Modern rhythm of life is very fast, many things have to be done on the run. A working person, for example, cannot always have a full meal, because there is not enough time. I had a bite to eat right at the workplace - it's already good. There is no time for prayers before dinner, there is no time to proofread them.
Why pray?
If you open a browser, enter a request for this, the results will be very unexpected. Others believe that prayer before lunch, breakfast and dinner is a common whim and window dressing. They do not help a person, why waste time on all sorts of nonsense?
People who say that are deeply mistaken. The Lord gives food; without him, humanity is not able to get enough. Take bread as an example, in order for it to grow, both rain and heat are needed. And the farmer who feeds from his garden also needs strength to take care of him. Who, if not the Lord, sends everything necessary for human labor?
When we read prayers before eating food and after eating, we thank God for His mercy towards us and the gift of food.
Food Harm
After reading thissub title, did you raise your eyebrows in surprise? Did you think we were crazy talking about the dangers of ordinary food on our tables?
Wait to wonder, let's continue our thought together. Look how it used to be: peasants worked in the fields and gardens with a prayer on their lips. They sowed and read a prayer, plowed with it, harvested the harvest and thanked God for it.
What are we seeing now? In our time, at bakeries, for example, this is happening. What kind of prayer is there? Unsanitary conditions, cursing employees who do not hesitate to smoke next to the vats of dough. It is easy to guess what kind of bread will turn out in such a production. Soaked in cigarette stench and dirty words.
Then this bread will fall on someone's table, the person will eat it and begin to suffer from pain in the stomach. Just think about it, now every second person has problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Gastritis and ulcers have become regular guests of modern people who have forgotten what prayer is before lunch or dinner.
Reverend Seraphim Vyritsky said that food should be sprinkled with holy water. Now in many Orthodox families and communities this is exactly what the laity, in turn, have not heard anything like this.
Food is sweeter with prayer
Those who have had a chance to make a pilgrimage to a particular holy place, having been there for a meal, know exactly the taste of food, during the preparation of which they pray. It is far from frills, but how delicious it is, beyond words.
Let's turn to a famous Christian parable about the power of prayer before dinner or othermeal.
There lived a hermit near Constantinople. He was revered as an ascetic, people periodically went for advice. Once, the emperor himself, dressed in the simplest outfit, visited the modest monastery. The representative of the "blue" blood got hungry while talking with the old man, saw a basket of stale bread and hinted that he would like to have a bite to eat.
The monk gave the emperor bread and fresh water, when he finished the simple treat, he opened himself to the elder. The emperor was surprised that he had never eaten such delicious food, although he was used to eating luxurious delicacies. To this the monk replied that his food was simple, but he accepted it with prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord. And the emperor, delighting the womb with delicious dishes, hardly prayed before sitting down to the table. That is why his meal was tasteless compared to the simple bread eaten in the monastery of a monk.
Table manners
What prayers are read before the memorial dinner? The question is strange, because they are always the same. They are called prayers before eating food. Below readers will find the necessary texts while it is worth talking about the correct behavior at the table.
Among the Orthodox, it is customary to wish each other an angel at a meal. When a person, having prayed, sits down at the table and reverently begins to eat food, angels are present next to him. That is why it is unacceptable to talk loudly during a meal, discuss obscene topics and wash the bones of others. Jokes and outbursts of laughter are best put aside and forgotten about.
Eat,thanked God for the food given, went about their business. It is unacceptable to arrange an endless feast from a meal.
How to give thanks?
Before eating we read the prayer "Our Father, who art in Heaven (Heaven)". Thanksgiving prayers read after the meal are different. If in the prayer presented we ask for the message of daily bread, then we give thanks for it later.
After the meal is over, do not rush to clean up the dishes or run about your business. Stand in front of the icons, pray slowly, and then start cleaning or go where necessary.
Speaking of icons, they should be present in the kitchen. Most often, over a table or in a red corner on a shelf, they put an icon of the Savior, the image of the Virgin "The Conqueror of Bread". If this icon is not available, you can hang or put any other, the main thing is the presence of the Mother of God, and not this or that image of Her.
How to pray before eating?
The table is set, the kitchen is filled with delicious smells, it would be better to sit down at the table. Did you forget to pray? Don't know how it is? Everything is fixable, now we will tell.
About the icons in the kitchen it is written above. Before starting the meal, let's do this:
- Turn to face the images.
- Start reading the Lord's Prayer.
- At the end of the reading, we impose the sign of the cross on ourselves.
- Read the prayer "Our Lady of the Virgin, rejoice".
- Once we overshadow ourselves with the sign of the cross.
- Followed by a short prayer"Glory to the Father and the Son."
- And the sign of the cross again.
- Another short prayer ending with "Amen".
- Cross food, sit down to eat.
How to pray after eating?
The procedure is the same as described in the subsection above. Only the texts of the prayers are different, they are presented in the article.
The duration of prayers of thanksgiving after meals is shorter than before.
Prayers before meals
Before you are the texts of prayers read before you sit down at the table and start eating. The very first prayer before eating food is "Our Father":
Our Father, Who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth. Give us our daily bread today; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Then the Orthodox read the prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos:
Virgin Mary, rejoice! Blessed Mary, the Lord is with you. Blessed are You in women and blessed is the Fruit of Your womb. Yako gave birth to the Savior, Thou art our souls.
Followed by short prayers:
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.
Lord, have mercy (3x). Bless.
A short prayer for the blessing of food
As it is written above, it is very good to consecrate the meal with Epiphany water. In Orthodox families, as well as among monastics, they still sprinklefood. Among today's lay families, such things are not common, people forget to pray before the meal, what kind of sprinkling can we talk about?
Here are the prayers read, rather start eating. Be patient just a little, read the last short prayer before eating, cross the table with dishes, sit down and eat.
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Having said the last word, they make the sign of the cross over the food three times.
Prayers of thanksgiving after meals
The above explains why prayers are read before lunch, dinner or breakfast, as well as why it is customary to thank the Lord for the gift of food.
Prayers will not take long, if read with concentration and attention, they will take 5-7 minutes. Thanked - and you can go about your business.
The very first prayer read after a person is full:
We thank Thee, Christ our God, for thou hast satiated us with Thy earthly blessings; do not deprive us of Your Heavenly Kingdom, but as if in the midst of Your disciples, Thou hast come, Savior, give them peace, come to us and save us.
It can be called double, because people not only thank the Heavenly Father for sending food (earthly goods), but also ask for the Kingdom of Heaven after the soul is separated from the body.
The second prayer is dedicated to the Virgin Mary:
It is worthy to eat, for truly bless Thee, the Mother of God. blessed andImmaculate, and Mother of our God. The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious Seraphim without comparison. Without the destruction of God's word, the Mother of God, the Mother of God, We magnify Thee.
Finally, short prayers after meals look like this:
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen.
Lord, have mercy (3x). Bless.
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Through the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother and all the saints, have mercy on us. Amen.
Interesting food facts
What prayers are read before dinner and other types of meals are discussed in the article. In fact, our material is coming to an end, I would like to talk about interesting points regarding the meal:
- Pious people lived in tsarist Russia. The peasants were illiterate, for the most part, but they revered and feared God. They didn’t sit at the table without a prayerful sigh, and if one of the children or adults behaved inappropriately while eating, he immediately received a spoon on his forehead from the oldest man in the family. This was done because poorly educated people believed that not only angels sit down with them at the table, but also all sorts of "okayashki". A person begins to misbehave at the table, the food goes to the enemies of the human race. It seems that the eater received the same amount of food as the rest, but there is no satiety. So the father or grandfather admonished such a minion, so as not to feed the unclean.
- In monasteries and pious families, the custom of reading during meals has been preserved. So that there would be no chatter at the table, they quickly ate without sitting, and went on their way.affairs.
Conclusion
Prayer is a conversation with God, you should treat it carefully. Even a simple sigh, "Lord, save and preserve," is a call from God. Giving thanks for a gift of food is the first necessity of a godly person.
