Russian Morning prayer

Paul Finley, the director of the Antiochian Heritage Retreat Center at Ligonier, PA suggested this prayer to me during my visit in 2011. St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow (1788-1867), introduced this prayer, which begins "Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace.…" Originally, François Fénelon, the French Quietist writer, might have written it. The Optina Elders also came to use this "Russian Morning Prayer," and some refer to it as the "Morning Prayer of the Optina Elders." The prayer appears in several similar versions. The design forms a simple frame made of wheat and flowers culminating with the Sun in the shape of a wreath of glory.