A Syriac Christmas Prayer

Welcome back to the third installment in our Ancient Christmas Prayers series. This week, we will be praying a prayer from the third century. It was originally written in the Syriac language. During the third century, the most prevalent languages were Greek, Latin, and Syriac. Syriac was very similar to Aramaic, a language used for portions of the book of Daniel. The Syriac (or Syrian) Church finds its roots from Antioch, the city and church I talked about in my Oct 29 sermon from Acts 11.

I have added footnotes to help you see just how biblical this prayer is. But don’t just read the words or notice the footnotes. Truly pray the prayer! May this ancient prayer that Christ-followers long ago prayed help you worship your Heavenly Father who gave the greatest gift ever given – His one and only Son.

Let us pray…

The Prayer

The radiance of the Father’s splendor, the Father’s visible image,¹ Jesus Christ our God,² peerless among counselors,³ Prince of Peace,⁴ Father of the world to come,⁵ the model after which Adam⁶ was formed, for our sakes became like a slave:⁷ in the womb of Mary the virgin,⁸ without assistance from any man, he took flesh.⁹

Enable us, Lord, to reach the end of this luminous feast in peace, forsaking all idle words,¹⁰ acting virtuously,¹¹ shunning our passions,¹² and raising ourselves above the things of this world.¹³

Bless your servants, whose trust is all in you; bless all Christian souls, the sick, those tormented by evil spirits, and those who have asked us to pray for them.¹⁴

Show yourself as merciful as you are rich in grace;¹⁵ save and preserve us;¹⁶ enable us to obtain those good things to come which will never know an end.

May we celebrate your glorious birth,¹⁷ and the Father who sent you to redeem us¹⁸, and your Spirit, the Giver of life,¹⁹ now and forever, age after age. Amen.

1. Colossians 1:15 ↩︎
2. 2 Peter 1:1 ↩︎
3. Isaiah 9:6 ↩︎
4. Isaiah 9:6 ↩︎
5. Isaiah 9:6 ↩︎
6. Romans 5:14 ↩︎
7. Philippians 2:7 ↩︎
8. Luke 1:26-35 ↩︎
9. John 1:14 ↩︎
10. Matthew 12:36 ↩︎
11. 2 Timothy 2:22 ↩︎
12. Galatians 5:24 ↩︎
13. Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 3:1-2 ↩︎
14. James 5:16 ↩︎
15. Exodus 34:6 ↩︎
16. Psalm 80:3 ↩︎
17. Galatians 4:4 ↩︎
18. Galatians 4:5 ↩︎
19. John 6:63 ↩︎