When it is said
In the Liturgy of St James the priest reads it in a low voice while the deacon leads the people in prayer for the gifts on the altar. He raises his voice for its last lines, and the whole church then prays the Lord’s Prayer together.
Orthodox churches serve this Liturgy now and then, and in Jerusalem it is served on 23 October, the feast of St James.
At home, anyone might pray it before the Lord’s Prayer when an old wrong keeps coming back to mind.
Where it comes from
No author known
From the Liturgy of St James
The Liturgy of St James is the ancient Communion service of the Church of Jerusalem. It bears the name of James the brother of the Lord, remembered as the city’s first bishop. Most scholars date the form we know to the late 300s, and by the early 400s it was the main Liturgy of Antioch as well.
“Liturgy of Saint James”, Wikipedia; The Liturgy of St James in Church Slavonic, on Azbyka.ru
Only its second half
The first half of the prayer is about the gifts on the altar. It praises God, Who sits on the cherubim, and thanks Him for accepting the gifts offered to Him. Only then does it ask Him to make our souls holy too. This page gives the prayer from that request on, the part that fits prayer at home.
The Divine Liturgy of St James, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
What the words mean
“Every grudge”
The Greek word behind “every grudge” is mnesikakia, holding on to the memory of a wrong. The 6th-century monk St Dorotheos of Gaza gave one of his teachings to it. In his picture, anger that is left to harden turns into a grudge, the way a fire’s coals, once put out, can lie for years and never rot.
St Dorotheos of Gaza, Instruction 8, in Russian translation, on Azbyka.ru
Forgive us, as we forgive
The prayer leads into the Lord’s Prayer, with its “forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors”. Lectures given to the newly baptized in Jerusalem in the 300s, credited to its bishop St Cyril, stop on that line. They say the wrongs done to us are “slight and trivial, and easily settled”, while ours against God “need such mercy as His only is”.
The Scripture in it
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
ἁγίασον, Δέσποτα καὶ τὰς ἡμετέρας ψυχὰς καὶ τὰ σώματα καὶ τὰ πνεύματα
καὶ ψηλάφησον τὰς διανοίας, καὶ ἀνάκρινον τὰς συνειδήσεις·
καὶ ἔκβαλε ἀφ’ ἡμῶν πᾶσαν ἔννοιαν πονηράν, πάντα λογισμὸν ἀσελγῆ,
πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ ἐνθύμησιν αἰσχράν, πάντα λόγον ἀπρεπῆ,
πάντα φθόνον καὶ τύφον καὶ ὑπόκρισιν, πᾶν ψεῦδος, πάντα δόλον,
πάντα πειρασμὸν βιοτικόν, πᾶσαν πλεονεξίαν, πᾶσαν κενοδοξίαν,
πᾶσαν κακίαν, πάντα θυμόν, πᾶσαν ὀργήν, πᾶσαν μνησικακίαν,
πᾶσαν βλασφημίαν, πᾶσαν φιλαργυρίαν καὶ ῥαθυμίαν,
πᾶσαν κίνησιν σαρκός τε και πνεύματος, ἀπηλλοτριωμένην τοῦ θελήματος τῆς ἁγιότητός σου.
Καὶ καταξίωσον ἡμᾶς, Δέσποτα, φιλάνθρωπε Κύριε, μετὰ παρρησίας, ἀκατακρίτως,
ἐν καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ, ψυχῇ πεφωτισμένῃ, ἀνεπαισχύντῳ προσώπῳ, ἡγιασμένοις χείλεσι,
τολμᾶν ἐπικαλεῖσθαί σε, τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἅγιον Θεὸν Πατέρα καὶ λέγειν·