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Prayers

The prayer for the departed from the Liturgy of St James

The priest’s prayer for the departed in the Liturgy of St James. It asks rest for everyone who held the true faith, from righteous Abel to this day.

Picture: Konstantinos Tzanes, Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, 17th century

The words of the prayer

Plain English

Remember, O Lord, God of spirits and of all flesh,those we have named and those we have not named,who held the true faith,from righteous Abel to this day.Give them rest Yourself, there in the land of the living,in Your kingdom, in the delight of paradise,at the side of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our holy fathers,where pain, sorrow and sighing have fled away,where the light of Your face watches over themand shines on them always.

And guide the end of our lives, O Lord, O Lord,so that it is Christian, pleasing to You,blameless and in peace.Gather us at the feet of Your chosen oneswhen You will and as You will,only without shame and without wrongdoing,through Your only Son,our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ.For He alone has appeared on earth without sin.

Traditional wording, 1886

Remember, O Lord God, the spirits and all flesh,of whom we have made mention, and of whom we have not made mention,who are of the true faith, from righteous Abel unto this day:unto them do Thou give rest there in the land of the living,in Thy kingdom, in the joy of paradise,in the bosom of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, our holy fathers;whence pain, and grief, and lamentation have fled:there the light of Thy countenance looks upon them, and enlightens them for ever.

Make the end of our lives Christian, acceptable, blameless, and peaceful, O Lord,gathering us together, O Lord, under the feet of Thine elect,when Thou wilt, and as Thou wilt; only without shame and transgressions,through Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ:for He is the only sinless one Who hath appeared on the earth.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with William Macdonald’s 1886 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: William Macdonald, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7, 1886.

Macdonald reads the opening as “Remember, O Lord God, the spirits and all flesh”. The Greek calls God “the God of spirits and of all flesh” and asks Him to remember the departed, as the plain wording does.

When it is said

In the Liturgy of St James the deacons call out “Remember us, O Lord God”, and the priest bows and says this prayer for the departed.

In Jerusalem that Liturgy is served once a year, on 23 October, the feast of St James.

At home, someone praying for their dead might use it and name them where it says “those we have named”.

Where it comes from

No author known

Praying for the dead in Jerusalem

In the 300s the newly baptized of Jerusalem heard a series of talks that walked them through the Liturgy, and tradition credits the talks to their bishop, St Cyril. After the prayers for the living, the talks say, “we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us”. The Church did it believing that “it will be a very great benefit to the souls” it prayed for.

Cyril of Jerusalem (attributed), Mystagogical Lectures 5.9, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 7 (1893)

“What good does it do them?”

Some people asked what good it does a soul to be remembered in the prayer. The talks answer with a picture. When a king has sent men into exile, their families might weave a crown and bring it to him, and he would lighten the punishment. The Church weaves no crown for its dead, “though they be sinners”, but brings Christ, sacrificed for our sins, and asks God’s mercy for them and for itself.

Cyril of Jerusalem (attributed), Mystagogical Lectures 5.10, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 7 (1893)

What the words mean

From righteous Abel

Abel is the first person in the Bible to die, killed by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:8). The Letter to the Hebrews says he was counted righteous for his faith, and by faith he still speaks, though he is dead (Hebrews 11:4). The prayer starts there and remembers everyone since who died in the faith, whether we have named them or not.

The God of spirits and of all flesh

The prayer opens with Moses’s name for God, “the God of the spirits of all flesh” (Numbers 27:16). The Orthodox funeral prayer for the departed opens with the same words: “O God of spirits and of all flesh”.

The Scripture in it

“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation”

Numbers 27:16 Quoted Moses’s name for the LORD, “the God of the spirits of all flesh”

Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13 Echoed “the land of the living”

One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.

Luke 16:22 Echoed the poor man carried by the angels to Abraham’s side

So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

Isaiah 35:10 Echoed sorrow and sighing will flee

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”

1 Peter 2:22 Echoed Christ, who committed no sin

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

In Greek

Μνήσθητι Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πνευμάτων καὶ πάσης σαρκὸς

ὧν ἐμνήσθημεν καὶ ὧν οὐκ ἐμνήσθημεν ὀρθοδόξων

ἀπὸ Ἄβελ τοῦ δικαίου μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας·

Αὐτὸς ἐκεῖ αὐτοὺς ἀνάπαυσον ἐν χώρᾳ ζώντων, ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ Σου,

ἐν τῇ τρυφῇ τοῦ παραδείσου, ἐν τοῖς κόλποις Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἡμῶν,

ὅθεν ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη λύπη καὶ στεναγμός,

ἔνθα ἐπισκοπεῖ τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου Σου καὶ καταλάμπει διὰ παντός.

Ἡμῶν δὲ τὰ τέλη τῆς ζωῆς χριστιανὰ καὶ εὐάρεστα καὶ ἀναμάρτητα ἐν εἰρήνῃ κατεύθυνον Κύριε Κύριε,

ἐπισυνάγων ἡμᾶς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν Σου ὅτε θέλεις καὶ ὡς θέλεις,

μόνον χωρὶς αἰσχύνης καὶ παραπτωμάτων.

Διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς Σου Υἱοῦ, Κυρίου δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ·

Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ μόνος ἀναμάρτητος φανεὶς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

From F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western, vol. 1 (1896), the Liturgy of St James.

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Berean Standard Bible