Orthodox prayers for safe driving

For safe driving, the driver’s prayer can be said before you set off or at the wheel. A priest can also bless a new car.

Picture: Meindert Hobbema, The Avenue at Middelharnis, 1689

3 prayers and 1 to the saints

Behind the wheel

Driver’s prayer

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

O God, all-good and all-merciful,You watch over all with Your mercy and love for mankind.Humbly I pray You,through the prayers of the Mother of God and of all the saints:keep me, a sinner, and the people entrusted to mefrom sudden death and from every harm,and help me bring each one safelywhere they need to go.

Merciful God,deliver me from the evil spirit of reckless drivingand from the unclean power of drunkenness,which bring accidents and sudden death without repentance.

Lord, grant that I may live to a ripe old agewith a clear conscience,without the burden of anyone killed or maimedthrough my carelessness.And may Your holy name be glorified,now and ever, and for ever and ever. Amen.

This modern Russian prayer is written for driving itself. It asks God to keep you and your passengers from sudden death, and to keep you from recklessness and drink.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic (no English translation was found, so this one is our own). How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

For a new car

Blessing of a car

O Lord our God,You sit upon the seraphimand ride upon the cherubim.You adorned man with wisdom,and by Your good providenceYou guide all things to good.

Send down Your blessing on this vehicle,and set Your angel over it,so that those who travel in it,guarded and guided by him,may finish their journey in peace and safetyand send up glory and thanksgiving to You,praising the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1999

O Lord, our God,Who sittest on the Seraphim and ridest on the Cherubim,Who didst adorn man with wisdom,and directest all to good by Thy good Providence:

Do Thou send down Thy blessing on this vehicle,and appoint Thine Angel for it,that those who shall travel in itmay be protected and guided in peace;and having successfully finished their journey,they may send up unto Thee glory and thanksgiving,praising the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.Amen.

A priest reads this prayer when he blesses a car with holy water, and a driver might pray it at home over a new car. It asks God to set His angel over the car to guard all who travel in it.

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

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

Before a long drive

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills.Where will my help come from?My help comes from the LORD,Who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip.He Who watches over you will not slumber.Indeed, He Who watches over Israelwill neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you.The LORD is your shade at your right hand.The sun will not strike you by day,nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil.He will keep your soul.The LORD will watch over your going out and your coming in,from this time on and for ever.

Traditional wording, 1611

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.My help cometh from the LORD, Which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber.Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul.The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

This psalm is about the One Who watches over you and never slumbers. Pray it before a long drive, or for someone driving home late at night.

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.

The King James text makes the end of verse 1 a statement. The Hebrew asks a question, as the translators’ own margin note gives it.

Where it comes from, and the original

To a saint · St Christopher

Troparion of St Christopher

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

Adorned in robes made of your own blood,you stand before the Lord, the King of heaven,O renowned Christopher.

So with the choirs of the angels and the martyrsyou sing the awesome song,“Holy, holy, holy.”

By your prayers, then,save your servants.

St Christopher is known from the story that he carried the Christ child across a flooded river. This is his own hymn from the Orthodox service books, asking his prayers.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

Scripture for this

²¹My son, do not lose sight of this: Preserve sound judgment and discernment. ²²They will be life to your soul and adornment to your neck. ²³Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.

Proverbs 3:21-23 Keep sound judgment and discernment, and you will go on your way in safety. A careful driver needs both.

Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

Exodus 23:20 God sends an angel ahead to protect His people along the way, as the blessing of a car asks.

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.

Psalm 34:7 The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear Him and rescues them.

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, ²⁰for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.

James 1:19-20 Be slow to anger, because human anger does not bring about God’s righteousness, even in heavy traffic.

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 For a nervous learner or a driving test, bring every worry to God in prayer, and His peace will guard your heart.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Psalm 91:11

In the Church’s blessing of a car, Psalm 91 is read just before the priest’s prayer.

Psalm 91 Read the whole psalm, with St Athanasius’s advice on when to pray it.

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