How to pray correctly at home, in church, in front of an icon, relics, so that God hears and helps us: Orthodox church rules. Is it possible and how to pray correctly in your own words? What basic prayers should an Orthodox Christian know and read: a list of words

How to learn to turn to God? Reading prayers according to the prayer book, even if carefully, does not mean turning to Him. Very often you catch yourself simply reading them or, having already memorized them by heart, pronouncing them like some kind of monologues, but not internally addressing them to the Creator. That’s why you’re distracted, your heart is cold, and you force yourself to rise to prayer with difficulty... What needs to be done to make prayer alive and ardent? We are talking about this with Abbot Nektariy (Morozov).

- Father Nektary, turning to God is not at all the same as turning to a person? When we turn to a person, we don’t have this problem - we see the person in front of us, we know the purpose of our appeal and we turn, and this seems completely natural. But going to God is always a problem, always some kind of difficulty.

— I don’t agree with this comparison: turning to a person is no problem, but turning to God is a problem. A huge number of people, when addressing other people, do it in a way that they really shouldn’t do. And the results of such treatment can be quite disastrous. Some people, reading prayers, believe that they are praying, but in fact, as you say, they are not turning to God. But it also happens that a person turns to a person and says to him: I need this and that from you. But there is no heartfelt contact between the person who turns and the one to whom he turns. A person who is asked for something in this way can only do it by virtue of his Christian mercy and kindness. And if he did not fulfill our request, it was because of our hardness of heart. We need to learn equally - both how to address God and how to address a person.

Before answering the question of how to learn to turn to God and people, it must be said: a person can only learn what he wants to learn. If there is a desire, then there will not be any special difficulties. Why? Because if a person feels the need for God, the need for His help, he will look for a way to receive this help, to be worthy of God’s mercy. Every person who believes in God knows that you can ask God for help in prayer and that you need to ask in such a way that your own heart responds. This is how learning happens - the person himself, with his heart, responds to the words of prayers. The whole point is desire.

— In the desire to turn to God and find His help?

- Certainly. Sometimes a strange thing happens: a person seems to be a believer, an Orthodox Christian, but when something happens in his life, he does not pray to God, does not ask for His help. Why? Not out of modesty, not out of humility. But because he is somehow afraid to interfere with God in his affairs. He wants to sort out his own affairs. At the very least, badly, but - myself. Because suddenly the Lord will intervene in his affairs and do everything completely differently than he wants. Such a person will never learn to turn to God. Because in order to truly turn to Him, you need to be ready to accept His will for yourself, whatever it may be. Any prayer should end with the words: however, not my will, but yours be done(Luke 22:42). But this is what a person doesn’t want to say, and sometimes he prefers not to say anything.

If a person has a desire to fulfill the will of God, if he needs this will to be fulfilled, what can you tell him how to learn to turn to God, so that it is not formal, but from the heart? Our life consists of situations in which we feel our human insufficiency, foolishness, weakness, sinfulness. And every such situation should become a reason to turn to God. As the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain said: you got up in the evening to pray to God, and you must force out of your heart everything that occupied you during the day. But if you were unable to repress all this, were unable to forget all this for the sake of prayer, then turn it all into a reason for prayer. Because if this is important to you, then it cannot be passed by Him.

How many things happen to us, including things that hurt us! Unforeseen circumstances break our plans, destroy the work we are doing, a seemingly good and godly work; people suffer from this. How to deal with this? It is necessary to say: Lord, I will try to do what depends on me, and the rest is in Your hands, as You please, so it will be. And come to terms with it. As Elder Paisios said: before I do anything, I light a lamp and raise my hands to God, and then I do what is in my human power. This is a very good lesson for us. We need to do everything in our power, but before doing it, turn to God. And submit everything to His will and not worry about anything else. When we have such an attitude towards everything that happens to us and to God, it means that a thread (also an expression by Paisius the Holy Mountain) of trust has connected us with Him. But trust comes precisely through prayer.

- But in order to say in the hour of sorrow “... not my will, but Yours” - we need to think that we actually need this sorrow, this pain for some reason. So do I understand you?

— As the Monk Isaac the Syrian said, there is no other way to get closer to God except through sorrow. In an even, carefree, sorrowless life there would not be those moments that would make us cry out to God. When something happens to us, it mobilizes us, it gathers all our strength. Saint Theophan the Recluse said: if you pray to God, you must feel in your heart a certain “soreness” that makes you feel your heart, cry out from its depths. And when something happens to us, this sore forms by itself. Pain gathers our attention in the heart, and we pray from the heart, and not from somewhere - God knows where.

Grief can bring us closer to God, or it can push us away. To get closer, you need to say: Lord, I feel bad, I’m in pain, but if You allowed me to do this, then I need it, I thank You. If a person finds the strength to do this, he has taken a huge step forward. If a person says otherwise: “What is this, Lord, why are You so unfair to me!” - he will take a huge step back. By and large, we need to rejoice in those situations that hurt us, which the Lord Himself sends to us and in which we can trust Him. We need to be glad that the storm has broken out and we can step over the side of the boat and walk through the stormy water - to Him. Without this storm, we would not have known that this was possible. Although, of course, it is common for any of us to wish that the weather on our sea would be good.

- So, the Gethsemane prayer is an eternal model for all of us?

- Yes, and following this as a model, we need to take into account this: if the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane cried out to God three times, struggling and watering the earth with bloody sweat, then we need to cry out - not three times, but three hundred times, maybe. Because our struggle is a struggle with our own sin, cowardice, laziness. It is not easy for us to emerge victorious from this struggle. But when we come out, we always become stronger because we grow in trust in God. One of the ancient saints said: even if the sky bows to the earth, my mind will not be shaken. Such was his trust in God. We are far from such a measure, but by approaching this measure step by step, we can become a very strong and happy person.

“They say, however, that the path to spiritual growth is running up an escalator going down. Worth a stop...

“As soon as a person, who has already become accustomed to repentance and trust in God, relaxes, allows himself to complain and grumble, he becomes weaker and more unreasonable than he was.” He relaxed once, twice, three times - and became a completely unreasonable person, not understanding the ways of God and unable to come to terms with them.

— When we are in the grip of some acute experience, when we are in tears, in a state of extreme emotional stress, we relax and often do not remember God at all. If we are able to look back at ourselves - at least because we have accustomed ourselves to evening prayer and even in this state we cannot omit it - we realize that all this time it was as if God did not exist for us. And it is very difficult to gather again and return to Him.

“But in fact, this painful situation for us aims to remind us of God.” In such cases, it can really be difficult to cope with the excited nerves. But how does it arise, nervous excitement? It has a reason in the multitude of thoughts that push and pull us back and forth in our heads. An episode from the life of Macarius of Alexandria tells us what kind of battle with thoughts there is even among saints: he was so tormented by the thought of going somewhere that he lay down on the threshold of his cell and said: whoever wants can carry me, but I myself I'm not going anywhere. And he lay there until the thought went away. Thoughts weaken the nervous system, and the fight against them is, firstly, a matter of faith, and secondly, discipline. Discipline is needed in everything. If a person is used to getting up on time, he will get up on time. If I’m used to allowing myself to lie down for “five minutes,” I’ll lie down for an hour. I am accustomed to say at any time of sorrow: Lord, Thy will be done, Good welcome, won't we tolerate the evil ones?(cf. Job 2:10), which means he will say so. And if a person first allows himself to become faint-hearted, indulges in self-pity and only then tries to take control of himself, then, of course, it will be difficult for him to cope with himself.

- It was pulled down, try to get up now...

- Yes, I know this from my own experience, because I, too, am constantly dragged there. The escalator not only goes down, it also moves very quickly. But there are times when you still don’t let yourself be pulled off.

- Throughout our entire life, day after day, our attention is occupied by our own situation with all its problems, joys, hopes, fears... We are turned to ourselves, inwardly, perhaps, and to God - only insofar as this has attitude towards our same situation. When we feel bad and scared, we are ready to cry out, “Lord, have mercy!”; when we desperately need something, we are ready to ask Him for it, beg it, but we do not have a constant turn to the Creator. That’s why we can’t really pray... How can we turn ourselves a certain number of degrees?

- This is the right idea, you don’t just need to turn to God from time to time, you need to constantly turn yourself to Him. Why is this so difficult? It is difficult to leave everything that a person is turned to, to which he holds on, that owns his soul and attention. Where to begin? Anthony the Great has good advice: before going to bed, be sure to thank God for everything that happened that day. Even if on that day, according to human reasoning, there was nothing good at all, but only bad. You still need to thank God - first only with your lips, and after this verbal gratitude - perhaps even through the power of utterance - there will be an awareness of what we thank God for. Because He gave us another day to live. Because, although we fell into sins, the Lord saved us from many other sins. Because He somehow changes, forms, teaches our soul. Just start thanking - and your heart will tell you why. And it is important to start your day with the same gratitude to God. Then there won’t be this instant immersion in your own circumstances, problems, sorrows - immediately after waking up. Then you opened your eyes, and your first thought was not about the alarm clock, not about work, not about money, not even about the service - because we manage to run to church without thinking about God at all - but about Him. If a person becomes accustomed, as soon as he opens his eyes, to immediately say: “Lord, I thank You for giving me one more day,” then over time these words will penetrate very deeply into the heart.

- And so it is possible to learn to see God all the time, in other words, to respond to Him as a circumstance constantly present in our lives?

“In order to see Him all the time, you simply don’t have to turn away from Him. After all, in this world, in our lives, there is nothing that does not remind us of God. We live, breathe and exist by it. If at any moment His will, which supports our existence, becomes different, we will cease to exist. Therefore, there is no moment at which we would not have a reason to remember Him.

But the strength of a person’s remembrance of God can be different. It’s like a relationship with a person: sometimes they are smooth and familiar, but sometimes they capture us completely. It is very important that this feeling - that everything around us, everything that happens to us, is the work of God and His Providence for us - is constantly present in us. There is nothing in our lives that is not related to God!

— You say: “If you have the desire, there won’t be any special difficulties,” but how difficult it is, almost impossible to rebuild yourself! Who can do it? For example, do you succeed?

— Small discoveries await each of us on the spiritual path. And these discoveries testify not to success, no, but to the fact that a person is somehow still groping for a certain path for himself. We are very different, and the Lord, when he wants to achieve something from us, uses different ways of influencing our souls. Different ways of calling. What was, for example, the method of calling the Apostle Peter? An unexpectedly rich catch of fish (see: Lk. 5 , 4-7). But with the Apostle Matthew this happened differently (see: Matt. 9 , 9). And with the Apostle Paul (see: Acts. 9 , 3-9). The Lord selects his own key to each heart. So we, each to our own heart, must select some keys. Because the heart of each of us - on the one hand, it belongs to a person, but on the other hand, it doesn’t seem to belong to him, it is so not controlled by him.

For example, I found this key for myself: when I find myself in a situation that is difficult for me, that can destroy me - and not only my nervous system, not only my life, but also - the worst thing - my relationship with God - I try to imagine the consequences. What will I become if I allow this situation to overcome me, if I do not find the strength to come to terms with the will of God and thank Him for everything that He has sent me? I'll be left with nothing. With frayed nerves, a ruined life, with obvious signs of moral and intellectual degradation. And most importantly, I will find myself at a distance from God. How can I live like this? This thought about the horror into which I can plunge myself - it helps me overcome the painful situation and live, although it does not always help right away.

- Tell me, what else should our work consist of? It seems to me that a lot of things need to be rebuilt, for example, the attitude towards people.

— From the outside, all the trials that befall us come from people. The Lord arranges our lives, but it is people who directly create our life circumstances. Sometimes we tell ourselves this: “Yes, of course, I resign myself to what God sends me, but with this particular person I cannot find peace, because he is an instrument of untruth.” But we shouldn't really say that; in this case, we, according to the words of Abba Dorotheus, become like a dog at which a stick was thrown, and instead of figuring out where and why this stick came from, it grabs it and gnaws it as the cause of its trouble. And the cause of our misfortune is not man or God. The reason is, on the one hand, our depravity, on the other, the depravity of the world around us. And this must be accepted - not as something that has only an indirect relation to us, but as something in which we directly live. When we are accused, oppressed, it seems to us unfairly, to remember the commandment about the left cheek (see: Matt. 5 , 39), to remember those of our untruths for which no one convicted us or punished us, which no one knows except us and God. Yes, we can say: it is very difficult, it is difficult to live the way you propose now. But experience shows that living differently, not doing all this, is much more difficult.

— The prayers left to us by the holy fathers of the Church are, as it were, not tailored to our standards. We do not experience what they experienced; we simply have not grown up to these experiences. Getting to know their heritage is certainly useful for us, moreover, it is necessary: ​​without this beacon we will not be able to find the right course; but how can we pray with their words? What to do if this or that prayer does not become your own?

— A child learns poems by Pushkin, or Tyutchev, or Blok, without understanding their deep meaning; but if he reads poetry with interest and attention, his soul is gradually transformed, and gradually he can come to an understanding of poetry. And over time, perhaps, he will understand more than Pushkin or Tyutchev, such things happen. Something similar can be said about reading prayers. A person who reads them carefully will always find in them something that meets his own internal needs. By praying according to the prayer book, we ask God for forgiveness and mercy, and this is fully consistent with our measure. But there really are things there that exceed our measure. For example: saints see their own sinfulness, their unworthiness much better than us, and put it into such verbal form that it seems to us that we are better than them. Or: we understand that we are much worse, but we grieve because, unlike them, we cannot truly feel it. But if a person prays carefully and diligently, if he aligns his life with prayer, changes take place in him. A person grows - if not to the extent of saints, then, in any case, to the extent of understanding, internal acceptance of those words with which they addressed God. Prayer educates a person.

We often proceed in our reasoning from the fact that saints are not at all people like us, where should we care about them. This is, on the one hand, true; but the human soul, the soul of any of us, was originally created amazingly good, pure, bright. And in it - since man is created in the image and likeness of God - all the best is already contained. Yes, she is corrupted, distorted by sin. But there is still the best in her, and this best, of course, is able to respond to the words of the saints, live by these words and perceive them as her own. Our soul is like a tormented, downtrodden prisoner, and when we pray, we set it free. She has wings and when we pray we let her spread them and she can fly again.

- So we need to wait and hope that the words of the prayers composed by the holy fathers will one day become ours?

- There is no need to wait. You have to go towards this every day. It’s like sparks - today one spark will flash and illuminate our life, tomorrow another. Today one word of prayer is suddenly experienced by the heart as our own, tomorrow another. You just need to remember this, not to forget the insights that have already happened. Put this experience in your heart and continue to live by it. It is also important not to be afraid to experience what the saints experienced. A person is often afraid of this because it is painful to experience; the heart has to be deeply opened and laid bare before God and before oneself. This requires a renunciation of self-defense, a feeling of one’s own defenselessness. Because only when we do not protect ourselves, our Protector protects us.

“But in our daily lives we are so accustomed to defending ourselves that it seems impossible to break this habit.

- Yes, a person is a creature dependent on his habits, but habits can be changed. A person can change the bad habit of smoking to a good habit - running in the morning. Habits should depend on the person, not the person on the habits. We are used to being offended and suffering if we are told some unpleasant truth about us; and why? Why is suffering primary, and not joy from the fact that we were pointed out to something bad in us and thereby helped to change? Prayer is designed to change our heart, and by protecting ourselves, we protect our hearts from it. Here you need to choose and you need to know that it does not depend on possibility or impossibility, but on desire or unwillingness. There is, for example, such a thing as ballet: can you and I do what ballet dancers do on stage? Hardly. But they are the same people as us, they just exercised their body for years - because they wanted to dance in ballet. We are not called to exercise the body, but the soul, and if we do this poorly, it is only because we do not want to.

And one more important point: not to be afraid of the truth of life around us. Don’t hide, don’t run from it, don’t embellish it, but have the courage to face it face to face - with all its pain, horror, heaviness. And not to be horrified by this, not to be exhausted by this pain, but to accept life as it is. Only by approaching life in this way can you see human pain and try to heal it. Only by seeing life as it is, can you help someone and not ultimately pass by Christ. Often a person refuses to see life as it is and tries to formalize it. And then everything becomes a formality, including the relationship with God. At the beginning of our conversation, you compared your attitude towards God with your attitude towards man: do we always treat people informally? Are we always ready to accept a person as he is, to accept him into our hearts, and not turn away from him? How often do we turn away from a person because he causes us some kind of pain - by the very fact of his existence! And when we close ourselves off from people, we almost always close ourselves off from God. And if we once closed our heart to Him, it will not open later automatically. In order for it to reveal itself, special efforts and work of repentance will be needed. Why did St. Silouan of Athos say that praying for peace means shedding blood? Because to pray for the world you need to have such a heart - loving, feeling, merciful. That is why Elder Silouan cried over a cut snake, over a bat that he accidentally scalded with boiling water. It's hard to live like this. Live and cry over other people's pain. From the point of view of a modern person, such tears are a sign of a shattered nervous system, hysteria, etc. But from the point of view of Christianity, this is the norm - such an attitude towards all living things. Nude.

There is one more good rule, although it is not so easy to follow. When something happens that hurts us, when we suddenly learn about something, do not react to it immediately, but take a step back and wait, let what happened resonate in your heart, respond - and react after this heartfelt response. After all, we very often skim only on the surface of events and phenomena, and this also prevents us from living a true heartfelt life. And if a person does not live an authentic life, then his prayer cannot be authentic.

Journal "Orthodoxy and Modernity", No. 29 (45)

​ Marina Biryukova

How to correctly turn to God with requests and desires so that they come true?

Just recently we got into a conversation with a man, a salesman. He is a believer and it was precisely on this topic that he said that you need to contact the words of the Almighty powers. But it doesn't help me yet...

Sometimes God answers no, and we take this as a non-answer. Are you ready for such a turn of events?

God does not exist, as you will not understand, man was created by nature and not by God

And prayers began to help me only when I learned to THANK YOU for all the events in my life. I had a very difficult period for 2 years, but I was able to withstand everything and learned a good lesson, gained invaluable experience. That’s exactly why I I thanked the Lord. And now I began to notice that he helps me, although I pray in my own words, with all my heart. Before going to bed, I always thank the Lord for everything that happened during the day. By the way, very often tears flow in my eyes at these moments and so on immediately My soul becomes calm, I can’t describe it. The main thing is to thank, and only then ask

God exists, I know this for sure, I don’t know where, but I know everything here, but I still can’t believe it (earlier in my youth I said why believe - I already know), but now I just want to believe, despite the fact that I am disabled in terms of feelings and not only...

I don’t know where this knowledge comes from, as if a higher power invested it or just a logical conclusion, because I’m like a machine in an eternal search for myself and God!!! And yet, nature cannot create a soul.

Only God can create an immortal soul, something like this.

So I know, I don’t know where, but I just know (perhaps this is faith, as I used to think, but no cold knowledge - it will not warm you) and now I’m tired of living as if without a soul, but I just want to believe!!!

P.S. from the most soulless creature in...

Ask with all your heart for what you really need. They say that first you need to thank for everything that is already in your life, for life itself, and for the bad things that became a lesson and could enlighten you, teach you something (after all, without the will of God, not a hair will fall from a person’s head).

Then, you need to ask for forgiveness for all the bad things you have done, for the fact that you rarely remember God and often come to Him only in case of trouble, and in joy you forget to thank Him for it.

And then ask from the heart for what you need.

Turn to the Creator very sincerely, with a spiritual impulse. You need to really WANT if you want your request to be fulfilled. First you need to thank for everything you have in life (even if you have little), then ask for forgiveness for your sins. And only after This is to make a Request. It is not necessary to pray in Church, you can anywhere, as long as the Prayer comes from the Soul.

I don’t believe that God can help, only man himself helps himself, and the church is not an office for requests; God is either present in the soul or not. Yes, we usually go to church when we are in trouble, when we no longer believe in anything, and this is the last straw.

God is our Supreme Father. Friend and Teacher. The Highest Good. Sunum bonum. Communicating with Him will never lead to bad things. Just become very dear to Him. Surrender to Him and do something for Him. Keep a dry fast on the eleventh day after the full moon and new moon. On Ekadashi.

Handle with humility. And have the right desires that will benefit you as an immortal soul. The Lord fulfills such desires first of all. And pray for the help and protection of a holy person who can intercede for you before God. Vedic literature calls such a person a spiritual teacher. Or a garden guru.

Lord, give me the strength to accept what you, in your inexhaustible mercy and wisdom, deem possible to give me. And give me reason to accept your gift, and understand all its value and turn it into a greater good for your glory.

Something like that...

P.S.

God is not a goldfish to fulfill your desires. After all, desires are different. But in order for your life to be successful and prosperous, you need to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, study the Word of God, in one word, enter into a Covenant with the Lord. Your relationship with God will grow, strengthen in faith, and then you will see for yourself how your life changes. After all, God needs your heart, which knows how to love and forgive. Jesus, as a child, grew and became strengthened in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God descended on Him. That’s how we need to grow in faith, be strong in spirit, have God’s wisdom and grace. And by the grace of God, the Lord will bless us and meet all our needs. Glory to Him!

Every person at certain points in his life turns to God for help or advice. Therefore, it is necessary for everyone to know how to pray correctly at home so that God hears your words. Today, perhaps, the overwhelming majority of people are unsure that they are praying correctly, but sometimes you really want to hear the answer to the question posed.

How to pray correctly at home so that God hears?

Behind every turn of fate Insurmountable difficulties or dangers may await us:

• terrible diseases;
• a lack of money;
• uncertainty about the future;
• fear for loved ones and relatives.

Few people manage to avoid such turns. All that remains for us is to pray to God, tell him about our troubles and ask for help. If you want to hear an answer and feel a helping hand, then it is necessary that the request be sincere and come from the depths of your heart.

Unfortunately, in modern times, prayer is resorted to only in the most extreme circumstances, in desperate need of support, protection or help. But it is worth remembering that prayer is not just a collection of interconnected words, and a conversation with God, so the monologue must come from the soul. Prayer is the only way to communicate with the Creator, which is why every person should know how to pray correctly.

In order to be heard, it is not at all necessary to conquer mountain peaks, travel to holy places or walk through caves; it is enough to believe strongly and sincerely. If God sees everything, then why do we need to go somewhere to turn to him?

But how to read prayers correctly in order to be heard? What can you ask from the Creator? You can make requests to the Almighty for anything. Exceptions are requests that entail grief, sadness and tears of other people.

Divine Prayer Book Today it contains an incredible variety of prayers that cover various life situations of a believer. These are the prayers:

As we said earlier, these prayers simply have no number. There are no number of words with which one can turn to our Savior, praying for help. Just remember that the Lord is lenient towards you, understand the seriousness of your appeal, assessing your unworthiness.

Even if you do not know the words of the prayer, but you approach the prayer with all sincerity and seriousness, then The Lord will not leave you and will definitely guide you on the right path.

I would also like to add that turning to the Almighty is not a panacea for all diseases and is not one of the magical rituals. Therefore, treat the request accordingly. Remember that God himself knows who is worthy of what in this life. You shouldn’t ask him to harm or punish someone, it’s sinful! Never ask him to commit injustice.

When exactly can you say prayers?

Modern man does not have the opportunity to read prayers all day, so you should set aside a certain time for this. Waking up in the morning, even the busiest person in life can stand in front of the icons for a few minutes and ask God for blessings for the coming day. Throughout the day, a person can silently repeat prayers to his Guardian Angel, Lord or Mother of God. You can address them silently so that people around you don’t notice.

It is worth noting that a special time is before bed. It is at this hour that you can reflect on how spiritual this day was, how you sinned. Turning to the Lord before bedtime calms you down, allows you to forget the bustle of the past day, tuning into a calm and quiet sleep. Don’t forget to thank the Lord for everything that happened to you during the day and that he lived it with you.

There are different ways to ask the Lord for help, no matter where you are - at home or in the temple. The icon will always have a positive effect.

How to ask for help in front of an icon? Which image is better to give preference to? If you have no idea how to read the prayer correctly and in front of which icon, then it is best to pray in front of the images of the Most Holy Theotokos and Jesus Christ. These prayers can be called “universal” because they help in any task or request.

The main components of home prayer books are the beginning and the end. It is necessary to contact the Saints and ask for help correctly by following these simple tips:

Prayer will be heard by the Lord if you follow the following rules:

What is the difference between church and home prayer?

An Orthodox Christian is called to pray constantly, doing it anywhere. Today, many people have a very reasonable question: why go to church to pray? There are certain differences between home and church prayer. Let's look at them.

The Church was founded by our Jesus Christ, therefore, thousands of years ago, Orthodox Christians gathered in communities to glorify the Lord. Church prayer has incredible power and there are many confirmations from believers about grace-filled help after a church service.

Church fellowship involves and mandatory participation in religious services. How to pray so that the Lord will hear? First of all, you need to visit the church and understand the essence of the service. At the very beginning, everything will seem incredibly difficult, almost incomprehensible, but after a while everything will become clearer in your heads. It is also worth noting that to help every beginning Christian, special literature is published that clarifies everything that happens in the church. You can buy them at any icon shop.

Prayer by agreement - what is it?

In addition to home and church prayers, in the practice of the Orthodox Church There is. Their essence lies in the fact that at the same time people read the same appeal to the Lord or Saint. However, it is worth noting that these people do not necessarily have to be nearby, they can be in different parts of the world, it does not matter.

In most cases, such acts are committed with the goal of helping loved ones in extremely difficult life situations. For example, when a person has a serious illness, his relatives gather and pray to the Lord to heal the sufferer. The power of this appeal is very great, because, in the words of God himself, “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.”

But you should not consider this appeal as some kind of ritual that will fulfill all your desires. We have already said earlier that The Lord knows all our needs Therefore, when turning to Him for help, we must do so, trusting in His holy will. Sometimes it happens that prayers do not bring the desired fruit, but this does not mean that you are not heard, the reason is very simple - you are asking for something that will become extremely unhelpful for the state of your soul.

Summarizing all of the above, I would like to note that the main thing is not just to pray, but to be a truly sincere and believing person with pure thoughts and heart. We strongly recommend that you pray every day so that you are more likely to be heard by God. If you decide to start a righteous life, then you first need to cleanse yourself of all sins by taking communion and confessing. Before starting prayers, it is recommended to spend exactly nine days not only spiritually, but also physically, giving up meat.

ABOUT PRAYER. HOW TO PRAY, HOW TO TURN TO GOD?

During the ancient law written in stone, the law given through Moses, people addressed God by name. Therefore, in the Holy Old Testament Scripture the Holy Name of the Most High God appears about seven thousand times (Tetragrammaton).

The Tetragrammaton is absent from the New Testament Scriptures. When God's law is written on the hearts of people, then people turn to God not by name, but by FATHER, FATHER.

“Lord, teach us to pray,” the disciples asked Christ. The Lord's answer is well known to everyone. This is the Lord's Prayer. She showed how to turn to God. Not by name, but “Father,” Heavenly Father. All who believe in Jesus Christ are children of God. Children do not address the Father by name. Servants and slaves are addressed by name. And the children say “Father, Dad.” We, as disciples of Christ, turn to God “Father” if, of course, we feel like God’s children, if we are adopted by God through faith in Jesus Christ, through receiving the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God; because you did not receive the spirit of slavery, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry: “Abba, Father!” This very Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Rom. 8:12-16).

...The Lord in the Sermon on the Mount teaches what prayer should be, and even gives an example text of the prayer.

...The brevity of prayer.

...The mystery of prayer. Secret prayer: “Enter the room, lock the door behind you...”

...There is no need to go to the point of self-torture in prayer. A loving Heavenly Father does not require this from His children.

...Long, emotional, loud (shouting) prayers are from paganism.

(Here is what I wrote about prayer in the book “The Wisdom of Love”).

“...Prayer is the most sacred, the most profound, the most intimate. I wouldn't want to show it to anyone. Only God alone. For me, prayer has always, as far as I can remember, been like a warm, confidential, frank conversation with my father, and often even like with a friend. It goes without saying that I was afraid of God, and still am, and the further I go, the more I probably do. But - not in prayer, and not during prayer. In prayer I came to God, well, like to my home. My prayers have never been long, protracted, intrusive, annoying. For some reason, the words of Christ “when you pray, do not say too much,” and “your Heavenly Father knows before you ask...” always came to my mind.

One more thing (as I understand it): Whatever the reason for the prayer, whatever the problem with which I came to God in prayer, the very fact of prayer, this very act was and remains an extremely bright, joyful and pleasant act. Even when I was disgusted with myself, even when I did obvious stupidity, sinned, all the same, turning to God, I came to Him as my own, dear, loving, in full confidence that He would definitely hear my words. Often I said: “Father, you see, I got myself into trouble again. Again I am ashamed... Forgive me, Father...” Tears? Yes, there were tears, not even rarely. Both about mistakes and about problems for the resolution of which prayer was said. But there was no verbosity. And there was no self-torture. But it was like a conversation with a good friend who understands everything well, and who, of course, will not abandon you in difficult times, will not betray, but will help, support, and will not reproach: “Oh, here you are again...”

Often we ourselves, without fully understanding what is happening, bring ourselves to torment in prayers. This is exactly what happened to the prophet Daniel, who fasted and prayed for long days, not knowing that God instantly heard his prayer, and immediately, as soon as he began to pray, sent an Angel to him with an answer. But the Angel did not come on time for another reason, about which Daniel knew nothing. (Dan. 10:12,13). Whatever prayer we take from the Psalms, it will last a few minutes in duration. How long did the prayer of the prophet Elijah take on Mount Carmel in front of hundreds of prophets of Baal?

But what does Hebrews 5:7 say? What prayer of Jesus are we talking about there? It seems to me that it does not say about all the prayers of Jesus that He prayed while living on earth, that all His prayers were like this. There we are talking about prayer before the crucifixion. And this prayer was written down not so that we could imitate it, but so that we could imagine a little what a feat Jesus Christ accomplished by giving Himself to be crucified. We won't be able to pray like that. No man can pray as the Lord Jesus prayed. And we don’t need to pray like that, because our salvation does not depend on the fervor of our prayer, but on faith in Christ. Even if not only sweat with blood, but all our blood were to flow during prayer, it would not benefit us if we do not have faith in Christ. But, if we have faith in Christ, then there is no need for us to pray like that. In principle, it is enough to say the “Our Father” prayer.

True, it is repeatedly said about Christ that He “spent the night on the mountain in prayer...” I think that in this case we are not talking about prayer as a request, but as a pleasant communication with the Heavenly Father. Why do I assume this? Because we are not given the text of those prayers. This means that it was His, Christ’s, personal communication with God. And people are not supposed to know the details. Only the fact itself is indicated so that we, as adopted by God, as His children, understand that we can and should also have such personal communication with Him, with Our Heavenly Father. But this is different. This is more than just prayer. And I think no one will publish the text of such “communication,” just as the words of Christ’s prayers have not been published. In our hearts, during such a conversation with God, we can thank Him for everything, we can rejoice in His wonderful deeds, praise, make Him happy, even sing songs to Him! All this, of course, is not limited by time. This is what happens to God's spiritual children.

But we are also literal, bodily people. And there is no way for us to jump out of our body. And it hurts... But, alas, you have to endure, suffer, suffer. And we can’t escape anywhere. “He who endures to the end will be saved.” One consolation is that the Lord sees everything, knows everything, and does not ignore all our problems, sighs and tears. Now, I’ll tell Him about everything at night - and it will become easier. And the night is long, I have time to tell you a lot.” (End quote)

The desire to pray to God, to talk with God, to communicate with Him in spirit, is the main feature of a righteous person. He who prays to God is pleasing to Him. God is always with him. No sin, no mistake or mistake in life will cause irreparable harm to one who always prays to God, who does not stop praying under any circumstances.

“Be constant in prayer.”

“For a righteous man will fall seven times and rise again...” - Bible.

Prayer is a way of conversation between a person and higher powers. Turning to God, the Mother of God, the saints or a guardian angel, a person repents of sins, asks for assistance or thanks for help. Each of these prayer requests has its own characteristics and rules.

The prayer of repentance frees you from worries

A prayer of repentance is one in which a person admits his guilt, repents of actions for which he is ashamed before God and people. According to Orthodox canons, if a person has not realized his mistakes, his other appeals from higher powers may be ignored. Therefore, first of all, it is important to repent of the sins you have committed. At the same time, the admission of guilt must be sincere and effective, otherwise the prayer of repentance will have no meaning. Such prayer frees a person’s soul from the burden of experiences and helps to find peace of mind and strength.

You can pray in your own words, but it would be good to know at least one prayer of repentance written by ascetics or saints, since their words have special vibrations. One of the most famous prayers of repentance is “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Repentant prayers can also include some types of canons - prayers dedicated to a saint.

Say the prayer of praise first

Prayer of praise exists so that a person can glorify God and the saints and express his love to them. During such prayers, requests and other appeals to higher powers are inappropriate. According to Orthodox traditions, the prayer of praise should always be read first, even before the prayer of repentance. We say one of them - “Thank God” - very often, and in most cases we do it mechanically, without even thinking about its meaning. It is also customary to say a prayer of praise at the end of any task. Praises include canons and akathists - prayers dedicated to God, the Mother of God or a saint. All church services usually begin and end with prayers of praise.

A prayer of supplication will help in difficult times

Petitionary prayer allows a person to ask for help or express his desires. Petitionary prayers help a person to humble his selfishness and pride. After all, for many it is very difficult to ask for help. Yes, and a prayer of petition is not an ordinary request. To be heard, she must be sincere. The most famous short petitionary prayers are “Lord, bless,” which is said at the beginning of any task, and “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.” They are a universal appeal to higher powers in times of danger or difficult times. Petitionary prayers also include litany - a special appeal to God, which is read during church services.

Thank a higher power for everything

A prayer of thanksgiving gives a person the opportunity to express gratitude to God or the saints for their help. It is customary to read it regardless of whether a person received what he asked from higher powers. Even if his request went unheeded, you still need to say a prayer of gratitude - perhaps what the person did not receive would only bring him trouble. In Orthodoxy, it is customary to give thanks to God even in difficult moments of life, since any trials make us stronger and wiser. The most common short prayer of thanksgiving is “Thank you, Lord, for everything.”

Prayers heal

Relatively recently, scientists began to study the phenomenon of prayer and found that words addressed to higher powers normalize all processes in the body, reduce cholesterol levels in the blood, and help with depression. In addition, prayers “heal” our biofield and have a beneficial effect on the electrical impulses of the brain.