Orthodox Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Thanksgiving Prayer (when praying with non-Orthodox)

Master, Lord, God Almighty, we have gathered together to praise Your majesty, to bless You, to glorify You, the only true God, and to offer thanks to You with a grateful heart for all the blessings You have bestowed upon us, and You continue to do.

O Lord, we find ourselves in this land as Jonah did in the boat, when, in time of danger, all of the sailors and passengers, though of different faiths, yet with one heart, they raised supplicatory arms, each to their respective god. You, the only true and living God, did not despise their prayers, because of the confusion of their minds and lack of knowledge, but answered their prayers, revealing to them Your holy will, and rescuing them from danger.

We too, O God of our fathers, as we are about to sit down and partake of these gifts You have set before us, we raise up our arms to You and ask You to accept our prayer of thanksgiving, along with people of every faith on this land. We unite our prayer together with every American, thankful for the religious freedom we enjoy—if only we use it to learn about You, the true God, in order to know You, love You and worship You in truth.

We are especially thankful, Almighty God, for Your ineffable love toward us, Your ungrateful and unworthy servants, and for the sacrifice on the Cross of Your only begotten Son, our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, and for the gifts of Your all Holy Good and Life-giving Spirit.

Gratefully we unite our voices and we pray to You, with the prayer taught us by Your Son and our God Jesus Christ, saying, [Our Father]

Fr. E.H./11-28-02