When it is said
It is the second of the five prayers of thanksgiving after Holy Communion. It follows the first, “I thank You, O Lord my God”.
In church a reader often reads the prayers aloud for those who received. Otherwise each person reads them alone, right after Communion and, if possible, before eating.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Whose name it carries
The Greek and Slavonic prayer books head it with the name of St Basil the Great. So do the old English ones. Basil was bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, from AD 370 until he died in AD 379. Tradition credits the prayer to him.
The Greek prayer book, the thanksgiving after Holy Communion (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America); Russian Wikipedia, Prayers of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion; Wikipedia, Basil of Caesarea
Other prayers in his name
Basil is remembered for the part he played in shaping the Church’s prayers. Whole liturgies bear his name too. Scholars say most of them are not entirely his work as we have them. Even so, they keep the memory of his work on the Church’s prayers and songs.
What the words mean
“In the shadow of Your wings”
The prayer asks Christ to keep the one who has received “under Your shelter and in the shadow of Your wings”. It is the language of the Psalms, where the psalmist asks God to hide him in the shadow of His wings.
Psalm 17:8
The Scripture in it
Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.”
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Δέσποτα Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός, Βασιλεῦ τῶν αἰώνων καὶ Δημιουργὲ τῶν ἁπάντων, εὐχαριστῶ Σοι ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, οἷς παρέσχου μοι ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ μεταλήψει τῶν ἀχράντων καὶ ζωοποιῶν Σου μυστηρίων.
Δέομαι οὖν Σου, ἀγαθὲ καὶ φιλάνθρωπε·
φύλαξόν με ὑπὸ τὴν σκέπην Σου καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν πτερύγων Σου σκιᾷ·
καὶ δώρησαὶ μοι ἐν καθαρῷ συνειδότι, μέχρις ἐσχάτης μου ἀναπνοῆς, ἐπαξίως μετέχειν τῶν ἁγιασμάτων Σου, εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
Σὺ γὰρ εἶ ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς, ἡ πηγὴ τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ, ὁ δοτὴρ τῶν ἀγαθῶν·
καὶ Σοὶ τὴν δόξαν ἀναπέμπομεν, σὺν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων.
Ἀμήν.