Prayers to Saint Anne can be recited both during church services and at home. The prayer should be said before her icon, with a candle or an oil lamp.
On the feast day of the Dormition of the Righteous Anna, Orthodox Christians commemorate the miracle of faith, patience and hope embodied by this woman, despite her many years of sorrow at being childless. Priests remind parishioners that Jesus Christ taught that patience is the key to the salvation of the soul; only boundless hope can guarantee eternal joy in the Saviour.
Prayer of Intercession to Saint Anne
With a heart full of sincere reverence, I prostrate myself before you, blessed Saint Anne!
You are a privileged and especially beloved creature who, through your extraordinary virtues and holiness, have earned the highest favour from God: to give life to the treasury of all graces, that blessed one among women, the Mother of the Incarnate Word, the Most Holy Virgin Mary.
I beg you, most gracious Saint, to deign to count me among your righteous servants.
Prayer to Saint Anne, who helps women to conceive
O glorious Saint Anne!
You are full of compassion for those who call upon you, and full of love for those who suffer. Overwhelmed by the burden of my troubles, I fall at your feet and humbly implore you: take under your special care this intention of mine, which I now present to you… (make your request). Please present it to your Lord, the Immaculate Virgin of Dreams, and place it before the Throne of Jesus, so that He may bring this intention to a happy conclusion. But, above all, grant me the grace to one day see Him for all eternity, together with you, with Mary, and with all the saints.
Amen.
(One) ‘Our Father’ and ‘Hail Mary’).
O Jesus, Holy Mary, Saint Anne!
Help me now and at the hour of my death.
Kind Saint Anne! Intercede for me. Amen.
Prayer to Saint Anne
Holy and Righteous Joachim and Anne, whose names we recall at the end of every divine service, continue through the centuries to remind us of important things: that fatherhood demands piety and responsibility from us; that human life begins not at the moment of birth, but at the very moment of conception; and that over each of us there is God’s wondrous Providence, in which we must place our trust. And the Dormition is not death, nor is it the end—it is the beginning of a new life, a life in Christ.
A prayer by an expectant mother for the intercession of St Anne
Glorious Mother Anne, the Almighty Lord has made you the protector and intercessor of all expectant mothers. I earnestly beseech you: bless me and my child, whom I carry within me, and may the Lord endow him or her with good qualities. Realising that even now, before the birth, I am responsible for my child, I implore you for help. Intercede for me to lead a godly life, to pray with holiness, and to have godly thoughts. Holy Mother Anne, help me through the difficult time of my labour. Grant me, then, steadfast patience and self-sacrificing love for God. And may my child soon become a child of God through Holy Baptism, and through a good upbringing, a faithful child of the Holy Church of the Lord. Saint Anne, I place my trust in you.
Amen.
On this day, it is advisable to go to church and go to confession. Only urgent matters should be attended to; everything else should be postponed until another day. If you are unable to visit the church, pray at home to the Righteous Anne.