From The Prayer of Azariah –
Blessed are You and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Your name unto the ages. For You are righteous in all You did for us, and all Your works are true. Your ways are upright, and all Your judgments are true.
The judgments You made are true, according to all You brought on us and on the holy city of our fathers, because in truth and judgment You did all these things on account of our sins.
For we sinned and acted lawlessly to depart from You. We sinned in every way, and did not obey Your commandments. Neither did we treasure or do as You commanded, that it might go well with us. Everything You brought on us and all You did to us, You did in true judgment.
You delivered us into the hands of lawless and rebellious enemies and to an unjust king—the most evil in any land.
Now it is not for us to open our mouth, for this has become a shame and disgrace to Your servants and to those who worship You. For Your name’s sake, do not hand us over to the end, and do not reject Your covenant.
Do not withdraw Your mercy from us for the sake of Abraham, who is loved by You, and for the sake of Isaac, Your servant, and of Israel, Your holy one, as You spoke to them, saying that You would multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand along the seashore.
Yet we have been diminished in number, O Master, more than all the nations, and we are humbled in all the earth today because of our sins.
At this time, there is no prince, no prophet, and no leader; there is no whole burnt offering, no sacrifice, no offering, and no incense; there is no place to bear fruit before You and to find mercy.
Yet with a contrite soul and humbled spirit, may we receive mercy, as with whole burnt offerings of rams and bulls, and as with thousands of fatted lambs.
So let this be our sacrifice before You today, and may it be accomplished for those who follow You; for there is no shame for those who trust in You.
Now we are following You with all our heart, and we fear You and seek Your face. Do not put us to shame, but deal with us according to Your kindness and according to the abundance of Your mercy. Deliver us by Your wondrous works and give glory to Your name, O Lord.
May all those who inflict evils upon Your servants be put to shame and humiliated in their power; and let their strength be crushed. Let them know that You alone are the Lord God and glorious over all the inhabited earth. Amen.
(Originally posted on facebook by Fr. David Subu.)
The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children
The Prayer of the Three Holy Children is a component of the biblical Book of Daniel. It is a segment of a larger component called The Prayer of Azariah and the Prayer of the Three Holy Children and are part of the Septuagint text and the Apocrypha. (The Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical Books are books of the Old Testament that are accepted by the Orthodox Christian Church but are not accepted by Protestants as part of its official canonical contents, but of close association with the Bible.)
In Orthodox Christian worship, the prayer is the basis of the seventh and eighth biblical canticles sung at Orthros. Although the text of the canticles are generally not read in contemporary practice, the hymns sung as part of the canon reference the theme of the Three Holy Children. At Vespers of Holy Saturday, the text of the prayer is heard as part of one of the fifteen Old Testament readings prescribed for that day.
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Prayer_of_the_Three_Holy_Children
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