Resource Review · Orthodox Christian Apps
English Orthodox Prayers
A focused digital prayer book that gathers the prayers of the Eastern Orthodox tradition in English — morning and evening prayers, the prayers around communion, akathists and canons, and prayers for various needs — in one free app.
- Starting price
- Free
- Free tier
- Yes
- Platforms
- iOS · Android
- Developer
- Independent
- Launched
- 2016
- Updated
- May 31, 2026
The verdict
English Orthodox Prayers does one thing and does it well: it puts the prayers of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, in English, into a single free app. If you want a clean digital prayer book — morning and evening prayers, the prayers before and after communion, akathists and canons, and prayers for particular needs — without a calendar, a feed, or a subscription getting in the way, this is a tidy, dependable choice.
Try English Orthodox Prayers ↗Opens orthochristian.com
English Orthodox Prayers has quietly become a go-to for Eastern Orthodox Christians who simply want their prayers, in English, in one place. It does not try to be a calendar, a saints database, or a daily-practice hub. It is a prayer book — the digital form of the well-worn paperback an Orthodox layperson keeps by the icon corner — and its single ambition is to make the tradition’s prayers easy to find and easy to pray on a phone, in a language the reader actually thinks in.
It is not a study Bible. It is not a meditation app. It is not a multi-feature companion with a home feed. English Orthodox Prayers is intentionally narrow: open it, find the prayer you need — the morning prayers, the evening prayers, the prayers before and after communion, an akathist or a canon, a prayer for a particular need — and pray it. The value is in the focus. Everything that is not a prayer has been left out, which is exactly why some people prefer it to a busier app.
It is free, with no subscription gating the prayers. For an app whose whole purpose is to remove friction from a daily rule, that matters: a reader can install it and immediately pray the morning prayers without an account, a paywall, or an upsell. Because it is an independently maintained app, exact contents and details can change over time, so the honest summary is that it offers a broad, dependable collection of common Eastern Orthodox prayers in English at no cost.
✓ The good
- Singular focus on prayer — a clean digital prayer book rather than a multi-feature app, which is exactly what many people want
- The everyday prayers, in English — generally includes the morning and evening prayers most Orthodox laypeople pray daily, in a language the reader thinks in
- Prayers around communion — typically gathers the prayers before and after receiving communion in one easy-to-find place
- Akathists and canons — generally includes longer devotional services such as akathists and canons for those who want to pray them
- Prayers for various needs — tends to collect occasional prayers (for travel, the sick, the departed, and other circumstances) so the right prayer is easy to locate
- Free, with no subscription — the prayers are not gated behind a paywall, account, or upsell
✗ Watch out
- Prayer-only by design — no liturgical calendar, no saint of the day, no readings; if you want those, you need a companion app
- Independently maintained — not published by a particular Orthodox jurisdiction, and exact contents and update cadence can vary over time
- Eastern Orthodox in scope — built for the Eastern Orthodox tradition; Oriental Orthodox Christians (Coptic and others) are served better by their own prayer resources
- Translation and edition vary by source — English renderings of Orthodox prayers differ between translations, so wording may not match the printed prayer book you are used to
- Polish is functional rather than lavish — built to deliver the prayers reliably, not to win design awards; the interface can feel plain
- Niche audience — a prayer book for Orthodox Christians and the curious, not a broad cross-tradition app
Best for
- Eastern Orthodox laypeople who want a clean digital prayer book in English
- Catechumens and inquirers learning the daily prayers of the tradition
- Anyone who prefers a single-purpose prayer app over a multi-feature companion
- Readers who want akathists, canons, and occasional prayers gathered in one place
Avoid if
- You want the calendar, saint of the day, and readings too — try Daily Readings (GOARCH) or OrthoPrax
- You are Coptic or another Oriental Orthodox tradition — Coptic Reader matches your prayers and liturgy
- You need a full Bible with study tools, cross-references, or commentary
- You want a specific printed translation and cannot accept variation in the English wording
What English Orthodox Prayers is
English Orthodox Prayers is a digital prayer book for the Eastern Orthodox tradition, presented in English. The Eastern Orthodox tradition is a distinct communion from the Oriental Orthodox churches (such as the Coptic Orthodox), and distinct again from Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions. Its daily life is built on a rule of prayer — fixed morning and evening prayers, the prayers surrounding communion, longer devotional services such as akathists and canons, and occasional prayers for particular needs — and this app gathers that body of prayer into one place so it is easy to find and pray.
Practically, it is the app a reader opens when it is time to pray rather than time to plan. There is no calendar to consult and no feed to scroll: the user navigates to the prayers they want — the morning prayers on waking, the evening prayers at night, the prayers before communion on a Sunday — and prays them. Where a printed prayer book means flipping through tabbed pages by the icon corner, the app makes the same collection searchable and portable, in English, on a device the reader already carries.
Why some Orthodox Christians prefer a prayer-only app
The single biggest practical difference between English Orthodox Prayers and a multi-feature Orthodox app is that it refuses to be anything but a prayer book. A daily-practice hub bundles the calendar, the saints, the icons, and the prayers together; this app strips all of that away and keeps only the prayers. For a reader whose problem is simply “I want to pray the evening prayers and I do not want to navigate past three other features to get there,” that restraint is the whole appeal.
This sounds like a small thing. In practice it changes how the app feels. There is nothing to configure, no feed to be pulled into, no decision to make about which jurisdiction’s calendar to load — only the prayers, organized and waiting. The app is valued not for breadth but for the absence of clutter, which is precisely what some people want from the tool they reach for at the start and end of the day. Breadth is available elsewhere; focus is the point here.
The daily prayers: morning, evening, and around communion
The backbone of the app is the fixed daily prayers. It generally gathers the morning prayers and the evening prayers — the rule many Orthodox laypeople keep on waking and before sleep — along with the prayers before and after receiving communion, which are prayed around the Divine Liturgy. These are the prayers reached for most often, and the app’s first job is to make them immediately findable: open it, go to the morning or evening prayers, and pray, without flipping through a paperback or hunting across the web.
In practical use, this is what turns the app into a daily habit. A reader prays the morning prayers before leaving the house and the evening prayers before bed, both from the same place, in English. Before a Sunday liturgy, the prayers of preparation for communion are a tap away, and the prayers of thanksgiving afterward sit alongside them. For those who want the full Hours or comprehensive services, dedicated resources go deeper — but for the core daily rule and the prayers around communion, this focused collection is exactly the point of the app.
Akathists, canons, and occasional prayers: depth without clutter
Beyond the fixed daily prayers, the app generally includes longer devotional material — akathists and canons. An akathist is an extended hymn of praise, often to Christ, the Theotokos, or a saint, prayed standing; a canon is a structured liturgical poem used in personal and corporate prayer. Gathering these in the same app means a reader who wants to pray an akathist on a particular day does not need a separate book — the longer services live alongside the daily prayers, ready when there is time and inclination for them.
Rounding out the collection are prayers for various needs — the occasional prayers an Orthodox Christian turns to as life requires: for travel, for the sick, for the departed, in thanksgiving, in difficulty. The strength here is retrieval: when a specific situation calls for a specific prayer, the app makes it easy to find the right one rather than improvising or searching the web. Together, the akathists, canons, and occasional prayers give the app real depth, while the prayer-only focus keeps that depth from ever feeling cluttered.
English throughout: praying in the language you think in
The defining choice of the app is in its name: the prayers are in English. For English-speaking Orthodox Christians — many of them converts, or the children and grandchildren of immigrants, or simply believers who pray most naturally in English — having the tradition’s prayers in clear English rather than only in a liturgical or ancestral language removes a real barrier. The app is built so that the morning prayers, the prayers before communion, and an akathist all read in the same accessible English, ready to be prayed without translation in the head.
It is worth noting honestly that English renderings of Orthodox prayers vary between translations, so the exact wording in the app may not match the printed prayer book a particular parish or family uses. That is a feature of the wider tradition, not a flaw unique to this app — there is no single official English text for many of these prayers. For a reader who simply wants to pray the tradition’s prayers in English and is not wedded to one specific translation, the app’s consistent, readable English is precisely what makes it usable day to day.
Pricing
Free
Free
The full prayer collection: the morning and evening prayers, the prayers before and after communion, akathists and canons, and prayers for various needs — all in English, with no subscription. This is the entire product for nearly every user.
Optional support
Optional
As an independently maintained app, it may invite optional support to sustain ongoing work. Any such support helps keep the app maintained rather than unlocking the prayers, which stay free.
Companion sources
Free
For the calendar, saints, and daily readings the app deliberately leaves out, Eastern Orthodox readers commonly pair it with a free companion such as Daily Readings (GOARCH) or a site like OrthoChristian.
There is essentially no pricing to recap: the prayers are free. The morning and evening prayers, the prayers around communion, the akathists and canons, and the occasional prayers all cost nothing, with no subscription standing in front of them.
This fits what the app is — a focused prayer book rather than a commercial platform. A reader installs it and prays; there is no account requirement or paywall between the user and the morning prayers.
Because it is independently maintained, any support it invites functions as a way to sustain ongoing upkeep rather than to unlock content. The prayers remain free regardless. As with any small, independent app, exact details can shift over time, so it is worth glancing at current information if a specific item matters to you.
Set against subscription prayer apps that run tens of dollars a year, English Orthodox Prayers is effectively uncosted. For the calendar, saints, and readings it deliberately omits, the common move is to pair it — at no additional cost — with a free companion such as Daily Readings (GOARCH).
Where English Orthodox Prayers falls behind
No calendar, saints, or readings. By design, this is a prayer book and nothing more. It will not tell you which feast is today, which saints are commemorated, or which Scriptures are appointed. For those, you need a companion app such as Daily Readings (GOARCH) or OrthoPrax. That narrowness is the app’s point, but it is a real limit worth knowing going in.
Independently maintained. The app is not published by a particular Orthodox jurisdiction, and its update cadence and exact contents can vary over time. Many users are happy with that, but readers who want content vetted and issued directly by their archdiocese may prefer an official source for at least part of their daily practice.
Translation variation. English renderings of Orthodox prayers differ between translations, so the wording in the app may not match the printed prayer book a reader is attached to. This reflects the wider tradition rather than a defect in the app, but anyone who needs one specific English text should confirm the app’s version suits them.
No Bible-study layer. There are no cross-references, no concordance, no commentary, and no original-language tools. Scripture appears inside prayers, not as a searchable study Bible. Anyone wanting serious study tooling will need a separate app — YouVersion, Olive Tree, or Logos — alongside it.
Functional polish. The app is built to deliver the prayers reliably, and it does, but the interface and typography are plain rather than refined. For a tool whose job is to get out of the way so a person can pray, that is largely acceptable — but it will not delight anyone who loves a beautifully set page.
English Orthodox Prayers vs. OrthoPrax vs. Daily Readings (GOARCH)
Three Eastern Orthodox apps with three different scopes. English Orthodox Prayers is a focused prayer book — prayers in English and nothing else. OrthoPrax is a broader daily-practice companion that bundles a prayer book with the calendar, the saints, and an icon library. Daily Readings is the official Greek Orthodox Archdiocese app, centered on the day’s readings, saints, calendar, and fast straight from the jurisdiction. All three serve the Eastern Orthodox tradition; they differ in how much they try to do.
Different strengths. English Orthodox Prayers is best at being an uncluttered prayer book — open it and pray, with no calendar or feed in the way. OrthoPrax is broadest, consolidating prayers, calendar, saints, and icons into one configurable app for readers who want everything in one place. Daily Readings is the official, simple daily answer for a GOARCH parishioner — fewer features, but issued directly by the Archdiocese. None is strictly “better”; they are pitched at different preferences.
How to choose. If you want only the prayers, in English, with zero clutter, English Orthodox Prayers is the natural pick — and it pairs well with a free calendar app for the pieces it leaves out. If you want one app for the whole rhythm of the day, OrthoPrax fits. If you want the official Greek Orthodox source for the daily readings and calendar, Daily Readings is the choice. Many Orthodox readers run a focused prayer app alongside a calendar app rather than choosing only one.
The bottom line
English Orthodox Prayers is the right app for the reader who wants exactly one thing: the prayers of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, in English, in a clean free app. The morning and evening prayers, the prayers around communion, the akathists and canons, and the occasional prayers are all gathered and easy to reach, with no calendar, feed, or subscription in the way. It is prayer-only by design, independently maintained, and the English wording can vary from a particular printed edition — but as an uncluttered digital prayer book, it does its single job well and earns a 4.4.
Alternatives to English Orthodox Prayers
Coptic ReaderThe official Coptic Orthodox app — full liturgy, the Agpeya (Hours), the Synaxarion, and the Coptic Bible in three languages. A different (Oriental Orthodox) tradition and a far broader service book.Daily Readings (GOARCH)The official Greek Orthodox Archdiocese app — today’s appointed Scripture, the saints of the day, the liturgical calendar, and fasting guidance, free. The calendar-and-readings companion to a prayer-only app.OrthoPraxA broader Eastern Orthodox daily-practice companion — a prayer book plus the calendar, feast/fast days, saints, and an icon library, generally configurable across jurisdictions. More features than a prayer-only app.OrthoChristianA large Eastern Orthodox news and spiritual-reading site with articles, saints’ lives, prayers, and homilies across multiple jurisdictions. A reading-room companion rather than a dedicated prayer-book app.Frequently asked questions
Is English Orthodox Prayers free?
Yes. The prayer collection — the morning and evening prayers, the prayers before and after communion, akathists and canons, and prayers for various needs — is free, in English, with no subscription standing in front of it. Any support the app invites sustains its upkeep rather than unlocking the prayers.
What tradition is this app?
It gathers the prayers of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Eastern Orthodox is a distinct communion from the Oriental Orthodox churches (such as the Coptic Orthodox), from Roman Catholic, and from Protestant traditions. Its prayers — daily prayers, prayers around communion, akathists, canons — follow Eastern Orthodox practice, presented here in English.
What prayers does it include?
Typically the morning and evening prayers, the prayers before and after communion, longer devotional services such as akathists and canons, and occasional prayers for various needs (travel, the sick, the departed, and other circumstances). Because it is independently maintained, exact contents can change over time, so it is worth checking the app for current details.
Does it include a calendar or the saint of the day?
No — by design it is prayer-only. There is no liturgical calendar, no saint-of-the-day feature, and no daily readings. For those, Eastern Orthodox readers commonly pair it with a free companion such as Daily Readings (GOARCH) or a broader app such as OrthoPrax.
Will the English wording match my prayer book?
Possibly, but not always. English renderings of Orthodox prayers differ between translations, so the wording in the app may not exactly match the printed prayer book your parish or family uses. This reflects the wider tradition rather than a flaw in the app; if you need one specific translation, confirm the app’s version suits you.
Is it an official Orthodox app?
It is independently maintained rather than published by a particular Orthodox jurisdiction. Many users are fine with that for a prayer collection, but readers who want content issued directly by their archdiocese sometimes prefer an official app for at least part of their daily practice and run both.
Will it work for a Coptic Orthodox Christian?
It collects Eastern Orthodox prayers, so a Coptic (Oriental Orthodox) Christian is served better by a tradition-specific app such as Coptic Reader, whose prayers, Hours, and liturgy match Coptic practice. The app can still be of interest to the curious as a window into Eastern Orthodox prayer in English.