Orthodox prayers for your children

Orthodox prayers for your children, from the Russian prayer book, St Ephrem the Syrian and St Ambrose of Optina, with the blessing for a new school year.

Picture: William Holman Hunt, The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, 1854–60

4 prayers

For your children, by name

Prayer for my children

Plain English only: no traditional English wording is given for this prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,let Your mercy be on my children, (name).Keep them under Your shelter.Shield them from every evil desire.Drive away from them every enemy and foe.Open the ears and the eyes of their hearts.Give their hearts tenderness and humility.Lord, we are all Your creation:have pity on my children, (name),and turn them to repentance.

Save, O Lord, and have mercy on my children, (name).Enlighten their mindswith the light of the knowledge of Your Gospel.Guide them on the path of Your commandments,and teach them, O Saviour, to do Your will,for You are our God.

A short prayer Russian Orthodox parents say at home, naming each child. It asks Christ to shelter them, to drive every enemy from them, and to teach them to do His will.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic of the Russian prayer books. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

Remembering Christ was a child

St Ephrem’s prayer for children

Have mercy, O Lord, on my children!In my children remember Your own childhood,for You were a child Yourself.Let those who are like You in Your childhoodbe saved by Your grace.

Traditional wording, 1898

Have mercy, O Lord, on my children!in my children call to mind Thy childhood,Thou Who wast a child!Let them that are like Thy childhood,be saved by Thy grace!

St Ephrem wrote these words about AD 359, when war threatened his city. They ask Christ, Who was once a child Himself, to see His own childhood in your children.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from Gustav Bickell’s 1866 Latin translation of the Syriac, with Stopford’s 1898 English beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: J. T. Sarsfield Stopford, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 13, 1898.

Bickell’s Latin gives Christ’s own childhood as the reason for the prayer, so the plain wording says “for You were a child Yourself”.

Where it comes from, and the original

At the start of the school year

Prayer for children starting school

O Lord, our God and Creator,You honoured us human beingswith Your own image.You taught Your chosen ones,and Your teaching amazes those who listen to it.You reveal wisdom to little children.You taught Solomonand all who seek Your wisdom.

Open the hearts, the minds and the lipsof these Your servants,so that they may receive the power of Your lawand learn well the useful lessonsthat they will be taught,to the glory of Your most holy name,for the good and the building up of Your holy Church,and so that they may understandYour good and perfect will.

Deliver them from every attack of the enemy.Keep them in Orthodoxy and in the faith,in all godliness and purity,all the days of their life,so that they may grow in understandingand in keeping Your commandments.Made ready in this way,may they glorify Your most holy nameand become heirs of Your kingdom.

For You are God, mighty in mercy and good in strength,and all glory, honour and worship are Yours,the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,at all times, now and always,and for ever and ever. Amen.

Traditional wording, 1906

O Lord our God and Creator,Who hast honoured us men with Thine own image;Who hast taught Thine elect,so that wonderful are they who give heed to Thy teaching;Who revealest wisdom unto babes;Who hast imparted Thy teaching unto Solomonand unto all who have sought Thy wisdom:

Open Thou the hearts, the minds, and the lips of these Thy servants,that they may receive the power of Thy law,and successfully apprehend the useful precepts which shall be taught them,to the glory of Thine all-holy Name,to the profit and building up of Thy holy Church,and that they may understand Thy good and perfect will.

Deliver them from every hostile oppression;preserve them in Orthodoxy and the faith,and in all uprightness and purity all the days of their life,that they may advance in wisdom, and in the fulfilling of Thy commandments:that, being thus prepared, they may glorify Thine all-holy Name,and become heirs of Thy kingdom.

For Thou art God mighty in mercy, and gracious in strength;and unto Thee do we ascribe glory,to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The priest reads it over children at the service before the school year. It asks God to open their hearts, minds and lips, and to keep them in the faith all their lives.

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

In a mother’s voice

A mother’s sigh for her children

Plain English only: no traditional English wording is given for this prayer

O God, Creator of every creature,adding mercy to mercy,You have made me worthy to be the mother of a family.Your grace has given me children,and I dare to say: they are Your children!For You gave them being,gave them life with an immortal soul,gave them new birth in baptismfor a life in keeping with Your will,adopted them,and received them into the bosom of Your Church, O Lord!Keep them in Your grace to the end of their lives.Make them worthy to share in the sacraments of Your covenant.Make them holy by Your truth.May Your holy name be hallowed in them and through them!

Send me the help of Your grace in bringing them up,for the glory of Your name and the good of my neighbour!Give me the means, the patience and the strength to do it!

Teach me to plant in their hearts the root of true wisdom,the fear of You!Shine on them with the light of Your wisdom,which governs the universe!

May they love You with all their soul and all their mind,cling to You with all their heart,and tremble at Your words all their lives!

Give me the understanding to persuade themthat true life lies in keeping Your commandments,and that work made strong by godlinessbrings untroubled contentment in this lifeand a happiness beyond words in eternity.Open their minds to understand Your law!

To the end of their days may they work with You,aware that You are present everywhere.Plant in their hearts a fear of all wrongdoing and an aversion to it.May they be blameless in their ways,and may they always remember that You, all-good God,are zealous for Your law and Your righteousness!

Keep them chaste and reverent toward Your name!May they never bring shame on Your Church by the way they live,but live by its rules.

Inspire them with a desire for useful learning,and make them able to do every good work!

May they gain a true understanding of the thingsthey need to know for their place in life,and may they be enlightened by knowledge that does good to humanity.

O Lord, make me wise enough to engrave on my children’s minds and hearts,in lines that can never be erased,a wariness of friendship with those who do not fear You,and to teach them to keep well away from any bond with the wicked.May they pay no heed to rotten talk,or listen to frivolous people.May bad examples not lead them off Your path,and may they not be led astraybecause the way of the wicked sometimes prospers in this world.

Heavenly Father, give me the grace to take every carenever to make my children stumble by what I do,but to watch always over how they behave,and to turn them from going wrong, to correct their mistakes,to curb their stubbornness and defiance,and to hold them back from chasing what is empty and frivolous.May they not be carried away by foolish thoughts.May they not follow their own hearts,or forget You and Your law.

May wrongdoing not ruin their minds or their health,and may sin not weaken the strength of their souls and bodies.

Righteous Judge, Who punishes children for the sins of the parentsto the third and fourth generation,turn such punishment away from my children.Do not punish them for my sins,but sprinkle them with the dew of Your grace.May they advance in virtue and holiness,and grow in Your favour and in the love of godly people.

Father of compassion and of all mercy!As a parent I would wish my childrenan abundance of every good thing on earth.I would wish them the blessing of the dew of heavenand of the richness of the earth.But may Your holy will be done for them!

Arrange their lives as it pleases You.Do not let them go without their daily bread.Send them everything they need in this lifeto gain a blessed eternity.Be merciful to them when they sin against You.Do not hold against them the sins of their youth and their ignorance.Bring their hearts to sorrow for their sinswhen they resist the guidance of Your goodness.Punish them and have mercy on them,leading them onto the path that pleases You,but do not cast them away from Your presence!

Receive their prayers with favour.Give them success in every good thing they do.Do not turn Your face away from them in their days of sorrow,and let no temptation come upon them that is beyond their strength.Shelter them with Your mercy.May Your angel go with themand keep them from every misfortune and every evil way.

All-good God,make me a mother who rejoices in her children.May they be my joy all the days of my lifeand my support in my old age.Make me worthy, as I trust in Your mercy,to stand with them at Your Last Judgmentand to say with a boldness I do not deserve:“Here am I and my children, whom You have given me, O Lord!”

Together with them may I praiseYour goodness beyond words and Your eternal love,and exalt Your most holy name,Father, Son and Holy Spirit,for ever and ever. Amen.

Show the whole prayer

St Ambrose of Optina is credited with this long prayer, which the convent he founded at Shamordino gave out to the faithful. In it a mother asks God to help her bring up her children and to guide them in His ways.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Russian of the prayer book on Azbyka.ru; no English translation was found. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Russian

Scripture for this

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Luke 2:52 Jesus was a child too. He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

Job 1:5 Job rose early to offer a sacrifice for each of his children, in case they had sinned and cursed God in their hearts.

“And give my son Solomon a whole heart to keep and carry out all Your commandments, decrees, and statutes, and to build Your palace for which I have made provision.”

1 Chronicles 29:19 King David prayed that his son Solomon would have a whole heart to keep God’s commandments.

⁶These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Moses tells parents to teach God’s words to their children at home, on the road, at bedtime and on waking.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4 Paul tells fathers not to provoke their children, but to bring them up in the training and teaching of the Lord.

From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:15 Paul reminds Timothy that he has known the Holy Scriptures since he was a small child.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.
Psalm 144:12

David prays for rescue from his enemies and for a time when sons grow like well-tended plants and daughters like carved palace pillars.

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