When it is said
Many Orthodox Christians say it at the start of the day, with their morning prayers.
St Philaret sent it to comfort a grieving mother, and it suits days of sorrow. It asks for nothing in particular: it leaves the day, and the heart, to God.
Where it comes from
Wrongly credited
Sent to a grieving mother
In June 1849 a little girl died in the Russian royal family: Grand Duchess Alexandra, aged six, daughter of the heir to the throne. St Philaret was asked for a prayer to strengthen her grieving mother. The prayer he sent became known as his Daily Prayer. It has been reprinted under that name many times, before the Russian Revolution and today.
Archpriest Pavel Khondzinsky, The Way of the Magi (2004, in Russian)
Whose words are they?
Not St Philaret’s. In 2004 Archpriest Pavel Khondzinsky showed that the prayer is a translation of a meditation by Fénelon, archbishop of Cambrai in France, on the disciples’ words “Lord, teach us to pray”. A Russian edition of Fénelon printed in 1799 already has it. Philaret read Fénelon: his private diary for 1827 copies out passages.
Who was St Philaret?
Philaret Drozdov was born in 1782 at Kolomna, east of Moscow, the son of a clergyman. He became a bishop in 1817. By 1826 he was Metropolitan of Moscow, one of the highest posts in the Russian Church at a time when it had no patriarch.
What the words mean
Neither a cross nor comfort
A cross here means a hardship to carry. The prayer does not dare to ask God for hardship or for comfort. It leaves the choice to Him, Who sees what we need. The Russian edition of Fénelon printed in 1799 already says it: “I dare not ask for crosses or consolations.” So “strike me and heal me” is not a wish for pain. It trusts God to heal.
Archpriest Pavel Khondzinsky, The Way of the Magi (2004, in Russian)
What people get wrong
Not the Optina prayer
Search for the prayer of St Philaret and you will often find another one: the morning prayer of the Optina Elders. The two prayers are alike, and both end by asking God to teach us to pray and to pray in us. But they are different prayers.
The Scripture in it
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Russian
Господи, не знаю, чего мне просить у Тебя. Ты один ведаешь, что мне потребно. Ты любишь меня паче, нежели я умею любить себя.
Отче, даждь рабу Твоему, чего сам я просить не умею. Не дерзаю просить ни креста, ни утешения: только предстою пред Тобою. Сердце мое Тебе отверсто; Ты зришь нужды, которых я не знаю. Зри и сотвори по милости Твоей. Порази и исцели, низложи и подыми меня. Благоговею и безмолвствую пред Твоею святою волею и непостижимыми для меня Твоими судьбами.
Приношу себя в жертву Тебе. Нет у меня другого желания, кроме желания исполнять волю Твою. Научи меня молиться. Сам во мне молись! Аминь.