Our next prayer by an Orthodox woman was submitted by Caroline Hanna Guirgis:
When I read your call for submissions, my heart immediately turned to St. Macrina the Younger, a woman of deep spiritual strength, wisdom, and quiet influence.
Though no written prayer by her hand survives, the most profound prayer she offered was her life, which shaped her brothers' faith—St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Peter of Sebaste became pillars of Orthodox theology. St. Gregory’s account of her final moments (The Life of Macrina) contains a powerful prayer she spoke just before her death, a luminous and humble offering that I’ve returned to again and again:
“Thou, O Lord, hast freed us from the fear of death.
Thou hast made the end of life here the beginning of true life for us.
For a season Thou dost rest our bodies in sleep,
and Thou awakenest them again at the last trumpet.
Give rest, therefore, to my soul also in the bosom of Thy saints.
And grant that on the day of Thy coming
I may receive the brightness of Thy bridal chamber.”
This prayer moves me deeply because it reflects a life of quiet faithfulness and eternal hope, offered not in a moment of triumph but in her final earthly breath. As someone who aspires to serve behind the scenes, I’m inspired by Macrina’s hidden holiness. Her unseen prayers bore fruit in the lives of men whose writings have shaped the Church for centuries.
Macrina teaches us that to pray is not always to speak but to live, love, and lead in such a way that our very lives become hymns to God.