Restrictions are being lifted, but as you venture into the world, here’s a prayer from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. The lockdown restrictions are slowly being lifted in many parts of the world, so business activities and normal life can resume. But COVID-19 is still with us and so is the danger of infection. As we ready ourselves for work, we may be seized with fears and doubts that can only be alleviated by prayer.
Every year on Holy Friday we commemorate the crucifixion and the death of our Lord, and evoke the memory of the Good Thief who in his suffering and despair called out to Christ. This is what we are also asked to do: to put all of our trust in God and seek the protection of His life-giving Cross.
Each year, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates four feasts dedicated to the veneration of the Holy Cross. There is also a long prayer to the Cross –“Let God arise,” based on King David’s psalm and the Paschal hymn. The Orthodox tradition recommends reciting it whenever one finds himself in a desperate situation (confronted by one’s enemies, visible and invisible, or natural disasters, pandemics, floods, fires, etc). Worshipers have begun displaying a short version of this prayer at the entrance to their homes, and they recite it as protection against all kinds of evil before venturing outside:
Surround me, O Lord
with the power of Thy precious
and life-giving Cross
and preserve me from every evil.
Amen.
