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Sunday, 1 November 2020

For a Time of Pestilence - Ephrem the Syrian

The Church is desolate and sits mournfully
For no one enters or departs; 
Thy decree hath destroyed them! 
And the priests groan in the holy place, 
With loud sighs for their companions 
Who have departed from them for ever! 

Howl, old age and weep! 
For already is snapped in sunder 
The staff on which thou leanedst; — 
Who shall hold and raise thee up? 
For Death hath broken it and caused it to decay,
He hath entered and placed it in the tomb! 

Who would not weep, my brethren,
With bitter wailings? 
Who does not suffer and groan and sigh, 
For the sword which is in our streets? 
Young men, beloved and comely. 
Wither suddenly like flowers! 

Oh God, the Father, who hath fashioned us 
For His great glory. 
Now deliver us and in Thy pity let us live! 
Let not Thy fair image perish 
And become a derision to its enemies, 
But pardon us and save our lives! 

No deaths are so grievous 
As the evil death of the wicked man; 
His iniquity addeth to the burning. 
And the flame can not be quenched; 
Hope and escape are cut off. — 
Save us from it, and in Thy grace let us live! 

Confess us and put us not to shame 
Before the nations who know Thee not; 
Since we have not declined from Thy law, 
Nor from the precepts of Thy doctrine. 
Preserve us from the judgment which hasteneth. 
And from the wrath which threatens us.

Ephrem the Syrian [Ephraem Syrus] (c. 306 – 373) Turkey
Translated by Rev. Henry Burgess
Source: Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus, Henry Burgess, Robert B. Blackader, 1853

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