Is it possible to read prayers in transport. About prayer. Question: Now you often hear obscene language even in public places? Is foul language a sin
There is not always the strength and ability to stand. The work is associated with hard physical labor, and by the evening a person is so tired that his legs are buzzing. Due to advancing age, age-related diseases are discovered. A pregnant woman whose lower back is pulled and her legs swell. There are many reasons, but a person feels the need for prayer.
What now, do not pray at all? Of course not. Be sure to pray while sitting. And this can be done, despite the indignation of the grandmothers from the church.
What is prayer?
It is direct communication with God. Conversation with Him. This is the conversation of a child with his Father. But we will not explain ourselves in lofty words, but we will talk about it in a simpler way.
When we pray, we meet with God. We meet with the Mother of God and with the saints, to whom we pray prayerfully. We ask them for something, and after a while we understand that our request has been fulfilled. And thanks to this comes the realization of the participation of the saints in our lives, as well as the participation of God. He is always there, always ready to help and patiently waiting for us to turn to him.
There is another kind of prayer. This prayer is a dialogue. When a person is talking, it is important for him not only to speak out, but also to hear the opinion of the interlocutor. At the moment when we offer prayers to God, we need to be prepared for the fact that He opens up to us. Sometimes not the way we imagine Him. Therefore, one cannot invent an image of God for oneself, somehow represent it. We see God on the icons, we see the Mother of God, saints. It's enough.
Is it possible to read prayers while sitting? Imagine that a man comes to his father. He came after work, he really wants to talk to him, but his legs hurt and are so tired that there is simply no strength to stand. Wouldn't a father, seeing this, talk to his child? Or make him stand in deference to the parent? Of course not. Rather, on the contrary: seeing how tired the son is, he will offer him to sit down, drink a cup of tea and talk.
So does God, seeing the zeal of a person, not accept sincere prayer just because the one who prays is sitting?
When do we pray?
Most often, when something happens in life and urgently need help. Then the person begins to pray and ask God for this help. He simply has no other hope. Help comes, a contented person rejoices, forgets to thank and departs from God until the next emergency. Is it correct? Unlikely.
Ideally, we should live with prayer. Live with it just like we live with air. People do not forget to breathe, because without oxygen we will simply die in a few minutes. Without prayer, the soul dies, this is its "oxygen".
With our workload and living conditions, it is extremely difficult to constantly be in prayer. The hustle and bustle at work, the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the people around you - it's all too much. And it's too noisy around us. However, we wake up in the morning. And what do we think about first? About what to do today. We get up, wash ourselves, get dressed, have breakfast and forward - towards a new fuss. And you need to adjust your morning a little. Get up and thank God for another day. Ask for His intercession during the day. Of course, the best option is to read the morning prayers. But no one has yet canceled gratitude from the heart.
Prayer during the day
Is this possible with our workload? Why not, everything is possible. Is it possible to pray while sitting, for example, in a car? Certainly. You can go to work, and mentally pray to God.
A person sat down to eat - before the meal, you need to pray mentally, read "Our Father". No one will hear this, and what good is it for the one who prays! Ate, thanked the Lord for the meal - and again went to work.
Prayer in the temple
Is it possible for an Orthodox person to pray while sitting? Especially in the temple, where everyone is standing? In weakness - it is possible. There is such a wonderful phrase of the Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret: "It is better to think about God while sitting than standing - about your feet."
With some diseases, it is difficult for a person to stand. And with other infirmities, it is not always easy. Therefore, do not be embarrassed by the fact that they sat down on a bench in the temple. There are certain places in worship, at the proclamation of which you need to get up. This is the Cherubic Hymn, the reading of the Gospel, the prayers "I believe" and "Our Father", the removal of the Chalice. In other cases, if you feel that you cannot stand the service, sit down.
home prayer
Is it possible to sit in front of the icons to pray at home? There is nothing wrong with this if a person does this due to illness or other good reasons. If it’s just out of laziness, it’s better not to be lazy and get up, pray standing up.
In the event that the worshiper is very tired, it is quite permissible to sit on a chair or on a sofa near the icons, pick up a prayer book and pray from the heart.
How to be sick people?
But what if a person is so sick that he cannot get up on his own? Or bedridden? Or is it due to old age? He can't even pick up a prayer book. How then to pray? And in general, is it possible to pray lying or sitting?
In this case, you can ask someone from the household to submit a prayer book. Keep it close to the bed so that the patient can reach it on their own. Or rather, reach out and take it. As for the reading of the Gospel, the family may well set aside a couple of minutes and read, at the request of the patient, an excerpt from it.
In addition, a recumbent person is able to pray mentally. To address God in your own words, there is nothing reprehensible in this. In a prayer that comes from the depths of the heart, from the bottom of the soul, can there be anything offensive to God? Even if it is read in an "unspecified" position. The Lord sees the heart of the one who prays, knows his thoughts. And accepts the prayer of the sick or the weak.
Is it possible to pray at home, sitting or lying down? Yes. And not just possible, but necessary. "The healthy do not call a doctor to themselves, but the sick really need a doctor." And not only in the literal sense of these words.
Can prayer be objectionable?
Complex issue. She may not be heard, rather. Why? It all depends on the quality of the prayer. If a person routinely read in 15 minutes, without thinking about the words and their meaning, closed the prayer book - and that's the point, what kind of prayer is this? A person does not understand what and why he read. And God doesn't need a pattern, He needs sincerity.
Who can pray sitting at home? And God, and the Mother of God, and the saints. Let the prayer be performed in a sitting position, but proceeding from the heart. This is better than standing in front of the icons just reading the rule without understanding anything in it and without trying to do it.
Children's prayer
Can a child pray while sitting? Children's prayer is considered the most sincere. Because children are innocent, naive and trust God. No wonder the Lord himself said: be like children.
There are concessions for children. Including in the prayer rule. The most important thing is not to force the child to read long and incomprehensible prayers for him. Let the baby read before going to bed, for example, "Our Father" and talk to God in his own words. This is much more useful than reading the rule with a cold heart, because my mother said so, that is, according to the principle "it is necessary for adults." And it is necessary not for adults, it must be for the child himself.
Thanksgiving Prayers
We often ask without thanking. The latter must not be forgotten. It would be unpleasant for us to fulfill someone's request, and not to hear a thank you in response. Why should God give us something, knowing our ingratitude?
Is it possible to pray while sitting, read an akathist of gratitude, or are you tired of offering up? You feel sick? Sore feet? Then sit back and don't worry about it. You sat down, picked up an akathist or a prayer book, and read calmly, slowly, thoughtfully. Great benefit for the one who prays. And God is glad to see such sincere gratitude.
When there is no strength to pray
There are times when you don't have the strength to pray. No way. Not standing, not sitting, not lying down. Prayer does not go, the person does not want to do this.
How to be then? Force yourself to rise, stand in front of the icons, pick up a prayer book and read at least one prayer. Through strength. Because we do not always want to pray, no matter how surprising it may sound. Is it possible not to want to communicate with God? It's wild, strange, incomprehensible, but such states do happen. And when they appear, you must force yourself to pray.
But she same will not from souls perhaps? And here it all depends on the one who prays. You can read every word with utmost attention, even if it is just one prayer. Such a prayerful attitude will be much more useful than if you do not pray at all or read the rule with your lips alone, when thoughts are hovering somewhere far, far away.
How long does it take 20 minutes, no more. This is because a person quickly reads it, and that's it. So it’s better to spend these 20 minutes reading two prayers, but with sense and concentration, than to scold somehow, because it’s supposed to be so.
Important addition
What do you need to know before starting to pray? Just an answer to the question, is it possible to pray sitting or lying down? No. The main thing to remember is that you need to pray thoughtfully. Try to understand every word of the prayer. And the latter must come from the heart. That's why you need not only to read the rules, but also to pray in your own words.
Conclusion
From the article we learned whether it is possible to pray while sitting. In the case of a serious illness, senile infirmity, pregnancy or very severe fatigue, this is not forbidden. Children are allowed to pray while sitting.
As for the bedridden patients, in their case it is quite appropriate to offer up prayers to God in the usual position.
Position is not important, although it plays an important role. The most important thing is the heart and soul of a person, sincere, burning and striving for God.
Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin)
CHURCH LIFE
ABOUT PRAYER
Is it possible to say to God in prayer that you are ready to suffer for your faith, ready to sacrifice yourself for Him? Isn't it an attack of self-confidence and pride?
The Apostle Peter, before the Crucifixion of Christ, said that he was ready to die for Him, and on the same night he denied Christ three times, because he relied on his own human strength, and not on God's help (Matt. 26, 35, 69-75).
I asked you a question about whether it is possible to say to God: "I am ready for everything for You." You cited the example of the Apostle Peter. Tell me, how to be thankful to God? Is it okay to say to God, “I am grateful to You for everything”? Isn't that self-confidence?
I think it's better to say the favorite prayer of St. John Chrysostom: "Glory to God for everything."
Please help me understand: the Lord said that whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive. On the other hand, they say all the time that we are unworthy of God's mercy and we do not have the audacity to turn to God with requests. How then can I have faith that the Lord will hear my prayer? I pray and doubt that I will get what I ask because I am "bad". In addition, they say that if God is not pleased, then He will not fulfill our request. How then can you be sure that you will receive what you ask for in prayer? My father is an unbeliever, a drunkard, my mother is also an unbeliever. I pray for them and for the solution of my life problems, but in the depths of my soul I do not believe that I will receive what I ask for because I am “bad”.
During prayer, one must remember one's insignificance, but trust in God's mercy.
I don’t have a confessor, for the period of fasting I myself made it a rule to read an akathist, a kathisma and a chapter from Ivangelia every day, and I also determined the number of prostrations. Prayer doesn't work. I’ll start reading the akathist - thoughts aside, I can’t concentrate. You subtract everything, and thoughts come back. I think about family, about work, but not about prayer. I'm afraid to shorten the rule, but is it worth reading like that? Can you make your own rules? How to focus on prayer?
I find nothing wrong with your rule, so you can continue it. Attention in prayer is achieved by a hard struggle, I will even say more - by a constant, unceasing struggle, therefore the holy fathers said that it is as difficult to pray attentively as shedding blood. If you cannot now give your heart to God in prayer, then give your work - the Lord will accept this too. Before praying, remember the inevitable death: maybe this day will be the last day, and this prayer will be the last. During prayer, ask yourself the question: “Who am I standing before, with whom am I talking?”. If attention is scattered, then return it to the word from which it turned off. I do not advise you to shorten the rule without a serious reason.
Tell us in more detail about the Theotokos rule, namely: what, figuratively speaking, are the fruits of this prayer? Unfortunately, there is not so much information about this rule in books, on the Internet, you probably know more. And one more thing: what prayers are better to read, what saints to pray, if life, in the literal sense of the word, has been going downhill for several years (big health problems, I had to leave my studies at the university, and so on)? As if I fell into some kind of hole, a trap and I don’t know how to get out of it. I feel completely helpless.
1. Please clarify what you mean by the Theotokos rule. 2. I advise you to read the akathist to St. Nicholas of Myra as often as possible, and also read at least 40 times a day to the Virgin Mary.
By the Theotokos Rule, I mean reading 150 times a day to the Virgin Mary (with the blessing of the priest, of course). There are several varieties of reading this prayer, for example, before every ten we read “Our Father”, and at the end of “Mercy of the door”. You can also read it like this: at the beginning of the ten "Our Father", at the end of the ten there is a troparion or kontakion. Everyone chooses the performance that is closer to his liking.
The Theotokos rule originates from the blessing of St. Seraphim of Sarov. You should go around the groove of the Queen of Heaven in Diveevo and read at the same time 150 times “Hail to the Mother of God Virgin”. Many elders of our time blessed this rule to be read to their children. The fruit of this prayer is the special help of the Most Holy Theotokos, both open and secret, which we will learn about in the future life.
Explain how to effectively pray for those who offend? Is it enough just to mention them in the general list of health? And one more thing: I pray for you in my home prayer, do you allow me to write your name in notes?
1. It is good to commemorate those who offend us in the temple during worship. 2. Thank you for your prayers - this is a great help. I will be grateful to you if you write my name in the notes.
How to deal with insults is known from the Gospel: to pray for those who offend and curse. But how to stop being offended in general? And if you are still offended, then how long do you need to pray for the offender and how?
We must remember that people who offend us help our salvation, therefore they are our best friends. The late shiigumen Savva (Ostapenko) had a special commemorative on which it was written: “On benefactors” - and then a list of names. He served this list at the Liturgy and distributed it to his spiritual children. People thought that the contributors to the monastery and his personal benefactors were recorded there, but it turned out that these were the ones who reviled the shegumen Savva. In addition to prayer, I also advise my offenders to do secret good.
The child needs to learn the initial prayers (from "King of Heaven" to "Our Father" inclusive), the Creed, "Virgin Mother of God", and read other prayers to the best of their ability and ability. Fasting never hurts, except when the child has some sickness. In these cases, it is necessary to take a blessing from the parish priest to weaken the fast.
I reread the rule with great effort, vile conjectures and in the same state, then an explosion of uncontrollable anger against defenseless loved ones. What to do, is not such a prayer a condemnation? The same thing happens during housework.
I advise you not to say anything during your anger - neither good nor bad. The first victory over anger is to learn to be silent, postponing all explanations for at least one or two hours, or better, the next day. Pay no attention to thoughts, but continue prayers.
Lately (literally two months) I cannot concentrate on prayer, on the prayer rule. Evil thoughts, sometimes even blasphemous ones (sorry), climb into my head, with some persistence. I try to drive them away, but after a minute they appear again. I do not count them as mine according to the commandment, but they do not depart. How can this be dealt with?
Pay no attention to blasphemous thoughts. Before praying, think for a few minutes about death, the Last Judgment, heaven, hell, and the Providence of God in your life. Ascetics call this the "five holy reasonings" that help concentrated and repentant prayer.
I am tormented by the fact that in recent days I have not always been able to read the akathists, the canon and the prayers that you advised me. On Wednesday, I couldn’t read the akathist to St. George the Victorious, and on Thursday last week I didn’t read the akathist to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and I read Psalm 90 six times a day instead of twelve. Of course, I don’t justify myself, but it’s still hard with free time: work, evening lessons with children, household chores, and so on. Plus, a lot of acquaintances and friends come to me, and all mostly with their own troubles. Many even jokingly call me "Mother Teresa." Father, maybe I shouldn’t waste time on people, but it’s better to pray more? It seems to me that I should not alienate people, especially if they are looking for support or advice from me. But sometimes I think, maybe by this I justify my own negligence in prayer?
Try to fill in the missing prayers with the Jesus Prayer, which you can read while you work. People should not be pushed away, but they should be taught to speak briefly and to the point, and in some cases invite them to pray together. It’s good to help a fallen person get up, but it’s bad if he doesn’t want to walk himself, but strives to sit on his neck.
Often prayers say: "Visible and invisible enemies." Who is it?
Visible enemies are people who interfere with our salvation, and invisible ones are demonic forces. God bless you both from some and from others.
We have the blessing of the priest for a joint evening rule in the family. How can this be done without a sense of formality, without haste (tired at the end of the day), irritation? Do I need to force myself to pray together, or can I pray separately?
From several small streams connected to each other, a river is formed. And you ask if it is not better to take the river aside again, according to the principle: there is little water, but it is calm. The Lord said, “If two or three are gathered together in my name, then I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). The Church itself is a great spiritual family. As for individual prayer, the Jesus Prayer is always with us. With formality and absent-mindedness in prayer, we must fight all our lives.
I don't have time to pray in the morning because I have to go to the university. What prayers would you advise me to “create in my heart” while I am on the bus?
Read those morning prayers that you know by heart, and then the Jesus Prayer, alternating it with the prayer of the Mother of God “Virgin Mary”.
For many years I suffer from a mental disorder and experience serious and rather specific problems when practicing prayer. I consulted with many priests and Orthodox doctors, but I still cannot find any approach to solving the problem. It seems that you have experience in ministering to people with mental problems who were involved in the occult before joining the Church.
Read the prayer without tension, as a small child speaks to his father. Simplify your life and prayer as much as possible. If it is easier for you to pray in your own words, then you can replace some of the book prayers with such a prayer. If it is easier for you to read short prayers, then pray mainly with them. Don't get sad because you find it difficult to pray. The Lord will accept a short prayer of a sick person in the same way as a long prayer of a healthy one, only try, if possible, to always have the memory of God in your heart.
There is no such prayer. Here there should be an appeal to the holy Apostle John the Theologian in his own words, as a confession of the wounds of his soul.
How can a person get rid of dark forces during prayers? How should we distinguish our passionate thoughts from demonic ones?
Prayer is spiritual combat. Therefore, you can not ask if you can get rid of the enemy during the battle. There is only one answer: we must fight it, delving into the words of the prayer. Our passionate thoughts give us at least a brief pleasure, and thoughts from demons frighten the soul.
I ask for your advice in establishing my cell rule. The fact is that quite a long time ago I stopped reading the morning and evening prayers according to the Prayer Book and replaced them with my own rule drawn up to my liking. In the evening I read the usual beginning of the Lord's Prayer, then the kathisma of the Psalter, then the akathist to the Theotokos, then the chapter of the Gospel, then a few selected evening prayers, and I conclude with the centurion of Jesus. In the morning, with prostrations, I read the rule I composed myself from brief prayers to the Lord, the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel, my saint, then I read Psalms 26, 50, 90 and the commemoration book, I conclude with the prayer of the Optina Elders at the beginning of the day. This is my secret rule for every day. Unfortunately, sometimes I shorten it out of laziness. If I am on the right track, bless me and continue to pray and not be lazy, if not, advise me on how best to proceed.
A better rule than what is given to us in liturgical books, we will not come up with. Morning and evening prayers are two walls that enclose day and night. The venerable fathers, except for some hermits, while engaged in the Jesus Prayer, did not leave the Psalter, canons and akathists. It is not safe to draw up a rule for yourself, as subtle arrogance may appear here. The elders often gave such a rule for those living in the world: a day one chapter of the Gospel, two chapters of the Epistles of the Apostles, two kathisma, the canon of Jesus Christ, the canon of the Mother of God. In the evening - five hundred in that order. The first three centurions are the Jesus Prayer, at the beginning of each centurion there are 10 earthly prostrations and 20 waist ones; on the fourth centurion, the prayer of the Mother of God (“Most Holy Theotokos, save us”, also begin with bows, like the previous ones); on the fifth - with the same bows, begin 50 prayers to the Guardian Angel (“Holy Angel, my Guardian, pray to God for me”) and 50 to all the saints (“More holiness, pray to God for us”). You can read canons or psalms at other times of the day, if there is no time in the morning. Try to fill the day with the Jesus Prayer.
I read your article "On preparation for prayer". First thank God, then condemn your favorite sin, repent, remember death. After that, you need to ask God, the Mother of God, Archangel Selaphiel ... ask for help. Can you give me the "order" of this petition? So that before the rule I always ask with this "rank" of grace-filled help.
It is necessary to ask Archangel Selaphiel for the gift of prayer in your own words, since there is no definite rank here.
I get very tired at work, and when I come home, I no longer have the strength to read the prayer - I leave it for later. I have supper, lie down to rest and, imperceptibly for myself, fall asleep. Waking up at night, I begin to fight the temptation not to read a prayer, but immediately go to bed. When I win, when I don't. Is it possible to read the evening prayer in the early evening, when the main things have not yet been completed, and the morning prayer, performed about an hour after waking up? (Immediately after sleep, I read a short prayer rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov, prayers to the Guardian Angel, the saint whose name I bear, and the troparion to the Cross.)
Morning rule, 5th prayer of St. Basil the Great, fragment: “Beginningless and Eternal Light, with Him there is no change, or overshadowing change.” I did not quite understand what is being said here, I humbly ask you to interpret this fragment of the prayer.
I am translating a Slavic quote: “Beginningless and eternally existing Light, which has no change or increase”, that is, the Divine Light is always unchanged and does not depend on external conditions. Here Light refers to the Lord Himself.
Hours 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th are read on Sunday, in prayer at home?
The hours are not read only during the Easter week, but rather they are replaced by the Easter hours.
I read morning and evening prayers according to the Prayer Book, I began to seek consolation in prayer, but I don’t know which prayer rule to choose. For a layman, can the Jesus Prayer be “read aloud” after evening and morning prayers?
It is very good after the evening and morning rule to read the Jesus Prayer, as well as the Gospel and the Psalter.
It is often difficult to pray, you get up for prayer, take the rosary in your hands, but your soul is so heavy, as if a stone is in your chest, and so you sit down. I don't know what to do... From what comes compunction in the Jesus Prayer? And one more thing: how to develop constancy in doing spiritual things? It happens that you live a week spiritually, attentively, prayerfully. And on the next one - you feel a burden, the body wants to be liberated, it becomes somehow painful, from this thoughts come obscene and the like ... you can’t find a place for yourself.
1. It is necessary to sit down and pray while sitting, if such a state is due to fatigue or ill health. And if from demons, then overcome yourself and bow down. 2. Tenderness comes from grace. 3. If the mind and feelings are disconnected from prayer words, then one must strain the will and not abandon prayer. The Lord will accept efforts and labors as mindfulness in prayer.
During prayer, my thoughts are often distracted, a series of chaotic thoughts, images often arise, often some kind of delusional, evil. I read that you need to pray without fantasies. If you can't force them out, can you just ignore them? But here the question immediately arises - does this not defile the prayer?
You need to distinguish between your fantasies, which give the soul a certain muddy pleasure, and thoughts that arise in the mind outside of your will. The first defiles prayer, the second must be fought. This is well written by Saint Hesychius in the second volume of the Philokalia.
Is there a generally accepted “structure” for home prayer? For example, Repentance to God, gratitude to God, and finish the prayer again with Repentance. What is the best way to end a prayer?
Saint Basil the Great offers the following structure for home prayer. First, gratitude to God for His blessings, known and unknown to us; then bring Repentance for their sins, after that state their petitions and end the prayer with a glorification (praise) of God. You can read about this in the collection “On Prayer and Sobriety”, compiled by St. Theophan the Recluse.
Very often I suffer from distraction during prayer, including during the Jesus Prayer. How to deal with it?
We must remember that during prayer we stand before God, who is closer to us than our own soul. I advise you to read the chapter on prayer in the "Ladder" of St. John of the Ladder.
Does it matter what a person wears when praying at home? (I mean clothes in bright colors, with any images; how important is this external factor?)
Although clothing is an external factor, it has its own significance. Clothing can discipline a person, such as a military uniform. The external should correspond to the internal, and not contradict it.
Can prayer be caused by superstition (for example, superstitious fear, in particular of leaving the house)? If so, what about such prayers? If you can’t pray on the go, is it possible to pray only at home and in church (but you can forget about the sinful thoughts that you visited during the day and not repent)?
You can pray anytime, anywhere, so check out our guide to the Jesus Prayer. One ascetic was asked: “Who taught you to pray attentively?” He answered: "Demons" - and explained that he was tormented by demonic temptations, and he sought protection from them in prayer.
Is it possible, if I didn’t have time at home, to read morning prayers to myself in transport on the way to work? Is it possible to change the order of morning (evening) prayers? And the most important question for me: how to learn to constantly say the Jesus Prayer if you live in a big city (Moscow)? Almost always I am in someone's company, as a rule, among people who are far from the Church (at work, in transport). I read that it is necessary to start with the oral Jesus Prayer, otherwise you can harm yourself (that is, it would be wrong for a beginner to pronounce it to himself). How then to be around all the time people? Or should I choose only those rare moments during the day when I really am alone? But then there is no hope of learning to pray constantly. How to be here?
1. Try to learn morning and evening prayers, or at least part of them, by heart and, if necessary, read in transport and in general anywhere. 2. The second question is not quite clear to me. If the question is about shortening prayers, then in case of illness, fatigue or urgent work, you can shorten them, guided by a sense of your own conscience. But try to supplement them with the Jesus Prayer. 3. The third question is about how to orally read the Jesus Prayer while being among people. You can read orally, but not aloud, that is, make movements with your lips and tongue, or rather, keep your attention on closed lips, which, during the pronunciation of a prayer, tense up, as if moving. And when you are alone, then say a prayer in a voice, but quietly, aloud to yourself. Students of the Jesus Prayer should not immediately switch to inner prayer, since oral prayer gradually transforms the mind and heart of a person and gives prayer the right rhythm. Sorry for this example. Alexander Suvorov said: "Hot porridge should be eaten from the edges of the plate, and not from the middle, so as not to burn your mouth." Graduality is important in the Jesus Prayer. But if the Jesus Prayer has itself awakened in the soul of a person, then in no case should it be interrupted until it stops itself. After some time, when the Jesus Prayer is firmly established in your life, you can alternate between oral and inner prayer, but you should never completely abandon oral prayer.
Are you aware of Christians with self-moving heartfelt prayer in our time?
Elders who have achieved self-moving heartfelt prayer prefer to hide it.
Is it possible to record yourself on a cassette, saying a prayer or expressing in words your repentant thoughts and feelings, and then listen to it?
My answer will be personal. Prayer is not only a combination of words, it is a new relationship of the soul with God, just as the sky is always new and unique. Prayer is creativity, but a special kind of creativity. Not only do I create a prayer, putting my thoughts and feelings into its words, but to an even greater extent, prayer creates me. The recording of a prayer may not correspond to my inner state, and, in this respect, such a method of prayerfully ousting sinful thoughts from my soul is alien to me. But this does not mean that it is unacceptable to others. After all, prayer has two aspects: it keeps the soul from sin and nurtures it, like Eden (see the first commandment to Adam: Preserve and nurture (Gen. 2.15). Therefore, even mechanical prayer, that is, subject to a certain mechanism, is much better than chaos thoughts.
I am 71 years old. Baptized 12 years ago. Recently, I have leaned towards the idea that the main thing to live with God is not constant repentance (of course, it remains), but prayer with attention. Is it correct? And one more thing: is it permissible in the canons and prayers of the holy fathers, read and learned, to replace words for understanding, that is, to read and pray like this? And the last thing: if possible, please explain more specifically your words: “But to an even greater extent, prayer creates me.”
The first act of grace is seeing your sins. St. John of Kronstadt wrote: "We sin all the time, so Repentance must be our constant feeling." Of course, this does not exclude such feelings as gratitude to God and spiritual joy. All Christian worship, even Easter, is permeated with the words: "Lord, have mercy." Repentance draws the mind to the heart and increases attention to the words of the prayer. Prayer transforms a person, makes him a new being, so we can say that the grace inherent in prayer creates a person: this is a mutually determining process. After prayer, we enter into a new relationship with God. This is what my words quoted by you refer to. In canons and prayers, the translation of words is acceptable only as a temporary measure, in order to understand the meaning of the prayer at the level of semantics, but then we must return to the previous text, since the Slavic language has great emotional depth.
Can prayer for other people cause an increase in temptations and sorrows in the one who prays? If I am obsessed with passions, can I afford this prayer?
Prayer for one another is one of the commandments of the New Testament. Every good deed, especially prayer, causes envy and malice of demons. Abba Dorotheos warns: "If you do good, then prepare for temptation." But it should be remembered that, allowing a test, the Lord strengthens a person with His grace. Therefore, I advise you to pray for people, and, in response, their Guardian Angels will pray for you.
Saint Simeon the New Theologian writes that one must pray with the fear of God, and that whoever does not pray in this way takes upon himself a great sin. Father, I have such moments: sometimes I pray easily, and prayer flows smoothly in me, and the Guardian Angel gives the fear of God, but sometimes it is very difficult to pray, the mind is so white that one cannot even talk about the fear of God. How to be in this state, please explain.
Sin is careless prayer, not one that is done with labor and effort of will. The petrification of the heart is a state that even the saints experienced when they were left by providence by grace, perhaps for the knowledge of human weakness.
Is it possible to read the rule with your eyes closed? It’s easier for me - less mind scatters.
If desired, you can say prayers with your eyes closed.
Is it possible to read evening prayers (according to the Prayer Book) an hour or two before bedtime: for example, at 20.00 start reading evening prayers according to the Prayer Book, but go to bed at 22.00? The evening rule can be divided into two small ones: the first is prayers according to the Prayer Book, the second is the Jesus Prayer? And between them there is a time interval of about half an hour? Is it okay to go to bed and wake up at a set time? Or does it not matter? If possible, advise some "rank" for a beginner in the world. And one more thing: is it possible to have breakfast in the morning after prayer, before dinner? Is it good to have dinner just before going to bed, or is it better, for example, to have dinner at 19.00, pray at 21.00, and go to bed at 22.00?
1. Evening prayers can be read an hour before bedtime, if after that you will be engaged in the Jesus Prayer. 2. In the time interval between prayers according to the Prayer Book and the Jesus Prayer, you can read the life of the saint of this day. Going to bed and getting up at a set time is good, but not necessary. To advise any prayer order, you need to know the lifestyle of a person. 4. The time of the meal must be adjusted to health and official circumstances. The holy fathers did not advise to have breakfast early, while a person was not yet hungry, and not to have dinner immediately before going to bed, which is not good for either the soul or the body. Eating dinner three hours before bedtime is normal.
The Fatherland mentions that the monks prayed with their hands raised. What for? Is it possible for us to pray like this and in what cases? And one more thing: how to distinguish tenderness from carnal warmth and from the spiritual warmth of the heart, mentioned by St. Theophan the Recluse?
1. The elders of our time do not bless praying with raised hands. 2. Tenderness comes from experiencing prayer words in the heart. The heart, as it were, softens, and sympathy for all people arises in it. Carnal warmth rises from the region of the kidneys; at the same time, an unclear, as if cloudy, feeling arises, and thought becomes dulled. Spiritual warmth arises in the very heart, as if a person has found his own heart. It is experienced as a feeling of purity and formless light; it comes unexpectedly for a person.
How to individually resolve the issue of prayer for unbelieving relatives (both living and deceased)? There is no militant atheism, but they don't go to church. Two people are especially concerned. 1. The late mother's aunt - I am the heiress of her apartment. After all, they used to leave deposits for the memory of the soul? From this amount I made a large donation to the church, but I don’t know what would be a sin in this case: to commemorate her at the Liturgy or not? 2. My godson is a boy of 15; neither in childhood, nor now, the parents did not allow and do not allow to participate in his upbringing, the boy does not go to the temple. How to pray in this case?
If the relatives are unbelievers, then you can pray for them individually: for the living - as for the lost, so that the Lord would give them faith, and for the departed - so that the Lord would ease their fate as far as possible. 1. The issue of commemoration of your aunt must be agreed with the priest of the temple in which you made a donation. 2. We must pray for the whole family that the Lord would give them faith. A fifteen-year-old boy is already somewhat responsible for his actions.
If for some reason you did not fulfill the evening prayer rule, then how should you act? Is it necessary to repent in the morning for this in the morning rule, is it necessary to fulfill the evening rule in the morning, and then the morning one, or is Repentance sufficient for not fulfilling the evening rule?
We must repent for the non-fulfillment of the rule through laziness and negligence. In certain cases, you can fulfill the rule in an abbreviated form, for example, read “Our Father” three times, “Virgin Mary” three times, and “I believe” once, as St. Seraphim of Sarov advised, if a person is very tired or sick. You can supplement the missing rule with the Jesus Prayer.
Can we pray for our departed friends who were not members of the Orthodox Church? How can we comfort their souls?
People who did not belong to the Orthodox Church can only be remembered in home prayer and wished that the Lord would give them relief and comfort and the mercy that their souls can receive. For them, you can give alms to the poor.
Is it possible to add the names of pop singers, artists, including foreign ones, to your synodik? After all, in cell prayer you can pray for any person. Wouldn't this be a step towards creating an idol for yourself?
Temple prayer refers to the inner life of the Church, and in an individual prayer at home, you can wish people a correction of life, a conversion to Orthodoxy, as well as earthly blessings, adding after such a prayer: “Lord, Thy will be done.”
In the Prayer Book it is indicated that they pray for it from “corruption” and “kindred” on babies (prayer to the holy martyr Nikita). Explain, please, what is the essence of these "damage", "kindred"?
"Kindred" was called convulsions in babies. As for "corruption", this is a clearly expressed effect of dark forces on a child. As for the prayer for the healing of babies to the holy martyr Nikita, this is a folk custom, and not a church institution. The Church allows some folk customs and traditions that do not contradict her teachings, but is not responsible for them. It must be said that over the past decades, many new prayers have penetrated into the Prayer Books, not sanctioned by the Church.
I live in a small apartment where my loved ones are constantly. Is it possible to read a prayer rule, prayers for Communion, canons - sitting? So no one bothers me to concentrate and does not distract me.
Under your conditions, the prayer rule for Communion can be read while sitting.
Lately I have taken a great interest in reading St. Theophan the Recluse, earlier this time was occupied with reading akathists, canons, and reflections on spiritual topics. Is it correct?
Prayer is greater than reading. You need to ask yourself what you are looking for in the works of St. Theophan the Recluse. And how does reading his creations help your prayer? Reading enriches the mind, and prayer sanctifies the heart.
Father, what to do in such a case: sometimes people come up to the church and ask to pray for their relatives, whom I don’t know at all. For example, one of our parishioners came up to me in the church with tears in her eyes and asked me to pray for her relative, who had done something terrible (I did not specify what exactly he had done). I immediately prayed for his enlightenment, but she asked me to write him down in the commemoration book and pray for him at home. I was embarrassed, promised, and now I doubt whether this should be done. After all, I do not know this relative, nor his attitude to Orthodoxy, nor what he did.
You can pray for each person that the Lord would help the believer to be saved, and turn the unbeliever to the Church. If we do not know about the churchness of a deceased person, but we believe that he was Orthodox, then when we pray for him, we base our prayer on hope. If we know that he is non-Orthodox, and we are asked to pray, then we can say: “Lord, ease his lot, according to Your will.”
Is it possible for me, while commemorating my sons and myself at Slava, to commemorate my husband as well? We lived for 25 years, he is a Tatar by nationality, a Muslim by birth, an Epicurean by conviction, “living according to carnal lusts, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and thoughts.” Sometimes it seems to me that his soul is dead. How to pray for him?
You need to pray that the Lord will convert your husband to Christianity. After the kathisma, you can separately, in your own words, pray for his conversion and salvation.
What causes mental fatigue? Can a soul be empty?
Why can't it? If there is no prayer, it will be both empty and tired. The Holy Fathers do the following. The man is tired, he has no strength to pray, he says to himself: “Maybe your fatigue is from demons”, gets up and prays. And the man has strength. So the Lord did. In order for the soul not to be empty and to have strength, one must accustom oneself to the Jesus Prayer - "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner (or a sinner)".
How to spend a day like God?
In the morning, when we are still resting, they are already standing near our bed - an angel on the right side, and a demon on the left. They are waiting for whom we will begin to serve on this day. And this is how you start the day. Waking up, immediately protect yourself with the sign of the cross and jump out of bed so that laziness remains under the covers, and we find ourselves in a holy corner. Then make three prostrations and turn to the Lord with these words: "Lord, I thank You for the past night, bless me for the coming day, bless me and bless this day, and help me spend it in prayer, in good deeds, and save me from all enemies, visible and invisible." And then we begin to read the Jesus Prayer. Having washed and dressed, we will stand in a holy corner, collect our thoughts, concentrate so that nothing distracts us and begin morning prayers. Having finished them, let's read a chapter from the Gospel. And then let's figure out what a good deed we can do today to our neighbor ... It's time to go to work. Here, too, you need to pray: before you go out the door, say the following words of St. John Chrysostom: "I deny you, Satan, your pride and service to you and combine with You, Christ, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen." Fall yourself with the sign of the cross, and when you leave the house, quietly cross the road. On the way to work, and for any business, you need to read the Jesus Prayer and "Virgin Mary, rejoice ..." If we do housework, before preparing food, sprinkle all the food with holy water, and light the stove with a candle, which light from the lamp. Then the food will not harm us, but will benefit us, in strengthening not only bodily, but also spiritual strength, especially if we cook, constantly reciting the Jesus Prayer.
After morning or evening prayers, there is not always a feeling of grace. Sometimes drowsiness interferes with prayer. How to avoid it?
Demons do not like prayer, as soon as a person begins prayer, drowsiness and absent-mindedness also attack. You must try to delve into the words of the prayer, and then you will feel it. But the Lord does not always comfort the soul. The most valuable prayer is when a person does not want to pray, but he forces himself... A small child cannot yet stand and walk. But his parents take him, put him on his feet, support him, and he feels help, stands firmly. And when his parents let him go, he immediately falls down and cries. So we, when the Lord - our Heavenly Father - supports us with His grace, we can do everything, we are ready to move mountains and we pray well and easily. But as soon as grace departs from us, we immediately fall down - we don't really know how to walk spiritually. And here we must humble ourselves and say: "Lord, I am nothing without You." And when a person understands this, the mercy of God will help him. And we often rely only on ourselves: I am strong, I can stand, I can walk ... So, the Lord takes away grace, therefore we fall, suffer and suffer - from our pride, we rely on ourselves a lot.
How to become attentive in prayer?
In order for prayer to pass through our attention, we do not need to clatter, do proofreading; rammed - and calmed down, Prayer Book postponed. At first they delve into every word; slowly, calmly, evenly, you need to set yourself up for prayer. We begin to gradually enter into it, there you can read quickly, anyway, every word will enter into the soul. It is necessary for a prayer so that it does not pass by. And then we fill the air with sound, but the heart remains empty.
I don't have the Jesus Prayer. What do you recommend?
If prayer does not go, then sins interfere. As we repent, we must try to read this prayer as often as possible: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner! (or a sinner)" And while reading, make a blow on the last word. In order to constantly read this prayer, you need to lead a special spiritual life, and most importantly, find humility. We must consider ourselves worse than everyone, worse than any creature, endure reproach, insults, do not grumble and do not blame anyone. Then the prayer will go. You have to start praying in the morning. How is the mill? That he fell asleep in the morning, he will pray all day. As soon as we woke up, immediately: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Lord, thank You for the past night, bless me today. Mother of God, thank You for the past night, bless me today. Lord, strengthen me in me faith, send me the grace of the Holy Spirit! Give me a Christian death, shameless and good answer on the day of the Last Judgment. My Guardian Angel, thank you for the past night, bless me today, save me from all enemies visible and invisible. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!" So just read and read. We dress with prayer, we wash ourselves. We read the morning prayers, again 500 times the Jesus Prayer. This is a charge for the whole day. It gives a person energy, strength, expels darkness and emptiness from the soul. A person will no longer walk and be indignant at something, make noise, get annoyed. When a person constantly reads the Jesus Prayer, the Lord will reward him for his labors, this prayer begins to be created in the mind. A person concentrates all his attention in the words of prayer. But one can only pray with a repentant feeling. As soon as the thought comes: "I am a saint," know that this is a pernicious path, this thought is from the devil.
The confessor said "to begin with, read at least 500 Jesus prayers." It's like in a mill - that they fell asleep in the morning, then it grinds all day. But if the confessor said "only 500 prayers," then you don't need to read more than 500. Why? Because everything is given according to one's strength, according to the spiritual level of each person. Otherwise, you can easily fall into delusion, and then you will not approach such a "saint". In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, one elder had a novice. This elder lived in the monastery for 50 years, and the novice had just come from the world. And he decided to move on. Without the elder's blessing, he would stand the early liturgy, and set the later one, a big rule for himself and read everything, constantly remained in prayer. After 2 years he reached the great "perfection". "Angels" began to appear to him (only they covered their horns and tails). He was seduced by this, came to the elder and said: “You lived here for 50 years and did not learn to pray, but in two years I reached heights - Angels already appear to me. I am all in grace .. There is no place on earth like you I'll choke you." Well, the elder managed to knock on the neighboring cell; another monk came, this "saint" was tied up. And in the morning they were sent to the cowshed, and they were only allowed to go to the liturgy once a month: and they forbade praying (until he reconciled) ... In Russia, we are very fond of prayer books, ascetics, but true ascetics will never expose themselves. Holiness is measured not by prayers, not by deeds, but by humility, obedience. Only he has achieved something who considers himself the most sinful of all, worse than any cattle.
How to learn to pray purely, unabashedly?
We must start in the morning. The Holy Fathers advise that it is good to pray before we eat. But as soon as the food is tasted, it immediately becomes difficult to pray. If a person prays absent-mindedly, it means that he prays little and infrequently. The one who constantly abides in prayer has a living, unscattered prayer.
Prayer loves a pure life, without sins burdening the soul. For example, we have a telephone in our apartment. The kids were naughty and cut the wire with scissors. No matter how many numbers we dial, we will never get through. We need to reconnect the wires, restore the interrupted connection. In the same way, if we want to turn to God and be heard, we must establish our connection with Him - repent of sins, cleanse our conscience. Unrepentant sins are like a blank wall, through which prayer does not reach God.
I shared with a woman close to me, saying that you gave me the Mother of God rule. But I don't do it. I don't always follow the secret rule either. What should I do?
When you are given a separate rule, don't tell anyone about it. Demons will hear and will surely steal your exploits. I know hundreds of people who had a prayer, from morning to evening they read the Jesus Prayer, akathists, canons - their whole soul was blissful. As soon as they shared with someone - they boasted of a prayer, everything disappeared. And they have neither prayers nor bows.
I am often distracted during prayer or business. What to do - continue to pray or pay attention to the one who has come?
Well, since we have in the first place the commandment of God to love our neighbor, then we must put everything aside and pay attention to the guest. One holy elder was praying in his cell and saw through the window that his brother was coming towards him. So the elder, in order not to show that he was a prayer book, lay down in bed and lies. He read a prayer near the door: "Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us." And the old man from the bed and says: "Amen." His brother came to him, he received him with love, treated him to tea - that is, he showed love for him. And this is the most important thing!
Often this happens in our life: we read evening prayers, and suddenly a call (on the phone or at the door). How can we be? Of course, we must immediately answer the call, leaving the prayer. We found out everything with the person and again we continue the prayer from the place where we finished. True, we also have such visitors who come not to talk about God, not about the salvation of the soul, but to idle talk, but to condemn someone. And we should already know such friends; when they come to us, invite them to read together an akathist prepared in advance for such an occasion, or the Gospel, or a holy book. Tell them: "My joy, let's pray, read the akathist." If they come to you with a sincere feeling of friendship, they will read. And if not, they will find a thousand reasons, immediately remember urgent matters and run away. If you agree to chat with them, then both the "unfed husband at home" and the "uncleaned apartment" are not a hindrance to your girlfriend ... Once in Siberia I saw an interesting scene. One comes from the pumping station, there are two buckets on the yoke, the second one comes from the store, in the hands of full bags. We met and had a conversation between ourselves ... And I'm watching them. Their conversation is something like this: "Well, how is your daughter-in-law? And your son?" And the gossip begins. Those poor women! One shifts the yoke from shoulder to shoulder, the other hand pulls the bag. And all it took was a couple of words to exchange... Moreover, dirt - you can’t put bags ... And they stand not two, but ten, and twenty, and thirty minutes. And they don’t think about gravity, the most important thing is that they learned the news, they satiated the soul, they amused the evil spirit. And if they call to the church, they say: "It's hard for us to stand, our legs hurt, our back hurts." And with buckets and bags, nothing hurts to stand! The main thing is that the tongue does not hurt! I don’t feel like praying, but I have the strength to chat, and my tongue is well suspended: “We’ll sort through everyone, we’ll find out about everything.”
The best thing is to wake up, wash your face and start the day with morning prayers. After that, you need to read the Jesus Prayer with attention. This is a huge charge for our soul. And with such a "recharge" we will have this prayer in our thoughts throughout the day. Many say that when they stand up for prayer, they are distracted. You can believe it, because if you read a little in the morning, and a little in the evening, nothing will be in your heart. We will always pray - and repentance will live in our hearts. After the morning - "Jesus" prayer as a continuation, and after the day - evening prayers as a continuation of the day. And so we will be constantly in prayer and will not be scattered. Don't think it's very hard, very hard, to pray. It is necessary to make an effort, to overcome oneself, to ask the Lord, the Mother of God, and grace will act in us. We will be given the desire to pray at all times.
And when prayer enters the soul, the heart, then these people try to move away from everyone, hide in secluded places. They can even climb into the cellar, if only to stay with the Lord, in prayer. The soul melts in Divine Love.
In order to achieve such a state of mind, you need to work a lot on yourself, on your "I".
When do you need to pray in your own words, and when according to the Prayer Book?
When you feel like praying, pray to the Lord at that time; "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34).
Prayer is especially useful for the soul of a person when there is a need for it. Let's say a mother's daughter or son is lost. Or they took their son to jail. Here you will not pray according to the Prayer Book. A believing mother will immediately kneel down and from the abundance of her heart speak to the Lord. Prayer comes from the heart. So you can pray to God anywhere; Wherever we are, God hears our prayers. He knows the secrets of our heart. We don't even know what's in our hearts. And God is the Creator, He knows everything. So you can pray in transport, at any place, in any society. So Christ says: “But when you pray, go into your closet (that is, inside yourself) and, having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly” (Matt. 6.6). When we do good, when we give alms, then we must do it in such a way that no one knows about it. Christ says: "When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret" (Matt. 6:3-4). That is, not literally, as grandmothers understand - they serve only with the right hand. And if a person does not have a right hand? What if both hands are missing? Good can be done without hands. The main thing is that no one sees it. Good must be done in a secret way. All the boastful, proud, self-loving ones do a good deed in order to receive praise, earthly glory from it. They will say to her: "How good, how kind! Helps everyone, gives to everyone."
I often wake up at night, always at the same time. Does it mean anything?
If we woke up at night, then there is an opportunity to pray. Prayed - go back to sleep. But, if this happens often, you need to take a blessing from the confessor.
I was talking to one person once. He says:
Father Ambrose, tell me, have you ever seen demons with your own eyes?
Demons are spirits, they cannot be seen with simple eyes. But they can materialize, taking the form of an old man, a young man, a girl, an animal, they can take on any image. A non-church person cannot understand this. Even believers fall for his tricks. Do you want to see? Here, I have a woman I know in Sergiev Posad, her confessor gave her a rule - to read the Psalter in a day. It is necessary to constantly burn candles, slowly read - it will take 8 hours. In addition, in the rule it is necessary to read the canons, akathists, the Jesus Prayer, and eat only fast food once a day. When she began to pray (and this had to be done for 40 days) with the blessing of her confessor, he warned her: "If you pray, if there are any temptations, then do not pay attention, continue to pray." She accepted it. On the 20th day of strict fasting and almost unceasing prayer (she had to sleep sitting for 3-4 hours), she heard the locked door open and steps were heard, heavy - the floor was cracking. This is the 3rd floor. Someone came up behind her and began to breathe near her ear; breathe so deeply! At this time, from head to toe, she was covered with cold and trembling. I wanted to turn around, but I remembered the warning and thought: "If I turn around, I won't stay alive." So I prayed to the end.
Then I looked - everything is in place: the door is locked, everything is fine. Further, on the 30th day, a new temptation. I was reading the Psalter and heard how, from the back of the windows, the cats began to meow, scratch, climb out the window. They scratch - and that's it! And she survived it. Someone from the street threw a stone - the glass was shattered, stone and fragments were lying on the floor. Can't turn around! The cold went through the window, but I read everything to the end. And when she finished reading, she looks - the window is whole, there is no stone. This is the demonic forces attacking a person.
The Monk Silouan of Athos, when he prayed, slept for two hours sitting. His spiritual eyes were opened and he began to see evil spirits. I saw them firsthand. They have horns, ugly faces, hooves on their feet, with tails ...
The person with whom I spoke is very obese - more than 100 kg, loves to eat deliciously - and eats meat, and everything in a row. I say: "Here, you will begin to fast and pray, then you will see everything, you will hear everything, you will feel everything."
How to thank the Lord correctly - in your own words or is there any special prayer?
We must thank the Lord with all our lives. There is a prayer of thanksgiving in the prayer book, but it is very valuable to pray in your own words. The Monk Benjamin lived in one monastery. The Lord allowed him a disease - dropsy. He became huge, the little finger could only be clasped with two hands. They made a huge chair for him. When the brethren came to him, he showed his joy in every possible way, saying: "Dear brethren, rejoice with me. The Lord has mercy on me, the Lord has forgiven me." The Lord gave him such an illness, but he did not grumble, did not despair, rejoiced at the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of his soul, and thanked the Lord. No matter how many years we live, the main thing is to remain faithful to God in everything. For five years I carried in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, a difficult obedience - I confessed day and night. There was no strength left, he could not stand even for 10 minutes - his legs could not hold. And then the Lord granted polyarthritis - 6 months lay, acute pain in the joints. As soon as the inflammation passed, he began to walk around the room with a stick. Then he began to go out into the street: 100 meters, 200, 500 ... Each time more and more .... And then, in the evenings, when there were few people, he began to walk 5 kilometers; left the wand. In the spring, the Lord gave - and stopped limping. To this day, the Lord keeps. He knows who needs what. Therefore, thank the Lord for everything.
You need to pray everywhere and always: at home, at work, and in transport. If the legs are strong, it is better to pray standing up, and if the legs are sick, then, as the elders say, it is better to think about God during prayer than about sick legs.
Is it okay to cry while praying?
Can. Tears of repentance are not tears of evil and resentment, they wash our souls from sins. The more we cry, the better. It is very valuable to cry during prayer. When we pray - we read prayers - and at that time our mind lingered on some words (they penetrated our soul), we should not skip them, speed up the prayer; return to these words, and read until the soul dissolves in feeling and begins to cry. The soul prays at this time. When the soul is in prayer, and even with tears, the Guardian Angel is next to her; he prays next to us. Any sincerely believing person from practice knows that the Lord hears his prayer. We turn the words of prayer to God, and He returns them by grace to our hearts, and the heart of the believer feels that the Lord accepts his prayer.
When I read prayers, I often get distracted. Shouldn't you stop praying?
No. Read the prayer anyway. It is very useful, when you go out into the street, to walk and read the Jesus Prayer. It can be read in any position: standing, sitting, lying... Prayer is a conversation with God. Here, we can tell our neighbor everything - both sorrows and joys. But the Lord is closer than any neighbor. He knows all our thoughts, the secrets of the heart. He hears all our prayers, but sometimes he hesitates to fulfill them, which means that what we ask is not for the benefit of our soul (or not for the benefit of our neighbor). Any prayer must end with the words: "Lord, Thy will be done. Not as I want, but as You."
What is the daily prayer rule for an Orthodox layperson?
There is a rule and it is obligatory for everyone. These are morning and evening prayers, one chapter from the Gospel, two chapters from the epistles, one kathisma, three canons, an akathist, 500 Jesus prayers, 50 prostrations (and more with blessing).
I once asked one person:
Should I have lunch and dinner every day?
It is necessary, - he answers, - but besides this, I can intercept something, drink some tea.
What about praying? If our body requires food, is it not more than that - the soul? We feed the body so that the soul can be kept in the body and cleansed, sanctified, freed from sin, so that the Holy Spirit abides in us. She needs to be united with God already here. And the body is the clothes of the soul, which grows old, dies and crumbles into the dust of the earth. And we pay special attention to this temporary, perishable. We take care of him so much! And we feed, and give water, and paint, and dress in fashionable rags, and give peace - we pay a lot of attention. And for the soul, sometimes our care is not left. Have you read the morning prayers?
So you can’t even have breakfast (i.e., lunch, Christians never have breakfast). And if you're not going to read evening books, then you can't even have dinner. And you can't drink tea.
I will die of hunger!
So your soul is dying of hunger! Now, when a person makes this rule the norm of his life, then he has peace, peace and quiet in his soul. The Lord sends grace, and the Mother of God and the Angel of the Lord pray. In addition, Christians still pray to the saints, read other akathists, the soul is fed like that, contented and glad, peaceful, a person is saved. But it is not necessary to read like some, to do proofreading. They read it, rattled it - through the air, but it didn’t hit the soul. Slightly touch this - it flared up! But he considers himself a great prayer book - he "prays" very well. The Apostle Paul says: "It is better to speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than the darkness of words in an unknown tongue" (1 Cor.
You can read akathists at least every day. I knew one woman (her name was Pelagia), she read 15 akathists every day. The Lord gave her special grace. Some Orthodox sometimes have many akathists collected - both 200 and 500. They usually read a certain akathist every holiday celebrated by the Church. For example, tomorrow is the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. People who have an akathist to this holiday will read it.
Akathists are good to read with fresh memory, i.e. in the morning, when the mind is not burdened with worldly affairs. In general, it is very good to pray from morning to dinner, until the body is burdened with food. Then there is an opportunity to feel every word from akathists, canons.
All prayers and akathists are best read aloud. Why? Because words enter the soul through hearing and are better remembered. I constantly hear: "We cannot learn prayers ..." But they don't need to be taught - they just need to be read constantly, every day - in the morning and in the evening, and they are remembered by themselves. If "Our Father" is not remembered, then it is necessary to attach a piece of paper with this prayer where our dining table is.
Many refer to a bad memory due to old age, and when you start asking them, asking various everyday questions, everyone remembers. They remember who was born when, in what year, everyone remembers birthdays. They know how much what is now in the store and on the market - and yet the prices are constantly changing! They know how much bread, salt, butter cost. Everyone remembers well. Ask: "What street do you live on?" - everyone will say. Very good memory. But they can't remember prayers. And this is because we have flesh in the first place. And we care so much about the flesh, we all remember what it needs. But we don’t care about the soul, that’s why our memory is bad for everything good. On the bad, we are masters ...
The holy fathers say that those who daily read the canons to the Savior, the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel, the saints, are especially protected by the Lord from all demonic misfortunes and evil people.
If you come to any boss for a reception, you will see a sign on his door "Reception hours from ... to ..." You can turn to God at any time. Night prayer is especially valuable. When a person prays at night, then, as the holy fathers say, this prayer is, as it were, paid for with gold. But in order to pray at night, one must take a blessing from the priest, because there is a danger: a person may become proud that he prays at night and fall into delusion, or demons will especially attack him. Through the blessing, the Lord will protect this person.
Sitting or standing? If the legs do not hold, then you can kneel down and read. If your knees are tired, you can read while sitting. It is better to sit and think about God than to think about your feet while standing. And one more thing: prayer without prostrations is a premature fetus. Fans are a must.
Now many are talking about the benefits of the revival of paganism in Russia. Maybe, indeed, paganism is not so bad?
In ancient Rome, gladiatorial fights were held in circuses. One hundred thousand people gathered for this spectacle, filling the pews through the many entrances in ten minutes. And everyone was out for blood! Craving a spectacle! Two gladiators fought. In the struggle, one of them could fall, and then the second put his foot on his chest, raised his sword over the prostrate and watched what sign the patricians would give him. If the fingers are raised up, then you can leave the opponent to live, if down, it was necessary to take his life. Most often they demanded death. And the people triumphed, seeing the shed blood. Such was pagan fun.
In our Russia, about forty years ago, one acrobat walked along a cable high under the dome of the circus. Stumbling, she fell. Below was a mesh. She did not crash, but something else is important. All the spectators as one stood up and buzzed: "Is she alive? Faster than a doctor!" What does it say? The fact that they did not want death, but worried about the gymnast. The spirit of love was alive in the minds of people.
Otherwise, they are now educating the younger generation. On the TV screen there are action movies with murders, blood, pornography, horrors, space wars, aliens - demonic forces... People from an early age get used to scenes of violence. What is left for the child? Having seen enough of these pictures, he gets weapons and shoots his classmates, who, in turn, mocked him. How many such cases there are in America! God forbid this will happen to us.
It used to happen that contract killings were committed in Moscow before. And now the scale of crime, mortality at the hands of killers has gone up sharply. Three or four people are killed a day. And the Lord said: "Thou shalt not kill!" (Ex. 20:13); "...those who do so will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:21), - all of them will go into the fire of hell.
I often have to go to prisons, confess prisoners. Confess and suicide bombers. They repent of the murders: some in contract, and someone killed in Afghanistan, Chechnya. Two hundred seventy, three hundred people were killed. They counted themselves. These are terrible sins! War is one thing, and another is to deprive a person of a life that you did not give him by order.
When you confess about ten murderers and get out of prison, then just wait: the demons will definitely arrange intrigues, there will be some kind of trouble.
Every priest knows how evil spirits take revenge for helping people to be freed from sins. One mother came to the Monk Seraphim of Sarov:
Father, pray: my son died without repentance. Out of modesty, at first he refused, humbled himself, and then yielded to the request, began to pray. And the woman saw that, praying, he rose above the floor. The old man said:
Mother, your son is saved. Go, pray yourself, thank God.
She left. And before his death, the Monk Seraphim showed his cell-attendant the body, from where the demons pulled out a piece:
This is how demons avenge every soul!
It is not so easy to pray for the salvation of people.
Orthodox Russia has received the Spirit of Christ, but the pagan West wants to kill her for this, thirsts for blood.
The Orthodox faith is the most impartial for a person. It obliges to a strict life on earth. And Catholics promise the soul a purgatory after death, where one can repent and be saved...
There is no such concept of "purgatory" in the Orthodox Church. According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, if a person lived righteously and passed into the other world, then he is rewarded with eternal joy, such a person can receive retribution for his good deeds, living on earth, in the form of peace, joy, peace of mind.
If a person lived uncleanly, did not repent and moved to the other world, then he falls into the clutches of demons. Before death, such people are usually sad, desperate, graceless, joyless. Their souls after death, languishing in torment, await the prayers of their relatives, the prayers of the Church. When an intensified prayer goes for the departed, the Lord frees their souls from hellish torments.
Church prayer also helps the righteous, those who have not yet received the fullness of grace during earthly life. The fullness of grace and joy is possible only after this soul is determined to Paradise at the Last Judgment. It is impossible to feel their fullness on earth. Only the chosen saints merged here with the Lord in such a way that they were raptured by the Spirit into the Kingdom of God.
Orthodoxy is often called a "religion of fear": "there will be a second coming, everyone will be punished, eternal torment ..." But Protestants talk about something else. So will there be punishment for unrepentant sinners, or will the love of the Lord cover everything?
Atheists have long deceived us by talking about the origin of religion. It was said that people could not explain this or that phenomenon of nature and began to deify it, to enter into religious contact with it. Sometimes, thunder rumbles, people hide underground, in the basement, they sit there, they are afraid. They think that their pagan god is angry and will now punish or a tornado will fly in, or a solar eclipse will begin ...
This is pagan fear. The Christian God is Love. And we should be afraid of God not because He will punish us, we should be afraid to offend Him with our sins. And if we have apostatized from God and brought trouble on ourselves, we do not hide underground from the wrath of God, we do not wait for the wrath of God to pass by. On the contrary, we go to confession, turn to God with a prayer of repentance, ask God for mercy, and pray. Christians do not hide from God, on the contrary, they themselves strive for Him for permission from sins. And God gives the penitent a helping hand, covers with His grace.
And the Church warns that there will be a Second Coming, the Last Judgment, not to intimidate. If you are walking along the road, there is a pit ahead and they say to you: "Be careful, do not fall, do not stumble," are you being intimidated? They warn you, help you avoid danger. So the Church says: "Do not sin, do not harm your neighbor, all this will turn against you yourself."
It is not necessary to present God as a villain because He does not accept sinners into Paradise. Unrepentant souls will not be able to live in Paradise, they will not be able to endure the light and purity that is there, just as sick eyes cannot endure bright light.
Everything depends on ourselves, on our behavior, prayers.
The Lord can change everything through prayer. One woman came to us from Krasnodar. Her son was imprisoned. There was an investigation. She came to one judge, he said to her: "Your son is eight years old." He had a big temptation. She came to me, crying, sobbing: "Father, pray, what should I do? The judge asks for five thousand dollars, but I don't have that kind of money." I say: "You know, mother, you will pray, the Lord will not leave you! What is his name?" She said his name, we prayed. And in the morning she comes:
Father, I'm going there now. The question is being decided whether they will imprison or let them go.
The Lord put it on her heart to say to her:
If you pray, God will arrange everything.
I prayed all night. She came back after dinner and said:
The son was released. They acquitted him. Understood and released. Everything is fine.
This mother had so much joy, so much faith that the Lord heard her. And the son was not to blame, he was simply set up in business.
The son is completely out of hand, does not speak, does not obey. He is seventeen. How can I pray for him?
It is necessary to read the prayer "Theotokos, Virgin, rejoice" 150 times. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov said that one who walks in Diveevo along the groove of the Mother of God and reads “O Virgin Mary, Rejoice” a hundred and fifty times, is under the special protection of the Mother of God. The Holy Fathers constantly talked about the veneration of the Mother of God, about praying to Her for help. The prayer of the Mother of God has great power. Through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, the grace of God will descend on both the mother and the child. Righteous John of Kronstadt says: “If all the angels, saints, all people living on earth gather together and pray, the prayer of the Mother of God surpasses all their prayers in power.
I remember one family. This was while we were serving in the parish. One mother, Natalia, had two girls - Lisa and Katya. Lisa was thirteen or fourteen years old, she was capricious, self-willed. And although she went to church with her mother, she remained very restless. I marveled at my mother's patience. Every morning he gets up and says to his daughter:
Lisa, let's pray!
Everyone, Mom, I read prayers!
Read fast, read slow!
Mom did not pull her up, patiently fulfilled all her requests. At this time, it was useless to beat and beat the daughter. Mother endured. Time passed, my daughter grew up, became calmer. Prayer together did her good.
There is no need to be afraid of temptations. The Lord will keep this family. Prayer has never harmed anyone. It only benefits our soul. Bragging harms us: "I read the Psalter for the deceased." We boast, and this is a sin.
It is customary to read the Psalter at the head of the deceased. Reading the Psalter is very useful for the soul of that person who constantly went to church and with repentance passed into that world. The Holy Fathers say: when we read the Psalter over the deceased, say, for forty days, then the sins fly off the deceased soul, like autumn leaves from a tree.
How to pray for the living or the dead, is it possible to imagine a person while doing this?
The mind must be pure. When we pray, we should not represent God, the Mother of God, the holy saint: neither Their faces, nor their position. The mind must be free from images. Moreover, when we pray for a person, we just need to remember that such a person exists. And if you imagine images, you can damage your mind. The Holy Fathers forbid it.
I'm twenty-four years old. As a child, I laughed at my grandfather who talked to himself. Now that he is dead, I myself began to talk to myself. An inner voice tells me that if I pray for him, then this vice will slowly leave me. Do I need to pray for him?
Everyone needs to know: if we condemn a person for some vice, we will definitely fall into it ourselves. Therefore, the Lord said: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. By what judgment you judge, you will be condemned."
You need to pray for your grandfather. Serve at mass, memorial notes for a memorial service, commemorate in the morning and evening in home prayers. It will be a great benefit to his soul and to us.
Is it necessary to cover your head with a scarf during home prayer?
"Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered puts her head to shame, for it is the same as if she were shaved," says the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 11:5). Orthodox Christian women, not only in the church, but also at home, cover their heads with a scarf: "A wife must have on her head the sign of power over her of angels" (1 Cor. 11:10).
Civil authorities organize additional bus routes to cemeteries on Easter. Is it correct? It seems to me that on this day the main thing is to be in the temple and commemorate the dead there.
For the dead there is a special day of remembrance - "Radonitsa". It happens on Tuesday in the second week after Easter. On this day, all Orthodox Christians go to congratulate their dead on the universal holiday of Easter, the Resurrection of Christ. And on the very day of Easter, believers should pray in the temple.
Routes organized by the city authorities for those people who do not go to church. Let them at least go there, at least in this way they will remember death and the finiteness of earthly existence.
Is it possible to watch live broadcasts from services from temples and pray? Often there is not enough health and strength to be present in the temple, but you want to touch the Divine with your soul...
The Lord vouchsafed me to visit a holy place, at the Holy Sepulcher. We had a video camera with us, and we filmed the holy place. Then they showed the footage to a priest. He saw footage of the Holy Sepulcher and says: "Stop this shot." He bowed to the ground and said: "I have never been to the Holy Sepulcher." And directly kissed the image of the Holy Sepulcher.
Of course, the image on the TV cannot be worshiped, we have icons. The case I described is an exception to the rule. The priest did so in simplicity of heart, out of a sense of reverence for the depicted shrine.
On holidays, all Orthodox should strive to be in the temple. And if you don’t have health, strength to move, watch the broadcast, stay with the Lord with your soul. Let our soul, together with the Lord, participate in His feast.
Can I wear a "Live Aid" belt?
One person came to me. I ask him:
What prayers do you know?
Of course, I even carry "Living Aids" with me.
He took out the documents, and there he had the 90th psalm "Alive in the help of Vyshnyago" rewritten. The man says: "My mother wrote to me, gave it to me, now I always carry it with me. May I?" - “Of course, it’s good that you wear this prayer, but if you don’t read it, what’s the point? help" were written not to carry them in your pocket or on your belt, but so that you could pull out, read, pray to the Lord every day. If you do not pray, you can die ... That's when you, hungry, got some bread , ate, strengthened your strength and you can calmly work in the sweat of your brow.So having prayed, you will give food for the soul and receive protection for the body.
In different eras in the Church there were various forms of morning, afternoon, evening prayers. Our time is characterized by the tradition of reading a relatively small number of morning prayers, as well as prayers for sleep in the future, which constitute the minimum prayer rule for a believer. For all its seeming simplicity, this is one of the topics that regularly raises questions among people living the church life. How to overcome yourself and establish regular prayer? How to turn a rule from a text into an integral part of your life? Abbot Nektary (Morozov) shares his pastoral and personal Christian experience in these matters.
Resisting Chaos
Before speaking about the rule of prayer, it is necessary to say, at least briefly, in principle, about the place of prayer in a person's life. We know that the purpose of man, unlike all other earthly creatures created by God, is constant communion with God. And prayer is, of course, that natural and that perfect way of communion with God, which is available to us.
Prayer can be general, performed in a temple, or private, but nevertheless, its purpose is always the same: to direct the mind and heart of a person to God and give a person the opportunity to turn to Him and at the same time, at least in part - as much as in our state it is possible - to hear the answer of God. But in order to cultivate this ability to turn to God in oneself, a person must learn to pray. If a person prays, then prayer gradually changes his state. And it is no coincidence that the morning and evening prayers that we perform daily are called the word "rule": we can say that the prayer rule really rules our soul - straightens its position in relation to God. We have many different aspirations, sometimes coinciding with one another, sometimes opposing each other, and our inner life is constantly in a state of disorder, in some kind of chaos, with which we sometimes struggle, and sometimes - and most often - reconcile, calming themselves by the fact that this is the norm of existence. And prayer builds a person's life properly, so when a person does not neglect prayer, everything in his life gradually falls into place.
Why is this happening? Because when a person turns to God, he first of all finds himself in prayer - such as he is, such as he often does not even see himself amidst vanity, deeds, many conversations and cares. Standing in prayer before God, each of us begins to understand what is really important in his life, what is in second or third place, what is not important at all ... If a person neglects prayer, then he certainly has this inner clarity the system of priorities that should be in the life of a Christian does not arise and is not built - in which there is nothing more important than God and what is connected with the fulfillment of the gospel commandments.
No regularity - no basis
Reading the prayer rule, on the one hand, takes very little time - this is an insignificantly small fraction of our day. On the other hand, for a person who is not used to praying, but is used to spending this morning and evening time on something else, doing this work regularly is not easy. So, acquiring the skill to get up in the morning and pray before all other things, overcome fatigue in the evening, turn off, perhaps, the TV and read the necessary prayers, is in fact the simplest and very first feat for a person just starting the Christian life.
What to do if the daily prayer rule cannot be established in any way? Sometimes, when talking with a person, you have to give him such advice: “If it is so difficult for you to fully read prayers every morning and every evening, determine for yourself at least some part of the morning prayers, some part of the prayers for the coming sleep, which in any case you will read regularly, because only regularity is in this case the key to moving forward. There will be no regularity - there will be no basis on which a person can rely in the future.
It sometimes happens that a person comes home, he had an incredibly hard day, he spent all his strength and can only fall and fall asleep. In this case, you should at least briefly, two or three minutes, pray and then go to bed. Elder Simeon the Reverent told his disciple, the Monk Simeon the New Theologian, that it was enough then to read the prayers from the Trisagion to the Our Father and cross one's bed. But you need to understand: we are talking about an exceptional situation, and not about repeating from time to time. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that the enemy sometimes makes a person fall asleep just before reading the rule, but as soon as you stop praying or change your mind about praying, you are cheerful, you feel good, you can at least live the day again. This also happens when we start spiritual reading or come to the service. It doesn't have to give in. The simplest advice is to make a few prostrations and then continue the prayer. Such an action, firstly, disperses the blood and drives away sleep, and secondly, when the enemy sees that a person in response to his efforts only aggravates his prayer, he, as a rule, retreats.
"Gaining time", losing everything
But not only by drowsiness the enemy can tempt a person during prayer. Sometimes you just have to take a prayer book and open the first page, as some things immediately pop up in your memory that need to be done right now, so that there is a desire to finish reading the prayers as soon as possible. And in this case, it makes sense, on the contrary, to deliberately slow down the reading of prayers - and after a few minutes this inner fuss, this haste stops, and the enemy again retreats. It is useful in such cases to remind ourselves that the five or fifteen minutes that we get as a result of haste or skipping some prayers, in fact, will not make any difference in our life, and this “gain of time” will not at all compensate for the harm which we inflict on ourselves by making our prayer negligent and inattentive. In general, when we begin to pray and some very important and serious thoughts begin to come to our minds, we need to realize very clearly at that moment that we are now standing before the One in Whose hands is absolutely everything - all our circumstances, all our deeds, our very life - and therefore there is nothing more important than this anticipation. We all know perfectly well that sometimes you can work as much as you like, perform quite reasonable and effective actions, but there will be no result, because there is no God's blessing for this. And vice versa, sometimes we just have to start some work, both difficult and incomprehensible, and everything somehow develops, and we accomplish this work with the help of God.
If fatigue usually prevents a person from starting the evening rule, then another problem arises with morning prayers much more often. A person day after day cannot get up on an alarm clock, jumps out of bed just before leaving the house, and the rule remains unread. Or it’s just that the time in the morning hours is distributed in such a way that the prayer does not fit in there. In this case, the struggle with oneself, with one’s negligence, is probably worth starting with, anyway, proceeding to the morning rule and reading it anyway, even if in time it will not be morning. I remember how someone in my presence asked Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) a similar question - about the fact that they do not have time to read the morning prayers before all other things, they do not have time to read them later. Father Kirill asked: “Can you do it in the evening? Well, read on tonight." It is clear that morning prayers, according to their meaning, should not be read in the evening, but if a person understands that he will not get away from them, he will still have to read them, then he will most likely find both the time and the opportunity to read them in the morning.
By the way, evening prayers, if every day you can’t read them before going to bed, you can start reading a few hours before bedtime - for example, when we come home after work. Rather, they are read in this case until the prayer “Lord Lover of Humanity, will this coffin be for me”, and then “It is worthy to eat” and those brief prayers with which the morning and evening rule usually ends, and with “Lord Lover of Humanity” prayers are already read just before going to bed. It is much easier to pray this way, because then we are no longer afraid that we will have to undertake a significant prayer work for us, for which we may not have enough strength.
There is also such a trick, about which the Monk Nikodim the Holy Mountaineer speaks: when it becomes difficult to pray, say to yourself: “Well, I’ll pray at least five more minutes.” You pray for five minutes, then you say to yourself: "Well, now five minutes." And oddly enough, in such a simple way you can deceive both the enemy and your own flesh.
And it’s also very good to try to learn at least the morning prayers by heart. They are quite easy to learn, since we repeat them every day, and if we use at least the same efforts that we used in school when we learned poetry, then most likely this task will be feasible for us. And then we make life easier for ourselves: we didn’t manage to read the rule, we didn’t have enough time - we prayed at home at least briefly, went outside the threshold and continue to pray. Of course, this is not entirely correct, and it’s not very convenient to read prayers to yourself somewhere on the go, in transport, but here you need to be guided by this rule: if you have fresh bread, you eat fresh bread, and if only crackers, then , you have to eat crackers, just not to starve.
There is another question: "It is very difficult for me to read the rule, I read and do not understand." When you don’t understand something, doing it, especially day after day, is really difficult. But what's stopping you from understanding? With regard to prayers, in this case, you just need to undertake a small but very important work, which St. Theophan the Recluse often talks about: find a little time, sit down and analyze the prayers that are included in the rule, emphasizing in the text those words whose meaning is not clear. And then - use the Internet, a dictionary of the Church Slavonic language, come to the parish library and ask for the relevant literature, turn to the priest, in the end, - in a word, find what these incomprehensible words mean. Moreover, there are actually few words and expressions that can really be an obstacle to understanding the meaning of a particular phrase in prayer, otherwise you just need to set yourself the task of carefully reading the text and making some efforts to understand its meaning.
A little less than we can
Sometimes the opposite situation arises: a person reads the rule regularly, understands everything, but this amount of prayer work is not enough for him, and he wants to add something to it. This seems completely natural to me, and for many people living the church life, sooner or later this question arises. What does it make sense to add to the prayer rule? Probably, here you need to look at what is more consonant with a person, at his state of mind. Someone likes to read the Psalter more, someone likes akathists and canons, someone prefers to pray the Jesus Prayer. And here it is quite possible to follow your preferences, but you need to remember that akathists - unlike the psalms, where every word is divinely inspired - were compiled by people and therefore come in different theological and literary levels. Among them - especially among those that were written in the XIX-XX centuries - there are many that are not particularly spiritually beneficial to read. Therefore, probably, anyone who thinks about what to make up his prayer rule should consult with the priest with whom he confesses and show him those prayers that have been chosen to supplement the rule.
An important point: if we have determined for ourselves a certain amount of prayer work, it should be constant. And it happens that a person has added to the rule, for example, a kathisma, an akathist to Jesus the Sweetest, a certain number of Jesus prayers, but then he omits one, then another, then a third, then all together, then again he begins to read all this. Impermanence shakes the very foundation of our prayer life, so it's best to take on a little less than we can, but stick to it. A little less - because when we work regularly, we start to get tired, and if we take the maximum volume, then there will not be enough strength for it. Another thing is that sometimes we just want to pray more than we usually pray, the soul requires it, —and in this we, of course, have perfect freedom.
Is it possible to replace morning and evening prayers with something? No, it is desirable not to replace them with anything. In our fickle life, there must be some constants, as if some columns to which our life is tied during the day. And if a person refuses the traditional prayer rule and decides to pray at his own discretion, then, as experience shows, this leads to the fact that today he read a kathisma instead of morning prayers, tomorrow - an akathist to the Mother of God instead of evening prayers, and the day after tomorrow did not read anything. I'm not saying that this is objectively how it should be, but for the most part it turns out that way. Therefore, I advise you to read the morning and evening prayers in any case, and add something to them.
Is it possible to pray without distraction?
To the fulfillment of the prayer rule, if possible, you need to prepare. Do not start praying all of a sudden, but stand a little and wait, “until the feelings subside,” as the prayer book says. In addition to this, it is advisable to remind yourself of several very important and, moreover, completely natural things. First of all, remember who we are talking to. Believe me, a person is such a creature that he can sometimes get up, light a lamp, open a prayer book, start reading prayers and at the same time be completely unaware of what he is doing. If you then ask him: “What were you doing now?”, He will answer: “I read the rule,” and he will be completely honest. But we should strive not for reading, but for prayer. At least for a short time - let it be two or five minutes of the twenty that we have as a rule - we should feel that we are praying, and not just uttering words. And in order to maintain this desire in oneself to pray, as a rule, one needs preparation.
In addition to remembering that we turn to God, we also need to remind ourselves who we are. It is for this, probably, at the beginning of the morning prayer rule that the publican's prayer is placed: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Sometimes people ask: “How to learn to pray with a repentant mood?”. You know, if a person was told that he was convicted of some crime and would be shot tomorrow, he does not need to be explained with what mood, with what words to ask for pardon - he himself will beg to at least save his life. And when a person has this feeling, he prays properly; if he does not realize the extreme vital necessity of God's mercy for himself, then he will fulfill the rule simply out of duty. And before reading the rule, you must definitely try to awaken your heart: remember the danger of the situation in which we are; remember how far away from God we are because of our sins and the inner impurity that is present in each of us. And at the same time, remember that, despite our distance from God, the Lord Himself is close to us, and therefore He hears every word that we utter in prayer, He is ready to respond to every word, but only if these words before our hearts responded.
At the same time, the Lord requires from each person only what a person can give. And it happens that a person begins his prayer work conscientiously, but out of a sense of duty, and not out of a need of the heart. He knows that he needs to pray so that his life will gradually change, and he prays. And the Lord gives grace to such a person. But as soon as a person can do more, the Lord expects more from him.
Sometimes a person says, "But I can't pray without distraction, no matter what I do." It must be understood that praying unabashedly, completely surrendering to prayer, is the lot of the Angels, and a person will still be scattered to one degree or another. And our task is not to demand from ourselves complete non-distraction, but to, when we catch ourselves and understand that our mind has run off to the side, return it to its place. But in no case should we allow ourselves to say a prayer with our lips, and at that time to think about something.
Some believers, if they are distracted in prayer, return to the place where their mind ran off, and then re-read it again. In my opinion, this is not necessary, because, according to the experience of communicating with such people, then the usual prayer rule can take an hour or an hour and a half, and this is absolutely not normal. Some of the Optina elders have just the same warning not to do this - not to reread the same prayer ten times, because the enemy will deliberately knock us down over and over again, and our rule will turn into absurdity. Therefore, reading should still be consistent, continuous.
If possible, it is very desirable to supplement the morning and evening rule with at least a very brief daily rule. The soul of a person in a day without prayer has time to cool down - just like a stove cools down if firewood is not put into it all day. And therefore, if during the day we find five to ten minutes to turn to God with the Jesus Prayer or read, for example, one of the psalms, then we will help ourselves to become firmly established in prayer. The well-known ascetic of the 20th century, hegumen Nikon (Vorobiev) advised to set aside one minute for yourself at the beginning of each hour to mentally turn to God and ask for petitions for our pardon, salvation from the Most Holy Theotokos, Guardian Angel, and saints. Such a rule, if the nature of our employment allows it, can also be guided. In addition, the prayer rule of a Christian usually includes the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and this is also the part of the rule that can be performed during the day.
Photos from open Internet sources
Newspaper "Orthodox Faith" No. 18 (566)
Vacation season is in full swing. Christians, especially newcomers, often have a question: how to pray on a long journey? Is it necessary to read the morning and evening rule? What to think if you took a blessing for the journey, and prayed along the way, and the journey turned out to be a difficult test? These questions are answered by Archpriest Dionisy Pankov, rector of the village. Novgorodskoye, Dzerzhinsky District.
Father Dionysius, sometimes people who come to church have practical questions about prayer. For example, why it is necessary to pray, is it obligatory, how much time should be devoted to prayer work. What would you say?
Prayer is communication between man and God. The Holy Fathers teach us that prayer must be unceasing. The Apostle Paul says: "Always be on the watch, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). For a person living in the modern world, it is very problematic to pray without ceasing. But the most interesting thing is that when communicating with this or that person, we want to see him personally or at least hear him, but when communicating with God Himself, we show constant negligence, and sometimes selfish indifference, paradoxical as it may seem.
All this happens because in our society it is fashionable to be "Orthodox", but it is not for ordinary believers (truly Orthodox).
If each of us does a little time analysis of our day, we will see that prayer "takes" not so much of our time. For example, morning prayers will take about 10-15 minutes, and this, if you like, is a kind of setting a prayer rhythm and a charge of good spirits for the whole day. We spend about the same amount of time on evening prayers. But this is the crown of another day we have lived, they sum it up and remind us of what we have done during this period, of gratitude to God. In the prayers of the evening rule, we ask God, His Most Pure Mother and the saints for protection and blessings for the coming night.
So, using simple arithmetic calculations, we deduce the amount of time spent on the minimum prayer rule: 20-30 minutes. Is it a lot?!
But for God, the main thing is not how much time a person spends on prayers, how many of them he knows, reads them from a prayer book or by heart. For Him, the most important thing is with what heart you pray, and not the number of words. He does not need the deathly fluctuation of the air! It happens that two or three words spoken to God from the very heart will bring a person more peace in the soul and mind than the entire Psalter read without diligence.
- How to pray on the road?
Before a long trip, you should get up a little earlier than usual and pray, thereby asking the Lord for a blessing both for the coming day and for the trip itself. In every prayer book there is a prayer of a person setting off on a journey. You can turn to the Lord in your own words.
If the traveler, due to circumstances, cannot pray in the usual way in transport or at the station - due to a large crowd of people around and the like - then there is a simple solution to this problem. The Holy Church teaches us that you can pray not only out loud, but also silently. The traveler can read the Jesus Prayer: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”, the publican’s prayer: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”, prayers to the Mother of God. You can make other prayers, but there will be well-known prayers or prayers in your own words - it depends on the spiritual level and knowledge of each Christian individually. But the essence is the same: the disposition of the heart towards God.
Sometimes new Christians worry: Will prayer help? Does it really protect against adversity? Why did it happen: I was praying, but my suitcase was stolen on the way and the ticket was lost?
It happens in our lives that when we go on a trip, we take a blessing from a priest, order a prayer service for travelers, and actively pray. However, as we travel, we realize that everything is not going as we planned. There are some problems, troubles, and even diseases. In this case, firstly, you need to calm down and remember that we were in the temple, prayed, asked God's blessing for our trip. Secondly, to accept that now it is not we with our "far-sighted plans" and "grand projects" who are leading the journey, but the Lord Himself.
The Christian must realize that our life is guided by the Providence of God. It lies in God's unceasing concern for everyone. Yes, the man took a blessing, prayed in the temple before the trip - it would seem that he did everything right. Why didn't everything go as smoothly as you would like? It's worth considering ... Maybe he himself is to blame for such circumstances?
I would advise you to analyze: did you act according to your Christian conscience everywhere during your journey, did you offend anyone in word or deed? Or maybe you didn’t help a person who needs your help? So it turns out: he prayed and took the blessing, but he didn’t put his work anywhere else from a pure heart. King and psalmist David says in the Psalter: “The Lord will give you according to your heart, and he will fulfill all your advice” (Ps. 19:4).
Despite all our failures on the road or in any other endeavor, we must remember the words of the Lord's Prayer addressed to the Many-merciful and Humane-loving God the Father: “Thy will be done!” - and do not lose heart, do not despair.
Interviewed by Ekaterina Shcherbakova