Prayers

Orthodox prayers for good friends

These prayers thank God for the friends you have, ask His grace on your friendship and pray for friends far away.

Picture: Peder Severin Krøyer, A Luncheon: the Artist, His Wife and the Writer Otto Benzon, 1893

3 prayers

For good friends

Prayer for friendship

O God, You visit the humble,and You comfort us with brotherly kindness.

Spread Your grace over our fellowship,so that through those in whom You livewe may feel that You too have come to us.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Traditional wording, 1864

O God, Who visitest the humble,and consolest us by the affection of our brethren;

extend Thy grace to our fellowship,that by means of those in whom Thou dwellest,we may feel that Thou art come to visit us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The old Latin service books set this prayer for the moment visitors arrive. It asks God to spread His grace over your friendship, so that you meet Him in your friends.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin of the Old Gelasian book (Wilson’s 1894 edition), with William Bright’s 1864 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: William Bright, Ancient Collects, 1864.

Bright translated a later copy that reads “brotherly love” where the oldest copy reads “brotherly kindness”, as the plain wording does.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

Thanks for your friends

I thank my God every time I remember you

I thank my God every time I remember you.In every prayer of mine for all of you,I always pray with joy,because of your partnership in the gospelfrom the first day until now.

I am sure of this:He Who began a good work in youwill carry it on to completionuntil the day of Jesus Christ.

And this is my prayer:that your love may overflow more and morein knowledge and in all insight,so that you can tell what is best,and be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,filled with the fruit of righteousnessthat comes through Jesus Christ,to the glory and praise of God.

Traditional wording, 1611

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

Being confident of this very thing,that He which hath begun a good work in youwill perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;That ye may approve things that are excellent;that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ,unto the glory and praise of God.

St Paul wrote these words to friends who had stood by him. He thanks God for them and prays that their love will keep growing. Pray them for your own friends.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of Philippians 1:3-6 and 9-11, with the King James wording beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

For friends far away

May the Lord make your love increase

May our God and Father Himself,and our Lord Jesus Christ,clear the way for us to come to you.

And may the Lord make your love growand overflow for one another and for everyone,just as our love does for you,

so that He may make your hearts strong,blameless and holy before our God and Fatherwhen our Lord Jesus Christ comeswith all His saints.

Traditional wording, 1611

Now God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,direct our way unto you.

And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another,and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father,at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

Paul prayed it for friends he had been forced to leave. Pray it for a friend who has moved away, or one you have not seen for a long time.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, with the King James wording beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

Scripture for this

¹After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself. ²And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. ³Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

1 Samuel 18:1-3 Jonathan loved David as himself and made a covenant with him.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. ¹⁰For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one. When one falls, a friend is there to lift him up.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17 A good friend makes you better, the way iron sharpens iron.

He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

Proverbs 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise grows wise, while the companion of fools comes to harm.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24 Many companions can bring a man to ruin, but a true friend sticks closer than a brother.

¹⁴You are My friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

John 15:14-15 Jesus calls His disciples His friends, and makes known to them everything He learned from His Father.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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