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The Church Fathers · c. 250–300; Papyrus Rylands 470
Beneath Your Protection
Sub Tuum Praesidium
Anonymous
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What it is
Three lines on a scrap of Egyptian papyrus, asking the Mother of God for shelter and begging her not to overlook the petitions of those in need but to deliver them from danger.
Why it lasted
The oldest known prayer addressed to Mary, and evidence that she was being called Theotokos in ordinary devotion a century and a half before the title was fought over at Ephesus. Still in use in the Roman, Byzantine, Coptic, and Ambrosian rites.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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