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Prayers

St Augustine’s prayer for those far from God

A prayer from St Augustine’s Confessions, about AD 400, for those who have run from God. He has not left them.

Picture: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1667–70

The words of the prayer

Plain English

Surely those who flee from You do not knowthat You are everywhere,You Whom no place can hold,and that You alone are neareven to those who go far from You.

So let them turn back and seek You.For You have not abandoned Your creaturesas they have abandoned their Creator.Let them turn back.

And see, You are there in their heart,in the heart of those who confess to You,who throw themselves on Youand weep in Your embraceafter the hard roads they have taken.

And You gently wipe away their tears.They weep all the more,and are glad in their weeping.For You, Lord, not some man of flesh and blood,but You, Lord, Who made them,make them new and comfort them.

Traditional wording, 1886

Forsooth, they know not that Thou art everywhere Whom no place encompasseth,and that Thou alone art near even to those that remove far from Thee.

Let them, then, be converted and seek Thee;because not as they have forsaken their Creator hast Thou forsaken Thy creature.

Let them be converted and seek Thee;and behold, Thou art there in their hearts,in the hearts of those who confess to Thee, and cast themselves upon Thee,and weep on Thy bosom after their obdurate ways,even Thou gently wiping away their tears.

And they weep the more, and rejoice in weeping,since Thou, O Lord, not man, flesh and blood,but Thou, Lord, Who didst make, remakest and comfortest them.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin, with Pilkington’s 1886 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: J. G. Pilkington, The Confessions of St. Augustin, 1886.

Pilkington repeats “and seek Thee” the second time; the Latin printed here says only “let them turn back”.

When it is said

It is not part of any Orthodox service or prayer book. Augustine wrote it in his Confessions, the story of his life told to God.

Anyone may pray it, at any hour, for someone who has walked away from God: a son or daughter, a husband or wife, a friend.

Where it comes from

Author known

Where it comes from

St Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa, wrote his Confessions about AD 400: the story of his life, told to God. This prayer comes near the start of its fifth part, in a chapter on those who try to run from God. That part tells of his 29th year. He taught at Rome and Milan, heard Bishop Ambrose, and began to come to himself.

Augustine, Confessions, Book 5, tr. J. G. Pilkington (1886); Encyclopaedia Britannica, St. Augustine

The son of these tears

Augustine’s mother, St Monica, wept and prayed for him for nearly nine years. She wept, he says, more than mothers weep for a child who has died. She begged a bishop to talk with him and refute his errors. He refused: “Leave him alone for a time, only pray God for him.” When she kept weeping, he said: “It is not possible that the son of these tears should perish.”

Augustine, Confessions, Book 3, tr. J. G. Pilkington (1886)

He had been far away too

The paragraph ends with Augustine’s own story: “And where was I when I was seeking Thee? And Thou wert before me, but I had gone away even from myself.” At Milan, under St Ambrose, he studied the Scriptures and was baptized. The Orthodox Church in America honours him as Blessed Augustine on 15 June, and St Monica on 4 May.

Augustine, Confessions, Book 5, tr. J. G. Pilkington (1886); Orthodox Church in America, Blessed Augustine, Bishop of Hippo

What the words mean

“Let them turn back”

Augustine asks it twice: convertantur, “let them turn”. Pilkington’s English of 1886 says “let them be converted”. Between the two he gives the reason. They have abandoned their Creator, but God has not abandoned His creature. In Latin both halves use the same verb, deserere, to abandon.

Augustine, Confessions, Book 5, the Latin

The Scripture in it

Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea, even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 139:7-10 Echoed Nowhere to flee from God’s presence. The lines just before the prayer quote this psalm.

“‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4 Echoed God will wipe away every tear.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

In Latin

Videlicet nesciunt quod ubique sis, Quem nullus circumscribit locus, et solus es praesens etiam his qui longe fiunt a Te.

Convertantur ergo et quaerant Te, quia non, sicut ipsi deseruerunt Creatorem suum, ita Tu deseruisti creaturam Tuam: ipsi convertantur.

Et ecce ibi es in corde eorum, in corde confitentium Tibi et proicientium se in Te et plorantium in sinu Tuo post vias suas difficiles.

Et Tu facilis terges lacrimas eorum, et magis plorant et gaudent in fletibus, quoniam Tu, Domine, non aliquis homo, caro et sanguis, sed Tu, Domine, Qui fecisti, reficis et consolaris eos.

From Confessions, Book 5, as printed by The Latin Library, with capitals for God.

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Berean Standard Bible