On Friday, December 26, 2025, members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church considered the issue of approving the text of a prayer for the admonition of those who intend to commit the murder of a child in the womb (abortion) (journal No. 134).
Previously, at its session on October 30 of this year, the Holy Synod determined that: “Every year on December 29 / January 11, on the day of commemoration of the 14,000 infants killed by Herod in Bethlehem, everywhere, with an appropriate explanation, the prostrations from the prostration of the aforementioned prayer shall be included in the litany of the Divine Liturgy, and after the litany of the Divine Liturgy, the prayer from that prayer shall be read. At the discretion and discretion of the rector, a full prayer may also be served on that day after the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy.”
The Synod also determined that on other days during the year “the aforementioned prayer shall be served in response to requests received or according to an established schedule, as decided by the rector and parish councils.”
At the same time, the Synod instructed the Synodal Liturgical Commission to submit for consideration the text of the prayer for the admonition of those who intend to commit the murder of a newborn in the womb.
The participants of the session of the Holy Synod on December 26 decided to approve the text of the prayer for the admonition of those who intend to destroy a child in the womb of the mother and to send the said text to the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate and to the dioceses.
The text of the prayer should be accompanied by the instructions adopted by the Holy Synod on October 30, with a note that in the litany of the Liturgy, on the day of commemoration of the 14,000 martyrs killed by Herod in Bethlehem, “the first two verses from the litany of the adopted prayer should be included”
Source: Patriarchate.ru