Prayers of Introduction

Apostle's Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary and Gloria

...then pray...

Appointed captain of the Heavenly Hosts and defender of the Elect of God, we - delivered by you from afflictions - offer this Hymn of Thanksgiving, while entreating you, through the Grace of God and enlisting the Intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to set us free from all distress so that we may eternally cry with faith and love and with total abandonment:



Prayer of Entrustment

O great and holy Michael, Archangel of God, standing at the head of the angels before the everlasting Trinity, O advocate and preserver of mankind, who - with your hosts - has broken in Heaven the head of the daystar, Satan, the exceedingly proud one, and who always puts to shame his evil and cunning servants on Earth, we come to you with faith, and ask of you with confidence to:


Be for us a guardian angel, a wise counselor and helper, bringing to us from the foot of the Throne of the Eternal Ruling King and Lord, our God, enlightenment and strength, joy, peace and comfort and a desire to serve Him Eternally.

Be for us the chief captain and fellow-fighter, crowning us with glory and victory over unjust adversaries, so that all who oppose us may know that God and His holy angels stand ready to defend us.

Be, in union with Raphael, the physician and healer of those wounded.

Be the pillar and defender of the children of God who are in captivity.

Forsake not, 0 Archangel of God, with your help and protection, those of us who today glorify your holy name. For, behold, though we are great sinners, we desire not to perish in our iniquities but to turn to the Lord and, through Him, only live for good works.

Illuminate our minds with the light of the Countenance of God that shines without ceasing, that we may understand that the Will of God is always good and perfect and knows all that is right for us to do, and even that which is right to omit and overlook.

Strengthen, through the Grace of the Lord, our weak and feeble purpose, so that, made firm in the Commandments of the Lord, we may cease to wallow in earthly thoughts of the flesh as senseless children drawn by the world do.

Above all, ask from on high, for us, a true spirit of repentance, true sorrow and contrition for our sins before God, so that we may spend the remaining number of our days in this temporal life, not in the satisfying of our feelings and in the bondage to our passions, but in the service of God while blotting out all the evil that we may have done in the past by means of works of charity and acts of loving mercy.

When the hour of our end, and of our liberation from the earthly bonds of our own bodies, draws near, O Archangel of God, leave us not without defense against the earthly spirits of evil who try to hinder the entry of man into the Heavenly places. Preserved by you, and assisted by the prayers of our Heavenly Mother and those of Gabriel, may we, without hindrance, reach Paradise where there is neither sorrow nor sighing, but only life without end.

May we be made worthy to behold the Face of our all-gracious Lord and Master, and falling at His feet with tears, may we cry out in joy and tender feeling:


O chosen captain of the Heavenly Hosts, standing with Gabriel and Raphael before the throne of the King of Glory, deliver us from all afflictions so that we may offer to Him this Hymn of Thanksgiving with faith, love and total abandonment:



Concluding Prayers

To Michael the Archangel


To God the Father




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Published on February 24th, 2008 - Discovery of the Head of John the Baptizer (Celebrated by the Orthodox Church)