Orthodox prayers to forgive someone who hurt you

You can pray these when someone has hurt you, even before you feel ready to forgive. They begin with the words Jesus prayed from the cross.

Picture: Rembrandt, The Return of the Prodigal Son, about 1668

4 prayers

When you have no words yet

Father, forgive them

Father, forgive them,for they do not know what they are doing.

Traditional wording, 1891

Father, forgive them;for they know not what they do.

Jesus prayed it from the cross for the men who crucified Him. When you cannot yet find your own words for someone who hurt you, you can pray His.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek of Luke 23:34, with the King James wording Shann printed in 1891 beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Euchology: A Manual of Prayers of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1891.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

In three words

Prayer of St Tikhon for those who wrong us

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

Step away, and pray for the one who hurt youLord, forgive them.

The Russian bishop St Tikhon of Zadonsk gave these words for anyone who hurts you. His advice for an unwilling heart is to pray them anyway, and he says it will come easily in time.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from our own English, from St Tikhon’s Russian. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Russian

For the one who hurt you

Prayer of St Dorotheos

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

With your whole heart, for the one who hurt youO God, help my brother and methrough his prayers.

The monk St Dorotheos of Gaza taught it in the 500s as the cure for a grudge. It asks God to help you both, through the prayers of the one who hurt you.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, checked against the Russian translation; no public-domain English translation was found. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

To repay good for evil

Prayers to repay good for evil

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

O God, You made every creature in love,and You made man for such mercythat You would redeem even him from his ungodly ways.Give Your servants this love,so that Your example may move themto repay good for evil.Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil,and graciously grantthat we too may forgive our neighbourswhat we ask You to forgive us.Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

These two short prayers come from an early Roman Mass book. They ask for the love that repays good for evil, and that we may forgive others what we ask God to forgive us.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from our own English, from the Latin of H. A. Wilson’s 1894 edition of the Gelasian Sacramentary. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Latin

Scripture for this

²¹Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” ²²Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!”

Matthew 18:21-22 Peter asked whether he should forgive up to seven times. Jesus answered, “not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!”

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Luke 6:37 St Tikhon’s reason for forgiving whoever hurts you was this saying of Jesus, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:31-32 Paul asks us to let go of bitterness and rage, and to forgive each other just as God forgave us in Christ.

Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.

Proverbs 20:22 The proverb asks you not to pay back the wrong yourself but to wait for the Lord, Who will deliver you.

¹⁶When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud ¹⁷and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil. ¹⁸And you have declared this day how you have treated me well, for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. ¹⁹When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day. ²⁰Now I know for sure that you will be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. ²¹So now, swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s house.” ²²So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1 Samuel 24:16-22 Saul admitted that David had repaid his evil with good. Yet David did not go back to Saul’s side, but up to the stronghold.

Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.

Psalm 27:10 If the one who hurt you is your own father or mother, the psalm promises that the Lord will still receive you.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

Close to this

All prayers

Quiz What prayer do you need right now? A few honest taps about where you are, and a prayer of the Church for exactly that. 8 questions, about 3 minutes. Start

Suggest a correction