“Prayer … is a light for the mind and soul, an inextinguishable and constant light,” we read in John Chrysostom. Prayer is an appeal to God or saints with gratitude or praise, with a request to avert evil or send mercy. This is an important part of the worship and religious life of a believer. Mental or oral (verbal) prayers unite Christians and unite them with God. The words of prayers, penetrating into the depths of the soul and heart, always have a sanctifying effect.
Instructions
Step 1
To prepare for prayer, the believer needs to find peace of mind. To pacify restless thoughts, to forget about everyday worries for a while. Silence and solitude are important for personal prayer. If it is impossible to say a prayer out loud, a prayer is whispered. If this is not possible, then the prayer is done mentally.
When reading a prayer, a Christian should be collected, focused. Clothes should be in order, face and hands clean. Prayers should be unhurried, therefore, the number of them in reading must be commensurate with the time that you have for this sacrament.
Step 2
Physical fatigue, fatigue, painful condition do not favor long, deep, heartfelt prayer. Therefore, carefully determine the time for prayer, depending on the assessment of your strength, mental and physical.
Just reading prayers (by prayer or by memory), standing in front of an icon, bowing down is not yet prayer. The main thing is that the heart is filled with love, that it rushes to God and is cleansed of passions. The order of thoughts in your personal prayer should be as follows: first - thanksgiving to God for his good deeds, then - sincere confession of sins, then, with great humility, asking the Lord for spiritual and physical needs.
Step 3
A true Christian must train himself to pray every day. The Orthodox Church has established prayer rules for the laity, which are collected in a prayer book and prayer rules for the most necessary occasions. In the morning it is supposed to pray for awakening from sleep. Thank God for keeping us in the night and ask for his blessing for the coming day.
During the day, they pray at the beginning of the business (with a request for help and success) and at the end of the business (with gratitude for help and success in the business). In the prayer before a meal, a request is voiced for the blessing of our food, after a meal - gratitude to God who feeds us. In the evening, a prayer is read with gratitude for the past day and a request to save us at night.
Step 4
During prayer in the temple, believers should stand upright, be baptized, and do bows and bows. The sign of the Cross relies on the forehead, so that the Lord enlightens our mind, on the chest - so that He illuminates our senses, on the right and left shoulder - so that He strengthens our strength.
Step 5
There are basic prayer rules, there are three of them:
- complete (for monks and spiritually experienced laymen)
- short, designed for all believers
- the rule of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov ("Our Father" - three times, "Theotokos Virgin" - three times, "I believe" - once).
During prayer, everyone should remember that they are talking to God, and he sees us.
