“O Lord Jesus Christ, eternal God, who within time hast become perfect man from the womb of the Virgin: from thy heavenly throne hearken to our prayer for this land. Prepare it for us as a temporal homeland such that we may easily and safely travel therefrom to our true homeland with thee. Give strength to thy people and bless them with peace. As Joseph prospered when he sojourned in Egypt, so prosper the Orthodox Church and her leaders during our sojourn in this land. Adorn our earthly rulers with the faith of Ehud, the hope of Barak, the steadfast trust of Jephthah, the holiness of Samuel, the prudence of Moses, the meekness of David, the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of Hezekiah, the zeal of Josiah, and the nobility of Zerubbabel.
Correct the laws of this land to guide aright men’s deeds and so make their hearts upright, and let us no longer shed innocent blood and be putrid with it, defiling ourselves with the works of darkness. Make our households to be like flocks of sheep, and our children like olive trees around our table. Go forth, O God, with our armed forces, protecting those that serve in them by the power of thy Cross. Grant peace to our cities, towns, and countryside, and by thy mighty right hand and wisdom support and guide the police and all those charged with enforcing the law. Enlighten with the true light of the Gospel the minds of all educators of this land, to whom we commend the instruction of ourselves and our children. Send us rain and sunshine, and also snow and wind from thy storehouses, all in due season. Make our harvests bountiful and multiply them to feed the poor of our land and of the whole world. Make honest the scales of the merchants and bankers, and make the earthly economy of this land ever more to reflect, even as in a mirror darkly, the supernal economy of thy Father. Guide aright the hands of all doctors, nurses, and other healers in this land, and grant that they may employ their arts for the sake of health and life in this world leading unto true life and salvation, and not for the sake of death and the devil.
Have mercy and strengthen our bishops and priests ever to offer prayers at evening, morning, and noonday, and to serve the holy Liturgy in righteousness and purity, so that all who repent and turn to thee may partake of thy Flesh and Blood and so become one Body with thee in thy holy Church. Bless our monasteries and those who dwell there, and multiply in our land them that aspire to the angelic life on earth. Hearken, Lord Jesus, and we shall give thanks to thy holy Name and bless thy wondrous works, proclaiming them with rejoicing. For thou art the Son of the heavenly Father who rulest also the seas and the dry land, and thine is the dominion, together with the same Father and thine All-holy Spirit, our King and Comforter. Sweet is thy mercy, O Lord, from age to age. Amen.”
Supplication found in “Orthodox Christian Prayers,” St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2019.
Photo courtesy of fellowship friend Eastern Chestnut who writes, “Appalachians have been baptizing in our local rivers and streams since the Scots-Irish first arrived. Imagine if we brought our culture back into Orthodox harmony and had all our kinfolk lining the banks at Theophany,” the feast day which was just recently celebrated in the Orthodox Church on January 6 (new calendar) and 19 (old calendar). She adds, “The Theophany spirit is one that comes easily to the South.”
