With the revival of spirituality in society, more and more people turn to God, to prayer, repentance. The majority of parishioners continue to be dominated by the so-called consumer attitude towards faith and spirituality, which consists in the fact that a person remembers the Lord in difficult moments of life, while asking for more than he himself tries to give. Despite this, the number of people who trust in God is steadily growing, and the saying "ask, and you will be rewarded …" is increasingly confirming its truth.
The Power of Prayer in Faith
When praying to the Almighty, the Mother of God or the Saints, many people believe that it is enough for the prayer from the prayer book or breviary to be correctly read, a donation in the form of a candle is made, and the petition must be granted. Without waiting for the result, they stop believing in the effectiveness of prayer and even in Orthodoxy itself.
Prayers are a strong weapon of a believer if the asker is sincerely convinced that his request or appeal will be heard and satisfied, even if not immediately, then after a certain period of time. The Christian parable about the wanderings of Jesus Christ, which tells about the earthly path of the Son of God, draws the attention of Christians to the power of faith: “… to those who turned to him with a request for healing from serious illnesses and infirmities, Jesus first of all answered: “Do you believe? According to your faith it will be … . The power of the song-prayer is indeed great, but its greatness lies in sincerity and trust.
The sincerity of prayer in understanding the meaning
The one who asks, turning to the heavenly forces, often reads the text of the prayer without delving into its meaning. The deep implication of this proclamation often remains unconscious in this approach. It interferes with the Old Slavonic language, with which all the old prayers of Orthodox Christians were composed. Despite the adaptation of the text to the modern language in the prayer book, it continues to be difficult. You don’t particularly want to think about the content, so many people naively believe that pronouncing the set of words that is given will already be enough. The believer must understand what he is addressing the Almighty with, what he is asking for before starting prayer communication with the Heavenly forces and using great prayers.
The effectiveness of sincere prayer
Examples of the effectiveness of prayer uttered "from the heart" can be found in many Christian parables. One of them tells how fishermen caught in a storm found salvation on a secluded island. Three elders lived on the island, who ate what nature fed, had one icon of the Holy Trinity, and they worshiped it: “Three of you and three of us, have mercy on us.” Collective prayer of the eldershelped them to survive and not grumble. The fishermen taught them the prayer “Our Father”, drawing the attention of the elders to the fact that they pray incorrectly, their call to the Lord cannot be heard. Sailing away with a sense of accomplishment, the fishermen suddenly saw three old men from the island running after the boat on the water and shouting that they had forgotten the words of the prayer, asking to be reminded. The taken aback fishermen answered: "Pray as you pray." The words of petition to the Lord should be pronounced "from the heart" and with an understanding of the meaning of the appeal.
The impact of shared beliefs on performance
Prayers to the Saints, uttered by a person in solitude, are intensified by the spiritual impulse of a Christian. But Christ said: "… for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The meaning of the message is not that the effectiveness of prayer is greatly enhanced when it is offered by several people. Jesus is in the moment of prayer both with a group of people and with a lonely prayer book. However, in the event that one person comes to the sacrament of turning to the Lord formally, then among the rest of the prayers there will be one or more people who sincerely and from the heart "form" their message to the Almighty. In the era of the formation of Christianity, in the first time after the resurrection of Christ, the apostles often gathered all together. At such meetings they broke bread and prayed together. Such a collective prayer united them, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in each of them, united them into one whole, raising their words directly to the Lord.
One prayerOrthodox Christians
Holy Scripture nowhere mentions that the power of collective prayer is much more effective than the appeal "alone". The difference is that, unfortunately, too many Christians use prayer as a means to get something from God and as an excuse to list human needs and needs. Collective prayer, as a rule, unites people with one text taken from a prayer book or breviary, it is possible to read the Ps alter together during Great Lent.
The difference between personal and collective prayer
The meaning of the collective message rarely converges to listing the personal needs of those who ask. An exception is prayer when people ask before the Heavenly Throne for one person who has suffered severe trials and who needs the help of Christians. Songs-prayers for a collective appeal are taken from the Bible books of Orthodox Christians, the words are pronounced, as a rule, in the temple together with the clergy. The exception is some special instructions given by the priests themselves. For example, when all believing parishioners join a single prayer for peace in a country that at that moment is in a state of armed conflict.
Warning from the Holy Church
A believing Christian must learn for himself the main rule of observing a single prayer: it is performed in the Temple, unless there are special instructions from the servants of the Church. The relevance of this rule in the modern world is too great. Recently, the so-called "saints" have begun to appear in public more and more often.followers of Jesus Christ or the Mother of God, who gather people for mass prayers. Many of these events, involving thousands of people, use elements of trance hypnosis, demonstrating dubious "miracles of healing." Such collective prayer will do no good to those who offer it. Its action is exactly the opposite, since the ministers of the Church claim that such acts come "from the evil one." Instead of saving his soul, man will ruin it. The temptation to accept help from such charlatans is too great, but we must not forget that the true salvation of an Orthodox Christian is in the Church, and the main weapon of a believer is prayer to Christ.
The deep meaning of the Jesus Prayer
Prayerbook offers a large number of holy texts for use when communicating with heavenly patrons and protectors. Special power, according to many, has a short and easily remembered prayer to Jesus Christ. The words in it are chosen in such a way that a person, turning to the Son of God, asks him for mercy, while relying on the intercession of the Mother of God and the Saints. Understanding the essence of his sinfulness, an Orthodox Christian living in society understands that it is difficult for him to protect his soul from temptations and temptations and keep it clean. A sincerely penitent person, not daring to turn directly to the Lord God, turns to the great Saints with a request for mercy, indulgence and intercession. Prayer to Jesus Christ supports a person and strengthens him in faith, thereby protecting him from the fall: “Lord JesusChrist, Son of God. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen"
The ability to accept the wisdom of the Almighty
The person who believes that by praying about pressing problems will immediately receive deliverance from them is not right, just like the one who is sure that through his prayers he will immediately receive what is requested. Wise people say that the Lord hears and gives not what a person asks for, but what a person needs most at this moment. In this, great Divine wisdom is manifested, since people are not always aware of their desires, often act under the influence of an impulse and a temporal impulse. The Lord is wise and understands what is good for a person, therefore He will give only that which will contribute not to the fulfillment of desires, but to the satisfaction of the most urgent need. Prayers to the Saints have the same power: a person is given what is especially needed.
Once a traveling Chinese saw an icon with the face of St. Nicholas at the station. I looked at it for a while and moved on. A few days later he got into a storm on the ship, the ship sank, and the Chinese, not understanding why, called out: “Old man from the station, save me!” A boat appeared, a gray-haired old man was sitting in the boat, and he took the traveler ashore. The Chinese assured that it was the same "old man" whose portrait he saw at the station. Relying on the will of God and calling on his name for his salvation, a person thereby saves his soul.
