When it is said
It belongs to no church service.
In his diary St John gives it to say whenever you see an envious person. A Russian prayer book prints it first among its prayers for the envious.
Where it comes from
Author known
From an entry in his diary
St John’s diary was printed in his lifetime as My Life in Christ. In one entry he urges his reader to pray for anyone whose faults they see, even an enemy. He then gives a short prayer for the proud, the angry, the greedy, the envious and the drunk. He ends with a warning never to despise anyone for a sin.
My Life in Christ, vol. 1, no. 171 (Azbyka); My Life in Christ, tr. E. E. Goulaeff (1897), pp. 58-59
Who was St John of Kronstadt?
He was a priest at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Kronstadt, the naval base near St Petersburg, from 1855. He gave so much to the poor that people saw him walk home barefoot, because he had given his shoes away. After his death in 1908 he was declared a saint by the Russian Church Outside Russia in 1964 and by the Church in Russia in 1990.
Orthodox Church in America, life of St John of Kronstadt; Wikipedia, “John of Kronstadt”
What the words mean
Written for someone else
St John wrote it to be prayed for another person. In Goulaeff’s English it follows the words “If you see an envious man, pray thus”, and Russian prayer books print it the same way, for “this Your servant”. The first-person wording on this page, for praying about your own envy, is ours.
My Life in Christ, tr. E. E. Goulaeff (1897), p. 59; Azbyka, “Prayers for the envious”
The Scripture in it
I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints …
To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent—each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey.
Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Church Slavonic
Господи, просвети ум и сердце раба Твоего сего
к познанию великих, бесчисленных и неисследимых даров Твоих,
ихже прият от неисчетных щедрот Твоих,
во ослеплении бо страсти своея забы Тебе и дары Твои богатые,
и нища себя быти вмени, богат сый благами Твоими,
и сего ради зрит прелестне на благая рабов Твоих,
имиже, о, пренеизглаголанная Благостыня, ущедряеши всех,
коегождо противу силы его и по намерению воли Твоей.
Отыми, всеблагий Владыко, покрывало диавола от очию сердца раба Твоего
и даруй ему сердечное сокрушение и слезы покаяния и благодарения,
да не возрадуется враг о нем, заживо уловленном от него в свою его волю,
и да не отторгнет его от руки Твоея.
From My Life in Christ, vol. 1, no. 171, as Azbyka’s page of St John of Kronstadt’s prayers quotes it.