Arabic Prayer for Lent | St Chrysostom Communion Prayer

The communion of the faithful prayer by St. John Chrysostom according to Byzantine Daily Worship, Alleluia Press, 1969, is as follows:

Receive me now, O Son of God, as a participant in Your mystical supper: for I will not betray Your mystery to your enemies, nor give You a kiss like Judas, but like the thief, I confess You: remember me, Lord, in Your kingdom.

Images:
Simon Ushakov's icon of the Mystical Supper

Fresco fragment with scene of Judas's betrayal. From the Church of the Holy Virgin, or Red Church, Voulgareli, Arta, Greece.

Video footage is from Lebanon, including the Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa. Mountain scene is over the Biqaa valley looking over to Mount Hermon (snow capped).

The modern symbol of medicine, a snake hung on a stake, likely has its roots in the Bible in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 21:6).

'Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.'

This is a prophecy of the crucifixion, where Christians look for spiritual and even physical healing. Note that in Jesus' betrayal and agony in the garden of Gethsemane at the Mount of Olives, He replaces the serpent with His Innocence on the stake. The serpent is the symbol of our tormentor who tried to get Him to pass up the cup of sacrifice in the garden. Here we have a fundamental tenet of Christianity: God helps us when we suffer. God can convert us when we suffer.

Luke 10:17-18: The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

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