When it is said
It is said before beginning any work or task, large or small. In today’s Russian prayer book it comes after O Heavenly King and a short prayer: “Bless, O Lord, and help me, a sinner, to complete the work I begin, to Your glory.”
Even a quiet “Lord, bless” is enough, advises a Russian prayer book, for no work should begin without prayer. The Jordanville Prayer Book offers “O Lord, bless” as the short choice too.
When the work is done, its partner follows: the prayer after any task.
Where it comes from
No author known
Who wrote it?
No one knows. It comes from the Russian prayer book, among the prayers said through the day. It was in print by 1907, in a prayer book with short notes on the faith, published by a church brotherhood in Vilnius. Today it is in the Moscow prayer book, and in English in the Jordanville Prayer Book and the prayers of the Orthodox Church in America.
Explained prayer book, Holy Spirit Brotherhood of Vilnius (St Petersburg, 1907); Orthodox Church in America, Before and after any Work
Where monks say it before work
Valaam is a monastery on an island in Lake Ladoga, in Russia’s north. Its monks grow fruit and vegetables on bare rock, and they say nothing there is done without prayer. Before work they say the usual opening prayers: O Heavenly King, the Trisagion (“Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal”) and the Lord’s Prayer. Then comes this prayer.
The brothers of Valaam Monastery, Prayer before and after every work (OrthoChristian.com)
What the words mean
Through You, or for You?
The Slavonic asks Christ’s help to finish the work “o Tebe Samom”, and translators read it in different ways. The Jordanville Prayer Book has “through Thee Thyself”, and Valaam’s monks “in union with Thee”. The prayer book’s modern Russian has “for You Yourself”, and the Orthodox Church in America “for Thine own glory”. This page follows the Jordanville.
Orthodox prayer book (Moscow, 2018), with its Russian translation; Orthodox Church in America, Before and after any Work
Not a spell
The brothers of Valaam put it plainly: prayer is “not a spell but a request for help”. Having prayed, they write, we should do the work honestly and with our whole heart. Prayer gives strength, but it does not take away the need to do our best.
The brothers of Valaam Monastery, Prayer before and after every work (OrthoChristian.com)
The Scripture in it
I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Church Slavonic
Господи, Иисусе Христе, Сыне Единородный Безначальнаго Твоего Отца, Ты бо рекл еси пречистыми усты Твоими, яко без Мене не можете творити ничесоже.
Господи мой, Господи, верою объем в души моей и сердце Тобою реченная, припадаю Твоей благости:
помози ми, грешному, сие дело, мною начинаемое, о Тебе Самом совершити, во имя Отца и Сына и Святаго Духа, молитвами Богородицы и всех Твоих святых. Аминь.