Languages / Old Church Slavonic
The Lord's Prayer in Old Church Slavonic
This comes from the Codex Marianus, a Gospel book from around the year 1000 and one of the oldest books in any Slavic language. If you know Russian, Bulgarian or Serbian, you'll be surprised how much you can already follow.
Learn to read this in Old Church Slavonic
No account needed. Your first line takes about three minutes.
The text and translation
тако оубо молите вꙑ сѧ ѡ҅тьче нашъ иже си на н҃бсхъ да с҃вт сѧ имѧ твое
Pray thus: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
Word by word
- тако
- thus
- оубо
- then
- молите
- pray
- вꙑ
- you
- сѧ
- (yourselves)
- ѡ҅тьче
- father
- нашъ
- our
- иже
- who
- си
- you are
- на
- in
- н҃бсхъ
- heavens
- да
- let
- с҃вт
- be hallowed [?]
- сѧ
- (itself)
- имѧ
- name
- твое
- your
да придетъ ц҃срествие твое да бодетъ волѣ твоѣ ѣко на н҃бси и на ꙁеми
thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven;
Word by word
- да
- let
- придетъ
- come
- ц҃срествие
- kingdom
- твое
- your
- да
- let
- бодетъ
- be [ocr?]
- волѣ
- will
- твоѣ
- your
- ѣко
- as
- на
- in
- н҃бси
- heaven
- и
- and
- на
- on
- ꙁеми
- earth
хлѣбъ нашъ наставъшааго дьне даждъ намъ дънесь
give us this day our daily bread;
Word by word
- хлѣбъ
- bread
- нашъ
- our
- наставъшааго
- coming
- дьне
- of the day
- даждъ
- give
- намъ
- to us
- дънесь
- today
ꙇ отъпоусти намъ длъгꙑ нашѧ ѣко и мꙑ отъпоуштаемъ длъжъникомъ нашимъ
and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;
Word by word
- ꙇ
- and
- отъпоусти
- forgive
- намъ
- us
- длъгꙑ
- debts
- нашѧ
- our
- ѣко
- as
- и
- also
- мꙑ
- we
- отъпоуштаемъ
- forgive
- длъжъникомъ
- debtors
- нашимъ
- our
ꙇ не вьведи насъ въ напасть нь иꙁбави нꙑ отъ неприѣꙁни ѣко твое естъ ц҃срствие ꙇ сила и слава вь вѣкꙑ аминь
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one; for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.
Word by word
- ꙇ
- and
- не
- not
- вьведи
- lead in
- насъ
- us
- въ
- into
- напасть
- temptation
- нь
- but
- иꙁбави
- deliver
- нꙑ
- us
- отъ
- from
- неприѣꙁни
- the evil one
- ѣко
- for
- твое
- your
- естъ
- is
- ц҃срствие
- kingdom
- ꙇ
- and
- сила
- power
- и
- and
- слава
- glory
- вь
- for
- вѣкꙑ
- ages
- аминь
- amen
What to notice
- ѡ҅тьче нашъ means “our father”, with the words in the order you would expect from the Latin Pater noster.
- хлѣбъ нашъ means “our bread”. Modern Russian still has хлеб, and scholars often connect it with the Germanic word that became English loaf.
- н҃бсхъ is “heavens”, written in short form under a small mark. Scribes shortened holy words this way, a habit inherited from Greek manuscripts.
- длъгꙑ нашѧ means “our debts”. Russian still says долг for a debt.
Read it yourself
Urling teaches the words in this text first, so that when you reach it you can read it in Old Church Slavonic. It uses short lessons, and nothing has to be memorised from a list.
Learn to read this in Old Church Slavonic
No account needed. Your first line takes about three minutes.
Sources
Codex Marianus (Gospel of Matthew), ed. Jagić (1883), from the Helsinki CCMH e-text as hosted on wikisource.org.
Text licence: Public domain edition; e-text via Wikisource (CC BY-SA).
Language pack licence: Text public domain; Wikipedia transcription and annotation CC BY-SA 4.0.
Texts: The Lord's Prayer from Wikipedia's 'Old Church Slavonic' article (CC BY-SA 4.0; text public domain); The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32) and Gospel of John 1 from Jagić, Codex Marianus (1883, public domain); Alphabet Prayer (Azbučna molitva) by Constantine of Preslav (9th c., public domain); Paschal and Forty Martyrs homily excerpts from Severjanov, Suprasl'skaja rukopis' (1904, public domain). Tagging and glosses: AI-assisted, checked against Wiktionary.
The introduction and notes on this page were written by Claude (AI). Word glosses are AI-assisted, and so is the English unless the source above names another translator.