Ektenia for the Environment 2004
PRIEST: Furthermore, we pray to You, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and
earth, Whose grace is everywhere within and without all of Creation, Who
determined each creature in the counsels of Your Holy Will before time began,
Who created all things by the Son in the Holy Spirit, Who made all things exist
in each other, holding together in the power of Christ : look down with mercy upon
Your handiwork in the world that You love. Though this beautiful world was made
for Paradise and prepared for the Church, we
children of the First Adam have disfigured it by the pollution of our sin. We
were set on this earth to unite it to You in Paradise,
but instead, where grace should have reigned, we have opened an abyss of
darkness and decay. But You have so loved the world that You gave Your
Only-Begotten Son, the Second Adam, through Whom all that is broken may be
mended, all that is polluted may be cleansed, and all that is disfigured may be
fashioned anew. Save this earth, O Lord, and renew it through our hands.
Through the mystical Body of Your Son, re-unite this world to the grace of Paradise. For all Your manifold works in this beautiful
world, O Lord, hear us and have mercy.
ALL: Lord Have Mercy (3)
PRIEST: Furthermore, we pray to You, Maker of all worlds, visible and
invisible, that You change our hearts to charity for the whole of creation. We
know that all creation awaits the glory that will be revealed in man: but until
that Day, turn our intentions toward love for Your works. Fill us with
compassion for every creature, and thus call us back to our first vocation as
stewards in this world. Soften our hearts that we pity the weak and the
suffering, of all Your creatures great and small. Move us onward toward union
with You, and on our way, let us leave no creature behind, but gather all Your
works so that creation may once again be transfigured by grace. Inspire us to
care for Your manifold works in this beautiful world, O Lord, hear us and have
mercy.
ALL: Lord Have Mercy (3)
(To be inserted into the Triple Litany on Wednesday, September 1 if there
is a Liturgy on that day, and on Sunday, September 5 at the Divine Liturgy.)
+METROPOLITAN
NICHOLAS
