Prayers from St. Ephraim

"I have the will, but I cannot say that I have the strength. I give what I have. Consider my situation and if it pleases Thee to give me what I lack, grant it to me."
-from St. Ephraim in The Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God excerpted by Bishop Theophan the Recluse.

The above book is an excellent little book that I bought a couple of lents ago. I enjoyed it upon purchase, but only recently picked it up again. I don't know why I put it down. St. Ephraim was an early Christian saint in the whereabouts of modern day Iraq/Turkey. He has written an incredible amount of wonderful poetry that is reflective of his own prayer life.

This book is actually a compilation of another saint of the Church--St. Theophan the Recluse. St. Theophan is a wonderful saint for 19th century Russia. His works are easy to read and contain practical instructions on living the Christian life. St. Theophan took many of the prayers of St. Ephraim and compiled them into 150 prayers so they resembled the Psalter.

This treasure is full of pryaers that encourage repentance and humility and is worth incorporating into your prayer life at least during the fasting periods of the Church. It should be a trustworthy guide toward a life of repentance.

You can find another book review here

& a life of St. Ephraim here and here.

a great blog about a current travel experience with St. Ephraim.

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