1st, 2nd Century Prayers for Your Week Ahead

Pray through each day of the week with these 1st and 2nd Century prayers from the Early Church.

Sunday Prayers

Sunday Morning A Morning Prayer —Syrian Clementine Liturgy, 1st Century  O God, Who art the unsearchable abyss of peace, the ineffable sea of love, the fountain of blessings, and the bestower of affection, Who sendest peace to those that receive it; open to us this day the sea of Your love, and water us with the plenteous streams from the riches of Your grace. Make us children of quietness, and heirs of peace. Enkindle in us the fire of Your love; sow in us Your fear; strengthen our weakness by Your power; bind us closely to You and to each other in one firm bond of unity; for the sake of Jesus Christ. AMEN. [1]

Sunday Midday A Praise  —Clement of Rome, 1st Century You alone watch over the interests of spiritual beings, you are the God of all flesh. You gaze into the depths, you watch what men are doing. You are our help in danger, you save the despairing, Creator and Keeper of all that is spiritual. You give increase to the peoples of the earth, and from them all you chose us out to love you, through Jesus Christ, your dear Child, who brought us instruction, holiness and honor. AMEN. [2]

Sunday Evensong For a Pure Heart —Liturgy of St. James, 2nd Century O God, the Father of our Saviour Jesus Christ, whose name is great, whose nature is blissful, whose goodness is inexhaustible, God and Ruler of all things, who art blessed forever; before whom stand thousands and thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, the hosts of holy angels and archangels; sanctify, O Lord, our souls and bodies and spirits, search our consciences, and cast out of us every evil thought, every base desire, all envy and pride, all wrath and anger, and all that is contrary to Your holy will. And grant us, O Lord, Lover of men, with a pure heart and contrite soul, to call upon You, our holy God and Father who art in heaven. AMEN. [3]

Sunday Compline The Prayer of Simeon (Nunc Dimittis) —Luke 2:29-32 “Lord, you now have set your servant free *    to go in peace as you have promised;For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *    whom you have prepared for all the world to see:A Light to enlighten the nations, *    and the glory of your people Israel.” AMEN. [4]

Monday Prayers

Monday Morning In the Morning  —Clement of Rome, 1st Century Thou didst make to appear the enduring fabric of the world by the works of Your hand; You, Lord, didst create the earth on which we dwell… direct our steps that we may walk in holiness of heart and do what is good and well-pleasing in Your sight and in the sight of our rulers. Yea, Lord, make Your face to shine upon us for good in peace, that we may be shielded by Your mighty hand and delivered from every sin by Your uplifted arm, and deliver us from those who hate us wrongfully. AMEN. [5]

Monday Midday For the Nations  —Clement of Rome, 1st Century We beg you, Lord… May every nation come to know that you alone are God, that Jesus Christ is your Child, that we are your people, the sheep that you pasture.You have shown by what you have made and done how the world has been planned from eternity. AMEN. [6]

Monday Evensong The Song of Mary (The Magnificat) —Luke 1:46-55 My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *    for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.From this day all generations will call me blessed: *    the Almighty has done great things for me,    and holy is his Name.He has mercy on those who fear him *    in every generation.He has shown the strength of his arm, *    he has scattered the proud in their conceit.He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *    and has lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good things, *    and the rich he has sent away empty.He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *    for he has remembered his promise of mercy,The promise he made to our fathers, *    to Abraham and his children for ever. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *    as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. [7]

Monday Compline For Peace —Clement of Rome, 1st Century Give concord and peace to us and to all who dwell on the earth, as you gave to our fathers when they called on you in faith and truth with holiness, that we may be saved, while we render obedience to your almighty and most excellent name, and to our rulers and governors on the earth. AMEN. [8]

Tuesday Prayers

Tuesday Morning Morning Prayer For Peace  —Syrian Clementine Liturgy, 1st Century  Open to us this day the sea of your love, and water us with the flowing streams of your grace. Make us children of quietness, and heirs of peace. Enkindle the fire of your love in us; plant holy reverence for you in us; strengthen our weakness by your power; bind us closely to you and to each other in one firm bond of unity; for the sake of Jesus Christ. AMEN. [9]

Tuesday Midday For Forgiveness  —Clement of Rome, 1st Century The earth is your creation, Lord, yours that are true to every generation, just when you judge, your strength and splendour a marvel. Such competence yours in creating, such skill in setting firm the things you make, your goodness apparent in this world to see. You are loyal to those who trust you, merciful, compassionate. Forgive us our sins, our injustice, Our falls, our jarring deeds. AMEN. [10]

Tuesday Evensong Sanctify Us, O Lord —Liturgy of St. James, 2nd Century Sanctify also, O Lord, our souls, and bodies, and spirits, and touch our understandings, and search our consciences, and cast out from us every evil imagination, every impure feeling, every base desire, every unbecoming thought, all envy, and vanity, and hypocrisy, all lying, all deceit, every worldly affection, all covetousness, all vainglory, all indifference, all vice, all passion, all anger, all malice, all blasphemy, every motion of the flesh and spirit that is not in accordance with Your holy will: and count us worthy, O loving Lord, with boldness, without condemnation, in a pure heart, with a contrite spirit, with unshamed face, with sanctified lips, to dare to call upon You, the holy God, Father in heaven. AMEN. [11]

Tuesday Compline Night Intercession  —Clement of Rome, 1st Century We beseech thee, Master, to be our helper and protector. Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly; raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly; restore the wanderers of thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted. AMEN. [12]

Wednesday Prayers

Wednesday Morning A Pure Heart —The Clementine Liturgy, 1st Century  O God Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Your only begotten Son, give me a body unstained, a pure heart, a watchful mind, and an upright understanding, and the presence of Your Holy Spirit, that I may obtain and ever hold fast to an unshaken faith in Your Truth, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord; through whom be glory to You in the Holy Ghost, forever and ever. AMEN. [13]

Wednesday Midday Intercession —Polycarp, 2nd Century  May God the Father, and the Eternal High Priest Jesus Christ, build us up in faith and truth and love, and grant to us our portion among the saints with all those who believe on our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for all saints, for kings and rulers, for the enemies of the Cross of Christ, and for ourselves we pray that our fruit may abound and we may be made perfect in Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN. [14]

Wednesday Evensong For Soul Cleansing  —Liturgy of St. James, 2nd Century Sanctify, O Lord, our souls, bodies and spirits; examine our minds and search our consciences; take from us all evil imaginations, all impurity of thought, all inclinations to lust, all depravity of conception, all envy, pride and hypocrisy, all falsehood, deceit and irregular living, all covetousness, vain glory and sloth; all malice, anger and wrath, all remembrance of injuries, all blasphemy and every motion of flesh and spirit that is contrary to the purity of Your Will. AMEN. [15]

Wednesday Compline From Darkness to Light  —Clement of Rome, 1st Century  We ask, with prayer and supplication, that the Creator of the universe may guard intact to the end the number of his elect throughout the whole world, through his beloved Son Jesus Christ, through whom he called us from darkness to light, from ignorance to the full knowledge of the glory of his name. AMEN. [16]

Thursday Prayers

Thursday Morning For Joy and Gladness —The Clementine Liturgy, 1st Century  Blessed art You, O Lord, who have nourished me from my youth up, who gives food to all flesh. Fill our hearts with joy and gladness, that we, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom to You be glory, honour, might, majesty, and dominion, forever and ever. AMEN. [17]

Thursday Midday For Enlightenment of the Soul —Liturgy of St. James, 2nd Century  O God, who have taught us Your divine and saving oracles, enlighten the souls of us sinners for the comprehension of the things which have been before spoken, so that we may not only be seen to be hearers of spiritual things, but also doers of good deeds, striving after guileless faith, blameless life, and pure conversation. AMEN. [18]

Thursday Evensong For Stewardship —Barnabas, 2nd Century  O Lord God Almighty, who have built Your Church upon the foundation of the Apostles, under Christ the head corner-stone, and to this end didst endue Your holy apostle St. Barnabas with the singular gift of the Holy Ghost; leave me not destitute, I humbly beseech You, of Your manifold gifts and talents, nor yet of grace to make a right use of them always without any sordid self-ends, to Your honour and glory; that, making a due improvement of all those gifts You graciously entrusted me with, I may be able to give a good account of my stewardship when the great Judge shall appear, the Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns with You and the Eternal Spirit, one God, blessed forever. AMEN. [19]

Thursday Compline “Come to the Father” —Ignatius of Antioch, 1st Century I am the wheat of God,and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts,that I may be found the pure bread of God. I long after the Lord, the Son of the true God and Father, Jesus Christ. Him I seek, who died for us and rose again… there is living water springing up in me, and it says to me inwardly: “Come to the Father.” AMEN. [20]

Friday Prayers

Friday Morning For Forgiveness —Clement of Rome, 1st Century  Thou, who art faithful in all generations, just in judgments, wonderful in strength and majesty, with wisdom creating and with understanding fixing the things which were made, who art good among them that are being saved and faithful among them whose trust is in You: O merciful and Compassionate One, forgive us our iniquities and offences and transgressions and trespasses. Reckon not every sin of Your servants and handmaids, but You wilt purify us with the purification of Your truth. AMEN. [21]

Friday Midday To Witness for Christ —Liturgy of St. James, 2nd Century Let me rejoice in every happy occasion of testifying the sincerity of my love, by suffering for Your truth, and let the firm belief of those glorious eternal rewards which You have prepared for them who lay down their lives for Your sake, support me under all the cruelties of the most merciless persecutors. Grant this, O blessed Lord, who died for me, and rose again, and now sits at the right hand of the Father, to intercede for me, and all Your faithful disciples. AMEN. [22]

Friday Evensong For Growth in Grace —Irenaeus, Old Gallican Sacramentary, 2nd Century  Give perfection to beginners, O Father; give intelligence to the little ones; give aid to those who are running their course. Give sorrow to the negligent; give fervour of spirit to the lukewarm. Give to the perfect a good consummation; for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN. [23]

Friday Compline For the Departed —Ignatius of Antioch, 1st Century  Receive in tranquility and peace, O Lord, the souls of your servants who have departed this present life to come to you. Grant them rest and place them in the habitations of light, the abodes of blessed spirits. Give them the life that will not age, good things that will not pass away, delights that have no end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. [24]

Saturday Prayers

Saturday Morning For Blessings —Clement of Rome, 1st Century May God, who seeth all things, and who is the Ruler of all spirits and the Lord of all flesh… grant to every soul that calleth upon His glorious and holy Name, faith, peace, patience, long-suffering, self-control, purity, and sobriety, to the well-pleasing of His Name, through our High Priest and Protector, Jesus Christ, by whom be to Him glory, and majesty, and power, and honour, both now and forevermore. AMEN. [25]

Saturday Midday For Pardon  —Liturgy of St. James, 2nd Century Release, pardon, and forgive, O God, all our voluntary and involuntary sins, such as we have committed in action and in word, knowingly and ignorantly, by night and by day, in mind and thought, forgive us all in goodness and love. AMEN. [26]

Saturday Evensong Stewardship —Barnabas, 2nd Century  O Lord God Almighty, who didst endue Your holy apostle Barnabas with singular gifts of the Holy Ghost; leave us not, we beseech You, destitute of Your manifold gifts, nor yet of grace to use them always to Your honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. [27]

Saturday Compline Tranquility —Clement of Alexandria, 2nd Century  May we all live in the peace that comes from You. May we journey towards Your city, sailing through the waters of sin untouched by the waves, borne tranquilly along by the Holy Spirit, Your Wisdom beyond all telling. Night and day until the last day of all, may our praises give You thanks, our thanksgiving praise You: You who alone are both Father and Son, Son and Father, the Son who is our Tutor and our Teacher, together with the Holy Spirit. AMEN. [28]

CITATIONS:

[1] Potts, J. M. (2020). First Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 17). prayer. 

[2] Kosloski, P. (2017, November 24). The oldest Christian Prayer outside of the Bible. Aleteia. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://aleteia.org/2017/11/24/the-oldest-christian-prayer-outside-of-the-bible/

[3] Potts, J. M. (2020). Second Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 23). prayer. 

[4] Episcopal Church. (1979). Daily Office. In The Book of common prayer: And administration of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America: Together with the psalter, or, Psalms of David (pp. 120). New York, NY: Church Publishing Incorporated.

[5] Potts, J. M. (2020). First Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 18). prayer. 

[6] Kosloski, P. (2017, November 24). The oldest Christian Prayer outside of the Bible. Aleteia. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://aleteia.org/2017/11/24/the-oldest-christian-prayer-outside-of-the-bible/

[7] Episcopal Church. (1979). Daily Office. In The Book of common prayer: And administration of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America: Together with the psalter, or, Psalms of David (pp. 119). New York, NY: Church Publishing Incorporated.

[8] Clement of rome. A Collection of Prayers. (2018, June 23). Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://acollectionofprayers.com/tag/clement-of-rome/

[9] Ibid. 8

[10] Kosloski, P. (2017, November 24). The oldest Christian Prayer outside of the Bible. Aleteia. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://aleteia.org/2017/11/24/the-oldest-christian-prayer-outside-of-the-bible/

[11] Potts, J. M. (2020). Second Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 24). prayer. 

[12] Birch, J. (n.d.). Faith & WORSHIP. Early Christian Prayer. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://www.faithandworship.com/early_Christian_prayers.htm#gsc.tab=0

[13] Potts, J. M. (2020). First Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 20). prayer. 

[14] Potts, J. M. (2020). Second Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 21). prayer. 

[15] Ibid. 14, P. 22

[16] Clement of rome. A Collection of Prayers. (2018, June 23). Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://acollectionofprayers.com/tag/clement-of-rome/

[17] Potts, J. M. (2020). First Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 20). prayer. 

[18] Potts, J. M. (2020). Second Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 22). prayer.

[19] Ibid. 18, P. 25

[20] Prayer of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. (n.d.). Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://www.catholicdoors.com/prayers/english/p00386.htm

[21] Potts, J. M. (2020). First Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 18). prayer. 

[22] Potts, J. M. (2020). Second Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 23). prayer.

[23] Ibid. 22, P. 26

[24] ThoughtCo. (2019, May 4). A prayer for the dead by Saint Ignatius of Antioch. Learn Religions. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://www.learnreligions.com/prayer-for-the-dead-542778#:~:text=Receive%20in%20tranquility%20and%20peace,the%20abodes%20of%20blessed%20spirits

[25] Potts, J. M. (2020). First Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 18). prayer. 

[26] Potts, J. M. (2020). Second Century Prayers. In Prayers of the Early Church (Kindle, pp. 22). prayer.

[27] Ibid. 26, P. 25

[28] Kosloski, P. (2017, November 24). The oldest Christian Prayer outside of the Bible. Aleteia. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://aleteia.org/2017/11/24/the-oldest-christian-prayer-outside-of-the-bible/