COLLECTS

O most merciful GOD,* Foundation of our hope, and Refuge in our affliction, preserve us from our enemies, and from the snares of death, that we, being delivered from the multitude of our afflictions, may most devoutly give thanks to Thy holy Name, with the purity of innocence. Through (1.)

O CHRIST our GOD,* Who wast set at nought by the contradictions of a wicked people, and therefore raised to be the Head of the Gentiles, suffer us not, whose Head Thou didst vouchsafe to become by Thy Passion and Resurrection, to be cut off from Thee; that Thou being our Guide, we may triumph over the powers that are opposed to us, Whom, for our sakes, we know to have been exalted on the tree of the Cross. Amen. Through (11.)

O our LORD and Liberator,* give us the desire of loving Thee, that we may praise and call upon Thee, and that Thou mayest send forth Thine arrows, and disperse our enemies, and deliver us from those that hate us; and so they may be converted, and we may rejoice and be saved by Thy protection. Amen. Through (11.)

Hear, O LORD,* from Thy holy Temple, the voice of Thy Church; and as Thou in Thy Passion didst pour forth streams of blood, so look upon and console us surrounded by the pangs of death, that the torrents of iniquity may in no wise hurt us, when Thy grace shall cause us to endure them unmoved. Amen. Through Thy mercy (11.)

[Take from us the darkness of our sins, (D. C.) and lighten our hearts with the lantern of Thy Consubstantial WORD, gird us, we pray Thee, with His strength, and show us the undefiled way in Him. (2.)]