You can talk to your guardian angel directly, asking for protection and intercession, using simple prayers from the Church or your own words. The Orthodox Church teaches that every baptized Christian receives a guardian angel, and we’re encouraged to speak with them as helpers God has given us.
This isn’t superstition. It’s biblical and ancient. Christ himself said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). The early Church understood this to mean each person has an angel assigned by God to watch over them. At your baptism, during the Service of Making a Catechumen, the priest prays that a “shining angel” be yoked to your life. That angel stays with you.
So how do you pray to this angel?
Start simple. The Church gives us a short morning prayer that goes something like this: “O Angel of God, my holy guardian, protect me and pray to God for me.” Some versions add, “enlighten my soul and body, keep me from every evil, and lead me in the path of salvation.” You don’t need to memorize it word-perfect. The angel knows you.
You can pray to your guardian angel in the morning when you wake up, at night before bed, or anytime you feel the need for help. Driving to work on I-10 in the dark at 5 a.m.? Ask your angel for protection. Facing a difficult conversation with your boss at the refinery? Ask for guidance. Tempted to lose your temper with your teenager? Ask for help resisting sin. These angels are ministering spirits sent by God to assist us. They’re not distant or unapproachable.
But here’s what matters: we ask angels to pray to God for us. We don’t worship them. We don’t treat them as independent sources of power. They’re creatures, like us, though of a different order. They serve God, and they help us because God commands them to. When you pray to your guardian angel, you’re asking for intercession, the same way you’d ask your priest or your grandmother to pray for you. The angel takes your request to God.
This is different from how some of your Baptist relatives might think about angels. In a lot of Protestant circles, there’s either angel-mania (books about angel encounters, angel figurines everywhere, angels treated almost like good-luck charms) or total silence about angels because people are afraid of getting weird. Orthodoxy walks a middle path. Angels are real, they’re active in our lives, and we can talk to them. But they’re not magic, and they’re not more important than Christ.
The Fathers of the Church wrote about guardian angels constantly. They understood that spiritual life is a battle, and God doesn’t leave us to fight alone. Your guardian angel is there to strengthen you, to remind you of God’s presence, to deflect some of the enemy’s attacks. Saint Basil the Great said that no Christian is without an angel’s help. That’s the consistent teaching of the Church.
Some people worry they’ve ignored their guardian angel for so long that the relationship is damaged. Don’t worry about that. Angels don’t hold grudges. They’re not hurt or offended by our neglect. They’re still there, still watching, still ready to help the moment you turn to them. Start tonight. Say a short prayer before you go to sleep. Thank your angel for watching over you all these years, even when you didn’t acknowledge it.
If you want a slightly longer prayer, here’s one used in many Orthodox homes: “O holy Angel of God, guardian and protector of my wretched soul and body, forgive me everything with which I have offended you all the days of my life. Protect me this night and deliver me from every temptation of the enemy, that I may not anger God by any sin. Pray for me to the Lord, that He may strengthen me in His fear and make me a worthy servant of His goodness. Amen.”
You’ll find variations of these prayers in Orthodox prayer books. The exact wording isn’t what matters. What matters is that you’re acknowledging the reality of your guardian angel and asking for help in your journey toward God. That’s what the angel wants. Not flowery language or perfect recitation, but your honest turning toward the help God has provided.
And here’s something worth knowing: the Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers on November 8th. It’s a feast day for all the angels. If you’ve never paid much attention to your guardian angel before, that’s a good day to start. Light a candle at church. Say the prayers. Begin the relationship God intended when you came up out of the baptismal waters and an angel was assigned to walk with you through this life and into the next.
