Father, receive the sacrifice of my words – My Father, receive the cooing of a child who repents!

Correct my words through your Truth and receive them at the legs of Your Holy Chair. Cense my sacrifice with the incense of a saint’s prayer and do not cast it from You, Lord of the world.

Divisions of angels bring you a more significant sacrifice, but their words come from You towards them and from them towards You, without being altered by the dirt of the darkness and strangled by sin.

I am poor and I don’t have anything to bring on your altar, besides these words. If I am to bring you sacrifice, all I have are words. Because what are creatures if not words? You have filled the entire universe with tongues that are as strong as a flame when they praise you and whisper prayers. Even if I was to sacrifice a lamb, in the end I would still sacrifice a word. Even if I sacrifice a bird, it is still a word. And why would I sacrifice the word of something else and not my word?

Who made me master over the word, flame and sacrifice of someone else? My words are my life, my chant, my flame and my sacrifice. I have taken it from You and I am offering it to You – do not reject my sacrifice.

(Translation from: Sfântul Ierarh Nicolae Velimirovici, Noul Hrisostom, Episcop de Ohrida şi Jicea, Rugăciuni pe malul lacului, traducere din limba engleză de Paul Bălan, Editura Anestis, 2006, pp. 223-224)