Prayer of St. Macrina, as she lay dying1 \n \nThou, O Lord, hast freed us from the fear of \ndeath. \nThou hast made the end of this life the \nbeginning to us of true life. \nThou for a season restest our bodies in sleep \nand awakest them again at the last trump. \nThou givest our earth, which Thou hast \nfashioned with Thy hands, to the earth to \nkeep in safety. \nOne day Thou wilt take again what Thou hast \ngiven, transfiguring with immortality and \ngrace our mortal and unsightly remains. \nThou hast saved us from the curse and from \nsin, having become both for our sakes. \nThou hast broken the heads of the dragon \nwho had seized us with his jaws, in the \nyawning gulf of disobedience. \nThou hast shown us the way of resurrection, \nhaving broken the gates of hell, and \nbrought to nought him who had the power \nof death -- the devil. \nThou hast given a sign to those that fear Thee \nin the symbol of the Holy Cross, to destroy \nthe adversary and save our life. \nO God eternal, \nto Whom I have been attached from my \nmother's womb, \nWhom my soul has loved with all its \nstrength, \nto Whom I have dedicated both my flesh \nand my soul from my youth up until \nnow: \nDo Thou give me an angel of light to conduct \nme to the place of refreshment, where is \nthe water of rest, in the bosom of the holy \nFathers. \nThou that didst break the flaming sword and \ndidst restore to Paradise the man that was \ncrucified with Thee and implored Thy \nmercies, remember me, too, in Thy \nkingdom; because I, too, was crucified \nwith Thee, having nailed my flesh to the \ncross for fear of Thee, and of Thy \njudgments have I been afraid. \nLet not the terrible chasm separate me from \nThy elect. \nNor let the Slanderer stand against me in the \nway; nor let my sin be found before Thy \neyes, if in anything I have sinned in word \nor deed or thought, led astray by the \nweakness of our nature. \nO Thou Who hast power on earth to forgive \nsins, forgive me, that I may be refreshed \nand may be found before Thee when I put \noff my body, without defilement on my \nsoul. \nBut may my soul be received into Thy hands \nspotless and undefiled, as an offering \nbefore Thee. \nGregory of Nyssa, Life of St. Macrina, http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/gregory_macrina_1_life.htm \nEdited, for easy reading, at: http://www.orthodox.net/trebnic/of-macrina-as-she-lay-dying.doc ; (PDF) ; (HTML) \n\n \n1 My son +Daniel was not able to pray this prayer when he was translated (6/11/2017 ns). That is the nature of accidental, unexpected \ndeath. Such deaths are deeply mysterious, and painful to those who are left behind. We cannot understand much of life, and we \nunderstand even less of death, and, even though we have promises of the life to come, we understand it least of all. We do understand \nhowever, that to God all live, and that His mercy endureth forever, and that to God, a thousand years are as a single day. Th erefore, we \nwho have been reminded in a bitter way about the death of the body, can pray this prayer, for ourselves, and our loved ones, living in the \nbody, and those translated yonder without their bodies, as we all await the general resurrection and the life to come. See \nhttp://www.orthodox.net/daniel to learn about Daniel, and to be put on “Daniel’s list”