Orthodox prayers for an engaged couple and a wedding

Pray for an engaged couple and their wedding day, whether you are the couple or someone who loves them.

Picture: Konstantin Makovsky, A Boyar Wedding Feast, 1883

4 prayers

For an engaged couple

Prayer for an engaged couple

O eternal God,You brought into one what was divided,and joined it with a bond of love that cannot be broken.You blessed Isaac and Rebecca,and made them heirs of Your promise.

Bless also these servants of Yours, (name),and guide them in every good work.

For You are a merciful God Who loves mankind,and to You we give glory,to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1894

O God eternal, Who bringest things that are divided unto unity,and imposest upon these an indissoluble bond of love,Who didst bless Isaac and Rebecca,and declare them to be the inheritors of Thy promise;

do Thou Thyself bless these Thy servants, (name), (name),directing them in every good work.

For a merciful and man-loving God Thou art,and to Thee we ascribe glory,to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,now and ever, and to ages of ages.

The priest prays it near the start of the betrothal, the service of the rings. It asks God, Who blessed Isaac and Rebecca, to bless this couple too and guide them in every good work.

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

Where it comes from, and the Greek

On the wedding day

Prayer for marriage

O Lord our God,in Your saving plan You were pleasedto show marriage to be honourableby Your presence at Cana in Galilee.

Now, You Yourself keep Your servants (name),whom You were pleased to join to one another,in peace and of one mind.

Make their marriage honourable.Keep their marriage bed undefiled.Be pleased to keep their life together spotless.And count them worthy to reach a ripe old age,keeping Your commandments with a pure heart.

For You are our God,the God Who has mercy and saves,and to You we give glory,with Your Father, Who has no beginning,and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit,now and always and for ever and ever.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1894

O Lord our God, Who, in Thy saving providence,didst vouchsafe in Cana of Galileeto declare marriage honourable by Thy presence;do Thou now Thyself preserve in peace and unanimityThy servants, (name), and, (name),whom Thou art well-pleased should be conjoined to one another:

declare their marriage honourable:preserve their bed undefiled:be pleased that their mutual life may be unblamable,and count them worthy to attain unto a ripe old age,keeping Thy commandments in a pure heart.

For Thou art our God, the God to have mercy and to save,and to Thee we ascribe glory,with Thine unbeginning Father,and with Thine all-holy, and good, and life-creating Spirit,now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.

This prayer comes at the wedding itself, soon after the Gospel of the wedding at Cana is read. It asks Christ to make the couple’s marriage honourable and keep their life together spotless.

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

Where it comes from, and the Greek

For the newlyweds

Prayer of Tobias and Sarah

Blessed are You, O God of our fathers,and blessed is Your holy and glorious name for ever.Let the heavens bless You,and all that You have made.

You made Adam,and gave him Eve his wifeto help him and hold him up.From the two of them the human race was born.You said: It is not good for the man to be alone.Let Us make him a helper like himself.

And now, Lord, I take this kinswoman of mine as my wife,not out of lust, but with a sincere heart.Command that I find mercyand grow old together with her.Sarah says with him:Amen.

Traditional wording, 1611

Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers,and blessed is Thy holy and glorious name for ever;let the heavens bless Thee, and all Thy creatures.

Thou madest Adam, and gavest him Eve his wife for an helper and stay:of them came mankind:Thou hast said, It is not good that man should be alone;let Us make unto him an aid like unto himself.

And now, O Lord, I take not this my sister for lust, but uprightly:therefore mercifully ordain that we may become aged together.And she said with him, Amen.

Tobias prayed it with his bride Sarah on their wedding night, in the Book of Tobit. The Russian prayer book prints it as the prayer of newlyweds.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of Tobit 8:5-8, with the King James wording beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: the King James Bible’s translators, The King James Bible, Apocrypha, 1611.

Brenton’s English Septuagint of 1851 prints this King James wording for Tobit.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

To bless the couple

Wedding blessing

May the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,the all-holy Trinity, one in essence and the source of life,one Godhead and one kingdom,bless you.

May God give you long life,the blessing of good children,and growth in life and in faith.

May He fill you with all the good things of the earth,and make you worthy to enjoy the good things He has promised,through the prayers of the holy Mother of Godand of all the saints.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1894

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,the all-holy, and consubstantial, and life-originating Trinity,one Godhead and sovereignty,bless you,

and vouchsafe unto you long life, well-favoured children,progress in life and faith,

and replenish you with all the good things of earth,and count you worthy of the obtaining of promised blessings,through the prayers of the holy God-bearing one,and of all the Saints. Amen.

The priest gives this blessing as the couple bow their heads near the end of an Orthodox wedding, just before the guests come up to greet them. A parent or a friend might say its words over the couple too.

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

Where it comes from, and the Greek

Scripture for this

⁶³Early in the evening, Isaac went out to the field to meditate, and looking up, he saw the camels approaching. ⁶⁴And when Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she got down from her camel ⁶⁵and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “It is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶Then the servant told Isaac all that he had done. ⁶⁷And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.

Genesis 24:63-67 Isaac meets Rebecca, who has come from far away to marry him. The betrothal prayer remembers them.

⁴Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ ⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? ⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus teaches that the two become one flesh, and what God has joined together no one should separate.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

Proverbs 18:22 Finding a wife is a good thing, a gift of favour from the LORD.

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

Psalm 127:1 A couple’s new home rests on God, because unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain.

Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is to be honoured by all. The wedding service asks God to make the couple’s marriage honourable.

“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.”

Ruth 4:11 The elders at Bethlehem’s gate bless Boaz and Ruth as they marry, asking the LORD to make her like Rachel and Leah.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
Psalm 128:3

The old Russian service book has this psalm sung as the couple come in to be crowned, with “Glory to You, our God” after each verse.

Psalm 128 Read the whole psalm, with St Athanasius’s advice on when to pray it.

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