for the purification of bodies, souls, and spirits, and for the obtaining of the remission of our sins. Then the priest shall communicate, and he shall distribute the precious body and blood to the colleague priest; then to the ministers and the people in order; and finally, descending from the altar with the paten, to the women. The deacon shall say, Pray for all Christians. Prayer of thanksgiving after communion. Priest: Our mouths have been filled with joy, and our tongues with exultation, because we have been made partakers of thy immortal sacraments, O Lord; because those things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which the human heart has not comprehended, thou hast prepared for those who love thy holy name, and hast revealed them to the little ones of thy holy Church. Thus, O Father, was it well-pleasing before thee, because thou art merciful, and we send up to thee glory, honor, and adoration, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, etc. Prayer of inclination after communion. Priest: Thy servants, O Lord, who minister to thee, pray to thy holy name, and at the same time bow themselves before thee. Be among them, O Lord, walk among them, help them in every good work, raise their hearts from every perverse and worldly thought. Grant them to live and to contemplate those things which pertain to life, and may they understand what is thine, through thy only-begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom we and all thy people cry out saying: O Lord, have mercy upon us, O Savior. The priest shall say the benediction. O Lord, be merciful to us, bless us, show thy face upon us, and have mercy upon us. Lord, save thy people, bless thine inheritance, and rule them, and lift them up forever. Preserve them in the right faith, in glory, and in honor, all the days of their life, and establish them in the charity which surpasses all things, and in the peace which is above all understanding, through the prayers and supplications which the Lady of us all, the Mother of God, the divine and holy Mary, shall make for us, and the four luminous holy ones, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Suriel, and the four bodiless animals, as well as the twenty-four presbyters, and the cherubim, seraphim, and heavenly orders. Through the prayers of the patriarchs and prophets, of John the Baptist, and of the hundred and forty-four thousand, and of the masters, the holy apostles, the three holy children, Saint Stephen, the holy lord George, Saint Theodore of both houses, and the holy martyr lover of the Fathers Mercurius, of the holy Father Menas, and of all the choirs of the martyrs, and of our father Antony, a most holy man, and of the holy fathers the three Macarii, and of all the choir of the cross-signed, of the just, the pious, the wise virgins, and the angel of this blessed day. May their blessing come, their charity, their patience, their help: and may the blessing of the day of the Lord, our good Savior, be with us all forever. Amen. When he has finished the washing of the vessels, he shall drink the water remaining in them, and shall dismiss the people after the benediction has been recited. The Mass of Basil ends.
PRAYERS OR EXORCISMS OF THE GREAT BASIL FOR THOSE SUFFERING FROM DEMONS AND EVERY INFIRMITY
PRAYERS OR EXORCISMS OF THE GREAT BASIL
For those obsessed by demons and for any infirmity.God of gods, and Lord of lords, maker of the fiery ranks and artificer of the immaterial powers, creator of things heavenly and earthly, D whom no man has seen, nor is able to see, whom every creature trembles before and honors with holy fear...
who cast down to the earth the once-proud leader and his rebellious host, and who, having condemned those angels who became demons through that same defection to the darkness of the abyss, grant that this exorcism, performed in your dread name, may strike terror into the prefect of wickedness and all the cohorts that fell with him from the light on high. Turn him to flight, and command him and his demons to depart utterly, that he may contrive no harm against the image signed by you; but may those signed with his power receive strength to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. For your most holy name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is hymned and magnified, and is glorified with fear by every breath, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. B
Another Prayer of the Same
Let us pray to the Lord.
I exorcise you, author of blasphemy, leader of rebellion, standard-bearer of wickedness. I exorcise you, who were cast out from the communion of the light on high, and thrust down into the darkness of the abyss on account of pride. I exorcise likewise all the power that fell with you, the follower of your purpose. I exorcise you, unclean spirit, by God Sabaoth, and by the whole army of the angels of God, Adonai, Eloi, God Almighty: depart, and withdraw from this servant of God. I exorcise you by God, who created all things by His word, and by our Lord Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, who was generated from Him before the ages ineffably and without passion, the Creator of the visible and invisible creation, who formed man after His own image, who first instructed him by the law of nature and kept him under the protection of angels, who, having opened the cataracts of heaven, finally washed away his sins in the deluge; who defeated the impious giants, who struck down the tower of the profane, and buried the land of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, sulphur, and ash (whose witness is the everlasting evaporating smoke); who, with a rod, struck the sea and led the people over on dry feet, and overwhelmed in the waves the tyrant Pharaoh and the army moving the weapons of impiety against God for all eternity. Who, in later times, being ineffably incarnate of a pure Virgin, preserving the seal of her purity intact, deigned to wash away in Himself the ancient filth of our transgression. I exorcise you by Him who was baptized in the Jordan, and who exhibited to us in the waters an example of the grace of incorruption. By reason of whom the angels and all the powers of the heavens stood astonished, beholding God incarnate, when the Father, without beginning, revealed the generation of the Son, for which there is no cause, and the descent of the Holy Spirit bore witness to the union of the Trinity. I exorcise you by Him who rebuked the storm of the wind, who stilled the tempest of the sea,
A cast out the troop of demons, and restored the sight of eyes that lacked it from the womb by fashioning it with clay for the blind, and who renewed the ancient formation of our race, and enabled the mute to speak, who wiped away the stains of leprosy and raised the dead from the tombs; who conversed with men until his burial, and by his resurrection despoiled Hades and made every man invincible to death. B I exorcise you by God the Almighty, who breathed inspiration into men with his God-inspired voice, helped the apostles, and filled the whole world with piety. Fear, flee, escape, depart, unclean and cursed demon, whether subterranean, abyssal, deceitful, shapeless, visible through impudence, or invisible through hypocrisy; wherever you happen to be or go, whether you yourself are Beelzebub, or a shaker, or dragon-like, or beast-faced; or as vapor, or as a bird, or nocturnal, or deaf, or mute, or terrifying by sudden onslaught, or rending, or plotting, or in deep sleep, or in sickness, or in infirmity, or in fitful laughter, or causing lascivious tears, or lewd, or foul, or libidinous, or voluptuous, or delighting in poisons, or maddened by love, or a stargazer, or confined, or impudent, or contentious, or inconstant, or changing with the moon, or shifting with any time—morning, midday, midnight, or any unseasonable hour, or at dawn—or if you have appeared spontaneously, or were sent by someone, or have suddenly approached, whether in the sea, by a river, under the earth, in a well, a precipice, a pit, a lake, in a place overgrown with reeds, in a wood, in a remote place, or an unclean one, or in a grove, a thicket, a tree, a bird, in thunder, from the roof of a bath, in a pool of water, from a pagan tomb, or whence we know or do not know, known or unknown, and from any place unlooked for: be divided and depart; be ashamed before the image formed and fashioned by the hand of God. C Fear the likeness of the incarnate God, and do not hide yourself in this servant of God, but let the iron rod, the furnace of fire, Tartarus, and the gnashing of teeth, the penalty for your disobedience, await you. Fear, be silenced, flee, do not turn back, do not hide yourself with other wickednesses of unclean spirits; but go away into the waterless, desert, and uncultivated land, where man does not dwell, but God alone watches, who binds all those who envy and plot against his image, and who has consigned you, experienced in all evils and the inventor of wickedness, the devil, in chains of darkness to a long, perpetual night and day. For great is the fear of God, and great is the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Another prayer of the same.
God of the heavens, God of the lights, God of the angels who are under your power, God of the archangels who are under your might, God of the glorious D [ruling powers...]
A lordships, God of the saints, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loosed the souls bound by death, who through your only-begotten Son enlightened man fastened in darkness, who dissolved our pains and scattered every burden, who removed from us every assault of the enemy: Son and Word of God, who by your death made us immortal, and through your glory made us blessed, and granted that from men we might become gods: who through your cross loosed every bond of our sins, and having taken up and healed our brokenness, Lord, who prepared for us a way into the heavens, and changed corruption into incorruption: hear me who calls to you with affection and fear, at whose fear the mountains, along with the firmament under heaven, melt away; by whose power the silent essences of the elements tremble to keep their own boundaries; through whom the fire of vengeance does not exceed the limits set for it, but stands waiting, groaning for your command; through whom all creation travaileth, groaning with unspeakable groans, ordered to remain until the appointed time; whom every contrary nature flees, by whom the host of the enemy is subdued, the devil falls, the serpent is trampled underfoot, and the dragon is slain; through whom the nations, confessing you, were enlightened and were strengthened in you, Lord; through whom life has been revealed, hope is established, faith is confirmed, the Gospel has been preached; through whom man, believing in you, has been created anew. For who is like you, Almighty God? Therefore we pray to you, God of our fathers, and Lord of eternal mercies, and who are above all substance: accept him who has come to you in your holy name and C that of your beloved Son Jesus Christ, and of your holy and all-powerful and life-giving Spirit; drive away from his soul every infirmity, every unbelief, every unclean, rending, subterranean, fiery, foul-smelling, lustful spirit, the lover of gold or silver, the proud, the fornicating, every unclean, dark, shapeless, and shameless demon. Yea, O God, remove from your servant N. every operation of the devil, every sorcery, every effect of poison, idolatry, divination, judicial astrology, necromancy, the art of augury and soothsaying, voluptuous passion, lust, avarice, drunkenness, fornication, adultery, impurity, shamelessness, anger, contention, inconstancy, and every evil suspicion. Yea, O Lord our God, breathe into him your spirit of peace, that being guarded by it he may bring forth the fruit of faith, virtue, wisdom, purity, temperance, love, goodness, hope, gentleness, longsuffering, patience, modesty, and understanding; for your servant has been called by the name of Jesus Christ, and trusting in the consubstantial Trinity, with the witness of angels, archangels, glorious lordships, and all the heavenly host, he has faith in you. With him, keep our hearts also, for you are powerful, O Lord, and to you we send up the glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.