Orthodox prayers for peace of mind

Prayers for peace of mind and a calm heart, asking God for the peace that only He gives.

Picture: Isaac Levitan, Quiet Abode, 1890

5 prayers

For the day ahead

Prayer of the Optina elders

Lord, give me peace of soulto meet all that the day ahead brings me.Help me to give myself wholly to Your holy will.At every hour of this day,guide me and hold me up in all things.

Whatever news reaches me today,teach me to accept it with a calm souland a firm belief that Your holy will rules over all.In all my words and actions,guide my thoughts and feelings.When something unexpected happens,do not let me forget that all is sent by You.

Teach me to deal honestly and wiselywith everyone in my family,without troubling or grieving anyone.Lord, give me strength to bearthe tiredness of the coming dayand all that happens in it.Guide my will,and teach me to pray,to believe, to hope,to be patient,to forgive and to love. Amen.

Traditional wording, 1982

O Lord, grant that I may meet allthat this coming day brings to mewith spiritual tranquility.Grant that I may fully surrender myselfto Thy holy Will.At every hour of this day,direct and support me in all things.

Whatsoever news may reach mein the course of the day,teach me to accept it with a calm souland the firm convictionthat all is subject to Thy holy Will.Direct my thoughts and feelingsin all my words and actions.In all unexpected occurrences,do not let me forgetthat all is sent down from Thee.

Grant that I may deal straightforwardly and wiselywith every member of my family,neither embarrassing nor saddening anyone.O Lord, grant me the strength to endurethe fatigue of the coming dayand all the events that take place during it.Direct my will and teach me to pray,to believe, to hope, to be patient,to forgive, and to love. Amen.

It opens: “Lord, give me peace of soul to meet all that the day ahead brings me.” Then it asks to meet whatever news may come with a calm soul.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Russian text printed by Optina Monastery, with St Tikhon’s 1982 wording beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: St Tikhon’s Seminary Press, Orthodox Daily Prayers, 1982.

Where it comes from, and the Russian

When your heart will not settle

St Augustine’s prayer for a restless heart

Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised.Great is Your power,and Your wisdom is beyond measure.

And man, one small part of Your creation,wants to praise You.He carries his mortality everywhere he goes.He carries the proof of his sin,the proof that You resist the proud.And yet man, one small part of Your creation,wants to praise You.

You stir us to find joy in praising You,because You made us for Yourself,and our heart is restless until it rests in You.

Traditional wording, 1886

Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised;great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no end.

And man, being a part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee,man, who bears about with him his mortality, the witness of his sin,even the witness that Thou “resistest the proud,”—yet man, this part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee.

Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee;for Thou hast formed us for Thyself,and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.

St Augustine opens his Confessions, written about AD 400, with this prayer. It names the unrest and where it ends. In its words, God made us for Himself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Him.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin, with Pilkington’s 1886 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: J. G. Pilkington, The Confessions of St. Augustin, 1886.

Pilkington says “our hearts are restless”; the Latin says “our heart”, and so does this page.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

To quiet a racing mind

Like a weaned child (Psalm 131)

LORD, my heart is not proud,and my eyes are not haughty.I do not busy myself with great matters,or with things too wonderful for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,like a weaned child with its mother;my soul within me is like a weaned child.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,from this time on and for ever.

Traditional wording, 1611

LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty:neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother:my soul is even as a weaned child.

Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

A psalm of three verses for a mind running after things too great for it. At its heart is a soul made calm and quiet, “like a weaned child with its mother”.

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.

Where the King James has “behaved and quieted myself”, the Hebrew says “my soul”, as its own margin notes.

Where it comes from, and the original

When your soul is troubled

Prayer of St John of Kronstadt

Lord, Your name is Love:do not turn me away, though I go astray.

Your name is Strength:strengthen me as I grow weak and fall.

Your name is Light:give light to my soul,darkened by worldly passions.

Your name is Peace:bring peace to my troubled soul.

Your name is Mercy:do not stop having mercy on me.

Traditional wording, 1897

Lord! Thy name is Love: do not cast me away, erring as I am!

Thy name is Power: strengthen me, who so often grow weak and fall!

Thy name is Light: enlighten my soul, darkened by earthly passions!

Thy name is Peace: appease my troubled soul!

Thy name is Mercy: do not cease to forgive me!

The Russian priest St John of Kronstadt wrote this prayer in his diary. He calls God Love, Strength, Light, Peace and Mercy, and at Peace he asks God to bring peace to his troubled soul.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Russian of his diary, with E. E. Goulaeff’s English of 1897 beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: E. E. Goulaeff, My Life in Christ, 1897.

In the last line Goulaeff writes “forgive me”, where the Russian asks God not to stop having mercy.

Where it comes from, and the Russian

For a quiet evening

Evening collect for peace

O God, from You come holy desires,right counsel and just deeds.Give to Your servants that peacewhich the world cannot give,so that our hearts may be devoted to Your commandments,and our days, freed from the fear of our enemies,may be calm under Your protection.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Traditional wording, 1549

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed;Give unto Thy servants that peace which the world cannot give;that both our hearts may be set to obey Thy commandments,and also that by Thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness;through the merits of Jesu Christ our Saviour. Amen.

From the Gelasian Sacramentary, copied about AD 750, it asks for “that peace which the world cannot give” and for days made calm under God’s protection. The Prayer Book of 1549 set it for every evening.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin of the Gelasian Sacramentary, with the English of the 1549 Prayer Book beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The Book of Common Prayer, The Book of Common Prayer, in Edward Cardwell’s edition, 1549.

The Latin has no “all”, and it ends on one word, “Per”, the start of “Through our Lord Jesus Christ”. The ending “through the merits of Jesu Christ our Saviour” is the English book’s own.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

Scripture for this

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7 Paul promises a peace from God beyond all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.

John 14:27 Jesus leaves His own peace with His disciples, not as the world gives: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3 God keeps in perfect peace the mind that is fixed on Him, because it trusts in Him.

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Paul asks the Lord of peace Himself to give you peace at all times and in every way.

Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.

Psalm 62:5 David tells his own soul to rest in God alone, because his hope comes from Him.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:15 Paul asks that the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, and adds a short command: be thankful.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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