How to overcome the habit of being distracted during prayer. Why do thoughts run wild during prayer?

Why does mental fatigue happen? Can a soul be empty?

Why can't it? If there is no prayer, it will be empty and tired. The Holy Fathers act as follows. The man is tired, he has no strength to pray, he says to himself: “Or maybe your fatigue is from demons,” he gets up and prays. And the person gains strength. This is how the Lord arranged it. In order for the soul not to be empty and to have strength, one must accustom oneself to the Jesus Prayer - “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner (or a sinner).”

How to spend a day in God's way?

In the morning, when we are still resting, there are already standing near our bed - an Angel on the right side, and a demon on the left. They are waiting for whom we will begin to serve on this day. And this is how you should start your day. When you wake up, immediately protect yourself with the sign of the cross and jump out of bed, so that laziness remains under the covers, and we find ourselves in the holy corner. Then make three bows to the ground and turn to the Lord with these words: “Lord, I thank You for last night, bless me for the coming day, bless me and bless this day, and help me spend it in prayer, in good deeds, and save me from all enemies visible and invisible." And immediately we begin to read the Jesus Prayer. Having washed and dressed, we will stand in the holy corner, gather our thoughts, concentrate so that nothing distracts us, and begin our morning prayers. Having finished them, let's read a chapter from the Gospel. And then let’s figure out what kind of good deed we can do for our neighbor today... It’s time to go to work. Here, too, you need to pray: before going out the door, say these words of St. John Chrysostom: “I deny you, Satan, your pride and service to you, and I unite with you, Christ, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Sign yourself with the sign of the cross, and when leaving the house, quietly cross the road. On the way to work, or while doing any business, we must read the Jesus Prayer and “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary...” If we are doing housework, before preparing food, we will sprinkle all the food with holy water, and light the stove with a candle, which Let's light it from the lamp. Then food will not harm us, but will benefit us, strengthening not only our physical but also our mental strength, especially if we cook while constantly reciting the Jesus Prayer.

After morning or evening prayers there is not always a feeling of grace. Sometimes sleepiness interferes with prayer. How to avoid this?

Demons do not like prayer; as soon as a person begins to pray, drowsiness and absent-mindedness attack. We must try to delve into the words of the prayer, and then you will feel it. But the Lord does not always console the soul. The most valuable prayer is when a person does not want to pray, but he forces himself... A small child cannot yet stand or walk. But his parents take him, put him on his feet, support him, and he feels help and stands strong. And when the parents let him go, he immediately falls and cries. So we, when the Lord - our Heavenly Father - supports us with His grace, we can do everything, we are ready to move mountains and we pray well and easily. But as soon as grace leaves us, we immediately fall - we don’t really know how to walk spiritually. And here we must humble ourselves and say: “Lord, without You I am nothing.” And when a person understands this, God’s mercy will help him. And we often rely only on ourselves: I am strong, I can stand, I can walk... So, the Lord takes away grace, that’s why we fall, suffer and suffer - from our pride, we rely a lot on ourselves.

How to become attentive in prayer?

In order for the prayer to pass through our attention, there is no need to rattle or proofread; he drummed and calmed down, putting the Prayer Book aside. At first they delve into every word; slowly, calmly, evenly, you need to prepare yourself for prayer. We begin to gradually enter into it, you can read it quickly, but still every word will enter your soul. We need to pray so that it doesn’t pass by. Otherwise we will fill the air with sound, but the heart will remain empty.

The Jesus Prayer is not working for me. What do you recommend?

If prayer does not work, it means sins are interfering. As we repent, we must try to read this prayer as often as possible: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! (or a sinner)” And while reading, put an emphasis on the last word. In order to constantly read this prayer, you need to lead a special spiritual life, and most importantly, gain humility. You must consider yourself worse than everyone else, worse than any creature, endure reproaches, insults, not grumble and not blame anyone. Then the prayer will go. You need to start praying in the morning. How is it at the mill? The one who fell asleep in the morning will continue to pray all day. As soon as we woke up, immediately: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Lord, I thank You for last night, bless me for today. Mother of God, I thank You for last night, bless me for today. Lord, strengthen me faith, send me the grace of the Holy Spirit! Give me a Christian death, unashamed and a good answer on the day of the Last Judgment. My Guardian Angel, thank you for last night, bless me for today, save me from all enemies visible and invisible. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Just read and read right away. We dress with prayer, we wash. We read the morning prayers, again the Jesus Prayer 500 times. This is a charge for the whole day. It gives a person energy, strength, and expels darkness and emptiness from the soul. A person will no longer walk around and be indignant about something, make noise, or get irritated. When a person constantly reads the Jesus Prayer, the Lord will reward him for his efforts, this prayer begins to happen in the mind. A person concentrates all his attention in the words of prayer. But you can only pray with a feeling of repentance. As soon as the thought comes: “I am a saint,” know that this is a disastrous path, this thought is from the devil.

The confessor said “to begin with, read at least 500 Jesus prayers.” It’s like in a mill - if you fall asleep in the morning, it grinds all day long. But if the confessor said “only 500 prayers,” then there is no need to read more than 500. Why? Because everything is given according to the strength, according to the spiritual level of each person. Otherwise, you can easily fall into delusion, and then you won’t be able to approach such a “saint.” In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, one elder had a novice. This elder lived in the monastery for 50 years, and the novice had just come from the world. And he decided to struggle. Without the blessing of the elder, both the early liturgy and the later one were held, he set a large rule for himself and read everything, and was constantly in prayer. After 2 years he achieved great “perfection”. “Angels” began to appear to him (they only covered their horns and tails). He was seduced by this, came to the elder and said: “You lived here for 50 years and did not learn to pray, but in two years I have reached heights - Angels are already appearing to me. I am all in grace.. People like you have no place on earth , I will strangle you." Well, the elder managed to knock on the neighboring cell; another monk came, this “saint” was tied up. And the next morning they sent me to the cowshed, and allowed me to attend liturgy only once a month: and they forbade me to pray (until he humbled himself)... In Rus', we are very fond of prayer books and ascetics, but true ascetics will never expose themselves. Holiness is measured not by prayers, not by deeds, but by humility and obedience. Only he has achieved something who considers himself the most sinful of all, worse than any cattle.

How to learn to pray purely, undistractedly?

We must start in the morning. The Holy Fathers advise that it is good to pray before we eat. But as soon as the food has been tasted, it immediately becomes difficult to pray. If a person prays absent-mindedly, it means he prays little and infrequently. The one who is constantly in prayer has living, undistracted prayer.

Prayer loves a pure life, without sins burdening the soul. For example, we have a telephone in our apartment. The kids were naughty and cut the wire with scissors. No matter how many numbers we dial, we won’t get through to anyone. It is necessary to reconnect the wires, restore the interrupted connection. In the same way, if we want to turn to God and be heard, we must establish our connection with Him - repent of sins, clear our conscience. Unrepentant sins, like a blank wall, through them prayer does not reach God.

I shared with a woman close to me, saying that you gave me the Mother of God rule. But I don't do it. I also don’t always follow the cell rule. What should I do?

When you are given a separate rule, don't tell anyone about it. Demons will hear and will definitely steal your exploits. I know hundreds of people who had prayer, read the Jesus Prayer from morning to evening, akathists, canons - the whole soul was blissful. As soon as they shared it with someone and boasted about the prayer, everything disappeared. And they have neither prayers nor bows.

I often get distracted while praying or doing something. What to do - continue to pray or pay attention to the person who has come?

Well, since God’s commandment to love our neighbor comes first, that means we must put everything aside and pay attention to the guest. One holy elder was praying in his cell and saw through the window that his brother was coming to him. So the elder, so as not to show that he was a man of prayer, went to bed and lay there. He read a prayer near the door: “Through the prayers of the saints, our fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.” And the old man stood up from the bed and said: “Amen.” His brother came to see him, he received him with love, treated him to tea - that is, he showed love for him. And this is the most important thing!

This often happens in our lives: we are reading evening prayers, and suddenly there is a call (on the phone or on the door). What should we do? Of course, we must immediately answer the call by leaving prayer. We clarified everything with the person and again continue the prayer from where we left off. True, we also have visitors who come not to talk about God, not about the salvation of the soul, but to talk idle talk and condemn someone. And we should already know such friends; when they come to us, invite them to read together an akathist, or a Gospel, or a holy book prepared in advance for such an occasion. Tell them: “My joy, let’s pray and read the akathist.” If they come to you with a sincere feeling of friendship, they will read. And if not, they will find a thousand reasons, immediately remember urgent matters and run away. If you agree to chat with them, then both the “unfed husband at home” and the “uncleaned apartment” are not a hindrance to your friend... Once in Siberia I saw an interesting scene. One comes from the water pump, there are two buckets on the rocker, the second comes from the store, with full bags in her hands. They met and started talking among themselves... And I watched them. Their conversation went something like this: “Well, how is your daughter-in-law? And your son?” And the gossip begins. Those poor women! One shifts the yoke from shoulder to shoulder, while the other holds the bag with her arms pulling. And all you had to do was exchange a few words... Moreover, it’s dirty - you can’t put the bags down... And they stand there not for two, but for ten, and twenty, and thirty minutes. And they don’t think about the burden, the most important thing is that they learned the news, satiated the soul, and amused the evil spirit. And if they call you to church, they say: “It’s hard for us to stand, our legs hurt, our back hurts.” And standing with buckets and bags doesn’t hurt! The main thing is that the tongue doesn’t hurt! I don’t want to pray, but I have the strength to chat, and I have a good tongue: “We’ll get through everyone, we’ll find out about everything.”

The best thing is to wake up, wash your face and start the day with morning prayers. After this, you need to read the Jesus Prayer with attention. This is a huge charge for our soul. And with such “recharging” we will have this prayer in our thoughts throughout the day. Many people say that when they begin to pray, they become absent-minded. You can believe it, because if you read a little in the morning and a little in the evening, nothing will happen in your heart. We will always pray - and repentance will live in our hearts. After the morning - the "Jesus" prayer as a continuation, and after the day - evening prayers as a continuation of the day. And so we will constantly remain in prayer and will not be distracted. Don’t think that it is very difficult, very difficult to pray. We need to make an effort, overcome ourselves, ask the Lord, the Mother of God, and grace will act in us. We will be given the desire to pray at all times.

And when prayer enters the soul, the heart, then these people try to move away from everyone, to hide in secluded places. They can even crawl into the cellar just to be with the Lord in prayer. The soul melts in Divine Love.

In order to achieve such a state of mind, you need to work a lot on yourself, on your “I”.

When should you pray in your own words, and when according to the Prayer Book?

When you want to pray, at this time pray to the Lord; “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34).

Prayer to a person’s soul is especially useful when there is a need for it. Let's say a mother's daughter or son is lost. Or they took their son to prison. You won’t be able to pray from the Prayer Book here. A believing mother will immediately kneel down and speak to the Lord out of the abundance of her heart. There is a prayer from the heart. So you can pray to God anywhere; Wherever we are, God hears our prayers. He knows the secrets of our heart. Even we ourselves do not know what is in our hearts. And God is the Creator, He knows everything. So you can pray in transport, in any place, in any society. So Christ says: “When you pray, go into your room (that is, inside yourself) and, having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matt. 6.6). When we do good, when we give alms, then we must do it so that no one knows about it. Christ says: "When you give alms, let left hand your right hand does not know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret" (Matthew 6:3-4). That is, not literally, as the grandmothers understand - they give only with their right hand. What if a person does not have a right hand? And if he does not have both hands? Good can be done without hands. The main thing is that no one sees it. Good must be done in secret. All boastful, proud, self-loving people do a good deed for show in order to receive praise, earthly glory from it. They will say to her: “How good, so kind! Helps everyone, gives to everyone."

I often wake up at night, always at the same time. Does this mean anything?

If we wake up at night, then there is an opportunity to pray. We prayed and go back to sleep. But, if this happens often, you need to take a blessing from your confessor.

Once I was talking with one person. He says:

Father Ambrose, tell me, have you ever seen demons with your own eyes?

Demons are spirits and cannot be seen with ordinary eyes. But they can materialize, taking the form of an old man, a young man, a girl, an animal, they can take on any image. A non-church person cannot understand this. Even believers fall for his tricks. Do you want to see? Well, I have a woman I know in Sergiev Posad, her confessor gave her a rule - to read the Psalter a day before. It is necessary to constantly burn candles, without rushing to read - it will take 8 hours. In addition to this, the rule requires reading the canons, akathists, the Jesus Prayer, and eating only lean food once a day. When she began to pray (and this had to be done for 40 days) with the blessing of her confessor, he warned her: “If you pray, if there are any temptations, then do not pay attention, continue to pray.” She accepted it. On the 20th day of strict fasting and almost incessant prayer (she had to sleep sitting for 3-4 hours), she heard the locked door open and heavy footsteps were heard - the floor was literally cracking. This is the 3rd floor. Someone came up behind her and began breathing near her ear; breathes so deeply! At this time, she was overcome with cold and trembling from head to toe. I wanted to turn around, but I remembered the warning and thought: “If I turn around, I won’t survive.” So I prayed to the end.

Then I looked - everything was in place: the door was locked, everything was fine. Then, on the 30th day, a new temptation. I was reading the Psalter and heard how, from the back of the windows, cats began to meow, scratch themselves, and climb into the window. They scratch - and that's it! And she survived it. Someone from the street threw a stone - the glass was shattered, the stone and fragments were lying on the floor. You can't turn around! The cold came through the window, but I read it all to the end. And when she finished reading, she looked - the window was intact, there was no stone. These are demonic forces attacking a person.

When the Monk Silouan of Athos prayed, he slept for two hours while sitting. His spiritual eyes were opened and he began to see evil spirits. I saw them with my own eyes. They have horns, ugly faces, hooves on their legs, tails...

The man I spoke with is very obese - more than 100 kg, loves to eat deliciously - he eats meat and everything. I say: “Here, you start fasting and praying, then you will see everything, hear everything, feel everything.”

How to thank the Lord correctly - in your own words or is there some special prayer?

You need to thank the Lord with your whole life. It's in the prayer book thanksgiving prayer, but it is very valuable to pray in your own words. The Monk Benjamin lived in one monastery. The Lord allowed him to suffer from dropsy. He became enormous in size; he could only clasp his little finger with two hands. They made a huge chair for him. When the brethren came to him, he showed his joy in every possible way, saying: “Dear brethren, rejoice with me. The Lord has had mercy on me, the Lord has forgiven me.” The Lord gave him such an illness, but he did not grumble, did not despair, rejoiced at the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of his soul and thanked the Lord. No matter how many years we live, the main thing is to remain faithful to God in everything. For five years I carried out difficult obedience in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - I confessed day and night. I had no strength left, I couldn’t stand for even 10 minutes - my legs couldn’t hold me up. And then the Lord gave polyarthritis - I lay for 6 months with acute pain in the joints. As soon as the inflammation passed, I began to walk around the room with a stick. Then he began to go out into the street: 100 meters, 200, 500... Each time more and more... And then, in the evenings, when there were few people, he began to walk 5 kilometers; I left my wand. In the spring, the Lord gave - and he stopped limping. Until this day the Lord protects. He knows who needs what. Therefore, thank the Lord for everything.

You need to pray everywhere and always: at home, at work, and in transport. If your legs are strong, it is better to pray standing, and if you are sick, then, as the elders say, it is better to think about God during prayer than about your sore legs.

Is it possible to cry during prayer?

Can. Tears of repentance are not tears of evil and resentment; they wash our soul from sins. The more we cry, the better. It is very valuable to cry during prayer. When we pray - read prayers - and at this time we linger on some words in our minds (they penetrated our soul), there is no need to skip them, speed up the prayer; return to these words and read until your soul dissolves in feeling and begins to cry. The soul is praying at this time. When the soul is in prayer, and even with tears, the Guardian Angel is next to it; he prays next to us. Any sincere believer knows from practice that the Lord hears his prayer. We turn the words of prayer to God, and He, by grace, returns them to our hearts, and the believer’s heart feels that the Lord accepts his prayer.

When I read prayers, I often get distracted. Should I stop praying?

No. Read the prayer anyway. It is very useful to go out into the street and walk and recite the Jesus Prayer. It can be read in any position: standing, sitting, lying down... Prayer is a conversation with God. Now, we can tell our neighbor everything - both sorrow and joy. But the Lord is closer than any neighbor. He knows all our thoughts, the secrets of our hearts. He hears all our prayers, but sometimes he hesitates to fulfill them, which means that what we ask is not for the benefit of our soul (or for the benefit of our neighbor). Any prayer must end with the words: “Lord, Thy will be done. Not as I want, but as You want.”

What is the daily prayer rule for an Orthodox layperson?

There is a rule and it is mandatory for everyone. These are morning and evening prayers, one chapter from the Gospel, two chapters from the epistles, one kathisma, three canons, an akathist, 500 Jesus prayers, 50 bows (and with blessing, more is possible).

I once asked one person:

Do I need to have lunch and dinner every day?

It’s necessary,” he replies, “but besides this, I can grab something else and drink some tea.”

What about praying? If our body requires food, isn’t it even more important for our soul? We feed the body so that the soul can be kept in the body and be cleansed, sanctified, freed from sin, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us. It is necessary for her to unite with God here already. And the body is the clothing of the soul, which ages, dies and crumbles into the dust of the earth. And we pay special attention to this temporary, perishable thing. We really care about him! And we feed, and water, and paint, and dress in fashionable rags, and give peace - we pay a lot of attention. And sometimes there is no care left for our soul. Have you read your morning prayers?

This means you can’t have breakfast (that is, lunch; Christians never have breakfast). And if you’re not going to read in the evening, then you can’t have dinner. And you can't drink tea.

I'll die of hunger!

So your soul dies of hunger! Now, when a person makes this rule the norm of his life, then he has peace, quiet and quiet in his soul. The Lord sends grace, and the Mother of God and the Angel of the Lord pray. In addition to this, Christians also pray to the saints, read other akathists, the soul is nourished, contented and glad, peaceful, the person is saved. But you don’t have to read like some people do, proofreading. They read it, rattled it off - through the air, but didn’t hit the soul. Touch this one a little and it bursts into flames! But he considers himself a great man of prayer - he “prays” very well. The Apostle Paul says: “It is better to speak five words with my understanding, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” (1 Cor. 14:19) It is better for five words to penetrate into the soul than ten thousand words to miss the soul.

You can read akathists at least every day. I knew one woman (her name was Pelagia), she read 15 akathists every day. The Lord gave her special grace. Some Orthodox Christians have collected many akathists - 200 or 500. They usually read a certain akathist every holiday celebrated by the Church. For example, tomorrow is the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. People who have an akathist for this holiday will read it.

Akathists are good to read from a fresh memory, i.e. in the morning, when the mind is not burdened with everyday affairs. In general, it is very good to pray from morning until lunch, while the body is not burdened with food. Then there is an opportunity to feel every word from the akathists and canons.

All prayers and akathists are best read aloud. Why? Because words enter the soul through the ear and are better remembered. I constantly hear: “We can’t learn prayers...” But you don’t need to learn them - you just have to read them constantly, every day - morning and evening, and they are remembered by themselves. If “Our Father” is not remembered, then we need to attach a piece of paper with this prayer where our dining table is.

Many refer to poor memory due to old age, but when you start asking them, asking various everyday questions, everyone remembers. They remember who was born when, in what year, everyone remembers their birthdays. They know how much everything is now in the store and on the market - but prices are constantly changing! They know how much bread, salt and butter cost. Everyone remembers it perfectly. You ask: “What street do you live on?” - everyone will say. Very good memory. But they just can’t remember the prayers. And this is because our flesh comes first. And we care so much about the flesh, we all remember what it needs. But we don’t care about the soul, that’s why we have a bad memory for everything good. We are masters at bad things...

The Holy Fathers say that those who daily read the canons to the Savior, the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel, and the saints are especially protected by the Lord from all demonic misfortunes and evil people.

If you come to any boss for a reception, you will see a sign on his door “Reception hours from... to...” You can turn to God at any time. Night prayer is especially valuable. When a person prays at night, then, as the holy fathers say, this prayer is, as it were, paid for in gold. But in order to pray at night, you need to take a blessing from the priest, because there is a danger: a person may become proud that he prays at night and fall into delusion, or he will be especially attacked by demons. Through blessing the Lord will protect this person.

Sitting or standing? If your legs can’t hold you up, you can kneel down and read. If your knees are tired, you can read while sitting. It is better to think about God while sitting than to think about your feet while standing. And one more thing: prayer without bowing is a premature fetus. Fans are a must do.

Now many are talking about the benefits of the revival of paganism in Russia. Maybe, really, paganism is not so bad?

In ancient Rome, gladiator fights were held in circuses. One hundred thousand people flocked to the spectacle, filling the pews through the many entrances within ten minutes. And everyone was thirsty for blood! We were hungry for a show! Two gladiators fought. In the struggle, one of them could fall, and then the second would put his foot on his chest, raise his sword over the fallen one and watch what sign the patricians would give him. If the fingers are raised up, it means you can let your opponent live; if down, it means you should have taken his life. Most often they demanded death. And the people triumphed, seeing the blood shed. Such was the pagan fun.

In our Russia, about forty years ago, one acrobat walked on a wire high under the circus dome. She stumbled and fell. There was a net stretched below. It didn't crash, but something else is important. All the spectators stood up as one and buzzed: “Is she alive? Faster than the doctor!” What does this mean? That they did not want death, but were worried about the gymnast. The spirit of love was alive in the minds of people.

The younger generation is being raised differently now. On the television screen there are action films with murder, blood, pornography, horror, space wars, aliens - demonic forces... People from an early age get used to scenes of violence. What remains for the child? Having seen enough of these pictures, he gets a weapon and shoots his classmates, who, in turn, mocked him. There are so many such cases in America! God forbid something like this starts happening here.

It has happened before that contract killings were committed in Moscow. And now the scale of crime and mortality at the hands of killers has risen sharply. Three to four people are killed a day. And the Lord said: “Thou shalt not kill!” (Ex. 20.13); “... those who do this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21) - they will all go into the fire of Gehenna.

I often have to go to prisons and confess to prisoners. I also confess to death row prisoners. They repent of murders: some were ordered, while others killed in Afghanistan and Chechnya. They killed two hundred and seventy, three hundred people. They did the math themselves. These are terrible sins! War is one thing, and another is to order to deprive a person of a life that you did not give him.

When you confess about ten murderers and leave prison, then just wait: the demons will definitely arrange intrigues, there will be some kind of trouble.

Every priest knows how evil spirits take revenge for helping people free themselves from sins. One mother came to St. Seraphim of Sarov:

Father, pray: my son died without repentance. Out of modesty, he initially refused, humbled himself, and then gave in to the request and began to pray. And the woman saw that, praying, he rose above the floor. The elder said:

Mother, your son is saved. Go, pray yourself, thank God.

She left. And before his death, the Monk Seraphim showed his cell attendant the body from which the demons had torn out a piece:

This is how demons take revenge for every soul!

It is not so easy to pray for the salvation of people.

Orthodox Russia accepted the Spirit of Christ, but the pagan West wants to finish it off for this, thirsts for blood.

The Orthodox faith is the most impartial for a person. It obliges us to live a strict life on earth. And Catholics promise the soul purgatory after death, where one can repent and be saved...

IN Orthodox Church There is no such thing as "purgatory". According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, if a person lived righteously and passed into the other world, then he is awarded eternal joy; such a person can receive reward for his good deeds while living on earth, in the form of peace, joy, and peace of mind.

If a person lived uncleanly, did not repent and passed on to the other world, then he falls into the clutches of demons. Before death, such people are usually sad, despairing, graceless, joyless. After death, their souls, languishing in torment, await the prayers of their relatives and the prayers of the Church. When there is intense prayer for the departed, the Lord frees their souls from hellish torment.

Church prayer also helps the righteous, those who have not yet received the fullness of grace during earthly life. The fullness of grace and joy are possible only after this soul is assigned to Paradise at the Last Judgment. It is impossible to feel their fullness on earth. Only selected saints merged here with the Lord in such a way that they were caught up by the Spirit into the Kingdom of God.

Orthodoxy is often called a “religion of fear”: “there will be a second coming, everyone will be punished, eternal torment...” But Protestants talk about something else. So will there be punishment for unrepentant sinners or will the love of the Lord cover everything?

Atheists have long deceived us when they talk about the emergence of religion. They said that people could not explain this or that natural phenomenon and began to deify it and enter into religious contact with it. It used to be that thunder would roar, people would hide underground, in the basement, sit there, afraid. They think that their pagan god is angry and will punish them, or a tornado will strike, or a solar eclipse will begin...

This is pagan fear. The Christian God is Love. And we should fear God not because He will punish us, we should be afraid of offending Him with our sins. And if we have retreated from God and brought disaster upon ourselves, we do not hide underground from the wrath of God, we do not wait for the wrath of God to pass by. On the contrary, we go to confession, turn to God with a prayer of repentance, ask God for mercy, and pray. Christians do not hide from God; on the contrary, they themselves seek Him for permission from sins. And God gives the repentant a Helping Hand and covers him with His grace.

And the Church warns that there will be a Second Coming, Last Judgment not to intimidate. If you are walking along the road, there is a hole ahead and they tell you: “Be careful, don’t fall, don’t trip,” are you being intimidated? They warn you and help you avoid danger. So the Church says: “Don’t sin, don’t do evil to your neighbor, all this will turn against you.”

There is no need to make God out to be a villain because He does not accept sinners into Paradise. Unrepentant souls will not be able to live in Paradise; they will not be able to bear the light and purity that is there, just as sick eyes cannot bear the bright light.

Everything depends on ourselves, on our behavior and prayers.

The Lord can change everything through prayer. One woman came to us from Krasnodar. Her son was imprisoned. An investigation was underway. She came to one judge, who told her: “Your son is eight years old.” He had some great temptation. She came to me, crying, sobbing: “Father, pray, what should I do? The judge asks for five thousand dollars, but I don’t have that kind of money.” I say: “You know, mother, if you pray, the Lord will not leave you! What is his name?” She said his name, we prayed. And in the morning she comes:

Father, I'm going there now. The question is being decided, either they will imprison you or they will release you.

The Lord put it on his heart to tell her this:

If you pray, God will arrange everything.

I prayed all night. After lunch she came back and said:

They released their son. He was acquitted. They sorted it out and let me go. Everything is fine.

This mother had so much joy, so much faith that the Lord heard her. But the son was not to blame, he was simply framed in business.

The son is completely out of control, doesn’t speak, doesn’t listen. He's seventeen. How can I pray for him?

You need to read the prayer “O Mother of God, Virgin, Rejoice” 150 times. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov said that the one who walks in Diveevo along the groove of the Mother of God and reads “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” a hundred and fifty times is under the special protection of the Mother of God. The Holy Fathers constantly spoke about veneration of the Mother of God, about turning to Her in prayer for help. The prayer of the Mother of God has great power. By prayers Holy Mother of God God's grace will descend on both mother and child. Righteous John of Kronstadt says: “If all the angels, saints, all people living on earth gather together and pray, the prayer of the Mother of God surpasses all their prayers in power.

I remember one family. This was while we were serving in the parish. One mother, Natalia, had two girls - Lisa and Katya. Liza was thirteen or fourteen years old, she was capricious and headstrong. And although she went to church with her mother, she remained very restless. I was amazed at my mother's patience. Every morning he gets up and says to his daughter:

Lisa, let's pray!

That's it, mom, I'm saying my prayers!

Read quickly, read slowly!

Mom didn’t stop her and patiently fulfilled all her requests. At this time, it was useless to beat and stab my daughter. The mother endured. Time passed, my daughter grew up and became calmer. Joint prayer did her good.

There is no need to be afraid of temptations. The Lord will protect this family. Prayer has never harmed anyone. It only brings benefit to our soul. Boasting harms us: “I read the Psalter for the deceased.” We boast, and this is a sin.

It is customary to read the Psalter at the head of the deceased. Reading the Psalter is very beneficial for the soul of that person who constantly went to church and passed into the next world with repentance. The Holy Fathers say: when we read the Psalter over the deceased, say, for forty days, then sins fly away from the deceased soul, like autumn leaves from a tree.

How to pray for the living or the dead, is it possible to imagine a person while doing this?

The mind must be clear. When we pray, we should not imagine God, the Mother of God, or the holy saint: neither Their faces, nor their position. The mind must be free of images. Moreover, when we pray for a person, we just need to remember that such a person exists. And if you imagine images, you can damage your mind. The Holy Fathers forbid this.

I am twenty four years old. As a child, I laughed at my grandfather who talked to himself. Now that he died, I began to talk to myself. An inner voice tells me that if I pray for him, then this vice will gradually leave me. Should I pray for him?

Everyone needs to know: if we condemn a person for some vice, we will certainly fall into it ourselves. Therefore, the Lord said: “Judge not, and you will not be judged. With the same judgment you judge, you will be condemned.”

You definitely need to pray for your grandfather. Serve at mass, memorial notes at a memorial service, remember in your home prayers morning and evening. This will be of great benefit to his soul and to us.

Is it necessary to cover your head with a scarf during home prayer?

“Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is as if she were shaven,” says the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 11:5). Orthodox Christian women, not only in church, but also at home, cover their heads with a scarf: “A wife should have on her head a sign of the power of the Angels over her” (1 Cor. 11:10).

Civil authorities are organizing additional bus routes to cemeteries for Easter. Is it correct? It seems to me that on this day the main thing is to be in church and remember the dead there.

There is a special day of remembrance for the deceased - “Radonitsa”. It occurs on Tuesday in the second week after Easter. On this day, all Orthodox Christians go to congratulate their departed on the universal holiday of Easter, the Resurrection of Christ. And on Easter day itself, believers must pray in church.

Routes organized by city authorities for those people who do not go to church. Let them at least go there, at least in this way they will remember death and the finitude of earthly existence.

Is it possible to watch live broadcasts of services from churches and pray? Often you don’t have enough health and strength to be present in the temple, but you want to touch the Divine with your soul...

The Lord vouchsafed me to visit a holy place, at the Holy Sepulcher. We had a video camera with us, and we filmed the holy place. Then they showed what they had filmed to one priest. He saw the footage of the Holy Sepulcher and said: “Stop this frame.” He bowed to the ground and said: “I have never been to the Holy Sepulcher.” And he directly kissed the image of the Holy Sepulcher.

Of course, you can’t worship images on TV; we have icons. The case I told is an exception to the rule. The priest did this in simplicity of heart, out of a feeling of reverence for the depicted shrine.

On holidays, all Orthodox Christians should strive to be in church. And if you don’t have health or strength to move, watch the broadcast, be with the Lord with your soul. Let our souls participate with the Lord in His holiday.

Is it possible to wear the "Live Aid" belt?

One person came to me. I ask him:

What prayers do you know?

Of course, I even carry “Live Help” with me.

He took out the documents, and there he had the 90th Psalm “Alive in the Help of the Most High” rewritten. The man says: “My mother wrote it to me, gave it to me, and now I always carry it with me. Is it possible?” - “Of course, it’s good that you carry this prayer, but if you don’t read it, what’s the point? It’s the same as when you’re hungry and carry bread and food with you, but don’t eat. You’re getting weaker, you could die. In the same way, “The Living help" were written not so that you could carry them in your pocket or on your belt, but so that you could take them out every day, read them, and pray to the Lord. If you don’t pray, you can die... That’s when you, hungry, got some bread , ate, strengthened your strength and you can calmly work by the sweat of your brow. So by praying, you will give food for the soul and receive protection for the body.

This year I tried to pray more. But prayer was not always easy. Often I have stood up to pray with the best of intentions, only to realize within a minute that I was thinking about yesterday's conversations, tomorrow's meeting, or next week's vacation.

Many of us admit that we also face this, but the rest are simply lying!

Distraction can be a huge hindrance in our prayer life, but as I once realized, it is also an opportunity to grow. Below I will give Seven Ways to Beat Distractions During Prayer so that our prayers can be deeper and more focused.

1. Pray with Scripture

I remember hearing somewhere that the Bible teaches us to pray as a mother teaches a child to speak. God speaks through His Word, and we respond to Him as a child responds, first listening and then responding to his parents. Now that I've been the father of a child for almost three years who says more and more, and often really funny things, this situation has become so familiar to me! And I realize how true it is in my prayer life.

The meaning of this metaphor is that just as none of us are born to speak right away, none of us knows how to pray on our own. We learn to pray, often through observation and repetition rather than following instructions. When I look at Scripture and look for ways to develop my prayer instincts, I find that it not only conveys the meaning of my requests, but also helps to nurture my motives and what goes with them.

There are so many things in scripture that my flesh would never ask for. I generally do not ask for courage when I find myself in a situation where I am being persecuted for the Word of God (Acts 4:29), I do not view my grief in light of God's glory and His redemptive plan (Nehemiah 1:5-11), I do not speak “Teach us to number our days in this way, that we may acquire a wise heart.”(Psalm 89:12). But each time, Scripture points me to my narrow, self-oriented prayers and directs them into the realm of God's glory, the church, eternity, and evangelistic progress.

Here are some Bible prayers that are especially important to pray to focus your mind and heart:

• Nehemiah 1:5-11: Nehemiah's prayer when he heard that the walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins.
• Daniel 9:1-19: Daniel's prayer for God's people in exile.
• 2 Chronicles 20:1-12: Jehoshaphat's prayer for deliverance from attack.
• Ephesians 3:14-21: Paul's prayer for spiritual strength to know the love of Jesus Christ.
• Matthew 6:9-13: The Lord's Prayer (this is often the place to start).

2. Pray with a pen

I have found it very helpful to write down my prayers. A written prayer does not replace praying out loud - but it is a very good addition. When we write, there is a certain mental discipline and focus that is usually absent when communicating verbally. It is more difficult to be distracted at this moment, and it also makes it possible to structure the prayer a little better.

An added benefit is that it allows us to go back and see how God answered our prayers—or, as has happened more often to me, how He changed what I prayed for.

3. Pray with fasting

Prayer and fasting are both healthy practices that benefit us, but they work especially well when they go hand in hand. An empty stomach reminds us to pray “God, fill my soul!”. If we are sincere during prayer, it helps us bear the burden of hunger.

One thing to give up while fasting is social media. They change the way our brain functions. They accelerate the flow of information, clutter our consciousness, and reduce the ability for prayerful reflection and being in silence. It's very difficult to go from spending a few hours on Facebook and Twitter to spending a lot of time in prayer.

For example, when Jesus prayed, He often went into desert places (Mark 1:35). Just as He did, we need to cultivate the ability to be alone, in silence before God. It should not be surprising that we cannot concentrate on prayer if we are constantly distracted.

4. Pray with others

Community prayer and private prayer feed each other (just as prayer and fasting). General prayers are very powerful if we have already prayed ourselves. And private prayer is guided and inspired by God's work in the prayers of others.

Corporate prayer is powerful not only because it makes it difficult for us to be distracted, but also because Christ has promised his provision (Matthew 18:19) and presence (Matthew 18:20) when "two or three" gathered in His name.

5. Pray with a Purpose

We often get distracted, finding ourselves in situations of uncertainty and vagueness. One day I realized that it was much easier for me to stay focused if I structured my prayer time in a certain way. For example, I may focus my prayer around one aspect of God's character. "Lord, today I saw your faithfulness through..." Or I focused on a specific need: “Lord, my heart has been so cold lately because...”

It is difficult to get sidetracked if you follow a given theme and a specific prayer structure.

Also, if you are constantly distracted by the same things, you can pray about them, whatever they are. Simply convert your distractions into opportunities; use this to enhance your prayers. “Lord, today I was distracted by... I give it to You.”.

6. Pray with emotion

Sometimes, with effort, there is unhealthy manipulation - through force of will - to stir up emotions that should be there. It is wrong to allow our emotions to control our will. Eat The right way bringing emotions into the flow of prayer (rather than just experiencing them), which can help avoid distractions.

David, for example, asked his emotions: “Why are you discouraged, my soul, and why are you embarrassed?”(Psalm 42:5); he called his emotions into action: “Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless my whole being, His holy name.”(Psalm 102:1); and he spoke to his emotions: “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life: whom shall I fear?”(Psalm 26:1).

If there is something specific that is distracting you (boredom? worry? anxiety?), confront them like David did. Overcome them with counter-emotions generated by the true one.

7. Pray with the Gospel

Spurgeon once advised worshipers, if they suddenly lose the thread of the sermon, or do not know what to say next, to go straight to the Gospel. This can help in our prayer life. If all else fails, if you keep getting distracted, just come back to the gospel. The following order in prayer often helps me:

Subscribe:

1. Lord Jesus, this is where I would be if it weren’t for You...
2. Lord Jesus, this is where I am now because You are in my life...
3. Lord Jesus, this is what You had to go through to do this...

Jesus saved us from sin, death and eternal destruction. He accepted us into His heavenly family, clothed us with His righteousness, and invited us to share with Him in His glory. And for this He paid a great price - when the blood drained from His veins and He plunged into the darkness of death and defeat, when His friends fled and His enemies mocked Him, when the love between Father and Son was severed for the first time in all eternity.

It is difficult to meditate if we are focused on the truth about hell, heaven and Calvary. Make them North Star in your prayer life, and it will help you overcome the habit of distraction.

Well, since God’s commandment comes first for us - about love for our neighbor, it means that we must PUT everything aside and pay attention - to the guest or CARE - about our neighbor. Moreover, when doing any business, we can pray to ourselves - short prayers.

One holy elder was praying in his cell and saw his brother coming to him. So the elder, so as not to show that he was a man of prayer, went to bed and lay there. He read a prayer near the door: “Through the prayers of the saints, our fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.” And the old man stood up from the bed and said: “Amen.” His brother came to see him, he received him with love, treated him to tea - that is, showed love to him. And this is the most important thing!

This often happens in our lives: we are reading evening prayers, and suddenly there is a call (on the phone or on the door). What should we do? Of course, we must answer the call immediately, LEAVING -- prayer. We clarified everything with the person and again - CONTINUE the prayer from the place where we left off.

True, we also have visitors who come not to talk about God, not about the salvation of the soul, but to talk idle talk and condemn someone.

Once there was a case in Siberia. One comes from the water pump, there are two buckets on the rocker, the second comes from the store, with full bags in her hands. We met and started talking... And I watched them. Their conversation went something like this: “Well, how is your daughter-in-law? And your son?” And the gossip begins. Those poor women! One shifts the yoke from shoulder to shoulder, while the other holds the bag with her arms pulling. And all I had to do was exchange a few words...

Moreover, it’s dirty - you can’t put buckets and bags... And they stand not for two, but for twenty, and thirty minutes. And they don’t think about the gravity, they don’t even notice.

And if they call you to church, they say: “It’s HARD for us to stand in church, our legs HURT, our backs hurt.” And standing with buckets and bags doesn’t hurt ANYTHING! The main thing is that the tongue doesn’t hurt! I DON’T WANT to pray, but I always have the energy and time to chat.

Is it necessary to cover your head with a scarf during home prayer?

“Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered SHAMES her head, for it is as if she were shaved,” says the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 11:5).

Orthodox Christian women are not only in church, but even at home, when they stand for prayer, they cover their head with a scarf:“A woman should have on her head the sign of the authority of Angels over her” (1 Cor. 11:10).

Saint John of Kronstadt.

“How sad it is to see that the enemy takes his dues from Christians on the feasts of the Lord, and the larger the holiday, the more dues Orthodox Christians pay to the enemy, for what do we see on holidays? Idleness, licentiousness of the flesh, drunkenness, debauchery, fights, thefts, amusements.

My God! What pleasure to the flesh! What zealous service to the devil! Are these people Christians, just think, redeemed by the honest Blood of the Son of God? Do you live in Christian times, or in pagan ones? Are these partakers of the life-giving Mysteries? Are these the people who are in the temple of God?

Oh! How long will we, priests, not rise up against all the outrages on the Feasts of the Lord?..

How long will people of other faiths and confessions point to us and say: look - these are the Christians who call themselves Orthodox, how they live!.. What kind of priests they have! How poorly they teach the people the faith, how little they explain to them the holidays, their object and purpose of establishment! How little they teach them to live by faith! My God! What a complaint about our Orthodox faith and on us, shepherds! How much of our fault is that Christians are in sin - they spend holidays; we do not rebuke, do not forbid, do not beg them to spend holidays soberly and with great reverence and generally live like Christians. We talk little about idleness, drunkenness, debauchery; (My life in Christ. Vol. 1. pp. 177-179).

ELDER PETER SEREGIN - ABOUT PRAYER.

Prayer is extinguished Condemnation is the fruit of EXTREMELY and CONCERN and the threshold of WRATH. It binds the heart and HINDERS prayer. Complacency and self-praise also quench prayer. So – prayer is LOST.

Prayer is quenched - Overeating, absent-mindedness in behavior, clogging the heart with various non-spiritual pleasures, LAZINESS and Neglect - about Prayer itself, carelessness during prayer and in general - CARElessness, senseless behavior, condemnation.

Superficiality and haste in prayer are very HARMFUL and dangerous. Negligence REMOVES the Fear of God, a good feeling towards God - without which prayer is IMPOSSIBLE. Every phrase, every word of a prayer appeal must be pronounced with utmost attention, with the application of all strength, with all your heart, with all your thought, with all your soul. Otherwise, the conversion will be incomplete, and the prayer sacrifice will be vicious, without the fruit of salvation.

Sometimes it happens that during prayer a person stands and goes through the words of memorized prayers, and at this time various extraneous thoughts about everyday affairs and plans burst into his mind, Memories and worries - CARRY THE heart (feelings) with them, and instead of prayer, he finds himself engaged in an activity that is not only empty, but also sinful. Of course, this is not prayer, but idle talk before God. This happens because of an insincere appeal to God.

Standing up for prayer, such a person does not part with his passions and everyday vanity and does not want to understand what great work he is STARTING and to whom he is turning with his prayers.

This happens when, before prayer, we DID NOT HAVE the complete DECISION to POSTPONE all worldly affairs and worries. When passion for the worldly and created is dearer to us than the Lord and His Kingdom of Heaven, to which He calls us, When we are LAZY and approach prayer, we are unprepared, frivolous and careless.

Absent-mindedness is a SIGN of our SPIRITUAL LAZINESS and the fruit of negligence. Extraneous thoughts come during prayer for various reasons: either I remember something I liked, something that once influenced my heart; either the heart is attracted by thoughts according to its mood, or the heart is drawn to sinful dreams. The heart collects vanity and iniquity and gives birth to idle or sinful thoughts.

For prayer, and, perhaps, for good deeds, great mental concentration and constancy are REQUIRED. You have LOST prayer - through NEGLIGENCE and negligence, from which you FALLED into sin, which killed - Prayerful boldness before God.

Remember from what moment the prayer STOPPED, and what events, actions and experiences occurred during this time. Understand for yourself what was contrary to God in your behavior during this period: movements of Anger, addiction, rancor, resentment or other passions. Having found your sinful mistakes, repent of them and ask for forgiveness (pray). Repent and regret - about LAZINESS, carelessness, negligence, about Bad Conscience and pray as best you can.

If there is no prayer yet, torture (test) yourself again, trying to remember FORGOTTEN in your behavior, and again pray for admonition, for help. If there is no prayer, repent of the sins you have committed forgotten and unknown out of ignorance, and pray again as best you can. Bother God - Ask for prayer.

Sometimes it is difficult to pray because with the words of prayer and Holy Scripture do not agree - neither the quality of the heart, nor private desires and aspirations. Moreover, the enemy does not sleep, but, like an evil predatory bird, always strives... to take away (or not allow attention to) heard and read sacred words, offering us the pleasantness of vain memories, thoughts and desires.

For unceasing prayer, two conditions are required: Reverence and constancy.

Love for one's neighbor is expressed in all deeds for the good of neighbors and in acts of mercy and love for them, and in prayer for them. Through the same acts of mercy and prayer, the heartfelt feeling of love is also restored. If we want the feeling of love and bliss to be continuous and even eternal in us, then our good deeds by faith must also be continuous and our prayer unceasing. Therefore, we read and often talk about continuous prayer.

Our passions and passions are revealed in our passion. Being carried away by something, we already serve another god, but God true heart- we are not coming. All our daily affairs CAN and should be DEDICATED to God, for in them, too, love for neighbors is almost always manifested according to the Commandment.

Our conversations distract us from the memory of God and from prayer due to our absent-mindedness. If, when talking with our neighbor, we see in him not an object of entertainment or displeasure, but the image of God, then this will give our conversation sobriety and abstinence. If the interlocutor with us is of the same faith and like-minded, this will serve us to strengthen our faith. If the one speaking to us turned out to be impoverished in faith, then we should treat him as the image of God. In this case, we need secret prayer to have a beneficial effect on the interlocutor. The essence of secret, unceasing prayer during conversations lies in the faith and love of the heart, poured out in the words of the conversation.

About calling grace

The question arises: if the calling grace of God itself moves a person during the catechumen, and everyone knows for himself that it especially moves prayer, worship, fasting and reading books, couldn’t it also move a person to the rules of storing feelings and to working on disposition. Why does a person easily get caught up in the first, but get so stuck in the second and third?

I think there are two reasons for this. When a person prays, stands at a service, fasts or reads, he does it with zeal, but in his own, inherent way, he does it as best he can. He doesn’t know how to do it and can’t do it. And the Lord, out of mercy and long-suffering, accepts him as he is. When he begins to treat his neighbors with the same zeal and to do it as he himself can and as best he can (having neither meekness, humility, nor love), his neighbors do not tolerate him for long and soon enter into one or another opposition to him, loud or quiet. In a word, with neighbors who are clearly active and ready to respond, it is not very easy to increase your jealousy. Not like with the books of the Holy Fathers, who cannot answer anything.

Other neighbors, on the contrary, will become very worried and sorrowful, having encountered, in their opinion, the oddities of a believer and with their care and concern, insults and irritation, they will not allow the person to move away from the usual order of life.

Another reason is more important. You can work on prayer, increasing its volume, without participating in it with your heart. In this case, the heart can be far from the Lord. But as soon as a person pays attention to the feelings of the heart, his own self-indulgence and selfishness rise within him, which not every person can overcome. Moreover, for many of us it is more convenient to do nothing in our feelings and disposition and to be completely justified by prayer or to live primarily with inspiration in it. Moreover, in it too we shy away from working on quality. That is, through self-indulgence and selfishness, which may well fit into external church actions, a person becomes zealous for prayer, worship, fasting and reading books and, believing that he is thereby already completely “church”, is removed from working on feelings and character.

About the Beatitudes

Talk about the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes are a superhuman experience of character. Whose temper is this? - The Lord's. This is the character of Christ. In them the Lord sets forth, reveals Mine disposition Is it possible to find the character of Christ without the Lord Himself? Only with Him, with the Lord, is this morality accomplished in us. Another thing is that any person, by his nature, already has a soul that has within itself the inclinations of God-given character. It surpasses all forms of morality known to the human mind. He has the disposition of Adam and Eve before the Fall, a height that exceeds many of the righteous of the Earth during the Old Testament. After all, these were the first people, i.e. people whom the Lord created with His Divine Love and put into their souls such moral beauty, which you and I now do not even closely see or hear either in each other or in ourselves.

Sometimes you hear: “If Adam and Eve, those who are superior in character to all of us, have sinned, then what can we say about us?” We must always remember and remember that now Adam and Eve in paradise are praying for us. The Lord accepted their repentance. And perhaps it is through their prayer that many now come to Church.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord spoke about a character that exceeds the character of Adam and Eve, i.e. which is bestowed by the pure grace of God. During the Old Testament, this grace was not given to people, but was revealed after the coming of Christ, after He completed the painful feat of the Passion of the Cross and redeemed us from the power of sin. This saving grace gives a person those clothes of character, clothes of virtue, thanks to which a person becomes able to fulfill the commandments of the Beatitudes.

The Lord spoke the Moral Commandments twice. The first time He spoke them was on Mount Sinai, the first ten commandments that He taught to Moses. And in the Sermon on the Mount He pronounced new commandments that are higher than the first. Above, because they can be accomplished only by the grace of the Gospel, only in the Orthodox Church, in its Sacraments. The sacrament is the very place where a person is given the gift of grace, with which it is possible to fulfill these commandments.

The Beatitudes are what the Holy Fathers acquired and to which they showed us the path, indicated the sequence of this ascent.

Whether it’s worth sharing your impressions of the pilgrimage

-Is it possible for edification to talk about providential meetings, about seeing the rays of grace, the lighting of candles during the descent of the Holy Fire? Is it possible to talk about your stay in the Holy Land, or about the pilgrimage in general?

Of course, we pilgrims will tell and share this with each other, and then, when we return, we will tell everyone where we have been and what we have seen. There is a lot that can be told and needs to be told. Moreover, perhaps this is why the Lord has now opened this amazing opportunity: to go to the Holy Land so freely. And in such quantities! On just one flight there are five hundred opportunities to preach the gospel of Christ in different places upon return. Of course, one can and should evangelize. Not to evangelize would be a crime. In the course of our lives, this pilgrimage has a special meaning, and during the gathering, everyone probably experienced God’s participation in themselves. Therefore, God’s obedience to everyone: preach the gospel.

But you just need to keep in mind the second absolutely necessary circumstance - prudence. An unreasonable person will not only not churchize anyone, but will also lose everything himself. After the first hour of your evangelism, you can leave completely empty, having lost everything. Where will the story go after this? It will move into memory, into consciousness. At the same time, you can continue to preach the gospel, but already from memory And from consciousness. At the same time, you can get emotional and say that crowds will gather, but this will do nothing but harm.

The picture of such “good news” will unfold more and more, people will be remembered various features, some unexpected details.., and ultimately you can come to such an emotional state! Crowds will gather, ignite... and then, having heard enough of such flammable sermons or stories, the listener will run to collect money, buy a ticket and also go to the Holy Land...

Anyone who has ever come to Moscow for the first time from a provincial city and been to Red Square knows this effect of disappointment. It seemed to him that Moscow was so great and lofty, but when he arrived, everything turned out to be on a much smaller scale, not at all as expected... A similar thing happens with pilgrims to the Holy Land. Heated stories create a false impression, and from this - excessive expectation. As a result, a person arriving in the Holy Land will not find anything special in it. And you and I will be guilty of this. If at different moments of his pilgrimage a person experiences confusion, doubt, disbelief or lack of faith, or some kind of special blasphemy that suddenly begins here in thoughts and thoughts, then all this can happen only for one reason: the person prepared incorrectly for the meeting with the Holy Places. This wrongness, due to our heated emotionality, can be created by you and me.

In addition, there may be a great loss for ourselves.

How could we not become like those about whom the Rev. speaks? Macarius of Egypt: “Those who have within themselves the Divine wealth of the Spirit, if they communicate spiritual teaching to someone, then, as if bringing out their own treasure, they give it to them. On the contrary, those who do not have this wealth inside their hearts... having grabbed only a few flowers from Scripture, wear them at the end of the tongue..."(A Word about Love, Chapter 5).

Therefore, remember that secret the experience that you and I have and which is now still impossible to fully embrace. Do any of us really know What you and I have been through why The Lord gave us touch. The soul has perceived, but consciousness has not yet. Even the feeling has not yet fully perceived this.

Over time, some moments of being there, in the Holy Land, are perceived in a new way. And therefore, everything that the Lord has blessed us with, gradually will penetrate into every cell, penetrate into the feeling, consciousness, mind, heart, will of a person. This penetration process can take a very long time. Therefore, each of us must preserve for ourselves the possibility of grace-filled sanctification.

I want to encourage everyone to reverently guard the gift they have acquired. So far we do not know the extent, depth, or completeness of this acquisition. We can only hope that it is in us, that we now carry it within ourselves.

Time will pass, and we will gradually be transformed, being in the Church, participating in its Sacraments, being in its prayers, we will change. Who knows what this single touch, perhaps for many of us, the only touch in life to the Holy Places of Christ, will ultimately turn out to be in our personal life experience. And keeping all this in mind, we must be prudent in our story.

We definitely need to preach, we definitely need to talk about all the events that we experienced here. It is permissible to talk and talk about many things, about the events that took place, which we witnessed, but be careful and guard yourself at the same time so as not to spill over, not to go into emotionality, not to go into “ah!..” and “oh!..”, into delight, into emotional exaltation.

If what we have experienced in depth emerges to the surface of consciousness, we will be able to talk about it for a very long time, even for years. And the further we move away from today in time, the more we will be able to tell... Over time, a person may discover the fantastic ability of a person to skillfully supplement his words with non-existent details, embellish them to the point of wanting to write a big book about our pilgrimage, completely losing everything acquired here, in the Holy Land.

About photography on pilgrimage

Isn't it a sin to take photographs in the Holy Land?

When you take photographs, your attention involuntarily goes to something completely different, i.e. you are no longer with God and not in prayer. Maintaining attention in prayer while taking photographs is something only ascetics can probably do. But you and I are hardly like that. In the process of photographing, fixating on external objects, we may well forget the purpose for which we came here to the Holy Land.

Therefore, for the sake of the Holy Places and the blessed experience of meeting them, I need to accurately determine the time and circumstances when I do not touch the camera. At such moments, do not think about taking photographs, concentrating on the shrine that needs to be given due honor.

About prayer for enemies

The Gospel says: “Pray for your enemies.” To what extent are we able to do this? Is it true that a person who prays receives a demonic blow or takes on these temptations upon himself, or do all temptations come within the strength of the person praying?

In his letters, the Apostle Paul repeatedly asks: “Pray for me.” The Apostle asks the laity whom he has churched to pray for him. A man led by the Holy Spirit - and suddenly such a request. That is, prayer for others is a necessity. Moreover, the Apostle Peter says: “Pray for one another that you may be healed: the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”(1 Pet. 5:16). The Church lives by the unanimity of prayer for one another. Prayer should be sincere, heartfelt, simple.

There should be no guile or self-interest in prayer. There should be no such fear in prayer: “I’ll pray now, and all the demons will fly from him to me, or all his illnesses of my enemies will become mine.”.

True, sometimes you can hear such a warning from church people. Church experience shows that not everyone and not every person is worth praying for. The one who prays really irritates the demons. Wherever real church life begins, temptations begin, and this is a sign of the activation of demonic forces. It happens that a person goes to church, prays, confesses and receives communion, but by nature he is far from Christ, and there the demons are not particularly worried or worried. “Let him pray to himself,” they say, “he’s ours anyway.” After all “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”(Mk, 7, 6) - the Lord spoke about such people.

Where work on character begins, there will certainly be temptations. Moreover, the Lord allows temptations so that a person can be trained by them to stand in the grace of God, to stand in humility, by which grace is obtained. This exercise of humility is accomplished precisely by temptations and sorrows. Therefore, sorrows and temptations allowed by God are a sign of God’s closeness, they are God’s special deep Love for man. But it is natural that the Lord, as the Wise Teacher, always accurately measures and knows the measure of these temptations and sorrows. Therefore, never doubt that temptations are within your power. Do not suddenly fall into confusion, embarrassment, or fear, or some kind of illness, or superstitious experiences from these thoughts. Trust in God with faith and truth, and you will not be put to shame. No matter what temptations or what sorrows befall you, remember that they fell by the teaching permission of God, and not at all by the arbitrariness of demons allegedly jumping from someone to you.

On prayer for the Jews

How to pray for the health and peace of the Jews? Is it possible to write notes and light candles for them?

In the Church, commemoration is performed, notes are written and candles are lit only for baptized people. If a person is unbaptized (it does not matter what nationality he is), then prayer for him can be offered personally to his neighbors, at home, but not in church.

If a person who goes to church, let’s say, is a Jew, and he listens, heeds conversations about Christ, and is interested in the Church, then this person is already in the catechumen. And then you can pray for him at the Liturgy of the Catechumens. Let us recall the litany, which begins with the words of the deacon’s proclamation: “Pray, the catechumen, to the Lord!” and further: “Believe, let us pray for the catechumens, that the Lord may have mercy on them!”

It is precisely during this time that our prayers are offered for all our loved ones, who, for better or worse, are still disposed towards Orthodoxy; for better or worse, they still listen and heed church teaching, at least occasionally, but they still perceive our words.

If a person is actively militant, fighting against the Church, then you need to ask for the personal prayer of believers. The name of such a person cannot be submitted for proskomedia, i.e. You should not submit a note for the liturgy (in some places it is called “mass”). Because at the proskomedia, for each name, a particle is taken out of the prosphora, and then after everyone has received communion, the particles are immersed in the Blood of Christ. And when the Blood washes the particle, the grace of God washes the soul this person, whom we remembered. If a person is willingly disposed towards Christ and is somehow interested in the Church, and does not resist the Orthodox Church, then grace will meet this non-resistive mood of the heart and combine with it, and thereby his sins will be washed away or weakened.

What happens when a person opposes the Church and his name is submitted for proskomedia? If a person, by his own will, consciously unrepentantly lives in sin, fights against the Church, then the grace of God, washing his soul, meets with his own will, armed with sins. And these sins, rising in him against grace, will rise with even greater, special force. A person’s will is all connected with sins, he agrees with this, but does not agree with the Church. It has been repeatedly noted that in such cases, when we commemorate a person in church at a proskomedia, on that day he suddenly comes into such an unexpected rage or into such a fall into his passions, into his sins, which exceed his usual everyday behavior. This is a sign that you should not apply for proskomedia for this person. If we begin to intensively verbally churchize him, then we only aggravate his sins. It’s the same as teasing him, tempting him and, as a result, causing him to commit an increased sin against Christ, simply blasphemy against God. Such a person must be begged for in home prayer, which at the same time means enduring kindly. This doesn’t take months, it takes years.

About thoughts during prayer

There are a lot of thoughts during prayer. How to get rid of them?

Thoughts visit us for two reasons. The first reason lies within us, the second - outside. The first is our own passions, attachments to a variety of everyday matters that distract from prayer, and the second is a demonic action.

In hagiographic literature you can find the following phrase: "Drive away thoughts". And an inexperienced person, having read this, takes the advice into account, tries to fight thoughts, brush them aside, drive them away. But everything is in vain. Why?

When thoughts come, it is important to always remember this thing: thoughts can be driven away only with the assistance of God’s grace. Every word that we read in the books of the Holy Fathers must be carefully compared with the context of the inner experience of understanding. Holy fathers under the phrase "drive away thoughts" they mean one thing, but we understand something completely different, and by interpreting their words in our own way, we understand them completely distorted.

What did the Holy Fathers mean by driving away thoughts?

A person who drives away thoughts is like someone drowning in a swamp. If he starts floundering and trying to escape from the swamp, he will get stuck even more. But you can get distracted and switch. True, a person has a habit of being distracted from one thought to another. Let’s say thoughts come about matters that remain there, outside the temple, outside the service, and a person can distract himself from this thought and remember yesterday’s film and get busy with this film. Or deal with a quarrel that happened yesterday, or suddenly remember that yesterday you sold a lot on the market... In this way you can distract yourself. This often happens, a person begins to kick out of thoughts, but in fact ends up in a new thought.

Only the grace of God can drive away a thought. What This The Holy Fathers knew this, but we cannot know this. For example, reflecting on the Gospel or on the meaning of the prayer that was just said will be much more useful than a fruitless struggle with thoughts. You can digress into some instruction of the Holy Fathers and reflect on it. You can remember a phrase from the Psalter and reflect on it. IN as a last resort remember any of the prayers, morning or evening. This reflection in itself will attract the grace of God, and only by it will the interfering thoughts be driven away.

There is another way to fight thoughts: to repent, to repent to the person that he falls into this thought. Here we move on to the internal cause of thoughts.

For the sake of the answer, let's make a small digression on the topic. Let us briefly remember what the term means "novice". By newcomer I mean a person who has been in the Church for 10-15 years. Our current spiritual state is such that 10-15 years of active churching, Confession, Communion, church life is the state of a beginner.

On what basis do I say this? If we compare the states of a church person that the Holy Fathers describe and the state of today's Christian, we will see that even fifteen years of church practice for many of us is just a new beginning... So why does such a struggle of thoughts occur in a new beginning person? For beginners, thoughts from demons can come for only one reason: we have something for them to cling to. This means that we have our passions, and therefore our attachment to various everyday matters. For example, some people have a great attachment to desire without fail. get even in relation to one's neighbor. I had a fight with someone, and the opponent had the last word, but I really want the last word to be mine... Getting even is a manifestation of wounded pride. In a person it can be very strong, sometimes to such an extent that he is only occupied with these quarrels during worship. He goes over yesterday's, the day before yesterday's quarrels - you never know what... The other has a very great passion for things or for money, he also plays out various moments of hurt - somewhere he sold something cheap, somewhere he lost something...

If during a divine service we suddenly become busy with everyday affairs, is this not a reason for our repentance? Therefore, if this does happen, I can give this advice: stop in the divine service, stop listening to the service, take care of yourself a little, i.e. look carefully the thoughts themselves, what does it feel like their content. You will see that it most often same. This means that the same passion, some ordinary everyday attachment of ours, interferes with us during worship.

We should always remember the words of the Apostle Paul: "Where grace abounds, sin comes alive". The grace of God abounds in the temple. Naturally, sin comes to life in us, and therefore every worldly, earthly attachment. Sin with all its power and strength will carry away our love of life. The human soul will be carried away by this power and will, with great love of life, engage in passions that completely devastate it, poor soul. In other words, she will waste her life energy.

To learn how to deal with this you need to get to the essence, to the root. First, find out the content of the thought. Once you see the content, find the reason for it. For example, this is attachment to things. Seeing such attachment, lament your being bound by this sinful state and fall in prostration to God with the prayer: “Lord, have mercy on me, forgive me!” Sometimes one such fall on earth before God - not a bow, but a fall - is enough for healing.

Some say: “We bow, but the demons or our passions are not at all affected by this, no matter how many bows we make.” But when you fell before God in deep prostration, this is a completely different matter. And when a person realizes that standing at a divine service at a time when the Royal Doors are open, when the Greatest Sacrament is being performed, he is busy with his insignificant problems, and will fall with great sorrow, with a repentant feeling, with fear of God, contrition will come to him. By this contrition he will undoubtedly call upon himself the cooperating grace of God. And only this grace is able to overcome and drive away the thought.

So, the first of these actions is reflection on any Godly content, the second is consideration of oneself: where does the thought come from; and the third is contrition in the thoughts that you are experiencing at this moment.

The third is humility to God. When you come to the service, accept that your affairs are now not in your hands, but in God’s hands. Your business now is to be closer to God, then the Lord will take care of the normal course of your affairs. Have hope in God, it will help your humility. When you learn to do any of these three, then you can follow the holy fathers and drive away thoughts.

On fighting sleep during prayer

- How to overcome sleep during prayer?

The matter is very complicated. I myself can’t overcome it... The only thing that helps is bowing to the ground. During prayer, you can bow to the ground, but with a sincere appeal to God, because bowing in itself does little, and sleep immediately falls again. If you are praying and sleep is bothering you, St. Theophan the Recluse recommends stopping praying. Take a break, do something for literally five minutes - it will completely invigorate you. And then return to prayer again.

If you are standing at a service and sleep overcomes you during the service, then do not hesitate to bow to the ground. Although often a person is embarrassed, afraid of the opinions of others. No, don't be embarrassed.

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How many times have I opened the Bible or some kind of spiritual literature and within a moment switched to family concerns! And even when I manage to avoid external distractions, suddenly a bunch of abstract thoughts begin to appear in my subconscious: “Don’t forget to put the laundry in the dryer! I need to call so-and-so... What to cook for lunch?!”

Distractions happen, but don't let them get to you. Our prayers, although imperfect, are still worthy of attention. At least that's what Thomas Aquinas claims.

It was a wonderful day when, in my second year of college, I came across the 13th section of the 83rd question of the second part of the Summa Theologica: “The human mind is not able to remain high for long due to natural weakness, since human weakness burdens the soul and inclines it to lower things.”

O merciful, comforting day! What a relief to hear from the saints that we are normal! They had the same humanity that we have, and this did not prevent them from achieving holiness.

Thomas continues by saying: “The deliberate distraction of the mind during prayer is sinful,<…>but unintentional absent-mindedness does not deprive prayer of its fruit.”

So, when I read the “ten” of the Rosary, without delving into either the words or the Mystery to which it is dedicated, is my prayer still worth something? If I'm distracted unintentionally, the answer is yes.

In prayer, as St. Thomas explains, there is a special kind of attention by which we turn our minds to God. If, when starting to pray, I first of all turn off my mind from other things and direct my whole being to God, this intention affects my imperfect prayer. “The strength of the initial intention with which one begins to pray makes all prayer worthy of reward.”

How merciful God is! As Psalm 103 tells us: “He knows our composition, He remembers that we are dust.”

We should not turn away from prayer when it seems to us that there is no point in it. If the Lord accepts my unsuccessful attempts to concentrate, if He is so patient with me, then I can be patient with myself.

Of course we must try. We have to make an effort to stay focused. But even if I succumb to unintentional distraction, His grace lifts me up, His grace can even make this fall useful to me, offering me another opportunity to return to Him. “You will not despise a broken and humble heart, O God.”

My heart is never too divided, my head is never too scattered, my life is never too inconsistent to stand before the Lord. I should never despair, and neither should you. Turn to Him in prayer again. Even if you forget what you are doing in the middle of the first sentence, don't lose hope! Your imperfection can become your path to holiness. He hears and sanctifies your little prayers. Be in peace.