Saint Luke 12:40-46

 
God, be merciful to me a sinner. 
God, cleanse my sins and have mercy on me. 
O Lord, Who created me, have mercy. 
I have sinned with out number; forgive me, O Lord. 
Theotokos, Sovereign Lady and Virgin, save me.

     Before all else, let us list sincere thanksgiving first on the scroll of our prayer. On the second line, we should put confession and heartfelt contrition of soul. Then let us present our petition to the King of all. This is the best way of prayer, as it was shown to one of the brethren by an angel of the Lord. (Step 28:7 The Ladder of Divine Ascent).

     And the righteous one beheld the demon that sets despondency as a hidden snare, attempting by his devices to drive some out of the church, making them alien to the Lord’s recompense, suggesting worries about their work to them before the Dismissal, and saying, “Go forth and do thy labour, for what pertains to your livelihood is no sin.” Suggesting these things, the devil, who impedes righteousness, enticed a sufficient number to leave before the Dismissal, since they did not bring to mind Our Saviour’s words in the Gospels, where He says: “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on; but seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Matt 6:25-33), and so forth. And he saw also the demon of sloth and drowsiness lurking there, and there went with him another spirit also, ministering unto this harsh demon, carrying some dirty bobbins on his shoulders and with them striking those who sat during the reading listening to the divine words, and making them ready to fall asleep. And when the righteous one saw this device of the wicked demon he became enraged with him, and said within himself: “O cunning and pernicious demon, how, employing the moonless night of thy vanity, dost thou estrange us from the hearing of the divine oracles, drawing us in the sleep of laziness? But, O Lord Jesus Christ of the Powers, pour out Thy wrath upon them, and overcome them.” And as he said this, a flame of fire came forth from the place of sacrifice and burnt them up; and they who were held in the grip of sleep by their operation, awoke straight way to hear the reading.

    The Greek word, Ecclesia, adopted by the first Christians to denote the new reality, was understood as a sacred community, distinguished thereby from the profane world. For Saint Paul, the word ecclesia, which we translate into English, “church,” and the word “agioi” which we translate into English, “saint,” signified the same thing: something which is taken out of the world; not because the world was created evil, but because after the fall it had become the realm of the Devil. Therefore, the Church was in the world, but not of the world, and the words “church” and “saint” were synonymous. Agios, “saint” means someone set aside, taken out of the world, sanctified, belonging to God, not belonging to the Devil, separated from the profane, separated from the world. Saint Isidore of Mount Pelusium defines the word ecclesia. He calls it, “the collection of saints who, with the right faith and polity (life style) is gathered together.” This is a Church. 
 
 

Excerpted from a talk on the Canons by Father Panagiotes Carras