"Correct me who am most sinful while I am here." (Saint Ephraim the Syrian)

Correct me who am most sinful while I am here.

God Who art above all, Who alone hast authority over life and death: show me, a sinner, Thy great mercy in the hour of Thy terrible coming, that as I stand before Thy throne I might not be a great disgrace and reproach to all who will behold me: the angels, archangels, prophets, apostles, patriarchs, martyrs, ascetics, and all the righteous.

Bring me to my senses here, my Savior, here where I have enjoyed the delusion of sin, as a good-hearted Father Who loves His children, and forgive me there, as our merciful and only sinless God.

I who am wretched have committed every kind of sin. I have surpassed all with my dissipation. I deserve punishment, and if I begin to beg for repentance, I have no tears.

Alas, with what eyes shall I, a negligent sinner, behold the terrible throne upon which Thou, O Lord, wilt sit as Thou exposest what I have done? The whole of my life have I squandered like a prodigal, wallowing continually in the mire of sensuality.

Thou alone, O my Creator, knowest all my secret falls and the full extent of my sins. No one has ever been such a dwelling-place of sin as I. No one ever embittered Thy grace, O Master, as fully as I, who followed the aims of sin.

But do Thou, Who art a sea of goodness, dry up the ruinous sea of my sins. Do Thou, Who art an abyss of loving-kindness, drown the abyss of my sins.

Repay me not according to the merit of my deeds, and condemn me not to the flames of Gehenna. For Thy wrath, O Lord, is unbearable, and who can withstand Thy threats?

From A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God, compiled from the works of Saint Ephraim the Syrian