I came across the following wonderful prayer in Philip Melanchthon’s oration on St. Basil the Great. I think it probably doesn’t exist in English anywhere; now it will.
Text and Translation
Tibi gratias agimus, Deus aeterne pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi, quod doctrinae tuae lucem nobis accendisti: et oramus, ut hunc docentium et discentium coetum serves, regas, defendas, et labores nostros Spiritu sancto tuo iuves, ut nobis et posteritati sint salutares. Colligas tibi Ecclesiam cum in toto orbe terrarum, tum vero inter nos, et haec hospitia Ecclesiae tuae et literarum regito et defendito, sicut viduae Sareptanae domum defendisti, cum Eliam hospitio excepisset.[1]
We give You thanks, O God, eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because You have kindled for us the light of Your teaching. And we beseech You to preserve, rule, and defend the assembly of those who teach and those who learn, and to aid our labors by Your Holy Spirit, in order that they may be healthful for us and for our posterity. Gather Your church to Yourself, both in the whole world, and especially among us; and rule and defend these places where Your church and Your books are guests, just as you defended the house of the widow of Zarephath when she had received Elijah as her guest.
