Lenten Hymns in English

 

Hymns are not just for singing, they do not have to be in Latin, Hymns are prayers like any other prayers. Pray them when you

can, when you like, any old time. 

Vespers (Evening)

O Merciful Creator, hear!

To us in pity bow Thine ear:

Accept the tearful prayer we raise  

In this our fast of forty days.

 

Our hearts are open, Lord, to Thee:

Thou knowest our infirmity;

Pour out on all who seek Thy face

Abundance of Thy pard'ning grace.

 

Our sins are many, this we know;

Spare us, good Lord, Thy mercy show; 

And for the honor of Thy name 

Our fainting souls to life reclaim.

Give us self-control that springs

From discipline of outward things,

That fasting inward secretly

The soul may purely dwell with Thee.

 

We pray Thee, Holy Trinity,

One God, unchanging Unity,

That we from this our abstinence

May reap the fruits of penitence. Amen

Lauds (Morning)

Now Christ, Thou Sun of righteousness,

let dawn our darkened spirits bless:

the light of grace to us restore

while day to earth returns once more.

 

Thou who dost give the accepted time, 

give, too, a heart that mourns for crime, 

let those by mercy now be cured 

whom loving - kindness long endured.

 

Spare not, we pray, to send us here

some penance kindly but severe,

so let Thy gift of pardoning grace

our grievous sinfulness efface.

 

Soon will that day, Thy day, appear

and all things with its brightness cheer: 

we will rejoice in it, as we

return thereby to grace, and Thee.

 

Let all the world from shore to shore 

Thee, gracious Trinity, adore;

right soon Thy loving pardon grant,

that we our new-made song may chant. Amen.

Office of Readings (Sunday)

The fast, as taught by holy lore,

We keep in solemn course once more; 

The fast to all men known, and bound 

In forty days of yearly round.

The law and seers that were of old 

In divers ways this Lent foretold 

Which Christ, all seasons’ king and guide, 

In after ages sanctified.

More sparing therefore let us make 

The words we speak, the food we take, 

Our sleep and mirth, and closer barred 

Be every sense in holy guard.

In prayer together let us fall,

And cry for mercy, one and all, 

And weep before the Judge’s feet,

And His avenging wrath entreat.

Thy grace have we offended sore,

By sins, O God, which we deplore;

But pour upon us from on high,

O pardoning One, Thy clemency.

 

Remember Thou, though frail we be, 

That yet Thine handiwork are we; 

Nor let the honor of Thy name

Be by another put to shame.

 

Forgive the sin that we have wrought; 

Increase the good that we have sought; 

That we at length, our wanderings o’er, 

May please Thee here and evermore.

 

We pray Thee, holy Trinity,

One God, unchanging Unity,

That we from this our abstinence

May reap the fruits of penitence. Amen,

 

Vespers (Evening)

O Jesus Christ, from you began

This healing for the soul of man,

By fasting sought, by fasting found,

Through forty days this yearly round.

 

And now, behold your Church, O Lord, 

And grace of penitence accord

To all who seek with generous tears

Renewal of their wasted years.

 

Forgive the sin that we have done,

Forgive the course that we have run,

And show henceforth in evil day

Yourself our succour and our stay.

 

Therefore, let every heart prepare,

By sacrifice of fast and prayer,

To keep with joy magnifical

The solemn Easter festival.

 

Father and Son and Spirit blessed,

To you be every prayer addressed,

Who are in threefold name adored,

From age to age, the only Lord. Amen.'

 

Lauds (Sunday)

Come, weep before the Judge, and seek 

With broken hearts his grace to win; 

Be bold, and trusting meet his gaze, 

And trembling claim the hope within.

 

Much have we sinned, O Lord! 

and still we fall again and seek to rise;

Look down in pity from on high;

Be dawning light to searching eyes.

 

Remember that we yet are yours

Though fashioned of a fragile frame; 

And take not from our gasping souls 

The Breath by which we praise your Name.

 

Undo past evil; heal the wounds,

And guide our steps in faith’s dark night; 

So may we now and ever find

Joy pure and boundless in your sight.

 

Blest Trinity in Unity! 

Uphold our weakness in your love, 

That we to death may die with Christ 

and rise with Christ to life above. Amen.

 

Office of Readings  (Matins: Early Morning/Late at Night)

Today is the accepted time.

Christ’s healing light, the gift divine

Shines forth to save the penitent

To wake the world by means of Lent.

 

The light of Christ will show the way

That leads to God’s salvation day.

The rigor of this fasting mends

The hearts that hateful sinning rends.

 

Keep all our minds and bodies true

In sacrifice, O God, to You, 

That we may join, when Lents have ceased,

The everlasting Paschal Feast.

 

Let all creation join to raise 

Most gracious Trinity, Your praise.

And when your love has made us new, 

May we sing new songs, Lord, to You. Amen.