"MAY THERE BE REMEMBERED, LORD, on your holy altar at the fearful moment when your Body and Blood are sacrificed for the salvation of the world, all the fathers and brethren who are on mountains, in caves, in ravines, cliffs, rugged and desolate places, who are hidden from the world and it is only known to you where they are - those who have died and those still living and ministering before you in body and soul, you the Holy One who dwell in the holy ones in whom your divinity finds rest; those who have abandoned the temporal world and have already become dead to its life in that they have gone out in search of you, seeking you with yearning amidst the afflictions of their weary state. O king of all worlds and of all the orthodox fathers who, for the sake of the truth of the faith, have endured exile and afflictions at the hands of persecutors, who in monasteries, convents, deserts and habitations of the world, everywhere and in every place, have made it their care to please you with labours for the sake of virtue: accompany them with your assistance, Lord, and be a helmet for them always, send them continual comfort in secret, and bind their minds close to you in all their struggles; may the power of your Trinity dwell in them, and may they minister to you right up to the end of their lives with a good conscience and with a good manner of life. Hold them worthy while they are still in the body of the harbour of rest. And to those who are encountering hard battles with the demons, whether openly or in secret, send succour, Lord, and overshadow them with the cloud of your grace; place on their mind's head the helmet of salvation, bring low the power of the enemy before them, and may the might of your right hand support them at all times lest they grow weak in their thoughts, failing to gaze continually towards you; clothe them in the armour of humility, that a sweet scent may waft from them at all times, giving pleasure to your will.""The prayers of St Isaac the Syrian" (=chap. 5 of the long lost Second Part of the Writings) no. 26, trans. Sebastian Brock, Sobornost 16, no. 1 (1994): 28-29 (20-31).
