Prayer, which is a dialogue of a person with God, the Mother of God or the saints, is called to sanctify a person. With the help of prayer, a believer can receive peace of mind and help with everyday needs. Sometimes a person worries not only about his neighbors, but also about animals, so the question arises about the expediency of prayers for "our smaller brothers".
Animals are an integral part of the nature of the surrounding world. According to the Orthodox doctrine, the entire created world was created by the Lord, therefore, animals are God's creation. A person is called not only to personal sanctification and holiness, through personal grace, a Christian must ennoble and equip the world around him and everything that is in it. Therefore, the Orthodox Church does not prohibit prayer for animals. In addition, the personal well-being of a person depends on the state of health, for example, of livestock. This is especially true for people involved in animal husbandry.
It is worth separating the prayer for living and dead animals. It is not customary to commemorate dead animals in the Orthodox tradition. There is an opinion of the holy fathers that all dead animals inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, because their nature was not distorted by sin (as happened to man).
There is evidence in the Bible that a righteous man cares for the life of his livestock, and the heart of the wicked is cruel to him (Prov. 12:10). Caring for animals can be expressed in prayer. In many Orthodox prayer books there are special prayers read during illness and death of livestock. In addition, in Orthodox churches there is a practice of ordering special prayers during a pestilence of cattle. To all this, a person, by necessity and justification, can safely proceed.
In the Orthodox tradition, it is customary to pray for animals to the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus, St. Blasius, as well as the Russian Hieromartyr Athenogen. It is known from the lives of these saints that they had a special grace to help cattle, healing them from various diseases.
Special mention should be made of the commemoration of animals at the liturgy. Such a practice should not take place in the Orthodox Church, because during the liturgy they pray for people. Therefore, it is wrong to submit notes with animal nicknames for liturgical prayer commemoration. At the liturgy, you can pray to God for the cattle in your own words, and when ordering a special prayer service, write your name.
