Most pure image of the Master, immaculate Mother of the King of all, intercede for our salvation. We venerate thy image, O good one, asking forgiveness of our sins, O Christ our God. For of thine own will thou wast well pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, that thou mightest deliver from bondage to the enemy those whom thou hadst fashioned. Wherefore we cry aloud unto thee: Thou hast filled all things with joy, our Savior, for thou didst come to save the world.
ORTHODOX STANDARD MEDIEVAL FORM
Prayer Before an Icon
Also known as Orthodox Prayer Before an Icon ยท Veneration of Icons Prayer
About this prayer
The Prayer Before an Icon is the standard Eastern Orthodox prayer recited when venerating a holy icon. Icons are a defining element of Orthodox worship and personal devotion: paintings of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints, executed according to traditional canons of Byzantine sacred art, function in Orthodox theology as windows into the heavenly reality. The veneration of icons (proskynesis, the kissing of the icon and bowing before it) is one of the most distinctive Orthodox devotional practices.
The theological framework for icon veneration was established at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD, which condemned the Iconoclast movement that had sought to ban religious images. The Council distinguished between worship (latreia), which is offered only to God, and veneration (proskynesis), which is offered to icons of Christ, Mary, and the saints. The honor paid to the icon, the Council taught, passes to the prototype, the holy person it depicts; Orthodox Christians do not worship the icon itself but venerate the holy person it represents.
The prayer included here is the standard form used in Orthodox personal devotion when venerating an icon. The first stanza is addressed to the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary), the second to Christ. The prayer is short, theologically dense, and easily memorized. Orthodox Christians typically recite it as part of the daily practice of venerating the icons in their home, kneeling or standing before each icon, making the sign of the cross, kissing the icon, and offering this prayer.
The English translation is from standard Orthodox prayer books in English use, drawn from translations made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and in the public domain.
When it's said
Recited in personal Orthodox devotion when venerating an icon, either in church or in the home. Orthodox families typically have an icon corner (a small wall area set aside for icons of Christ, the Theotokos, the patron saints of the family, and recent significant saints), and venerate these icons at the start and end of each day. The prayer is also used when visiting a monastery, cathedral, or shrine where significant icons are displayed.
Notes on the text
The phrase 'most pure image of the Master' (in the first stanza, addressed to the Theotokos) is a Greek theological commonplace: Mary is the icon of Christ in a sense that no other human person can be, because Christ took flesh from her body. The Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD), the seventh ecumenical council recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and by the Roman Catholic Church, is the doctrinal foundation for all subsequent Christian use of religious images. The Council's distinction between worship (latreia) and veneration (proskynesis) protects the practice from the charge of idolatry: Christians do not worship paint and wood; they venerate the holy persons whom the paint and wood depict.
Common questions
Why do Orthodox Christians venerate icons?
Orthodox theology, formalized at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD, holds that religious images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints function as windows into the heavenly reality. The Council carefully distinguished between worship (latreia), which is offered only to God, and veneration (proskynesis), which is offered to icons of holy persons. The honor paid to the icon passes to the prototype, the holy person depicted.
Is venerating icons the same as worshipping them?
No. The distinction is fundamental to Orthodox theology. Worship (latreia) is offered only to God. Veneration (proskynesis) is offered to icons and to the persons they depict, in the same way Christians venerate the Bible by kissing it or the cross by kissing it. The Second Council of Nicaea explicitly condemned the worship of icons as idolatry while affirming their veneration as proper Christian piety.
Do Catholics use a similar prayer?
Yes, in some Catholic traditions. Eastern Catholic churches of the Byzantine Rite use the same form, since they share Orthodox liturgical and devotional traditions. Latin Catholics sometimes venerate icons (particularly in churches that display significant icons) and use parallel prayers, though the centrality of icon veneration is more pronounced in Eastern Christianity than in the Latin Catholic tradition.
Source
Standard Orthodox devotional prayer, medieval form. English translation from Isabel Florence Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church (1906). Public domain.
Last reviewed: June 2026 against primary source.