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I wish to wash away the record of my sins with tears, O Lord, and please Thee the rest of my life through repentance; but the enemy deceiveth me and fights against my soul. Before the end and I utterly perish, save me, O Lord.

Who, among the tempest-tossed, having taking refuge in Thy harbor, will not be saved O Lord? Or who, that aileth and falling down in Thine infirmary, will not be healed? O Maker of all that is, and Physician of the ailing, before the end, may I not utterly perish, save me, O Lord.

- Tone 4, Tuesday Vespers Aposticha

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What does my experience tell me when I am the prisoner of sin? I am tormented sometimes the whole day, and cannot turn to God with my whole heart, because sin hardens my heart, making God’s Mercy inaccessible to me. I burn in the fire, and willingly remain in it, because sin has bound my powers, and I – like one inwardly chained – am unable to turn to God until He, seeing my helplessness, my humility, and my tears, takes pity on me and bestows His Grace upon me.

+ St John of Kronstadt