Orthodox prayers for priests and the Church

Prayers for your priest and bishop, for all who serve the Church and for its unity, and a prayer to find a spiritual father.

Picture: Illarion Pryanishnikov, Religious Procession, 1893

5 prayers and 1 to the saints

For your bishop and your priest

Prayer for priests

Save, O Lord, and have mercyon the most holy Orthodox patriarchs,on the most reverend Orthodox metropolitans,archbishops and bishops,on the priests and deacons,and on all the clergy of the Church,whom You have appointedto shepherd Your spiritual flock.By their prayershave mercy on me and save me, a sinner.A bow

Save, O Lord, and have mercyon my spiritual father, (name),and by his holy prayersforgive my sins.A bow

Traditional wording, 1891

Save, O Lord, and have mercy upon the most holy Governing Synod,and upon the most holy ecumenical Patriarchs,and all the most reverend orthodox Metropolitans, Archbishops and Bishops,the Priesthood and Diaconate, and all church Officerswhom Thou hast appointed to feed Thy spiritual flock,and, by their prayers, have mercy upon me, and save me, a sinner.

Save, O Lord, and have mercy upon my spiritual Father N.,and, by his holy prayers, forgive my transgressions.

These two lines of the Russian morning prayers are each said with a bow. The first asks God to save the bishops, priests and deacons. The second prays by name for your own spiritual father, the priest who hears your confession and guides you.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, with Shann’s 1891 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Euchology: A Manual of Prayers of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1891.

Shann’s book prays first for “the most holy Governing Synod” and the patriarchs, where today’s Slavonic names one patriarch.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

For bishops, priests and deacons

St Serapion’s prayer for bishops and priests

We call on You, the Saviour and Lord,the God of all flesh and the Lord of every spirit,the Blessed One, Who gives every blessing.Make our bishop holy,keep him safe from every temptation,and give him wisdom and knowledge.Lead him well in the understanding that is Yours.

We pray also for the priests who serve with him.Make them holy,and give them wisdom and knowledge and sound teaching.Make them ambassadors who carry Your holy teachingrightly and without blame.

Make the deacons holy too,so that they may be pure in heart and body,and able to serve with a clear conscienceand to stand beside the holy Body and the holy Blood.

Through Your only Son, Jesus Christ,through Whom be glory and power to You in the Holy Spirit,now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Traditional wording, 1923

We invoke Thee the Saviour and Lord, the God of all flesh and the Lord of every spirit,Thou that art blessed and the provider of every blessing,sanctify this Bishop and keep him outside every temptation, and give to him wisdom and knowledge.Lead him rightly in Thy rules of discipline.

We beseech Thee also for the Fellow-presbyters, sanctify them, give them wisdom and knowledge and right doctrine:cause them to be ambassadors of Thy holy doctrine rightly and unblameably.

Sanctify also the Deacons, that they may be clean in heart and bodyand be able to minister in a clean conscience and to give attendance to the holy body and the holy blood.

[…]

through Thy only-begotten Jesus Christ, through Whom to Thee (is) the glory and the strengthboth now and to the ages of the ages. Amen.

It comes from the prayer book credited to St Serapion, a bishop in Egypt in the 300s. It asks wisdom for the bishop, sound teaching for the priests and pure hearts for the deacons.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek (the prayer’s first three parts and its closing words), with Wordsworth’s 1923 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: John Wordsworth, Bishop Sarapion’s Prayer-Book, 1923.

Wordsworth’s closing words leave out “in the Holy Spirit”, which the Greek has.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

For the whole Church

Didache prayer for the Church

As this broken bread was scattered on the mountains,and was gathered together and became one,so let Your Church be gathered togetherfrom the ends of the earth into Your kingdom.For Yours is the glory and the powerthrough Jesus Christ for ever and ever.

Remember, Lord, Your Church.Deliver it from all evil,and make it perfect in Your love.Gather it from the four winds,the Church made holy,into Your kingdom,which You have prepared for it.For Yours is the power and the gloryfor ever and ever.

Traditional wording, 1891

As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountainsand being gathered together became one,so may Thy Church be gathered togetherfrom the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom;for Thine is the glory and the powerthrough Jesus Christ for ever and ever.

Remember, Lord, Thy Churchto deliver it from all eviland to perfect it in Thy love;and gather it together from the four winds—even the Churchwhich has been sanctified—into Thy kingdomwhich Thou hast prepared for it;for Thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever.

These two prayers come from the Didache, a church handbook of about AD 100. As bread scattered on the mountains became one, they ask God to gather His Church from the ends of the earth.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with Lightfoot’s 1891 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, 1891.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

To find a spiritual father

St Symeon’s prayer to find a spiritual father

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

Lord, You do not want a sinner to die,but to turn back and live.For this You came down to earth,to raise up those who lie fallen,put to death by sin,and to make them worthy to see You, the true Light,as far as a human being can see.

Send me someone who knows You,so that I may serve him as I would serve You,submit to him with all my strength,and do Your will by doing his.So may I please You, the only God,and may I too, a sinner,be made worthy of Your kingdom.

St Symeon the New Theologian gave it as a model prayer for anyone looking for a guide. It asks Christ to “send me someone who knows You.”

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from our own English from the Greek of St Symeon’s Ethical Discourses. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

For the unity of the Church

The High Priestly Prayer (John 17)

Holy Father, keep in Your namethose You have given Me,so that they may be one, as We are one.

I do not ask that You take them out of the world,but that You keep them from the evil one.

I do not ask for these alone,but also for those who believe in Me through their message,that all of them may be one.As You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You,may they also be in Us,so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Traditional wording, 1611

Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me,that they may be one, as We are.

I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world,but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word;That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us:that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.

Christ prayed for His disciples, and for all who would believe through them, “that all of them may be one” (John 17:20-21).

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of John 17:11, 15 and 20-21, with the King James wording beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where the plain wording says “the evil one”, the King James says “the evil”. It follows a Greek text that reads “which shall believe” and “one in Us”, where the Greek printed here reads “who believe” and “in Us”.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

To a saint · A shepherd’s hymn

Troparion of St Nicholas

The truth of things showed you to your flockas a rule of faith, an image of meeknessand a teacher of self-control.So by humility you gained the heights,and by poverty, riches.Father Nicholas, holy bishop,pray to Christ our Godthat our souls may be saved.

Traditional wording, 1891

The Truth hath made thee a standard of faith,a pattern of meekness, and a teacher of temperance to thy flock.

Thus didst thou, O holy priestly Father Nicolas,by humiliation acquire greatness, by thy poverty, riches.

Pray Christ our God to save our souls.

The hymn of St Nicholas, bishop of Myra. It praises him as a rule of faith and an image of meekness to his flock. The Church sings the same words for any holy bishop.

Shann’s “humiliation” is humility, as the Slavonic says.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

Scripture for this

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:18 Jesus promised to build His Church, and that the gates of Hades would not overcome it.

Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

Acts 20:28 Paul told the elders of Ephesus to shepherd the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.

²Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; ³not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

1 Peter 5:2-4 As a fellow elder, Peter asks the Church’s elders to shepherd God’s flock willingly and to be examples until the Chief Shepherd appears.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Hebrews 13:17 Those who lead the Church keep watch over souls and will give an account. Help them to do it with joy.

¹²But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who work diligently among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 Paul asks the Church to honour those who work hard among them and lead them in the Lord, and to hold them in love.

³⁷Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”

Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus told His disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

A psalm for this

May Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and Your saints shout for joy.
Psalm 132:9

Before the Liturgy, the priest says this verse as he puts on his outer robe.

Psalm 132 Read the whole psalm, with St Athanasius’s advice on when to pray it.

Close to this

All prayers

Quiz What prayer do you need right now? A few honest taps about where you are, and a prayer of the Church for exactly that. 8 questions, about 3 minutes. Start

Suggest a correction