What time of day is best to read prayers? About time and attention in prayer. A short prayer to Archangel Michael for every day

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

Trifonov Pechenga Monastery
"The ark"
Moscow
2004

What is prayer

In the Christian catechism, that is, in the instruction on the Christian faith, it is said about prayer this way: “Prayer is the offering of the mind and heart to God and is a person’s reverent word to God.” Prayer is the threads of the living fabric of the church body, going in all directions; The prayer connection permeates the entire body of the Church.

Prayer connects each member of the Church with the Heavenly Father, members of the earthly Church with each other, and members of the earth with those in heaven.
The content of prayer is: praise, or glory; thanksgiving; repentance; a request for God's mercy, for the forgiveness of sins, for the granting of mental and physical blessings, heavenly and earthly. Prayer happens for oneself and for others. Praying for one another expresses the mutual love of Church members.

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

But reading the words of a prayer from memory or from a prayer book, standing in front of an icon at home or in a temple, making bows is not yet prayer. “Reading prayers, standing in prayer and bowing constitute only prayerful standing,” writes the saint, “and prayer, in fact, comes from the heart. When this one is not there, there is none. Prayer without feelings is the same as a dead miscarriage.” Prayer itself, as St. Theophan the Recluse writes, “is the emergence in our heart of one after another reverent feelings for God - feelings of self-abasement, devotion, thanksgiving, glorification, forgiveness, diligent prostration, contrition, submission to the will of God, and so on.”

Most of all, during prayer, we must take care that these and similar feelings fill our soul, so that when we read prayers out loud or internally, during bows, our heart is not empty, so that it rushes to God. When we have these feelings, then our prayer, our bows are prayer...

Why you need to pray according to the prayer book

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

“Do not dare to bring to God verbose and eloquent prayers composed by you... they are the product of a fallen mind and... cannot be accepted on the spiritual altar of God,” wrote. Our example in praying in other people's words is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His prayerful exclamations during the sufferings of the cross are lines from the psalms ().

Books for home prayers contain many prayers written by the Holy Fathers of the Church.
These prayers were written many centuries ago by the monks and Macarius of Egypt, Roman the Sweet Singer, the saints, and other great prayer books. Filled with a prayerful spirit, they put into words what this spirit inspired and conveyed these words to us. Great prayerful power moves in their prayers, and whoever attends to them with attention and diligence will certainly experience a feeling of prayer. Reading prayers connects a person with their creators - the psalmists and ascetics. This helps to gain a spiritual mood akin to their heartfelt burning.

What prayers are included in the prayer book

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

The word akathist comes from the Greek akathistos gymnos - “non-seated hymn”, a hymn that is sung while standing. An akathist is a contemplation of a miracle; it is, as it were, a verbal icon of a sacred person or a blessed event, which explains its static nature. The Akathist consists of 12 double songs - sequentially alternating ikos and kontakia. Kontakion is a short Orthodox chant, which sets out the dogmatic or historical significance of the celebrated event or person; in the kontakion, any moment of the Church’s teaching about one of the mysteries of God is revealed. Each kontakion ends with the exclamation “Alleluia.” The kontakion is followed by an ikos, which reveals the content of the kontakion and concludes a more extensive development of the theme contained in the kontakion.

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

What prayers should a layperson’s prayer rule consist of?

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

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

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

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

The duration of prayers and their number are determined by spiritual fathers and priests, taking into account everyone’s lifestyle and spiritual experience.

You cannot completely omit the prayer rule. Even if the prayer rule is read without due attention, the words of the prayers, penetrating the soul, have a cleansing effect.
Saint Theophan writes to one family person: “In case of emergency, one must be able to shorten the rule. You never know how many coincidences there are in family life. When things do not allow you to complete the prayer rule in full, then perform it abbreviated.

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

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

During fasting, prayers are especially long, in order, as the righteous saint writes, “so that through the duration of fervent prayer we can disperse our cold hearts, hardened in prolonged bustle. For it is strange to think, much less to demand, that a heart matured in the vanity of life could soon be imbued with the warmth of faith and love for God during prayer. No, this requires work and time. The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force delight it (). The Kingdom of God does not come to the heart soon when people run so diligently from it. The Lord God Himself expressed His will that we pray not briefly when He presents as an example a widow who went to the judge for a long time and bothered him for a long time (for a long time) with her requests ().”

When to make your prayer rule

In the conditions of modern life, given the workload and accelerated pace, it is not easy for the laity to set aside a certain time for prayer. We must develop strict rules of prayer discipline and strictly adhere to our prayer rules.

Morning prayers are best read before starting any task. As a last resort, they are pronounced on the way from home. The evening prayer rule is recommended by prayer teachers to be read in free minutes before dinner or even earlier - late in the evening it is often difficult to concentrate due to fatigue.

How to Prepare for Prayer

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

It is very important that those who begin to pray should expel resentment, irritation, and bitterness from their hearts. The saint teaches: “Before prayers, you must not be angry with anyone, not be angry, but leave all offense behind, so that God himself will forgive your sins.”

“When approaching the Benefactor, be beneficent yourself; when approaching the Good, be good yourself; approaching the Righteous One, be righteous yourself; when approaching the Patient One, be patient yourself; when approaching the Humane, be humane; and also be everything else, approaching the Kind-hearted, the Benevolent, the Sociable in good things, the Merciful to everyone, and, if anything else is seen of the Divine, becoming like in all this by will, thereby acquiring the boldness to pray,” writes the saint.

How to make your own prayer rule at home

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

Before starting prayer, you should sign yourself with the sign of the cross and make several bows, either from the waist or to the ground, and try to tune in to an internal conversation with God. “Stay silently until your feelings calm down, place yourself in the presence of God to the consciousness and feeling of Him with reverent Fear and restore in your heart a living faith that God hears and sees you,” says the beginning of the prayer book. Saying prayers out loud or in a low voice helps many people focus.

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

In another of his instructions, Saint Theophan so briefly systematizes advice on reading the prayer rule:

“a) never read hastily, but read as if in a chant... In ancient times, all the prayers read were taken from the psalms... But nowhere do I see the word “read”, but everywhere “sing”...

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

c) in order to trigger the urge to hastily read, make it a point - not to read this and that, but to stand for a reading prayer for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour... how long you usually stand... and then don’t worry... how many prayers you read - and how the time has come, if not If you want to stand any further, stop reading...

d) having put this down, however, do not look at the clock, but stand in such a way that you can stand endlessly: your thoughts will not run ahead...

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

f) never read prayers without interruption, but always break them up with personal prayer, with bows, whether in the middle of prayers or at the end. As soon as something comes to your heart, immediately stop reading and bow. This last rule is the most necessary and most necessary for cultivating the spirit of prayer... If any other feeling is very consuming, you should be with it and bow down, but leave reading... so until the very end of the allotted time.”

What to do when distracted during prayer

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

As a rule, it is possible to maintain attention on the words of the prayer for several minutes, and then thoughts begin to wander, the eye glides over the words of the prayer - and our heart and mind are far away.
If someone prays to the Lord, but thinks about something else, then the Lord will not listen to such a prayer,” writes the reverend.

At these moments, the Fathers of the Church advise to be especially attentive. Saint Theophan the Recluse writes that we must prepare in advance for the fact that when reading prayers we are distracted, often mechanically reading the words of the prayer. “When a thought runs away during prayer, return it. If he runs away again, come back again. It's like that every time. Every time you read something while your thoughts are running away and, therefore, without attention or feeling, do not forget to re-read. And even if your thought wanders off in one place several times, read it several times until you read it with concept and feeling. Once you overcome this difficulty, another time, perhaps, it will not happen again, or it will not happen again with such force.

If, while reading the rule, a prayer breaks through in your own words, then, as St. Nicodemus says, “do not let this opportunity pass by, but dwell on it.”
We find the same thought in St. Theophan: “Another word will have such a strong effect on the soul that the soul will not want to extend further in prayer, and although the tongue reads prayers, the thought keeps running back to the place that had such an effect on her. In this case, stop, do not read further, but stand with attention and feeling in that place, nourish your soul with them, or with the thoughts that it will produce. And don’t rush to tear yourself away from this state, so if time is pressing, it’s better to leave the unfinished rule, and don’t ruin this state. It will overshadow you, perhaps all day, like a Guardian Angel! This kind of beneficial influence on the soul during prayer means that the spirit of prayer begins to take root and that, therefore, maintaining this state is the most reliable means of nurturing and strengthening the spirit of prayer in us.”

How to end your prayer rule

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

“When you finish your prayer, do not immediately move on to any of your other activities, but also, at least for a little while, wait and think that you have accomplished this and what it obliges you to, trying, if you are given something to feel during prayer, to preserve it after prayers,” writes St. Theophan the Recluse. “Do not immediately rush into everyday affairs,” teaches St. Nicodemus, “and never think that, having completed your prayer rule, you have finished everything in relation to God.”

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

How to learn to spend your day in prayer

Having finished our morning prayers, we should not think that everything is complete in relation to God, and only in the evening, during the evening rule, should we return to prayer again.
The good feelings that arise during morning prayers will be drowned out in the bustle and busyness of the day. Because of this, there is no desire to attend evening prayer.

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

Here is how Saint Theophan the Recluse advises learning this:

“First, it is necessary throughout the day to more often cry out to God from the heart in short words, judging by the need of the soul and current affairs. You start by saying, for example: “Bless, Lord!” When you finish the job, say: “Glory to you, Lord!”, and not only with your tongue, but also with the feeling of your heart. Any passion that arises, say: “Save me, Lord, I am perishing!” The darkness of disturbing thoughts finds itself, cry out: “Bring my soul out of prison!” Wrong deeds lie ahead and sin leads to them, pray: “Guide me, Lord, on the path” or “Do not let my feet become troubled.” Sins suppress and lead to despair, cry out in the publican’s voice: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” So anyway. Or simply say often: “Lord, have mercy; Lady Mother of God, have mercy on me. Angel of God, my holy guardian, protect me,” or cry out in some other word. Just make these appeals as often as possible, trying in every possible way so that they come from the heart, as if squeezed out of it. When you do this, we will often make intelligent ascents to God from the heart, frequent appeals to God, frequent prayer, and this frequency will impart the skill of intelligent conversation with God.

But in order for the soul to begin to cry out like this, it must first be forced to turn everything into the glory of God, every one of its deeds, big and small. And this is the second way to teach the soul to turn to God more often during the day. For if we make it a law to fulfill this apostolic commandment, so that we do everything for the glory of God, even whether you eat, drink, or whatever you do, you do everything for the glory of God (), then we will certainly remember God in every action, and we will not just remember , but with caution, so as not to act wrongly in any case and not to offend God in any way. This will make you turn to God with fear and prayerfully ask for help and admonition. Just as we almost constantly do something, we will almost constantly turn to God in prayer, and, therefore, almost continuously go through the science of lifting up prayer in our souls to God.

But in order for the soul to perform this, that is, doing everything for the glory of God, as it should, it must be set up for this from early morning - from the very beginning of the day, before a person goes out to do his work and to do his work until the evening. This mood is produced by the thought of God. And this is the third way of training the soul to frequently turn to God. Thought on God is a reverent reflection on the Divine properties and actions and on what knowledge of them and their relationship to us obliges us, this is a reflection on the goodness of God, justice, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, on creation and providence, on the dispensation of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, about the goodness and word of God, about the holy sacraments, about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Whichever of these subjects you don’t think about, this reflection will certainly fill your soul with a reverent feeling for God. Start thinking, for example, about the goodness of God, and you will see that you are surrounded by God’s mercies both physically and spiritually, and unless you are a stone, you will not fall before God in the outpouring of humiliated feelings of gratitude. Start thinking about the omnipresence of God, and you will understand that you are everywhere before God and God is before you, and you cannot help but be filled with reverent fear. Begin to reflect on the omniscience of God - you will realize that nothing in you is hidden from the eye of God, and you will certainly decide to be strictly attentive to the movements of your heart and mind, so as not to offend the all-seeing God in any way. Begin to reason about the truth of God, and you will be convinced that not a single bad deed will go unpunished, and you will certainly intend to cleanse all your sins with heartfelt contrition and repentance before God. So, no matter what property and action of God you begin to reason about, every such reflection will fill the soul with reverent feelings and dispositions towards God. It directs the whole being of a person directly to God and is therefore the most direct means to accustom the soul to ascend to God.

The most decent, convenient time for this is the morning, when the soul is not yet burdened with many impressions and business concerns, and precisely after morning prayer. When you finish your prayer, sit down and, with your thoughts sanctified in prayer, begin to reflect today on one thing, tomorrow on another of God’s properties and actions, and create a disposition in your soul according to this. “Go,” said the saint, “go, holy thought of God, and let us immerse ourselves in meditation on the great deeds of God,” and his thoughts passed through either the works of creation and providence, or the miracles of the Lord Savior, or His suffering, or something else, thereby touching his heart and began to pour out his soul in prayer. Anyone can do this. There is little work, all you need is desire and determination; and there is a lot of fruit.

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

When the thought of God is well accomplished in the morning, it will leave a deep mood for thinking about God. Thinking about God will force the soul to carefully carry out every action, both internal and external, and turn it into the glory of God. And both will put the soul in such a position that prayerful appeals to God will often be expelled from it.
These three - thinking about God, all creation for the glory of God and frequent appeals are the most effective tools of mental and heartfelt prayer. Each of them lifts the soul to God. Whoever sets out to practice them will soon acquire in his heart the skill of ascent to God. This work is like climbing a mountain. The higher someone climbs the mountain, the freer and easier he breathes. So here, the more one gets used to the exercises shown, the higher the soul will rise, and the higher the soul rises, the more freely prayer will act in it. Our soul by nature is an inhabitant of the heavenly world of the Divine. There she should have been undiminished in both thought and heart; but the burden of earthly thoughts and passions drags and weighs her down. The methods shown tear it off the ground little by little, and then completely tear it off. When they are completely torn away, then the soul will enter its own region and will sweetly dwell in grief - here heartily and mentally, and then with its very being it will be honored before the face of God to dwell in the faces of Angels and Saints. May the Lord vouchsafe all of you with His grace. Amen".

How to force yourself to pray

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

What you need for successful prayer

“When you desire and seek success in your prayer work, adapt everything else to this, so as not to destroy with one hand what the other creates.

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

2. Reduce your external relations to the most inevitable. This is for the time of teaching yourself to pray. Afterwards, the prayer, acting in you, will indicate that without prejudice to it it can be added. Take special care of your senses, and most of all, your eyes, your ears, and your tongue. Without observing this, you will not take a step forward in the matter of prayer. Just as a candle cannot burn in the wind and rain, so prayer cannot be warmed by the influx of impressions from the outside.

3. Use all your free time after prayer for reading and meditation. For reading, choose primarily books that write about prayer and, in general, about inner spiritual life. Think exclusively about God and Divine things, about the Incarnate Economy of our salvation, and in it especially about the suffering and death of the Lord Savior. By doing this, you will plunge into the sea of ​​Divine light. Add to this going to church as soon as you have the opportunity. One presence in the temple will overshadow you with a prayer cloud. What will you get if you spend the entire service in a truly prayerful mood!

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

5. Having thus tuned in, bother yourself in the work of prayer, praying: now with ready-made prayers, now with your own, now with short invocations to the Lord, now with the Jesus Prayer, but without missing out on anything that can help in this work, and you will receive what you are looking for. Let me remind you what Saint Macarius of Egypt says: “God will see your prayer work and that you sincerely desire success in prayer - and will give you prayer. For know that although prayer done and achieved through one’s own efforts is pleasing to God, real prayer is the one that settles in the heart and becomes persistent. She is a gift of God, a work of God's grace. Therefore, when you pray about everything, do not forget to pray about prayer” (Rev.).

How to learn to fall before God in prayer

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt writes:

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

A heart that doubts that God can grant what is asked is punished for doubt: it painfully languishes and is embarrassed by doubt. Do not anger the Almighty God with even a shadow of doubt, especially you, who have experienced God’s omnipotence many, many times. Doubt is blasphemy against God, a bold lie of the heart or a spirit of lies nestling in the heart against the Spirit of truth. Fear him like a poisonous snake, or no, what am I saying, neglect him, do not pay the slightest attention to him. Remember that God, at the time of your petition, expects an affirmative answer to the question He internally offers you: Do you believe that I can do this?! Yes, you must answer from the depths of your heart: I believe, Lord! (Wed:). And then it will be according to your faith. May the following reasoning help your doubt or unbelief: I ask God:

1) existing, and not just imaginary, not dreamy, not fantastic good, but everything that exists received existence from God, because Everything began to be through Him, and without Him nothing began to be (), and, therefore, nothing exists without Him, what happens, and everything either received existence from Him, or by His will or permission happens and is done through the means of His powers and abilities given to creatures from Him - and in all that exists and happens, the Lord is the sovereign Ruler. In addition, He calls not existing, but existing (); This means that if I asked for something that does not exist, He could give it to me by creating it;

2) I ask for the possible, and for God our impossible is possible; This means that there is no obstacle on this side either, because God can do for me even what, according to my concepts, is impossible. Our misfortune is that our faith is interfered with by myopic reason, this spider that catches the truth in the nets of its judgments, conclusions, and analogies. Faith suddenly embraces, sees, and reason reaches the truth in a roundabout way; faith is a means of communication between spirit and spirit, and reason - the spiritually sensual with the spiritually sensual and simply material; that one is spirit, and this one is flesh.”

You say, I asked many times and did not receive it. Undoubtedly, this is because you asked poorly - either with unbelief, or with pride, or something that was not useful to you; if you asked often and for something useful, then not with persistence... If you do not ask with effort and great persistence, then you do not receive. First you need to wish, and having wished, ask truly with faith and patience for what is useful to everyone, and so that your conscience does not condemn you in anything as asking carelessly or frivolously - and then you will receive if God wants it. After all, He knows better than you what is good for you, and, perhaps, as a result of this, He postpones the fulfillment of the request, wisely forcing you to be diligent towards Him, so that you know what the gift of God means and guard what is given with fear. After all, they try to preserve everything that is acquired with great effort, so that, having lost what they have received, they do not lose even the great efforts and, having rejected the grace of the Lord, do not find themselves unworthy of Eternal Life...

What to ask God for in your prayers

“Carnal verbosity and floridity in prayer are forbidden to us,” writes Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, “petitions for earthly blessings and advantages are forbidden, petitions with which only the prayers of pagans and carnal people similar to pagans are filled.”

What should a Christian ask God for in his prayers?

“If we are commanded to abstain from worldly goods, even when we have them, then how pitiful and unhappy we turn out to be if we ask God for what He commanded us to reject,” writes the saint. - God will hear us if:

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

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

“The objects of our prayer should be spiritual and eternal, and not temporary and material. The main and initial prayer should consist of requests for forgiveness of sins... Do not be reckless in your requests, so as not to anger God with your cowardice: he who asks the King of kings for something insignificant humiliates Him... Ask for what you consider necessary and useful for yourself, but fulfillment and Leave your request to the will of God..." writes Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov.

When intending to ask (for something from the Lord), before you resort to the Giver, consider your request, whether it is pure, carefully delve into the reason prompting the request. If the motive for which we ask entails harm, then (the Lord)... may he block the sources of our petitions... If you ask God for something of your own, then ask not in such a way that you will certainly receive from Him, but leaving it to Him and His will . For example, bad thoughts often oppress you, and you are sad about it, and you want to beg God to free you from the battle. But often it serves you well. For this often happens to you, so that you do not become arrogant, but be humble in your mind... Also, if some kind of sorrow or distress has befallen you, do not ask to be sure to get rid of them, because this, my brother, is often useful; I tell you, it often happens that during prayer you neglect your salvation, as was the case with the Israelites... And also, if you ask for something, do not ask in order to receive it without fail. For I say: you, as a person, often consider something useful for yourself that is useless. But if you leave your will and decide to walk according to God’s will, you will be safe. He, who foretells everything before its fulfillment, in His condescension shepherds us, but we do not know whether what we ask is useful to us. Many, having achieved what they wanted, subsequently repented, and often fell into great troubles; without carefully examining whether this was the will of God, but thinking that it was good for them, and under some pretexts that had the appearance of truth, deceived by the devil, they were exposed to extreme dangers. Many such deeds are accompanied by repentance, because we followed our own wishes in them. Listen to what the apostle says: we do not know what to pray for as we should (). For: everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial; everything is permissible for me, but not everything edifies (). So, what is useful and edifying for each of us, God Himself knows, therefore leave it to Him. I say this not to prevent you from turning to God with your petitions; On the contrary, I also beg you to ask Him for everything, from small to great. And this is what I tell you: when you pray, you reveal to Him what is in your heart, tell Him: however, not My will, but Yours be done (); if it is useful, as you yourself know, do it. For it is thus written: Commit your way to the Lord and trust in Him, and He will accomplish (). Look at our Lord Jesus Christ, the Builder, who prays and says: My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You (). Therefore, if you ask God for something, stand firm in your request, opening up to Him and saying: “If it is Your will, Master, for this to happen, then do it and make it successful. And if it is not Your will for this, do not let this happen, my God! Do not betray me to my own desire, for you know my foolishness... but as You Yourself know, so save me by Your condescension!” If you pray because of sorrow and thoughts, then say: Lord! Do not rebuke me in Your wrath, and do not punish me in Your anger. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak (). Look what the prophet says: To You, O Lord, I cry: my stronghold! do not be silent for me, so that in Your silence I do not become like those who descend into the grave (); but give glory to Your name, you who are unforgettable, do not remember my sins and hear me. And, if possible, may sorrow pass me by, however, not my will, but Yours, be done, only strengthen and preserve my soul, and I will be able to endure this, so that I may find grace before You both in the present age and in the future.” And commend your sorrow to the Lord, and He will do what is good for you. For know that He, as the Good One, wants what is necessary for our salvation. That is why this good Shepherd laid down His soul...

“Do not indignate yourself with prayer, but ask for what is worthy of God. And when you ask for something worthy, do not give up until you receive it... In prayer one should ask not for the fulfillment of one’s own will, but to leave everything to God, who is useful in building the house,” writes the saint.

“If your deeds are not pleasing to God, then do not ask Him for great gifts, lest you end up in the position of a person who tempts God. Your prayer must be consistent with your lifestyle... The desire of each person is shown by his activity. Whatever his efforts are directed towards, he must strive for that in prayer. He who desires great things should not practice the unimportant. Do not ask God for what He Himself gives us without our asking, according to His providence, which gives not only to His own and beloved, but also to strangers the knowledge of Him” (Rev.).

Why are our prayers unheard?

If prayer is so powerful, then why doesn’t everyone get what they ask for? To this the holy Apostle James gives the following answer: You ask, and you do not receive, because you ask for the wrong thing (). He who wants to receive must ask well. If those who ask do not always receive, then it is not prayer that is to blame, but those who do not pray well. Just as someone who does not know how to manage a good ship well does not sail to the intended destination, but is repeatedly broken on the rocks, and it is not the ship that is to blame, but its poor management, so prayer, when the one praying does not receive what he asks for, is not to blame for this, but the one who doesn't pray well.
The only people who do not receive what they ask for are those who are either evil themselves and do not want to evade evil in order to do good, or who ask God for an evil thing, or, finally, although they ask for a good thing, they ask not well, not as they should . Prayer is powerful, but not just any prayer, but perfect prayer, the prayer of those who pray well.

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

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

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

How to Pray for Other People

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

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

How to pray for offenders and enemies

We should not limit ourselves to just praying for people close and dear to us. Praying for those who have caused us grief brings peace to the soul, has an impact on these people and makes our prayer sacrificial.

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

If you are money-loving and greedy, say: Our treasure is incorruptible and our wealth is inexhaustible! Grant to this Thy servant, created in Thy image and likeness, to know the flattery of wealth, and how all earthly things are vanity, shadow and sleep. The days of every man are like grass, or like a spider, and as You alone are our wealth, peace and joy!

When you see an envious person, pray: Lord, enlighten the mind and heart of this Thy servant to the knowledge of Thy great, countless and unsearchable gifts, and they will be received from Thy innumerable bounties, for in the blindness of my passion I have forgotten Your rich gifts and impoverished my life. , who is rich in Thy blessings, and for this reason he gazes charmingly at the good of Thy servants, with them, O most unspeakable Blessing, he rewards everyone, in every way against his strength and according to the intention of Thy will. Take away, O all-merciful Master, the veil of the devil from the sight of the heart of Thy servant and grant him heartfelt contrition and tears of repentance and gratitude, so that the enemy does not rejoice over him, captured alive from him into his will, and may he not tear him away from Thy hand.

When you see a drunken person, say with your heart: Lord, look mercifully on Your servant, seduced by the flattery of the belly and carnal joy, grant him to know the sweetness of abstinence and fasting and the fruits of the spirit that flow from it.

When you see someone who is passionate about food and places his bliss in it, say: Lord, our sweetest food, which never perishes, but remains in eternal life! Cleanse this Thy servant from the filth of gluttony, which created all flesh and is alien to Thy Spirit, and grant him to know the sweetness of Thy life-giving spiritual food, which is Thy Flesh and Blood and Thy holy, living and effective word.

Pray in this or a similar way for all who sin and do not dare to despise anyone for his sin or take revenge on him, for this would only increase the ulcers of those who sin; correct with advice, threats and punishments that would serve as a means to stop or keep evil within the boundaries of moderation.”

One elderly priest talked about how he once received important advice in his youth, which he successfully followed throughout his life. He turned to an experienced priest with a request for advice. The young man expected him to give him a short lecture on prayer and give him specific instructions on this matter. The priest answered in a few words, he said: “ Just talk to God" And the priest to whom this advice was given said that all his life, when he began to pray, he remembered this extremely simple advice, and all his life it helped him and inspired him to pray.

It’s good for us to always remember this extremely simple advice. If each of our prayers is a conversation with God, albeit not immediately full-fledged, but sincere, then, of course, we will be able to achieve great heights in the matter of prayer. We know examples of many saints who, having barely turned to God, went to deserted places and cried out to the Lord for the rest of their lives. In moments of joy they thanked and praised the Creator, in moments of despair they cried out for help. When fatigue set in, they asked for strength and diligence; when troubles happened, they begged for patience and humility; during demonic attacks they asked for protection. Thus, their entire life was spent in constant communication with the Lord, and they reached the heights of holiness.

However, the Tradition of the Church contains a lot of advice regarding prayer. Over the two thousand years of the existence of the Church, many saints have gone through a difficult and dangerous path of prayer. And we don't need to start from scratch. It would be much wiser to listen to the voice of the Church and follow the path of prayer not by touch, through trial and error, which can cost us mental health or even the death of our soul, but along the road trodden by a great many saints. This experience is probably especially important for us, people living in the world, burdened with many responsibilities and not having the opportunity to tirelessly cry out to God day and night. And why try to find a path in a deep, dangerous forest, when many of the best guides offer us their experience and knowledge to help us. We will try to give here the basic recommendations that will help us move forward successfully in the work of prayer.

In any case, the beginning is important. Just as a runner before the start takes a special pose and freezes in anticipation of the start of the race, so we must gather the strength of our souls before starting prayer. An incorrect start threatens the athlete with failure of the competition. Lack of proper attention to preparing for prayer implies a high probability that in a few minutes we will forget what we are doing, and while our eyes and lips pronounce the words of prayer, our thoughts will wander far from the essence of what is happening.

In the prayer book, before the start of morning prayers, the instruction is given: “ Rising from sleep, before doing anything else, stand reverently, placing yourself before the All-Seeing God, and, having made the sign of the cross, say: in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. After this, slow down a little until all your feelings subside and your thoughts leave everything earthly: and then begin to pray».

So, the first thing you should do when starting a more or less lengthy prayer is to prepare for it. When starting any serious business, we prepare for it for some time: we think about a plan of action, collect everything necessary to complete it. Moreover, we must prepare ourselves for a conversation with God. We must force our mind to break away from everything that it is constantly busy with during prayer, and concentrate only on prayer. We must try to bring some order and calm into the chaos in which our thoughts and feelings often find themselves. In order to achieve silence and tranquility in our soul, without which it is impossible to meet God, we are invited to stand silently for a while and try to realize the fact that the Lord is always next to us and at the moment He is also addressed to us. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh advises: stand quietly, close your eyes. Imagine, feel that the Lord is looking at you. Realize the greatness and solemnity of this moment. Think about your unworthiness. And finally, feel the great love with which the Lord addresses you. There's no need to rush. Let all these feelings gradually find a response in our heart, and then we can stand before God, experiencing at the same time a feeling of reverence, awareness of our unworthiness, and the love of God. And then you can begin further prayer. You can stay in a state of silent presence before God for longer. This is already a full-fledged prayer, and therefore there is no need to be afraid of wasting time, taking it away from prayer. But if we feel that it is becoming difficult to hold attention longer, then we should move on to the main part of the prayer.

Now let's look at some rules that a person starting to pray should know. These rules were developed as a result of the experience of prayer of many, many saints. By following them, a person can avoid many of the difficulties and dangers that await him on this difficult path.

First of all, we should always remember that our prayer should be dispassionate. Or, to put it in other words: prayer should never be sensual or emotional. The Holy Fathers paid a lot of attention to the structure of human nature. They identified three components of our being: spirit, soul and body. In the Fall, these components lost their proper hierarchy, that hierarchy in which the spirit predominated and controlled our entire being; the body and soul (by which the holy fathers meant just feelings, emotions) found themselves in the power of sin and began to act uncontrollably in human nature. Now our task is to restore the correct condition and position of all the components of the human being, but until healing is achieved, we cannot trust our feelings, because instead of reflecting the movements of the spirit, they are often driven.

Therefore, we must beware of trusting our feelings and allowing them to take the lead in prayer. We have to try to pray with your mind, and the feelings will be activated of their own accord as they progress in prayer and are healed. For this purpose the Church offers ponder the words of the prayer with utmost attention, that is, pray only with your mind. Under no circumstances should you artificially warm up or cultivate any emotional states in yourself, even if these are such wonderful feelings as love for God, repentance for your sins, etc. Moreover, people with an emotionally developed mental makeup need to curb their emotions. Such a prayer may seem dry and too “heady,” but this will save it from the danger of being directed along the wrong path. If we focus on feelings, they will come to the fore in our prayer and obscure the spiritual aspect of prayer. The spirit, instead of dominating, will be pushed to the periphery.

At best, this will become an obstacle to correct prayer and improvement in it. Prayer will become something like auto-training: it will help a person relieve stress and restore a normal mental state. In this case, the same mechanisms of our body will be involved that help relieve nervous tension, for example, by watching a touching film or, conversely, a horror film. The accumulated stress finds a way out, and the person feels better. However, true prayer has nothing to do with this.

In the worst case, a person faces a serious danger of falling into a state of mental exaltation, or even completely losing mental health.

We encounter such incorrect and dangerous prayer, based on sensory tension, in various sects; this can often be encountered in Christian denominations that deny Tradition. Unfortunately, even in Orthodox churches you can find many worshipers who are on this wrong path. During prayer, such people raise their arms, sway, roll their eyes, tense their faces, nervously make the sign of the cross, and sing hysterically along with the clergy or the choir.

Holy ascetics strongly advise us to pray with our minds. At a certain stage of our spiritual growth, the mind, under the influence of grace, will unite with the feelings. Then the feelings will participate in prayer in its entirety. They will take their rightful place in human nature and will ascend to God under the supervision of the spirit. This will be a prayer with transformed feelings, and there will not be a shadow of that anguish and tension that is so characteristic of our passionate soul.

If feelings are born on their own, we, of course, should not drive them away completely. But we must carefully ensure that a state of emotional tension does not arise. To do this, you need to try, as already mentioned, to experience all feelings with your mind. This recommendation may not seem entirely clear to some. But there are also more specific instructions on how to avoid the danger of being at the mercy of sensual prayer. Here they are.

Firstly, the body should not be tense. It shouldn’t be relaxed, of course. You need to keep him calm and collected. AND prayer should not be reflected either in the body or on the face. That is, no wringing of hands or passionate pressing of hands to the chest, etc. is acceptable. The same applies to the state of the face: the muscles should not participate in prayer in any way, the face should be completely calm, and not tense.

Secondly, whether we pray out loud or silently, we must try to pronounce the words evenly and calmly, with minimal intonation. Let us recall the ancient Russian liturgical reading on one note and the slow, monotonous Znamenny singing. All this was supposed to help the person praying to enter the correct, spiritually sober structure of prayer.

And finally, it is important to ensure that no images arise in our minds during prayer. You cannot imagine God, saints, or anything at all. This can be especially difficult for people gifted in this area, for example, artists. However, the images that are born in our consciousness do not reliably reflect Divine reality, and most often distort it. In addition, they can cause an incorrect response in our feelings, which are very difficult to maintain in a state of relative dispassion.

Taking into account all of the above, we note that from the very beginning of prayer, when we imagine ourselves standing before the All-Seeing God, we should not give free rein to our feelings and let any images into our consciousness. The temptation to imagine God watching us must certainly be rejected. During such a presence, we realize that God is with us invisibly, and we will try to experience this reality more deeply. How can you focus on the fact that God is there if He doesn't show Himself in any way? It is not difficult. Spiritual intimacy is actually much more important for us than visible and physically tangible intimacy. Sometimes people live side by side for years, but remember each other’s existence only when some external events force them to do so. And, conversely, loving people always remember each other’s existence. A mother, when her child is seriously ill, constantly remembers his presence. She can prepare medicine for the child, turning away from him, talk to someone or even do things outside the room where her sick baby is, but no matter what a loving mother does, she constantly remembers the child, she is constantly aware of his presence in the house . Let us try in a similar way to remember the presence of God. Such the memory of God should be a permanent state for us. But first you need to achieve remembrance of God, at least during prayer.

Since the first stage of prayer life will be, first of all, an exercise for our mind, then fatigue of the mind from prayer will be a natural phenomenon. During attentive mental prayer, a slight pain in the head may even appear. The same thing happens when, out of habit, you have to engage in intellectual work for a long time, for example, reading a complex scientific book. But with proper persistence, the mind soon gets used to the load, and the pain and tension in the head disappear.

However, to the same extent that it is important not to feel sorry for yourself and to continue prayer exercises, it is necessary to approach this matter wisely. Holy teachers of prayer recommend starting with a short period of time. Let it be 15 - 20 minutes to begin with. If there is such an opportunity, then the most useful thing for correctly and as quickly as possible accustoming your mind to prayer will be pray little by little, but several times a day. This is an ideal prayer for a beginner. It must be said that most often we never move on to the next stage of prayer and remain beginners all our lives, but this practice of prayer is most useful for us. It forces us to return our thoughts to God throughout the day, and in this it anticipates the ideal state of unceasing prayer, when a person is in a state of constant attentive presence before God. Therefore, for those who consider this possible for themselves, it would be ideal, in addition to morning and evening prayer for 20 minutes, to allocate several more periods of time per day for 5-10 minutes. With the help of such short but frequent prayer, the mind most easily learns concentration and attention. These principles are fundamental in the work of our mind, therefore psychologists and teachers recommend that parents of children with particularly distracted attention engage with their children little by little, but often. Since such children, with all their desire, can concentrate their attention for a maximum of fifteen minutes, all the remaining time will be wasted on lessons. It’s good if our mind is trained to study something for a long time and carefully. If not, then, like an absent-minded child, the mind will only be able to follow the words of the prayer for the first ten to fifteen minutes, then it will get tired, and we will no longer be able to collect it. It turns out that the rest of the time is wasted. A mind that is not accustomed to concentration will have to gradually accustom itself to attention. So a mother forces her unlucky son to sit down for his homework again and again in order to accomplish what another could do in one sitting. And if a mother has the proper patience and perseverance in raising her son, then sooner or later she will achieve success. Her child will be able to quickly and efficiently complete his homework, and his mind, accustomed to working, will no longer want to spend his free time in idleness. Then the child, to the great joy of the mother, will enthusiastically do something intellectual in his free time, which he will now have plenty of. When we begin to pray, we most often discover that our mind behaves like a disobedient and lazy child. Therefore, let us be patient and, like a reasonable mother, we will give him small feasible tasks, returning him to prayer several times a day.

In prayer it is extremely important to be as judicious and practical as to be zealous. This rule is especially relevant for a worldly person. Vanity and a multitude of everyday duties are eager to extinguish the initial zeal of a Christian, to switch his attention from eternal objects to temporary and transitory ones. The countless entertainments that the world offers tempt you to give up prayer at the first difficulties and devote all your free time to them. It’s not the same with monks, whose whole structure of life helps them to take up the work of prayer again and again if it has been abandoned for some time. For a worldly person, if he fails, it is much more difficult not to give up prayer completely, so prudence is especially important for him in the matter of prayer.

Many trials await a person preparing to begin a life of prayer. Among the first is to overdo it in the heat of inspiration. A wise mother knows that she cannot give free rein to her desire to teach her child to study right away. By forcing him to study for too long, she will achieve nothing but aversion to studying. Thus, a bow string that is over-tight will not be able to send an arrow in the desired direction, but will break. The principle of a pendulum, well known in psychology, which, having swung in one direction, rolls back the same amount in the opposite direction, was successfully applied by Father Alexander Men to our spiritual life. In spiritual life, and in particular in the matter of prayer, the same thing happens. The Holy Fathers strictly warned: you cannot immediately plunge headlong into ascetic life. Moderation and gradualism are needed here. Otherwise, after a short period of complete dedication to spiritual exploits, a person finds himself faced with an almost irresistible temptation to give up everything and return to his former, irreligious life.

In order not to find ourselves, after some time, in the position of a pendulum swinging in the opposite direction, let us not undertake unbearable feats of prayer. The most correct decision that will help avoid excesses in one direction or another would be plan your prayer life in advance. To some, this may seem like a somewhat mundane solution, unworthy of such a spiritual subject as prayer. But the experience of the two-thousand-year prayer history of the Church shows that this is the most correct decision. In the life of prayer, less than in any other activity, one should wait for the desire to appear. It is just as important to maintain routine and regularity in prayer as we observe, for example, our diet. If we forgot or didn’t have time to eat once, that’s okay, but if we constantly eat when and how we have to, then it’s unlikely that such nutrition will bring the proper benefits to our body, maintaining it in the necessary tone.

This artist can paint one picture and then sit and wait for inspiration to appear again. In prayer life it is completely unacceptable sit and wait when a state of prayer comes and the soul itself asks to pray. How could we not find ourselves in the position of a writer, artist, poet, who has produced several, or even just one, work in his entire life.

In life, we can let minor things take their course, the implementation of which is not so necessary for us. But if you need to achieve a result, you will have to constantly work, regardless of whether you are in the mood at the moment or not. So, if the owner wants her apartment to be in order, she must constantly maintain it. If she cleans only when she wants, then only sometimes the apartment will be clean, but usually it will be dirty and disorderly. And in general, there will be little benefit to the apartment from such inspired cleaning.

So, so that our prayer does not remain fruitless, but brings order to the soul, let’s plan the day in advance and set aside a certain time for prayer. In Orthodox asceticism, a pre-established prayer routine is called prayer rule. Even great ascetics had and followed the rule of prayer. Because the rule organizes, does not allow you to relax and become lazy, on the one hand, on the other, in the words of St. Theophan the Recluse, allows you to “keep jealousy in its measure.”

In order not to be distracted and not to look at the clock all the time, it is convenient to set an alarm clock for a certain time. And in these moments, try to disconnect from everything extraneous and pronounce the words of prayer very carefully.

priest Konstantin Parkhomenko

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And believers. In their prayers, people share their joys and problems with the Almighty. And many people have a question: “How to offer prayers to God so that he hears and helps?” This question is especially often asked by disappointed people who have not found the support of a Higher Power. Perhaps they should reconsider their views and think more about the fact that maybe they themselves did something wrong.

In the modern pace of life, it can be difficult for a person to find time to visit a temple to participate in services, but if he needs God’s support, he can do it in any other place. How to pray correctly at home?

How to offer prayers in front of an icon?

God and faith in him are in us, our souls. That is why you need to read prayers not only in a certain place - a temple, but always and everywhere. You can organize the reading of prayers with the help of special religious literature (Prayer Book, Psalter) or in your own words - often this does not matter. The main condition for good prayer is sincerity and a sense of connection with God.

• It is advisable to purchase a collection of prayers - Prayer Book. It comes in several types - full and short, in Church Slavonic and the familiar Russian language. Therefore, choose a collection of prayers that is convenient for you to use.
• Before prayer you should tune in. This means that it is necessary to drive away all bad thoughts and forget about worldly problems. You should also pay attention to appearance, wear a cross, and women tie a headscarf.
• You need to pray in front of the image of the saint to whom it will be directed. Approach the icon, take a comfortable position, concentrate, bow and cross yourself.
• Say the text of the prayer slowly, out loud or silently, thoughtfully, with reverence.
• must read daily. Be sure to read morning prayers and prayers before going to bed. This will help you be closer to God.

How to read prayers in church?

But still, a real Christian must attend church and at least occasionally participate in common prayer. This type of prayer is considered the most powerful, because... when everyone is praying for the same thing, even if one person is distracted, the prayer will not become weaker.

• It is not recommended to eat before going to church. The only exceptions are the sick and infirm. Appearance is very important: dress modestly, women should cover their heads and wear a skirt below the knees.
• When you head to, start reading a special prayer- going to church, or Our Father.
• When entering the temple, make the sign of the cross with three small bows.
• Respect the feelings of other believers. Do not disturb them from performing their prayers.
• It is forbidden to kneel in church during prayer.
• Just as during private prayer, during participation in public you need to concentrate on what you are doing, forget about worldly affairs. All your thoughts should be about God.
• All services are performed by a priest. The parishioners’ task is to listen carefully to what he says and follow the progress of the prayer.. To make it easier to do this, hold their text in your hands. Parishioners say the words of prayer together with the priest during the Divine Liturgy, Sunday all-night vigil and Easter service.
• If you want to pray in front of the icon, then you need to come to the temple before the start of the service, approach the icon, say a prayer to this saint, while making the sign of the cross and bowing from the waist twice, press your lips to the icon. If it is an icon of Christ, then you should venerate his hand, foot or clothing. If this is an icon, then to the hand or clothing, and for the Savior Not Made by Hands or the head of John the Baptist - to the hair.

How to be heard by God, how to read “Our Father”?

To be heard by God, you need to believe in what you are asking him for. You need to pronounce the words of prayers meaningfully, directing your thoughts only to God. It is unacceptable at this moment to be distracted by extraneous things for even a second.

The prayer “Our Father...” must be said several times a day, and at moments when you have any problems in your life, you need to say it especially often. History knows many cases when repeated repetition of this prayer stopped conflicts, healed illnesses, and cast out demons from people’s souls.

“Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Lord have mercy. (Thrice) Bless."

Prayers

Prayer service "Detentions"

This Elder Pansofia's prayer is read exclusively with the blessing of the priest. It helps to get rid of all evil, protect yourself and your family from hatred, envy, anger, and resentment. Prayer can protect against violent actions, both physical and energetic.

Saint Matrona

Blessed Moscow helps in almost all difficult life situations:

• When needed healing from diseases.
• For reconciliation and resolving family problems.
• When help needed at work or study.
• For conception child.
• To find family happiness.
• IN various everyday matters and etc.

Before turning to Matronushka for help, it would be nice to make a donation: take the food to the temple or distribute it to the poor on the street.

Prayers to Matrona:

“O blessed mother Matrono, hear and accept us now, sinners, praying to you, who in all your life has learned to receive and listen to all those who suffer and mourn, with faith and hope who resort to your intercession and help, giving quick help and miraculous healing to everyone;

May your mercy not fail now for us, unworthy, restless in this busy world

and nowhere finding consolation and compassion in spiritual sorrows and help in physical illnesses:

heal our illnesses, deliver us from the temptations and torment of the devil, who passionately fights,

help me to carry my everyday Cross, to bear all the hardships of life and not to lose the image of God in it,

preserve the Orthodox faith until the end of our days, have strong trust and hope in God and unfeigned love for our neighbors;

help us, after leaving this life, to achieve the Kingdom of Heaven with all those who please God,

glorifying the mercy and goodness of the Heavenly Father, glorified in the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen."

A short prayer to Matrona:

“Holy righteous old woman Matrono, pray to God for us!”

Guardian Angel

Everyone has something that protects them throughout their lives. The Guardian Angel has the authority to forgive our sins, to pray to the Lord God for us, and to prevent us from making a mistake. You need to ask him about this by reading:

“Holy Angel of Christ, falling to you I pray, my holy guardian, given to me for the protection of my sinful soul and body from Holy Baptism, but with my laziness and my evil custom I angered your most pure lordship and drove you away from me with all the cold deeds: lies, slander, envy, condemnation, contempt, disobedience, brotherly hatred, and resentment, love of money, adultery, rage, stinginess, gluttony without satiety and drunkenness, verbosity, evil thoughts and crafty ones, proud custom and lustful indignation, self-lust for all carnal lust. How can you look at me, or approach me like a stinking dog? Whose eyes, Angel of Christ, look upon me, entangled in evil in vile deeds? How can I already ask for forgiveness with my bitter and evil and crafty deed, I fall into misery all day and night and at every hour? But I pray to you, falling down, my holy guardian, have mercy on me, a sinful and unworthy servant of yours (name), be me a helper and intercessor against the evil of my opponent, with your holy prayers, and make me a partaker of the Kingdom of God with all the saints, always, and now and ever and ever. Amen."

Sometimes the Angel's help looks like a series of some signs, or as if an inner voice is telling a person. If you happen to experience a miracle created by your Guardian Angel, then do not forget to thank him for this with prayer or in your own words.

Spyridon of Trimifuntsky

Prayers to the defender of Orthodoxy, Spyridon of Trimifuntsky, helped those in need countless times. Coming from a simple peasant family, during his lifetime he was a shepherd. After the death of his wife, he was invited to become a priest in one of the Cypriot churches, because... everyone knew about his righteous life, his love for God and godly actions.

It was the first type of activity that became the reason that his image on icons is not the same as that of other saints - he is depicted in a shepherd’s hat.

Spyridon Trimifuntsky - saint, who performed a large number of miracles during his life: resurrected people, cast out demons.

He fulfills any requests of believers. Most often they pray to the Saint:

• ABOUT health.
• About family well-being.
• About successes in business.
• To get a job.
• Get housing.
• To the cattle were not sick, reap a good harvest, etc.

There are many prayers to Trimifuntsky. If it is difficult for you to learn them by heart, then refer to the saint in your own words, for example:

“Saint Spyridon! Pray to God to forgive my sins, give me health, protect me from trouble, enemies and envious people. Beg, blessed Spyridon, from our Lord for a comfortable life for me. Amen."

Mother of God

The Most Holy Theotokos is the earthly mother of Christ. She patronizes expectant mothers and is the protector of children.. Prayers dedicated to her help in family matters, to conceive and give birth to a healthy child, to receive healing, to protect yourself and your family from troubles, and more.

You can turn to the Mother of God with prayer:

“Virgin Mother of God, Rejoice, O Blessed Mary, the Lord is with Thee: blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, for Thou hast given birth to the Savior of our souls.”

Before and after meals

Before eating, one of the family members, usually the head of the family, says the prayer “Our Father...”, the rest repeat it to themselves or in a low voice.

For the blessing of food and drink for the laity:

“Lord Jesus Christ, our God, bless us with food and drink through the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother and all Thy saints, as Blessed be unto the ages of ages. Amen." (And cross food and drink)

After the meal:

“We thank Thee, Christ our God, for Thou hast filled us with Thy earthly blessings; Do not deprive us of Your Heavenly Kingdom, but because You have come among Your disciples, O Savior, give them peace, come to us and save us.”

Nicholas the Wonderworker

Nicholas the Wonderworker showed interest in church affairs from infancy. On the recommendation of a priest-relative, the parents, who, by the way, were wealthy people, sent little Nicholas to worship. Nicholas the Wonderworker devoted his entire life to this cause. He had to endure a lot for the sake of faith, because... At that time there were persecutions of Christians.

Nicholas the Wonderworker helps in many difficult life circumstances, students during exam periods, the poor, and those who go on a long journey.

The saint occupies a special place among the saints. He is considered the closest to God. Therefore, prayers to him are the most powerful and fastest-acting.

“Oh, all-holy Nicholas, exceedingly saintly servant of the Lord, our warm intercessor, and everywhere in sorrow a quick helper. Help me, a sinner and a sad person, in this present life, beg the Lord God to grant me forgiveness of all my sins, which I have sinned greatly from my youth, in all my life, in deed, word, thought and all my feelings; and at the end of my soul, help me, the accursed one, beg the Lord God, the Creator of all creation, to deliver me from airy ordeals and eternal torment, so that I always glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and your merciful intercession, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen."

On the days of remembrance

The third, ninth and fortieth days from the day of death of a person are considered especially significant in Christianity. This is due to the special state of the soul of the deceased before the Last Judgment.

Therefore, for all 40 days from the date of death of a person, they read the Psalter and Prayers for the departed (“cell rule”). These special prayers are added to the obligatory prayers, which are referred to in the prayer book as a memorial for the departed.

“God of spirits and all flesh, having trampled down death and abolished the devil, and given life to Thy world; Himself, Lord, rest the soul of Your departed servant (Your departed servant or Your departed servant), [name], in a brighter place, in a greener place, in a calm place, from where sickness, sorrow and sighing have escaped. Every sin committed by him (her or them), in word, or deed, or thought, as God is good and a lover of mankind, forgive him. For there is no man who will live and not sin. For You are the only one without sin, Your righteousness is righteousness forever, and Your word is truth.”

How do Muslims pray to Allah?

Before prayer, it is necessary to perform the ablution ritual.. Then dress appropriately - in Islam, exposure of the body is unacceptable, especially for women.

ABOUT special attention should be paid to the place where prayer is held - it must be clean. Another special condition is that a Muslim’s face must be turned in a certain direction, towards Mecca.

Before performing namaz, you need to tune in, discard all extraneous thoughts. The whole consciousness should be occupied with what you say to the Almighty.

Namaz is preceded by a call - adhan. Next, surahs from the Koran and special dua prayers are read, accompanied by bows.

Here is what Archimandrite Georgy, the abbot of the Timashevsky Holy Spirit Monastery, writes about this in his article “Mirage of Healing?”: “I strongly advise you not to read such newspapers and especially the “prayers” that are printed in them... These prayers are combined and distorted, and often simply invented by the occultists themselves, in order to attract more inquisitive (and illiterate in Orthodoxy) readers.Illiterate Christians are carried away by such prayers because they really see in front of them a certain text that mentions the Name of the Lord, the Mother of God, the saints , and are deceived by this."(On June 18, 2011, at about 6:00 p.m., the abbot of the Holy Spiritual Monastery in Timashevsk, Schema-Archimandrite Georgy (Sava). ed.)

In addition, such publications often contain Orthodox prayers read for various illnesses, for example, “prayers for healing hearing,” “for correcting vision,” “for skin diseases,” and so on.

Those publications that publish such prayers (supposedly for the healing of all human organs) are completely unaware that many of these prayers can only help the patient if they are read only by a clergyman, and not by the patient himself, and especially not by a “healer.” . Such newspapers take most of the prayers from the holy Breviary, which can only be used by a person who has received the sacrament of the priesthood, that is, a priest. Moreover, all those prayers taken by the “healers” from the Holy Book of Breviaries were completely distorted by them. For example, in the newspaper of Krasnodar “healers and clairvoyants” a prayer is given “for healing the brain,” but such a prayer is read only when a person has “instinct”, that is, a mental illness, and not just a headache. All these prayers are intended only for priests, and there are prayers for the laity.

In the New Testament Church, the sacrament of the priesthood was established, performed only by bishops. What is this sacrament? At the moment of its completion, the grace of the Holy Spirit descends on the one who is ordained, sanctifying and giving him spiritual power in the sacrament of repentance to forgive our sins. This power is passed down by succession from the apostles of Christ, to whom the Lord Himself gave it, sending them into the world: Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; whoever you leave it on will stay on it(John 20, 23).

There are liturgical and prayer rites compiled by the fathers of the Church of Christ. Their rites contain prayers that only priests can read. Even the deacon has no right or authority to read them. Those who do not have the priestly rank, when reading such prayers, for example, to consecrate a house, to exorcise evil spirits, and others, are simply desecrated.

We commit the sin of sacrilege because we take upon ourselves a dignity that we do not have. In this regard, Archimandrite Gregory cites one very instructive case: “One young man (he lives in Timashevsk, visiting the Trinity-Sergius Lavra one day, went into a bookstore and bought a book there with the title “Servant Book” (this happened in the early 90s years). A missal is a book that includes liturgical sequences, in which there are secret prayers read purely by the priest. Of course, this guy did not know that such prayers cannot be read by a layman... At home he began to read this book, reading those prayers that should only be said by a priest. After a short time, the guy noticed that some kind of “warmth” appeared in his body, a feeling of “grace”... The demon was drawing him into the trap of delusion through sensual seduction. I warned this guy that if he does not stop doing inappropriate things, then something bad may happen to him... But this young man did not heed my instructions, insisting that through reading this book grace and the Holy Spirit would descend on him... Soon after our conversation with him at the moment when he was once again reading the Priestly prayers, a demon entered into him... How much suffering and grief he brought to himself and his mother, only his mother can tell...

Here is an example of the fact that not all prayers can be read by a layman..."

What kind of recommendations and advice you won’t see in the newspapers of the so-called “traditional healers”! How to protect your home from evil and damage? It turns out that you need to walk around a house or apartment with a candle and say conspiracies (they are printed right away) that mention the name of Christ or the Virgin Mary! This will be the consecration of the house. But this is just a superstitious custom. All these councils only instill sectarian delusions among the people, bring confusion into the ranks of the newcomers, and insult the Holy Church and the clergy.

If you follow such advice, then a person should not do anything else but perform some rituals from morning to evening and read conspiracies and texts fabricated from all kinds of spiritual literature for days.

Everyone has their own responsibilities. The duties of the priest include fulfilling the requirements - prayer rites and prayers - to invoke God's help in the needs, that is, the requirements, everyday needs of Orthodox Christians - the laity.

Not a single law of Holy Scripture says that when we are sick, we turn to healers, clairvoyants, and so on for help. There is only one thing written in the Holy Scriptures: “If you are sick, call the elders of the Church (that is, priests), and they say a prayer...” And only this prayer, pronounced by the priests, in combination with the great faith of the patient, can give the patient the desired healing, and “ even many forgotten sins will be forgiven him.”

Be vigilant, brothers and sisters. Now it has become fashionable to print prayers for all ailments indiscriminately in newspapers and books. Many lay people use these prayers, but this is a very big sin, since these prayers are taken from church liturgical books.

To God, Theophan the Recluse gives in his message “Four Words on Prayer.” It contains a precise explanation of how to turn to the Almighty and be heard by Him. The great Russian saint convinces that the presence of attributes that promote a prayerful mood (icons, candles, bows) is not prayer itself, but only preparation for it.

It doesn’t matter where the desire to talk to God found you: at home or in the field. Communication with the Creator is equally accessible everywhere. Man communicates with Him in his heart. If it is not possible to

visit the temple as often as you would like, don’t worry. If you are interested in Christian topics, you will definitely understand how to pray correctly at home.

In his explanations, Theophan the Recluse points out the importance of love in the soul of the person praying. He calls it “the crown of Christian life,” “spiritual paradise.”

Without knowing how to pray correctly at home, you can simply engage in “shaking the air.” Empty pronunciation of words, even those written in sacred books, will not give the believer anything: neither overcoming his passions, nor God’s help.

In critical situations, a person calls on the Lord, without thinking about whether he is in church or not. And often help comes, the prayer is heard. To understand how to pray at home, you need to realize that in essence we are always communicating with God, at every moment of our lives.

Therefore, there are no strict rules on how to pray correctly at home. The main thing is to fill the soul with love, faith and sincerity.

Nowadays, detailed explanations of who a person is and how

he can
to build your communication with God, says researcher-psychologist S. N. Lazarev. In his books, he convinces that the root cause of all the troubles of humanity is the small amount of love in the souls of our contemporaries. Lazarev’s works confirm the long-known
universal truths. They talk about how important inner attitude is. In his books, as well as in the instructions of the holy fathers, you can find detailed explanations on how to pray correctly at home.

However, the priests recommend that the layman pay attention to some technical aspects of home prayer. They give advice on what to do if you cannot concentrate on the texts you are reading. They teach you to think about the meaning of words. Give special importance

Sincere repentance.

In their opinion, the main purpose of prayer is to help in overcoming one's vices. A person must, in a sincere impulse, turn to the Creator and ask that the sins of both himself and the human race be removed. But without your own internal change, automatic removal of sins is impossible. With the help of prayer, you need to realize your shortcomings and overcome them.

If the Christian tradition is close to a person, then it is better to ask in prayer not for yourself, but for your loved ones, thereby proving your love for humanity. The natural desire of any believer is to become like God. Therefore, it is so important not to be distracted by trifles, but to focus on doing good deeds.

It is important to understand that no matter what, we are still always heard by God, no matter in what place and at what time of day we pray to Him.