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Prayers

The prayer of St Modestos for animals

The Greek Orthodox Church’s prayer for sick animals, read by a priest. It speaks in the voice of St Modestos, a patriarch of Jerusalem honoured as the patron of animals.

Picture: Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark, 1613

The words of the prayer

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

Lord Jesus Christ, my God,merciful and all-good,You made all creation in wisdom,the unseen and the seen.You pour out Your mercieson all that You have made.In Your all-good providenceYou provide for all Your creatures and care for them all:bodiless and bodily,with reason and without it,living and lifeless,from the first to the last.For nothing is left without Your care or neglected by You,the Maker of all, Who provides for all.

For You open Your handand fill every living thing with Your goodwill.You make grass and green plants grow for the cattle,for the service of mankind.Long ago You kept the herds of Israel safefrom the deadly blowthat struck the firstborn animals of the Egyptians.By Your coming in the fleshYou destroyed him who held the power of death,that is, the devil,and by Your death You put death to death.

Through me too, Your unworthy servant,You killed the serpentthat had poisoned the spring of water with its venom.The animals that drank from it and diedYou raised up by Your life-giving power.And You made the demon that had worked with the serpentshow itself,and it swore never to dare come nearany place where my humble name is called upon.

So I pray to You, all-good Master, Maker of all,and I beg You, the Source of all life:hear this prayer of mine.Drive away every deadly sickness and harmfrom the oxen, horses, donkeys, mules,sheep, goats, bees and all the other animalsthat Your servants need for their life,who call on You, the Giver of all good things,and on my name.

And grant, O Lord,to all who keep my memoryand come with faith to my relics,lasting peace, the increase of their animals,and plenty of wheat, wine and oil;and above all, forgiveness of sins, health of body,and the eternal salvation of their souls.

Yes, Lord Jesus Christ,moved by Your own tender mercy,have pity on the suffering animals,cut down in their herds by the sickle of death.They have no words.Only by their lowing, and their mournful, wordless cries,do they tell their suffering and pain, so pitifullythat even we who have reason are drawn to feel for them.For if a righteous man has pity on the life of his animals,as it is written,how will You not have pity on them,You Who made them and provide for them?For You, Compassionate One,remembered the animals in the ark too,won over by Your own goodness and mercy.

May the oxen and the other four-footed animalsthrive and increase,so that the land is tilled and its crops grow,and Your servants who have called on my nameenjoy the fruit of their own farms in plenty.Having all they need from their farms,may they abound in every good work.May they glorify You, the Giver of every good thing,and honour me too, Your servant,who pleads most warmly before Your almighty Majesty.To You belong all glory, honour and worship,with Your Father, Who has no beginning,and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit,now and always, and for ever and ever.Amen.

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

Why people ask St Modestos of Jerusalem

Animals and pets

The Greek Church honours him as the patron of animals. Its prayer over sick animals bears his name and recalls, in his own voice, how God killed through him a serpent that had poisoned a spring and raised the animals that had drunk from it and died, and on his feast priests bless homes and stables.

Prayer of St Modestos for sick animals, Proseuxi; “Memory of Saint Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem”, Orthodox Times

His feast day

  • 18 December: His feast in the Orthodox churches on the new calendar. Those on the old calendar keep it on 31 December.

Saint Modestos, 18 December, Orthodox Church in America

When it is said

A priest reads it over animals that are ill, or when a deadly disease strikes a herd. Its heading names oxen, horses, donkeys, mules, sheep, goats, bees and other animals.

The Greek Church prints it in the Small Euchologion, its shorter book of services.

In Greece, on St Modestos’s day in December, Christians sprinkle their homes and their animals’ stables with holy water.

Where it comes from

Author by tradition

Who was St Modestos?

St Modestos was abbot of the monastery of St Theodosios in Palestine. In AD 614 a Persian army sacked Jerusalem and carried its patriarch into captivity. Modestos was chosen to govern the Church there in his place. He restored its ruined shrines, among them the Lord’s Tomb, and later became patriarch himself. He died in AD 634, when he was 97 years old.

Orthodox Church in America, St Modestos, Archbishop of Jerusalem

A prayer in his own voice

In St Modestos’s voice, the prayer recalls how God, through him, killed a serpent that had poisoned a spring, and raised the animals that drank from it and died. It also asks blessings on all who keep his memory and come with faith to his relics.

The prayer’s Greek text, proseuxi.gr

The patron of animals

The Greek Church honours St Modestos as the patron of animals. Orthodox Times, a Greek Orthodox news site, says he healed both people and animals in his lifetime. On his feast day, priests come to bless the homes of the faithful and their animals’ sheds.

Orthodox Times, Memory of Saint Modestus; Orthodoxia News Agency (in Greek)

The Scripture in it

You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Psalm 145:16 Quoted God opens His hand and satisfies every living thing.

He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth …

Psalm 104:14 Quoted He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to tend.

A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are only cruelty.

Proverbs 12:10 Quoted Quoted “as it is written”: a righteous man cares for the life of his animal.

But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.

Genesis 8:1 Echoed God remembered Noah and all the animals with him in the ark.

Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil …

Hebrews 2:14 Quoted By His death Christ destroyed the one who held the power of death, the devil.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

In Greek

Κύριε Ιησού Χριστέ ο Θεός μου, ο ελεήμων και Πανάγαθος. Ο πάσαν την νοητήν και αισθητήν Κτίσιν εν σοφία δημιουργήσας. Ο τους οικτιρμούς σου εκχέων επί πάντα τα υπό σου δημιουργηθέντα. Ο διά της παναγάθου Προνοίας σου πάντων προνοών και πάντων κηδόμενος των κτισμάτων σου: αΰλων, υλικών, λογικών, αλόγων, εμψύχων, αψύχων, από των πρώτων έως των εσχάτων. Ουδέν γαρ απρονόητον, ουδέ ημελημένον παρά σοι τω Ποιητή και Προνοητή του παντός.

Συ γαρ εί, ο ανοίγων την χείρα σου, και εμπιπλών παν ζώον ευδοκίας. Συ εί, ο εξανατέλλων χόρτον τοις κτήνεσι και χλόην, ένεκα της δουλείας των ανθρώπων. Συ εί, ο πάλαι τας των ζώων αγέλας του Ισραήλ, ανωτέρας διαφυλάξας της θανατηφόρου πληγής των πρωτοτόκων ζώων των Αιγυπτίων. Συ εί, ο διά της ενσάρκου σου οικονομίας, καταργήσας τον το κράτος έχοντα του θανάτου: τουτέστι τον διάβολον, και τω θανάτω σου θανατώσας τον θάνατον.

Συ εί, ο και δι’ εμού του αναξίου δούλου σου, τον μεν όφιν θανατώσας, τον την πηγήν του ύδατος τω εαυτού ιώ διαφθείραντα. Τα δε εξ αυτής πιόντα ζώα και νεκρωθέντα, τη ζωοποιώ δυνάμει σου αναστήσας. Τον δε εις τούτο συνεργήσαντα δαίμονα, εμφανή γενέσθαι παρασκευάσας, ομνύοντα, μηδέποτε προσεγγίσαι τολμήσαι, όπου αν επικληθείη το ταπεινόν εμού όνομα.

Σου τοίνυν δέομαι, Δέσποτα Πανάγαθε και Ποιητά του παντός, και σε ικετεύω τον της ζωής πάσης αίτιον, επάκουσον ταύτης μου της δεήσεως, και απέλασον πάσαν θανατηφόρον ασθένειαν και βλάβην από των βοών, ίππων, όνων, ημιόνων, προβάτων, αιγών, μελισσών, και των λοιπών ζώων των εις χρείαν όντων της ζωής των δούλων σου, των επικαλουμένων σε τον δοτήρα πάντων των αγαθών, και το εμόν όνομα. Και δος Κύριε, πάσι τοις την εμήν μνήμην επιτελούσι, και μετά πίστεως προστρέχουσι τοις λειψάνοις μου, ειρήνην σταθηράν, πληθυσμόν ζώων, αφθονίαν σίτου, οίνου, και ελαίου. Και επί πάσιν, άφεσιν αμαρτιών, σωμάτων υγείαν, και την των ψυχών αιώνιον σωτηρίαν.

Ναι Κύριε Ιησού Χριστέ, τοις ιδίοις σπλάγχνοις επικαμπτόμενος, οίκτειρον τα πάσχοντα ζώα, τη δρεπάνη του θανάτου αγεληδόν θεριζόμενα. Και ως λόγον μη έχοντα, μόνοις τοις μυκηθμοίς, και ταις γοεραίς και ανάρθροις φωναίς, το πάθος και την οδύνην αυτών ελεεινώς εξαγγέλλοντα, ώστε και τους λογικούς εις συμπάθειαν τούτων έλκεσθαι. «Ει γαρ δίκαιος οικτείρει ψυχάς κτηνών αυτού», κατά το γεγραμμένον, πώς ουκ οικτειρήσεις ταύτα συ, ο τούτων Ποιητής και Προνοητής; Συ γαρ εύσπλαγχνε, και των εν τη Κιβωτώ ζώων εμνήσθης, υπό της οικείας χρηστότητος και των οικτιρμών σου νικώμενος.

Ίνα διά της ευεξίας και του πληθυσμού των βοών, και των λοιπών τετραπόδων ζώων, καλλιεργήται μεν η γη, αυξάνωσι δε οι καρποί, και αφθόνως οι δούλοι σου οι επικεκλημένοι το όνομά μου, απολαύωσι των ιδίων γεωργιών. Εκ τούτων δε, πάσαν αυτάρκειαν έχοντες, περισσεύωσιν εις παν έργον αγαθόν. Και δοξάζωσι μεν, σε τον χορηγόν παντός αγαθού. Τιμώσι δε καμέ τον σον δούλον και ικέτην θερμότατον της παντοκρατορικής Βασιλείας σου· ω πρέπει πάσα δόξα τιμή και προσκύνησις, συν τω ανάρχω σου Πατρί, και τω Παναγίω και αγαθώ και ζωοποιώ σου Πνεύματι, νυν και αεί και εις τους αιώνας των αιώνων.

Αμήν.

From the Greek text as printed by proseuxi.gr, a Greek site of Orthodox prayers; the Greek Church prints the prayer in its Small Euchologion, a shorter book of services.

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