A Prayer before the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord

A Prayer before the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord

O most honorable and Life-creating Cross of the Lord, sanctified by the Blood of Christ our God, and become for us, through His Death, the deliverance from eternal death!

Thou art the sign of victory over our enemies, visible and invisible! Thou shalt appear at the hour of the dread Judgment of Christ: to thee I bow down in humility, I touch thee with honor and embrace thee in love, offering this prayer to Him Who was crucified on thee, that He might heal me by His Power which is in thee, from all of my ills of body and soul, and preserve me from enemies visible and invisible, and cause me to stand uncondemned on the right hand at His Judgment Seat.

Yea, O holy and Life-giving Cross, on thee the Saviour, dying for humanity which was dead in sin, gave up the ghost like a mortal, and shed blood and water, and by these three, wrought for us one Salvation of which we have need more than all things: unto the glory of God the Father, the Source of Living Waters; and unto Himself, God the Son, incarnate of the Virgin's blood, and God the Holy Spirit, Who enliveneth the spirit of man:

Help me to glorify these Three in One Godhead in my gratitude, having received the incorrupt faith through the waters of Baptism, and the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord in unshaken hope, a spirit contrite in penitence and love unfeigned:

and not only in this life filled with tears, which passeth as waters flowing by, full of battles and shed blood, and like steam doth vanish, but also in the blessed life to come let me glorify the Lord, by the aid of thy strength, O thrice-blessed Cross, so that I may glorify in the very Presence Him,

in Whom I have believed, on Whom I have hoped and Who is my beloved delight:

The One glorified in the Holy Trinity, for ages of ages. Amen.