Молебен

A short service of asking and thanking

A moleben is a brief service at which the faithful ask the Lord, the Mother of God, or the saints for mercy in some particular need — or give thanks to God for what has already been given. It can be offered for the sick, for a family in trouble, before an operation or a journey or the start of the school year, for a business or a harvest, or simply in thanksgiving after a prayer has been answered.

A moleben is intensified prayer for the living. The corresponding service for the departed is the panikhida. That is the single most useful thing to know when deciding which one to request.

One detail of the Church's practice is worth noticing, because it says something: a thanksgiving moleben is addressed to the Lord alone, not to the Mother of God or the saints. We ask their prayers; we thank God.

Kinds of moleben

The Book of Needs has orders for a great many occasions. Among the most often asked for:

• Of thanksgiving — after a recovery, a safe return, a birth, an answered prayer. This one is asked for far less often than it should be.
• For the sick.
• For travellers.
• Before the beginning of the children's studies, at the start of the school year.
• Before undertaking any good work — a move, a business, a building project.
• For those suffering from addiction, and for those afflicted by unclean spirits.
• To a particular saint — the patron of the parish or of a family, or a saint whose help is customarily sought in a given need.
• With the blessing of water — see below.

An akathist is sometimes added. A moleben may be served for one household who asked for it, or for the whole congregation together.

The moleben with the blessing of water

At a water-blessing moleben the Cross is immersed three times with the appointed prayers and hymns, and the water is sanctified. This Lesser Blessing of Water may be served at almost any time — in the church, in a home, in a field, wherever it is needed — unlike the Great Blessing of Water, which belongs to Theophany alone.

This is, in practice, how a family gets the holy water they keep at home: water to be taken with prayer in the morning, and to sprinkle the rooms of the house through the year.

The moleben is one of the plainest expressions of that instruction. It is the Church praying together over a concrete situation, rather than the individual praying alone about it.

What happens during the service

In its structure a moleben is an abbreviated form of Matins. After the opening exclamation everyone sings "O Heavenly King" to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter of all who seek help — which is the key to the whole thing: those gathered are being joined together in one prayer. Then comes Psalm 50, the troparia to the Lord, the Mother of God, or the saint being asked, and the canon, of which normally only the refrains are sung. The Epistle and Gospel are read — and here the moleben has a rubric of its own, since the Gospel comes not before the canon but after its sixth ode. The prayer to the saint follows, then petitions for the various people being prayed for, with the names read aloud.

A moleben may be served in the church, at a home, at a workplace, at a hospital bedside, or at the site of something being begun. It can be served for one person or for many.

Submitting names

When you request a moleben, send the baptismal names of the living people to be prayed for — one per line, given name only, no surnames and no titles. If someone's baptismal name differs from the name they go by, use the baptismal one.

The strict rule about who may be commemorated by name applies to prayer for the departed, not to a moleben for the living — but if you are unsure about someone, simply ask. There is almost always a way for the Church to pray for the person you are worried about.

Note that a moleben is a separate thing from having names commemorated at the Proskomedia during the Liturgy. For that, see the parish's commemoration names page.

Practical notes

• Molebens are often served after the Sunday Liturgy, when the parish is already gathered; they can equally be served at their own time.
• Come to the service if you can. You may simply submit the names, but being present is the fuller thing — it is prayed on your behalf, and it is meant to be prayed with you.
• If the moleben is for someone who is ill, the priest may also suggest Holy Unction or Communion at home — ask.
• There is no fee. An offering is voluntary, and it is asked of no one; the Church has always regarded charging for her prayers as a grave abuse.