Where shall I begin to weep for the actions of my wretched life?
What first-fruit shall I offer, O Christ, in this my lamentation?
But in Your compassion grant me forgiveness of sins.
But in Your compassion grant me forgiveness of sins.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Come, wretched soul, with your flesh to the Creator of all.
Make confession to Him, and abstain henceforth from past brutishness;
and offer to God tears of repentance.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have rivaled in transgression, Adam, the first-formed man,
and I have found myself stripped naked of God,
of the eternal Kingdom and its joy, because of my sins.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Woe to you, miserable soul! How alike you are to first Eve!
For you have looked in wickedness and were grievously wounded;
you have touched the tree and rashly tasted the deceptive food.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Instead of the visible Eve, I have the Eve of the mind:
the passionate thought in my flesh,
showing me what seems sweet;
yet whenever I taste from it, I find it bitter.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Adam was justly banished from Eden,
because he disobeyed one commandment of Yours, O Savior,
What then shall I suffer, for I am always rejecting Your words of life?
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
By my own free choice I have incurred the guilt of Cain’s murder.
I have killed my conscience,
bringing the flesh to life and making war upon the soul
by my wicked actions.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
O Jesus, I have not been like Abel in his righteousness.
Never have I offered You acceptable gifts or godly actions,
a pure sacrifice or a life unblemished.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Like Cain, O miserable soul, we too have offered,
to the Creator of all,
defiled actions and a polluted sacrifice and a worthless life;
and so we also are condemned.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Frederica Mathewes-Green, American Orthodox author
First Fruits of Prayer A Forty-Day Journey through the Canon of St. Andrew, slightly modified
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Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
