O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth,
Who are everywhere present and filling all things.
Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life,
Come and Abide in Us, and Cleanse Us from Every Impurity.
And Save Our Souls, O Good One!
And now, Father, our prayers center around freedom this day:
As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer this summer, bless our Freedom Summer Initiative, as a worthy remembrance of that most important time in US history.
Bring freedom to the Israeli hostages, and freedom from trauma for those who most painfully experience their loss and captivity, as well as bring freedom from oppression and indeed dehumanization, to the Palestinian people.
Bring freedom to the Ukrainian people, from the assault on their very lives and humanity, and bring freedom to those Russian oppressors who suffer from the captivity of lust for national dominance.
Bring freedom to those who suffer humanitarian indignities and worse, in Sudan, Haiti, and Armenia, which we recalled during Impact Week two weeks ago, and to all those in our country and everywhere in the world who suffer the captivity of poverty, hunger, homelessness and forced migration.
And finally, bring freedom to us during these coming months, as we feel what we believe to be a very real threat to the freedom that we instinctively seek to model and share with other nations, whether this threat comes through this year’s election cycle, ongoing legislative irresponsibility, or the unfortunate decisions of those to whom we have traditionally turned for judicial wisdom and fairness.
We pray all of this, in the name of Jesus the Son, who became one of us and died and rose for us, so that we might have, not only hope for earthly freedom, but freedom from the bondage of sin and therefore the freedom of eternal life.
Amen.
Dr. Tony Kireopoulos
Associate General Secretary
Orthodox Christian