P oliths are important and beautiful all without exception. After all, each of them was born in the depths of the souls of those who turned to the Lord, the best human feelings are invested in each - love, faith, patience, hope ... And each of us probably has (or will) his favorite prayers, those that somehow especially consonant with our soul, our faith.

H about there are three main prayers, to know by heart and understand the meaning of which any Christian is obliged, they are the foundation of the foundations, a kind of alphabet of Christianity.

The first one is the Creed.

WITH creed - a summary of the foundations of the Orthodox dogma, compiled in the 4th century. Knowing and understanding it is necessary for a believer, so let's read it translated into modern Russian:

I believe in one God the Father, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and of everything visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only one, begotten of the Father before all time; as Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten and not created, having one being with the Father and by whom all things were created. For us, people, and for our salvation, who descended from heaven and took on human nature from the Virgin Mary through the influx of the Holy Spirit on Her, and became a Man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And resurrected on the third day according to the Scriptures. And ascended into Heaven and is at the right hand of the Father. And He again has to come with glory to judge the living and the dead. Whose kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, who gives life to all, proceeding from the Father, honored and glorified on a par with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the prophets. Into one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. True.

In Old Slavonic, the church language, the Creed sounds like this:

I believe in one God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, Who was born of the Father before this age; Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, Whom all was. For us for the sake of man and for our sake of salvation, he descended from heaven and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin and became human. Crucified for us under Pontius Pshat, and suffered, and was buried. And resurrected on the third day according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. And the packs of the future with glory to judge the living and the dead, His Kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke the prophets. Into one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. Amen.

Prayer is not easy, the best interpretation of it is given by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann in his book "Sunday Conversations".

Let us try, following the reasoning of an experienced priest, to try to penetrate into the essence of this prayer.

So, Symbol of faith begins with the words I believe in one God the Father...»

These words are the beginning of all beginnings, the foundation of the foundations of Christianity. Pre-Christian man god, or rather gods, called natural phenomena. There was a god of the wind and a god of the sun, there were as many gods as there were forces acting in nature. “The world is full of gods,” said the Greek philosopher Thales, which meant that many different natural forces and laws operate in the world. The gods were a reflection of the world. Christianity, having proclaimed the one God, thus affirmed the originality of the spiritual, higher being.

The pagan gods were considered evil and dangerous, Christians immediately recognized the Father in their God. The father gives life and continues to love his creation throughout his life, he takes care of him and participates in his affairs, he forgives him for his mistakes and passionately wants his child to be beautiful, smart, happy and kind. The Gospel says about God: "He is love." He is the love for us, his children. And our reciprocal love for Him, our trust and filial obedience are natural.

Further. Naming God Father, Creed calls him the Almighty: I believe in one God the Father, the Almighty…”. With this word, we express our faith that it is in God's providence that all life, everything is from Him, everything is in His hands. With this word, we, as it were, entrust ourselves, our fate to the Lord.

Next line: " Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible". The world is not an accidental cohesion of cells, not an absurdity, it has a beginning, a meaning and a purpose. The world was created by Divine wisdom, He created it "and saw that it was good ...".

« And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten…“Saying these words, we immediately find ourselves in the very core of Christianity,” says Protopresbyter A. Schmemann.

Word " Lord” at the time of the emergence of Christianity meant “teacher”, “leader”. A leader who is endowed with Divine power, sent by God, in the name of God, in order to rule the world. This title was appropriated by the Roman emperors in order to establish the Divine source of their power. Christians did not recognize him as an emperor, for which the Roman Empire persecuted them for more than 200 years. Christians asserted: in the world there is only one bearer of Divine authority, one Lord - Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten.

Jesus is a human name very common in Palestine at that time. Christ is a title meaning "anointed one", in Hebrew it sounds like "Messiah". The expectation of the Messiah was justified. The one who was expected, prayed for and proclaimed by all the prophets, has come. The man is Jesus, the Messiah is Christ.

About the fact that Christ is the Son of God, God Himself told us, and this is described in the Gospel: when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended on Him from heaven in the form of a dove and a voice was heard from heaven: “This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased...". The Son of God, sent to us by God, is His part. His love. His faith is in us humans.

The Son of God - just born, as any of us was born, And born in poverty, His Mother did not even have diapers in which to wrap Him, beds, where to put Him, a newborn ...

“Who is of the Father, born before all ages; Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, Whom all was.” How to understand such words? Very simple. “Father! says Christ on the night of betrayal. “May they all be one — as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You, so may they (we, people! — Auth.) be one in us — that the world may believe that You sent me…”. This is the meaning of these words of the Creed about the Son of God, the Only Begotten.

« For us, man, and for our sake, who descended from heaven...» In the line, the most important, the most important word, the concept is salvation. Christianity itself is a religion of salvation. Not the improvement of life, help in troubles and hardships, but salvation. That is why Christ was sent because the world was perishing—in lies, in unscrupulousness, in human dishonesty. And He did not come to make us carefree and happy, successful in everything, but to show us the way to salvation from total lies and dishonor. This path is not easy, but He did not promise us that it would be easy. He simply warned: if we live the way we live, we will perish, and perish soon. But if we understand that our path is the path to death, then there will be the first step on the path to salvation.

« And incarnated from the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin, and incarnated". For non-believers, these words are often proof enough that the whole of Christianity is nothing more than a beautiful fairy tale. Virgo cannot become a mother under any circumstances. Indeed, it is impossible to prove the reality of a husbandless conception and birth, so we either believe in it - we just believe without reasoning - or there really is nothing to talk about.

So, to prove the fact of the birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary is impossible. But ... how much do we know today about the world that surrounds us? It is worth thinking, and it will become clear: the deepest laws of the world are unknown to us, and its mystical depth is also unknown, that depth where our mind meets the action of God the Creator. By the way, after all, the Church does not claim that a husbandless conception and birth is possible, she only says that this happened once - when God Himself came to earth in the form of a man! It was God's decision, God's providence, one of those Lord's ways that are inscrutable to us, that is, cannot be understood due to the fact that they are God's, and not human. Well, the reason for such a decision of God is quite understandable: only having received His Flesh and Blood from the Mother, Christ could become related to us, people, to the end, and that is how He became human. Since then, He has been one of us.

« crucified for us under Pontius Pilate... Why is this name alone mentioned in the Creed, because other people, not only Pontius Pilate, participated in the condemnation and torment of Christ? Not only in order to more accurately indicate the time when the crucifixion took place. Remember, the Gospel of John describes how Pilate asks Christ standing before him: “Why don't You answer me? Don't You know that I have power to crucify You and I have power to let You go?" Of course, Pilate knew: there is no fault for Christ. But the human life of the Lord was in his power. It depended only on his decision, on the decision of his conscience in those hours. And he was looking for an opportunity to let Jesus go - and he did not let go. He did not let go because he was afraid of the crowd, he was afraid of riots that could damage his career as a procurator. Procurator Pontius Pilate was faced with a choice: put an innocent man to death or risk his future in the name of justice. He chose the first. And every time in Creed we pronounce the name of Pilate, we remind ourselves: be careful - it is much easier to choose betrayal than to take the side of the truth. In every person who meets on our life path, you can see the image of Christ. And often we are faced with a choice: to do good to the person we meet or to betray him - out of weakness or fear, out of laziness or indifference, to betray, as he did “before Easter, at the sixth hour, Pontius Pilate” ... Our spiritual salvation depends on such a choice each time or our doom.

« And suffering, and buried". When, after the darkness of Good Friday, the day of crucifixion and death, we enter Saturday, a shroud rises in the middle of the temple, that is, a tomb under a veil with the image of the dead Christ on it. But anyone who has at least once experienced, together with other believers, this day, unique in its depth, in its light, in its purest silence, knows - and knows not with his mind, but with his whole being: this tomb, which, like any coffin, always there is evidence of the triumph and invincibility of death, gradually begins to illuminate with such an initially invisible, barely perceptible light that the coffin is transformed, as the Church sings, into a “life-giving coffin” ... In the early morning, still in complete darkness, we carry the shroud around the temple. And now it is no longer a grave sob that is heard, but a song of victory: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal!” - so writes Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann. Christ announces to us that the kingdom of death is coming to an end. That "buried" does not mean "gone forever", that the resurrection will be!

We all have to die. But behind the words of the Creed, for some, there is still only hope, for others - already the certainty that in our death we will meet Christ and we will wait for the resurrection.

« And risen on the third day, according to the Scriptures". These words are the very essence, the core of the Christian faith. In principle, faith in Him presupposes faith in the resurrection itself. The Resurrection is a miracle revealed to us as a great gift - that's probably all that needs to be said about these lines.

“And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. And the packs of the coming with glory, to be judged by the living and the dead, His Kingdom will have no end. The sky, according to Christian concepts, is that in the world that is high, spiritual, pure, this is what Christianity in man calls his spirit. Each of us has a piece of the sky. It was “heaven on earth” that Christ revealed to us, He showed us: the meaning of life is ascent. “Ascension to heaven” means, having gone through an earthly, controversial and full of suffering life, to finally partake of heavenly truth, to return to God, to knowledge of Him. Our faith and our love are directed to heaven.

« And packs of the future with glory to judge the living and the dead” - that is, “and again expected to judge the living and the dead.” The first Christians lived in anticipation of the second coming of Christ and rejoiced at the coming coming. Gradually, fear began to be mixed with the joy of waiting - the fear of His judgment, which we habitually call the Last Judgment. The concept of "fear" in Christian Scripture is used in two senses - in positive and negative. On the one hand, all human life is permeated with fear, fears. Fear of the unknown, fear of suffering, fear of misfortune, fear of death, finally. Life is terrible, and death is also terrible. The result of these endless fears is all our illnesses, physical and spiritual, mental. It is from this “negative” fear that Christ came to free us. That is why, says John the Theologian, fear is sinful, because it testifies to the lack of our faith. But also “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” Such fear is no longer from a lack of faith and love for God, but from their excess. Its essence, meaning is admiration, reverence. We sometimes experience a similar fear when we encounter something truly beautiful and suddenly realize how insignificant we ourselves are in comparison with this “something” ... Fear-admiration, fear-love and its consequence - infinite respect. For example, I am afraid of my spiritual father to the point of trembling in my hands and knees. I'm afraid precisely because I love him and for me his approval or disapproval of one or another of my words and deeds is infinitely important. This fear helps me avoid many problems and mistakes in life - I think over and calibrate my every step according to how the priest will appreciate it ...

Yes, we must wait for Christ "with fear and trembling." But also with the certainty that "there is no human sin that exceeds the mercy of God." If we repent of what has been done, He, returning to us, will forgive us, “His Kingdom will have no end,” and in His Kingdom we will be happy. After all, it’s not for nothing that we daily repeat: “Thy Kingdom come…”

“And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke the prophets.” Who is this Holy Spirit whom the Creed calls us to worship along with the Father and the Son? The word "spirit" - "ruach" in Hebrew means "wind", "power", something invisible, but having power over the world around us. And when we say “Spirit” about God, we combine in our consciousness His invisibility and His power into a single whole. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God always and in everything. The Spirit "proceeds" from the Father, it is His love for us. His faith is in us, His mercy and care for us.

« who spoke the prophets”- that is, the One who spoke and speaks with us through the prophets, through their mouths: the essence of prophecy is in proclaiming to us the will of God, otherwise how would we know this will? ..

« Into One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church". “I will build,” proclaims Christ, “my Church…” And he builds it. It builds the assembly, the unity of those who aspire to Him. At first, He gathers only twelve people, twelve apostles, to whom he says: “You didn’t choose Me, I chose you ...” And after His crucifixion, it is these twelve that remain on earth as the Church. They, in turn, invite people to join them, go with them and continue the work of Christ. The Church is not one externally - there are many churches in the world, she is one internally - by what she does, by what she is dedicated to - by her service to a common goal. “Cathedral” means universal, since the teaching of Christ is addressed not to any one people, but to all of us, to all of humanity.

« I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. Amen". The apostle Paul says that in baptism we are united with Christ. On earth we are born members of a nation, but a Christian through baptism enters into a new nation—the people of God. In baptism we give, we commit ourselves to Him, in return we receive His love. His Fatherhood is above us. And this is forever.

“Tea” means I hope and wait. So I love you and look forward to seeing you.

Prayer "Our Father"

IN the second "main prayer with which we walk along the road of Christianity" - " Our Father“- is a very warm, very kind, really filial (and daughter) prayer. In it, we especially deeply feel that the Lord is our Father, and not the sovereign.

“Our Father, Thou art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth” - this is how the prayer begins. In its opening words, our insatiable and eternal desire to be close to the Father, always feel His love on us and realize ourselves protected by His will and His Kingdom. Because without Him it is difficult, bad, scary for us. Without Him, we are defenseless in the midst of the troubles of this world.

The second part of the prayer contains petitions about the most important thing, about that without which human life is unthinkable. " Give us our daily bread today..."We ask Him. That is, on the one hand, do not let us fall, do not let us perish from the need of the earth, everyday: from hunger, cold, from the lack of what is necessary for physical life. But it is also a request for daily bread that nourishes our soul. It is not for nothing that in a prayer pronounced in Greek, “daily bread” literally sounds like “supernatural bread” - not only bread from our fields, but also bread for our souls.

The following petition plays a huge, sometimes decisive role in our life: and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors...". That is, forgive us, Lord, as we forgive, as we should forgive our loved ones. And with these words we express something very important for ourselves: after all, everyone deep down has both bitterness and resentment against someone, resentment unforgiven, old, sometimes unbearable ... And we would be glad to forgive, but we cannot! ..

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh in his book "Conversations on Prayer" told a simple and at the same time amazing story.

“When I was a teenager, like any boy, I had a “mortal enemy” - a boy whom I could not bear in any way, a boy who seemed to me a true enemy. And at the same time, I already knew this prayer. I then turned to my confessor and told him about it. He was a smart and direct person, and not without harshness, he told me: “It’s very simple - when you get to this place, say:“ And You, Lord, do not forgive me my sins, as I refuse to forgive Cyril ... ".

I said: “Father Athanasius, I can’t…”. “Otherwise it’s impossible, you have to be honest…”. In the evening, when I reached this place in prayer, my tongue did not turn to say it. Incur the wrath of God, say that I ask Him to reject me from my heart, just as I reject Cyril - no, I can’t ... I again went to Father Athanasius.

"Can not? Well, then skip over these words ... ”I tried: it didn’t work out either. It was dishonest, I could not say the whole prayer and leave only these words aside, it was a lie before God, it was a deception ... I again went for advice.

“And you, perhaps,” says Father Athanasius, “you can say: “Lord, even though I can’t forgive, I would very much like to be able to forgive, so maybe You will forgive me for my desire to forgive? ..”

It was better, I tried it... And after repeating the prayer in this form for several nights in a row, I felt... that hatred was not boiling in me so much, that I was calming down, and at some point I was able to say: “Forgive me! “I forgive him now, right here…”

Can you imagine what a lesson in forgiveness, and therefore getting rid of negative emotions, was given to the future Metropolitan by his confessor? Not only that, by forgiving "our debtors", we ourselves become better, cleaner, we also become healthier - any negative information accumulated in our subconscious undermines the very foundations of our health ...

But what does "forgive" mean? A person offended you, humiliated you, harmed you, and you just forgive him like that, you say: “It's okay, it's nothing, it's not worth attention? ..” Impossible! To forgive means to forget? Also incorrect. Forgiveness begins from the moment when you are able to look at the offender not as an enemy, but as a weak, malleable, very often unhappy person. He, perhaps, would like to become different, not to harm people, but he cannot - he is weak, petty. And then the resentment will grow into pity. Here he stands in front of you - vain, tormented, tormented by his problems, not knowing the joy of kindness, mercy, compassion ... and it's a pity for him, poor fellow, it's just a pity, because is life really such an existence? .. When Christ was nailed to the cross, He asked: "Forgive them, Father, they do not know what they are doing!" This is forgiveness in all its depth, in all compassion.

“I think,” says Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh, “that this is a very important experience. It is very important that when we pray we do not say anything that is not true (or that we do not fully understand, we say purely automatically). Therefore, if anyone has a prayer book and he prays according to the prayer book, read these prayers when there is time, put before yourself the question of what you can say honestly, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your will, note to yourself that you it’s hard to say, but what you can grow into with an effort - if not the heart, then the will, consciousness, note also what you can’t honestly say in any way. And be honest to the end: when you reach these words, say: “Lord, I can’t say this, help me someday grow to such a consciousness…”.

But back to prayer Our Father…". The following words are in it: and lead us not into temptation...". The word "temptation" in Slavonic means trial. And, probably, the most accurate interpretation of these words will be this: do not lead us into that area where we cannot withstand the test, where we will not be able to cope with the test. Give us strength, give us reason, and caution, and wisdom, and courage.

And finally, " but deliver us from evil". That is, deliver us from excessive trials, temptations, which we can only cope with with Your help, and especially from the machinations of the cunning devil, who pushes us to evil.

Jesus Prayer

No matter how serious our care is, no matter how heavy our grief, in despondency and sadness, in anguish and sorrow, in mental illness and bodily illness, we can always regain peace, health and joy. To do this, it is enough to know a short, at first glance, eight-word prayer. Thick volumes of books have been written about a short prayer. But many volumes do not fit what her words contain. This prayer is the essence of the entire Orthodox faith. To explain it means to explain the whole truth about man and God.

This is the Jesus Prayer:

« Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner «.

We have lost contact with the Divine — and that is the reason for all our troubles and misfortunes. We forgot about the spark of God that is in each of us. We forgot that a person is meant to protect and strengthen the connection between his own divine spark and the Divine fire, which seems to connect us to the "accumulator of the Universe." And we are given as much strength as we need, without any restrictions. The Jesus Prayer restores this connection.

Here is how the Athonite monks Kallistos and Ignatius write about this: “Prayer, with attention and sobriety, performed inside the heart, without any other thought or imagination of any kind, with the words: Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, insubstantially and silently raises the mind to the most called Lord Jesus Christ, with the words have mercy on me again brings him back and moves him to himself.

It is very important in the Jesus Prayer to understand well the meaning of its second part: "... have mercy on me, a sinner."

Can each of us sincerely call ourselves a sinner? Indeed, in the depths of his soul, a person thinks: I am not so bad, I am kind, honest, I work hard, I take care of my family, relatives, friends, I have practically no bad habits ... No, there are many people around who much more sinful than me. The only thing is that the word "sin" has not only a generally accepted meaning, but also another, much deeper one.

Sin is, first of all, a person's loss of contact with his own depth. Think about these words. Who can honestly say that every day he lives with all the depths of his soul, heart, mind, with all the scope of his will, with all his courage and nobility, lives in full force, using without a trace the physical and spiritual reserves that the Lord gave him at birth? Alas, this is how we live only in rare and wonderful moments of spiritual impulses. The rest of the time, our deeds and thoughts are at half strength, exactly as much as daily necessity requires.

But it's a shame! The Lord created us great, strong, beautiful, and we… we were crushed and almost completely forgot what we could be… And then it breaks out: “Lord, forgive me!..”

But the word "have mercy" is not a synonym for the word "forgive". This word is Greek, it has many meanings. “Forgive” means forgive and forget that I am like this. Lord, it just so happened, what can you do. In Greek, “have mercy” - “kyrie, eleison” - does not just mean “forgive”, but “forgive and give me time to come to my senses” - give me the opportunity to correct mistakes, help me become what You created me, what I should be. Saying the Jesus Prayer, we, exhausted by deeds and problems, living in endless haste and bustle, do not give up hope of becoming worthy and beautiful again. And you, Lord, have mercy on us - kyrie, eleison - and in the struggle for ourselves!

Always before praying for anything, asking for something from the Lord, say these few words in your heart several times. Believe me, they will give you much more than you can imagine...

In addition, the prayer book contains canons, akathists, as well as prayers on different cases.

Prayers for various occasions are usually said many times during the day - when a person starts some business, or something disturbs him, or sad thoughts disturb him; it is good to read short prayers when you are angry or annoyed, when you are afraid of something, even when you are just tired, and there is still a lot to do.

Today, often in the hands of believing Christians, one can see prayer books - books that contain prayers to God for various occasions. In the morning and evening, such believers also often pray with memorized words. And many Christians openly declare that they do not pray to God, because they do not know prayers. What prayers do you need to know, and how to pray to God correctly?

A number of theologians teach their parishioners that prayer from the prayer book will help the believer and is pleasing to God. For example, in the book How to Pray According to the Teachings of the Holy Fathers (Moscow, 2002), the process of morning and evening prayer is described: "King of Heaven"; "Trisagion"; "Our Father"; “Lord, have mercy” - 12 times; “Come, let us worship”; Psalm 50; "Symbol of faith"; “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice” - 3 times. After that, 20 prayers “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” - bow to the earth with each prayer. Then another 20 of the same prayers and with each bow.

The Bible makes no such or similar demands. One of the disciples asked Jesus Christ: "God! teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus Christ answered: “When you pray, speak…” and gave the text of the prayer “Our Father…” known to every Christian (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4). This is the only prayer to God that is desirable to know by heart. After all, it is very universal in its laconicism: it reveals the essence of God, points to the need for repentance, leads to the realization of our dependence on the Lord, and contains important instructions to people. But even this prayer, when presented in the two Gospels, has differences that prevent all believers from quoting it verbatim in the same way.

In addition to the prayer “Our Father”, the Lord, through His Word, nowhere gives examples of prayers, but says: “And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22); “Be persistent in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2); “Pray for one another” (James 5:16); “Pray with every prayer and supplication…” (Ephesians 6:18).

Based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, we can confidently say that you don’t need to read other people’s prayers to God from prayer books, learn them by heart, but you need to turn to God in your own words with faith: thank Him, ask for something, share joys and aspirations, that is be in constant prayerful communion with your heavenly Father.

Think about how, for example, you can read a memorized poem several times in a row, every day for decades, with all your heart. This is impossible, because over time you will get tired of reciting any work with expression and switch to “automatic”. The same is the case with prayer. After some time, whether you like it or not, a memorized prayer to God will acquire formality in your mouth. This means that prayer ceases to be prayer. After all, a real prayer is not a mantra or a spell, but a person’s personal appeal to the Creator, communication with Him. Proof of this is the psalms of David, each of which is an absolutely independent prayer - an appeal to the Creator.

There are many other examples of prayer appeals to God by the heroes of the Bible in Holy Scripture: Moses (see Exodus 8:30; 32:31, 32), Daniel (see Daniel 6:10; 9:3-21), Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 20:1-3) and others.

Shortcomings in the prayerful foundations of a number of churches are recognized by some of their representatives. So Archpriest Alexander Borisov (1939), candidate of theology, writes in his book Whitened Fields: “Indeed, when reading ready-made, written prayers, attention is easily scattered - a person says one thing with his mouth, and his head can be completely occupied others. This is absolutely impossible with free prayer in your own words. However, the latter is so unusual for our consciousness that even people who first entered the Church most often say: “I can’t even pray - I don’t know any prayers.” Indeed, when they enter the temple, they realize that people are praying there, but they are praying “according to books,” ready-made words, which, moreover, can be difficult to make out because of the incomprehensible Church Slavonic language and fuzzy pronunciation. And if so, then a person immediately gets the idea that otherwise it is simply impossible to pray. Prayer in this case is perceived as a kind of spell, which, if not pronounced with certain words in a certain order, will not be effective.

The well-known theologian, Bishop Theophan the Recluse (1815 - 1894) also called for praying to God in his own words in his work “Four Words on Prayer”: , she herself ascended to Him, and opened herself to Him and confessed what was in her and what she desired. For as from a vessel - overflowing - water pours out by itself; so from a heart filled with holy feelings through prayers, its own prayer to God will begin to burst out by itself.

Remember also that God in the Bible calls Himself our Father, and Jesus - Friend. Now answer how it will be more pleasant for the father: if his child runs to him and is confused, sometimes incoherently, but complains from the heart that he has hit or something is not working out for him, or if the child tries to express his thought to dad by memorized quotes from others? Or, imagine what it would be like for a friend if you shared your experiences, joys or problems with him, reading out a speech made by someone on a similar topic?

If we reason about the teaching of Holy Scripture, then we can draw only one conclusion: you need to pray to God with your personal prayer directly. And at the same time, it is not necessary to go to church to pray, thinking that God will hear you only there. It must be remembered that the Creator hears and sees everything: “He is not far from each of us” (Acts 17:27). The Creator "looks into all our affairs" (Psalm 32:15) and knows even our thoughts, since He is the Knower of the Heart (Acts 1:24).

Jesus Christ gave the following instruction regarding prayer: “But you, when you pray, go into your room, 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” (Matthew 6:6). This biblical text very accurately shows that prayer to God is a personal, secret, intimate appeal of a person to the Creator in a secluded place. This is exactly what the apostle Peter did - he retired to pray: “About the sixth hour, Peter went up on top of the house to pray” (Acts 10:9).

As noted above, the Bible teaches to pray to God constantly. This means that several times a day a believer should retire to pray to God, setting aside time for this. And the rest of the day, a person should always remember God's presence and maintain prayerful fellowship with Him. So, you can thank God for a new day, waking up, before getting out of bed; consult with Him while in a car or bus; communicate with the Creator at the workplace, closing your eyes for a couple of minutes, etc. Therefore, positions for prayer can be different, as with biblical heroes who prayed standing, sitting, lying down, and on their knees.

Of course, if a person has never prayed to God in his own words, it is difficult to start. To make it easier to cross this invisible barrier, you need to remember that the Lord is your Father, He loves you and wants to communicate with you. Having understood this, it is easier to pour out your requests, experiences and gratitude before the Heavenly Parent. At the same time, one must remember that earthly fathers can make mistakes, have shortcomings, since they are people. Heavenly Father is perfect, and His love for us is great and constant.

Valery Tatarkin
Used excerpts from the book
"Returning to the origins of the Christian faith"
www.apologetica.ru

Today, often in the hands of believing Christians, one can see prayer books - books that contain prayers to God for various occasions. In the morning and evening, such believers also often pray with memorized words. And many Christians openly declare that they do not pray to God, because they do not know prayers. What prayers do you need to know, and how to pray to God correctly?

A number of theologians teach their parishioners that prayer from the prayer book will help the believer and is pleasing to God. For example, the book How to Pray According to the Teachings of the Holy Fathers (Moscow, 2002) describes the process of morning and evening prayer: ”; "Trisagion"; "Our Father"; "Lord, have mercy" - 12 times; "Come, let's bow down"; Psalm 50; "Symbol of faith"; "Virgin Mary, rejoice" - 3 times. After that, 20 prayers “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” - bow to the ground with each prayer. Then another 20 of the same prayers and bow at each waist.

The Bible makes no such or similar demands. One of the disciples asked Jesus Christ: “Lord! teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus Christ answered: “When you pray, say…” and gave the text of the prayer “Our Father…” known to every Christian (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4). This is the only prayer to God that is desirable to know by heart. After all, it is very universal in its laconicism: it reveals the essence of God, points to the need for repentance, leads to the realization of our dependence on the Lord, and contains important instructions to people. But even this prayer, when presented in the two Gospels, has differences that prevent all believers from quoting it verbatim in the same way.

Apart from the prayer “Our Father”, the Lord, through His Word, nowhere gives examples of prayers, but says: “And whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22); “Be persistent in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2); “Pray for one another” (James 5:16); “Pray with every prayer and supplication…” (Ephesians 6:18).

Based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, we can confidently say that you don’t need to read other people’s prayers to God from prayer books, learn them by heart, but you need to turn to God in your own words with faith: thank Him, ask for something, share joys and aspirations, that is be in constant prayerful communion with your heavenly Father.

Think about how, for example, you can read a memorized poem several times in a row, every day for decades, with all your heart. This is impossible, because over time you will get tired of reciting any work with expression and switch to “automatic”. The same is the case with prayer. After some time, whether you like it or not, a memorized prayer to God will acquire formality in your mouth. This means that prayer ceases to be prayer. After all, a real prayer is not a mantra or a spell, but a person’s personal appeal to the Creator, communication with Him. Proof of this is the psalms of David, each of which is an absolutely independent prayer - an appeal to the Creator.

There are many other examples of prayer appeals to God by the heroes of the Bible in Holy Scripture: Moses (see Exodus 8:30; 32:31, 32), Daniel (see Daniel 6:10; 9:3-21), Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 20:1-3) and others.

Remember also that God in the Bible calls Himself our Father, and Jesus - Friend. Now answer how it will be more pleasant for the father: if his child runs up to him and is confused, sometimes incoherently, but complains from the heart that he hit or something doesn’t work out for him, or if the child tries to express his thought to dad by memorized quotes from others? Or, imagine what it would be like for a friend if you shared your experiences, joys or problems with him, reading out a speech made by someone on a similar topic?

If we reason about the teaching of Holy Scripture, then we can draw only one conclusion: you need to pray to God with your personal prayer directly. And at the same time, it is not necessary to go to church to pray, thinking that God will hear you only there. It must be remembered that the Creator hears and sees everything: “He is not far from each of us” (Acts 17:27). The Creator "looks into all our affairs" (Psalm 32:15) and knows even our thoughts, since He is the Knower of the Heart (Acts 1:24).

Jesus Christ gave the following instruction regarding prayer: “But when you pray, go into your closet, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6). This biblical text very accurately shows that prayer to God is a personal, secret, intimate appeal of a person to the Creator in a secluded place. This is exactly what the apostle Peter did - he retired to pray: “About the sixth hour, Peter went up on top of the house to pray” (Acts 10:9).

As noted above, the Bible teaches to pray to God constantly. This means that several times a day a believer should retire to pray to God, setting aside time for this. And the rest of the day, a person should always remember God's presence and maintain prayerful fellowship with Him. So, you can thank God for a new day, waking up, before getting out of bed; consult with Him while in a car or bus; communicate with the Creator at the workplace, closing your eyes for a couple of minutes, etc. Therefore, positions for prayer can be different, as with biblical heroes who prayed standing, sitting, lying down, and on their knees.

Of course, if a person has never prayed to God in his own words, it is difficult to start. To make it easier to cross this invisible barrier, you need to remember that the Lord is your Father, He loves you and wants to communicate with you. Having understood this, it is easier to pour out your requests, experiences and gratitude before the Heavenly Parent. At the same time, one must remember that earthly fathers can make mistakes, have shortcomings, since they are people. Heavenly Father is perfect, and His love for us is great and constant.

When reading Divine Scripture, the soul of a person is cleansed of perversions and vices, and it is very important to nourish the mind with words and thoughts drawn from Holy Scripture. That is why the ancient monastic statutes ordered, especially beginners, to learn the Psalter by heart and always have the psalms on their lips.

Among the Old Testament books of Holy Scripture, a special place is occupied by the book of Psalter, which contains a collection of inspired songs. This name, according to the testimony of St. Basil the Great, she received from the musical instrument often mentioned in it, to which the prophet David adapted the singing of his psalms.

We can only humbly meditate on where divine psalmody originates. One thing is certain: every new revelation of the properties and perfections of God, every new knowledge of beauty and harmony in the newly created nature, proclaiming the glory of the Creator, served for man in paradise as an abundant source of prayers and spiritual songs. But he did not enjoy the heavenly bliss for long, he soon lost it through the transgression of the commandment of God. The fall and the punishment of God that followed it, together with the promise of the seed of a woman, evoked deep feelings of repentance and joyful hope for future deliverance in his soul. These feelings found their appropriate expression in the words of prayers and songs. The first people were well aware of what they had lost through their fall, and began to call on the name of God with repentance and weeping, praying for mercy (Gen. 4, 1, 4, 26).

However, not all mankind wished to return to paradise through repentance. Cain and his descendants began to look for means that would allow them to find heavenly bliss without God. One such means was the musical instruments invented by Lamech's son Jubal (Genesis 4:21). Music turned out to be a wonderful help in an attempt to regain the lost state of paradise, to replace it with the pleasure received from playing musical instruments. Musical culture began to develop rapidly and became so rooted in the minds of ancient people that singing and glorifying God also began to be accompanied by instrumental music. That is why the royal psalmist David called to sing to God on tambourines and harp, to praise Him with the sound of a trumpet, on the psalter, strings, organ and cymbals of good voice (Ps. 149, 3; 150, 3-5). And God allowed this, condescending to the weakness of man, until the holy apostles, taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, completely excluded musical instruments from worship and, accordingly, from psalmody.

The Psalter was of great importance for worship in the Old Testament Church. For the first time, David gave a psalm for praise to the Lord after bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:7). And the Divine Founder of the Christian Church Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, recognizing David as an inspired man (Mark 12:36; Ps. 109:1), prayed with his psalms and often applied psalm prophecies to Himself (Psalm 8:3; Matt. 21:16 ; Ps. 117:22, 23; Matt. 21:42; Ps. 109:1; Mark 12:36; Ps. 81:6; John 10:34; Ps. 40:10; John 13:18 ; Ps. 108, 8; John 17, 12). Following custom, He sang psalms with His disciples at the celebration of the Passover Supper (Mt. 26:30; Mk. 14:26). The apostles used psalms during the prayer meetings of the first Christians and urged believers to edify themselves with psalms and doxologies and spiritual hymns (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Jas. 5:13; 1 Cor. 14:26), include psalms in every prayer meeting, as the most important and significant part of worship.

Many holy fathers (including St. Ephraim the Syrian, Blessed Theodoret, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Gregory of Nyssa), admonishing Christians to spend the night and morning in prayers and psalms, command to constantly have a psalm in their mouths in order to say with David: my eyes in the morning, learn thy words (Ps. 118, 148). In the 4th century, “the spiritual hymn of David enlightens the souls of the faithful in all churches throughout the universe,” becoming so widespread that “both those traveling, and sailing the sea, and busy with sedentary work, and men and women, healthy and sick, considered for themselves a loss not to have this lofty Psalm teaching. Even feasts and wedding celebrations borrow their entertainment here.

The Psalter was used most often in monasteries and in gatherings of persons who had dedicated themselves to the service of God. Thus, the statute of the Monk Pachomius the Great, who made it an obligation for all monks, no matter what they were doing, “to constantly engage their minds in theology by reading the Psalter or other passages of Scripture from memory”, in rules 139 and 140 instructs those entering the monastery to memorize several psalms , and later - "at least the Psalter and the whole New Testament."

According to the decree of the holy fathers of the VII Ecumenical Council, "it is certainly necessary to know the Psalter to everyone who is elevated to the rank of bishop, and so the whole clergy instructs them to learn from it."

Many monks in Rus' knew the Psalter by heart. The ancestor of the Russian monastic community, the Monk Theodosius, said to his brethren: “The most important thing to have in your mouth is the Psalter of David, it is fitting for a black-bearer, so drive away demonic despondency.” He himself, according to the biographer, “sang the Psalter quietly with his mouth,” while spinning a wave with his hands or doing something else.

The use of psalms in worship was adopted by our Russian Church from the Eastern Orthodox Church. They entered as the most important and significant part of everyday, Sunday, festive and all private services (spiritual requirements). The Psalter becomes the main educational book in our ancient education. This happened for the reason that, firstly, education was carried out under the direct guidance of the Church and mainly by spiritual persons, and secondly, it had the goal of restoring in each person the image of God distorted by sin, and for this reason it was called education.

Having learned to read from the Psalter, and besides having learned it by heart, the Russian man never parted with it. On the basis of his deeply religious feeling, he turned to the Psalms to solve his perplexities, especially in difficult circumstances of life. To heal and alleviate the suffering of seriously ill patients, psalms were read over them. But this was especially often done on those who were considered possessed by unclean spirits. In Russia, even to this day, another custom, which dates back to the early days of the Church of Christ, is strictly observed, is to read the Psalter for the dead.

So, we see that the Psalter has always been and still remains in private use among Christians both during worship and in everyday life. The singing of psalms and praises to God are at the same time an incitement to piety, and glorification of God, and admonishment for those who sing, and a guide to the right dogma. Their words purify the soul, and the Holy Spirit soon descends into the soul that sings these songs.

Reading the psalms in a singsong voice contributes to a deeper understanding of their meaning. “The Prophet David, giving the Divine words an artless sweetness, wants to interpret the meaning of the predicate with sweet singing with a certain flow of speech,” writes St. With such a performance of the psalms, “and without interpretation, even one verse can inspire great wisdom, induce to a decision and bring great benefit in life to anyone who is in any way willing to be attentive,” St. John Chrysostom points out. He claims that “you can sing without a voice, as long as the thought sounds inside. After all, we sing not to man, but to God, and He hears the voice of the heart and penetrates into our innermost thoughts.

Psalms are nothing but the words of the Holy Spirit for all times and peoples. David compiled a book of 150 psalms at His suggestion. The Holy Spirit, who spoke in the prophets, also revealed Himself in the Davidic Psalter. There has never been any doubt about the inspiration and canonicity of this book. The Divine Scriptures are all holy, but especially, according to St. John Chrysostom, "the psalms are imbued with holiness, they are the treasury of the salvation of the human race." Psalms do not generalize the Holy Scriptures, but help to understand it through prayer and make it effective in the life of the one who prays. This is the main merit of the Psalter, which determined its use in the Christian Church.

In its content, this book is most consistent with the basic idea of ​​the worship of our Church, which in its entirety expresses its faith. It reveals the Divine economy of our salvation, teaches the rules of faith, lessons and examples of morality. “The Book of Psalms encompasses everything that all other Holy Books represent. She prophesies about the future, and brings to mind the past, and gives laws for life and rules for activity,” wrote St. Basil the Great. From it you can learn about all the dogmas of the Church: “about Christ, about the resurrection, about the future life, about the afterlife, about retribution, about the teaching of morality and everything related to dogmas.” And this book is full of thousands of other instructions. Each word of the psalm contains an infinite sea of ​​thoughts that have tremendous power. This great wealth contained in the words of the psalms and other inspired writings can be seen by anyone who will carefully examine what is said in them.

“I think,” reflects St. Athanasius, “that in the words of this book all human life, all states of the soul, all movements of thought are measured and embraced, so that nothing more can be found in a person.”

In the infinite variety of mental and contemplative pictures, which are in accordance with the inexhaustible abundance of the inspired psalm word and with the various needs of the soul that perceives it, according to Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), lies the secret of the sequence of psalms in the Psalter.

The spirit of the Psalter itself has an undoubted influence on the soul of a person, which, like the spirit of all Holy Scripture, has a great purifying power. It is no coincidence that it is sometimes called the "small Bible". “Throughout all Holy Scripture, the grace of God breathes, but in the sweet Book of Psalms it breathes predominantly,” believes St. Ambrose of Milan. The action and power of this Divine grace extends to all those who read, sing and listen to psalms and purifies their souls.

Words or thoughts perceived by a person or created in him contain an image. This image carries mental power and has a certain effect on a person. What kind of influence a person undergoes, positive or negative, depends on where these images come from. God, according to His condescension and good pleasure, gives knowledge about Himself in images accessible to man. And if a person perceives these Divine images, then they kindle passions in him and sanctify him. They then oppose the images created by the man himself and inspired by the demons. The latter, in cases of their acceptance by the soul, will pervert the spiritual image of a person created in the image and likeness of God.

Today we will talk about the Sunday readings of the Gospel of Luke. About how the resurrected Christ appeared to the disciples, "showing them his hand and nose and his ribs," they were afraid, He said: "Why do thoughts enter your hearts"? indicating that He knows hearts and sees not only outward turmoil, but also the storm within the human heart. “As I am I myself: touch Me and see: as a spirit of flesh and bones do not have, as you see the property of Me (Luke 24:38,39). When they disbelieved, he took honey and baked fish in front of them and ate. Not because he was starving, but because in this way he proved the corporeality of His resurrection. Then He said:

“And he said to them: this is the essence of the words, even the words to you, who are still with you, as it is fitting for all those who are written in the law of Moses to die, and the prophets and the psalm about me.

Then open your mind to them, understand the Scriptures.”

(“And he said to them: This is what I told you while I was still with you, that everything that is written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.

Then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Let's dwell on these words.

He says - these are the words of the prophet Moses, and "opened their minds" to understand what was written. These were the Jews who read the Scripture constantly on Saturdays, all their lives, they read in their homes, they were the most educated nation. He opened their minds, saying that everything that is written “about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms” has been fulfilled. What do we know about Christ, written in the Law of Moses? This refers to the five books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers. Much has been written about him. The Jewish scribes said that there is not a single page in Scripture where there would be no words about the Messiah, one must be able to see it. For example, the story of Joseph. This is the story of Christ. Innocent, virgin, gifted with a prophetic gift, betrayed by brothers, captured, tempted by a prodigal wife, but not tempted, imprisoned for chastity, entered into glory - this is a vivid image of Christ. And there are many such images in Scripture. Moses, starting his life from the water, a small tarred basket, in which he was floated on the water, and he swam on the water so as not to be a victim of murder, and was found bathing by the daughter of the pharaoh. Water is the beginning of Moses, water is the beginning of the Gospel. The Forerunner came to the Jordan to baptize, Christ came to the water, the Gospel begins with the water. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are one. As Blessed Augustine says, the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament, and the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament.

Everything that was said in the prophets and psalms was fulfilled. In general, a Christian needs to know the psalms by heart. Here we touch upon the serious subject of our religious ignorance. There are church rules that you need to know the entire Psalter by heart. Every bishop, priest, and deacon, that is, every person who accepts ordination, must know the Psalter by heart. The Psalter contains the most “quality” sermon about the Lord. A lot has been written about Christ - both in the prophets and in the psalms, but it is closed, in the sense that a person can read and not understand. In order to understand what is written, you need to have an open mind. Paul writes about this in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians - the Jews read the Scriptures, they read it more than we do, they read it daily, delve into it, study it, but the veil lies on their face, and they do not understand what they are reading about. The veil is removed by Christ. They read but do not understand; we understand but do not read. Christ opens the mind to man to understand the Scriptures. If Christ opens your mind to understand the Scriptures, you will have no interest in a life of reading other than to read the Old Testament Scriptures and find "footprints" of Christ there.

The risen Christ opens the minds of the apostles to the understanding of the Scriptures. (Luke 24:46) And he said to them: thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day, so that repentance, the remission of sins, would be preached in his name in all the nations, that is, peoples. The minds of the apostles were opened, and now they must go to open their minds to others. Apostles are witnesses of Christ's coming. The witness is the one who saw. And they can say in the sermon not “I read”, “I understood”, “I thought of it”, but “I saw”. So says John the Theologian - I have seen and my hands have touched. A witness is a participant in the events who saw, heard, touched.

The important thing is that Christ opens man's mind to the understanding of Scripture. Without an opening of the mind, a person cannot understand the Scriptures. All Christians should be readers and students of the Holy Scriptures. If you do not do this, then apparently you are shirking the Christian title. If Scripture is not your desk book, if you don't know the titles of all the books, you shy away from serious studies. All Christians should be people who exercise in reading the Holy Scriptures. This is a special reading. For example, Tolstoy in his best works, “War and Peace”, you can read 150 pages at night. Apocalypse, or Isaiah, or Daniel, you can read 1-2-3 chapters, and then you won’t be able to - because the text is too dense. Too much grace, too hard to absorb. A person is not ready - he does not understand half, he understands the other half, but she scares him. And he, saturated, stops. Reading Scripture is work. Reading newspapers is relaxing, reading fiction is killing time, reading your favorite writers or poets is a delight. Reading Scripture is not pleasure, not killing time, not rest, it is work. A Christian who does not read Holy Scripture is a lazy person and a deserter. In fact, he fled the battlefield, since reading Scripture is a kind of spiritual warfare. The war between me and myself, the war between God and sin, the war between Christ and the devil, the war we are in, you must read the Scriptures, otherwise how will God open your mind?

First you read the Scriptures, you read for a month or two, you realize that there is a lot of incomprehensible things there, you think, who would explain it to me. And then it happens that God opens the mind to understand Scripture. If you don't read the Scriptures at all, you're sinning. Chrysostom said: "All the sins of the world are from ignorance of the Scriptures." Rulers would be filled with humility and the fear of God if they read the Scriptures. They would have seen how God deals with Cyrus, with Nebuchadnezzar, with Zedekiah, David, Solomon, and how terrible it is to be at the head of the people. Ordinary people would be different if they knew the Scriptures.

Scripture must be read. They say I don't understand. That's right, you read and understand nothing, why? Because God opens the mind to man to understand Scripture. If God does not reveal this to you, you will read like fairy tales, like parables. But you still need to start reading. There is not a single service in the church where there would be no reading of the Holy Scriptures - reading is constant, without this there is no worship. A literate person is obliged to read the Holy Scriptures daily. We need to come to this, we have not yet come to this. They did not come for various reasons - due to historical inertia, we have a long time - years, centuries - people were illiterate, they perceived Scripture by ear. Now everyone is literate. Discover this niche and fill it with work. With whom you do not talk - no one knows anything. Ask a person what is written in the book of Genesis, in such and such a chapter? He will goggle his eyes at you.

All are literate, all have crosses around their necks. The Lord speaks to us through Scripture. Blessed Augustine said: "When you pray, you speak to God; when you read Scripture, God speaks to you." This is a dialogue. The monologue is useless. Begin to be enlightened and understand from within what the will of God is. Start reading everything you haven't read yet. And then God will open your mind to understanding the Scriptures. Work will begin from you, gifts will begin from God - it will open the mind to the understanding of the Scriptures.

O. Andrey. There are few interpretations of the Apocalypse - it is not read in worship. But the Apostle, the Gospels must be interpreted. Scripture read and not interpreted is words in the air. There is a principle Scriptura non est legenda, sed intelegenda: Scripture is not what is read, but what is understood. If a person reads but does not understand, he reads for nothing until he is explained. The Apocalypse is not read at divine services because it is difficult to explain it. Reading the Bible should not begin with the Apocalypse, but with the book of Genesis. This magazine is read from the end, from crossword puzzles, but the Bible must be read from the beginning, from Genesis. Then you need to read the Gospels. You can read the gospel first. The Old Testament must be understood in the light of the New Testament. But in any case, the Apocalypse should be read at the end. It is necessary to read gradually - the Gospel, Acts, and only then - the Apocalypse. Not earlier! A person who does not know but interprets the Gospels, Acts, Epistles is a charlatan.

Interpretations can be read any patristic. From the Holy Fathers, one should not seek a detailed explanation of any specific verses, but the principle of approach to the interpretation of the text - historical, exegetical, literal, spiritual. This needs to be done - work is needed, gradual, unhurried work.

Question. My sister's confessor blessed us, several people, to read the Psalter about health and repose. A lot of names. I have been reading the Psalter, praying, for two years already, the third. But one day I heard, just on "Radonezh", that this is not such a simple matter as it would seem. And she was confused.

O. Andrey. Since you have been blessed, the one who blessed will bear the brunt. But there is heaviness. First of all, from the fact that you, one might say, interfere in the life of another person. The one who has blessed will bear the brunt of the blessing-related issues. Read the Psalter, commemorate the dead - you work in obedience, you do the work of obedience and prayerful love. Do it. Those who bless must think of something else.

Question. Please tell me about profanity. Everything around is infected with it. Yesterday I watched a video, a recording of a battle in Novorossia, these fighters for whom we pray, we wish them victory, we consider them our brothers ... we see in Novorossia the germ of a truly new Russia. How to treat it?

O. Andrey. Do you really think that there, under the bullets, among the deaths, you can speak the language of the French salon? Of course, there is a mat with blood in half. Is there any other kind of war? Let's take it all soberly and calmly. Calm in the sense that an extreme situation gives rise to extreme behavior. People can't breathe fragrance when it's a nightmare. Do not exaggerate the requirements for the common man. A simple man looks death in the face, in its bony muzzle, buried his relatives and friends, bullets and shells whistle over him, and you want him to speak in the language of Boileau or Derzhavin? It is clear that there will be a checkmate, how else? It surprises me not that they swear, but that you ask. Do you not know life at all? She's really scary. These are ordinary people who fight, look death in the eyes, in the empty eye sockets of an empty skull. We, sitting in the warmth, should treat this, at least with understanding, without pretensions. Claims are the property of a stupid person. Be smart.

Question. Father, you have touched on an important topic. Previously, the Bible was not sold, we could not read it. I managed to read the New Testament, I tried to read the Apocalypse, but I haven't yet. Now I'm listening to. Oleg Stenyaev with explanations, Fr. Daniil Sysoev. I am also concerned about this issue. Basically, I listen, I don’t read, because my eyes are weakening. How can we be like that?

O. Andrey. As it is, so be it. You voiced your spiritual diet - Daniil Sysoev, Oleg Stenyaev, Radonezh. There is nothing to add. It's okay, listen to everything you can hear. Remember more so that it remains in memory and so that later it can be remembered and “grind” in the mind. Help God!

O. Andrey. From the penultimate question, an interesting topic opens up for me - when we want a lot from something, we get nothing. For example, we want a monarchy. Let's say we have an Orthodox monarch, and suddenly he did something that we don't like. Because we idealize him, we think that this is an angel, and this is a person. And he, based on ceremonial duties, for example, sent a telegram to the Pope of Rome with congratulations on Angel Day, and half of Orthodox Rus' rebelled right there - why would an Orthodox monarch congratulate a heretic? This is where the problem comes in. If we want a lot, we are doomed to big problems. The less you want, the more you achieve. One cannot have illusory, lofty ideas about a person. The same can be said about the war. War is blood, dirt, fear, animal fear, which is not controlled by the mind, do not expect that the fighters will be angels or knights. So it is everywhere - we want priests to be angels, we want the power to be angelic, but it is not angelic. In Ukraine, people gathered in the square because the government is bad. Is it good now? When were there fewer corpses - under the old regime or under today's democracy? When we really want a lot, we ourselves run into big trouble. That's why you want less. Even if you want a lot from yourself, you will also suffer, you will not be able to be absolutely holy. You will suffer, suffer, lose heart because you are not saints, and this is dangerous. Let's adjust our requests for life in accordance with the real state of affairs.

Question. At the Vespers, “Teach me, Lord, by your justification” is sung, what will we forgive the Lord with these words?

O. Andrey. I am grateful to all who ask the Scriptures. These are words from the 17th kathisma, 118 psalm, from the so-called Great Psalm. The psalm is dedicated to the extended teaching about the Law of God, about the commandments. A command is a command from the Lord. And justification is also a commandment. Justification is synonymous with commandment. Justifications, ways, commandments are synonymous with the same thing, the will of God for man.

About the parents of John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth, it is said that they were blameless, walking in all the covenants, laws and justifications of the Lord. Justifications are the poetic chanting of the commandments of God. “Teach me, Lord, by thy justification” means teach me to do such things that I may be justified before Your face. For example, the Lord says, do not despise the orphan, do not offend the widow, do not laugh at the cripple, help the needy, put money in your outstretched hand, remember the Sabbath day. Do this and you will be justified before the Lord. Justification is the commandments of the Lord, by the fulfillment of which a person is justified before the Lord. Teach me what I need to do in order to receive Your justification - forgive the enemy, pray, break my heart, mourn my sins, reconcile with my enemies, and the Lord will show what needs to be done for justification.

Questions like this are very helpful. When a person asks about the Lord, about the words of grace, then both the questioner, the answerer, and the listener receive incomparable benefit. If the word of the Lord is in our midst, then the Lord is in our midst. As the Gospel says: “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am among them” (Matthew 18:20).

Justification is the revelation of God about His will, about what a person needs to do so that he finds mercy in the eyes of the Lord. The care of orphans, the burial of strangers, the distribution of alms, the keeping of fasting days, the reading of Scripture, the exercise in the fear of God, meditation on the Lord, the remembrance of the Lord in the morning and in the evening - all this together is the justification of the Lord.

In passing, I note that the 118th psalm, the 17th kathisma, is a kathisma written specifically, there are 22 letters in the Hebrew language, and the kathisma is composed in such a way that it consists of 22 parts, each of which has 8 verses. Accordingly, each of the eight verses begins with the next letter of the alphabet - eight verses for the letter "alef", eight verses for the letter "bet", eight verses for the letter "gimel", and so on, 22 times for 8 verses. It turns out 176 verses. It's not just an inspired song, it's a carefully selected teaching from the Word of God. The Jews were commanded to learn it by heart so that on the way to Jerusalem (and the Law stipulated that every man stays in Jerusalem three times a year) they would not chat, but read Psalm 118. This 176-verse chant is a lengthy hymn in honor of the commandments of the Lord. Read this kathisma, learn it by heart.

Question. You don't have to ask me, just tell me. Father, I am so pleased when I listen to your sermons, and when you spoke while in Ukraine, and now, I can listen to repetitions at least a hundred times. I have read your amazing books. I bow to you and thank the Lord that we have such wonderful preachers. God bless you all.

O. Andrey. May the Lord save my poor soul for your kind words. Thank you dear sister. I hope we are working hard. Although, as Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev said:

"We can't predict

As our word will respond, -

And sympathy is given to us,

How grace is given to us.

Suddenly, as the Spirit of God breathes, sympathy comes to us from those who listen to us.

I wish you all to reach God's temple tomorrow, I wish the Lord to add all those who are being saved to the Church, so that the number of people who read the Scriptures, who love the Lord, who repent of their sins will increase. Peace to your dwellings, families, joy to you in the Lord. Until the next meeting. Amen.