Master, Lord our God, who wast born of the holy God-bearing and ever-virgin Mary, and as a babe wast laid in a manger; do thou thyself, according to thy great mercy, have mercy upon this thine handmaid, who to-day is in sins, having fallen even unto voluntary or involuntary murder, and hath aborted that conceived in her; and be gracious unto her willing and unwilling iniquities, and preserve her from every diabolical wile, and cleanse her defilement, heal her suffering, and grant unto her, O lover of mankind, health and strength of body and soul; and guard her by a shining angel from every assault of invisible demons, yea, O Lord, from sickness and weakness; and cleanse her from bodily defilement, and from diverse inward travail befalling her; and, by thine abundant mercy, rouse her in her humbled body, and raise her from the bed whereon she lieth. For we were conceived in sins and in transgressions, and are all defiled before thee, O Lord; and with fear we cry and say, Look down from heaven and see the helplessness of us accursed, and be gracious unto this thine handmaid, _name_, who is in sins, having fallen even unto voluntary or involuntary murder, and hath aborted that conceived in her; and, according to thy great mercy, as the good and man-loving God, have mercy upon her and be gracious unto her in all things that have surrounded her and have come in contact with her; for thou alone hast power to forgive sins and transgressions, through the prayers of thy most pure Mother, and all the Saints. For to thee is due all glory, honour, and worship, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen. _And the dismissal is made._ [Illustration] _Chapter V._ PRAYERS AT THE MAKING OF A CATECHUMEN. _The priest looseth the girdle of him that cometh to be illuminated, and divesteth him of his robes and his shoes, and placeth him looking towards the east, clad in one garment only, without girdle or head-dress, and barefooted, and with his hands down; and breatheth thrice in his face, and signeth him thrice upon the forehead and the breast, and layeth his hand upon his head, saying,_ Let us pray to the Lord.