How to pray so that God not only hears, but also helps? Prayer is a conversation with God How to learn to pray.

with the blessing of His Grace Simon, Bishop of Murmansk and Monchegorsk

Trifonov Pechenga Monastery
"The ark"
Moscow
2004

What is prayer

In the Christian catechism, that is, in the instruction on the Christian faith, it is said about prayer as follows: “Prayer is the offering of the mind and heart to God and is the reverent word of a person to God.” Prayer is the threads of the living tissue of the body of the church, going in all directions; prayer connection pervades the entire body of the Church.

Prayer connects each member of the Church with the Heavenly Father, the members of the earthly Church among themselves, and the members of the earth with those in heaven.
The content of prayer is: praise, or glory; thanksgiving; repentance; a request for the mercy of God, for the forgiveness of sins, for the granting of blessings of the soul and body, heavenly and earthly. Prayer is about yourself and about others. Prayer for one another expresses the mutual love of members of the Church.

Spiritual worship is necessarily accompanied by bodily worship due to the close connection of soul and body. Prayer is expressed in various outward forms. This includes kneeling, the sign of the cross, the raising of hands, the use of various liturgical objects, and all the external actions of public Christian worship.
Prayer has extraordinary power. “Prayer not only conquers the laws of nature, is not only an invincible shield against visible and invisible enemies, but even holds back the hand of the Almighty God Himself, raised to defeat sinners,” writes the saint.

But to read the words of a prayer from memory or from a prayer book, to stand in front of an icon at home or in a church, to bow - this is not yet a prayer. “Reading prayers, standing at prayer, and prostrating only constitute prayerful standing,” writes the saint, “and prayer, in fact, comes from the heart. When this is not - and there is none. Prayer without feelings is the same as a dead miscarriage. Prayer itself, as St. Theophan the Recluse writes, “is the emergence in our heart of one after another reverent feelings for God - feelings of self-humiliation, devotion, thanksgiving, praise, forgiveness, zealous falling, contrition, submission to the will of God, and so on.”

Most of all, during prayer, we should take care that these and similar feelings fill our soul, so that when we read prayers aloud or inwardly, during prostrations, our heart is not empty, so that it aspires to God. When we have these feelings, then our prayers, our prostrations are prayer...

Why you need to pray according to the prayer book

The Fathers of the Church were very cautious about those prayers that were composed by the believers themselves.

“Do not dare to bring to God the wordy and eloquent prayers that you have composed ... they are the work of a fallen mind and ... cannot be accepted on the spiritual altar of God,” he wrote. In praying with other people's words, our example is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His prayer exclamations during the suffering on the cross are lines from psalms ().

Books for home prayers contain many prayers written by the holy Fathers of the Church.
These prayers were written many centuries ago by the monks and Macarius of Egypt, Roman the Melodist, saints, and other great prayer books. Filled with a prayerful spirit, they expressed what was inspired by this spirit in words and transmitted these words to us. A great prayer power moves in their prayers, and whoever clings to them with attention and zeal will surely experience a prayerful feeling. Reading prayers connects a person with their creators - psalmists and ascetics. This helps to find a spiritual mood akin to their burning heart.

What prayers are included in the prayer book

Books for home prayers, most often called, have many similarities with each other, because they contain the same prayer books. The prayer books contain prayers for the future and morning prayers, an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus, an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, an akathist to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, a canon of repentance to our Lord Jesus Christ, a prayer canon to the Most Holy Theotokos, sung in all sorrow of the soul and circumstances, a canon to the Guardian Angel , following before Holy Communion and prayers for Holy Communion.

The word akathist comes from the Greek akathistos gymnos - "non-sitting hymn", a hymn that is sung while standing. An akathist is a contemplation of a miracle, it is, as it were, a verbal icon of a sacred person or a blessed event, which explains its static character. Akathist consists of 12 double songs - successively alternating ikos and kondak. A kontakion is a short Orthodox hymn that sets out the dogmatic or historical meaning of a celebrated event or person; in a kontakion, any moment of the Church's teaching about one of the mysteries of God is revealed. Each kontakion ends with the exclamation of "Alleluia". The ikos follows the kontakion, which reveals the content of the kontakion, concludes a more extensive development of the theme contained in the kontakion.

Canon is one of the forms of the Orthodox hymn. The canon consists of nine songs arranged in thanksgiving and praise to God. The song of the canon is divided into irmos (from the Greek verb "I bind", "I connect") and several troparia (a song depicting the lifestyle of a saint or the triumph of a holiday). The canon to the Guardian Angel contains a prayer service to the Guardian Angel, a prayer canon to the Most Holy Theotokos - a prayer for the aversion of internal mental and bodily diseases and, in particular, for the healing of sinful ulcers that afflict the soul, as the very content of the songs and verses of the canon shows.

What prayers should a layman's prayer rule consist of?

The lay prayer rule consists of morning and evening prayers, which are performed daily. This rhythm is necessary, because otherwise the soul easily falls out of the life of prayer, as if waking up only from time to time. In prayer, as in any big and difficult task, inspiration, mood and improvisation alone are not enough.
There are three basic prayer rules:

1) a complete prayer rule, designed for monks and spiritually experienced laity, which is printed in the Orthodox Prayer Book;

2) a short prayer rule designed for all believers; in the morning: “King of Heaven”, Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Virgin Mother of God”, “Rising from sleep”, “Have mercy on me, God”, “I believe”, “God, cleanse”, “To You, Master”, “ Holy Angele”, “Most Holy Lady”, invocation of the saints, prayer for the living and the dead; in the evening: “King of Heaven”, Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Have mercy on us, Lord”, “Eternal God”, “Good King”, “Angel of Christ”, from “Choose Governor” to “It is worthy to eat”; these prayers are contained in any prayer book;

3) a short prayer rule of the reverend: three times "Our Father", three times "Virgin Mother of God" and once "I believe" - ​​for those days and circumstances when a person is extremely tired or very limited in time.

The duration of prayers, their number are determined by the spiritual fathers, priests, taking into account the lifestyle of each and his spiritual experience.

It is impossible to completely omit the prayer rule. Even if the prayer rule is read without due attention, the words of the prayers, penetrating into the soul, have their cleansing effect.
St. Theophan writes to one family person: “In case of emergency, one must be able to shorten the rule. Whether it is not enough in family life of accidents. When things do not allow you to make a complete prayer rule, then make it abbreviated.

And one should never rush ... The rule is not an essential part of prayer, but is only its outer side. But the main thing is - the prayer of the mind and heart to God, offered up with praise, thanksgiving and petition ... and finally with complete surrender to the Lord. When there are such movements in the heart, there is prayer there, and when there is no such movement, there is no prayer, even if you stand on the rule for whole days.

A special prayer rule is performed during the preparation for the Sacraments of confession and communion. On these days (they are called fasting and last at least three days), it is customary to more diligently fulfill their prayer rule: those who usually do not read all the morning and evening prayers, let them read everything in full, those who do not read the canons, let them read at least on these days one canon. On the eve of communion, one must be at the evening service and read at home, in addition to the usual prayers for the future, the canon of repentance, the canon of the Mother of God and the canon of the Guardian Angel. The canon for communion is also read and, whoever wishes, an akathist to Jesus the Sweetest. In the morning, morning prayers are read and all the following to Holy Communion.

During fasting, prayers are especially long, in order, as the righteous saint writes, “in order to disperse our cold, tempered hearts in a long vanity with the duration of fervent prayer. For it is strange to think, all the more so to demand, that a heart that has matured in the bustle of life could soon be imbued with the warmth of faith and love for God during prayer. No, it takes work and time. The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it by force (). It is not soon that the Kingdom of God comes into the heart when people run away from it so diligently. The Lord God Himself expressed His will that we should not pray briefly, when he presents as an example a widow who went to the judge for a long time and for a long time (for a long time) bothered him with her requests ().

When to make your prayer rule

In the conditions of modern life, given the workload and accelerated pace, it is not easy for the laity to set aside a certain time for prayer. It is necessary to develop strict rules of prayer discipline and strongly adhere to your prayer rule.

Morning prayers are best read before starting any business. In extreme cases, they are pronounced on the way from home. Prayer teachers recommend reading the evening prayer rule in free minutes before dinner or even earlier - late in the evening it is often difficult to concentrate due to fatigue.

How to Prepare for Prayer

The main prayers that make up the morning and evening rule should be known by heart so that they penetrate deeper into the heart and so that they can be repeated in any circumstances. First of all, in your free time, it is advisable to read the prayers that are part of your rule, translate the text of the prayers for yourself from Church Slavonic into Russian in order to understand the meaning of each word and not pronounce a single word meaninglessly or without accurate understanding. This is what the Church Fathers advise. “Take the trouble,” writes the monk, “not at the hour of prayer, but at another, free time, to think over and feel the prescribed prayers. Having done this, you will not encounter any difficulty during prayer to reproduce in yourself the content of the prayer being read.

It is very important that the person approaching prayer banish resentment, irritation, and bitterness from the heart. The saint teaches: “Before prayers, it is required not to be angry with anyone, not to be angry, but to leave all offense, so that God himself will forgive sins.”

“Coming to the Benefactor, be yourself benevolent; approaching the Good, be good yourself; approaching the Righteous, be righteous yourself; approaching the Patient One, be patient yourself; approaching the philanthropic, be philanthropic; and also be everything else, approaching the Kind-hearted, the Benevolent, the Sociable in blessings, the Merciful of everyone, and if anything else is seen of the Divine, likening in all this by your own will, thereby gain boldness for prayer,” writes the saint.

How to make your own prayer rule at home

During prayer, it is recommended to retire, light a lamp or a candle and stand in front of the icon. Depending on the nature of intra-family relations, one can recommend reading the prayer rule together, with the whole family, or for each family member separately. Common prayer is recommended above all on solemn days, before a festive meal, and on other similar occasions. Family prayer is a kind of church, public prayer (the family is a kind of home church) and therefore does not replace individual prayer, but only complements it.

Before the beginning of prayer, one should make the sign of the cross and make several bows, half-length or earthly, and try to tune in to an inner conversation with God. “Stand silently until feelings subside, put yourself in the presence of God to the consciousness and feelings of Him with reverent Fear and raise a living faith in your heart that God hears and sees you,” the prayer book says at the beginning. Saying prayers out loud or in a low voice helps many people focus.

“When starting to pray,” advises the saint, “in the morning or in the evening, stand a little, or sit, or walk around, and at this time take the trouble to sober up the thought, diverting it from all earthly affairs and objects. Then think about who is the One to whom you will turn in prayer, and who you are, now having to begin this prayerful appeal to Him - and arouse in your soul the corresponding mood of self-abasing and reverent fear imbued with standing before God in your heart. This is the whole preparation - to stand reverently before God - small, but not insignificant. Here is the beginning of prayer, but a good beginning is half the work.
Having thus established yourself inwardly, then stand before the icon and, having made several bows, begin the usual prayer: “Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee,” “King of Heaven, Comforter, Soul of Truth,” and so on. Read slowly, delve into every word, and bring the thought of every word to the heart, accompanying it with bows. This is the whole point of reading a prayer that is pleasing and fruitful to God. Delve into every word and bring the thought of the word to the heart, otherwise - understand what you are reading, and feel what you understand. No other rules are required. These two - understand and feel - performed properly, adorn any prayer with full dignity and impart to it all fruitful action. You read: “cleanse us from all filthiness” - feel your filthiness, desire purity and with hope seek it from the Lord. You read: “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” - and in your soul forgive everyone, and in your heart, who has forgiven everyone, ask the Lord for forgiveness. You read: “Thy will be done” - and in your heart completely surrender your fate to the Lord and express an unquestioning readiness to graciously meet everything that the Lord will please to send you.
If you act like this with every verse of your prayer, then you will have the proper prayer.

In another of his admonitions, St. Theophan so briefly systematizes advice on reading the rule of prayer:

“a) never read in a hurry, but read as if in a singsong voice… In ancient times, all prayers read were taken from psalms… But I don’t see the word “read” anywhere, but everywhere “sing”…

b) delve into every word and not only reproduce the thought of what you read in your mind, but also arouse a corresponding feeling ...

c) in order to cut off the urge for hasty reading, put - not read this and that, but stand on the reading prayer for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour ... how long you usually stand ... and then do not worry ... how many prayers you read - but how the time has come, if not hunting to stand further, stop reading ...

d) having put this down, however, do not look at the clock, but stand like that so as to stand endlessly: the thought will not run ahead ...

e) in order to promote the movement of prayerful feelings in your free time, reread and rethink all the prayers that are included in your rule - and re-feel them, so that when you begin to read them on the rule, you know in advance what feeling should be aroused in the heart ...

f) never read prayers without interruption, but always interrupt them with your own prayer, with bows, whether in the middle of prayers you have to do this or at the end. As soon as something falls into your heart, immediately stop reading and bow down. This last rule is the most necessary and most necessary for cultivating the spirit of prayer ... If some other feeling takes a lot, you will be with him and bow, and leave the reading ... so until the very end of the allotted time.

What to do when distracted by prayer

Praying is very difficult. Prayer is primarily a spiritual work, therefore, one should not expect immediate spiritual delight from it. “Do not look for pleasures in prayer,” he writes, “they are by no means characteristic of a sinner. The sinner's desire to feel pleasure is already self-delusion... Do not look for prematurely high spiritual states and prayerful delights.

As a rule, attention to the words of the prayer can be held for several minutes, and then thoughts begin to wander, the eye glides over the words of the prayer - and our heart and mind are far away.
If someone prays to the Lord, but thinks of something else, then the Lord will not listen to such a prayer,” writes the monk.

At these moments, the Fathers of the Church advise to be especially attentive. St. Theophan the Recluse writes that we must prepare in advance for the fact that when reading prayers we are distracted, often mechanically read the words of a prayer. “When a thought runs away during prayer, bring it back. Runs back again - return again. So every time. Every time that is read while thoughts are running away and, therefore, without attention and feeling, do not forget to reread. And even if your thought runs back several times in one place, read it several times until you read it with understanding and feeling. Once you overcome this difficulty - another time, perhaps it will not be repeated, or it will not be repeated in such force.

If during the reading of the rule a prayer breaks through in one's own words, then, as St. Nicodemus says, "do not let this occasion pass fleetingly, but dwell on it."
We find the same thought in St. Theophan: “Another word will affect the soul so strongly that the soul will not want to prolong further in prayer, and although the tongue reads prayers, and the thought keeps running back to the place that had such an effect on her. In this case, stop, do not read further, but stay with attention and feeling in that place, feed your soul with them, or with those thoughts that it will produce. And do not rush to tear yourself away from this state, so if time does not endure, it is better to leave an unfinished rule, and do not ruin this state. It will overshadow you, maybe all day, like a guardian angel! This kind of beneficial influence on the soul during prayer means that the spirit of prayer begins to take root and that, consequently, the preservation of this state is the most reliable means of educating and strengthening the prayerful spirit in us.

How to end your prayer rule

It is good to end the prayer with thanksgiving to God for the gift of fellowship and contrition for one's inattention.

“When you finish your prayers, do not immediately go on to your own activities, but also, at least a little, stop and think about what you have done and what it obliges you to do, trying, if something is given to feel during prayer, to keep it after prayers,” writes St. Theophan the Recluse. “Do not immediately rush into everyday affairs,” St. Nicodemus teaches, “and never think that, having completed your prayer rule, you have finished everything in relation to God.”

Getting down to business, you must first think about what you have to say, do, see during the day, and ask God for blessings and strength to follow His will.

How to learn to spend the day in prayer

Having finished the morning prayers, we should not think that everything has been fulfilled in relation to God, and only in the evening, during the evening rule, should we return to prayer again.
Good feelings that arose during morning prayers will be drowned out in the bustle and busyness of the day. Because of this, there is no desire to stand for the evening prayer.

We must try to make the soul turn to God not only when we stand in prayer, but throughout the whole day.

Here is how St. Theophan the Recluse advises to learn this:

“Firstly, during the day it is necessary to cry out to God more often from the heart in short words, judging by the need of the soul and current affairs. You start something, for example, say: “Bless, Lord!”. When you finish the job, say: “Glory to you, Lord!”, and not only with your tongue, but also with the feeling of your heart. What passion rises, say: "Save, Lord, I'm dying!" Finds the darkness of confusing thoughts, cry out: "Bring my soul out of prison!". Wrong deeds are coming and sin attracts to them, pray: “Guide me, Lord, on the path” or “Do not give my feet into confusion.” Sins suppress and lead to despair, cry out with a publican's voice: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." So, anyway. Or just say often: “Lord, have mercy; Mother of God, have mercy on me. Angel of God, my holy guardian, protect me, ”or call out with some other word. Just make these appeals as often as possible, trying in every possible way so that they come from the heart, as if squeezed out of it. When you do this, we will often make intelligent ascents to God from the heart, frequent appeals to God, frequent prayer, and this increase will impart the habit of intelligent conversation with God.

But in order for the soul to begin to cry out like this, it is necessary in advance to force it to turn everything to the glory of God, all its deeds, large and small. And this is the second way to teach the soul to turn to God more often during the day. For if we make it our law to fulfill this apostolic commandment, so that we do everything for the glory of God, whether you eat or drink, or do anything else, you do everything for the glory of God (), then we will certainly remember God with every deed, and remember not just but with apprehension, so as not to do something wrong in any case and not offend God in any way. This will make you turn to God with fear and prayerfully ask for help and admonition. Just as we do something almost incessantly, we will almost incessantly turn to God in prayer, and, consequently, we will almost continuously go through the science of prayer in the soul to God of exaltation.

But in order for the soul to fulfill this, that is, doing everything for the glory of God, as it should, it must be set up for this from early morning - from the very beginning of the day, before a person goes out to his work and to his work until evening. This mood is produced by the thought of God. And this is the third way of training the soul to turn often to God. God-thinking is a reverent reflection on the Divine properties and actions and on what the knowledge of them and their attitude towards us obliges us, this reflection on the goodness of God, justice, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, about creation and providence, about the organization of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, about the goodness and word of God, about the holy sacraments, about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Whatever of these subjects you begin to meditate on, this meditation will certainly fill the soul with a reverent feeling for God. Begin to meditate, for example, on the goodness of God - you will see that you are surrounded by the graces of God both bodily and spiritually, and unless you are a stone, so as not to fall before God in an outpouring of humiliated feelings of thanksgiving. Begin to meditate on the omnipresence of God - you will understand that you are everywhere before God and God is before you, and you cannot help but be filled with reverent fear. Begin to meditate on the omniscience of God - you will know that nothing in you is hidden from the eye of God, and you will certainly resolve to be strictly attentive to the movements of your heart and mind, so as not to somehow offend the all-seeing God. Start to reason about the truth of God, and you will be sure that not a single bad deed will go unpunished, and you will certainly set out to cleanse all your sins with contrition and repentance of your heart before God. So, no matter what property and action of God you begin to discuss, any such reflection will fill the soul with reverent feelings and dispositions for God. It directs the whole being of man directly to God, and is therefore the most direct means of accustoming the soul to ascend to God.

The most decent, convenient time for this is the morning, when the soul is not yet burdened with many impressions and business concerns, and precisely after the morning prayer. When you finish your prayer, sit down and, with a thought sanctified in prayer, begin to meditate today on one thing, tomorrow on another of God's property and action, and make an arrangement in your soul accordingly. “Go,” said the saint, “go, holy contemplation, and let us immerse ourselves in contemplation of the great deeds of God,” and he went through the thought or the deeds of creation and providence, or the miracles of the Lord Savior, or His sufferings, or something else, thereby touched his heart and began to pour out his soul in prayer. So anyone can do it. There is little work, only desire and determination are needed; and a lot of fruit.

So here are three ways, in addition to the rule of prayer, to teach the soul to prayerfully ascend to God, namely: dedicate some time in the morning to contemplation, turn every deed to the glory of God, and often turn to God with short invocations.

When contemplation of God is well done in the morning, it will leave a deep mood for contemplation of God. Thinking about God will force the soul to perform every action, both internal and external, carefully and turn it to the glory of God. And both will put the soul in such a position that prayerful appeals to God will often be torn out of it.
These three are contemplation of God, creation of everything for the glory of God, and frequent invocations are the most effective instruments of intelligent and heartfelt prayer. Each of them elevates the soul to God. Whoever sets out to practice them will soon acquire to believe in his heart the habit of ascending to God. This work is like climbing a mountain. The higher someone climbs the mountain, the freer and easier he breathes. So here too, the more one masters the exercises shown, the higher the soul will be raised, and the higher the soul will rise, the more freely prayer will act in it. Our soul by nature is an inhabitant of the heavenly world of the Divine. There she should have been non-originating both in thought and heart; but the burden of earthly thoughts and passions attracts and burdens her dale. The methods shown are tearing it off the ground little by little, and then it will be completely torn off. When they are completely torn off, then the soul will enter its own region and will sweetly dwell on the mountain - here heartily and mentally, after that, with its very being, it will be able to abide before the face of God in the faces of angels and saints. What may the Lord vouchsafe to all of you with His grace. Amen".

How to force yourself to pray

Sometimes prayer does not come to mind at all. In this case, St. Theophan advises to do this:
“If this is a home prayer, then you can postpone it a little, for a few minutes ... If it doesn’t work after that either ... force yourself to fulfill the prayer rule forcibly, straining, and understand what is being said, and feel ... like when a child does not want to bend down, they take him by the forelock and they bend over... Otherwise, this is what can happen... now there is reluctance - tomorrow there is reluctance, and then the prayer is completely over. Beware of this ... and force yourself to pray willingly. The labor of self-compulsion overcomes everything.”

What you need for successful prayer

“Desiring and seeking success in the work of prayer, adapt everything else to this, so that you do not destroy with one hand what the other builds up.

1. Keep your body strictly both in food, and in sleep, and in rest: do not give it anything just because it wants it, as the apostle commands: Do not turn cares for the flesh into lusts (). Give no rest to the flesh.

2. Reduce your external relations to the most inevitable. This is at the time of teaching yourself to pray. Afterward, prayer, acting in you, will indicate what can be added without damage to it. Especially observe the feelings, and among them the most - the eyes, hearing, tie the tongue. Without observing this, you will not make a step forward in the matter of prayer. Just as a candle cannot burn in the wind and rain, so prayer cannot be kindled by a surge of impressions from without.

3. Use all your free time after prayer for reading and meditation. For reading, choose mainly those books that deal with prayer and in general about the inner spiritual life. Meditate exclusively on God and Divine things, on the Incarnate Economy of our salvation, and in it especially on the suffering and death of the Lord Savior. By doing this, you will be immersed in the sea of ​​Divine light. Add to this going to church as soon as you can. One presence in the temple will overshadow you with a prayer cloud. What will you get if you stand in a truly prayerful mood throughout the entire service!

4. Know that you cannot succeed in prayer without succeeding in the Christian life in general. It is necessary that not a single sin lie on the soul that is not cleansed by repentance; and if during the time of prayer you do something that confuses your conscience, hasten to cleanse yourself with repentance, so that you can boldly look to the Lord. Always keep humble contrition in your heart. Do not miss a single upcoming opportunity to do some good or to show any good disposition, especially humility, obedience and renunciation of one's own will. But it goes without saying that zeal for salvation must burn unquenchably and, filling the whole soul, in everything, from small to great, must be the main driving force, with the fear of God and unshakable hope.

5. Being in such a mood, bother yourself in prayerful work, praying: either with ready-made prayers, or with your own, or with short invocations to the Lord, or with the Jesus Prayer, but without missing anything that can contribute to this work, and you will receive what you are looking for. Let me remind you what Saint Macarius of Egypt says: “God will see your prayer work and that you sincerely wish success in prayer - and will give you prayer. For know that although prayer done and achieved by one's own efforts is pleasing to God, the real prayer is that which dwells in the heart and becomes unrelenting. It is a gift of God, a work of God's grace. Therefore, when praying about everything, do not forget to pray about prayer too ”(rev.).

How to Learn to Cry to God in Prayer

Holy righteous John of Kronstadt writes:

“In prayer, the main thing that you need to take care of first of all is a living, clairvoyant faith in the Lord: imagine Him alive before you and in yourself, and then, if you wish, ask for Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit, and it will be for you. Ask simply, without hesitation, and then your God will be everything for you, performing great and wonderful deeds in an instant, just as the sign of the cross performs great powers. Ask not for yourself alone, but for all the faithful, for the whole body of the Church, spiritual and material blessings, not separating yourself from other believers, but being in spiritual union with them, as a member of the one great body of the Church of Christ, and loving all, as your children in Christ, the Heavenly Father will fill you with great peace and boldness.
If you want to pray for yourself some good from God, then before praying, prepare yourself for undoubted, strong faith and accept in advance the means against doubt and unbelief. It’s bad, if during the prayer itself your heart is exhausted in faith and does not stand in it, then don’t think that you will receive what you asked God for in hesitation, because you offended God, and God does not give His gifts to a scoffer! Whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive (), and, therefore, if you ask unbelievingly or with doubt, you will not accept. If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done with the fig tree, but if you say to this mountain: Get up and throw yourself into the sea, it will be (). So, if you hesitate and do not believe, then you will not do it. Let (everyone) ask in faith, not at all doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, tossed and tossed by the wind. Let not such a person think of receiving anything from the Lord. A man with double thoughts is not firm in all his ways, says the Apostle James ().

The heart that doubts that God can grant what is asked for is punished for doubt: it is painfully languishing and embarrassed by doubt. Do not anger the all-powerful God even with a shadow of doubt, especially you, who have experienced God's omnipotence on yourself many many times. Doubt is a blasphemy against God, a daring lie of the heart or a spirit of lies nestling in the heart against the Spirit of truth. Fear him like a poisonous snake, or not, what I say, neglect him, do not pay the slightest attention to him. Remember that God, at the time of your petition, expects an affirmative answer to the question that He internally proposes to you: do you believe, how can I do this?! Yes, you must answer from the depths of your heart: I believe, Lord! (Compare:). And then it will be according to your faith. May the following reasoning help your doubt or unbelief: I ask God:

1) an existing, and not only imaginary, not a dreamy, not a fantastic good, but everything that exists from God received being, because Everything began to be through Him, and without Him nothing began to be (), and, therefore, nothing happens without Him, what happens, and everything either received existence from Him, or according to His will or permission, it happens and is done through the mediation of His powers and abilities given to creatures by Him, and in everything that exists and happens, the Lord is the sovereign Sovereign. In addition, He calls not existing, as if existing (); This means that if I had asked for things that were not, He could have given me by creating them;

2) I ask for the possible, but for God even our impossible is possible; it means that there is no obstacle from this side either, because God can do for me even what is impossible according to my concepts. Our misfortune is that our short-sighted reason interferes with our faith, this spider that catches the truth with the nets of its judgments, conclusions, analogies. Faith suddenly embraces, sees, and reason in a roundabout way reaches the truth; faith is a means of communicating spirit with spirit, and reason - spiritual-sensory with spiritual-sensory and simply material; that one is spirit, and that one is flesh.”

I, you will say, asked many times and did not receive. Undoubtedly, this is because you asked badly - either with unbelief, or with pride, or not useful to you; if you asked often and useful, then not with perseverance ... But if you ask not with effort and great perseverance, then you do not receive. First you need to wish, and having wished, ask truly with faith and patience useful to everyone, and so that your conscience does not condemn you in anything as asking negligently or lightly - and then you will receive if God wants it. After all, He knows better than you what is useful to you, and, perhaps, as a result of this, He postpones the fulfillment of the request, wisely forcing you to be diligent to Him, so that you know what the gift of God means, and keep what is given with fear. After all, everything that is acquired with great effort, they try to keep, so that, having lost what they have received, not to destroy great efforts and, having rejected the grace of the Lord, not to be unworthy of Eternal Life ...

What to ask God in your prayers

“We are forbidden carnal verbosity and ornateness in prayer,” writes St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, “petitions for earthly blessings and advantages are forbidden, petitions with which only the prayers of pagans and carnal people like pagans are filled.”

What should a Christian ask God for in his prayers?

“If we are commanded to refrain from worldly blessings, even when they are, then how miserable and unhappy we turn out to be if we ask God for what He commanded to reject,” writes the saint. - God will hear us if:

First, we are worthy to receive what we ask;
secondly, if we pray according to the commandments of God;
thirdly, if we pray unceasingly;
fourthly, if we do not ask for anything worldly;
fifthly, if we ask for something useful;
sixthly, if we do what is due on our part, and being mortal by nature, we ascend to Immortal Life through communion with God.

“In prayer, ask only for truth and the Kingdom, that is, virtue and knowledge, and everything else will be added to you () ...
Pray
firstly, about purification from passions;
secondly, about deliverance from ignorance and, thirdly, about salvation from every temptation and abandonment ”(rev.).

“The objects of our prayer must be spiritual and eternal, and not temporal and material. The main and initial prayer should consist of petitions for the forgiveness of sins ... Do not be reckless in petitions so as not to anger God with your cowardice: asking the King of kings for something insignificant - humiliates Him ... Ask for what you consider yourself necessary and useful, but fulfillment and leave the failure of your petition to the will of God…” writes St. Ignatius Brianchaninov.

Intending to ask (something from the Lord), before resorting to the Giver, consider your petition, whether it is pure, carefully consider the reason that prompts the petition. If the motive by which we ask entails harm, then (the Lord) ... may he block the sources of our petitions ... If you ask God for something of your own, then ask not so that you will certainly receive from Him, but leaving it to Him and His will . For example, bad thoughts often oppress you, and you grieve about it, and want to beg God to free you from warfare. But often it works to your advantage. For this often happens to you, so that you do not become arrogant, but be humbly wise... Also, if any sorrow or distress has befallen you, do not ask that you be sure to get rid of them, because this, my brother, is often useful; I tell you, it often happens that during prayer you neglect your salvation, as was the case with the Israelites ... And also, if you ask for something, do not ask in order to receive it without fail. For I say: you, as a man, often consider useful for yourself what is useless. But if you leave your will and decide to walk according to God's will, you will be safe. He, foreseeing everything before the fulfillment, in His condescension shepherds us, but we do not know whether what we ask is useful to us. Many, having achieved what they desired, subsequently repented, and often fell into great troubles; without carefully examining whether it was the will of God, but thinking that it was good for them, and under some pretexts that had the appearance of truth, they were deceived by the devil, they were exposed to extreme dangers. Many such deeds are accompanied by repentance, because we followed our own desire in them. Listen to what the apostle says: we do not know what to pray for, as we should (). For: everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible for me, but not everything edifies (). So, what is useful and instructive for each of us, God Himself knows, therefore leave it to Him. I say this not to prevent you from turning your petitions to God; on the contrary, I implore you to ask Him for everything, from the smallest to the greatest. And this is what I tell you: when you pray, you open before Him what is in your heart, say to Him: however, not My will, but Yours be done (); if it is useful, as you yourself know, so do it. For thus it is written: Commit your way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He will do (). Look to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Builder, who prays and says: My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from me; however, not as I want, but as You (). Therefore, if you ask God for something, stand firm in your petition, opening up before Him and saying: “If it is, Master, Your will that this be done, then do it and make it successful. And if it is not Your will, do not let it happen, my God! Do not betray me to my own desire, for you know my foolishness ... but as you yourself know, so save me according to your condescension! If you pray because of grief and thoughts, then say: Lord! do not rebuke me in your wrath, and do not punish me in your anger. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak (). See what the prophet says: To you, O Lord, I cry: my stronghold! do not be silent to me, so that in your silence I will not become like those descending into the grave (); but give glory to your name, unrepentant, do not remember my sins and hear me. And, if possible, let sorrow pass me by, however, not my will, but Yours be done, only strengthen and save my soul, and I will be able to endure it, but I will find grace before You both in this century and in the future. And commit your sorrow to the Lord, and He will do what is good for you. For know that He, as the Good One, wants what is necessary for our salvation. Therefore, this good Shepherd laid down His life...

“Do not provoke indignation at yourself by prayer, but ask for what is worthy of God. And when asking for a worthy one, do not back down until you receive it ... In prayer, you should ask not for the fulfillment of your own will, but to provide everything to God, who builds the house is useful, ”writes the saint.

“If your deeds are not pleasing to God, then do not ask Him for great gifts, so as not to fall into the position of a person who tempts God. Your prayer should be in accordance with your life... The desire of each person is shown by his activity. To what his diligence is directed, he must also strive in prayer. He who desires great things should not practice small things. Do not ask God for what He Himself gives us without our asking, according to His providence, which He gives not only to His own and loved ones, but also to those who are strangers to the knowledge of Him ”(rev.).

Why Our Prayers Go Unanswered

If prayer is so powerful, why doesn't everyone get what they ask for? To this, the holy apostle James gives the following answer: Ask, and you do not receive, because you ask not for good (). Whoever wants to receive must ask well. If those who ask do not always receive, then it is not prayer that is to blame for this, but those who pray well are not to blame. Just as one who does not know how to manage a good ship does not sail to the intended haven, but repeatedly breaks on stones, and it is not the ship that is to blame, but its poor management, so prayer, when the one who prays does not receive what he asks, is not to blame for this, but the one who don't pray well.
Only those who do not receive what they ask are either evil themselves and do not want to turn away from evil in order to do good, or they ask God for an evil thing, or, finally, although they ask for a good thing, but they ask not well, not as they should. . Prayer is strong, but not any, but perfect, the prayer of those who pray well.

What exactly is prayer? Talking about this requires more than one day, and therefore I will briefly recall at least something.

The prayer of one who obeys the Lord is heard and pleasing to God. Whoever obeys the words of the Lord, as the Lord Himself told us about it: Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord! ”, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven (), who walks in the law of the Lord () and does His will, the Lord will fulfill that desire and hear the prayer of those who obey Him. A humble prayer, not a Pharisaic one, rises high, to the Third Heaven, to the very Throne of the Most High, the prayer of the humble will pass through the clouds. Such, for example, was the prayer of a humble publican: God! be merciful to me a sinner! (), and Manasseh, king of Jerusalem. The wings of prayer, on which she flies up to the Most High, sitting on six-winged Seraphim, are all virtues, especially humility, fasting and almsgiving, as the Archangel Raphael, who flew down from Heaven, said about this to Tobias: A good deed is prayer with fasting and almsgiving and justice ... It is better to do alms than to collect gold (). As in any virtue, so especially in prayer, diligence and diligence are necessary: ​​The intensified prayer of the righteous can do much (). “It was not in vain that our Savior said: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (),” writes St. Demetrius of Rostov (103, 361-362).

“The Lord never withholds gifts. If he refuses sometimes for a time, he refuses so that the gift becomes more precious for those who receive it and so that the recipient is more diligent in prayer ... The mouth can ask for everything, but God fulfills only what is useful ... The Lord is a wise Distributor. He cares about the benefit of the one who asks, and if he sees that what is asked is harmful or, at least, useless to him, he does not fulfill the request and refuses the imaginary good deed. He listens to every prayer, and the one whose prayer is not fulfilled receives from the Lord the same saving gift as the one whose prayer is fulfilled ... In every possible way, God shows that He is a merciful Giver, He gives us His love and shows us mercy Own. And therefore, he does not answer a single wrong prayer, the fulfillment of which would bring death and destruction to us. However, even in this case, refusing to ask does not leave us without a very useful gift; By the very same way that He removes from us what is harmful, He opens for us the door of His bounties. In this Giver, the foolishness of the one who asks finds no place for himself: to the foolish one, who, out of his simplicity, contrary to reason, asks for what is harmful to himself, God gives wisely. He refuses gifts to those who do not fulfill His commands. Any other course of action would be foolishness for the omniscience of the Giver. Therefore, be sure that any petition that is not fulfilled is undoubtedly harmful, and that petition that is heard is beneficial. The giver is righteous and good and will not leave your petitions unfulfilled, because in His goodness there is no malice and in His truth there is no envy. If He delays in fulfilling it, it is not because He repents of the promise, on the contrary. He wants to see your patience ”(Reverend).

How to pray for other people

Prayer for other people is an integral part of prayer. Standing before God does not alienate a person from his neighbors, but binds him to them with even closer ties.

“Praying for the living and the dead and calling them by their names,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, “it is necessary to pronounce these names with all my heart, with love, as if carrying in my soul those faces whose names you remember, just like a milking machine wears and warms its children (), - remembering that they are our members and uds (members. - Ed.) of the Body of Christ (cf .:). - It is not good before the face of God only to sort out their names with the tongue, without the participation and love of the heart. We must think that God looks at the heart - that the persons for whom we pray also demand from us, in the duty of Christian love, brotherly sympathy and love. There is a great difference between an insensitive list of names and between their heartfelt remembrance: one is separated from the other, like heaven is from earth. But the name of the Lord Himself, His Most Pure Mother, holy angels and holy men of God, for the most part, must always be invoked from a pure heart, with faith and fiery love; in general, the words of a prayer do not need to be sorted out only with the tongue, as if turning sheets of paper with a finger in a book, or as if counting a coin; it is necessary that the words come out like the key of living water from its spring - so that they are the sincere voice of the heart, not be someone else's borrowed clothes, someone else's hands.

How to pray for offenders and enemies

We should not be limited only to prayer for those close and dear to us. Praying for those who have caused us grief brings peace to the soul, affects these people and makes our prayer sacrificial.

“When you see shortcomings and passions in your neighbor,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, “pray for him; pray for everyone, even for your enemy. If you see a proud and obstinate brother, proudly speaking with you or with others, pray for him so that God will enlighten his mind and warm his heart with the fire of His grace, say: Lord, teach Your servant, who has fallen into the devil's pride, meekness and humility, and drive away (drive away. - Ed.) from his heart the darkness and the burden of satanic pride! If you see an evil one, pray: Lord, do good to Thy servant, this by Thy grace!

If you are money-loving and greedy, say: Our treasure is incorruptible and wealth is inexhaustible! grant this servant of yours, created in your image and likeness, to know the flattery of wealth, and like all earthly things - vanity, shade and sleep. Like grass is the days of every person, or like a spider, and like You are the only wealth, our peace and joy!

When you see an envious one, pray: Lord, enlighten the mind and heart of this Thy servant to the knowledge of Thy great, countless and inexhaustible gifts, they are also welcome from Thy innumerable bounties, in the blindness of your passion, forget Thee and Thy rich gifts, and the poverty of your life He is rich in Thy blessings, and for this reason he looks charmingly at the good of Thy servants, with them, O unspoken Blessing, have mercy on everyone, every time against his strength and according to the intention of Thy will. Take away, all-good Lord, the veil of the devil from the eyes of the heart of Thy servant and grant him heartfelt contrition and tears of repentance and thanksgiving, may the enemy not rejoice over him, caught alive from him in his own will, and may not tear him away from Thy hand.

When you see a drunk, say with your heart: Lord, look graciously on Your servant, who has been deceived by the flattery of the womb and carnal joy, grant him to know the sweetness of abstinence and fasting and the fruits of the spirit flowing from him.

When you see someone passionate for brashns and placing his bliss in them, say: Lord, our sweetest Brasno, who never perishes, but remains in the eternal belly! Cleanse this servant of Yours from the filth of gluttony, who has created all flesh and is alien to Your Spirit, and grant him to know the sweetness of Your life-giving spiritual brush, which is Your Flesh and Blood and Your holy, living and active word.

In one way or another, pray for all those who sin and do not dare to despise anyone for his sin or take revenge on him, for this would only increase the sores of sinners - correct with advice, threats and punishments that would serve as a means to stop or keep evil within the boundaries of moderation.

How to prepare yourself for going to the temple. The temple is the house of God, heaven on earth, the place where the greatest Sacraments are performed. Therefore, it is necessary to always prepare for the acceptance of shrines, so that the Lord does not condemn us for negligence in communicating with the Great. Some retreats are possible with weakness, with the obligatory reproach of oneself.
Clothing is of great importance, the apostle Paul mentions this, commanding women to cover their heads without fail. He notes that a woman's covered head is a positive sign for angels, for it is a sign of modesty. It is not good to visit the temple in a short, bright skirt, in a defiantly open dress or in a tracksuit. Everything that forces others to pay attention to you and distracts from service and prayer is considered bad. A woman in trousers, in a temple, is also an unacceptable phenomenon. In the Bible, there is still an Old Testament prohibition for women to dress in men's clothes, and men - in women's. Respect the feelings of believers, even if this is YOUR first visit to the temple.

In the morning, getting up from your bed, thank our Lord, who gave us the opportunity to spend the night in peace and extended our days for repentance. Slowly wash your face, stand in front of the icon, light a lamp (necessarily from a candle), to give a prayerful spirit, bring your thoughts into silence and order, forgive everyone and only then start reading morning prayers from the prayer book. If you have time, read one chapter from the Gospel, one of the Acts of the Apostles, one kathisma from the Psalter, or one psalm. At the same time, it must be remembered that it is always better to read one prayer, with a sincere feeling, than all prayers, with an obsessive thought, to complete as soon as possible. Before you leave, say a prayer - “I deny you, Satan, your pride and your service, and unite with You, Christ our God, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". Then, cross yourself and calmly walk to the temple. On the street, cross the road in front of you, with a prayer: "Lord, bless my ways and save me from all evil." On the way to the temple, read a prayer to yourself: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."

* Rules for entering the temple.
Before entering the temple, cross yourself, bow three times, looking at the image of the Savior, and say to the first bow: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." second bow: "God, cleanse my sins and have mercy on me."
To the third: "I have sinned without number, Lord, forgive me."
Then, having done the same, having entered the doors of the temple, bow to both sides, say to yourself: "Forgive me, brothers and sisters."
* In the temple, it is correct to kiss the icons, as follows:
Kissing the holy icon of the Savior - you should kiss your feet,
Mother of God and Saints - hand,
and the miraculous image of the Savior and the head of St. John the Baptist - in sackcloths.
And remember!!! If you came to the service, then the Service must be defended from beginning to end. Service is not a duty, but a sacrifice to God.
NOTE: - if you do not have the strength to stand the whole service, then you can sit, because as St. Philaret of Moscow said: “It is better to think about God while sitting than about standing legs.”
However, while reading the Gospel it is necessary to stand!!!

HOW TO BE BAPTIZED CORRECTLY.
The sign of the cross is performed in the following way.
We put the fingers of the right hand: thumb, index and middle - together (pinch), ring and little fingers - bending together, press to the palm.

Three folded fingers mean our faith in God, worshiped in the Trinity, and two fingers - faith in Jesus Christ as true God and true Man. Then, with the tips of three folded fingers, we touch the forehead to sanctify our thoughts; belly to sanctify our body; right and left shoulder to sanctify the works of our hands. Thus we depict the cross on ourselves.

After that we make a bow. Bows are waist and earth. The waist bow consists in tilting the upper body forward after making the sign of the cross. When bowing to the ground, the believer kneels, bending down, touches the floor with his forehead and then gets up.

Regarding what kind of bows and when to make, there are certain extensive church rules. For example, prostrations are not performed during the period from the Easter holiday to the day of the Holy Trinity, as well as on Sundays and on the days of great holidays.

To be baptized without prostrations: 1. In the middle of the Six Psalms on "Alleluia" three times.
2. At the beginning, "I believe."
3. On leave "Christ, our true God."
4. At the beginning of the reading of the Holy Scriptures: the Gospel, the Apostle and proverbs.

Baptized with a bow:
1. At the entrance to the temple and at the exit from it - three times.
2. At each petition of the litany, after the singing of “Lord, have mercy,” “Give, Lord,” “Thee, Lord.”
3. At the exclamation of the priest, giving glory to the Holy Trinity.
4. At the exclamations “Take, eat”, “Drink everything from her”, “Yours from Yours”.
5. At the words "Most honorable Cherub."
6. At each word “bow down”, “worship”, “fall down”.
7. During the words “Alleluia”, “Holy God” and “Come, let us worship” and with the exclamation “Glory to Thee, Christ God”, before the dismissal - three times.
8. On the canon on the 1st and 9th odes at the first invocation to the Lord, the Mother of God or the saints.
9. After each stichera (moreover, the kliros that finishes singing is baptized).
10. On the lithium after each of the first three petitions of the litany - 3 bows, after the other two - one each.

Baptized with a bow to the ground:
1. Fasting at the entrance to the temple and at the exit from it - 3 times.
2. In fasting after each chorus to the song of the Theotokos "We magnify you."
3. At the beginning of the singing "It is worthy and righteous to eat."
4. After "We'll sing to you."
5. After "It is worthy to eat" or Zadostoynik.
6. At the exclamation: "And vouchsafe us, Lord."
7. When taking out the Holy Gifts, at the words "Come with the fear of God and faith", and the second time - at the words "Always, now and forever."
8. In Great Lent, at Great Compline, while singing "Most Holy Lady" - on every verse; while singing "Our Lady of the Virgin, rejoice" and so on. Three prostrations are performed at Lenten Vespers.
9. In fasting, while praying "Lord and Master of my life."
10. In fasting at the final chant: "Remember me, Lord, when you come into Your Kingdom." Only 3 earthly bows.

Belt bow without the sign of the cross
1. At the words of the priest "Peace to all"
2. "God bless you"
3. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ",
4. "And let there be mercies of the Great God" and
5. At the words of the deacon, “And forever and ever” (after the exclamation of the priest “For thou art holy, our God” before the singing of the Trisagion).

You are not supposed to be baptized.
1. During the psalms.
2. Generally while singing.
3. During litanies, to that kliros who sings the litanian refrains
4. You need to be baptized and bow down at the end of the singing, and not at all at the last words.

Prostrations are not allowed.
On Sundays, on the days from the Nativity of Christ to Baptism, from Easter to Pentecost, on the feast of the Transfiguration and Exaltation (on this day there are three earthly bows to the Cross). Bows stop from the evening entrance before the feast to “Vouchify, Lord” at Vespers on the very day of the feast.

ICONS IN THE HOUSE
Savior Not Made by Hands

Icon is a Greek word and is translated as “image”. Holy Scripture says that Jesus Christ himself was the first to give people His visible image.
Ruled during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Syrian city of Edessa, King Abgar was seriously ill with leprosy. Having learned that in Palestine, there is a great "prophet and miracle worker" Jesus, who teaches about the Kingdom of God and heals any diseases in people, Abgar believed in Him, and sent his court painter Ananias to give Jesus the letter of Abgar, asking for healing and repentance. In addition, he ordered the painter to paint a portrait of Jesus. But the artist failed to make a portrait, "because of the shining brilliance of His face." To help him, the Lord himself came. He took a piece of fabric and applied it to His Divine face, which is why His divine image was imprinted on the fabric by the power of grace. Having received this Holy Icon, the first icon created by the Lord Himself, Abgar venerated it with faith and received healing for his faith.
This miraculous image was given the name - *Savior Not Made by Hands*.

The purpose of the icon
The main purpose of the icon is to help people rise above worldly fuss, to assist in prayer. “An icon is an embodied prayer. It is created in prayer and for the sake of prayer, the driving force of which is love for God, striving for Him as perfect Beauty.
The icon is called upon to awaken in the future before it the spiritual need to pray, to bow down to God in repentance, to seek consolation in sorrows and prayers.

What icons should be in the house of an Orthodox Christian
At home, it is imperative to have icons of the Savior and the Mother of God. From the images of the Savior, for home prayer, they usually choose a half-length image of the Lord Almighty. A characteristic feature of this iconographic type is the image of the Lord with a blessing hand and an open or closed book. Also, often for the home they acquire the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands.
The icon of the Mother of God is most often chosen from the following iconographic types:
"Tenderness" ("Eleusa") - Vladimirskaya, Donskaya, Pochaevskaya, Feodorovskaya, Tolgskaya, "Recovery of the dead" and others;
"Guidebook" ("Hodegetria") - Kazan, Tikhvin, "Skoroposlushnitsa", Iverskaya, Georgian, "Three Hands", etc.
Usually in Rus' it is customary to place in each home iconostasis an icon of St. Nicholas, Bishop of the World of Lycia (Nikola the Pleasant). Of the Russian saints, the images of St. Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov are most often found; of the icons of the martyrs, the icons of George the Victorious and the healer Panteleimon are very often placed. If space permits, it is desirable to have images of the holy Evangelists, St. John the Baptist, the archangels Gabriel and Michael.
If desired, you can add icons of patrons. For example: The patrons of the family. - Holy noble Prince Peter (in monasticism David) and Princess Fevronia
Saints Peter and Fevronia are a model of Christian marriage. With their prayers, they bring down the heavenly blessing on those who are getting married.
- the holy martyrs and confessors Guriy, Samon and Aviv - are known among Orthodox Christians as the patrons of matrimony, marriage, a happy family; they are prayed “if a husband innocently hates his wife” - they are the intercessors of a woman in a difficult marriage. PATRON OF CHILDREN. Holy Infant Martyr Gabriel of Bialystok

How to Pray RIGHT. Prayers are read according to certain RULES. The rule is the order of reading prayers, fixed by the Church, their composition and sequence. There are: morning, afternoon and evening rule, the rule for Holy Communion.
Each of the rules has almost the same beginning - the initial prayers:

“In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

King of Heaven...
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (thrice).
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen.
Holy Trinity, have mercy on us...
Lord, have mercy ... (three times).
Glory to the Father and to the Son...
Our Father …"
these opening prayers are followed by the rest.

If you are limited in time, then use the prayer Rule of Seraphim of Sarov:
After sleeping, having washed, first of all, you need to stand in front of the icons and, reverently crossing yourself, read the Lord's Prayer *Our Father* three times. Then three times * Mother of God Virgin, rejoice * and, finally, the Creed.

Is it possible to pray in your own words? Yes, but within certain restrictions.
The Church does not forbid praying in your own words. Moreover, she points to this and prescribes, say, in the morning rule: “Briefly offer a prayer for the salvation of your spiritual father, your parents, relatives, bosses, benefactors, known to you, sick or in sorrow.” Thus, we can tell the Lord in our own words about what concerns our acquaintances or ourselves personally, about what was not said in the prayers placed in the prayer book.
However, without reaching spiritual perfection, praying with the words that come to mind, even if they come from the depths of the soul, we can only remain at our level of spirituality. By joining the prayers of the saints, trying to delve into their words, each time we become a little higher and better spiritually.
The Lord Himself has given us an example of how to pray. The prayer left by Him to His disciples is called the Lord's. It exists in all prayer books and is part of church services. This is a prayer - *Our Father*.

The Lord's Prayer (given to us by Jesus Christ)
Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be thy name, may thy kingdom come,
May Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us our daily bread for this day;
and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;
and do not let us fall into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
**********

SYMBOL OF FAITH:
I believe in one God the Father, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, everything visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, begotten from the Father before the beginning of time; Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were created.
For us for the sake of people and for our sake of salvation, he descended from heaven and was incarnated from the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin, and became a man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and rose again on the third day, as the Scriptures foretold. And ascended into heaven and reigns with the Father. And coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead, His kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, who proceeds from the Father, with the Father and the Son equally worshiped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets.
Into one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. Amen.
The Creed is a summary of the foundations of the Orthodox faith, compiled at the I and II Ecumenical Councils in the IV century; recited in the morning as a daily prayer.

PSALM 50.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy, and according to the multitude of Thy mercies, cleanse my iniquities. Wash me from all my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquities, and my sin is always before me. I have sinned against You alone, and I have done evil before You, so that You are right in Your judgment and just in Your judgment. From my very birth I am guilty before You; I am a sinner from my conception in my mother's womb. But You love the sincere in heart and reveal to them the secrets of wisdom. Sprinkle me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Return joy and gladness to my soul, and my bones, broken by Thee, will rejoice. Turn Your face away from my sins and cleanse all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Give me back the joy of Thy salvation, and by Thy Sovereign Spirit confirm me. I will teach the transgressors Your ways, and the wicked will turn to You. Deliver me from premature death, O God, God my salvation, and my tongue will praise Your righteousness. God! Open my mouth, and my mouth will proclaim Your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice—I would give it—and you do not delight in burnt offerings. A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God will not despise the heart of the contrite and humble. Renew Zion, O God, by Thy mercy; raise up the walls of Jerusalem. Then righteous sacrifices will please Thee; then they will offer sacrifices to you on your altar.

* Song of the Most Holy Theotokos:
Virgin Mother of God, rejoice, Blessed Mary, the Lord is with you; blessed are you in women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, as if the Savior gave birth to our souls.

* Prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos:
O Most Holy Lady Theotokos! Raise us, servant of God (names), from the depths of sin and deliver us from sudden death and from all evil. Grant, Madam, peace and health to us and enlighten our minds and eyes of the heart, even to salvation, and vouchsafe us, Thy sinful servants, the Kingdom of Thy Son, Christ our God: for His power is blessed with the Father and His Most Holy Spirit.

*A simpler prayer -
Most Holy Mother of God, pray to Your Son and God for the revelation of my mind and for the blessing of my undertakings, and for sending down help from above in my affairs, and forgiving my sins, and for receiving eternal blessings. Amen.

PRAYERS BEFORE EATING AND AFTER EATING FOOD
Blessing of food or Thanksgiving prayer, said before the start of the meal.
Prayer can be read sitting or standing. But, if there are people professing a different faith, then it is better not to say the prayer out loud!
Prayer, in content, can be short or lengthy. The three options below for prayers before a meal are the most common, as they are the most concise:

1. Lord, bless us and these Thy gifts, which we partake of bounty
yours. In the name of Christ our Lord, amen.

2. Bless, Lord, this food so that it goes for our good and gives
strength to serve You and help those who need it. Amen.

3. Let us thank the Lord for the meal that is given to us. Amen.

We present you other options for prayers before meals:

1. Our Father ... Or: The eyes of all are turned to You, Lord, and You give food to everyone at the right time,
you open your generous hand and satisfy all living things.

2. We thank You, Christ our God, for You have satisfied us with Your earthly blessings. Don't deprive us
Your Heavenly Kingdom, but as you once came to Your disciples, granting them peace, come to us and save us.

Often, believers, before and after eating, simply read three prayers: “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen". "Lord, have mercy" (three times). “Through the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother and all Your saints, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us. Amen".

And, if you want to have a snack with an apple or a sandwich, for example, then the clergy recommend simply to cross yourself or cross what you eat!

PRAYERS FOR THE COMING DREAM:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, prayers for the sake of Your Most Pure Mother, our reverend and God-bearing fathers and all the saints, have mercy on us. Amen.
Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.
Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of Truth, Who is everywhere and fills everything, Treasury of good things and Giver of life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from all filth, and save, O Blessed, our souls.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Three times)
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.
Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse our sins; Lord, forgive our iniquities; Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Your name's sake.
Lord have mercy. (Three times)

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father, Who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth. Give us our daily bread today; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

* Prayer of St. Macarius the Great, to God the Father
Eternal God and the King of every creature, having vouchsafed me to sing even at this hour, forgive me the sins that I have done in this day by deed, word and thought, and cleanse, Lord, my humble soul from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. And give me, Lord, in this night's sleep to pass away in peace, but having risen from my humble bed, I will please your most holy name, all the days of my stomach, and I will stop the enemies of the flesh and fleshless who fight me. And deliver me, O Lord, from vain thoughts that defile me, and from evil lusts. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

* Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Lord, the King of Heaven, the Comforter, the Soul of truth, have mercy and have mercy on me, Your sinful servant, and let me go unworthy, and forgive all, the tree You have sinned today as a man, more so, and not as a man, but also more woefully than cattle, my free sins and involuntary, known and unknown: even from youth and science are evil, and even from impudence and despondency. If I swear by Your name, or blaspheme in my thoughts; or whom I reproach; or I slandered whom with my anger, or grieved, or about what I became angry; or lied, or was worthless, or came to me poor, and despised him; or my brother grieved, or married, or whom I condemned; or you become proud, or you become proud, or you become angry; or standing by me in prayer, my mind moving about the wickedness of this world, or the corruption of thoughts; or overeat, or drunk, or laughing madly; or a crafty thought, or seeing a strange kindness, and by that wounded by the heart; or unlike the verbs, or the sin of my brother laughed, but my essence is countless sins; or about prayer, not radih, or otherwise that crafty deeds, I don’t remember, that’s all and more than these deeds. Have mercy on me, my Creator, my Lord, a sad and unworthy servant of Yours, and leave me, and let go, and forgive me, as a Good and Humanitarian, but I will lie down in peace, sleep and rest, prodigal, sinful and accursed az, and I will worship and sing And I will glorify Your honorable name, with the Father and His Only Begotten Son, now and forever and forever. Amen.

*Prayer
Lord our God, if I have sinned in these days in word, deed and thought, forgive me as Good and Lover of mankind. Peaceful sleep and serene grant me. Send your guardian angel, covering and keeping me from all evil, as if you are the guardian of our souls and our bodies, and we send glory to you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.

* Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for the sake of Your most honest Mother, and Your bodiless Angels, the Prophet and Forerunner and Your Baptist, the apostles of God, the bright and victorious martyrs, the reverend and God-bearing father, and all the saints with prayers, deliver me from the present demonic condition. Hey, my Lord and Creator, do not want the death of a sinner, but as if to turn and live to be him, give me the conversion of the accursed and unworthy; deliver me from the mouth of the destructive serpent that gapes, devour me and bring me down to hell alive. Hey, my Lord, my consolation, Even for the sake of the accursed in corruptible flesh, throw me out of wretchedness, and give consolation to my wretched soul. Plant in my heart to do Thy commandments, and leave evil deeds, and receive Thy blessedness: in Thee, O Lord, trust, save me.

* Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos
Good Tsar, good Mother, Most Pure and Blessed Mother of God Mary, pour out the mercy of Your Son and our God on my passionate soul and with Your prayers instruct me in good deeds, so that the rest of my life will pass without a blemish and I will find paradise with You, Virgin Mother of God, one Pure and Blessed.

* Prayer to the Holy Guardian Angel
Angel of Christ, my holy guardian and protector of my soul and body, forgive me all, the fir-tree of sinning in this day, and deliver me from every wickedness of the enemy, but in no sin will I anger my God; but pray for me a sinful and unworthy slave, as if I were worthy, show the goodness and mercy of the All-Holy Trinity and the Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ and all the saints. Amen.

Prayer to the Holy Life-Giving Cross:
Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee from His face. As the smoke disappears, let them disappear; as wax melts from the face of fire, so let the demons perish from the face of those who love God and are marked by the sign of the cross, and in joy they say: Rejoice, Most Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, drive away the demons by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified on you, who descended into hell and corrected his strength the devil, and who gave us His Honorable Cross to drive away every adversary. O Most Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord! Help me with the Holy Lady Virgin Mother of God and with all the saints forever. Amen.
Or briefly:
Protect me, Lord, by the power of Your Honorable and Life-Giving Cross, and save me from all evil.

*Prayer
Weaken, leave, forgive, God, our sins, free and involuntary, even in word and in deed, even in knowledge and not in knowledge, even in days and nights, even in mind and in thought: forgive us all, as Good and Humanitarian.
*Prayer
Forgive those who hate and offend us, Lord, Lover of mankind. Bless those who do good. Grant to our brethren and relatives even for the salvation of petitions and eternal life. In the infirmities of the being, visit and grant healing. Izhe govern the sea. Travel travel. Grant forgiveness to those who serve and pardon us of sins. Those who have commanded us unworthy to pray for them, have mercy according to Your great mercy. Remember, Lord, before our departed father and brothers, and give them rest, where the light of Thy face dwells. Remember, Lord, our captive brothers and deliver me from every situation. Remember, Lord, those who bear fruit and do good in Your holy churches, and grant them even salvation, petitions and eternal life. Remember, Lord, also us, the humble and sinful and unworthy servants of Thy, and enlighten our minds with the light of Thy mind, and guide us on the path of Thy commandments, with the prayers of our Most Pure Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, and all Thy saints: blessed be Thou forever and ever . Amen.

*Confession of sins DAILY:
I confess to you the Lord my God and Creator, in the Holy Trinity, the One, glorified and worshiped, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, all my sins, even when I have done all the days of my stomach, and for every hour, and now, and in the past days and night, by deed, by word, by thought, overeating, drunkenness, secret eating, idle talk, despondency, laziness, contradiction, disobedience, slander, condemnation, neglect, self-love, acquisitiveness, theft, ill-spokenness, foul profit, mischief, jealousy, envy, anger, remembrance , hatred, covetousness and all my feelings: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and my other sins, both spiritual and bodily, in the image of you my God and the Creator of anger, and my neighbor unrighteousness: regretting these, I blame myself to you my God I imagine, and I have the will to repent: to the point, Lord my God, help me, with tears I humbly pray to Thee: forgive me, who has passed my sins by Thy mercy, and resolve from all these, even those who have spoken before You, as Good and Humane.

When you go to sleep, be sure to say:

* In Your hands, Lord Jesus Christ, my God, I commit my spirit: You bless me, You have mercy on me and grant me eternal life. Amen.*

God bless and save you!!!

Good afternoon, our dear visitors!

What needs to be done to pray attentively? What powers of the soul should be included in prayer? How to keep your heart for prayer? What in our life is incompatible with prayer?

Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin) answers:

“Remove your thoughts from the ordinary affairs of life, then devote a few minutes to meditation as a preparation for prayer. Remember the time that is determined for us for our earthly life. It runs like an unwinding thread, and the inevitable end comes: maybe today, maybe in a month, maybe in tens of years. The end is unknown, but inevitable. During this period, we must prepare for an eternity that has no end.

Then think of death, the end of our life, followed by judgment and then hell or heaven; think about the providence of God in your life, which leads you to salvation, and you constantly resist it.

Then say: “My soul, we must hurry, time passes quickly, it is impossible to stop or return it. It is necessary to collect the treasure with which you will go on your last journey, this treasure is the name of Jesus Christ, which will become everything for you in the next century: light, breath, food, drink and clothes of grace, in which the saints are clothed; it will become for you an inexhaustible source of life.

Place this name in your heart like precious stones in a treasure chest.” Say to your soul: “Everything that is visible crumbles and disappears, only the invisible is eternal. The devil, under a thousand pretexts, takes away the time of your life so that your soul turns out to be empty at the hour of death.” Then start praying.

The first condition: say a prayer as if you were saying it for the first time in your life.

Second: pronounce it as if you did not know it before, and now you must remember it forever.

Third: think back to your childhood. Remember yourself as a small child who was just beginning to get acquainted with the world: everything around him seemed to him a mystery. But he felt with his soul in the visible world the presence of the invisible world. Pray as a small child would pray.

Fourth: do not prefer any deed to prayer, any brilliant thoughts - the name of Jesus Christ. If you begin to pray deeply, as one elder said, to pray “coolly,” then the demon will begin to distract you from prayer with a whole firework of “brilliant thoughts,” but you prefer poverty with Christ. During prayer, the demon will offer you various plans, promising success in earthly affairs. But you ask yourself the question: “What is the end of all this?”. And you will see that everything on earth crumbles like mountains of sand, that wealth, success and fame remain at the threshold of death, and more often they leave a person during his lifetime, like insidious friends.

The fifth condition of prayer is obedience, it frees the mind from thoughts. When a person is left to himself, then when solving a problem, one thought opposes another, the soul is in uncertainty and doubt, and in his heart a person cannot discern the passions lurking there. Obedience brings peace to the human soul and releases its strength for prayer.

What powers of the soul should be included in prayer? The will that keeps the prayer in the mind, the mind that delves into the words of the prayer, the feelings that warm the prayer and merge it with the soul.

The three powers of the soul correspond to the three powers of the spirit: the will corresponds to attention; reason - the inner logos and the ability to penetrate into the depths of phenomena and objects, the vision of causes and ultimate goals, the ability to intuitive knowledge of the spiritual world; emotions - a special religious feeling, as an experience of communion with the spiritual world, as knowledge of the grace of God, as an inner assurance of the truth. Spiritual abilities and powers are awakened through prayer. In prayer there is a unity of the spirit and soul, their forces and properties. In prayer, the trinity of the forces of the spirit and soul becomes a single cognition of God, figuratively speaking, a single “locator” that captures the Divine light. Of the three forces of the soul, the mind is the least affected by sin: although it is sometimes captivated by passions and emotions, it rises above them at times and enters into a struggle with them.

In prayer, reason takes precedence; it calls upon the will to help itself. The will keeps the words of prayer before the eyes of reason and gathers scattered thoughts together, just as a shepherd gathers sheep that have strayed from the flock. The mind, as it were, highlights the words of the prayer, and the feeling finally begins to respond to them. Prayer becomes an experience of the human heart.

Sometimes strong life upheavals awaken feelings and include them in prayer. But it usually takes work. The words of prayer act on our hardened heart like a jet of water that falls on a stone and gradually breaks through it. There were people who immediately received the gift of unceasing prayer, but this is an exception. Usually what is easily acquired is easily lost. Therefore, the Lord, in His wisdom and mercy, does not immediately give us gifts, so that we would not soon lose them.

Anyone who engages in the Jesus Prayer begins to feel over time that this is the highest deed of a person, that ordinary speech is coarse and empty compared to prayer, that worldly activities carry a cold deadness, that without prayer, human existence itself is insignificant. He begins to love silence, in which he hears the song of eternity. Loving people, he hides from them, ceases to be interested in the affairs and news of the world, so that, having penetrated into his consciousness, they do not disturb the prayer, do not drown it out with their noise. He protects prayer from contact with the world, just as a mother protects a baby from the scorching sun and the breath of a winter storm.

There are things that are completely incompatible with prayer. This is reading modern magazines and newspapers; this is the TV that has become the master of the house. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of purity and chastity. Prayer makes a man's heart a temple of God, and into this temple a man lets murderers and obscene women like invited guests and enjoys the stench of sin. The grace of God will leave such a person. In a soul inflamed with passions, in a mind where images of violence and depravity dwell, how can Christ abide? Therefore, one who does not have the determination to throw the TV out of his home will never be able to acquire the Jesus Prayer. It will not be a prayer, but combinations of sounds without inner meaning. Such a person will be similar to the owner, who led sewer pipes into his rooms and then invites guests there.

How to keep your heart for prayer? Ask yourself in all cases of life: “How will my act, deed, decision affect prayer?” When you sit down to eat, ask the question: “How much do I need to eat in order not to extinguish the prayer?” When you enter into a conversation, think: “How should I speak so as not to scatter prayer?” When you take a book to read, then understand for yourself whether it will help prayer or, on the contrary, drive it out of your memory. So spend the whole day.

There is a parable. The king's son asked his father:

– Tell me how you learned to manage a huge state?

The king did not answer. But after a while he pretended to be angry with his son for some act and sentenced him to death. The son threw himself at his father's feet, begging for mercy, and swore that he was innocent. Then the king said:

- Okay, I'll test you.

He filled the cup to the top with water and said:

- Go around the city walls with this cup, and the executioner will follow you: if you spill even a drop of water, he will immediately cut off your head in the same place.

The prince took the cup with both hands, climbed the city wall and began to slowly go around the city, carefully stepping on the slabs. This path continued for a long time. Finally, in the evening, the prince returned to the palace and brought his father a bowl full of water: he did not spill a drop.

The king asked:

Did you see the people standing near the walls?

The prince replied:

The prince replied:

The king asked:

- What was the sky like today, did the clouds cover it?

The prince replied:

- I do not know.

The king asked:

- What were you doing?

The prince replied:

- I did not see or hear anything, I looked at the bowl so as not to spill water and stay alive.

Then the king said:

- Here's a lesson for you on how to manage the state: be able to focus on each business as if it were the only one, forgetting about everything.

This parable can serve as a lesson in how to pray. The cup is our heart, water is grace, the executioner who comes after us with a drawn sword is death behind every person. Prayer collects and preserves grace."

The life of a Christian is unthinkable without prayer. We turn to prayer in a variety of circumstances of life - both mournful and joyful. The very growth of a Christian in spiritual life presupposes his growth and strengthening precisely in prayer. What is prayer? What should she be? How to learn to pray correctly? St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), whose life was spent in unceasing prayer and whose creations are imbued with the patristic experience of prayerful work, will help us to understand this.

According to the works of the saint, prayer is “the offering of our petitions to God”, “the greatest virtue, a means of connecting a person with God”, “communion of life”, “the door to all spiritual gifts”, “the highest exercise for the mind”, “head, source, the mother of all virtues"; it is the "food", "book", "science", "life" of all Christians, and especially of the holy hermits.

What is the need for prayer? In the fact that we have fallen away from God, we have lost bliss, eternal joy, but we are striving to find what we have lost and therefore we pray. Thus, prayer is “the conversion of a fallen and repentant person to God. Prayer is the cry of a fallen and penitent person before God. Prayer is an outpouring of heartfelt desires, petitions, sighs of a fallen, sin-slain man before God. And prayer itself, to some extent, is already the return of what has been lost, since our bliss lies in the lost communion with God; in prayer we find it again, because in prayer we ascend to communion with God. “We need prayer: it assimilates a person to God. Without it, a person is a stranger to God, and the more he practices prayer, the more he approaches God. This is the principle of spiritual life that St. John of the Ladder pointed out: “Being in prayer for a long time and not seeing the fruit, do not say: I have not gained anything. For the very presence in prayer is already a gain; and what a greater good is it to cleave to the Lord and to abide unceasingly in union with Him.”

It is worth remembering that in the fall man inherited not only bodily but also spiritual death, since he lost the communion of the Holy Spirit. In carelessness, we also lose the grace of baptism that revived us. But in prayer we are reborn again through the communion of our soul with the Spirit of God. “What air is to the life of the body, the Holy Spirit is to the life of the soul. The soul breathes this holy mysterious air through prayer. And prayer “from the union of the human spirit with the Spirit of the Lord” gives rise to spiritual virtues, “it borrows virtues from the source of blessings - God, assimilates them to that person who tries to remain in communion with God through prayer.”

Regarding the performance of prayer, St. Ignatius pointed out two main points: correctness and constancy.

In order to achieve success in prayer, it is necessary to do it correctly, then it will lead us to the desired goal - communion with God. Correct prayer is taught by those who have already performed it correctly, who have reached communion with God - the holy fathers, and therefore, it is necessary to get acquainted with their writings. But it is important to pay attention to the fact that “the true Teacher of true prayer is one God, the holy teachers – people – give only the initial concepts about prayer, indicate the correct mood in which the grace-filled teaching about prayer can be communicated by delivering supernatural, spiritual thoughts and sensations. . These thoughts and feelings come from the Holy Spirit, are communicated by the Holy Spirit. Hence, correct prayer can be learned only by experience, in a personal prayerful appeal to God. Prayer cannot be learned from other people's words, only the Lord gives us the right prayer when we try to find it and constantly abide in it.

However, St. Ignatius, who himself has experienced all the stages of prayerful doing, suggests what the correct prayer should be, or rather, what should be the inner mood of a praying person.

Of course, we all know that prayer is inspired by our personal, sincere faith in God, trust in His Providence and care for us. Saint Ignatius confirms this: “Faith is the foundation of prayer. Whoever believes in God, as one should believe, will certainly turn to God in prayer and will not depart from prayer until he receives the promises of God, until he is assimilated to God, is not united with God. Prayer is inspired by faith in order to ascend to the very throne of God, and faith is the soul of prayer. Faith makes the mind and heart strive for God incessantly, it is faith that introduces into the soul the conviction that we are under the constant gaze of God, and this conviction teaches us to constantly walk before God with reverence, being in His sacred fear (that is, the fear of sinning even in thought, through which to lose communion with God).

At the same time, few people know that faith is a natural property of the soul, planted in us by God, and therefore it often ignites or goes out from the action of our own will. What does the strength of faith depend on? According to the saint, it depends on the degree of our rejection of sin, and where there is a living faith in God, there is a living prayer to God; only by the power of living faith is the unlimited power of God embraced; the prayer of such a person elevates his created spirit to union with the uncreated Spirit of God.

In prayer we submit ourselves to the will of God, we ask for the will of God and for this we reject in ourselves that which is opposed to God's will. This means that in prayer it is important to show self-denial. “Carnal feelings,” writes the saint, “flowing from carnal kinship, prevent the assimilation of spiritual feelings and the very activity according to the spiritual law, which requires crucifixion for carnal wisdom. You must seek spiritual success in cutting off your own will. This deed mortifies the passions and drives out, as from hell, from carnal wisdom. In the one who cuts off his own will, the action of prayer manifests itself in the exercise of attentive prayer with the enclosing of the mind in the words of the prayer. If a person is not first cleansed by cutting off the will, then the true prayerful action will never be revealed in him. When the act of prayer is revealed, then it will become clear that it is nothing else than the complete rejection of one’s own will for the sake of the will of God.”

Now let's look at something that is overlooked by so many. We often wish that through prayer we would achieve self-perfection, spiritual strength, and perhaps even special gifts of grace. However, such a mood suggests a certain self-interest, which can be followed by a deceptive impression of what has been achieved, that is, charm. Saint Ignatius warned: "Do not seek prematurely high spiritual states and prayerful enthusiasm." “Do not look for pleasures in prayer: they are by no means characteristic of a sinner. The desire of the sinner to feel pleasure is already self-delusion. Look for your dead, petrified heart to come to life, so that it opens up to the feeling of its sinfulness, its fall, its insignificance, so that it sees them, recognizes them with self-denial.

Of course, prayer raises one to spiritual perfection and brings one to the grace-filled power of God, but this should not be regarded as a special goal, but only as a consequence of union with God. Otherwise, self-interest will lurk in the soul, an attempt to satisfy the desire of one's separate “I”, separate from God. In this case, the thought of St. Nikodim the Holy Mountaineer is similar to the teaching of St. Ignatius: for us, the true and correct spiritual life consists in doing everything only for the sole pleasing of God, and precisely because He Himself wants it. In other words, we begin prayerful work because it is so pleasing to God that we have moved away from Him, and in Him is our whole life, all our goodness, and therefore we need to unceasingly raise our mind and heart to Him.

According to St. Ignatius, we must be disinterested even in regard to acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit. “Many, having received grace, have fallen into negligence, arrogance, and self-confidence; the grace given to them served, because of their foolishness, only to their greater condemnation. We should not deliberately expect the coming of grace, for this is the idea that we are already worthy of grace. “God's comes by itself - at a time when we do not expect it and do not hope to receive it. But in order for God's good will to follow us, we need to purify ourselves by repentance. In repentance all the commandments of God are combined. By repentance the Christian is first introduced into the fear of God, then into Divine love. “Let us engage in the Jesus Prayer disinterestedly,” calls St. Ignatius, “with simplicity and directness of intention, with the aim of repentance, with faith in God, with complete devotion to the will of God, with hope in the wisdom, goodness, omnipotence of this holy will.”

So, it is repentance that is the spirit that should fill our prayer. “True prayer is the voice of true repentance. When prayer is not animated by repentance, then it does not fulfill its purpose, then God does not favor it. The first thing St. Ignatius draws attention to regarding repentance is sight of his sin. Without seeing our shortcomings, we will not be able to get rid of them, we will not feel what we need in prayer before the Lord at all. “The more a person looks into his sin, the more he goes into weeping about himself, the more pleasant it is, the more accessible it is for the Holy Spirit, Who, like a doctor, approaches only those who recognize themselves as sick; on the contrary, it turns away from those who are rich by its vain self-conceit. He who seeks to reveal his sinfulness casts himself down in contrition of heart before God; not even a shadow of an opinion about himself will arise in him. He is alien to any falsehood, unnaturalness, self-deception. The vision of one's infirmities and insignificance encourages one to rush in pure prayer to God. “All the hope of such a soul is concentrated in God, and therefore there is no reason for it to be distracted during prayer; she prays, copulating her strength into one and striving towards God with her whole being; she resorts to prayer as often as possible, she prays unceasingly. “With attentive prayer, let us seek to turn the eyes of the mind on ourselves, in order to discover our sinfulness in ourselves. When we open it, let us mentally stand before our Lord Jesus Christ in the face of lepers, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the paralyzed, the demoniac; Let us begin before Him, from the poverty of our spirit, from a heart broken by sickness about our sinfulness, a lamentable cry of prayer. And therefore, the second thing the saint teaches about repentance is the weeping of the heart born from the sight of one’s sin, the weeping of the human spirit about itself, about its distance from God. “Whoever combines lamentation with prayer, he strives according to the instructions of God Himself, he strives correctly, lawfully. In due time he will reap abundant fruit: the joy of certain salvation. Whoever eliminates weeping from prayer, he labors in opposition to the establishment of God, he will not reap any fruit. Not only that, the thorns of self-conceit, self-delusion, and death will reap. At the same time, it is important to know that crying does not necessarily mean tears - tearfulness in itself is not a virtue, rather, on the contrary, it is cowardice. Under weeping, St. Ignatius understands a special kind of humility, which consists in a heartfelt feeling of repentance, in the grief of the heart over our fall, in deep sadness over the sinfulness and weakness of man.

True prayer is incompatible with artistry. It should not be pronounced, as if for show, emphatically eloquently, with excitement, in emotional excitement. From this, one’s “I” comes to life, arrogance enters the soul. Prayer should be imbued with simplicity, artlessness, then only it is able to embrace the whole soul, then only we feel like a creature standing before the Almighty and All-good God. “The robe of your soul should shine with white simplicity. Nothing should be difficult here! Evil thoughts and feelings of vanity, hypocrisy, pretense, philanthropy, arrogance, voluptuousness should not be mixed in - these dark and fetid stains with which the spiritual clothes of the praying Pharisees are spotted. Simplicity is alien to any insincerity, falseness, unnaturalness, artificiality, it does not need a mask. The soul, full of simplicity, does not compare itself with anyone, sees everyone better than itself, it does not imagine itself, but sets itself before God as it really is, because it completely surrenders itself to God. This should be the spirit of true prayer.

In this regard, St. Ignatius does not advise composing his many-worded and eloquent prayers, since the writer is carried away by the elegance of his own expressions, he considers the delight in the ornateness of his fallen mind to be a consolation of conscience or even an act of grace, through which he will lose true prayer at the very utterance of the words of prayer. For the Lord, the infantile babbling of the soul, which has grown smaller from the sight of its many infirmities, is more pleasing. “Bring to the Lord in your prayers infantile babble, a simple infantile thought - not eloquence, not reason. If you don't apply- as if from paganism and Mohammedanism, from your complexity and duplicity - and you won't, said the Lord, like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven(Matt. 18: 3) ". Before God, we must open ourselves completely, open before Him all the secrets of the heart, and our prayer to Him must be a pure and sincere sigh of the soul. “If you have acquired the village of repentance, enter into infantile crying before God. Do not ask if you can not ask anything from God; surrender with selflessness to His will. Understand, feel that you are a creation, and God is the Creator. Surrender implicitly to the will of the Creator, bring Him one childish cry, bring Him a silent heart, ready to follow His will and be imprinted by His will.

As for the very method of performing prayer correctly, Saint Ignatius saw it in enclosing the mind in the words of the prayer, so that all the attention of the soul would be concentrated in the words of the prayer. “The soul of prayer is attention. Just as a body without a soul is dead, so prayer without attention is dead. Prayer that is uttered without attention turns into empty talk, and the one who prays is counted among those who take the name of God in vain. With the attention of the mind, the soul is imbued with prayer, prayer becomes the inalienable property of the one who prays. At the same time, all thoughts, dreams, reflections, especially emerging images, should be rejected. The mind must be kept dreamless, without about so that he may be able to ascend into the immaterial land of the Holy Spirit. Attentive prayer expresses the self-denial of the soul, which seeks not the delight of itself with the images that arise and the thoughts brought to it by fallen spirits, but fidelity to God.

When the mind pays attention to prayer, the heart begins to listen to it, the heart is imbued with the spirit of prayer, the spirit of repentance, compunction, blissful sorrow for sins. The feelings allowed to the heart in prayer are the feelings of sacred fear and reverence for God, the consciousness of the presence of God and one's deepest unworthiness before Him. There should not be any raptures in the heart, no excitement and emotional excitement, it should be filled in the prayer of silence, peace, rest in God. And it is the attention of the mind to the words of prayer that elevates the soul to all this. “Attentive prayer, free from distraction and daydreaming, is the vision of the invisible God, drawing to itself the sight of the mind and the desire of the heart. Then the mind sees without form and fully satisfies itself with invisibility, which surpasses all vision. The reason for this blissful unawareness is the infinite subtlety and incomprehensibility of the Object to which the vision is directed. Invisible Sun of Truth - God also emits invisible rays, but cognizable by a clear sensation of the soul: they fill the heart with wonderful calmness, faith, courage, meekness, mercy, love for neighbors and God. By these actions, visible in the inner cell of the heart, a person undoubtedly recognizes that his prayer is accepted by God, begins to believe with living faith and firmly trusts in the Loving and Beloved. This is the beginning of the revival of the soul for God and blessed eternity.

And when our personal life joins prayer, then it, prayer, becomes a mirror of our spiritual progress. By the state of our prayer, we will be able to judge the strength of our love for God, the depth of our repentance, and how much we are captive to earthly addictions. After all, as much as a person desires eternal salvation, so much does he pay attention to prayer to God, and whoever is immersed in earthly things has no time to pray all the time.

Having learned to pray correctly, we must pray constantly, "prayer is always necessary and useful for a person: it keeps him in communion with God and under the protection of God." Virtually all the holy fathers teach about the need for unceasing prayer. And some advise to pray as often as we breathe. Since we are too easily inclined to any evil, open to the temptations of the world around us and the influence of fallen angels, we need constant communication with God, His protection and help, and therefore our prayer must be constant.

In order to get used to praying as often as possible, there are prayer rules. “The soul, beginning the path of God, is immersed in deep ignorance of everything Divine and spiritual, even if it were rich in the wisdom of this world. Because of this ignorance, she does not know how and how much she should pray. To help the infant soul, the Holy Church has established rules of prayer. A prayer rule is a collection of several prayers composed by God-inspired holy fathers, adapted to a certain circumstance and time. The purpose of the rule is to deliver to the soul the amount of prayerful thoughts and feelings that it lacks, moreover, thoughts and feelings that are correct, holy, exactly pleasing to God. The grace-filled prayers of the holy fathers are filled with such thoughts and feelings. The rule includes daily morning and evening prayers, canons, akathists, and St. Ignatius pointed to the akathist to Jesus the Sweetest as an excellent preparation for practicing the Jesus Prayer: “The Akathist shows what thoughts the Jesus Prayer can be accompanied by, which seems extremely dry for beginners. He depicts in his entire space one petition of the sinner for mercy by the Lord Jesus Christ, but this petition is given various forms, in accordance with the infancy of the mind of the new beginnings.

The saint of God advises the novice to read more akathists and canons, and the Psalter is already on some progress. The rule may also include bows with the Jesus Prayer, as well as the reading of the New Testament combined with prayer; among the monks, the daily prayer rule is more complete and lengthy than among the laity. It is necessary that the chosen rule be in accordance with our spiritual and bodily strengths, then only it will warm us spiritually. “Not a man for a rule, but a rule for a man,” St. Ignatius often reminds; it is a feasible rule that easily turns into a habit and is constantly performed, which is the guarantee of spiritual success. Saint Ignatius draws attention to the fact that even the great holy fathers, who achieved unceasing prayer, did not leave their rule, such was the benefit for their spiritual work from the daily prayer rule, which turned into a habit; it will be useful for us too: “He who has acquired this blessed habit hardly approaches the usual place for making the rules, when his soul is already filled with a prayerful mood: he has not yet had time to utter a single word from the prayers he reads, and tenderness is already pouring from his heart, and his mind has deepened all into the inner cage."

Particular attention should be paid to a short prayer, in particular the Jesus Prayer. Saint Ignatius makes an important remark that “the Holy Fathers actually call the Jesus Prayer, which is pronounced like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” as well as “also the prayer of the publican and other most brief prayers.”

Following the spirit of the ancient holy fathers, Saint Ignatius noted the special significance of a short prayer before fuller and longer prayers. The latter, although they have a spiritually rich content, but by the variety of thoughts they contain, distract the mind from concentration in itself, give the mind some entertainment. A short prayer gathers the mind, does not allow its attention to dissipate; one thought of a short prayer encompasses the mind, so that the whole soul is clothed in this prayer. The Monk John of the Ladder wrote beautifully about this: “Do not try to be verbose when conversing with God, so that your mind is not wasted on finding words ... Verbosity during prayer often entertains the mind and fills it with dreams, and unanimity usually collects it.” Teaching short prayer allows you to pray at any time, in any place, and the acquired skill of such prayer makes it natural to the soul.

It must be said that St. Ignatius, with all the strength of his conviction, asserted that the Jesus Prayer is a Divine institution, that it was commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: like a new, unusual gift, a gift of immeasurable price. In the following words of the Lord, the saint sees the establishment of the Jesus Prayer: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, he will give it to you” (John 16:23); “And if you ask the Father anything in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14); “Until now you have asked nothing in my name; pros and those and gender at read that your joy may be complete” (John 16:24).

It can be recalled that the holy apostles performed all miracles only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, His name was called in prayers, in it, the name, they saw the salvation of people (there are many such examples in the book of Acts). Saint Ignatius finds the glorification of the name of the Savior, prayer with this name among the earliest saints: Ignatius the God-bearer, Hermias, the martyr Callistratus. He considers the Jesus Prayer to be well known in the first centuries of Christianity. Thus, the tradition about the martyrdom of Saint Ignatius the God-bearer tells that when he was led to be devoured by wild beasts, he incessantly called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The tormentors asked him why he was doing this, and Saint Ignatius replied that he “has the name of Jesus Christ inscribed in his heart and confesses through the lips of the One Whom he always carries in his heart.” It is reported about the martyr Callistratus that, while in the army, he prayed at night, often invoking the name of Jesus Christ.

The saint calls to treat prayer in the name of the Savior with childlike simplicity and faith, to perform the Jesus Prayer with reverence and fear of God. “In the name of the Lord Jesus, resurrection is given to the soul mortified by sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is Life (see: John 11:25), and His name is a living one: it gives life to those who cry with it to the Source of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jesus Prayer protects a person from the temptations of the world around him, saves him from the influence of fallen spirits, it unites him with the Spirit of Christ, elevates him to deification. “The name of the Lord is more than any name: it is a source of delight, a source of joy, a source of life; it is Spirit; it gives life, changes, refines, idolizes.

At the same time, it is important to know that it is impossible to immediately ascend to the heights of prayer work. There is a certain sequence in the performance of the Jesus Prayer, certain steps of prayerful ascent to God. According to the teachings of St. Ignatius, these are such steps as oral prayer, mental prayer, prayer of the heart, prayer of the soul. Moreover, in the description of all types of prayer action, the same principle is proposed, which will protect against possible mistakes. This principle is as follows: “St. John of the Ladder advises to enclose the mind in the words of prayer and, no matter how many times it is removed from the words, to introduce it again. This mechanism is especially useful and especially convenient. When the mind is thus in attention, then the heart will enter into sympathy with the mind with tenderness - prayer will be performed jointly by the mind and heart. Following this principle, a phased passage of prayer steps is proposed as follows.

The first way to perform the Jesus Prayer is to perform it orally, publicly, verbally. It consists in the oral pronunciation of the words of the Jesus Prayer with the attention of the mind to them. “Let us first learn to pray attentively with oral and vocal prayer, then we will conveniently learn to pray with one mind in the silence of the inner cell.”

Of course, oral prayer, since it is pronounced with the tongue, is also a manifestation of an external, and not an internal, feat of a Christian. However, oral prayer already exists together with mental prayer, when it is accompanied by the attention of the mind. “Oral, vocal prayer, like any other, must certainly be accompanied by attention. With attention, the benefits of oral prayer are innumerable. The ascetic must begin with it.” “It is essential for everyone to begin learning to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus by saying the Jesus Prayer orally, while enclosing the mind in the words of the prayer. By enclosing the mind in the words of prayer, the strictest attention to these words is depicted, without which prayer is like a body without a soul. In the attention of the mind to the words of prayer - the method of St. John of the Ladder - lies the whole connection of oral prayer with mental doing, without this, oral prayer cannot be of benefit to the soul. And therefore it is necessary to pronounce the prayer slowly, quietly, calmly, with tenderness of the heart, to pronounce it a little aloud, than to drive away all incoming enemy thoughts, to collect the mind, to enclose it in spoken words.

Oral prayer, when attention is acquired and kept undistracted in it, eventually passes into prayer. smart and cardiac. Because already "attentive vowel prayer is at the same time both intelligent and heartfelt." From frequent exercise in vowel prayer, the lips and tongue are sanctified, rendered incapable of serving sin, sanctification cannot fail to be communicated to the soul. Therefore, St. Ignatius cites as an example St. Sergius of Radonezh, Hilarion of Suzdal, Seraphim of Sarov and some other saints who did not leave oral and vocal prayer throughout their lives and were vouchsafed the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit. For these saints, “the mind, the heart, the whole soul and the whole body were connected with voice and mouth; they uttered a prayer with all their souls, with all their strength, with all their being, with all their man.

Spiritual maturity is necessary to engage in mental and then heartfelt prayer. Prayer is called "wise, when it is pronounced by the mind with deep attention, with sympathy of the heart." Here, the method of St. John of the Ladder is already bearing some fruit: the mind gets used to being contained in the words of prayer, the attention of the mind becomes deeper, while the heart cannot but sympathize with the mind. The heart here participates in prayer with feelings of contrition, repentance, weeping, tenderness. The Monk Nilus of Sinai also reports similar feelings: this is self-deepening, reverence, tenderness and spiritual pain for sins. But it still requires a constant compulsion to perform prayer correctly, since the nature has not yet been transformed and prayer is plundered by alien thoughts. Not completely freed from addictions, impressions, cares, the mind still indulges in daydreams.

Saint Ignatius repeatedly said that in order to achieve the grace-filled non-steaming of the mind, it is necessary to show one's own effort, keeping the mind in the words of prayer, constantly returning it from mental wanderings to prayer. Such a feat can eventually lead to grace-filled, indestructible attention, but at first “the one who prays is left to pray with one of his own efforts; the grace of God undoubtedly assists the one who prays well-intentioned, but it does not reveal its presence. At this time, the passions hidden in the heart set in motion and elevate the doer of prayer to a martyr's feat, in which victories and victories constantly replace each other, in which the free will of a person and his weakness are expressed with clarity. Often, forcing oneself to prayer lasts a lifetime, because prayer mortifies the old man, and as long as he is present in us, he resists prayer. It is also resisted by fallen spirits who try to desecrate prayer, inclining us to be distracted, to accept the thoughts and dreams they bring. But often the compulsion of oneself is crowned with grace-filled consolation in prayer, which is capable of encouraging one to further work.

If it is the will of God, then “the grace of God palpably manifests its presence and action, uniting the mind with the heart, making it possible to pray without soaring or, which is the same, without entertainment, with heartfelt weeping and warmth; at the same time, sinful thoughts lose their violent power over the mind. According to Saints Hesychius of Jerusalem and John of the Ladder, prayer, united with the heart, effaces sinful thoughts and images in the soul and drives away demons. And such a prayer is called "cordial, when it is pronounced by the united mind and heart, and the mind, as it were, descends into the heart and sends up prayer from the depths of the heart." Now that there has been liberation from the plundering and captivity of the soul by the thoughts inflicted by the enemy, the ascetic is allowed before the invisible face of God, standing before Him in his heart and offering up a deep, pure prayer. The saint's reasoning on this topic is penetrating: “He who prays with an unclean prayer has a concept of a dead God, as of an unknown and invisible God. When, freed from plunder and captivity by thoughts, he is admitted before the invisible face of God, then he will know God by living, experienced knowledge. He knows God as God. Then a person, turning the eyes of the mind on himself, sees himself as a creature, and not as an original being, as people deceptively imagine themselves to be, being in darkness and self-delusion; then he puts himself in that relation to God, in which His creation should be, realizing that he is obliged to reverently submit to the will of God and fulfill it with all diligence.

And further, the prayer becomes " sincere when it is done from the whole soul, with the participation of the body itself, when it is done from the whole being, and the whole being becomes, as it were, a single mouth, uttering a prayer. The Monk Nilus of Sinai explains it this way: “There is the highest prayer of the perfect, a certain admiration of the mind, its complete renunciation of the sensual, when with unexpressed sighs of the spirit it approaches God, Who sees the disposition of the heart, open, like a written book, and expressing its will in silent images. » . Spiritual prayer is characterized by a blessed spiritual feeling of the fear of God, reverence and compunction, which turns into love. Here the ascetic experiences spiritual pleasure in standing before the face of God, his prayer becomes self-moving, unceasing.

The saint describes this final stage of prayerful ascent to God in this way: “When, by the inexpressible mercy of God, the mind begins to unite in prayer with the heart and soul, then the soul, first little by little, and then the whole, will begin to rush together with the mind into prayer. Finally, our most mortal body, created with the lust of God, will rush into prayer, but from the fall it has become infected with lust like bestiality. Then the bodily senses remain inactive: the eyes look and do not see; the ears hear and at the same time do not hear. Then the whole person is engulfed in prayer: his very hands, feet and fingers, inexpressibly, but quite clearly and tangibly, participate in prayer and are filled with power inexplicable in words.

The whole life of St. Ignatius himself passed in prayer to the Lord, he experienced its grace-filled effect, through it he entered the rest of the Heavenly City, and he called all Christians to it: “Do not waste precious time and soul energy on acquiring knowledge delivered by human sciences. Use both strength and time to acquire the prayer that is sacred in the inner cell. There, in yourself, prayer will open a spectacle that will attract all your attention to itself: it will bring you knowledge that the world cannot contain, about the existence of which it does not even know.

Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), saint. ascetic experiences. Part 1, pp. 140–141; Offering to modern monasticism // Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), saint. Creations. T. 5. M., 1998. S. 93.

Cm.: Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), saint. ascetic experiences. Part 1. S. 498–499; Ascetic preaching. pp. 341, 369; Ignatius Bishop of the Caucasus, St. Collection of letters / Comp. hegumen Mark (Lozinsky). M.; SPb., 1995, pp. 138, 194, 200–201.

There. P. 74. The idea that God comes by itself was accepted by the saint from the Monk Isaac the Syrian. St. Isaac perfectly explains this idea: “It is written by one of the saints: “Whoever does not consider himself a sinner, that prayer is not accepted by the Lord.” If, however, you say that some fathers wrote about what spiritual purity is, what health is, what dispassion is, what vision is, then they did not write with the expectation that we should seek this ahead of time; for it is written that “the kingdom of God shall not come with the observance” (Luke 17:20) of expectation. And in those who had such an intention, they acquired pride and fall for themselves. And we will bring the region of the heart into order by deeds of repentance and a life pleasing to God; The Lord's comes by itself, if the place in the heart is clean and not defiled. What we are looking for “with observance”, I mean God’s high gifts, is rejected by the Church of God; and those who received it acquired pride and fall. And this is not a sign that a person loves God, but an illness of the soul. Isaac Sirin, reverend. Moveable words. M., 1993. S. 257). Saint Isaac also has a shorter statement: “They say: “What is from God, it comes by itself, but you won’t even feel it.” This is true, but only if the place is clean and not defiled” (Ibid., pp. 13-14). It can be seen that the Monk Isaac himself refers to more ancient fathers. And there is a similar statement, for example, in Abba Isaiah the Hermit: “Do not seek the highest (gifts) of God while you pray to Him for help, that He will come and save you from sin. God's will come by itself when a place (prepared for him) is undefiled and clean. Isaiah the Hermit, aww. Words // Philokalia. Edition of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1993. Vol. 1. S. 316).

Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), saint. Ascetic preaching. P. 325. For example, St. Anthony the Great teaches about the vision of one’s sin (The Charter of the Hermit Life // The Philokalia. T. 1. S. 108, 111), Abba Isaiah (Words // The Philokalia. T. 1. P. 283) . St. Macarius the Great notes that even in the pure nature of man there is the possibility of exaltation, that is, the achievement of spiritual purity does not mean the inability to fall into sin again; and therefore the true sign of Christianity, which will save from pride: no matter how many righteous deeds are done, to think that nothing has been done ( Macarius the Egyptian, reverend. Spiritual Conversations. Edition of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1994. S. 66, 197). The saying of the Monk Theognostus is wonderful in terms of the power of thought: “With all your senses, consider yourself an ant and a worm, so that you become a God-created man: for if this does not happen before, this will not follow. How much you go down in a feeling about yourself, how much you rise up in reality. When you count yourself as nothing before the face of the Lord, like the Psalmist (see: Ps. 38:6), then you are inmostly great out of small things; and when you recognize yourself as having nothing and knowing nothing, then you are rich both in deed and in mind, praiseworthy in the Lord ”( Theognost, reverend. About active and contemplative life // Philokalia. T. 3. S. 377). No less powerful is the statement of St. Isaac the Syrian: “The one who feels his sins is better than the one who raises the dead with his prayer… He who spends one hour sighing for his soul is better than the one who brings benefit to the whole world with his contemplation. He who has been vouchsafed to see himself is better than the one who has been vouchsafed to see angels. For the latter enters into fellowship with the eyes of the body, and the former with the eyes of the soul. Isaac Sirin, reverend. Moveable words. S. 175).

There. P. 228. The doctrine of weeping as the very essence of repentance and the core of mental work runs through the entire patristic tradition. St. Anthony the Great commands us to wake up from a sinful sleep and mourn ourselves from the bottom of our hearts day and night, since it is by weeping that liberation from sins and the acquisition of virtues are accomplished (Instructions, rules of the hermit life and sayings // Philokalia. T. 1. P. 39, 55, 110, 134). According to Abba Isaiah, invisible enemies oppress us because we do not see our sins and have not acquired mourning; it is the consciousness of sins and then crying about them that drives out the demons from the soul (see: Fathers, compiled by St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov). M., 1996. P. 129; Isaiah the Hermit, aww. Words // Philokalia. T. 1. S. 359). St. Macarius the Great teaches that just as a mother weeps over a dead son, so our mind should weep for a soul that died for God through sins, shed tears and incessantly indulge in sorrow, and it is precisely such that the grace of God will visit (Spiritual Conversations, p. 145) . The doctrine of weeping is especially developed by Saint John of the Ladder, and Saint Ignatius largely relied on his teaching. St. John gives the following definition to this activity, the feeling of the soul: “Crying is the sorrow of the soul rooted in habit, which has fire (Divine) in itself” (Ladder, p. 95) in a frenzy seeks what it craves, and, not finding it, pursues it with difficulty and weeps bitterly after it. Or in other words: weeping is a golden sting, which, with its wound, exposes the soul from all earthly love and passion, and in the edification of the heart it is planted with holy sorrow ”(Ibid., pp. 86-87). According to Ladder, at the Last Judgment we will not be condemned that we did not theologize or work miracles, but we will be condemned that we did not weep unceasingly for our sins. Any day on which sins were not mourned must be considered lost. Moreover, Ladder notes that none of those who weep for sins should expect to receive a notice of forgiveness when they leave this life. And it is the Ladder who teaches about crying without tears, about spiritual tears that allow you to cry before God in any place at any time (Ibid., pp. 80, 81, 88, 98). Saint Isaac the Syrian also teaches about weeping; in weeping he sees the essence of monastic work; Saint Isaac notes that consolation comes from weeping, since he who weeps incessantly cannot be disturbed by passions (Ascetic Words, pp. 98, 99).

Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), saint. ascetic experiences. Ch. 1. S. 144. In many ways, the saint here follows the teaching of St. Isaac the Syrian, who has these words: “Walk before God in simplicity, and not in knowledge. Faith accompanies simplicity, and self-conceit follows refinement and resourcefulness of thoughts; behind self-conceit is a distance from God” (Ascetic Words, p. 214). The reasoning about the simplicity of St. John of the Ladder is interesting: “Like a crafty person, there is something dual, one in appearance, and the other in heart disposition; so simple is not dual, but there is something one” (Ladder, p. 39). The simplicity of the soul reveals the absence of guile, reveals inner chastity, the integrity of nature. As St. Anthony the Great remarks, “the saints are united with God by their simplicity. You will find simplicity in a man filled with the fear of God. Whoever has simplicity is perfect and like God; he is fragrant with the sweetest and most fertile fragrance; he is full of joy and glory; the Holy Spirit rests in him, as in His abode” (Otechnik, p.5).

Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), saint. ascetic experiences. Part 2. S. 163, 171; Collection of letters. P. 154. St. Isaac the Syrian also instructs: "The house of faith is an infantile thought and a simple heart." “No one can receive spiritual knowledge unless he turns and becomes like a child… In a feeling of weakness and in simplicity, pray that you may live well before God and be without care” (Ascetic Words, pp. 119, 217). The instructions of St. John of the Ladder are close to this: “Let the whole fabric of your prayer be a little complicated, for the publican and the prodigal son propitiated God with one word ... Do not use wise expressions in your prayer, for often the simple and unsophisticated babble of children was pleasing to their Heavenly Father” (Ladder pp. 235–236).

Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), saint. ascetic experiences. Ch. 2. S. 123. “When you stand before God,” teaches St. Isaac the Syrian, “become in your mind like an ant, like a reptile on the ground, like a leech and like a babbling child. Do not say anything before God out of knowledge, but draw near to Him with thoughts of a child and walk before Him, so that you may become worthy of that paternal Providence, which fathers have for their children, babies. It is said: “Lord guard the babies” (Ps. 114: 5) ”(Ascetic Words. P. 214). Paisiy Velichkovsky Hesychius of Jerusalem, reverend. About sobriety and prayer // Philokalia. T. 2. S. 187, 189–190, 196; John of Sinai, reverend. Ladder. S. 215

Hello dear readers!

How to pray at home so that God hears? Sometimes in life there are moments of an irresistible need for prayer. Most often, this need arises when you realize that there is no one else to ask for help. When friends, family, doctors are powerless and can no longer help. When you realize that you are left alone with God. So it was with me.

But what if you don't know a single prayer if you've never prayed? It happened to me like this: I ran to the Temple, fell on my knees in front of the icon of the Mother of God and began to pray in my own words.

At that moment, I had a clear, inexplicable conviction that God would save me, although before my illness I considered myself an atheist and never went to the Temple. "Incurable", from the point of view of medicine, the disease receded. My zeal for prayer, which "breaks" out of the heart and rushes straight to heaven gradually cooled down.

Weekdays have come, ordinary life. After the healing, I became a church-going, believing person, I went to the Temple on Sundays. But I got the question is how to pray at home so that God hears? I understood that now my prayer would not be a cry of the soul, but a daily work.

Read or listen to morning and evening prayers?

I turned to my spiritual father with the question of how to pray correctly. Father's answer was simple:

"Read morning and evening prayers from the Prayer Book. If it's hard to read on your own - listen ( on that website You can download audio recordings of morning and evening prayers read by priests, deacons, monks). Listen until you get used to it or until you learn it by heart. When you get used to listening, start reading yourself.

But what to do when there is not enough time in the morning, and often in the evening, before going to bed? After all, we are all in a hurry to get to work in the morning. And in the evening, after work, there is a lot of work. I will say this: when we have problems and we ask God for something, then there is always time. And as soon as everything is good, then for some reason there is not enough time.

I noticed that if you still find time and read the morning prayers (immediately after sleep), then the day goes by in a completely different way - joyfully and easily. Although reading prayers takes only 5-7 minutes. Agree that you can get up just 7 minutes earlier and still have time to read your morning prayer rule. And in the evening, before going to bed, also “give” 7-10 minutes to God and listen or read the evening prayer rule yourself.

Other articles:

When you read the prayers, you will notice how difficult it is to focus on their meaning. You will catch yourself thinking that your eyes are running along the lines, and your thoughts are about something completely different. Do not think that you are distracted. The early Christians knew about this problem. Here is how accurately and vividly John Chrysostom wrote about this in one of his prayers: from mental wolf I will be hunted».

Here is one of the answers to the question, how to pray correctly? Try to drive away thoughts during prayer, fight the mental wolf, ponder and delve into every word of prayer. If it’s hard to read all the morning prayers in full, it’s better to choose 1-2 you like. And when you get used to reading them, it will be easy to read the entire morning rule.

Prayer rule of Seraphim of Sarov for the laity

But if, nevertheless, circumstances develop in such a way that you do not have time, there is a lifesaver - the prayer rule of Seraphim of Sarov for the laity. It was established for us by St. Seraphim of Sarov, beloved by all Christians.

About two hundred years ago, He foresaw how fast our world would be and how little time the laity would have for prayer. Therefore, He established a short rule instead of reading the morning and evening prayers.

Here is the rule of Seraphim: “Our Father” (three times), “Our Lady, Virgin, rejoice” (three times), “Symbol of Faith” (1 time)

It is better to memorize these prayers, so that even without a prayer book, you can always and everywhere, under any circumstances, be able to read them aloud or mentally.

But do not abuse the reading of the short Prayer Rule. Try to read this Rule only when there is really no time. It is better to listen or read the evening and morning prayers from the prayer book in full. By the way, Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh (the theologian of our days) in his small book "Learn to Pray" gives practical advice on exactly how to read morning and evening prayers, how to learn how to pray correctly.

Myrtopolitan Anthony of Surozh "Learn to Pray"

I strongly advise you to read this small book (you can directly on this site). After reading it, your prayer will become not just a mechanical reading of texts, but will turn into a live conversation with God. Anthony of Surozh often calls prayer a meeting with God

He lived in our time and there are many videos of his conversations with spiritual children. I highly recommend watching and listening to them in order to get a "different" attitude to life, to people, to faith - bright, joyful, inspiring.

Jesus Prayer - how to pray?

You have probably heard many times about this wonderful prayer, that only a few saints were able to really achieve perfection by continuously repeating the Jesus Prayer.

The secret of uninterrupted prayer is to learn to repeat the Jesus Prayer at times when your mind is not busy with any work, for example, when you are on your way to work or when you are doing some work with your hands (for example, the monks repeated the Jesus Prayer, when weaving baskets).

Here is the wonderful prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner (sinner). Repeat it continuously and very soon you will begin to notice that you are repeating it, as it were, independently of your consciousness.

VIDEO: Anthony of Surozh on Prayer

I wish you all joy, faith, hope for salvation and love for all, without exception, people!

After all, in each of them there is a spark of God, they are all God's creation!

God loves everyone equally, we should love not only friends, but all people!