When it is said
It is the first of the prayers of thanksgiving after Holy Communion. They begin with “Glory to You, O God”, said three times, and this prayer follows at once.
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.
The priest reads them too, once the Liturgy is over and the Holy Gifts left in the chalice have been consumed.
Where it comes from
No author known
Who wrote it?
No one knows. The Greek prayer book heads it with one word: “anonymous”. The next prayer carries the name of St Basil the Great, a bishop of the 300s, but this one names no one.
The Greek prayer book, the thanksgiving after Holy Communion (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America); Wikipedia, Basil of Caesarea
It starts with a verse
The Greek book opens the thanksgiving with four lines of verse. Once you have received the life-giving Gifts, they say, sing a hymn at once and give great thanks. Then say warmly, from the soul: “Glory to You, O God”, three times. Shann’s English prayer book of 1891 gives the same direction.
The Greek prayer book, the thanksgiving after Holy Communion (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America); G. V. Shann, Euchology (1891)
Five prayers and a song
It opens a set of five prayers said after Communion. The fifth thanks the Mother of God. Then comes the Song of Simeon: the words of an old man in Jerusalem who held the infant Jesus in his arms, in Luke’s Gospel.
Russian Wikipedia, Prayers of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion; Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book (1906)
What the words mean
“Live no longer for myself”
The prayer asks to “live no longer for myself, but for You”. It borrows the words of St Paul: Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:15
The Scripture in it
And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.
Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
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 …
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Εὐχαριστῶ Σοι, Κύριε, ὁ Θεός μου, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπώσω με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν, ἀλλὰ κοινωνόν με γενέσθαι τῶν ἁγιασμάτων Σου κατηξίωσας.
Εὐχαριστῶ Σοι, ὅτι με τὸν ἀνάξιον μεταλαβεῖν τῶν ἀχράντων Σου καὶ ἐπουρανίων δωρεῶν κατηξίωσας.
Ἀλλά, Δέσποτα φιλάνθρωπε, ὁ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀποθανών τε καὶ ἀναστὰς καὶ χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν τὰ φρικτὰ ταῦτα καὶ ζωοποιά Σου Μυστήρια, ἐπ᾿ εὐεργεσίᾳ καὶ ἁγιασμῷ τῶν ψυχῶν καὶ τῶν σωμάτων ἡμῶν, δὸς γενέσθαι ταῦτα κἀμοὶ εἰς ἴασιν ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος, εἰς ἀποτροπὴν παντὸς ἐναντίου, εἰς φωτισμὸν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς καρδίας μου, εἰς εἰρήνην τῶν ψυχικῶν μου δυνάμεων, εἰς πίστιν ἀκαταίσχυντον, εἰς ἀγάπην ἀνυπόκριτον, εἰς πλησμονὴν σοφίας, εἰς περιποίησιν τῶν ἐντολῶν Σου, εἰς προσθήκην τῆς θείας Σου χάριτος καὶ τῆς Σῆς βασιλείας οἰκείωσιν·
ἵνα ἐν τῷ ἁγιασμῷ Σου δι᾿ αὐτῶν φυλαττόμενος, τῆς Σῆς χάριτος μνημονεύω διὰ παντὸς καὶ μηκέτι ἐμαυτῷ ζῶ, ἀλλὰ Σοὶ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ Δεσπότῃ καὶ εὐεργέτῃ.
Καὶ οὕτω τοῦ τῇδε βίου ἀπάρας ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίδι ζωῆς αἰωνίου, εἰς τὴν ἀΐδιον καταντήσω ἀνάπαυσιν, ἔνθα ὁ τῶν ἑορταζόντων ἦχος ὁ ἀκατάπαυστος καὶ ἡ ἀπέραντος ἡδονὴ τῶν καθορώντων τοῦ Σοῦ προσώπου τὸ κάλλος τὸ ἄῤῥητον.
Σὺ γὰρ εἶ τὸ ὄντως ἐφετὸν καὶ ἡ ἀνέκφραστος εὐφροσύνη τῶν ἀγαπώντων Σε, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ Σὲ ὑμνεῖ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.
Ἀμήν.