When it is said
It is a private prayer for the start of the day, said at home at the end of the morning prayers. It has no place in any church service and no set gestures.
Hardly a Russian prayer book goes without it today. The Optina Monastery itself prints it. The Russian Orthodox Church’s own publishing house prints it in its prayer book.
Where it comes from
Author doubtful
Did the elders write it?
Tradition credits its heart to St Ambrose of Optina, and says later elders added to it a line at a time. A monk of Optina told the Russian Orthodox magazine Foma that the elders never met to write it together. In his view the people they guided put it into words, and the elders approved it.
Passed from hand to hand
Unlike almost every other prayer in a Russian prayer book, it is in everyday Russian, not the old Church Slavonic of worship. In Soviet times it passed only in handwritten copies or by heart, so it has no fixed text. Fr Maxim Plyakin, a historian, says it was in print abroad by the late 1980s, in Russia by 1991.
Miloserdie.ru, interview with Fr Maxim Plyakin; Foma, Who wrote the prayer of the Optina Elders?
What the words mean
“All is sent by You”
The prayer asks for a calm soul, and for trust that God’s will rules over whatever the day brings. A longer version says why. It thanks God for all that will happen, “for I firmly believe that for those who love You, all things work together for good”. The last words are Paul’s, from Romans 8:28.
What people get wrong
Not a prayer of St Philaret
Search in English for the prayer of St Philaret, a bishop of Moscow in the mid-1800s, and you will usually find this prayer instead. His own Daily Prayer is a different one. One version of this prayer ends almost as his does: “teach me to pray, pray Yourself in me”. The version on this page does not have “pray Yourself in me”.
OrthoChristian.com; Foma, Who wrote the prayer of the Optina Elders?
The Scripture in it
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
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.”
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Russian
Господи, дай мне с душевным спокойствием встретить все, что принесет мне наступающий день.
Дай мне всецело предаться воле Твоей святой.
На всякий час сего дня во всем наставь и поддержи меня.
Какие бы я ни получал известия в течение дня, научи меня принять их со спокойной душою и твердым убеждением, что на все святая воля Твоя.
Во всех словах и делах моих руководи моими мыслями и чувствами.
Во всех непредвиденных случаях не дай мне забыть, что все ниспослано Тобою.
Научи меня прямо и разумно действовать с каждым членом семьи моей, никого не смущая и не огорчая.
Господи, дай мне силу перенести утомление наступающего дня и все события в течение дня.
Руководи моею волею и научи меня молиться, верить, надеяться, терпеть, прощать и любить. Аминь.
From the Optina prayer book, on the Optina Monastery's own website.