Every person is given a guardian angel at baptism. It is believed that he is on the right shoulder, and on the left, respectively, it is clear who. An angel is our intercessor. He intercedes before God for his ward.
But how often do people call for help from their invisible helper? You can count on the fingers. And thank for the help, if called, even less often. Therefore, I would like to talk about the guardian angel. So that people know what help he provides in spiritual warfare.
Who is an angel?
This is an incorporeal being that people can't see. An angel is given to each person when performing the sacrament of baptism. And accompanies him for the rest of his life.
The image of a guardian angel on the right shoulder of a person - not literally. The intercessor is invisible, this must not be forgotten. And he invisibly accompanies his ward throughout his life.way.
Why is it given?
Are there guardian angels? Undoubtedly. And they were given to us in order to help in good deeds and protect us from the path that is disastrous for the Christian soul. The angel lifts up the prayers of his ward to God, in every possible way protecting him from all evil.
Can I be left without an angel?
No, the guardian angel's protection is forever. But you can drive away your heavenly guardian from yourself by your own sins. The more a person sins, the further the angel is from him.
How to return it?
Repent for sins and end them once and for all. When a person sins, the angel mourns for him, weeps and departs. When he repents and does good deeds, his protector, given at baptism, rejoices and helps the ward in every possible way.
The patron saint is an angel?
No. There is a widespread opinion that the angel given at baptism and the patron saint, in whose honor a person received his name, are one and the same incorporeal spirit. This is not true. The saint in whose honor we were baptized undoubtedly patronizes the one who bears the name in his honor. When he is addressed sincerely, with intense prayer, he prays for a person before the Lord. Both the angel and the patron saint accompany the Christian throughout his life.
Image of a guardian angel - what is it like? And does it exist at all? More on that below.
When does a person have an angel's day?
Guardian angels of a person accompany him all his life. More precisely, accompanies. becauseit is given in the singular at baptism.
When is this holiday celebrated? On November 21, the Orthodox Church celebrates the day of the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael and other incorporeal forces. This day can be safely called the day of the angel of every baptized person.
How is it celebrated?
What to do on the day of the guardian angel? Be sure to visit the temple, confess and take communion. Spend an angel's day worth in awe. Thank him for his protection and help. Put a candle in front of the holiday icon, pray in your own words. If possible, do good deeds, help someone, comfort someone.
When a person does good, it is joy for his angel. Of course, this day should not be spent in shameless entertainment.
How to prepare for confession?
It was written above that on the day of the angel you need to confess and take communion. But how to do it? Nothing complicated.
Preparing for confession involves confessing your sins. It will not be superfluous to stir up the memory, to remember all the most hidden and deeply hidden sins. Be sure to confess what presses on the soul. There is such a state: he committed a sin, and then he oppresses. Conscience torments, convicts. Sincere repentance and cleansing of your conscience from this sin, a promise to yourself not to commit it again will help to cleanse yourself of the harmful effects.
As for more "firmly ingrained" sins in the soul, there may be difficulties. Firstly, a person is able to begin to justify himself: "Everyone lives like this and sins with this, I'm not the only one." If ato speak rudely, everyone was about to jump from the roof, and we will follow everyone, knowing that we are going to certain death? Hardly. Human instincts for self-preservation work very well. Only when it comes to maintaining the purity of the soul, they disappear somewhere.
It doesn't matter how everyone lives. Man is responsible specifically for himself and for his sins. Blessed Matrona of Moscow said that "each sheep will be hung by its own tail." And what will be forgiven and allowed here will be forgiven and resolved by the Lord in Heaven.
Second, shame. This is a false feeling, a kind of inner voice that inspires the confessor: "It's embarrassing to talk about it. No, don't say it - what a shame. It's terrible to say, you can't talk like that." It is possible and necessary. One must be ashamed before committing a sin. However, at that moment the shame disappears. But then it arises, preventing a person from being cleansed of dirt.
Sins cannot be hidden. It is necessary to honestly tell the priest who receives confession what he has sinned. Yes, the feeling of shame will haunt. But it needs to be done. Otherwise, God will not accept a confession in which petty and dirty deeds were deliberately hidden. And the guardian angel should not be kept at a distance from yourself. Sin, like a foul smell, drives away our intercessor from us. Man's guardian angels cry when we commit sin and cannot approach us until cleansing occurs.
In order not to forget anything, it is permissible to write down sins. And with these records go to confession.
How to Prepare for Communion?
In practice, acceptedafter confession, approach Communion. But before you start it, you need to prepare. How to do it?
- Fasting for 3 days. By this is meant the rejection of meat, dairy products, as well as eggs. In general, from all animal products.
- Keeping the flesh away from pleasure activities. In other words, on the days of physical fasting, before proceeding to the sacrament of Communion, it is necessary to abstain spiritually as well. Do not watch TV, do not play computer games, do not listen to music. Limit the entertainment and pleasures of everyday life.
- Spouses should refrain from physical intimacy.
- In the evening, on the eve of Communion, read three canons - to the Lord, the Mother of God and the guardian angel, as well as prayers for Holy Communion.
After Communion, short prayers of thanksgiving are read. The man thanks the Lord for the mercy shown, for the fact that He vouchsafed the penitent sinner to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
How to pray to the guardian angel?
Is there a prayer to the guardian angel for every day? Yes, there is. And it sounds like this: “To the angel of God, my holy guardian, given to me from God from heaven!"
In general, you need to resort to the help of your intercessor given at baptism regularly. And it is not at all necessary to pray "according to the rules" for this. Enoughturn to the angel in your own words, ask him for help and intercession with all my heart.
What does he look like?
What is the image of the guardian angel in Orthodoxy? A photo of the icons is presented in the article.
As for the image itself, our celestial protectors are invisible to their charges. In the human mind, an angel is a spirit that looks like a human. It has wings on its back. On the icons, angels are depicted approximately the way we are used to representing them.
Date of birth and guardian angel
Is there an icon of a guardian angel by date of birth? No. There is an icon of the patron saint, after whom a person is named and baptized. But it has nothing to do with the date of birth. This will be discussed in the subsection dedicated to the patron saint.
As well as the angel does not refer to the date of birth. But the date of baptism is another matter. Baptism is the spiritual birth of a person.
How to get the image of the guardian angel then? Just buy an icon with an angelic image, without trying to find a "named" protector given at baptism.
Is this my intercessor?
How to recognize your guardian angel in Orthodoxy? He was given to us from above, at baptism. If you are baptized, then you have an intercessor who accompanies you throughout your life.
Man cannot recognize his angel. For it is an incorporeal spirit. The names of angels are hidden from people. They have no gender, no human body. Therefore, you can see and recognize your accompanying spirit only on the icon.
Angels andchildren
Who guards the child? Do children have a guardian angel? It appears if the baby was baptized in the Orthodox faith. Until the sacrament is performed, the child does not have a personal intercessor.
Children up to the age of seven are believed to be sinless. A kind of little angels, only earthly. However, despite this fact, it is undesirable to delay the baptism of an infant.
How does he keep me?
A baptized person is under the protection of his angel. And you can often hear such an expression: "He has a strong angel" or "An angel saved you." Indeed, a person sometimes remains unharmed under such circumstances in which it is virtually impossible to remain in good he alth.
Can a Christian receive hints from a guardian angel? Rather, invisible protection. An angel is able to help his ward, protect him from danger invisibly, avert trouble. But it is unlikely that he will come to him personally to suggest something by verbal communication.
A little about the patron saint
Who is a guardian angel and how is it different from a patron saint, we figured it out above. Now let's talk about the last one.
The patron saint is the one whose name a person is baptized. And if the icon of the guardian angel by date of birth does not exist, then in the case of the patron saint, the situation is different. There are many saints, each of them has a name. And in the Orthodox Church there is a host of glorified saints. Each of these saints has an icon. More precisely, there is an icon depicting one or another saint.
How to find out whois the patron saint of a person, especially if there are many saints with that name? If a person was baptized before 2000, then he can consider as his patron the saint who was glorified first. If after 2000, then it is worth knowing the nearest date of glorification of the holy saint of God from the date of his own birth.
Let's take an example. The woman was baptized with the name Catherine. If the sacrament was performed over her before 2000, then the Great Martyr Catherine is considered her patroness. Whose memory falls on December 7th. If the baptism was accepted after the year 2000, then she needs to pay attention to the date of her birth. Was the woman born before February 5th? Then the Monk Martyr Catherine (New Martyr) can be considered her patroness, whose memory is celebrated on February 5.
How to pray to your saint?
There is a prayer to the guardian angel for every day, but to the saint? Of course. And it can be found in any Orthodox prayer book, at the end of the morning rule.
Like the angel, the patron saint, in whose honor the name is given, you can and should call on your own words. Ask him for help with a "fiery heart", in any situation when the need for this very help arises.
It should be remembered that the "nominal" patron has boldness before God and intercedes for a person who sincerely resorts to his intercession and help.
Image of a saint
The image of the guardian angel is one, and the patron saint, in whose honor the name of the person is given, is different. For example, the patron saint of Sergei is Sergius of Radonezh. And it existsicon. Or a man with the name Seraphim, rare in our time, can safely acquire the image of the holy righteous Seraphim of Sarov.
The icon depicting a guardian angel and patron saint, with whose name a person is baptized, can be worn around the neck. Now on sale there are special "wearable" icons.
Name Day
It is worth recalling that the day of the Angel and the day of the name day are completely different days. If the day of the angel, as mentioned above, is celebrated on November 21, then the name day is different for everyone. Depends on which saint patronizes the person.
For example, Larisa, who was baptized before 2000, has her name day on April 8th. Catherine's - on December 7th. At Terenty - on April 23.
How to spend this day?
Same as angel's day. Go to church, confess and take communion. Honor the memory of the patron saint by praying in front of the icon with his image, placing a candle in front of it. Read an akathist to your saint at home if you can't get into the temple.
What is the patron saint asking for?
You can "approach" him with any request. Although no, it's not. With any request that carries pure intentions. With a kind request. You can’t ask something bad from your intercessor, as well as from your guardian angel. This is blasphemous.
What can I give a birthday boy?
On the day of the angel and the day of the name day, it is customary to congratulate a person. And what to give him? For example, a self-embroidered image of a guardian angel or saint, whose name this person bears.
Before you start embroidering an icon, you need to get a blessing from the priest for this business.
General rules
It is important to know how to keep the "red corner" in the apartment. This name refers to the home iconostasis.
- The iconostasis is ideally located in the east. In a room, this is usually the right side.
- A special shelf is hung in the corner, on which icons are placed.
- The red corner must be kept clean. The icon shelf needs to be wiped down.
- Icons are completely removed from the shelf several times a year and carefully wiped from dust and dirt.
- It is desirable that a lampada burn before the faces of the saints.
- Pets should not have access to the icons. This is especially true for dogs. Unfortunately, these beloved friends of man are considered unclean animals in the Orthodox world. Now their content in the apartment is quite loyal, previously it was forbidden to keep a dog in the same house with icons.
- Smoking in the room where the home iconostasis is located is unacceptable. And in general, it is advisable to give up this addiction.
- It happens that icons fall. And people start to panic that this is a terrible disaster. No need to panic. Raise the image, cross yourself, kiss it and put it back on the shelf. The icon may fall due to the fact that it is poorly placed, for example.
Conclusion
The main aspect of this article is the following: a guardian angel and a patron saint are not the same thing. An angel is givento a person at baptism, and the saint is the patron of the one with whose name the newly made servant of God was baptized.
Second aspect: the day of the angel and the day of the name day, judging by the main aspect, are different days. Angel Day is celebrated on November 21, name day - on the nearest date of the saint's memory from the date of birth of a person.
Third point: there is no "personal" icon depicting a guardian angel. there are icons depicting God's saints, in whose honor names are given at baptism.
Both the angel and the patron saint accompany a person until the end of his life. Do not once again commit bad deeds, touch something sinful. After all, the angel suffers because of this and departs from the sinner. And pushing away the intercessor and protector, voluntarily trusting in the networks of the evil one, is not the best option for how to live earthly life.
