Orthodox prayers against gossip and slander

When people gossip about you or accuse you falsely, these prayers ask God to rescue you and to have mercy on the people spreading the lies.

Picture: Alessandro Milesi, Gossip, 1890

4 prayers and 1 to the saints

Against lying lips

Psalm 120

In my distress I called to the LORD,and He answered me.LORD, save my soul from lying lipsand from a deceitful tongue.

Too long my soul has livedamong those who hate peace.I am for peace,but when I speak, they are for war.

Traditional wording, 1611

In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and He heard me.Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

This short psalm asks God to save you from lying lips and a deceitful tongue. Its last lines speak for anyone who wants peace while the people around them want a fight.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew (verses 1 and 2, and 6 and 7), with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where it comes from, and the original

For the people who slander you

St Ephrem’s prayer for those who slander me

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

Have mercy, Lord, on those who hate me and envy me,and on those who speak evil of me and slander me.

Let none of them suffer any harm because of me,unclean as I am,in this age or in the age to come.

But make them holy by Your mercyand cover them with Your goodness,O All-Good One!

It asks nothing against the people talking about you. It asks God to have mercy on them and to let none of them come to harm because of you.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from our own English, from the Russian of a collection of St Ephrem’s prayers printed at Pochaev in 2008. How the wording is made.

Where it comes from, and the Russian

When you are falsely accused

Prayer of Susanna

Eternal God,You know what is hidden,and You know all things before they happen.

You know that false witness has been given against me.And now I must die,though I have done none of the thingsthese men have wickedly made up against me.

Traditional wording, 1611

O everlasting God, that knowest the secrets, and knowest all things before they be:

Thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me, and, behold, I must die; whereas I never did such things as these men have maliciously invented against me.

Susanna was condemned to death on the word of two elders who lied about her. She prayed to the God who knows what is hidden, and she was cleared that same day.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek (Susanna 42 and 43), with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where it comes from, and the Greek

Not to fear what they say

Prayer against slander

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

Grant, Lord, we pray,that we may pay no heedto the slander of wicked minds.

With that wickedness trampled underfoot,we beg You not to let us be frightenedby unjust attacks that tear at us,nor to let us be caught up in cunning flattery,but rather to let us love what You command.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

An early Roman prayer asks God that slander may not frighten you and flattery may not trap you, and that you love what He commands instead.

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

To a saint · St Nicholas, who saved the falsely condemned

Troparion of St Nicholas

The truth of things showed you to your flockas a rule of faith, an image of meeknessand a teacher of self-control.So by humility you gained the heights,and by poverty, riches.Father Nicholas, holy bishop,pray to Christ our Godthat our souls may be saved.

Traditional wording, 1891

The Truth hath made thee a standard of faith,a pattern of meekness, and a teacher of temperance to thy flock.

Thus didst thou, O holy priestly Father Nicolas,by humiliation acquire greatness, by thy poverty, riches.

Pray Christ our God to save our souls.

In his life as the Orthodox Church in America tells it, Nicholas took the sword from an executioner to save three men condemned unjustly, and later saved three officers condemned through slander.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, with Shann’s 1891 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Euchology: A Manual of Prayers of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1891.

Shann’s “humiliation” is humility, as the Slavonic says.

Where it comes from, and the Church Slavonic

Scripture for this

You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues.

Psalm 31:20 God hides His people in the shelter of His presence, out of reach of accusing tongues.

… keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.

1 Peter 3:16 Peter tells Christians to keep a clear conscience, so that those who slander their good conduct will be put to shame.

Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.

Proverbs 26:20 Gossip feeds a quarrel the way wood feeds a fire. Take the wood away and the fire goes out.

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

Isaiah 54:17 God promises His servants that no weapon formed against them will prosper, and that they will answer every tongue that accuses them.

⁵Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it. ⁶He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.

Psalm 37:5-6 Trust the Lord with your cause, and He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn and your justice like the noonday sun.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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