ᾨδὴ Γʹ
The Call to Repentance
The soul is urged to flee from the judgment of sin and seek the mercy of the Good Shepherd.
Christ, establish your Church on the unshakable rock of your commandments.✦ Before, O my soul, the Lord rained down fire from the Lord and burned up the land of Sodom. Flee to the mountain for safety, my soul, just as Lot did, and escape first to Zoar. Flee the blaze, my soul; flee the burning of Sodom; flee destruction in the fire of divine judgment.1 I confess to you, Savior: I have sinned; I have sinned against you. But in your compassion, release me and forgive me. I alone have sinned against you; I have sinned more than anyone. Christ my Savior, don't turn away from me.✦ You are the Good Shepherd; seek me, your lamb, and don't overlook me when I've gone astray. You are gentle Jesus; You are my Creator. In You, Savior, I will be justified.
The Trinity and the Theotokos
A brief doxological interlude praising the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God.
O Trinity and Unity, our God, save us from error, temptation, and distress. Rejoice, womb that received God; rejoice, throne of the Lord; rejoice, mother of our Life.
Lessons from the Patriarchs
The soul is exhorted to imitate the virtues and avoid the failures of the biblical figures from Noah to Lot.
Steady my shaken heart, Lord, on the rock of your commandments, for you alone are holy and Lord. I have you, the destroyer of death, as the fountain of life, and before the end I cry out to you from my heart: I have sinned; have mercy on me and save me. I have imitated those who lived wantonly in Noah’s day, Savior, and have inherited their sentence: to be plunged beneath the flood. I have sinned, Lord; I have sinned against you. Have mercy on me, for there is no sinner among humankind whom I haven't surpassed in my offenses. My soul, you imitated Ham, who dishonored his father: you didn't cover your neighbor’s shame by turning away with your face averted. Wretched soul, you didn’t inherit Shem’s blessing, nor did you receive, like Japheth, a spacious possession in the land of forgiveness. Leave Haran, the land of sin, my soul, and come into the land flowing with everlasting incorruption that Abraham inherited. You’ve heard how Abraham once left his ancestral land, my soul, and became a wanderer; imitate his resolve. At the oak of Mamre, the patriarch welcomed the angels and, in his old age, received the reward of the promise. My wretched soul, you know how Isaac was mystically offered as a whole sacrifice to the Lord; imitate his willing resolve. You’ve heard how Ishmael, the child of a slave woman, was driven away. Stay alert, my soul, and take care that your lust doesn’t bring the same fate upon you. Long ago, my soul, you became like Hagar the Egyptian: you enslaved your own will and gave birth to a new Ishmael—your arrogance. You knew Jacob’s ladder, my soul, shown reaching from earth to heaven; why, then, didn’t you make devotion your firm foundation? Imitate the priest of God and solitary king, a likeness of Christ, in the life he lived among humanity in this world. Don’t become a pillar of salt, my soul, by turning back. Let the example of Sodom fill you with fear; flee upward to safety in Zoar. Like Lot, flee the blaze of sin, my soul; flee Sodom and Gomorrah; flee the flame of every irrational desire.
Final Supplication and Praise
The chapter concludes with a cry for mercy at the final judgment and a hymn to the Incarnation.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy on me, I cry out to you, when you come with your angels to repay everyone according to their deeds. Master, don't reject the prayer of those who praise you; instead, in your love for humanity, have compassion and grant forgiveness to those who ask in faith. Simple Unity, uncreated and eternal Nature, praised in a Trinity of Persons: save us who worship your sovereign power in faith.23 Mother of God, without knowing a man, you gave birth in time to the timeless Son who is from the Father—what a strange wonder! You nursed him and still remained a virgin.
Read the original Latin
Ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσάλευτον, Χριστέ, πέτραν τῶν ἐντολῶν σου τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν σου στερέωσον.
Πῦρ παρὰ Κυρίου, ψυχή, Κύριος ἐπιβρέξας, τὴν γῆν Σοδόμων πρὶν κατέφλεξεν.
Εἰς τὸ ὄρος σῴζου, ψυχή, ὥσπερ ὁ Λὼτ ἐκεῖνος, καὶ εἰς Σηγὼρ προανασώθητι.
Φεῦγε ἐμπρησμόν, ὦ ψυχή, φεῦγε Σοδόμων καῦσιν, φεῦγε φθορὰν θείας φλογώσεως.
Ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, Σωτήρ· Ἥμαρτον, ἥμαρτόν σοι· ἀλλ᾿ ἄνες, ἄφες μοι ὡς εὔσπλαγχνος.
Ἥμαρτόν σοι μόνος ἐγώ, ἥμαρτον ὑπὲρ πάντας· Χριστὲ Σωτήρ, μὴ ὑπερίδῃς με.
Σὺ εἶ ὁ Ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ζήτησόν με τὸν ἄρνα, καὶ πλανηθέντα μὴ παρίδῃς με.
Σὺ εἶ ὁ γλυκὺς Ἰησοῦς, σὺ εἶ ὁ Πλαστουργός μου· ἐν σοί, Σωτήρ, δικαιωθήσομαι.
Ὦ Τριὰς Μονάς, ὁ Θεός, σῶσον ἡμᾶς ἐκ πλάνης, καὶ πειρασμῶν καὶ περιστάσεων.
Χαῖρε, θεοδόχε γαστήρ· χαῖρε, θρόνε Κυρίου· χαῖρε, ἡ μήτηρ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν.
Στερέωσον, Κύριε, ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν τῶν ἐντολῶν σου σαλευθεῖσαν τὴν καρδίαν μου· ὅτι μόνος ἅγιος ὑπάρχεις καὶ Κύριος.
Πηγὴν ζωῆς κέκτημαι σὲ τοῦ θανάτου τὸν καθαιρέτην, καὶ βοῶ σοι ἐκ καρδίας μου πρὸ τοῦ τέλους· Ἥμαρτον, ἱλάσθητι, σῶσόν με.
Τοὺς ἐπὶ Νῶε, Σωτήρ, ἠσελγηκότας ἐμιμησάμην, τὴν ἐκείνων κληρωσάμενος καταδίκην ἐν κατακλυσμῷ καταδύσεως.
Ἡμάρτηκα, Κύριε, ἡμάρτηκά σοι, ἱλάσθητί μοι· οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ὅς τις ἥμαρτεν ἐν ἀνθρώποις, ὃν οὐχ ὑπερέβην τοῖς πταίσμασι.
Τὸν Χὰμ ἐκεῖνον, ψυχή, τὸν πατραλοίαν μιμησαμένη, τὴν αἰσχύνην οὐκ ἐκάλυψας τοῦ πλησίον, ὀπισθοφανῶς ἀνακάμψασα.
Τὴν εὐλογίαν τοῦ Σὴμ οὐκ ἐκληρώσω, ψυχὴ ἀθλία· οὐ πλατεῖαν τὴν κατάσχεσιν, ὡς Ἰάφεθ, ἔσχες ἐν τῇ γῇ τῆς ἀφέσεως.
Ἐκ γῆς Χαρρὰν ἔξελθε, τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ψυχή μου, δεῦρο εἰς γῆν ρέουσαν ἀείζωον ἀφθαρσίαν, ἣν ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐκληρώσατο.
Τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἤκουσας πάλαι, ψυχή μου, καταλιπόντα γῆν πατρῴαν, καὶ γενόμενον μετανάστην· τούτου τὴν προαίρεσιν μίμησαι.
Ἐν τῇ δρυῒ τῇ Μαμβρῇ, φιλοξενήσας ὁ Πατριάρχης τοὺς Ἀγγέλους, ἐκληρώσατο μετὰ γῆρας τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὸ θήραμα.
Τὸν Ἰσαάκ, τάλαινα, γνοῦσα, ψυχή μου, καινὴν θυσίαν μυστικῶς ὁλοκαρπούμενον τῷ Κυρίῳ, μίμησαι αὐτοῦ τὴν προαίρεσιν.
Τὸν Ἰσμαὴλ ἤκουσας, νῆφε, ψυχή μου, ἐκδιωχθέντα, ὡς παιδίσκης ἀποκύημα· βλέπε, μήπως ὅμοιόν τι πάθῃς λαγνεύουσα.
Τῇ Ἄγαρ πάλαι, ψυχή, τῇ Αἰγυπτίᾳ παρωμοιώθης, δουλωθεῖσα τὴν προαίρεσιν, καὶ τεκοῦσα νέον Ἰσμαήλ, τὴν αὐθάδειαν.
Τὴν Ἰακὼβ κλίμακα ἔγνως, ψυχή μου, δεικνυομένην ἀπὸ γῆς πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια· τί μὴ ἔσχες βάσιν ἀσφαλῆ τὴν εὐσέβειαν;
Τὸν ἱερέα Θεοῦ καὶ βασιλέα μεμονωμένον, τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ ἀφομοίωμα, τοῦ ἐν κόσμῳ, βίου ἐν ἀνθρώποις, μιμήθητι.
Μὴ γένῃ στήλη ἁλός, ψυχή, στραφεῖσα εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω· τὸ ὑπόδειγμα φοβείτω σε τῶν Σοδόμων· ἄνω εἰς Σηγὼρ διασώθητι.
Τὸν ἐμπρησμόν, ὥσπερ Λώτ, φεῦγε, ψυχή μου, τῆς ἁμαρτίας· φεῦγε Σόδομα καὶ Γόμορρα· φεῦγε φλόγα πάσης παραλόγου ὀρέξεως.
Ἐλέησον, Κύριε, ἐλέησόν με, ἀναβοῶ σοι, ὅτε ἥξεις μετ᾿ Ἀγγέλων σου ἀποδοῦναι πᾶσι κατ᾿ ἀξίαν τῶν πράξεων.
Τὴν δέησιν, Δέσποτα, τῶν σὲ ὑμνούντων μὴ ἀπορρίψῃς· ἀλλ᾿ οἰκτείρησον, φιλάνθρωπε, καὶ παράσχου πίστει αἰτουμένοις τὴν ἄφεσιν.
Μονὰς ἁπλῆ, ἄκτιστε, ἄναρχε φύσις, ἡ ἐν Τριάδι, ὑμνουμένη ὑποστάσεων, ἡμᾶς σῶσον πίστει προσκυνοῦντας τὸ κράτος σου.
Τὸν ἐκ Πατρὸς ἄχρονον Υἱὸν ἐν χρόνῳ, Θεοκυῆτορ, ἀπειράνδρως ἀπεκύησας· ξένον θαῦμα! μείνασα Παρθένος θηλάζουσα.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.7.24-Matt.7.25;Matt.16.18 — Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matt.7.25 — And the rain came down, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Matt.16.18 — And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
- ↩Ps.50.6 — And the heavens declare his righteousness, for God is Judge. Selah
Notes
- 1 ↩Literally, “divine burning”; rendered as “the fire of divine judgment” to clarify that the phrase refers to divinely inflicted punishment.
- 2 ↩“Simple Unity” expresses divine oneness without composition; “simple” does not mean uncomplicated.
- 3 ↩Literally, “in a Trinity of hypostases”; “Persons” is the standard English theological rendering here.
The Great Canon companion
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Chosen Portion is a modern Book of Hours: it turns the fixed-hour structure this collection preserves into scheduled, tappable daily prayer on your phone.
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