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Summary
- Short prayers cover each stage of air travel: leaving home, delays, the crew and air traffic controllers, the aircraft, takeoff, fear of flying, turbulence, weather, other passengers, long flights, landing, arrival and a loved one who is flying.
- The Orthodox prayer before a journey, “O Lord Jesus Christ our God, the true and living Way,” is quoted from Hapgood’s 1906 translation, with the journey hymn to Christ “the Way and the Truth.”
- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer asks God to “preserve all who travel by land, by water, or by air” and gives a thanksgiving for a safe return; Psalm 121 is quoted in full.
- Pope Benedict XV named Our Lady of Loreto patroness of aviators and air travelers in March 1920; Joseph of Cupertino, Nicholas of Myra and the archangel Raphael are also asked to pray for travelers.
- Bible verses for a flight include Psalm 139:9–10, Isaiah 26:3, Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 107:29–30 and Philippians 4:6–7.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Deuteronomy 31:8; Psalm 4:8; 19:1; 46:1; 56:3; 91:11; 107:29–30; 121:1–8; 139:9–10; Isaiah 26:3; 40:31; Mark 4:39; Philippians 4:6–7). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The Rite of Blessing for a Journey, pp. 524–528; The Rite of Blessing Those Who Are About to Travel by Water, p. 529. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Thanksgivings, “For a Safe Return from a Journey,” p. 53; The Litany, p. 56. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- “Молитвы о путешествующих” (Prayers for travelers). Фома (Foma). https://foma.ru/molitvy-o-puteshestvujushhih.html
- Lasance, Francis Xavier. The Catholic Girl’s Guide: Counsels and Devotions for Girls in the Ordinary Walks of Life. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1906. “Prayer to St. Raphael, Archangel,” p. 601. https://archive.org/details/catholicgirlsgui00lasa
- “How the Church is Honoring Pilots and the ‘Flying’ House of the Virgin Mary.” National Catholic Register. https://www.ncregister.com/news/how-the-church-is-honoring-pilots-and-the-flying-house-of-the-virgin-mary
- Mershman, Francis. “St. Joseph of Cupertino.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08520b.htm
- Ott, Michael. “St. Nicholas of Myra.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11063b.htm
