When it is said
It is a verse from the seventh part (ode) of the Canon to the Sweetest Jesus, a long hymn Orthodox Christians read in private prayer.
In the English prayer book of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, each verse follows the refrain “O sweetest Jesus, save us.”
Prayed by itself, it suits the day after a relapse.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Where does it come from?
The verse comes from a long hymn, or canon, that calls on “sweetest Jesus” in nearly every line. It calls on His name so often that it comes close to the Jesus Prayer, and for that reason monks who practised that prayer used it. The Russian book of canons still prints it in Slavonic.
Azbuka Very, the Service to the Sweetest Jesus of St Theoleptos (in Russian)
Who wrote it?
Tradition credits the canon’s first form to St Theoleptos, a monk who became bishop of the Byzantine city of Philadelphia in the 1280s. The canon spread widely, and copyists added to it many times as they wrote it out, so its wording differs from copy to copy.
Azbuka Very, St Theoleptos of Philadelphia (in Russian); Azbuka Very, the Service to the Sweetest Jesus of St Theoleptos (in Russian)
In Church Slavonic
Христе Иисусе,
тмами обещах Тебе, страстный, о Иисусе мой, покаяние,
но солгах окаянный.
Темже, Иисусе мой, вопию Ти:
нечувственне пребывающую душу мою просвети, Христе,
отцев Боже благословен еси.