“Give Unto Me of Thy Virtues”: A Poem by St. Nektarios of Pentapolis to the Theotokos

 

Give Unto Me of Thy Virtues

 

All-Blessed Lady, Most Pure Virgin, all-wondrous Paradise, fair garden,

I beseech Thee, All-Immaculate One, to grace my mind, direct my thoughts, enlighten my soul.

Render me, O Maiden, pure, gentle, seemly, brave, serene and comely, upright, holy, divine, tolerant, long-suffering, a vessel of virtues, blameless, beyond reproach, a repository of things excellent.

Give unto me wisdom, prudence and ingenuousness, circumspection and simplicity and lowliness of mind. Give unto me sobriety, an enlightened outlook, a luminous intellect, an intemerate spirit.

Banish from me haughtiness, arrogance, conceit, boastfulness, and presumption, offense, disdain, high-mindedness, a loquacitous tongue, tendentiousness.

Fearful instability, needless wordage, multifarious wickedness, and indecent speech.

Grant unto me, All-Immaculate One, moral courage, boldness, steadfastness, give me perseverance.

Give unto me self-abnegation, non-avariciousness, wise zeal and the forgetfulness of wrongs.

Give to me integrity, nobility of heart, an upright and peaceful spirit, and a spirit of truth.

Put to flight, All-Immaculate One, passions of the heart, every form, O Pure One, of moral pusillanimity. Shameless unmanliness, impudence, cowardice, dreadful faint-heartedness, and despair.

Take from me, O Maiden, anger and all idleness, despondency, wrath, as well as indolence.

Envy, spite, hatred, malice, ire, vengeance, and the remembrance of wrongs.

Trivial disputation, garrulity, awful bloviation, and foul-mouthedness.

Give unto me, O Virgin, tenderness of heart.

Give me increased awareness and scrupulosity.

Give unto me, O Virgin, the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Give me peace of soul, the peace of the Lord.

Give me love, eros divine and intemerate, abundant, fervent, chaste, and sanctified.

Give me vivid faith, active, ardent, pure, and sacred, hope unshakeable, sure and holy.

Take from me, O Virgin, the yoke of sin, negligence, drunkenness, uncharitableness, evil desires, shameful debauchery, lewd laughter and every evil act.

Grant unto me prudence, O Maiden, give me over to self-control, fasting, attentiveness, vigilance, and perfect obedience. Give me heedfulness in all things, keen discretion, decorous silence, and holy patience.

Grant me, O Lady, diligence in my work, and also zeal in achieving the exercise of the virtues.

My soul, my heart, and my mind, All-Holy One, keep in holiness, preserving them in chastity.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXX (2013), No. 1, pp. 3-4.