Prayer of an Altai Missionary 

The Ortho­dox Church is some­times thought of as not engag­ing in any form of mis­sion­ary work. His­to­ry does not sup­port such a view. One par­tic­u­lar­ly rich exem­plar of Ortho­dox Chris­t­ian out­reach  is the mis­sion to the Altai region of cen­tral Asia begun in the sec­ond quar­ter of the nine­teenth cen­tu­ry under the lead­er­ship of Archi­man­drite Macar­ius (Glukharev) who was glo­ri­fied amongst the saints in 2000 AD. Mis­sion­ary work can only be effec­tive if but­tressed and sup­port­ed by prayer. To that end we offer this trans­la­tion of a prayer of an anony­mous Altai missionary:

 

O Lord, Lord! Who didst lay down Thy life for the sal­va­tion of all men! As Lord of the har­vest, send out many work­ers for the harvest. 

To those whom Thou hast sent grant the spir­it of prayer, the spir­it of Thy love, patience and wis­dom. Grant them to preach the word with much pow­er unto the ful­fill­ment of Thy Gospel. 

May the desire of those who have wished to help us in the works of love that does good be strength­ened and grow. May such as help us increase in num­ber. Those who wish us well reward with Thy bless­ings. To the liv­ing grant health and length of days. To the depart­ed grant rest eter­nal in Thy habi­ta­tions with Thy saints. For­give those who hate us or wish us evil, O Mas­ter who lovest mankind; enlight­en their hearts and grant wis­dom to their minds. 

To all of us, redeemed by Thy Blood, whether we know Thee, or do not yet know Thee, grant the wis­dom of Thy Holy Gospel. Has­ten to call and unite all men to Thy one flock here on earth, and to abide insep­a­ra­bly with Thee unto the ages in the light of Thy Father and our God, to whom with Thee and the Holy Spir­it be glo­ry and majesty unto the ages. Amen. 

——-


To read more about the mis­sion to the Altai see the Holy Trin­i­ty Pub­li­ca­tions title, Tes­ta­ment of Mem­o­ry: A Siber­ian Life.