Prayers

Orthodox prayers for stress and overwhelm

Prayers for when you are stressed and it is all too much: short cries for help, and words that hand the load to God.

Picture: Lorenzo Veneziano, Christ Rescuing Peter from Drowning, 1370

4 prayers

When it is all too much

Lead me to The Rock (Psalm 61)

Hear my cry, O God;listen to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I call to You,when my heart is overwhelmed.Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I am.

For You have been my refuge,a strong tower against the enemy.

I will live in Your tent for ever;I will take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.Selah

Traditional wording, 1611

Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of Thy wings. Selah.

Psalm 61 names this moment, “when my heart is overwhelmed”, and asks God to lead you to the Rock that is higher than you are.

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 it comes from, and the original

When everything comes at once

Beholding the sea of life

When I see the sea of liferising high with a storm of temptations,I run to Your calm harbourand cry out to You:Bring my life up out of ruin,O Most Merciful One.

Traditional wording, 2011

Beholding the sea of life surging with the tempest of temptations,I run to Thy calm haven and cry unto Thee:Raise up my life from corruption, O Greatly-merciful One.

A one-sentence hymn from the Church’s services. It sees the sea of life rising in a storm and runs to Christ as to a calm harbour.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with the Jordanville Prayer Book’s English beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, Prayer Book, 2011.

“Corruption” is the word of Jonah’s prayer in the King James Version, whose margin gives “the pit”. The plain wording says “ruin”.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

When you are going under

St Tikhon’s prayer in the storm

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

Lord, save me, I am perishing!For my little boat is in dangerfrom the waves of temptation,and it is close to sinking.

You are a merciful God,and You feel for us in our weakness.By Your almighty power,rebuke the storm of troublesthat would sink meand drag me down into the depths of evil.

Then there will be calm,for the winds and the sea obey You.Amen.

Russian prayer collections credit this prayer to the bishop St Tikhon of Zadonsk. It turns the disciples’ cry in the storm into your own and asks Christ to rebuke the troubles that would sink you, as He rebuked the winds and the sea.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, as the Russian prayer book prints it. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

One line, again and again

O God, come to my assistance

O God, come to my assistance;O Lord, make haste to help me.Said again and again

Traditional wording, 1894

O God, make speed to save me:O Lord, make haste to help me.

A monk of Egypt taught St John Cassian to say this psalm verse in every temptation, and in good times too. When the day crowds in, it is one line to hold on to.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Latin of Cassian’s Conferences, with Gibson’s 1894 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Edgar C. S. Gibson, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 11, 1894.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

Scripture for this

⁴¹“Martha, Martha,” the Lord replied, “you are worried and upset about many things. ⁴²But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:41-42 Martha was worried and upset about many things. Jesus told her gently that only one thing is needed.

And He said to them, “Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

Mark 6:31 The crowds left the apostles no time even to eat. Jesus told them to come away with Him and rest a while.

¹⁷But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.”

Exodus 18:17-18 Moses sat judging the people from morning to evening, until his father-in-law told him the task was too heavy to handle alone.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Isaiah 43:2 God promises that when you pass through the waters He will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you.

Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.

Psalm 142:3 In his prayer from the cave, David tells God that even when his spirit grows faint, “You know my way.”

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
Psalm 55:22

Cast your burden on the Lord. Even when the load stays, you need not carry it alone.

Psalm 55 Read the whole psalm, with St Athanasius’s advice on when to pray it.

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