Orthodox prayers for enemies

Christ told us to pray for our enemies. Here are prayers for them, and for God’s protection when someone wishes you harm.

Picture: Alfred Rethel, The Reconciliation of Otto the Great with His Brother Henry, 1840

5 prayers

Each morning

Prayer for enemies

Save, O Lord, and have mercyon those who hate me and wrong me,and who do me harm.Do not let them perishbecause of me, a sinner.A bow

Traditional wording, 1891

Save, O Lord, and have mercy upon themthat hate and injure me, and do evil unto me,and let them not perish on account of me, a sinner.

The Russian prayer book gives this line for each morning, with a bow. It asks God to save and have mercy on those who hate you and do you harm.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, with Shann’s 1891 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Euchology: A Manual of Prayers of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1891.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

For someone who wishes you harm

Prayer for those who hate and wrong us

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

Lord Jesus Christ our God,accept this prayer from us, Your unworthy servants.Forgive us all our sins,and remember all our enemies,who hate us and wrong us.

Do not repay them for what they have done,but in Your great mercy turn them:turn those who do not believeto the true faith and a godly life,and turn those who believeaway from evil, to do good,so that not one of them may perishbecause of us, unworthy as we are.

And by Your almighty strength,in Your mercy deliver us and Your holy Churchfrom every evil that surrounds us,so that we may all glorify You,and Your Father, Who has no beginning,and the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

This prayer closes a Russian service for enemies. In it you ask Christ not to repay the people who hate you but to turn them, and to guard you from every evil around you.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic; no published English was found, so this English is our own. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

When the wrong is fresh

Father, forgive them

Father, forgive them,for they do not know what they are doing.

Traditional wording, 1891

Father, forgive them;for they know not what they do.

Christ prayed this on the cross, while the men He prayed for were still crucifying Him.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of Luke 23:34, with the King James wording Shann printed in 1891 beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Euchology: A Manual of Prayers of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1891.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

When you are tempted to wish them ill

St Ephrem’s prayer for enemies

Have mercy on me, for I am a sinner and weak.O God, have pity on my weakness,and give me the strength to praya prayer that pleases You:

Do not punish my enemies,and take no revenge on those who hate me,but in Your mercy grantthat they may do Your will.

Traditional wording, 1898

Have mercy on me, I am a sinner and weak;be gracious, O God, to my weakness,and grant strength to me to pray a prayerthat shall be pleasing to Thy Will.

“Punish Thou not mine enemies,take not vengeance on them that hate me;but grant them in Thy gracethat they may become doers of Thy Will.”

It comes from a homily credited to St Ephrem the Syrian. Put away your rage before you pray, the homily teaches, and then ask God to take no revenge on your enemies.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from Thomas Lamy’s 1882 Latin translation of the Syriac, with A. Edward Johnston’s 1898 English beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: A. Edward Johnston, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 13, 1898.

Johnston has “in Thy grace” where Lamy’s Latin, which the plain English follows, has “in Your mercy”.

Where it comes from, and the original

When you can thank God for them

Bless my enemies, O Lord

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

Bless my enemies, O Lord.I bless them too, and do not curse them.

My enemies have pushed me into Your armsmore than my friends have.My friends tied me to the earth.My enemies untied me from the earthand tore down every hope I had set on it.

They have made me a stranger in the kingdoms of the earth,and someone the earth does not need.A hunted animal finds a safer shelterthan one that is not hunted.In the same way, hunted by my enemies,I have found the safest shelter of all.I have hidden under Your tent,where neither friends nor enemiescan destroy my soul.Bless my enemies, O Lord.I bless them too, and do not curse them.

They have confessed my sins to the world in my place.They have whipped mewhen I shrank from whipping myself.They have tormented mewhen I ran from suffering.They have insulted mewhen I flattered myself.They have spat on mewhen I was proud of myself.Bless my enemies, O Lord.I bless them too, and do not curse them.

When I made myself out to be wise,they called me a fool.When I made myself out to be mighty,they laughed at me as if I were a dwarf.When I wanted to lead people,they pushed me to the back.When I hurried to get rich,they beat me back with an iron hand.When I thought I would sleep in peace,they woke me from my sleep.When I built a house for a long and quiet life,they tore it down and drove me out.Truly, my enemies have untied me from the worldand stretched out my hands to the hem of Your garment.Bless my enemies, O Lord.I bless them too, and do not curse them.

Bless them and multiply them.Multiply them, and make them still more bitter against me,so that my flight to You has no turning back;so that all my hope in people is torn like a spider’s web;so that humility may reign in my soul completely;so that my heart may become the graveof my two evil twins, pride and anger;so that I may gather all my treasure in heaven;ah, so that at last I may be free of the self-deceptionthat has tangled me in the dreadful netof a life that deceives.

My enemies have taught me what few people know:that a person has no enemy in the world but himself.The only one who hates his enemiesis someone who does not knowthat enemies are not enemies but harsh friends.Truly, it is hard for me to saywho has done me more good in this world, and who more harm:my friends or my enemies.So bless, O Lord, both my friends and my enemies.

A slave curses his enemies, because he does not know.But a son blesses them, because he knows.For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life.So he walks freely among themand prays to God for them.Bless my enemies, O Lord.I bless them too, and do not curse them.

Show the whole prayer

The Serbian bishop St Nikolai Velimirovich blesses his enemies and will not curse them. Their insults and the losses they caused him, he says, broke his pride and drove him closer to God.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from our own English from St Nikolai’s Serbian. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Serbian

Scripture for this

²⁷But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:27-28 Jesus commands us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who mistreat us.

⁵⁹While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 7:59-60 As the stones fell, Stephen prayed as Christ did: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

¹⁹Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:19-21 Rather than take revenge yourself, feed a hungry enemy and give him a drink when he is thirsty, and so overcome evil with good.

²¹For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: ²²“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” ²³When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him Who judges justly.

1 Peter 2:21-23 When insulted, Christ did not insult back. He entrusted Himself to the One Who judges justly.

¹The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—whom shall I dread? ²When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell. ³Though an army encamps around me, my heart will not fear; though a war breaks out against me, I will keep my trust.

Psalm 27:1-3 When his enemies close in to devour him, David is not afraid, because the Lord is his light and the stronghold of his life.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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