дарѹй ми рабѹ твоемѹ.

Ей Господи Царю, даждь ми зрѣти моѧ согрѣшенїѧ, и не ωсуждати брата моегω, якω благословенъ еси во вѣки вѣковъ. Аминь.

 O Lord and Master of my life, take from me a spirit of despondency, sloth, love of power, and idle talk.

But give to me, your servant, a spirit of sober-mindedness, humility, patience, and love.

Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother, since you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

 

Nikonian version of 1656, in Old Church Slavonic and English

 Господи и владыко живота моегω, духъ праздности, оунынїѧ, любоначалїѧ и празднословїѧ не даждь ми.

Духъ же цѣломѹдрїѧ, смиренномѹдрїѧ, терпѣнїѧ и любве, дарѹй ми рабѹ твоемѹ.

Ей Господи Царю, даруй ми зрѣти моѧ прегрѣшенїѧ, и не ωсуждати брата моегω, якω благословенъ еси во вѣки вѣковъ. Аминь.

 

O Lord and Master of my life, grant me not a spirit of sloth, despondency, love of power, and idle talk.

But give to me, your servant, a spirit of sober-mindedness, humility, patience, and love.

Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother, since you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

 

Note

This Nikonian variant is the form of the prayer that has been in use in the Russian Orthodox Church and most Slavic Orthodox churches since the time of the Nikonian reforms. It is, presumably, the variant Aleksandr Pushkin would have heard in Russian churches in his time. His version in the poem—written not in the Old Church Slavonic of the Russian Orthodox service, but in the Russian of his day—differs only slightly from the original. For one thing, instead of listing two vices, despondency (melancholy) and idleness (sloth), he combines the two into one image of “despondent idleness.” One word, tselomudrie, has the meaning “chastity” in modern Russian, but in OCS is more often translated as “wisdom” (the “sober-mindedness” in the translation above). Not sure whether in the Russian of Pushkin’s time (early 19^th Century) the word would have yet taken on its modern meaning.

 

d

 

Aleksandr Pushkin

(1799-1837)

 

Отцы пустынники и жены непорочны,
Чтоб сердцем возлетать во области заочны,
Чтоб укреплять его средь дольних бурь и битв,
Сложили множество божественных молитв;
Но ни одна из них меня не умиляет,
Как та, которую священник повторяет
Во дни печальные Великого поста;
Всех чаще мне она приходит на уста
И падшего крепит неведомою силой:
Владыко дней моих! дух праздности унылой,
Любоначалия, змеи сокрытой сей,
И празднословия не дай душе моей.
Но дай мне зреть мои, о боже, прегрешенья,
Да брат мой от меня не примет осужденья,
И дух смирения, терпения, любви
И целомудрия мне в сердце оживи.

 1836

 

                                    Pushkin’s Variant on the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem of Syria

(Prose Translation by U.R. Bowie)

 The desert fathers, the women chaste of spirit, so that their hearts might soar in realms of the ineffable, so that they might find strength midst storms and strife terrestrial, composed a multitude of prayers unto their God. But none of them so touches me as that which the priest intones in the sorrowful days of the Great Lenten Fast. More than any other it comes to my lips, and with its untold force, it lifts me when I fall:

 O Lord of all my days! Send not into my soul one whiff of idleness despondent, send not the hidden serpent that is lust for power, and still the idle babble of the tongue. Grant, rather, unto me to see, O God, my trespasses; to let my brother man be free of all my judgments. Revive within my heart the spirit of meek humility, of patience, love and chastity.

 

d

 

Literary Translation/Adaptation of the Poem by U.R. Bowie

 

The anchorites in deserts and the women pious, chaste,

So that their hearts might soar on high to realms with virtue laced,

So that they might find strength midst storms and sempiternal strife,

A plenitude of prayers composed, of words with reverence rife;

 

But no one prayer so soothes my soul

As that which in the time of dole,

Of Lenten Fast the priest intones;

My lips it strokes in soothing tones,

And when I fall it lifts me high:

 

O Lord of all my days, be nigh!

Wipe clean my inner being of all sloth and lethargy,

The hidden snake of power-lust let rendered powerless be,

And when my tongue wags overmuch please help me rein it in,

But grant to me to see my faults, the trespasses and sin,

And stifle all my tendencies to judge my sister-brother;

Please permeate my soul, O God, with patience from above;

Send unpretentiousness as well, send chastity and love.