Until a reliable certificate of death of a Christian is received, he should be remembered in the prayer rule for health. This is an expression of faith in God's mercy, which can restore the lost to life. Even if the person being commemorated is no longer alive, this commemoration benefits his soul.
Oh, saints Xenophon and Mary with your children Arkady and John! Behold, we, unworthy and sinners, diligently come running to you and with strong hope we pray: mercifully hear our voice of prayer today and strive for our help, and now your love to us, servants of God (names), show the gracious effect of your God-pleasing prayers, send us the great and rich mercy of the Lord, so that we may sing and glorify the wondrous one among the saints Your God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Oh, great Martyr John of Christ, champion of the Orthodox, champion of the persecutor of enemies and intercessor of the offended! Hear us, in troubles and sorrows, praying to you, for grace has been given to you from God to comfort the sad, to help the weak, to deliver the innocent from vain death and for all evil pray for the suffering. May our champion be strong against all our visible and invisible enemies, so that with your help and fight all those who show us evil will be put to shame. Pray to our Lord, that He may grant us, His sinful and unworthy servants (names), to receive from Him the ineffable good that is prepared for those who love Him, in the Trinity of Holy Glorifications God, always, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
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Archpriest Dionisy Svechnikov
A man has gone missing. What could be more painful for family, loved ones and friends than obscurity? A heavy burden lies on the heart of the realization that something happened to a loved one, and there is no way to understand whether he is alive or no longer alive. In such a situation, people do not want to believe in bad things; many wait for news for years and even decades, and sometimes the wait is rewarded.
A Christian in a difficult situation always turns to God in prayer. It is understandable that in the event of a loss of a loved one, one would want to pray to the Lord that he would be found or at least verify the fact of his death. But it is interesting that there is no special prayer for the missing. The general rule is to pray for the missing person as if he were alive until there is reliable evidence of his death, while adding “missing person” (or in Church Slavonic “missing person”) to the name. You can and should submit notes for liturgical remembrance for your health. It is important to realize that God has no dead, everyone is alive, and even if many years after a person has disappeared, loved ones begin to pray for his repose, and the missing person is still alive (for example, he has lost his memory), then no harm will come from this. The Lord, seeing the zeal of loved ones, will answer their prayer as if for a living person. And, on the contrary, if they pray for a dead person, not knowing whether he is alive, as if he were alive, this benefits his soul.
So how do you pray for a missing person? In your own words! There is no need to be afraid to say something wrong; any sincere appeal to God will be heard by Him. The best prayer is one that comes from the heart. There is also a tradition of praying for the missing to the saints Reverend Xenophon and Mary, the holy martyr John the warrior and before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Seeking the Lost.” This tradition is not accidental. For example, Saints Xenophon and Mary themselves were once in a difficult situation - they lost two sons in a shipwreck, but they did not despair and prayed earnestly, and a few years later they found them again.
It is noteworthy that the “Prayer” for the missing is roaming the Internet. The word “prayer” is deliberately placed in quotation marks because this work of someone’s creativity is not such and it is impossible to pronounce this text as a prayer! In order not to be unfounded, let's analyze the text.
“Lord Almighty, Lord All-Good, on my knees I pray to You for a great miracle. Grant, Lord, the return of the missing person, Your servant (name). For You yourself said: “Whoever seeks in My name, My angel will come to him and reveal what everyone asks. Amen". Lord, for the sake of the hands that swaddled You, for the sake of the hands that kissed Your feet, for the sake of Holy Baptism, for the sake of the holy icon of Tenderness, for the sake of Your mother, my Queen of Heaven. I tearfully ask and pray: may the servant of God (name) be found and return to the threshold of his home. Lord, accept my prayer, bless every word, and find the servant of God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen."
The first thing that catches your eye is the stylistic structure of the text and phrases, which is atypical for traditional Orthodox prayer. But it is quite typical and traditional for incantations and spells. Probably, the author of this work is well acquainted with them, but not with prayers.
The second thing that cannot be ignored is a quote supposedly from Holy Scripture: “Whoever seeks in My name, My angel will come to him and reveal what everyone asks. Amen". Of course, such words are not in the Bible, the Lord did not say such things! In the Gospel we find the following words of Christ: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:23). The Lord speaks in them about prayer to the Heavenly Father; there is no talk of any angels fulfilling what is asked. Thus, this “prayer” contains an outright lie - something that He did not say is attributed to the Lord. This understanding alone is enough to close this “prayer” and never open it again.
The “prayer” also contains a number of meaningless petitions that supposedly should appease the Lord. At its core, this text is devoid of any logic and common sense. Here it is: “Lord, for the sake of the hands that swaddled You, for the sake of the hands that kissed Your feet, for the sake of Holy Baptism, for the sake of the holy icon of Tenderness, for the sake of Your mother, my Queen of Heaven.” “Hands that swaddled” is quite normal from a physiological point of view, but “hands that kissed feet” is something completely delusional and meaningless. These unthinkable actions are obviously attributed to the Mother of God. Next, the “argument” is Holy Baptism, which in itself is nonsense. The mention of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Tenderness” again has no place or meaning. Just one sentence, but contains so many mistakes! And finally: “Lord, accept my prayer... and find the servant of God.” God doesn’t need to look for anyone, He already knows everything about everyone, knows who and where they are.
The logic of this “prayer” is the logic of a typical conspiracy or spell, and it has its own “rules”, determined by magic and the belief that with a set of words you can oblige someone or something to do what you want, in this case God. Of course, God cannot be forced to do something by any set of words; this “works” only with demons who play along with people who believe in the effectiveness of spells. A person does not subjugate a fallen spirit with the help of spells; this is impossible to do, but demons are the “partners” of magicians, sorcerers and other occultists. By intentionally or foolishly reading conspiracies and spells, a person practices magic and the occult, which is a direct violation of the commandments of God.