When you feel alone
Come, True Light
Come, true Light.Come, eternal Life.Come, hidden Mystery.Come, Treasure with no name.Come, Reality no words can tell.Come, Person no mind can grasp.Come, endless Gladness.Come, Light that never sets.Come, true Hope of all who will be saved.Come, You Who raise up the fallen.Come, Resurrection of the dead.Come, mighty One:by Your will alone You always make,remake and change all things.
Come, You for Whom my wretched soul has longed,and still longs.Come, the Only One, to one who is alone,for I am alone, as You see.Come, You Who set me apart from all thingsand made me alone on earth.Come, You Who have Yourself become the longing in me,and made me long for You, Who are wholly beyond reach.Come, my breath and my life.Come, the comfort of my humble soul.Come, my joy, my glory and my endless delight.
Stay, Master, and do not leave me alone.Then my enemies, who always seek to swallow up my soul,will come and find You staying in me.They will flee altogether and have no power against me,for they will see You, the Strongest of all,seated within the house of my humble soul.
For You are every good thing,all glory and all delight.To You belongs glory,O holy and life-giving Trinity, one in essence,Father, Son and Holy Spirit,honoured and known, worshipped and adored by all,now and ever, and for ever and ever.Amen.
Traditional wording, 2025
Come, true Light!Come, Thou Eternal Life!Come, Hidden Mystery!Come, Thou Nameless Treasure!Come, Ineffable Thing!Come, O Incomprehensible Person!Come, Thou Eternal Exultation!Come, Unfading Light!Come, True Expectation of all those who are to be saved.Come, Thou that raisest up all those who are laid low.Come, Resurrection from the dead.Come, O Mighty One that acteth always,changing and altering all things by Thy will alone.
Come, Thou for Whom my miserable soul hath longed with great yearning!Come, Thou Who art alone to the alone, since I am alone as Thou seest.Come, Thou Who hast set me apart from all thingsand made me to be alone upon the earth.Come, Thou hast become longing itself in meand hast caused me to long for Thee Who art altogether inaccessible!Come, my breath and my life!Come, O Consolation of my lowly soul!Come, my joy, glory, and perpetual delight!
Abide, Master, and leave me not alone,that when mine enemies come, who ever seek to devour my soul,and finding Thee abiding within me,they may flee completely and overpower me not,seeing Thee, Who art mightier than all,seated within the mansion of my humble soul.
For Thou art every good, and every glory, and every delight;and glory becometh Thee,the Holy, Consubstantial and Life-giving Trinity,honored, known, worshiped, and adored by all,in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
It comes from St Symeon the New Theologian, a monk who knew exile. He prays plainly, “I am alone, as You see,” and asks God to come and to stay.
Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Evan Kramer, OrthoChristian.com, 2025.
