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Prayers

The prayer for the baby on the 40th day

At the 40-day blessing the priest asks Christ, Who was brought into the Temple at 40 days old, to bless and guard this baby.

Picture: Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The Presentation in the Temple, 1342

The words of the prayer

Plain English

O Lord our God,on the fortieth day You were brought as a babyinto the Temple of the Lawby Mary, Your unwedded and holy Mother,and were carried in the arms of righteous Simeon.

You Yourself, Almighty Master,bless this baby too,brought to appear before You, the Creator of all.Help this child grow in every good workthat pleases You,and drive every hostile power far from this childby the sign of Your Cross.

For You, O Lord, are the guardian of little children.Grant that this child, made worthy of holy Baptism,may have a share among the chosen of Your Kingdom,kept safe with us by the graceof the holy Trinity, one in essence and undivided.

For all glory, thanksgiving and worship are Yours,with Your Father, Who has no beginning,and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit,now and ever and for ever and ever. Amen.

Traditional wording, 1894

O Lord our God, Who on the fortieth day wast brought as a childinto the temple of the law by Mary, Thine unmarried and holy Mother,and wast carried in the arms of righteous Symeon;do Thou Thyself, O omnipotent Master, bless this presented babe,that it may appear before Thee, the Creator of all things;and do Thou increase it in every work that is good and acceptable unto Thee,removing far from it every opposing might by the sign of the likeness of Thy cross;for Thou art He that guardeth babes, O Lord;that, being counted worthy of holy baptism,it may attain unto the part of the elect of Thy kingdom,being protected with us by the grace of the holy, and consubstantial, and undivided Trinity.

For to Thee is due all glory, thanksgiving, and worship,with Thine unbeginning Father,and Thy most holy, and good, and life-creating Spirit,now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, with G. V. Shann’s 1894 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Book of Needs of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1894.

When it is said

The priest says it over the baby on the 40th day after the birth, making the sign of the cross over the child.

If the baby has already been baptized, the priest changes the words about Baptism to fit.

Where it comes from

No author known

Where it comes from

It is the prayer over the baby among the prayers for the 40th day after a birth in the Book of Needs, the priest’s book of services for life’s big moments. No writer is named. It is already in the Greek edition that Jacques Goar printed in Paris in 1647.

J. Goar, Euchologion sive Rituale Graecorum (Paris, 1647)

Jesus at 40 days old

The prayer begins with the day Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, as the Law of Moses required. There an old man named Simeon took Him in his arms and blessed God (Luke 2:22-28). The Church keeps the same 40th day for baby girls and boys alike.

Metropolitan Saba (Isper), Service of Entering the Newborn into the Church after Forty Days

The Scripture in it

And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer the sacrifice specified in the Law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what was customary under the Law, Simeon took Him in his arms and blessed God, saying …

Luke 2:22-28 Echoed Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple, where Simeon took Him in his arms.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

In Church Slavonic

Господи Боже наш, в четыредесятный день Младенец законному храму принесенный

от Марии неискусобрачныя и святыя Твоея Матере,

и на объятиях праведнаго Симеона носимый,

Сам Владыко Всесильне, и принесеннаго сего младенца,

явитися Тебе, всех Творцу, благослови

и на всякое дело благое, и Тебе благоугодное возрасти,

отгоняя от него всякую сопротивную силу знамением воображения Креста Твоего.

Ты бо еси храняй младенцы, Господи,

да сподобився святаго Крещения, получит часть избранных Царствия Твоего,

соблюдаемь с нами благодатию святыя и единосущныя, и нераздельныя Троицы:

Тебе бо подобает всякая слава, благодарение и поклонение

со безначальным Твоим Отцем, и пресвятым, и благим, и животворящим Твоим Духом,

ныне и присно, и во веки веков, аминь.

From the Slavonic Book of Needs (Trebnik), Prayer 2, over the child, on Azbyka.ru.

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Berean Standard Bible