A Prayer Before Beginning an Icon
O DIVINE LORD of all that exists, You have illumined the Apostle and Evangelist Luke with Your Holy Spirit, thereby enabling him to represent Your most Holy Mother, the one who held You in her arms and said: The Grace of Him Who has been born of me is spread through the world!
Enlighten and direct my soul, my heart and my spirit. Guide the hands of Your unworthy servant so that I may worthily and perfectly portray Your Icon, that of Your Mother, and all the Saints, for the glory, joy and adornment of Your Holy Church.
Forgive my sins and the sins of those who will venerate these icons and who, kneeling devoutly before them, give homage to those they represent. Protect them from all evil and instruct them with good counsel.
This I ask through the intercession of Your most Holy Mother, the Apostle Luke, and all the Saints. Amen.
