Intercessions

Intercessions, or intercession, refer to acts of intervening on behalf of another person or group. The act is often performed through prayer, mediation, or advocacy, with the intervening party seeking to influence a higher authority, a deity, or a conflicted party in order to obtain aid, relief, or resolution. The term derives from the Latin intercessio, from inter- “between” and cedo/cessum “to go, to yield.”

In religious contexts, intercession denotes appeals made to a deity or to saints, angels, or other intermediaries.

In Christianity, prayers of intercession are common in many denominations, asking God to aid the sick, the needy, rulers, the church, or the dead. In Catholic liturgy these are known as the General Intercessions or Prayers of the Faithful; in Anglican, Lutheran, and other Protestant worship, similar intercessions occur during public prayer. The Catholic tradition also emphasizes the intercession of Mary and of saints. In Orthodox worship, intercessions are part of the weekly and feast-day services. In Islam, the concept of intercession exists in some theological views, notably the idea of shafa’ah, but it is not universally accepted and is interpreted differently across schools. Judaism has prayer for individual and communal needs, though intercession as a formal category is less standardized.

Beyond religion, intercession also appears in secular life as mediation or advocacy—an intermediary who negotiates or pleads to bring about a resolution, legal relief, or policy change.

See also: intercessor, mediation, prayer, saints.