It is clear to all who dwell in Egypt that it is through the monks that the world is kept in being and that through them also human life is preserved and honored by God… There is no town or village in Egypt that is not surrounded by hermitages as if by walls, and all the people depend on the prayers of the monks as if on God himself.
Hold me worthy, O Lord, to behold your mercy in my soul before I depart from this world; may I be aware in myself at that hour of your comfort, along with those who have gone forth from this world in good hope.
Open my heart, O my God, by your grace and purify me from any association with sin.
Tread out in my heart the path of repentance, my God and my Lord, my hope and my boast, my strong refuge, by whom may my eyes be illumined, and may I have understanding of your truth, O Lord.
Hold my worthy, Lord, to taste the joy of the gift of repentance,
by which the soul is separated from cooperating with sin and the
will of flesh and blood. Hold my worthy, O Lord, to taste this
state, wherein lies the gift of pure prayer.
O my Saviour, may I attain to this wondrous transition at which
the soul abandons this visible world, and at which new stirrings
arise on our entering into the spiritual world and the experience
of new perceptions.
St. Isaac the Syrian
