Coptic Prayers: Prayer for the sick

Coptic icon of St. Mina the Wonderworker, gifted with healing (source)

Offered during matins, the morning prayers in preparation for the Divine Liturgy.

Priest: Again, let us ask God the Almighty, the Father of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. We ask and entreat your goodness, O Lover of Mankind: Remember, O Lord, the sick of your people.

Deacon: Pray for our fathers and brothers who are sick with any sickness, whether in this place or in any place, that Christ our God may grant us, with them, health and healing, and forgive us our sins.

All: Lord, have mercy.

Priest: Visit them with mercy and compassion and heal them. Take away from them, and from us, all sickness and all maladies; the spirit of sickness chase away. Those who have long lain in sickness, raise up and comfort. And those who are afflicted by unclean spirits, set them all free.

Those who are in prisons or dungeons, or those who are in exile or captivity, or those who are held in bitter bondage, O Lord, set them all free and have mercy on them. For You are He Who loosens the bound and uplifts the fallen, the hope of those who are hopeless, the help of those who have no helper, the comfort of the fainthearted, the harbor of those in the storm.

All souls that are distressed or bound, give them mercy, O Lord. Give them rest. Give them coolness. Give them grace. Give them help. Give them salvation. Give them forgiveness of their sins and iniquities.

As for us also, O Lord, the maladies of our souls heal, and those of our bodies, too, cure. O You, the true Physician of our souls and bodies, the Overseer of all flesh, visit us with Your salvation.

All: Lord, have mercy.

Coptic prayers: The Morning Prayer

This is one snippet from Prime that I really like. Prime is prayed first thing in the morning.

O the true Light Who gives light to every man coming into the world, You came into the world through Your love for mankind, and all creation rejoiced in Your coming. You saved our father, Adam, from the seduction, and delivered our mother, Eve, from the pangs of death, and gave us the spirit of sonship. Let us, therefore, praise You and bless You saying :

Doxa Patri ke Eioa ke Agio Pnevmati (Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit)

As the daylight shines upon us, O Christ Our God, the true Light, let the luminous senses and the bright thoughts shine within us, and do not let the darkness of passions hover over us, that mindfully we may praise You with David saying, “My eyes have awakened before the morning watch, that I might meditate on Your sayings." Hear our voices according to your great mercy, and deliver us, O Lord our God, through Your compassion.

sunrise on the Nile (source)

Coptic Prayers- The Prayer of Thanksgiving

I thought I would do a few posts on the prayers used in the Coptic daily office and other services. I'm going to be highly selective, but you can read all the prayers of the daily office online here and hear some of them being chanted (by readers from our parish!). Most other Coptic services can also be found online in English.

The following is the prayer of thanksgiving that begins every prayer of the hours and is also prayed at many services like the betrothal and wedding. In the hours it's preceded by the Lord's Prayer and you follow it with Psalm 50 LXX (Psalm 51 in Protestant Bibles), expressing penitence for sin.

Let us give thanks to the beneficent and merciful God, the Father of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, for He has covered us, helped us, guarded us, accepted us unto Him, spared us, supported us, and brought us to this hour. Let us also ask Him, the Lord our God, the Almighty, to guard us in all peace this holy day and all the days of our life.

O Master, Lord, God the Almighty, the Father of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, we thank You for every condition, concerning every condition, and in every condition, for You have covered us, helped us, guarded us, accepted us unto You, spared us, supported us, and brought us to this hour.

Therefore, we ask and entreat Your goodness, O Lover of mankind, to grant us to complete this holy day, and all the days of our life, in all peace with Your fear. All envy, all temptation, all the work of Satan, the counsel of wicked men, and the rising up of enemies, hidden and manifest, take them away from us, and from all Your people, and from this holy place that is Yours.

But those things which are good and profitable do provide for us; for it is You Who have given us the authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, by the grace, compassion and love of mankind, of Your Only-Begotten Son, our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, through Whom the glory, the honor, the dominion, and the adoration are due unto You, with Him, and the Holy Spirit, the Life-Giver, Who is of one essence with You, now and at all times, and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.

[Image from touregypt.net]