Home prayer. How to pray correctly, cross yourself, church rules and basic prayers

Domestic bee The honey bee is also one of the few domestic animals. And according to the Creator’s plan, she faithfully serves man. By collecting nectar, the bee produces honey. At the same time, it plays a very important role in relation to the plant world - it pollinates

Prayer at home and church. The main concern of the teacher now is to ensure that the results obtained through conversations in the form of one or another religious thought and feeling are consolidated in the child’s soul, making them the property of the child’s weak will. Very suitable for this purpose

Daily morning and evening prayers that a Christian should perform. Their texts can be found in the prayer book.

The rule can be general - mandatory for everyone, or individual, selected for the believer by the confessor, taking into account his spiritual state, strength and employment.

Consists of morning and evening prayers, which are performed daily. This vital rhythm is necessary, because otherwise the soul easily falls out of the prayer life, as if waking up only from time to time. In prayer, as in any big and difficult matter, “inspiration”, “mood” and improvisation are not enough.

Reading prayers connects a person with their creators: the psalmists and ascetics. This helps to gain a spiritual mood akin to their heartfelt burning. Our example in praying in other people’s words is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His prayerful exclamations during the suffering of the cross are lines from the psalms (Ps. 21:2; 30:6).

There are three basic prayer rules:
1) a complete prayer rule, designed for monks and spiritually experienced laity, which is published in the “Orthodox Prayer Book”;

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

3) a short prayer rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov: “Our Father” three times, “Virgin Mother of God” three times and “I Believe” once - for those days and circumstances when a person is extremely tired or very limited in time. You cannot completely omit the prayer rule. Even if the prayer rule is read without due attention, the words of the prayers, penetrating the soul, have a cleansing effect.

The main prayers should be known by heart (with regular reading, they are gradually memorized by a person even with a very poor memory), so that they penetrate deeper into the heart and so that they can be repeated in any circumstances. It is advisable to study the text of the translation of prayers from Church Slavonic into Russian (see “Explanatory Prayer Book”) in order to understand the meaning of each word and not pronounce a single word meaninglessly or without precise understanding. It is very important that those who begin to pray should expel resentment, irritation, and bitterness from their hearts. Without efforts aimed at serving people, fighting sin, and establishing control over the body and spiritual sphere, prayer cannot become the inner core of life.

In the conditions of modern life, given the workload and accelerated pace, it is not easy for the laity to set aside a certain time for prayer. Morning prayers are best read before starting anything (and before breakfast). As a last resort, they are pronounced on the way from home. Late in the evening it is often difficult to concentrate due to fatigue, so prayer teachers recommend reading the evening prayer rule in the free minutes before dinner or even earlier.

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

Before starting prayer, you should sign yourself with the sign of the cross and make several bows, from the waist or to the ground, and try to tune in to an internal conversation with God. The difficulty of prayer is often a sign of its true effectiveness.

Prayer for other people (see memorial) is an integral part of prayer. Standing before God does not alienate a person from his neighbors, but binds him to them with even closer ties. We should not limit ourselves to just praying for people close and dear to us. Praying for those who have caused us grief brings peace to the soul, has an impact on these people and makes our prayer sacrificial.

It is good to end the prayer with thanksgiving to God for the gift of communication and contrition for one’s inattention. When getting down to business, you must first think about what you have to say, do, see during the day and ask God for blessings and strength to follow His will. In the midst of a busy day, you need to say a short prayer (see Jesus prayer), which will help you find the Lord in everyday affairs.

How to make your own prayer rule at home

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On a short prayer rule (Seraphim of Sarov)

Hieromonk Sergius

The Seraphim rule (3 times “Our Father”; 3 times “To the Virgin Mary...”; 1 time “Creed”) was supposed to be prayed in individual cases when for some reason it is not possible to read the full rule. That is, as an exception.

In addition, Rev. Seraphim gave it to the Diveyevo sisters, who, being nuns of the monastery, had the opportunity to often attend divine services - more often than the laity.

Spiritual life - and this especially concerns prayer - is such that if you do not constantly force yourself, there will be no success. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) says that prayer requires constant self-compulsion, no matter what spiritual state a person is in, i.e. even the saints forced themselves to pray. It is labor that is valuable before God. Constancy is important in work.

But there is another side to prayer. When a person constantly forces himself to do it, he suddenly discovers a special inner joy in prayer, so that at times he wants to give up everything for the sake of prayer. That is why there are people who go to monasteries. They go there for nothing other than prayer. And if prayer did not bring joy, it is unlikely that anyone would be able to stay there.

As for attention, which is truly the soul of prayer, it directly depends on the kind of life a person leads. He who leads an attentive life has attentive prayer. “An involuntary cause is arbitrary,” said the Fathers. An attentive life is when a person is attentive to everything that happens to him. First of all - inside him, and then around him: to all thoughts, experiences, desires, intentions. Every desire and every thought is compared with the Gospel: are they pleasing to God? - and leaves in the heart and mind only what is pleasing to God, expelling from there every manifestation of sin. It helps a lot to live an attentive life when a person has a spiritual father and can ask him what to do in a given situation, and can resolve various perplexities regarding spiritual life and external circumstances.

The saints of God were wise people. They understood that it is necessary to accustom a person to a pious life gradually: they do not pour new wine into old wineskins. Therefore, at first they gave their students small rules, and then they demanded greater severity. This is an indispensable law of spiritual life: forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward, as the apostle said.

They commanded short prayers as unceasing prayers so that the mind would not be distracted by many words and would maintain attention. Continuous prayer is performed during any task, called obedience in the monastery, and work in the world. These short prayers, performed according to the commandment “pray without ceasing,” should not interfere, therefore, if the work is mental, prayer is abandoned at this time. The home rule was commanded individually, in accordance with the spiritual strength of the student. And worship, sometimes even for the laity, took considerable time. No wonder it was called an all-night vigil. The reductions began in the 19th century. On Mount Athos, services still last 13-14 hours.

I believe that the minimum required for any layman is morning and evening prayers in full.

Not only the temple of God can be a place for our prayer, and it is not through the mediation of the priest alone that God’s blessing can be brought down on our deeds; Every home, every family can still become a home church when the head of the family leads his children and household members in prayer by his example, when family members, all together or individually, offer their prayers of petition and gratitude to the Lord God.

Not content with the general prayers offered for us in churches, and knowing that we will not all rush there, the Church offers each of us, like a mother to a child, special home-cooked food - offers prayers intended for our home use.

Daily Orthodox prayers

• In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
• Prayer of the publican mentioned in the Gospel parable of the Savior:
  God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
• Prayer to the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity:
  Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, prayers for the sake of Your Most Pure Mother and all the saints, have mercy on us. Amen.
• Prayer to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity:
  Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.
• Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of truth, who is everywhere and fulfills everything, treasure of good things, and giver of life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from all filth, and save, O blessed One, our souls.
• Three prayers to the Holy Trinity:
  1. Trisagion. Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
  2. Doxology. Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
  3. Prayer. Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse our sins; Master, forgive our iniquities; Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy name's sake.
• Lord have mercy (three times).
• The Lord’s Prayer is called the Lord’s Prayer because the Lord Himself said it for our use:
  Our Father, who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors: and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

When you wake up from sleep in the morning, think that God is giving you a day that you could not give to yourself, and set aside the first hour, or at least the first quarter of an hour, of the day given to you, and sacrifice it to God in grateful and benevolent prayer. The more diligently you do this, the more firmly you will protect yourself from the temptations that you encounter every day (words of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow).

Orthodox prayers read in the morning after sleep

To You, Master who loves mankind, having risen from sleep, I come running, and I strive for Your works with Your mercy, and I pray to You: help me at all times in every thing, and deliver me from all worldly evil things and the devil’s haste, and save me, and bring us into Your eternal kingdom. For You are my creator, and the provider and giver of every good thing, in You are all my hope, and I send up glory to You now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Orthodox prayers to the Mother of God

• Angelic greeting. Theotokos, Virgin, rejoice, full of grace Mary, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have given birth to the Savior of our souls.
• The Greatness of the Mother of God. It is worthy to eat as you truly bless Thee, the ever-blessed and immaculate Mother of God and the Mother of our God. The most honorable cherub, and the most glorious seraphim without comparison, who gave birth to the word of God without corruption, the real Mother of God, we magnify Thee.

In addition to the Mother of God, the intercessor of Christians before the Lord, everyone has two intercessors for us before God, prayer books and guardians of our life. This is, firstly, our angel from the realm of disembodied spirits, to whom the Lord entrusts us from the day of our baptism, and, secondly, a saint of God from among God’s holy men, also called an angel, whose name we bear from the day of our birth. It is a sin to forget your heavenly benefactors and not offer prayers to them.

Prayer to the angel, the disembodied guardian of human life

Angel of God, my holy guardian, given to me from God from heaven for my protection! I diligently pray to you: enlighten me today, save me from all evil, guide me to good deeds and direct me on the path of salvation. Amen.

Prayer to the holy saint of God, by whose name we are called from birth

Pray to God for me, holy servant of God (name) or holy servant of God (name), as I diligently resort to you, a quick helper and prayer book for my soul, or a quick helper and prayer book for my soul.

The Sovereign Emperor is the father of our fatherland; His service is the most difficult of all the services that people undergo, and therefore it is the duty of every loyal subject to pray for his Sovereign and for the fatherland, i.e. The country in which our fathers were born and lived. The Apostle Paul speaks in his letter to Bishop Timothy, ch. 2, Art. 1, 2, 3: I beg you, first of all, to make prayers, supplications, petitions, thanksgivings for all people, for the Tsar and for everyone who is in power... This is good and pleasing before our Savior God.

Prayer for the Emperor and the Fatherland

Save, Lord, your people, and bless your inheritance: granting victories to our Blessed Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich in opposition, and preserving your residence through your cross.

Prayer for living relatives

Save, O Lord, and have mercy (therefore briefly bring a prayer for the health and salvation of the entire Royal House, the priesthood, your spiritual father, your parents, relatives, leaders, benefactors, all Christians and all servants of God, and then add): And I remember, visit, strengthen, comfort and with your power grant them health and salvation, for you are good and a lover of mankind. Amen.

Prayer for the dead

Remember, Lord, the souls of your departed servants (their names), and all my relatives, and all my departed brethren, and forgive them all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, granting them the kingdom of heaven and the communion of your eternal good things and the pleasure of your endless and blissful life, and create for them an eternal memory.

A short prayer said before the honest and life-giving cross of the Lord

Protect me, Lord, by the power of your honorable and life-giving cross, and save me from all evil.

Here are the prayers that every Orthodox Christian needs to know. It will take a little time to slowly read them, standing in front of the holy icon: May God’s blessing on all our good deeds be a reward for our zeal for God and our piety...

In the evening, when you go to sleep, think that God gives you rest from your labors, and take away the firstfruits from your time and peace and dedicate it to God with pure and humble prayer. Its fragrance will bring an angel closer to you to protect your peace. (Words by Philar. Metropolitan of Moscow).

During evening prayer the same thing is read, only instead of the morning prayer, St. The Church offers us the following prayer:

• Lord our God, who have sinned in these days, in word, deed, and thought, as he is good and a lover of mankind, forgive me; grant me peaceful sleep and serenity; Send Your guardian angel, covering and keeping me from all evil; for You are the guardian of our souls and bodies, and to You we send glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever and ever, Amen.

Orthodox prayer before eating

The eyes of all trust in You, Lord, and You give them writing in good time, You open Your generous hand, and fulfill every animal’s good will.

Orthodox prayers after eating:

We thank Thee, Christ our God, for Thou hast filled us with Thy earthly blessings: do not deprive us of Thy heavenly kingdom.

Orthodox prayers before teaching

Most gracious Lord, bestow upon us the grace of Your Holy Spirit, bestowing and strengthening our spiritual strength, so that, by heeding the teaching taught to us, we may grow to You, our Creator, for glory, as our parent for consolation, for the benefit of the Church and the Fatherland.

Orthodox prayers after teaching

We thank You, Creator, for You have made us worthy of Your grace to listen to the teaching. Bless our leaders, parents and teachers, who lead us to the knowledge of good, and give us strength and strength to continue this teaching.

Students of the sciences and arts should turn to the Lord with special diligence, for He gives wisdom, and from His presence knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6). Most of all, they must preserve the purity and integrity of their hearts, so that, without being obscured, the light of God may enter the soul: For wisdom does not enter into an evil soul, but instead dwells in a body guilty of sin (Wisdom 1:4). Blessed are those who are pure in heart: for they will see not only the wisdom of God, but also God Himself (Matthew 5:8).

Prayer is not a “tribute” to God, but a heart-to-heart conversation with him. Sincere faith can change a person’s life, so everyone wants to turn to God correctly to be heard. To do this, you need to know how to pray correctly at home in front of the icon. There are a number of rules that are recommended to be followed. The true canons can be clarified in the nearest church.

Basic rules for prayer at home

There are several basic rules:

• Prayer must come from the heart and must be devoid of selfish requests, such as: “I need a car.”
• You can turn to God through the saints, asking them to “pray to God for us.”
• It is better to trust your secrets and requests in silence in front of an icon or any image of God.
• If a person does not know where to start, it is better to take a prayer book and read the morning or evening prayer, you can start with the “Our Father.”
• Not a single clergyman will forbid a person to turn to his thoughts in prayer and pronounce his own text of an appeal to the Lord; one can and should turn to God more often and in any conditions.
• During prayer, you do not need to be distracted by everyday thoughts and worldly affairs; it is important to tune your consciousness specifically to thoughts about God.
• In a crowd of people, you can say a prayer “to yourself.”

It is important to remember that in a person’s conversation with the Lord, all conventions are canceled, since he already sees his children through and through and knows everything about them. Feedback from the Lord usually manifests itself in our lives by the appearance of new people who are ready to help or new trials that will be useful for healing the soul. Therefore, you should not expect instant miracles, only through repentance and work, human prayers will be heard.

At the beginning of a new day, you should say thank you to the Lord for giving this day and ask to spend this day in spiritual peace, kindness and patience with loved ones. Before going to bed, you need to thank God for another day on earth, for the fact that everyone is healthy and alive, pray for yourself, your loved ones and all of humanity.

Short prayers for every day

For sincere prayer, you do not need to have the ability to read Old Church Slavonic text; you can always turn to God with simple human thoughts and words. God cares about a person’s heart, not the beauty of the text he pronounces. Therefore, you can start with extremely short prayers that a person can concentrate on.

Prayer is not always associated with a feeling of gratitude and appreciation to God, which we say with a joyful feeling or with obvious relief; prayer is not always read in joy or to ask for God’s mercy. There is often a time when laziness, lack of desire, or the bustle of life does not allow one to find time for prayer; at such times the strength of faith and desire to work for the Lord, to sacrifice one’s deeds for him, are tested. Prayer does not take much time and you need to force yourself; in this case, prayer is human work that requires effort.

Canonical prayers

In the Christian faith, there are many very powerful prayers, selected by elders over the centuries and preserved on the pages of prayer books and church canons. Typically, such prayers are addressed to the Lord or the Mother of God. It is believed that words addressed to the Mother of God in moments of despair will always be heard and not ignored. A universal and powerful prayer is the Lord's Prayer.

This text is easy to learn; many people know “Our Father” by heart from an early age. You can say these words in many life situations, receiving protection from God. This appeal is very powerful.

Priests recommend knowing the basic canonical prayers by heart so that you can repeat them to yourself in any situation. It is very important to read prayers with an understanding of each word and the general meaning. You cannot read a prayer as a duty without understanding what you are reading. It is better to say the morning prayer rule before starting all your activities, and the evening prayer rule right before bed.

Prayer book for home

An Orthodox prayer book is usually a collection of basic prayers that are read at different times and on different occasions: for health, for repose, morning and evening rules, before communion, etc. Morning and evening rule, if you don’t have time, you don’t have to read everything. In this situation, quantity is not important, but quality is important. It is better to say several prayers, but from the heart, carefully delving into each word and living it.

The right attitude to talk with the Lord is very important; prayer must come from within, from the soul; when your head is filled with everyday affairs, this becomes impossible.

• You cannot repeat a set of empty words in front of an icon and expect that the Lord will hear you and send down everything that you asked for after saying such a prayer.
• There is a downside to frequent prayers - this is the believer getting used to the words, memorizing them by heart, pronouncing them automatically. When a prayer rule becomes habitual, a person stops thinking and trying, he pronounces the texts “automatically” and thinks about his own affairs. In this case, you must always fight with yourself, return your mind to its place.
• Before you properly pray at home in front of an icon, it is important to remember that the image is an aid to the believer in his efforts, a visualization of the saints and the Lord before whom he appears.
• The main thing in prayer is the desire to appear before God, repent to him, consciously transfer your life into his hands and hope in your faith; if you have the desire, then everything will work out. There are different iconostases (Nicholas the Wonderworker, Matrona and others).
• More time spent learning to pray should be devoted to concentrating your thoughts and soul on this action. To pray correctly means to be overwhelmed with gratitude to God and filled with prayer.

Some people wonder whether to stand or sit and have a conversation with the Almighty. In Orthodox churches people stand for services. Therefore, you can also follow this tradition at home. It is permissible to speak the text out loud or silently. The main thing is that the words come from the heart and soul. Then the Almighty will definitely hear them.