The following prayers are taken from the Ethioptic translation of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions (professed to have been handed down from the Apostles by Clement of Rome, though they were in all probability written in Greek by the pseudo-Ignatius in Syria at Antioch around A.D. 350-400, according to George Horner). Latter-day Saints will find the theology of baptism as well as the prayers for the sick (“priesthood blessings” to use our nomenclature) to be of interest:
[The first prayer for baptism, over the water] God my Lord almighty, who madest heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them, who madest man in thine own form and likeness, who mingledst and unitedst the immortal with the moral, who madest living man a combination of the two, and gavest to that which was made a body a soul also, which thou causest to dwell within; stir this water and fill it up with the Holy Spirit, that it may become water and Spirit for regeneration to those who are baptised: work a holy work and make them to become sons and daughters o thy holy name: was them with water, and instruct them by the Holy Spirit, through the coming of our Lord Christ thy Son, through whom to see with him by glory and might now and always and with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amēn . ..[T]hou sentest thine only Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the world, and not to judge the world, but to save the world by him. He therefore having come, changed our birth into the new(birth) which is by this water and Spirit of regeneration . . . May it be to all who shall be baptised in it a washing of regeneration for cleansing from all sin. And prepare those whom the Holy Spirit chose, to come upon them; that (clothed) with incorruptible vesture they may rise at the resurrection of the dead; and may every evil spirit be removed from them, having been expelled according to thy holy infallible promise of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might and greatness from before the age now and always and to generation of infinite generation, and to age of age. Amēn. (The Statutes of the Apostles or Canones Ecclesiastici [trans. George Horner; London, Williams & Norgate, 1904], 165, 166-67)
Prayer for the Sick
And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc., for the sick brethren, that he may remove all sickness and all suffering from them. Having taken away the spirit of disease, may he who has authority for all healing give to them life, the Lord our God.
The deacon shall say: pray for the sick.
God the almighty, the father, etc., we pray thee and we beseech thee or the sick brethren. Grant to them life. Take away the spirit of sickness. Cause to pass away from them all disease and all suffering. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord.
The deacon shall say: let us all say.
The people shall say: Have mercy upon us.
Physician of the soul and physician of the body, thou art the overseer of all flesh, and of those who are troubled with unclean spirits; deliver every tormented and oppressed soul, give health and give rest, drive away all disease from this house, and form those who call upon thy holy and blessed name. Having healed the disease of all our souls, grant perfect soundness, through, etc. (Ibid., 223-24)
