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Prayers

The prayer for prisoners from the Liturgy of St Mark

A prayer from the Liturgy of St Mark for everyone in prison, on trial, condemned or in exile, to the God Who sets the prisoners free.

Picture: Rembrandt, Saint Paul in Prison, 1627

The words of the prayer

Plain English

Have mercy on all who arein prison or in the mines,on trial or condemned,in exile,or held down by bitter slavery or by taxes,and set them all free.

For You are our God,Who set the prisoners freeand lift up those who are weighed down.You are the hope of those who have lost hope,the help of those who have no help,the One Who raises the fallen,the harbor of those caught in the storm,the defender of the oppressed.

To every Christian soul in affliction and distressgive mercy, give relief, give rest.

Traditional wording, 1886

Have mercy on all who are in prison, or in mines, or on trial,or condemned, or in exile, or crushed by cruel bondage or tribute.

Deliver them, O Lord, for Thou art our God,Who settest the captives free; Who raisest up the downtrodden;Who givest hope to the hopeless, and help to the helpless;Who liftest up the fallen; Who givest refuge to the shipwrecked,and vengeance to the oppressed.

Pity, relieve, and restore every Christian soul that is afflicted or wandering.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of the Liturgy of St Mark, with George Ross Merry’s translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: George Ross Merry, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7, 1886.

Merry’s “vengeance to the oppressed” renders a Greek word for the one who takes up their cause, so the plain English says “the defender of the oppressed”.

When it is said

The priest prays it in the Liturgy of St Mark. It comes in the long intercession for the living, right after the prayers for the sick and for those who have been ill a long time.

Anyone can pray it at home for a prisoner they know, for Christians who suffer for their faith, or for all in prison.

Where it comes from

No author known

The liturgy of Alexandria

The prayer comes from the Liturgy of St Mark, the old liturgy of the Church of Alexandria in Egypt. The early Church historian Eusebius recorded the tradition that Mark founded the first churches of that city. No author of the prayer is named. Its full Greek text survives in a manuscript of the 12th century.

Eusebius, Church History, book 2, translated in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1; F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western, 1896

Words from the psalms

Its praise of God begins with Psalm 146:7-8, where the Lord sets the prisoners free and lifts those who are weighed down. The prayer then calls Him the hope of the hopeless and the help of the helpless, and asks mercy and rest for every Christian in distress.

The Liturgy of St Mark, translated by George Ross Merry, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7

The Scripture in it

He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free, the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

Psalm 146:7-8 Quoted The Lord sets the prisoners free and lifts those who are weighed down.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

In Greek

Τοὺς ἐν φυλακαῖς ἢ ἐν μετάλλοις ἢ δίκαις ἢ καταδίκαις ἢ ἐν ἐξορίαις

ἢ πικρᾷ δουλείᾳ ἢ φόροις κατεχομένους πάντας ἐλέησον, πάντας ἐλευθέρωσον·

ὅτι σὺ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ὁ λύων τοὺς πεπεδημένους, ὁ ἀνορθῶν τοὺς κατερραγμένους,

ἡ ἐλπὶς τῶν ἀπελπισμένων, ἡ βοήθεια τῶν ἀβοηθήτων,

ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν πεπτωκότων, ὁ λιμὴν τῶν χειμαζομένων,

ὁ ἔκδικος τῶν καταπονουμένων.

Πάσῃ ψυχῇ χριστιανῇ θλιβομένῃ καὶ περιεχομένῃ

δὸς ἔλεος, δὸς ἄνεσιν, δὸς ἀνάψυξιν.

From F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western (Oxford, 1896), The Liturgy of St Mark, pp. 126-127.

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Berean Standard Bible