Prayer to St. Joseph the Betrothed

Dec 26 and the Sunday after Nativity

O holy, righteous Joseph!

Whilst still living on earth, thou hadst great boldness before the Son of God, Who was pleased to call thee His

father, as thou wast betrothed to His Mother, and to obey thee: we believe that now, taking up thine abode with the choirs of the righteous in heavenly habitations, thou wilt be heard in thine every request to our God

and Saviour.

Therefore, taking refuge in thy protection and help, we ask and humbly entreat thee, that as thou thyself wast delivered from the storm of doubtful thoughts, so too deliver us who are beset by the stormy waves of our troubles and passions; as thou didst guard the all-pure Virgin from human slander, guard us likewise from all false witness; as thou didst keep the incarnate Lord from all harm and evil intent, keep also His Orthodox Church and all of us from all malice and harm.

Thou knowest, O Saint of God, that the Son of God too in the days of His incarnation had need of bodily things, and thou didst serve Him; for this cause we pray thee: aid us in our temporal needs by thine intercession, granting us all good things needful unto us in this life: and especially we ask thee to pray Him Who was called thy son, Who is the Only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, to grant us remission of our sins, that

we may be worthy of inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, so that, taking up our abode in the higher habitations with thee, we may alway glorify the God Who is One in the Holy Trinity: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy

Spirit, now and unto ages of ages.

Amen.

From an Akathist to the

Saint ("Polny Sbornik Molitv", pp. 300-301)

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