When it is said
Isaac told Cassian to use it in every temptation: anger, gloom, pride, a wandering mind. He said to pray it in good times too, so as not to grow proud.
He told monks to say it at work, on a journey, at meals and in bed, until it came to them even in their sleep.
Where it comes from
Author known
From the monks of Egypt
St John Cassian was born about AD 360 and spent years among the monks of the Egyptian desert. Later, in his Conferences, he wrote down their teaching. In one of the Conferences, Isaac gives this verse as the prayer for every moment. It came, he says, from a few of the oldest monks still living. The Orthodox Church keeps Cassian’s feast on 29 February.
John Cassian, Conferences 10, chapter 10 (trans. Gibson, 1894); Orthodox Church in America, Venerable John Cassian the Roman
For every temptation
Isaac goes through one struggle after another. He is tempted to anger or gloom, or to pride, or he cannot collect his scattered thoughts. Each time, he says, “I must cry out” this verse. He calls it “an impregnable wall” and “a strong shield”. When things go well, he says it still, so that the good may last.
John Cassian, Conferences 10, chapter 10 (trans. Gibson, 1894)
Read by St Benedict
In the Rule he wrote for his monks, St Benedict had them read Cassian’s Conferences aloud after the evening meal. So the verse Cassian learned in the Egyptian desert came to open every hour of prayer in Benedict’s monasteries, in Latin: “Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.”
The Rule of St Benedict, chapters 18 and 42; Orthodox Church in America, Venerable John Cassian the Roman
What the words mean
Why this verse
Isaac says the verse fits every feeling a person can have, and every attack. It cries out against every danger and confesses that we need help. It knows our own weakness. And it trusts that help is near, for whoever calls on God all the time knows He is always at hand.
John Cassian, Conferences 10, chapter 10 (trans. Gibson, 1894)
The Scripture in it
Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Hurry, O LORD, to help me!
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Latin
Deus, in adiutorium meum intende;
Domine, ad adiuvandum mihi festina.
From John Cassian, Conferences, the tenth, in Latin, as given on Fr Luke Dysinger’s website.