How to pray correctly, cross yourself, church rules and basic prayers. How to pray so that God hears us? How a woman prays at home while standing and sitting
Why does mental fatigue happen? Can a soul be empty?
Why can't it? If there is no prayer, it will be empty and tired. The Holy Fathers act as follows. The man is tired, he has no strength to pray, he says to himself: “Or maybe your fatigue is from demons,” he gets up and prays. And the person gains strength. This is how the Lord arranged it. In order for the soul not to be empty and to have strength, one must accustom oneself to the Jesus Prayer - “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner (or a sinner).”
How to spend a day in God's way?
In the morning, when we are still resting, there are already standing near our bed - an Angel on the right side, and a demon on the left. They are waiting for whom we will begin to serve on this day. And this is how you should start your day. When you wake up, immediately protect yourself with the sign of the cross and jump out of bed, so that laziness remains under the covers, and we find ourselves in the holy corner. Then make three bows to the ground and turn to the Lord with these words: “Lord, I thank You for last night, bless me for the coming day, bless me and bless this day, and help me spend it in prayer, in good deeds, and save me from all enemies visible and invisible." And immediately we begin to read the Jesus Prayer. Having washed and dressed, we will stand in the holy corner, gather our thoughts, concentrate so that nothing distracts us, and begin our morning prayers. Having finished them, let's read a chapter from the Gospel. And then let’s figure out what kind of good deed we can do for our neighbor today... It’s time to go to work. Here, too, you need to pray: before going out the door, say these words of St. John Chrysostom: “I deny you, Satan, your pride and service to you, and I unite with you, Christ, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Sign yourself with the sign of the cross, and when leaving the house, quietly cross the road. On the way to work, or while doing any business, we must read the Jesus Prayer and “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary...” If we are doing housework, before preparing food, we will sprinkle all the food with holy water, and light the stove with a candle, which Let's light it from the lamp. Then food will not harm us, but will benefit us, strengthening not only our physical but also our mental strength, especially if we cook while constantly reciting the Jesus Prayer.
After morning or evening prayers there is not always a feeling of grace. Sometimes sleepiness interferes with prayer. How to avoid this?
Demons do not like prayer; as soon as a person begins to pray, drowsiness and absent-mindedness attack. We must try to delve into the words of the prayer, and then you will feel it. But the Lord does not always console the soul. The most valuable prayer is when a person does not want to pray, but he forces himself... A small child cannot yet stand or walk. But his parents take him, put him on his feet, support him, and he feels help and stands strong. And when the parents let him go, he immediately falls and cries. So we, when the Lord - our Heavenly Father - supports us with His grace, we can do everything, we are ready to move mountains and we pray well and easily. But as soon as grace leaves us, we immediately fall - we don’t really know how to walk spiritually. And here we must humble ourselves and say: “Lord, without You I am nothing.” And when a person understands this, God’s mercy will help him. And we often rely only on ourselves: I am strong, I can stand, I can walk... So, the Lord takes away grace, that’s why we fall, suffer and suffer - from our pride, we rely a lot on ourselves.
How to become attentive in prayer?
In order for the prayer to pass through our attention, there is no need to rattle or proofread; he drummed and calmed down, putting the Prayer Book aside. At first they delve into every word; slowly, calmly, evenly, you need to prepare yourself for prayer. We begin to gradually enter into it, you can read it quickly, but still every word will enter your soul. We need to pray so that it doesn’t pass by. Otherwise we will fill the air with sound, but the heart will remain empty.
The Jesus Prayer is not working for me. What do you recommend?
If prayer does not work, it means sins are interfering. As we repent, we must try to read this prayer as often as possible: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! (or a sinner)” And while reading, put an emphasis on the last word. In order to constantly read this prayer, you need to lead a special spiritual life, and most importantly, gain humility. You must consider yourself worse than everyone else, worse than any creature, endure reproaches, insults, not grumble and not blame anyone. Then the prayer will go. You need to start praying in the morning. How is it at the mill? If he fell asleep in the morning, he will pray all day. As soon as we woke up, immediately: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Lord, I thank You for last night, bless me for today. Mother of God, I thank You for last night, bless me for today. Lord, strengthen me faith, send me the grace of the Holy Spirit! Give me a Christian death, unashamed and a good answer on the day of the Last Judgment, my Guardian Angel, thank you for the past night, bless me for today, save me from all enemies visible and invisible, Lord Jesus Christ. Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" Just read and read right away. We dress with prayer, we wash. We read the morning prayers, again the Jesus Prayer 500 times. This is a charge for the whole day. It gives a person energy, strength, and expels darkness and emptiness from the soul. A person will no longer walk around and be indignant about something, make noise, or get irritated. When a person constantly reads the Jesus Prayer, the Lord will reward him for his efforts, this prayer begins to happen in the mind. A person concentrates all his attention in the words of prayer. But you can only pray with a feeling of repentance. As soon as the thought comes: “I am a saint,” know that this is a disastrous path, this thought is from the devil.
The confessor said “to begin with, read at least 500 Jesus prayers.” It’s like in a mill - if you fall asleep in the morning, it grinds all day long. But if the confessor said “only 500 prayers,” then there is no need to read more than 500. Why? Because everything is given according to the strength, according to the spiritual level of each person. Otherwise, you can easily fall into delusion, and then you won’t be able to approach such a “saint.” In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, one elder had a novice. This elder lived in the monastery for 50 years, and the novice had just come from the world. And he decided to struggle. Without the blessing of the elder, both the early liturgy and the later one were held, he set a large rule for himself and read everything, and was constantly in prayer. After 2 years he achieved great “perfection”. “Angels” began to appear to him (they only covered their horns and tails). He was seduced by this, came to the elder and said: “You lived here for 50 years and did not learn to pray, but in two years I have reached heights - Angels are already appearing to me. I am all in grace.. People like you have no place on earth , I will strangle you." Well, the elder managed to knock on the neighboring cell; another monk came, this “saint” was tied up. And the next morning they sent me to the cowshed, and allowed me to attend liturgy only once a month: and they forbade me to pray (until he humbled himself)... In Rus', we are very fond of prayer books and ascetics, but true ascetics will never expose themselves. Holiness is measured not by prayers, not by deeds, but by humility and obedience. Only he has achieved something who considers himself the most sinful of all, worse than any cattle.
How to learn to pray purely, undistractedly?
We must start in the morning. The Holy Fathers advise that it is good to pray before we eat. But as soon as the food is tasted, it immediately becomes difficult to pray. If a person prays absentmindedly, it means he prays little and infrequently. The one who is constantly in prayer has living, undistracted prayer.
Prayer loves a pure life, without sins burdening the soul. For example, we have a telephone in our apartment. The kids were naughty and cut the wire with scissors. No matter how many numbers we dial, we won’t get through to anyone. It is necessary to reconnect the wires, restore the interrupted connection. In the same way, if we want to turn to God and be heard, we must establish our connection with Him - repent of sins, clear our conscience. Unrepentant sins are like a blank wall; through them prayer does not reach God.
I shared with a woman close to me, saying that you gave me the Mother of God rule. But I don't do it. I also don’t always follow the cell rule. What should I do?
When you are given a separate rule, don't tell anyone about it. Demons will hear and will definitely steal your exploits. I know hundreds of people who had prayer, read the Jesus Prayer from morning to evening, akathists, canons - the whole soul was blissful. As soon as they shared it with someone and boasted about the prayer, everything disappeared. And they have neither prayers nor bows.
I often get distracted while praying or doing something. What to do - continue to pray or pay attention to the person who has come?
Well, since God’s commandment to love our neighbor comes first, that means we must put everything aside and pay attention to the guest. One holy elder was praying in his cell and saw through the window that his brother was coming to him. So the elder, so as not to show that he was a man of prayer, went to bed and lay there. He read a prayer near the door: “Through the prayers of the saints, our fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.” And the old man stood up from the bed and said: “Amen.” His brother came to see him, he received him with love, treated him to tea - that is, he showed love for him. And this is the most important thing!
This often happens in our lives: we are reading evening prayers, and suddenly there is a call (on the phone or on the door). What should we do? Of course, we must immediately answer the call by leaving prayer. We clarified everything with the person and again continue the prayer from where we left off. True, we also have visitors who come not to talk about God, not about the salvation of the soul, but to talk idle talk and condemn someone. And we should already know such friends; when they come to us, invite them to read together an akathist, or a Gospel, or a holy book prepared in advance for such an occasion. Tell them: “My joy, let’s pray and read the akathist.” If they come to you with a sincere feeling of friendship, they will read. And if not, they will find a thousand reasons, immediately remember urgent matters and run away. If you agree to chat with them, then both the “unfed husband at home” and the “uncleaned apartment” are not a hindrance to your friend... Once in Siberia I saw an interesting scene. One comes from the water pump, there are two buckets on the rocker, the second comes from the store, with full bags in her hands. They met and started talking among themselves... And I watched them. Their conversation went something like this: “Well, how is your daughter-in-law? And your son?” And the gossip begins. Those poor women! One shifts the yoke from shoulder to shoulder, while the other holds the bag with her arms pulling. And all you had to do was exchange a few words... Moreover, it’s dirty - you can’t put the bags down... And they stand there not for two, but for ten, and twenty, and thirty minutes. And they don’t think about the burden, the most important thing is that they learned the news, satiated the soul, and amused the evil spirit. And if they call you to church, they say: “It’s hard for us to stand, our legs hurt, our back hurts.” And standing with buckets and bags doesn’t hurt! The main thing is that the tongue doesn’t hurt! I don’t want to pray, but I have the strength to chat, and I have a good tongue: “We’ll get through everyone, we’ll find out about everything.”
The best thing is to wake up, wash your face and start the day with morning prayers. After this, you need to read the Jesus Prayer with attention. This is a huge charge for our soul. And with such “recharging” we will have this prayer in our thoughts throughout the day. Many people say that when they begin to pray, they become absent-minded. You can believe it, because if you read a little in the morning and a little in the evening, nothing will happen in your heart. We will always pray - and repentance will live in our hearts. After the morning prayers - the “Jesus” prayer as a continuation, and after the day - the evening prayers as a continuation of the daytime prayers. And so we will constantly remain in prayer and will not be distracted. Don’t think that it is very difficult, very difficult to pray. We need to make an effort, overcome ourselves, ask the Lord, the Mother of God, and grace will act in us. We will be given the desire to pray at all times.
And when prayer enters the soul, the heart, then these people try to move away from everyone, to hide in secluded places. They can even crawl into the cellar just to be with the Lord in prayer. The soul melts in Divine Love.
In order to achieve such a state of mind, you need to work a lot on yourself, on your “I”.
When should you pray in your own words, and when according to the Prayer Book?
When you want to pray, at this time pray to the Lord; “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34).
Prayer to a person’s soul is especially useful when there is a need for it. Let's say a mother's daughter or son is lost. Or they took their son to prison. You won’t be able to pray from the Prayer Book here. A believing mother will immediately kneel down and speak to the Lord out of the abundance of her heart. There is a prayer from the heart. So you can pray to God anywhere; Wherever we are, God hears our prayers. He knows the secrets of our heart. Even we ourselves do not know what is in our hearts. And God is the Creator, He knows everything. So you can pray in transport, in any place, in any society. So Christ says: “When you pray, go into your room (that is, inside yourself) and, having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matt. 6.6). When we do good, when we give alms, then we must do it so that no one knows about it. Christ says: “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your almsgiving may be in secret” (Matthew 6:3-4). That is, not literally, as grandmothers understand - they serve only with their right hand. What if a person doesn’t have a right hand? What if both hands are missing? Good can be done without hands. The main thing is that no one sees this. Good must be done in secret ways. All boastful, proud, self-loving people do a good deed for show in order to receive praise and earthly glory from it. They will tell her: “How good, how kind! She helps everyone, gives to everyone.”
I often wake up at night, always at the same time. Does this mean anything?
If we wake up at night, then there is an opportunity to pray. We prayed and go back to sleep. But, if this happens often, you need to take a blessing from your confessor.
Once I was talking to one person. He says:
Father Ambrose, tell me, have you ever seen demons with your own eyes?
Demons are spirits and cannot be seen with ordinary eyes. But they can materialize, taking the form of an old man, a young man, a girl, an animal, they can take on any image. A non-church person cannot understand this. Even believers fall for his tricks. Do you want to see? Well, I have a woman I know in Sergiev Posad, her confessor gave her a rule - to read the Psalter a day before. It is necessary to constantly burn candles, without rushing to read - it will take 8 hours. In addition to this, the rule requires reading the canons, akathists, the Jesus Prayer, and eating only lean food once a day. When she began to pray (and this had to be done for 40 days) with the blessing of her confessor, he warned her: “If you pray, if there are any temptations, then do not pay attention, continue to pray.” She accepted it. On the 20th day of strict fasting and almost incessant prayer (she had to sleep sitting for 3-4 hours), she heard the locked door open and heavy footsteps were heard - the floor was literally cracking. This is the 3rd floor. Someone came up behind her and began breathing near her ear; breathes so deeply! At this time, she was overcome with cold and trembling from head to toe. I wanted to turn around, but I remembered the warning and thought: “If I turn around, I won’t survive.” So I prayed to the end.
Then I looked - everything was in place: the door was locked, everything was fine. Then, on the 30th day, a new temptation. I was reading the Psalter and heard how, from the back of the windows, cats began to meow, scratch themselves, and climb into the window. They scratch - and that's it! And she survived it. Someone from the street threw a stone - the glass was shattered, the stone and fragments were lying on the floor. You can't turn around! The cold came through the window, but I read it all to the end. And when she finished reading, she looked - the window was intact, there was no stone. These are demonic forces attacking a person.
When the Monk Silouan of Athos prayed, he slept for two hours while sitting. His spiritual eyes were opened and he began to see evil spirits. I saw them with my own eyes. They have horns, ugly faces, hooves on their legs, tails...
The man I spoke with is very obese - more than 100 kg, loves to eat deliciously - he eats meat and everything. I say: “Here, you start fasting and praying, then you will see everything, hear everything, feel everything.”
How to thank the Lord correctly - in your own words or is there some special prayer?
You need to thank the Lord with your whole life. There is a prayer of thanksgiving in the prayer book, but it is very valuable to pray in your own words. The Monk Benjamin lived in one monastery. The Lord allowed him to suffer from dropsy. He became enormous in size; he could only clasp his little finger with two hands. They made a huge chair for him. When the brethren came to him, he showed his joy in every possible way, saying: “Dear brethren, rejoice with me. The Lord has had mercy on me, the Lord has forgiven me.” The Lord gave him such an illness, but he did not grumble, did not despair, rejoiced at the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of his soul and thanked the Lord. No matter how many years we live, the main thing is to remain faithful to God in everything. For five years I carried out difficult obedience in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - I confessed day and night. I had no strength left, I couldn’t stand for even 10 minutes - my legs couldn’t hold me up. And then the Lord gave polyarthritis - I lay for 6 months with acute pain in the joints. As soon as the inflammation passed, I began to walk around the room with a stick. Then he began to go out into the street: 100 meters, 200, 500... Each time more and more... And then, in the evenings, when there were few people, he began to walk 5 kilometers; I left my wand. In the spring, the Lord gave - and he stopped limping. Until this day the Lord protects. He knows who needs what. Therefore, thank the Lord for everything.
You need to pray everywhere and always: at home, at work, and in transport. If your legs are strong, it is better to pray standing, and if you are sick, then, as the elders say, it is better to think about God during prayer than about your sore legs.
Is it possible to cry during prayer?
Can. Tears of repentance are not tears of evil and resentment; they wash our soul from sins. The more we cry, the better. It is very valuable to cry during prayer. When we pray - read prayers - and at this time we linger on some words in our minds (they penetrated our soul), there is no need to skip them, speed up the prayer; return to these words and read until your soul dissolves in feeling and begins to cry. The soul is praying at this time. When the soul is in prayer, and even with tears, the Guardian Angel is next to it; he prays next to us. Any sincere believer knows from practice that the Lord hears his prayer. We turn the words of prayer to God, and He, by grace, returns them to our hearts, and the believer’s heart feels that the Lord accepts his prayer.
When I read prayers, I often get distracted. Should I stop praying?
No. Read the prayer anyway. It is very useful to go out into the street and walk and recite the Jesus Prayer. It can be read in any position: standing, sitting, lying down... Prayer is a conversation with God. Now, we can tell our neighbor everything - both sorrow and joy. But the Lord is closer than any neighbor. He knows all our thoughts, the secrets of our hearts. He hears all our prayers, but sometimes he hesitates to fulfill them, which means that what we ask is not for the benefit of our soul (or for the benefit of our neighbor). Any prayer must end with the words: “Lord, Thy will be done. Not as I want, but as You want.”
What is the daily prayer rule for an Orthodox layperson?
There is a rule and it is mandatory for everyone. These are morning and evening prayers, one chapter from the Gospel, two chapters from the epistles, one kathisma, three canons, an akathist, 500 Jesus prayers, 50 bows (and with blessing, more is possible).
I once asked one person:
Do you need to have lunch and dinner every day?
It’s necessary,” he replies, “but besides this, I can grab something else and drink some tea.”
What about praying? If our body requires food, isn’t it even more important for our soul? We feed the body so that the soul is kept in the body and is cleansed, sanctified, freed from sin, so that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. It is necessary for her to unite with God here already. And the body is the clothing of the soul, which ages, dies and crumbles into the dust of the earth. And we pay special attention to this temporary, perishable thing. We really care about him! And we feed, and water, and paint, and dress in fashionable rags, and give peace - we pay a lot of attention. And sometimes there is no care left for our soul. Have you read your morning prayers?
This means you can’t have breakfast (that is, lunch; Christians never have breakfast). And if you’re not going to read in the evening, then you can’t have dinner. And you can't drink tea.
I'll die of hunger!
So your soul dies of hunger! Now, when a person makes this rule the norm of his life, then he has peace, quiet and quiet in his soul. The Lord sends grace, and the Mother of God and the Angel of the Lord pray. In addition to this, Christians also pray to the saints, read other akathists, the soul is nourished, contented and glad, peaceful, the person is saved. But you don’t need to read like some people, proofreading. They read it, rattled it off - through the air, but didn’t hit the soul. Touch this one a little and it bursts into flames! But he considers himself a great man of prayer - he “prays” very well. The Apostle Paul says: “It is better to speak five words with my understanding, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” (1 Cor. 14:19) It is better for five words to penetrate into the soul than ten thousand words to miss the soul.
You can read akathists at least every day. I knew one woman (her name was Pelagia), she read 15 akathists every day. The Lord gave her special grace. Some Orthodox Christians have collected many akathists - 200 or 500. They usually read a certain akathist every holiday celebrated by the Church. For example, tomorrow is the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. People who have an akathist for this holiday will read it.
Akathists are good to read from a fresh memory, i.e. in the morning, when the mind is not burdened with everyday affairs. In general, it is very good to pray from morning until lunch, while the body is not burdened with food. Then there is an opportunity to feel every word from the akathists and canons.
All prayers and akathists are best read aloud. Why? Because words enter the soul through the ear and are better remembered. I constantly hear: “We can’t learn prayers...” But you don’t need to learn them - you just have to read them constantly, every day - morning and evening, and they are remembered by themselves. If “Our Father” is not remembered, then we need to attach a piece of paper with this prayer where our dining table is.
Many refer to poor memory due to old age, but when you start asking them, asking various everyday questions, everyone remembers. They remember who was born when, in what year, everyone remembers their birthdays. They know how much everything is now in the store and on the market - but prices are constantly changing! They know how much bread, salt and butter cost. Everyone remembers it perfectly. You ask: “What street do you live on?” - everyone will say. Very good memory. But they just can’t remember the prayers. And this is because the flesh comes first for us. And we care so much about the flesh, we all remember what it needs. But we don’t care about the soul, which is why we have a bad memory for everything good. We are masters at bad things...
The Holy Fathers say that those who daily read the canons to the Savior, the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel, and the saints are especially protected by the Lord from all demonic misfortunes and evil people.
If you come to any boss for a reception, you will see a sign on his door “Reception hours from... to...” You can turn to God at any time. Night prayer is especially valuable. When a person prays at night, then, as the holy fathers say, this prayer is, as it were, paid for in gold. But in order to pray at night, you need to take a blessing from the priest, because there is a danger: a person may become proud that he prays at night and fall into delusion, or he will be especially attacked by demons. Through blessing the Lord will protect this person.
Sitting or standing? If your legs can’t hold you up, you can kneel down and read. If your knees are tired, you can read while sitting. It is better to think about God while sitting than to think about your feet while standing. And one more thing: prayer without bowing is a premature fetus. Fans are a must do.
Now many are talking about the benefits of the revival of paganism in Russia. Maybe, really, paganism is not so bad?
In ancient Rome, gladiator fights were held in circuses. One hundred thousand people flocked to the spectacle, filling the pews through the many entrances within ten minutes. And everyone was thirsty for blood! We were hungry for a show! Two gladiators fought. In the struggle, one of them could fall, and then the second would put his foot on his chest, raise his sword over the fallen man and watch what sign the patricians would give him. If the fingers are raised up, it means you can let the opponent live; if down, it means you should have taken his life. Most often they demanded death. And the people triumphed, seeing the blood spilled. Such was the pagan fun.
In our Russia, about forty years ago, one acrobat walked on a wire high under the circus dome. She stumbled and fell. There was a net stretched below. It didn't crash, but something else is important. All the spectators stood up as one and buzzed: “Is she alive? Faster than the doctor!” What does this mean? That they did not want death, but were worried about the gymnast. The spirit of love was alive in the minds of people.
The younger generation is being raised differently now. On the television screen there are action films with murder, blood, pornography, horror, space wars, aliens - demonic forces... People from an early age get used to scenes of violence. What remains for the child? Having seen enough of these pictures, he gets a weapon and shoots his classmates, who, in turn, mocked him. There are so many such cases in America! God forbid something like this starts happening here.
It has happened before that contract killings were committed in Moscow. And now the scale of crime and mortality at the hands of killers has risen sharply. Three to four people are killed a day. And the Lord said: “Thou shalt not kill!” (Ex. 20:13); “... those who do this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21) - they will all go into the fire of Gehenna.
I often have to go to prisons and confess to prisoners. I also confess to death row prisoners. They repent of murders: some were ordered, while others killed in Afghanistan and Chechnya. They killed two hundred seventy, three hundred people. They did the math themselves. These are terrible sins! War is one thing, and another is to order to deprive a person of a life that you did not give him.
When you confess about ten murderers and leave prison, then just wait: the demons will definitely arrange intrigues, there will be some kind of trouble.
Every priest knows how evil spirits take revenge for helping people free themselves from sins. One mother came to St. Seraphim of Sarov:
Father, pray: my son died without repentance. Out of modesty, he first refused, humbled himself, and then gave in to the request and began to pray. And the woman saw that, praying, he rose above the floor. The elder said:
Mother, your son is saved. Go, pray yourself, thank God.
She left. And before his death, the Monk Seraphim showed his cell attendant the body from which the demons had torn out a piece:
This is how demons take revenge for every soul!
It is not so easy to pray for the salvation of people.
Orthodox Russia accepted the Spirit of Christ, but the pagan West wants to finish it off for this, thirsts for blood.
The Orthodox faith is the most impartial for a person. It obliges us to live a strict life on earth. And Catholics promise the soul purgatory after death, where one can repent and be saved...
In the Orthodox Church there is no such concept of “purgatory”. According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, if a person lived righteously and passed into the other world, then he is awarded eternal joy; such a person can receive reward for his good deeds while living on earth, in the form of peace, joy, and peace of mind.
If a person lived uncleanly, did not repent and passed on to the other world, then he falls into the clutches of demons. Before death, such people are usually sad, despairing, graceless, joyless. After death, their souls, languishing in torment, await the prayers of their relatives and the prayers of the Church. When there is intense prayer for the departed, the Lord frees their souls from hellish torment.
Church prayer also helps the righteous, those who have not yet received the fullness of grace during earthly life. The fullness of grace and joy are possible only after this soul is assigned to Paradise at the Last Judgment. It is impossible to feel their fullness on earth. Only selected saints merged here with the Lord in such a way that they were caught up by the Spirit into the Kingdom of God.
Orthodoxy is often called a “religion of fear”: “there will be a second coming, everyone will be punished, eternal torment...” But Protestants talk about something else. So will there be punishment for unrepentant sinners or will the love of the Lord cover everything?
Atheists have long deceived us when they talk about the emergence of religion. They said that people could not explain this or that natural phenomenon and began to deify it and enter into religious contact with it. It used to be that thunder would roar, people would hide underground, in the basement, sit there, afraid. They think that their pagan god is angry and will punish them, or a tornado will strike, or a solar eclipse will begin...
This is pagan fear. The Christian God is Love. And we should fear God not because He will punish us, we should be afraid of offending Him with our sins. And if we have retreated from God and brought disaster upon ourselves, we do not hide underground from the wrath of God, we do not wait for the wrath of God to pass by. On the contrary, we go to confession, turn to God with a prayer of repentance, ask God for mercy, and pray. Christians do not hide from God; on the contrary, they themselves seek Him for permission from sins. And God gives the repentant a Helping Hand and covers him with His grace.
And the Church warns that there will be a Second Coming, a Last Judgment, not in order to intimidate. If you are walking along the road, there is a hole ahead and they tell you: “Be careful, don’t fall, don’t trip,” are you being intimidated? They warn you and help you avoid danger. So the Church says: “Don’t sin, don’t do evil to your neighbor, all this will turn against you.”
There is no need to make God out to be a villain because He does not accept sinners into Paradise. Unrepentant souls will not be able to live in Paradise; they will not be able to bear the light and purity that is there, just as sick eyes cannot bear the bright light.
Everything depends on ourselves, on our behavior and prayers.
The Lord can change everything through prayer. One woman came to us from Krasnodar. Her son was imprisoned. An investigation was underway. She came to one judge, who told her: “Your son is eight years old.” He had some great temptation. She came to me, crying, sobbing: “Father, pray, what should I do? The judge asks for five thousand dollars, but I don’t have that kind of money.” I say: “You know, mother, if you pray, the Lord will not leave you! What is his name?” She said his name, we prayed. And in the morning she comes:
Father, I'm going there now. The question is being decided, either they will imprison you or they will release you.
The Lord put it on his heart to tell her this:
If you pray, God will arrange everything.
I prayed all night. After lunch she came back and said:
The son was released. He was acquitted. They sorted it out and let me go. Everything is fine.
This mother had so much joy, so much faith that the Lord heard her. But the son was not to blame, he was simply framed in business.
The son is completely out of control, doesn’t speak, doesn’t listen. He's seventeen. How can I pray for him?
You need to read the prayer “O Mother of God, Virgin, Rejoice” 150 times. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov said that the one who walks in Diveevo along the groove of the Mother of God and reads “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” a hundred and fifty times is under the special protection of the Mother of God. The Holy Fathers constantly spoke about veneration of the Mother of God, about turning to Her in prayer for help. The prayer of the Mother of God has great power. Through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, the grace of God will descend on both mother and child. Righteous John of Kronstadt says: “If all the angels, saints, all people living on earth gather together and pray, the prayer of the Mother of God surpasses all their prayers in power.
I remember one family. This was while we were serving in the parish. One mother, Natalia, had two girls - Lisa and Katya. Liza was thirteen or fourteen years old, she was capricious and headstrong. And although she went to church with her mother, she remained very restless. I was amazed at my mother's patience. Every morning he gets up and says to his daughter:
Lisa, let's pray!
That's it, mom, I'm saying my prayers!
Read quickly, read slowly!
Mom didn’t stop her and patiently fulfilled all her requests. At this time, it was useless to beat and stab my daughter. The mother endured. Time passed, my daughter grew up and became calmer. Joint prayer did her good.
There is no need to be afraid of temptations. The Lord will protect this family. Prayer has never harmed anyone. It only brings benefit to our soul. Boasting harms us: “I read the Psalter for the deceased.” We boast, and this is a sin.
It is customary to read the Psalter at the head of the deceased. Reading the Psalter is very beneficial for the soul of that person who constantly went to church and passed into the next world with repentance. The Holy Fathers say: when we read the Psalter over the deceased, say, for forty days, then sins fly from the deceased soul like autumn leaves from a tree.
How to pray for the living or the dead, is it possible to imagine a person while doing this?
The mind must be clear. When we pray, we should not imagine God, the Mother of God, or the holy saint: neither Their faces, nor their position. The mind must be free of images. Moreover, when we pray for a person, we just need to remember that such a person exists. And if you imagine images, you can damage your mind. The Holy Fathers forbid this.
I am twenty four years old. As a child, I laughed at my grandfather who talked to himself. Now that he died, I began to talk to myself. An inner voice tells me that if I pray for him, then this vice will gradually leave me. Should I pray for him?
Everyone needs to know: if we condemn a person for some vice, we will certainly fall into it ourselves. Therefore, the Lord said: “Judge not, and you will not be judged. With the same judgment you judge, you will be condemned.”
You definitely need to pray for your grandfather. Serve at mass, memorial notes at a memorial service, remember in your home prayers morning and evening. This will be of great benefit to his soul and to us.
Is it necessary to cover your head with a scarf during home prayer?
“Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is as if she were shaven,” says the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 11:5). Orthodox Christian women, not only in church, but also at home, cover their heads with a scarf: “A wife should have on her head a sign of the power of the Angels over her” (1 Cor. 11:10).
Civil authorities are organizing additional bus routes to cemeteries for Easter. Is it correct? It seems to me that on this day the main thing is to be in church and remember the dead there.
For the deceased there is a special day of remembrance - “Radonitsa”. It happens on Tuesday in the second week after Easter. On this day, all Orthodox Christians go to congratulate their departed on the universal holiday of Easter, the Resurrection of Christ. And on Easter day itself, believers must pray in church.
Routes organized by city authorities for those people who do not go to church. Let them at least go there, at least in this way they will remember death and the finitude of earthly existence.
Is it possible to watch live broadcasts of services from churches and pray? Often you don’t have enough health and strength to be present in the temple, but you want to touch the Divine with your soul...
The Lord vouchsafed me to visit a holy place, at the Holy Sepulcher. We had a video camera with us, and we filmed the holy place. Then they showed what was filmed to one priest. He saw the footage of the Holy Sepulcher and said: “Stop this frame.” He bowed to the ground and said: “I have never been to the Holy Sepulcher.” And he directly kissed the image of the Holy Sepulcher.
Of course, you can’t worship images on TV; we have icons. The case I told is an exception to the rule. The priest did this in simplicity of heart, out of a feeling of reverence for the depicted shrine.
On holidays, all Orthodox Christians should strive to be in church. And if you don’t have health or strength to move, watch the broadcast, be with the Lord with your soul. Let our souls participate with the Lord in His holiday.
Is it possible to wear the "Live Aid" belt?
One person came to me. I ask him:
What prayers do you know?
Of course, I even carry “Live Help” with me.
He took out the documents, and there he had the 90th Psalm “Alive in the Help of the Most High” rewritten. The man says: “My mother wrote to me, gave it to me, and now I always carry it with me. Is it possible?” - “Of course, it’s good that you carry this prayer, but if you don’t read it, what’s the point? It’s the same as when you’re hungry and carry bread and food with you, but don’t eat. You’re getting weaker, you could die. In the same way, “The Living help" were written not so that you could carry them in your pocket or on your belt, but so that you could take them out every day, read them, and pray to the Lord. If you don’t pray, you can die... That’s when you, hungry, got some bread , ate, strengthened your strength and you can calmly work by the sweat of your brow. So by praying, you will give food for the soul and receive protection for the body.
So, prayer for an Orthodox Christian is a conversation, communication with God. Turning to the Lord in prayer is a need of the soul of a believer; it is not for nothing that the holy fathers called prayer breath of the soul.
When following your daily prayer rule, you need to remember two things.
First . That's why it's called daily prayer rule, which is mandatory. Every Orthodox Christian prays in the morning And before bedtime; he prays and before eating, A after meal thanks God. Christians pray before starting any business(work, study, etc.) and upon completion. Before starting work, read the prayer “To the Heavenly King...” or special prayers for the beginning of any task. At the end of the task, the prayer to the Mother of God “It is worthy to eat” is usually read. All these prayers are contained in the Orthodox Prayer Book.
So, in the prayer life there should be regularity and discipline. You cannot skip the daily prayer rule and pray only when you feel like it and when you are in the mood. A Christian is a warrior of Christ; in baptism he takes an oath of allegiance to the Lord. The life of every warrior, soldier is called service. It is built according to a special schedule and charter. And an Orthodox person also performs his service by performing the prayer rule. This service to God takes place according to the statutes of the Church.
Second , what should be remembered when fulfilling the rule: you cannot turn daily prayer into a formal reading of the prescribed prayers. It happens that during confession a priest hears: “I began to read the morning prayers and only halfway through I realized that I was reading the evening rule.” This means that the reading was purely formal, mechanical. It does not produce spiritual fruit. To prevent the implementation of the rule from turning into a formal proofreading, you need to read it slowly, preferably out loud or in a low voice, pondering the meaning of the prayer, standing reverently - after all, we are standing before God Himself and talking with Him. When going to pray, you need to collect yourself, calm down, and drive away all worldly thoughts and worries. If, while reading prayers, inattention and extraneous thoughts came and we stopped paying attention to what we were reading, we need to stop and start reading the prayer again, this time with due attention.
It can be difficult for a new Christian to immediately read the complete prayer rule. Then, with the blessing of his spiritual father or parish priest, he can choose at least a few morning and evening prayers from the Prayer Book. For example, three or four, and pray according to this abbreviated rule, gradually adding one prayer at a time from the Prayer Book - as if ascending “from strength to strength.”
Of course, it is not easy for a person taking his first steps in spiritual life to follow the complete rule. There is still a lot he doesn't understand. The Church Slavonic text is still difficult for him to understand. You should purchase a small dictionary of Church Slavonic words in order to better understand the meaning of the texts you read. Understanding and skill in prayer will definitely come with time if a person sincerely wants to understand what he read and does not stand still in his prayer life.
In their morning prayers, Christians ask God for a blessing for the coming day and thank Him for the night that has passed. Evening prayers prepare us for bed, and are also a confession of the sins of the past day. In addition to the morning and evening rules, an Orthodox person must preserve the memory of God and mentally turn to Him throughout the day. Without Me you cannot do anything - says the Lord (John 15:5). Every task, even the simplest one, must begin with at least a short prayer for God’s help in our labors.
Many mothers of infants complain that they have no time left for their daily routine. Indeed, when a child grows and needs to be taken care of day and night, it is very difficult to fulfill the complete prayer rule. Here we can advise you to constantly perform internal prayer throughout the day and ask God for help in all matters and worries. This applies not only to the mother of small children, but also to any Orthodox Christian. So our life will pass with constant memory of God and we will not forget Him in the vanity of the world.
Prayers are conventionally divided into petitionary, repentant, grateful And doxological. Of course, we must not only turn to the Lord with requests, but we must constantly thank Him for His countless benefits. And, most importantly, they must be able to see the gifts of God in their lives and appreciate them. You need to make it a rule: at the end of the day, remember all the good things that were sent from God on the previous day, and read prayers of gratitude. They are in any complete Prayer Book.
In addition to the mandatory prayer rule, every Orthodox person can take upon himself a strict rule. For example, read canons and akathists throughout the day. The peculiarity of the construction of the akathist is the word “rejoice” repeated many times. Therefore, he has a special joyful mood. In ancient times, the daily reading of psalms occupied a special place in the spiritual life of a Christian.
Reading canons, akathists, psalms helps in mournful or difficult periods of life. For example, the canon of prayer for the Mother of God (it is in the Prayer Book) is read in every mental affliction and situation, as stated in its very name. If a Christian wants to take upon himself a special prayer rule (read the canons or, for example, say the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” according to the rosary), he must take the blessing of his spiritual father or parish priest for this.
In addition to the constant prayer rule, a Christian must regularly read the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament.
You can hear the following opinion: why turn to God so often with your requests and prayers? The Lord already knows what we need. They say that you need to turn to God only in special cases when it is really necessary.
This opinion is just an excuse for one’s own laziness. God is our Heavenly Father, and like any Father, He wants His children to communicate with Him and turn to Him. Both God's grace and mercy towards us can never become scarce, no matter how much we turn to God.
This parable comes to mind:
In the houses of rich people they stopped praying before meals. One day a priest came to visit them. The table was exquisite and the best dishes were served. We sat at the table. Everyone looked at the priest and thought that now he would pray before eating. But the priest said: “The owner must pray at the table, he is the first prayer book in the family.”
There was an awkward silence: no one in this family prayed. The father cleared his throat and said: “You know, dear father, we don’t pray, because in prayer before meals the same thing is always repeated. Why do the same thing every day, every year? No, we don’t pray.” The priest looked at everyone in surprise, but then the seven-year-old girl said: “Dad, don’t I really need to come to you every morning and say “good morning” anymore?”
Every person at certain points in his life turns to God for help or advice. Therefore, it is necessary for everyone to know how to pray correctly at home so that God hears your words. Today, perhaps, the overwhelming majority of people are unsure that they are praying correctly, but sometimes you really want to hear the answer to the question posed.
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How to pray correctly at home so that God hears?
Behind every turn of fate Insurmountable difficulties or dangers may await us:
- terrible diseases;
- a lack of money;
- uncertainty about the future;
- fear for loved ones and relatives.
Few people manage to avoid such turns. All that remains for us is to pray to God, tell him about our troubles and ask for help. If you want to hear an answer and feel a helping hand, then it is necessary that the request be sincere and come from the depths of your heart.
Unfortunately, in modern times, prayer is resorted to only in the most extreme circumstances, in desperate need of support, protection or help. But it is worth remembering that prayer is not just a collection of interconnected words, and a conversation with God, so the monologue must come from the soul. Prayer is the only way to communicate with the Creator, which is why every person should know how to pray correctly.
In order to be heard, it is not at all necessary to conquer mountain peaks, travel to holy places or walk through caves; it is enough to believe strongly and sincerely. If God sees everything, then why do we need to go somewhere to turn to him?
But how to read prayers correctly in order to be heard? What can you ask from the Creator? You can make requests to the Almighty for anything. Exceptions are requests that entail grief, sadness and tears of other people.
Divine Prayer Book Today it contains an incredible variety of prayers that cover various life situations of a believer. These are the prayers:
As we said earlier, these prayers simply have no number. There are no number of words with which one can turn to our Savior, praying for help. Just remember that the Lord is lenient towards you, understand the seriousness of your appeal, assessing your unworthiness.
Even if you do not know the words of the prayer, but you approach the prayer with all sincerity and seriousness, then The Lord will not leave you and will definitely guide you on the right path.
I would also like to add that turning to the Almighty is not a panacea for all diseases and is not one of the magical rituals. Therefore, treat the request accordingly. Remember that God himself knows who is worthy of what in this life. You shouldn’t ask him to harm or punish someone, it’s sinful! Never ask him to commit injustice.
When exactly can you say prayers?
Modern man does not have the opportunity to read prayers all day, so you should set aside a certain time for this. When waking up in the morning, even the busiest person in life can stand in front of the icons for a few minutes and ask God for blessings for the coming day. Throughout the day, a person can silently repeat prayers to his Guardian Angel, Lord or Mother of God. You can address them silently so that people around you don’t notice.
It is worth noting that a special time is before bed. It is at this hour that you can reflect on how spiritual this day was, how you sinned. Turning to the Lord before bedtime calms you down, allows you to forget the bustle of the past day, tuning into a calm and quiet sleep. Don’t forget to thank the Lord for everything that happened to you during the day and that he lived it with you.
There are different ways to ask the Lord for help, no matter where you are - at home or in the temple. The icon will always have a positive effect.
How to ask for help in front of an icon? Which image is better to give preference to? If you have no idea how to read the prayer correctly and in front of which icon, then it is best to pray in front of the images of the Most Holy Theotokos and Jesus Christ. These prayers can be called “universal” because they help in any task or request.
The main components of home prayer books are the beginning and the end. It is necessary to contact the Saints and ask for help correctly by following these simple tips:
Prayer will be heard by the Lord if you follow the following rules:
What is the difference between church and home prayer?
An Orthodox Christian is called to pray constantly, doing it anywhere. Today, many people have a very reasonable question: why go to church to pray? There are certain differences between home and church prayer. Let's look at them.
The Church was founded by our Jesus Christ, therefore, thousands of years ago, Orthodox Christians gathered in communities to glorify the Lord. Church prayer has incredible power and there are many confirmations from believers about grace-filled help after a church service.
Church fellowship involves and mandatory participation in religious services. How to pray so that the Lord will hear? First of all, you need to visit the church and understand the essence of the service. At the very beginning, everything will seem incredibly difficult, almost incomprehensible, but after a while, everything will become clearer in your heads. It is also worth noting that to help every beginning Christian, special literature is published that clarifies everything that happens in the church. You can buy them at any icon shop.
Prayer by agreement - what is it?
In addition to home and church prayers, in the practice of the Orthodox Church There is. Their essence lies in the fact that at the same time people read the same appeal to the Lord or Saint. However, it is worth noting that these people do not necessarily have to be nearby, they can be in different parts of the world, it does not matter.
In most cases, such acts are committed with the goal of helping loved ones in extremely difficult life situations. For example, when a person has a serious illness, his relatives gather and pray to the Lord to heal the sufferer. The power of this appeal is very great, because, in the words of God himself, “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.”
But you should not consider this appeal as some kind of ritual that will fulfill all your desires. We have already said earlier that The Lord knows all our needs, therefore, when turning to Him for help, we must do so, trusting in His holy will. Sometimes it happens that prayers do not bring the desired fruit, but this does not mean that you are not heard, the reason is very simple - you are asking for something that will become extremely unhelpful for the state of your soul.
Summarizing all of the above, I would like to note that the main thing is not just to pray, but to be a truly sincere and believing person with pure thoughts and heart. We strongly recommend that you pray every day so that you are more likely to be heard by God. If you decide to start a righteous life, then you first need to cleanse yourself of all sins by taking communion and confessing. Before starting prayers, it is recommended to spend exactly nine days not only spiritually, but also physically, giving up meat.
This question, which came to our editorial office, determined the topic of a new conversation with Metropolitan Longinus of Saratov and Volsk.
— Vladyka, we have already said: prayer is our communication with God, for a Christian it should be as necessary as breathing. But we know both from our own experience and from the experience of our readers, who have many questions on this topic, that learning to pray and love prayer is very difficult. Even the saints said: to pray means to shed blood; prayer requires work until a person’s last day... Master, why can prayer be so difficult?
— Indeed, prayer is work, many saints have spoken about this. And the Russian people have a very precise saying: the most difficult thing in the world is to pray to God and feed old parents.
Why is it difficult to pray, although many saints had the skill of constant, unceasing prayer? We need to remind ourselves what prayer is. This is standing before God, one might say, a conversation with God, communication with Him. What does it take to constantly want to communicate with a person in our everyday life?
- Love him…
- Absolutely right. For example, here is a bride and groom - they want to communicate with each other all the time, 24 hours a day. Because there is love, attraction to each other. It’s the same with God: there must be a desire for Him so that prayer does not become a tedious task. You know how they sometimes say: “read the rule”? It’s like digging a hole... Of course, it’s difficult to pray constantly while living in the world, but at least you can turn to God often and with love.
I remember my youth when I just ran to the temple. I also know other people my age, those who came to the Church back in Soviet times. For us, this was the most important thing that could be on earth, and overshadowed absolutely everything: study, work, and some kind of family connections. We literally “matured” to the temple (as it is said in the prayer: “For my spirit will morning to Thy holy temple”), that is, from the very early morning we constantly wanted to be in the temple, to see, to hear what was happening there. I remember this feeling, to this day the memory of it is in my heart.
A person must have such a living feeling for God in order for him to want to pray. But, of course, it is not always there. Man is an extremely fickle creature, and even when he reaches some peaks in his life, then he has periods of cooling and falling. But the memory of what happened - about previous peaks, be it relationships with God or people - should warm the human heart when the peak of feelings gradually passes. Then, instead of cooling, there will be an even combustion, and then it will flare up more and more brightly. There are cases when spouses, having lived with each other for many decades, at the end of their lives love each other no less, but on the contrary, even stronger, deeper than they did in their youth.
A person can have approximately the same relationship with God. This example may not seem entirely correct to some, but it is understandable. We must not forget that communication between man and God is communication between two personalities, and it requires that a person constantly warm up and nourish his feelings with the memory of those moments when the Lord Himself appeared to the human heart. In general, every person who goes to church—I am deeply convinced of this—at least once saw God, felt His closeness, and even here on earth experienced that feeling that the apostle spoke about: the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard , and it did not enter into the heart of man what God had prepared for those who loved Him (1 Cor. 2:9). The memory of this gives a person strength when cooling comes.
When one of the spiritual children complained in a letter to St. Theophan the Recluse about her coldness, about the fact that she could not pray, although only yesterday she rejoiced at everything and thanked God, he answered like this: look outside the window - yesterday the sun was shining, but today it started to rain . This does not depend on you and me. In the same way, he says, in the human heart there is one state, then another. But we must learn to endure periods of cooling, despondency, forgetting about God and return to Him again.
— Vladyka, we would like to ask you questions about prayer that many parishioners of our churches have. “I have a difficult life situation. I pray, but it is not resolved, but is getting worse. What to do, how to pray so that the Lord will hear?” - asks Sergei.
— You must pray relentlessly. But in addition, you must definitely understand the situation, try to understand why it is developing this way. After all, sometimes the Lord wants us, so that we change in something, so that we work on our own. Let's say we ask God for something, and He puts us in circumstances in which we can fulfill God's will by doing something with our own hands. The Lord very rarely acts directly in human life, with the help of some obvious miracle. Usually people are corrected by people.
Therefore, I think that Sergei and those who are concerned about similar questions must first of all carefully analyze this difficult situation, perhaps consult with one of the spiritually experienced people in order to understand: what exactly is my fault in what happened? What can I change not in the people around me, but in myself? And if we change something in ourselves, then the situation will begin to change after that.
— Another question, let’s say, about the effectiveness of prayer: “I would like to clarify issues that are important to me. What is the best (more effective) way to fulfill the prayer rule: mentally or out loud? If out loud, is it in a whisper or loud? What intonation should you strive for: church intonation or your own? Igor"
— In general, approaching prayer from the point of view of “efficiency” is wrong. And we need to fulfill the rule in such a way that it is most useful for us. We are all very different people: we have different skills, habits, characters. Some people find it more convenient to read silently, others out loud. The main thing is that the texts of the prayers that we read pass through our heart, our consciousness. And the pace of the prayer and the way it is said depend on how easier it is for a person to perceive it. Personally, I have one problem since my youth: I read a lot of books in my time and I read very quickly. Let’s say, I can read a prayer rule (three canons with an akathist) to myself in about fifteen minutes, and quite consciously. So when I minister, I always say my prayers out loud to make it a little slower. Another person, on the contrary, may read aloud syllable by syllable, and it is more convenient for him to read silently.
As for the intonation, which Igor calls church intonation (this is reading on one note, calm, without emotional outbursts), I think it is preferable, because this way a person gets used to reading in church better, and then it is easier for him to understand it. Such reading in church is actually more correct, because the prayer itself should be heard in the words of the prayers, and not our personal emotions. Although I will repeat regarding the home rule - all this is very individual and does not matter much, as long as the prayer is understandable to the person and passes through his heart.
“For about ten years I have been praying and addressing my needs to Saint Matronushka. She asked, of course, for earthly things: health, marriage, for her daughter to enter the budget department, etc. Because even before her death she said: “Everyone come to me and tell me, as if alive, about your sorrows.” I understand the word “sorrows” as earthly difficulties, problems, sorrows, failures. But the lectures of the theologian Professor A.I. Osipov say that we pray incorrectly, asking for earthly blessings. We must pray, ask for help in getting rid of sins. And when we get rid of sin, the Lord, seeing our needs, will Himself provide what we need. Now I have doubts: I believe both Matronushka and Professor A.I. I also believe in Osipov. Explain how to pray correctly? Do I need to confess that I asked for earthly blessings? Angelina"
- No, there is no need to repent of this. Professor Osipov talks about lofty things. But we still live in this world, and therefore we are worried, among other things, by the everyday things that you write about. In such cases, I always remember an episode from the biography of St. Ambrose of Optina. One day a peasant woman from a neighboring village came to him and complained that her turkey poults were dying. And the elder listened, sympathized, explained to her what and how to do. The peasant woman left comforted. Was this attitude correct? Everyone has some needs and sorrows, and I think it’s normal when a person turns to God with them.
Another thing - and here I agree with Professor Osipov, I often talk about this myself - is that our relationship with God should in no case be limited only to this “give, give, give”... If we are Christians, we need to think and about some deeper things, they themselves tried to sacrifice something to God. “Son, give me your heart,” says the Lord. He expects our heart from us, I think that is most important.
Therefore, despite the apparent contradiction of the positions given in the letter, both sides are right. You can ask God for earthly blessings, and there is nothing criminal or bad about it. But we cannot limit ourselves to this alone, because our earthly life is a preparation for eternity. The most important thing is the salvation of our soul. This is exactly what we need to ask God for and do everything that depends on us.
— Another question that can often be heard: “They say that in order to understand the will of God, you need to pray. How to pray correctly and how to understand that the answer really comes from God?”
— There is a rule: follow the circumstances in which the Lord places you. Especially if a person prays from the heart and asks God for help. In general, you must be guided by the Gospel in all life situations, and then you will fulfill the will of God, because in the Gospel God’s will for us is absolutely clearly defined.
— The next few questions, Vladyka, are again about cooling down in prayer. This is a very common illness... “If the heart does not respond to prayer for a long time, should we come to terms with it and accept it? For example, they pray in church, but I want to, but I can’t, and then the prayers even begin to irritate: “How long can you do the same thing?..” Irina.”
- No, you don’t need to come to terms with this, but you need, as St. Theophan the Recluse, whom I just quoted, says, to somehow wait out this state. There is an interesting episode in the ancient Patericon. One novice monk asks a more experienced one: what to do if there is no desire to pray, on the contrary, relaxation and despondency have come? The elder advises: get up, overcome yourself, try to warm up your heart. The monk complains that it doesn’t work. Then, says the elder, take your mantle, wrap yourself in it and sleep.
This advice, although it seems humorous, is actually very wise. Because sometimes it happens that a person just needs to come to his senses, take a break. But under no circumstances should you agree with such a state, but, having rested, gradually return to prayer. And here, as I have already said, the memory of that period when a person prayed and was heard by God, when he felt unity with Him, His closeness, is very important.
“For many years I have been reading evening and morning prayers, but I have great difficulty in following the rule. Whatever you do, as long as you don’t pray... How to change your attitude towards prayer, how to fall in love with it? Tatiana"
“It happens that a person is simply, as they say, fussy, that is, ordinary daily worries and worries have taken up too much of a place in his life. But at the same time, this rudiment remains: you need to get up for prayer in the morning and in the evening. Of course, when there is no living relationship with God, after some time this rudiment begins to irritate: well, why, one might ask, waste time repeating the same words when the heart is silent? You need to stop again and understand yourself. The reason is always in the person himself.
It also happens that a person stops praying, fasting, and going to church when his lifestyle becomes far from Christian. What are we like? We sinned in one thing, in another, in a third - but it’s hard for us, and these are the times, everyone lives like this... We all know this set of self-justifications. And gradually, when some shortcomings, sins, maybe even vices accumulate, it becomes impossible to pray. Attempts to pray only cause rejection.
The reason could be anything. Therefore, Tatyana and everyone who has a similar condition needs to think, understand themselves, their lives, and try to make adjustments. Then the person will be able to pray carefully again.
—You once spoke, Vladyka, about the experience of unceasing prayer. But these things, the troubles that our reader writes about, don’t they prevent everyone from praying, according to the word of St. Seraphim of Sarov, who said that prayer is not a hindrance to business?
— Continuous prayer is still the work of monastics, and even then you don’t always see it in our time. There is no need to strive for this in the world, but you can and should often pray. You know, there is incessant prayer, and there is its opposite - incessant bustle... This incessant bustle must still be pushed aside. In addition, prayer is the memory of God. And it’s good to acquire such a skill: here I walk, talk, do something - and all the time I remember that there is God, He is above all my affairs. But usually we live as if He does not exist, and we rarely remember Him. In fact, we must always remember Him.
— “Please tell me what is the right thing to do if, during prayer, anything comes into your head except the prayer itself... I read two completely polar opinions: stop praying, since God still doesn’t hear such a prayer, or force yourself , pray through strength. Inna"
— Under no circumstances should you stop; you should force yourself. To restore attention to prayer, you can do the following exercise from time to time: when you read a rule and suddenly realize that your attention has “flown away,” you need to go back and read with attention. This is difficult, and you don’t need to do it all the time, but you need to try in order to develop the skill of attentive reading.
The same Saint Theophan also has a wonderful answer to a similar question. One of his spiritual children asked: “Sometimes I realize that I stood in prayer and nothing moved in my heart. What to do?". He replied: “Then stand in front of the icons, cross yourself, sigh, and say: “Lord, I couldn’t bring my heart to You today, at least accept my feet from me.” He says a lot in his letters that one must learn to keep oneself in order, to be collected. For example: here you are lying on the sofa, remember that this is wrong, and instead sit up as you should, straighten up. Such seemingly small external things help a person to keep himself within the necessary boundaries, because when we abolish these boundaries, we spread out and lose our composure. And without this, many things are impossible, not only to pray to God, for example, to study. Look, much of what we say about prayer can be said to a student who does not know how to study, because it is exactly the same: there is no attention. Therefore, many things in a person’s life will change, many things will become easier to do, a person will achieve great success if he tunes himself into correct, attentive prayer.
I would like to advise the authors of these questions and all our readers to be sure to read the book of St. Theophan the Recluse “What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it.” These are answers to similar questions in the form of letters. And for those who love to read and are not afraid of thick books, I would recommend the collection of letters of St. Theophan, which contain extremely deep, very valuable, completely modern materials. The saint answers questions from his spiritual children, which are not so different from those asked today. At one time, these books helped me a lot.
Photo by Alexey Luzgan and Andrey Gutynin
You don't always have the strength and ability to stand. The work involves hard physical labor, and by the evening a person is so tired that his legs ache. Due to advancing years, age-related diseases become more common. A pregnant woman with lower back pain and swollen legs. There are many reasons, but a person feels the need for prayer.
What now, not to pray at all? Of course not. Be sure to pray while sitting. And this can be done, despite the indignation of the grandmothers from the church.
What is prayer?
This is direct communication with God. Conversation with Him. This is a conversation between a child and his Father. But we won’t explain ourselves in lofty words, but will talk about it more simply.
When we pray, we meet God. We meet the Mother of God and the saints, to whom we fall in prayer. We ask them for something, and after some time we realize that our request has been fulfilled. And thanks to this, comes the awareness of the participation of saints in our lives, as well as the participation of God. He is always there, always ready to help and patiently waiting for us to turn to him.
There is another type of prayer. This prayer is a dialogue. When a person is having a conversation, it is important for him not only to speak out, but also to hear the opinion of the interlocutor. The moment we offer prayers to God, we must be prepared for Him to reveal Himself to us. Sometimes not the way we imagine Him. Therefore, you cannot invent an image of God for yourself, or somehow imagine him. We see God in icons, we see the Mother of God, saints. It's enough.
Is it possible to read prayers while sitting? Imagine that a man came to his father. I came after work, I really want to talk to him, but my legs hurt and I’m so tired that I just don’t have the strength to stand. Will the father, seeing this, not talk to his child? Or will he make him stand as a sign of respect for his parent? Of course not. Quite the contrary: seeing how tired the son is, he will suggest that he sit down, drink a cup of tea and talk.
So, will God, seeing a person’s zeal, not accept sincere prayer just because the person praying is sitting?
When do we pray?
Most often, when something happens in life and help is urgently needed. Then the person begins to pray and ask God for this help. He simply has no other hope. Help comes, the satisfied person rejoices, forgets to thank him and moves away from God until the next emergency situation. Is it correct? Hardly.
Ideally, we should live our lives prayerfully. Live with it the same way we live with air. People do not forget to breathe, because without oxygen we will simply die in a few minutes. Without prayer, the soul dies; this is its “oxygen”.
Given our busy schedule and living conditions, it is extremely difficult to constantly be in prayer. The hustle and bustle at work, the hustle and bustle in everyday life, the people around you - it’s all too much. And it's too noisy around us. However, we wake up in the morning. And what do we think about first? About what you have to do today. We get up, wash, get dressed, have breakfast and move on - towards a new bustle. But you need to adjust your morning a little. Get up and thank God for another day given to you. Ask for His intercession during the day. Of course, the best option is to read morning prayers. But no one has yet canceled gratitude from the heart.
Prayer throughout the day
Is this possible given our workload? Why not, everything is possible. Is it possible to pray while sitting, for example, in a car? Certainly. You can go to work and mentally pray to God.
A man sat down to eat - before the meal he needed to pray mentally, read the Lord's Prayer. No one will hear this, but what is the benefit for the one praying! He ate, thanked the Lord for the meal, and went back to work.
Prayer in the temple
Is it possible for an Orthodox person to pray while sitting? Especially in the temple, where everyone is standing? Due to weakness - it is possible. There is such a wonderful phrase from Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow: “It is better to think about God while sitting than to think about your feet while standing.”
Some illnesses make it difficult for a person to stand. And with other weaknesses it is not always easy. Therefore, you should not be embarrassed by sitting on a bench in a temple. There are certain places in the service where you must stand when proclaiming them. This is the Cherubic Hymn, the reading of the Gospel, the prayers “I Believe” and “Our Father,” and the removal of the Chalice. In other cases, if you feel that you cannot stand the service, sit down.
Home prayer
Is it possible to sit and pray in front of icons at home? There is nothing wrong with this if a person does it due to illness or other valid reasons. If it’s just laziness, it’s better not to be lazy and get up and pray while standing.
In the case when the person praying is very tired, it is quite acceptable to sit on a chair or on a sofa near the icons, pick up a prayer book and pray from the heart.
What should sick people do?
What if a person is so sick that he cannot get up on his own? Or bedridden? Or is it due to very old age? He can’t even pick up a prayer book. How then to pray? And in general, is it possible to pray lying down or sitting?
In this case, you can ask one of the household members to submit a prayer book. Keep it close to the bed so that the patient can reach it independently. More precisely, reach out and take it. As for reading the Gospel, family members may well take a couple of minutes and read an excerpt from it at the request of the patient.
In addition, a bedridden person is able to pray mentally. There is nothing reprehensible about turning to God in your own words. In a prayer that comes from the depths of the heart, from the whole soul, how can there be anything offensive to God? Even if it is read in an “unidentified” position. The Lord sees the heart of the one who prays and knows his thoughts. And accepts the prayer of the sick or infirm.
Is it possible to pray at home, sitting or lying down? Yes. And it’s not just possible, but necessary. “Those who are healthy don’t call for a doctor, but those who are sick really need a doctor.” And not only in the literal sense of these words.
Can prayer be objectionable?
Complex issue. She may not be heard, rather. Why? Everything depends on the quality of prayer. If a person reads it in a formulaic manner in 15 minutes, without thinking about the words and their meaning, closes the prayer book - and that’s the end of it, what kind of prayer is this? It is not clear to a person what and why he read. But God doesn’t need a template, He needs sincerity.
Who can you pray to while sitting at home? And to God, and the Mother of God, and the saints. Let the prayer be performed in a sitting position, but from the heart. This is better than standing in front of the icons and simply reading the rule without understanding anything in it and without trying to do it.
Children's prayer
Is it possible for a child to pray while sitting? Children's prayer is considered the most sincere. Because children are innocent, naive and trust God. It’s not for nothing that the Lord himself said: be like children.
There are concessions for children. Including in the prayer rule. The most important thing is not to force the child to read long and incomprehensible prayers. Let your baby read, for example, “Our Father” before going to bed and talk to God in his own words. This is much more useful than reading out the rules with a cold heart, because mom said so, that is, according to the principle “adults should.” And it’s not for adults, it’s for the child himself.
Prayers of Thanksgiving
We often ask without thanking. The latter must not be forgotten. It would be unpleasant for us to fulfill someone's request and not hear thank you in return. Why should God give us something, knowing our ingratitude?
Is it possible to pray while sitting, read a thanksgiving akathist, or offer a prayer? Are you tired? You feel sick? Sore feet? Then sit and don't worry about it. Sit down, take an akathist or prayer book in your hands, and read calmly, slowly, thoughtfully. Great benefit for the person praying. And God is glad to see such sincere gratitude.
When you don't have the strength to pray
It happens that you don’t have the strength to pray. No way. Neither standing, nor sitting, nor lying down. Prayer doesn’t work, the person doesn’t want to do it.
What to do then? Force yourself to get up, stand in front of the icons, pick up a prayer book and read at least one prayer. Through force. Because we don’t always want to pray, no matter how surprising it may sound. How can you not want to communicate with God? It’s wild, strange, incomprehensible, but such states do exist. And when they appear, you need to force yourself to pray.
But it probably won’t be from the heart? And here everything depends on the person praying. You can read every word with utmost attention, even if it is just one prayer. Such a prayerful attitude will be much more useful than if you do not pray at all or read the rule with just your lips, when your thoughts are hovering somewhere far, far away.
How long does it take? 20 minutes, no more. This is because a person quickly reads it, and that’s it. So it’s better to spend these 20 minutes reading two prayers, but with sense and concentration, than to scold them somehow, because that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Important addition
What do you need to know when starting to pray? Just an answer to the question, is it possible to pray while sitting or lying down? No. The main thing to remember is that you need to pray thoughtfully. Try to understand every word of the prayer. And the latter must come from the heart. This is why you need to not only read the rules, but also pray in your own words.
Conclusion
From the article we learned whether it is possible to pray while sitting. In case of serious illness, senile infirmity, pregnancy or very severe fatigue, this is not prohibited. Children are allowed to pray while sitting.
As for bedridden patients, in their case it is quite appropriate to offer prayers to God in the usual position.
It is not the position that is important, although it plays an important role. The most important thing is the heart and soul of a person, sincere, burning and striving for God.
