IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

Prayers, Decalogue & Summary of the Law FEAR GOD AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT

TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM

OPENING PRAYERS  

Prayers that were used in the very early services of the Church and were from the Synagogue liturgy

"Blessed be Thou, O Lord, King of the world, Who formest the light and createst the darkness, Who makest peace, and createst everything; Who, in mercy, givest light to the earth, and to those who dwell upon it, and in Thy goodness, day by day, and every day, renewest the works of creation. Blessed be the Lord our God for the glory of His handiworks, and for the light-giving lights which He has made for His praise. Blessed be the Lord our God, Who has formed the lights.

"With great love has Thou loved us, O Lord our God, and with much overflowing pity has Thou pitied us, our Father and our King. For the sake of our fathers who trusted in Thee, and Thou taughtest them the statutes of life, have mercy upon us, and teach us. Enlighten our eyes in Thy Law; cause our hearts to cleave to Thy commandments; unite our hearts to love and fear Thy Name, and we shall not be put to shame, world without end. For Thou art a God Who preparest salvation, and hast in truth brought us here to Thy great Name that we may lovingly praise Thee and Thy Unity. Blessed be the Lord, Who in love chose His people Israel.

Gamaliel was noted in the First century for adding structure to prayer, but also allowed spontaneity. The prayers above are samples of early types of Jewish prayer like that which would have carried over to the service of the Word from the synagogue in the early Christian worship.

---

 

SUMMARY
The Shema (Hear) was repeated morning and evening daily in the time of Jesus

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[Mark 12:29]

Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy

or

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
[Matt 22:37]

---

DECALOGUE

 

GOD spake these words and said;

I am the Lord thy God

Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
People Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and show mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments.
People Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his Name in vain.
People Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.
People Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
People Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Thou shalt do no murder
People Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Thou shalt not commit adultery
People Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Thou shalt not steal
People Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
People Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Leader Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
People Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee.