Prayer to Saint John the Baptist

preacher of repentance who didst baptize Christ, disdain not me a penitent, but, enrolling me in the armies of heaven, pray to the Master for me, who am unworthy, pitiful, weak and full of grief, who have fallen into many misfortunes and am vexed by the tempestuous thoughts of my mind. For I am a den of evil deeds, and there is no end to my sinful habits, in that my mind is nailed fast to earthly things. What shall I do? I know not to whom I may flee, that my soul may be saved, if not to thee, O holy John, thou namesake of grace; for I know that, before the Lord, thou art the greatest of all born of women, save only the Theotokos; for thou wast vouchsafed to touch the head of Christ the King, the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world. Him do thou entreat for my sinful soul, that henceforth, or at least at the eleventh hour, I may bear the good burden and receive recompense with the latecomers. Yea, O honored forerunner who baptized Christ, last of the prophets, first of the martyrs, instructor of ascetics and desert-dwellers, teacher of purity and close friend of Christ, I beseech thee, I flee unto thee: Deprive me not of thine aid, but lift me up who am fallen down because of my many sins; restore my soul through repentance, as with a second baptism, in that thou art the initiator of both, washing away the ancestral sin through baptism and cleansing away the evil deeds of each Christian through repentance. Purify me who am defiled by sins, and impel me to enter into the kingdom of heaven, where there is no defilement. Amen.