When it is said
It is one of the petitions of a litany, a set of short requests. The people answer each one: “Grant it, O Lord.”
It is said at the Divine Liturgy, the service of Holy Communion. It is also said at Vespers and the All-Night Vigil, the evening services, and even at an Orthodox wedding.
Where it comes from
No author known
Who wrote it?
No one knows. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America prints it in the same words in the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and in the Liturgy of St James.
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Divine Liturgy (Greek); Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Divine Liturgy of St James (Greek)
In the Liturgy of St James
The Liturgy of St James is named for James, the brother of the Lord and the first bishop of Jerusalem. James Donaldson put it into English in 1886. His version of this petition asks “that the close of our lives may be Christian, without pain and without shame”.
The Divine Liturgy of St James, tr. James Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886); The Divine Liturgy of St James in Church Slavonic, on Azbyka.ru
What the words mean
Blameless, or without shame?
Hapgood’s English of 1906 says “blameless”. Robertson’s translation of 1894, made from the Greek printed beside it, says “without shame”. The petition asks for an end we need not be ashamed of before Christ. The plain English follows Robertson and the Greek.
Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church (1906); J. N. W. B. Robertson, The Divine Liturgies (1894), Greek and English
The Scripture in it
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Χριστιανὰ τὰ τέλη τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν, ἀνώδυνα, ἀνεπαίσχυντα, εἰρηνικά, καὶ καλὴν ἀπολογίαν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ φοβεροῦ βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ αἰτησώμεθα.
Παράσχου, Κύριε.