Primary source · Koine Greek
The Euchologion (Prayer-book) of Serapion
Serapion of Thmuis · c. AD 350
What this text is
Thirty bishop's prayers from the Egyptian delta — eucharist, baptism, ordinations, burial — the oldest surviving prayer-book under an author's name, recovered from a single Athos manuscript in 1894.
Profile of Serapion of Thmuis →
Public-domain translations
John Wordsworth (1899)
We beseech thee, make us living men: give us the Spirit of light, that we may know thee, the true God, and him whom thou didst send, Jesus Christ; give us the Holy Spirit, that we may be able to tell forth thine unspeakable mysteries.
Manuscript witnesses
Athos, Great Lavra ms 149
11th c.The thirty prayers of Serapion's sacramentary, found on Mount Athos and published in 1894.
Provenance
Thmuis, Egypt, c. AD 350 — a bishop's own prayer-book
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- The Prayers of Sarapion of Thmuis (OCA 249)Maxwell E. Johnson, 1995The critical edition with translation and study.
- Bishop Sarapion's Prayer-BookJohn Wordsworth, 1899The early English edition (public domain).