Ieromonk Ghelasie Gheorghe: "Akathist of Repentance" (translation from Romanian by Alice Butnar)

"The Transfiguration", icon painting by monk Ilie



















For individual reading, as a prayer rule.

Kontakion 1

LORD, I have fallen away from Thy LOVE and have sunk in my passions, in the outer darkness, where I am separated from Thee; but LORD, I cannot be without Thee, I cannot forget Thee, and thus I cry out from my very corruption:
Lord, forgive me, despite my sin, I still bow in WORSHIP before Thee!

Ikos 1

Lord, I, Your Being, am the BEARER of Thy IMAGE, and the meaning of my Life is to Mirror this DIVINE IMAGE through my own IMAGE, to have Thy IMAGE grow within me and to be in Thy LIKENESS; but I have fallen away from virtue, and buried in my passions, I have darkened Thy IMAGE.

Lord, forgive me for falling away from Thy IMAGE;
Lord, forgive me, for I have ‘emptied’ myself of Thy IMAGE;
Lord, forgive me, for I have sinned;
Lord, forgive me, for I cannot stay separated from Thee;
Lord, forgive me, for blinded by sin, I can SEE Thee no longer;
Lord, forgive me, I shall cry out in Eternity, forgive me;
Lord, forgive me, despite my sin, I still bow in WORSHIP before Thee!

Kontakion 2

There is no “wiping out of sins”, nothing can wipe out sins, for sins are the “killing of the DIVINE IMAGE”, and only Thou LORD can OVERLOOK sins with Thy “FORGIVENESS” and I with my “WORSHIP”, in the Singing of: ALELLUIA!

Ikos 2

I am “a sinner in Eternity”, but Thou wilt CLOTHE me in Eternity with Thy Forgiveness, and only my WORSHIP will be my EYE, through which I shall SEE and LOVE Thee.

Lord, forgive me, for I have opened up the “abyss” of sin;
Lord, forgive me, for I have extinguished the “LIGHT”,
Lord, forgive me, for I have “spoiled” Thy INCORRUPTION;
Lord, forgive me, for I have killed what Thou hast Made;
Lord, forgive me, for instead of LOVE I have kindled a “hellish fire”;
Lord, forgive me, despite my sin, I still bow in WORSHIP before Thee!

Kontakion 3

The FULFILMENT of Life is for me to give Thee an ANSWER in the LIKENESS of Thy DIVINE IMAGE, but I, “devoid of IMAGE”, commit things that are “image-less”, and sinking deeper in corruption I do not “despair”, but “CRY OUT breaking Earth and Heaven and all below”: FORGIVE me, ALELLUIA!

Ikos 3

In the “SCALES of ETERNITY” there are hanging on one side “my sin”, corruption and impermanence; on the other side Thy FORGIVENESS and my WORSHIP, and both parts are rocking the scales.

Lord, forgive me, for I always sin;
Lord, forgive me, for I always fall into self-delusion;
Lord, forgive me, for I still run to Thee;
Lord, forgive me, for I still “dare” entreat Thee;
Lord, forgive me, for I am left only with my WORSHIP;
Lord, forgive me, for all I can do is “CRY OUT”;
Lord, forgive me, despite my sin, I still bow in WORSHIP before Thee!

Kontakion 4

LORD, I pray not to end up in “the hell where I cannot WORSHIP Thee”, the hell where “I cannot CRY OUT for Thy FORGIVENESS”, but instead in “the hell of FORGIVENESS”, in the Singing of: ALLELUIA!

Ikos 4

The IMAGE of DIVINE LOVE is beyond words, and cannot ever be wiped away. It bears the Mystery of FORGIVENESS and WORSHIP, that allows us LORD to “MEET” again.

Lord, forgive me, for I do not “despair”;
Lord, forgive me, for despite my sin I still “dare” entreat Thee;
Lord, forgive me, for I trust Thy LOVE ABOVE all;
Lord, forgive me, for I cling to my WORSHIP;
Lord, forgive me, for I “wallow in my own hell”;
Lord, forgive me, “I cry out till I break myself out”;
Lord, forgive me, despite my sin, I still bow in WORSHIP before Thee!

Kontakion 5

The fallen angel, the devil, cannot “WORSHIP” Thee any longer and “will stay in his own eternal darkness”, but MAN has got the very “Eternal WORSHIP, despite his eternal guilt”, in the Singing of: ALELLUIA!

Ikos 5

Both the “hellish cry of sin” and “the consuming CRY of WORSHIP” are terrible, shattering, and both are rocking “the SCALES of Eternity”.

Lord, forgive me, I will cry out endlessly;
Lord, forgive me, for despite my sin I still WORSHIP Thee;
Lord, forgive me, I cry out from my suffering;
Lord, forgive me, my only “All-Holy WORD”;
Lord, forgive me, my only “IMAGE of LIGHT”;
Lord, forgive me, ICON of the ultimate redemption;
Lord, forgive me, despite my sin, I still bow in WORSHIP before Thee!

Kontakion 6

Sin cannot “kill” the Eternity of DIVINE LOVE, but stops at “the borderland of FORGIVENESS” and “the FIRE of WORSHIP” fills all “emptiness”, in the Singing of: ALELLUIA!

Ikos 6

There is a Mystery in “Sin that is stopped in Eternity” by the Saints and by those FORGIVEN, for it becomes “ETERNAL un-sinningness”, “unsurpassable borderland, allowing no second trespass”, the ENTRANCE into the “Endless LOVE that never looks back”.

Lord, forgive me, for I myself live in Hope of Your FORGIVENESS;
Lord, forgive me, for I believe in Your FORGIVENESS;
Lord, forgive me, and help me “stop the sin within me”;
Lord, forgive me, for still, I run after the Eternity of LOVE;
Lord, forgive me, I cry out from the “hell of my sins”;
Lord, forgive me, I cry out so that nobody can stop me;
Lord, forgive me, despite my sin, I still bow in WORSHIP before Thee!

Kontakion 7

LORD, LORD, LORD, THREESOME NAME of DIVINE LOVE, THREEFOLD FORGIVENESS: LOVE of THE FATHER, MERCY of THE HOLY SPIRIT and DEVOTION of THE SON, TO THEE we sing: ALELLUIA!

(This Kontakion is repeated three times)

Then the first Ikos and the first Kontakion are also repeated.

(published in the volume "Isihasm" ("Hesychasmus"), Platytera Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, p. 113-118. Translation from Romanian: Alice Butnar)

Copyright: Platytera Publishing House

The Romanian (Original) Version can be found here.
The German Version can be found here.