Orthodox prayers for rain and a good harvest

The Church prays for rain in a drought, for sun in a wet season, and over the seed and the first fruits.

Picture: Vincent van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888

5 prayers and 1 to the saints

In a drought, and for the harvest

Prayer for rain and the harvest

Send down good rains in plentyon the places that need them and lack them.As the rain comes down, gladden and renew the face of the earth,so that it may spring up and rejoice in the raindrops.Raise the river waters to their full measure.As they rise, gladden and renew the face of the earth.Soak its furrows; multiply its crops.

Bless the fruits of the earth, O Lord,and keep them safe and whole for us.Bring them to us as seed and as harvest,so that the earth may spring up and rejoice in the raindrops.

Bless now too, O Lord, the year that You crown with Your goodness,for the sake of the poor among Your people,for the widow and the orphan,for the stranger and the newcomer,and for all of us who hope in Youand call on Your holy name.For the eyes of all look to You in hope,and You give them their food in due season.

You give food to every living creature:fill our hearts with joy and gladness,so that, always having all we need,we may abound in every good workin Christ Jesus our Lord.

Traditional wording, 1886

Send down rich and copious showers on the dry and thirsty lands.Gladden and revive the face of the earth, that it may spring forth and rejoice in the raindrops.Make the waters of the river flow in full stream.Gladden and revive the face of the earth with the swelling waters.Fill all the channels of the streams, and multiply the fruits of the earth.

Bless, O Lord, the fruits of the earth, and keep them safe and unharmed.Fill them with seed, and make them ripe for the harvest.

Bless even now, O Lord, Thy yearly crown of blessingfor the sake of the poor of Thy people, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger,and for the sake of all of us who have our hope in Thee and call upon Thy holy name;for the eyes of all are upon Thee, and Thou givest them bread in due season.

O Thou Who givest food to all flesh, fill our hearts with joy and gladness,that at all times, having all sufficiency,we may abound to every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It asks for rain on the dry places and for full rivers, then for a blessed harvest for the sake of the poor. It comes from the Liturgy of St Mark, the old liturgy of the Church of Alexandria in Egypt.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of the Liturgy of St Mark, with George Ross Merry’s translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: George Ross Merry, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7, 1886.

Merry’s English gives the rain line about the raindrops once; the Greek says it twice, as the plain English does.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

When no rain comes

Prayer for rain

Master, Lord our God,You heard Elijah the Tishbitebecause of his zeal for You.You commanded that the rainwhich comes to the earth in its season be held back,and then, at his prayer,You gave the earth fruitful rain again.

Master of all,we beg You, of Your own compassion:give abundant rain to Your inheritance.Overlook the sins we have committed,and send down Your rainson the places that need them and ask for them.

Gladden the face of the earth,for the sake of Your poor people,and of the little children, and the animals, and all others,for they look to Youto give them their food in due season.

For You are our God,the God Who has mercy and saves,and to You we give glory,to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1999

O Master, Lord our God, Who didst hear Elijah the Tishbitebecause of his zeal for Thee,and for a time didst command that rain be held backfrom being sent unto the earth,and again at his prayer didst grant it fruit-bearing rain:

Do Thou Thyself, O Master of all, Who art being entreated,out of Thy deep compassion grant abundant rain unto Thine inheritance;and, overlooking our sins,do Thou send down Thy rains upon every place entreating and praying for it.

Make glad the face of the earth,for the sake of Thy poor people and infants, and animals and all others,for they trust in Thee, that Thou wilt give drink unto them in due season.

For Thou art our God, a God Who showeth mercy and saveth,and unto Thee do we send up glory:to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

It is the first of the seven prayers the Russian service book gives for a drought. It asks God to send His rain again, as He did when Elijah prayed.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: St Tikhon’s Monastery, The Great Book of Needs, Volume IV, 1999.

St Tikhon’s has God “give drink” to His creatures in due season. The Slavonic says food.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

At sowing time

Prayer for a good harvest

Lord our God,we have brought before Your eyesthis seed, the gift of Your most pure and generous hand,and we pray You, Master, to take it into Your care.

For we would not dareto shut it away in the lifeless depths of the earthif we did not look to the command of Your majesty,which bids the earth bring forth and sprout,and give seed to the sower and bread to eat.

And now we pray to You, our God:hear us as we pray.Open to us Your great, good and heavenly treasury,and pour out Your blessinguntil we have all we need,as You have truly promised.

Drive away from us all that devours the fruit of our land,and every punishment justly brought on us for our sins.Send down Your rich mercies on all Your people,by the grace of Your only-begotten Sonand His love for mankind.With Him You are blessed,together with Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

The priest pours blessed wheat into the seedBless the crown of the year with Your goodness, O Lord.Let Your fields be filled with plenty,and let the valleys abound with wheat.

He sprinkles the seed with holy waterMay Your blessing, O Lord, come down on this seed.May it sprout and bear much fruit,in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.Amen.

He sprinkles the land that will be sownVisit this land, O Lord,water it and enrich it.Bless its furrows and multiply its grain.For You are our God,and to You we give glory,to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

He throws seed onto the field three timesIn the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1999

O Lord our God, we offer the seed that lies before Thine eyeswhich is a donation from Thy most-pure and most-rich hands, O Master,and handing this unto Thee, we pray,

for we dare not to enclose this into the bosom of the soulless earth,if we did not heed the commandment of Thy Majesty,bidding the earth to germinate and sprout,and to render seed for sowing and bread for food.

And now we pray Thee, O our God:Hearken unto us that are beseeching Thee,and open unto us Thy great, and good, and heavenly storehouse;and pour out Thy blessing, that we may be abundantly satisfied,according to Thy true promise.

And do Thou drive away from us every thing that devours our earthly fruit,and every chastisement justly brought upon us for the sake of our sins.And send down upon all Thy people, the riches of Thy compassions,through the grace and love for mankind of Thine Only-begotten Son,with Whom Thou art blessed,together with Thy Most-holy, Good, and Lifegiving Spirit,now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Show the whole prayer

It asks God to take the seed into His care and to drive away everything that devours the crops. A priest prays it over the seed in the field, and a gardener might pray it over seed at home.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: St Tikhon’s Monastery, The Great Book of Needs, Volume III, 1999.

St Tikhon’s book gives only the priest’s prayer. The short blessings said over the seed and the field are in the Russian Rural Book of Needs, so only the plain wording has them.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

When the rain will not stop

Prayer for good weather

Master, Lord our God,long ago You heard the prayer of Your zealous prophet Elijahand chose to hold back the rain for a time.

Now too, Creator Who loves mankind, merciful Lord,look on us, Your lowly and unworthy servants,and on our humble prayers.In Your compassion, overlook our sins.Moved by Your own love for mankind,give fair weather to Your people,and make the sun shine on those who need Your mercyand ask it of You.

Gladden the face of the earthfor the sake of Your poor people,for the little children and the cattleand all the other living things.In Your kindness You satisfy themand give them their food in due season.

Yes, Lord our God,do not turn our prayer away empty,and do not put us to shame in our hope.Spare us in Your mercyand visit us with Your compassion,for our days are slipping away in futility,and our life is failing in sorrow.

Do not destroy us for our sins,by which we have brought Your indignation and anger on ourselves,but deal with us in Your gentlenessand in the greatness of Your mercy.

See, with a broken soul and a humble spiritwe fall down before You.We are useless servantswho deserve a heavier punishment than this,and in repentance, with tender hearts, we cry out to You:We have sinned and done wrong,we have gone astray in everythingand broken Your commandments,and so all that You bring on us,You bring in truth and justice.

But do not give us up completelyto decay, famine and destruction,and do not let the storm waters drown us.In Your wrath, remember mercy.Be merciful to us freely, out of Your compassion.In Your goodness have mercy on Your creation,the work of Your hands,and quickly deliver us from every evil.

For it is Yours to have mercy on us and to save us, our God,and to You we give glory,to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1999

O Master, Lord our God,Who, in ancient times, didst hear the prayer of Thy zealous Prophet Elijah,and didst will to hold back rain for a time:Do Thou now also, O Creator Who lovest mankind and Merciful Lord,look down upon the humble prayers of us, Thy humble and unworthy servants;and as Thou art compassionate, overlook our iniquities,and, being supplicated, out of that same love for mankind,do Thou grant good weather unto Thine inheritance,and cause the sun to shine upon us who are requesting and entreating mercy from Thee.

Make glad the face of the earth for the sake of Thy poor people,and of infants and cattle and all other living things,which do Thou satisfy by Thy good pleasure;and grant unto them nourishment in good season.

Yea, O Lord, our God, reject not our prayer as if in vain,neither put us to shame for our hope,but spare us according to Thy mercies,and visit us with Thy compassions,for our days pass in vanity,and our life grows weak with infirmities.

Destroy us not, therefore, who have made haste unto Thee,with Thy wrath and indignation, on account of our transgressions,but deal with us according to Thy gentlenessand according to the multitude of Thy mercies.

For, behold, with broken spirits and humble souls we fall down before Thee,and as unprofitable servants and more worthy of great punishment,in repentance we humbly cry out unto Thee:We have sinned and transgressed,and we have committed every iniquity, violating Thy commandments,and because of all this that which Thou bringest upon us,Thou bringest with true judgment.

But do Thou not bestow upon us corruption, famine and utter destruction,neither let storms of water drown us.Rather, do Thou remember mercy in Thine anger,and, freely showing tender mercy for the sake of Thy compassions,as Thou art good, have mercy on Thy creation and the work of Thy hands,and quickly deliver us from every evil thing.

For Thine it is to show mercy and to save, O our God,and unto Thee do we send up glory:to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.Amen.

Show the whole prayer

It asks God to give fair weather, to make the sun shine and not to let the storm waters drown His people. In the Russian Church it is read kneeling, in a service for a wet season.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, with St Tikhon’s 1999 English beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: St Tikhon’s Monastery, The Great Book of Needs, Volume IV, 1999.

Where St Tikhon’s has “who have made haste unto Thee”, the Slavonic says our sins drew God’s anger on us.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

When the harvest comes in

Prayer over the first fruits

We give You thanks, O God,and we offer You the first fruitsthat You have given us to enjoy.By Your word You nourished them,and You commanded the earth to bring forth all its fruitsto gladden and to feed peopleand every animal.

For all these things we praise You, O God,and for all the ways You have helped us.For us You adorn the whole creationwith many kinds of fruitthrough Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.Through Him be glory to Youfor ever and ever. Amen.

Traditional wording, 1934

We give Thee thanks, O God, and we offer Thee the first-fruits;which Thou hast given us to enjoy,nourishing them through Thy word,commanding the earth to bring forth her fruitsfor the gladness and the food of men and all beasts.

For all these things we praise Thee, O God,and for all things wherewith Thou hast blessed us,Who for us adornest every creature with divers fruits.

Through Thy Servant Jesus Christ, our Lord,through Whom be to Thee glory, world without end.Amen.

In an early book of church rules called the Apostolic Tradition, the bishop gives thanks with these words over the first fruits people bring him. A family might pray them over the first of its own harvest.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin, with Burton Scott Easton’s 1934 English beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Burton Scott Easton, The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, 1934.

Where Easton has “wherewith Thou hast blessed us”, the Latin says God has helped us.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

To a saint · To the prophet Elijah

Kontakion of St Elijah

Prophet and seer of the mighty works of God,Elijah of great renown,by your word you held back the rain clouds.Pray for usto the only Lover of mankind.

Traditional wording

O prophet, foreseer of the mighty works of our God,Elias of great renown,who by thy voice didst restrain the cloud of rain:on our behalf entreat thou HimWho alone is the Lover of mankind.

This short hymn is sung on Elijah’s feast, 20 July. It remembers that his word held back the rain and asks him to pray for us.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: the Russian Orthodox parish in Cardiff, Canons to the Holy and Glorious Prophet Elias.

The Greek says “the mighty works of God”, not “of our God”.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

Scripture for this

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”

Genesis 8:22 After the flood God promised that seedtime and harvest will never cease while the earth lasts.

¹⁴Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

Genesis 9:14-15 When the rainbow appears in the clouds, God remembers His covenant that a flood will never again destroy all life.

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

James 5:7 The farmer waits patiently for his crop and for the rains. The Russian service in time of drought reads this verse.

¹⁷Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops.

James 5:17-18 Elijah was a man like us. He prayed, and the heavens gave rain and the earth its crops.

Who covers the sky with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the hills.

Psalm 147:8 God covers the sky with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, and makes the grass grow on the hills.

“Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

Acts 14:17 Paul told a crowd in Lystra that God shows His goodness by rain from heaven and fruitful seasons.

⁹Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Proverbs 3:9-10 Proverbs teaches that whoever honours the LORD with the first fruits of their crops will have barns filled with plenty.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.
Psalm 65:9

God waters the earth and fills His streams to prepare our grain. The Russian blessing at the start of sowing reads this psalm.

Psalm 65 Read the whole psalm, with St Athanasius’s advice on when to pray it.

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