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Prayers

Orthodox prayers before a journey

The prayer and hymn of the Church’s blessing for a journey, Psalm 121, and a short prayer for someone you love who is setting out.

Picture: Filippino Lippi, Tobias and the Angel, about 1475–80

3 prayers

For the road

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills.Where will my help come from?My help comes from the LORD,Who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip.He Who watches over you will not slumber.Indeed, He Who watches over Israelwill neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you.The LORD is your shade at your right hand.The sun will not strike you by day,nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil.He will keep your soul.The LORD will watch over your going out and your coming in,from this time on and for ever.

Traditional wording, 1611

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.My help cometh from the LORD, Which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber.Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul.The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

The Church reads this psalm over people about to travel by water. It ends on the promise that the LORD will watch over your going out and your coming in.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew, with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

The King James text makes the end of verse 1 a statement. The Hebrew asks a question, as the translators’ own margin note gives it.

Where it comes from, and the original

A short hymn for the road

Troparion for travelers

O Christ, You are the Way and the Truth.Send Your angel nowto go with Your servant (name),as once You did for Tobias,to keep them unharmed from every evil, to Your glory,and to guard them in all well-being,through the prayers of the Mother of God,O only Lover of mankind.

Traditional wording, 1906

O Christ, Who art the Way and the Truth,send now Thine Angel as a fellow-traveller to Thy servant(s),preserving him (her, them) like Tobias of old,and guarding him (her, them) unharmed of every evil thing,and in all prosperity, unto Thy glory:through the prayers of the Birth-giver of God,O Thou Who alone lovest mankind.

The choir sings it in the same blessing as the first prayer, and it is short enough to say at the door. It asks Christ to send His angel with you, as an angel once guided young Tobias in the Book of Tobit.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, with Hapgood’s 1906 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, 1906.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

For someone else who is leaving

Prayer for someone traveling

O God, our God, the true and living Way,You travelled with Your servant Joseph.Master, travel with Your servant (name) too.

Deliver them from pirates,and from every storm and every plot.Give them peace and good health.

Be pleased to let them come home again,careful to do all that is right, as You command,and filled with the good things of this life and of heaven.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory,of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

O God, our God, the true and living Way,You travelled with Your servant Joseph.Master, travel with me, Your servant, too.

Deliver me from pirates,and from every storm and every plot.Give me peace and good health.

Be pleased to let me come home again,careful to do all that is right, as You command,and filled with the good things of this life and of heaven.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory,of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1894

O God, our God, the true and living Way, Who didst journey with Thy servant Joseph;do Thou journey with Thy servant, (name),and deliver him from every storm and snare,and peace and vigour continually provide.

Be pleased that, having accomplished every intention of righteousness, according to Thy commandment,and being filled with temporal and heavenly blessings, he may return again.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.

Greek and Russian priests pray this short prayer over someone about to travel. It has a place for their name, so you can pray it for a child, a husband, a wife or a friend.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with Shann’s 1894 translation of the Slavonic beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Book of Needs of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1894.

Shann translated the Slavonic, which has no word for pirates. The Greek has one, and Goar’s Latin of 1647 reads it the same way.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

Scripture for this

“Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 28:15 As Jacob left home, God promised to watch over him wherever he went and to bring him back to his land.

The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD Who takes delight in his journey.

Psalm 37:23 The choir sings this verse before the Gospel when a priest blesses travellers. The LORD orders a person’s steps and takes delight in their journey.

9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea, 10even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 139:9-10 Even by the farthest sea, God’s hand would still guide David and hold him fast.

13That same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15And as they talked and deliberated, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them. 16But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.

Luke 24:13-16 Two disciples were walking to Emmaus when the risen Jesus came up and walked with them. The Church’s prayer for travellers recalls this road.

1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well. 2In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14:1-6 It opens the Gospel a priest reads when he blesses travellers. Jesus comforts His disciples, and He Himself is the way.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.

Acts 8:39 It ends the reading from Acts at the blessing for travellers. An Ethiopian official was baptized on his journey and went on his way rejoicing.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

Psalm 91:11

A Russian prayer book prints this psalm among a traveller’s prayers. It promises that God will command His angels to guard you in all your ways.

Psalm 91 Read the whole psalm, with St Athanasius’s advice on when to pray it.

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Berean Standard Bible