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Prayer in your own words in Orthodoxy. Is it possible to pray to God in your own words?

“The initial and necessary form of prayer is prayer. This is the name for reading the “rule”, consisting of morning and evening prayers, which are pronounced daily. This 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.
Just as a person, looking at a picture or icon, listening to music or poetry, becomes familiar with inner world their creators, so reading prayers connects us with their creators: the psalmists and ascetics. This helps us find spiritual mood, akin to their heartfelt burning. “It’s about praying to us with “other people’s” prayers,” says Fr. A. Elchaninov, - (...) Christ is our example. His prayerful cries on the cross are “quotes” from the psalms (...) (Ps 21, 2; 30, 6).”
A practical guide to prayer, Father Alexander Men.

Mandatory prayers composed by saints...

Each of us has a prayer book - a collection of prayers compiled by saints. But the relationship of a believer with God is individual. So, maybe it’s better to pray to God in your own words? NS correspondents Ekaterina STEPANOVA and Alexey REUTSKY asked Orthodox priests about this.

- In his “Catechism,” Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret (Drozdov) gives the following definition of prayer: “This is the lifting of the mind and heart to God, which is a reverent word of a person to God.” In other words, this is a special, elevated state of soul in which a person glorifies, thanks and asks the Lord for his needs. There is prayer without words - in this case it is called mental or heartfelt, and also internal prayer. If in such a state of soul you turn to God with words, then Metropolitan Philaret calls this prayer...

Question:

I for a long time went to Evangelical and Baptist churches. Recently received baptism in Orthodox Church. It took me a long time to achieve this. Please tell me, is it possible to pray to God in my own words, as I did before, or does God hear only (which I doubt) those prayers that are written in prayer books?

Prayer is not only a conversation with God, but also a special work in which the mind, feelings, will and body participate. For prayer to be gracious and bear fruit, one needs purity of heart, depth of faith, and experience of spiritual life. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes: “The soul that begins the path of God is immersed in deep ignorance of everything divine and spiritual, even if it were rich in the wisdom of this world. Because of this ignorance, she does not know how and how much she should pray. To help the infant soul, the Holy Church established prayer rules. Prayer Rule there is a collection of several prayers composed by divinely inspired saints...

Is it possible to pray to God in your own words?

Prayer is not only a conversation with God, but also a special work in which the mind, feelings, will and body participate. For prayer to be gracious and bear fruit, one needs purity of heart, depth of faith, and experience of spiritual life. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes: “The soul that begins the path of God is immersed in deep ignorance of everything divine and spiritual, even if it were rich in the wisdom of this world. Because of this ignorance, she does not know how and how much she should pray. To help the infant soul, the Holy Church established prayer rules. A prayer rule is a collection of several prayers composed by the divinely inspired holy fathers, adapted to a certain circumstance and time” (A Word on the Cell Prayer Rule).

Even the apostles asked the Lord: “Teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). The Savior gave to the disciples, and through them to everyone...

Is it possible to pray completely without a prayer book and the Psalter in your own words? local “BABAIKA” Sage (10574), closed 4 years ago

Added 4 years ago

– Of course, you can address God in your own words, but the question is, will a person find such words for God to hear him? Will he not ask God for something that is not at all useful for the salvation of the soul? Most likely, this will happen: after all, he wants, first of all, earthly goods, success in this life, physical health. All this is not harmful, but should be in the background, in the first place is what contributes to spiritual growth, purification and salvation of the soul. This is why prayers are given to us, the words of which, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were compiled by saints. These are some samples of petitions, what you need to ask from God in order to be heard and get what you want, if this desire corresponds to God’s Providence.
So, before you pray in your own words, you need to learn how to address God correctly...

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Is it possible to pray in your own words? Conversation with God 01/08/2008

Priest Boris LEVSHENKO, cleric of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kuznetskaya Sloboda, head of the department dogmatic theology PSTGU: “By book is better than by heart”

In other words, this is a special, elevated state of soul in which a person glorifies, thanks and asks the Lord for his needs. There is prayer without words - in this case it is called mental or heartfelt, and also internal prayer. If in such a state of mind you turn to...

Is it possible to pray in your own words?

Each of us has a prayer book - a collection of prayers compiled by saints. But the relationship of a believer with God is individual. So, maybe it’s better to pray to God in your own words? NS correspondents Ekaterina Stepanova and Alexey Reutsky asked Orthodox priests about this.

Priest Boris Levshenko, cleric of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kuznetskaya Sloboda, head of the department of dogmatic theology at PSTGU: “It’s better from a book than by heart”

– In his “Catechism,” Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret (Drozdov) gives the following definition of prayer: “This is the lifting of the mind and heart to God, which is a reverent word of a person to God.” In other words, this is a special, elevated state of soul in which a person glorifies, thanks and asks the Lord for his needs. There is prayer without words - in this case it is called mental or heartfelt, and also internal prayer. If in such a state of soul you turn to God with...

Before answering this question, I would like to tell readers one real story, which, in fact, prompted me to start writing this article.

I admit, I knew about her difficult relationship with her husband and even assumed that he would not fulfill his promise, but still, during our conversation, I was more alarmed not by the tragic episode itself, but by her attitude towards it. The problem was that there were tragic notes in this woman’s voice, completely uncharacteristic of a Christian with many years of experience (which, in fact, she was).

Of course, many Christians have difficult moments in life, but still Christians (leading...

Hello, Julia!

As far as I understand, you read my post about prayer in your own words, which reflects the experience of the Church based on the teachings of the Gospels and the interpretations of the Holy Fathers. But I also want to add: Today there is a lot of substitution, and therefore DO NOT listen to yourself, DO NOT go to yourself, DO NOT listen to the voice inside you - otherwise you will never hear the Voice of God, you will not come to the Lord and you will forever listen to the voices of the passions that dwell (unfortunately ) In our hearts.

The Lord did NOT say to His disciples: “Pray in your own words, listen to the voice of your heart!” - no, He said: “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy” (Matt. 15:19). He didn’t teach them to say just two words, but with all their hearts, but taught them the Lord’s Prayer, which has both a beginning and an end, and every word in it is filled with soul-saving meaning.

Of course, St. is right. Theophan the Recluse, who wrote that it is better to read two or three prayers from...

Is it possible to pray in your own words?

Each of us has a prayer book - a collection of prayers compiled by saints. But the relationship of a believer with God is individual. So, maybe it’s better to pray to God in your own words?

“By book is better than by heart”

Priest Boris Levshenko, cleric of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kuznetskaya Sloboda, head of the department of dogmatic theology at PSTGU:

— In his “Catechism,” Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret (Drozdov) gives the following definition of prayer: “This is the lifting of the mind and heart to God, which is a person’s reverent word to God.” In other words, this is a special, elevated state of soul in which a person glorifies, thanks and asks the Lord for his needs. There is prayer without words - in this case it is called mental or heartfelt, and also internal prayer.

If in such a state of soul you turn to God with words, then Metropolitan Philaret calls this prayer “oral” or “external.” Us…

Prayer in your own words
Is it possible to pray in your own words? Of course you can! After all, we are all very different. It is easier for some to read “ready-made prayers,” while others are simply not currently able to fully understand the meaning of the canonical prayers, and therefore cannot use them.

The holy fathers spoke a lot about prayers in their own words; Fathers often explain this issue to their parishioners.

“Every person has the right to pray in his own words, and there are many examples of this. We see this in church families when small children, imitating praying adults, raise their hands up, cross themselves, perhaps clumsily, take some books, babble some words. Metropolitan Nestor Kamchatsky in the book “My Kamchatka” recalls how he prayed as a child: “Lord, save me, dad, mom and my dog Lily of the Valley.”

We know that priests pray for their children and their flock at home and in their cells. I know an example when a priest in the evening, after a day of work, puts on a clean...

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes: “The soul that begins the path of God is immersed in deep ignorance of everything divine and spiritual, even if it were rich in the wisdom of this world. Because of this ignorance, she does not know how and how much she should pray. To help the infant soul, the Holy Church established prayer rules. A prayer rule is a collection of several prayers composed by the divinely inspired holy fathers, adapted to a certain circumstance and time” (A Word on the Cell Prayer Rule).

Besides prayer...

Entering the temple of God in the morning,
I bow to the icon with a mournful shadow,
I will fall to her, praying one thing:
- Oh my God! Give me patience!

I am a strange guest in Your house.
You know, I'm rarely here.
I failed to be strong
And I'm crying out for help.

The flames of the candles flicker,
Trembling from my breath.
I don’t know prayers or speeches:
Forgive me for my ignorance
.
The church choir sings in silence,
Old women in shabby clothes
They are having a conversation with you
And they ask You for forgiveness.

And I, silent in the corner,
I catch the movement of bloodless lips,
And I hold the cross in my hand,
What was bought in the store was church.

A bright face looks from the icon -
Your face is divine and tender.
I'm silent, but you'll hear a scream
An alarmed, rebellious soul.

I'm silent. But you will hear a cry
What drowns out the chants.
My prayer is pain
And fear and torment of revelation.

My prayer is...

Modern man, even the most religious, the most “churched,” quite often gets confused in matters of prayer. Some of us are sure that only canonical (i.e., taken from the Prayer Book) prayers help achieve the desired result. Others think that only fervent prayer, a request addressed to God in their own words, will help get rid of illnesses and any misfortunes. Still others do not consider it necessary to bother themselves with prayers at all: they say, the Lord already knows everything, sees everything, and will give each of us the necessary help.

What is prayer?

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh said this:

“...it is very important to remember that prayer is a meeting, it is a relationship, and a deep relationship into which neither we nor God can be forced. And the fact that God can make His presence obvious to us or leave us with a feeling of His absence is already part of this living, real relationship.

Prayer is like a meeting. Meeting with Mother of God, with the saints to whom we pray,...

Prayer in your own words is prayer with your heart.

First, pray from the prayer book, and later the prayer will come to you on its own.

How to establish a live connection?
You need to cleanse yourself through repentance, this is the main condition.
And then tell God everything as your Father, just don’t forget that He is holy.

There is one good example of praying with the heart:

How to pray with your heart?
One day in church, a French priest beautifully illustrated prayer with the heart by telling about an incident in Paris.
Paul spent all his days on the street and was known to all the parishioners of the Church of St. James, on the porch of which he begged.
It must be admitted that his most faithful friend was the bottle, but cirrhosis of the liver, like other diseases, did not leave him either. The color of his face did not bode well, and the residents of the quarter expected his disappearance from day to day, but did not care too much about it.
But here is one kind parishioner. Madame X. somehow entered into a conversation with him, sadly realizing...

Prayer in your own words

Quite often you can hear the following question: is it possible to pray in your own words? Of course you can! After all, we are all very different. It is easier for some to read “ready-made prayers,” while others are simply not currently able to fully understand the meaning of the canonical prayers, and therefore cannot use them.

This is what representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church say about prayers in their own words.

Every person has the right to pray in his own words, and there are many examples of this. We see this in church families when small children, imitating praying adults, raise their hands up, cross themselves, perhaps clumsily, take some books, babble some words. Metropolitan Nestor of Kamchatka in his book “My Kamchatka” recalls how he prayed as a child: “Lord, save me, my dad, my mom and my dog Landyshka.”

We know that priests pray for their children and their flock at home and in their cells. I know an example when a priest in the evening, after...

I think it doesn’t really matter how you pray, in your own words or with prayer, the main thing is that the words come from pure heart. The meaning of the text of the prayer is not clear to many, since they were written in the Old Slavic language, which we do not speak now. Many people will find it easier to pray in their native language than in a dead and forgotten one. There is a story in Christianity, I don’t remember it exactly, but I’ll tell you the meaning: One of the church fathers was traveling on a ship and they sailed to an island, three hermits lived on the island, very simple people, the priest began to ask them what prayers they knew, people said, that none, they pray to God very simply, something like “Lord have mercy,” the priest began to teach them the prayer “Our Father.” After some time, the ship set sail from the shore and then the priest saw that people were running after him through the water and one of them ran up to the ship and said: “Father, I forgot how prayer ends,” the priest was very surprised and said, “Pray as you know.” " Perhaps I distorted the story a little, unfortunately not...

I went to evangelical and Baptist churches for a long time. Recently received baptism in the Orthodox Church. It took me a long time to achieve this. Please tell me, is it possible to pray to God in my own words, as I did before, or does God hear only (which I doubt) those prayers that are written in prayer books?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

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Even the apostles asked the Lord: “Teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). The Savior gave the disciples, and through them, all Christians, the most perfect example of prayer - the Lord’s Prayer. In addition to the Lord's Prayer, the psalms (Greek psallo - “I sing”) of the prophet David and the chants of other inspired hymnographers were generally accepted in the apostolic age. In the psalms they praised and thanked the Lord. They were comforted and offered petitions to God in all life circumstances. The Apostle Paul calls believers to psalmody (see: Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).

However, this was not limited to prayer life in the primacy of the Church. The words of the Apostle Paul: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) contain a call to acquire constant inner prayer, which is most often done in one’s own words. The Apostle also speaks about prayer in his own words, pronounced with his lips: “In church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in an [unfamiliar] tongue” (1 Cor. 14:19).

In subsequent centuries, the holy fathers also taught us to pray not only with established prayers, but also with our own: “For this you need not so much a word as a thought, not so much an outstretch of the hands as the tension of the soul, not so much a certain position of the body as a disposition of the spirit” (St. John Chrysostom). Gives instructions to the worshiper with his own prayers Rev. John Ladder: “Do not use wise expressions in your prayer, for often the simple and unsophisticated babble of children was pleasing to their Heavenly Father” (Ladder. 28:9); “Do not try to be verbose when talking with God, so that your mind is not wasted in finding words. One word of the publican appeased God, and one saying, filled with faith, saved the thief. Verbosity during prayer often entertains the mind and fills it with dreams, but unity of words usually collects it” (Ladder. 28: 10).

How to pray correctly in your own words? The Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain writes: “In your prayer you must combine those four actions that St. Basil the Great writes about: first glorify God, then thank Him for the blessings shown to you, then confess to Him your sins and the transgressions of His commandments and finally ask Him what you need, especially in the matter of your salvation” (Invisible Warfare. Part 1. Chapter 46: About prayer).

The most important thing is for the prayer to be lively, sincere and warm: “It’s good to say a few of your own words in prayer, breathing with ardent faith and love for the Lord... And how pleasing to the Lord is this our own babble, coming directly from a believer, loving and grateful heart, to retell it’s impossible: you just need to say that the soul trembles with joy at its words to God... You say a few words, but you taste so much bliss that you won’t receive it to the same extent from the longest and most touching prayers - other people’s prayers, out of habit and sincerely pronounced” ( Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt). Saint Theophan the Recluse also speaks about this: “If the soul is lethargic and is not strong enough to rise to God on its own, read a prayer from memory, repeating each word several times in order to break the soul as if with a hammer. When the soul goes to the Lord on its own, do not read any memorized prayers, but lead your speech directly to the Lord, starting with thanksgiving for the mercies to yourself, then saying other things that need to be said. The Lord is near! He listens to the word from the heart” (Letters. Issue 7. Letter 1083).

PRAYER IN YOUR OWN WORDS

Is it possible to turn to the Lord by inventing your own prayer? Yes, you can. Do not underestimate the importance of non-canonical prayer. The words that are born in our heart and that we turn to the Creator also have power.

Not always and not everywhere we can say a canonical prayer that would exactly correspond to our specific trouble or experience. In addition, we must not forget that the words of well-known prayers were also born once and were pronounced by someone for the first time. Pray in your own words! But remember: your prayer must be sincere and serious. Pray until you feel you still have something to say. Express with the words of prayer everything that has accumulated in your soul, and soon you will feel much better. I am not touching on the religious aspect yet and am speaking only from ordinary, practical considerations. What does it mean?

First, praying in your own words will allow you to express what is troubling your heart. In prayer before God, you can formulate your problem in a new way. You can see it with different eyes. Sometimes this is enough to realize the possibility of a way out and find it. As long as something unclear and vague worries us, we will never find the ground under our feet.

Secondly, prayer will help you feel that you are not alone. You will realize that someone is sharing your burden with you. Few people are strong enough to endure excruciating suffering alone. But sometimes our worries are so hidden that we cannot discuss them even with our closest relatives or friends. And then prayer comes to the rescue.

Thirdly, prayer stimulates the active process of creation inherent in humans. This is the first step to action. “I doubt,” writes D. Carnegie, “that a person who prays daily for the fulfillment of his desire will not be rewarded; in other words, he will begin to act to make it come true.”

I think it is no coincidence that the authors of many methods for developing hidden abilities in oneself advise reading a prayer before starting specific exercises. For example, Samvel Gharibyan, a man who has developed a phenomenal memory, recommends the following inspiring prayer when working on awakening inner potential:

“Everything that thought inspires me, I can do.

Whatever thought manifests in me, I can receive.

For the great God lives in me.

Praying in your own words will help you complete any task you undertake. Non-canonical prayer often becomes psychological attitude, which allows you to overcome internal barriers that limit growth.

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Religious people pray. They pray in church, they pray at home. They pray morning and evening. Before starting and finishing your business. Prayer is common to church people. And yet, every time a conversation about prayer arises, many questions and perplexities always arise. Especially from people with little church or no church at all, you can hear: why pray according to the prayer book; Why pray written prayers when I can pray in my own words?

The very formulation of the question, which involves contrasting “ready-made” prayers and prayers in one’s own words, is initially incorrect. Praying according to a prayer book and praying in your own words are not mutually exclusive.

That is, if we pray according to the prayer book, this does not mean that we cannot or should not pray in our own words, and vice versa: if we pray in our own words, this does not mean that we should not pray according to the prayer book.

However, those who ask the question of why pray according to a prayer book when I can pray in my own words precisely assume that a prayer book, or, as is often said, ready-made prayers, is not needed.

Is it so? Before answering this question, let us remind you what prayer is. A lot has been written and said about this, but we will pay attention to what is found in almost all prayers: a request. Let's give an example from Scripture. The only prayer given by the Lord Jesus Christ, “Our Father” contains petitions: for daily bread, for deliverance from temptations and the evil one. St. Maximus the Confessor defines what prayer is: “Prayer is asking for what God, in His own way, usually gives to people.” As you can see, the Holy Father characterizes prayer as a request, that is, a request.

So, you ask, you can’t ask God for something in your own words? Of course you can. The only question is: what should one ask the Almighty for? And how to do this?

The Apostle Paul has these words: “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be expressed” (Rom. 8:26).

So, according to the apostle, it turns out that we do not know what to pray for. How to understand these words? After all, we all seem to know what we should pray for. St. Ephraim the Syrian, interpreting this expression of the Apostle, writes that we do not know what to pray for, in the sense that we do not know what is useful for us, what we need to ask for in prayers. We, clouded by passions and everyday life, will fill our prayers with those requests that, in essence, do not need to be spoken about, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:7–8 ).

God already knows what we need in this earthly life, and every time we ask him for health, well-being, etc., our prayers will be no different from the prayers of non-Christians. In a sense, praying about this is natural for a person, but for anyone, even a pagan.

The Lord Jesus Christ, before giving the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, says: “And when you pray, do not say unnecessary things, like the pagans, for they think that for their many words they will be heard” (Matthew 6:7). St. John Chrysostom says that this verbosity is nothing more than a request for the things of this world: wealth, luck, success, etc.

Let every supporter of the idea that it is enough to pray only in one’s own words honestly answer the question: what is he praying for in one’s own words?

I am sure that prayer will be reduced to a request for completely earthly, or, more correctly, mundane things. But it is said: do not be like the pagans... do not look at your God as a fulfiller of desires. God is not the fulfiller of our desires, but the builder of our salvation.

I am far from thinking that Christians should not ask for something of this world, for example, for health, for peace, for well-being. In the end, even in church prayers there are requests for this.

No, the point is different: Christians should pray not so much for this, but for salvation, for repentance, for a change in life. That's the point Christian prayer, which, according to the apostolic word, must be constant: “Be constant in prayer” (Col. 4:2).

And yet: is it really impossible to pray for salvation in your own words? The short answer is: try it. Conduct an experiment: pray for salvation in your own words in the morning and evening for at least 10 minutes. And look what the result is. You will stop praying like this on the second or third day because you don’t have enough words, images, or expressions for 10 minutes of prayer. Exactly.

Prayer, of course, is not just words. And not even that much. “Pray at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18), says the Apostle Paul. St. Theophan the Recluse writes: “Prayer is the lifting of the mind and heart to God.”

Yet this elevation has to start somewhere. Why? WITH visible side prayers, from the words and constancy of the prayer rule.

Written prayers teach how and what to pray for. They were written by saints who prayed in deserts and forests for decades and learned how and what to pray for. And this experience was recorded by them in prayers, called with the dismissive word “ready”, as if we were talking about some kind of semi-finished product.

Life experience testifies to the correctness of the recommendation to pray according to the prayer book. Let's imagine someone who is studying journalism and wants to learn how to write well. Or a lawyer wants to learn how to speak in court. Or a student at a literary institute strives to master a beautiful artistic style. What will the teacher advise him? Of course, read more recognized classics in each of these areas! This will provide an opportunity during the learning process to understand and adopt existing achievements in a particular area. And only after that you can start writing speeches and speeches.

Thus, based on the practice of life, anyone who wants to learn how to pray should start with the classics: read prayers written by saints.

Archimandrite Sylvester (Stoichev)

Hello dear reader. Welcome to the reality of yoga.

When talking about the spiritual path, it is impossible to ignore the topic of prayer.

The entire Christian world attaches paramount importance to it, but the path of sincere spiritual seekers of other directions is also not possible without prayer: because prayer is the most natural and effective means of “reaching out to Heaven, reaching out to.” Prayer is a call of the heart, clothed in words and addressed to the highest! And God always hears our prayers. But why do the prayers of saints always work, but the prayers of ordinary people often remain unanswered? What does it take to pray effectively? How can we get an answer from God to our prayers and thereby increase our happiness?

From this article, you will learn all this.

What is prayer?

I'll just say it here. You can call Your Higher Nature whatever you like: God, Higher Self, Light, Love... as long as it inspires.

Prayer is always an appeal to something Higher. In yoga our true nature is called -

In order to more effectively tune into this level of Yourself, it is very healthy to turn to this Higher Nature in your thoughts and feelings as often as possible. There are several ways to do this.

Types of prayers.

Canonical prayers.

In every religion or even spiritual movement, there are already established forms of appeal to the Highest.

Such prayers can be called canonical.

In Christianity, the first canonical prayer was the prayer uttered by Jesus Christ: the Lord's Prayer - Our Father.

A wonderful prayer, just like all the other canonical, officially approved Christian Church prayers. The enormous power of canonical- already ready prayers is that hundreds of saints prayed for them! And the power of each time a prayer is said energetically remains with this prayer.

Even if a person has never read a prayer and sees this prayer for the first time, even if he is not particularly focused and does not particularly believe in something, then still such a prayer, already read for centuries, helps, cleanses, as if connects a person to the energies of its purity, accumulated by all those who previously prayed to it.

In a very strong and wise Orthodox book - “Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father”, there is a story when one nobleman could not get rid of drunkenness. The priest gave him the Gospel and told him to read it every time he felt the urge to drink. The nobleman objected: “But I don’t understand anything that was written!” “Nothing,” answered the priest: “The main thing is to read, the demons understand everything.” Soon this man got rid of drunkenness.

These prayers, and simply reading canonical akathists and psalms, very often cleanse me. The world of average esotericism today is much darker than official Orthodoxy. Unfortunately, people often only get to real yoga after having already picked up “knowledge” from isothermal books. And the strongly materialistically oriented masses of the urban population do not at all strengthen cleanliness.

For me, the main goal of canonical prayers is precisely the cleansing of energies that interfere with striving for the Highest. It happens that I read akathists to the saints (I really love St. Nicholas the Wonderworker) so that some wish of mine can be fulfilled in the best possible way. Again, such akathists cleanse my consciousness and help me tune in to God. When I feel that there is not enough purity, or I just need to invest more energy in the right thing - canonical prayers and akathists are ideal!

Also, all canonical prayers touch on one or another, which of course helps to work through them. Two prayers are very relevant here: the prayer of the Optina elders (I give an example of the complete prayer of the Optina elders), and the so-called “Ancient prayer from the cell book of Fr. John the Peasant" (in fact, this is the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi) - here they are:

And of course, after the canonical prayers, since at this moment the attunement with the Highest is maximum, it is very cool to turn upward in your own words, and this is also a prayer.

Prayer in your own words.

The main conditions for effective prayer are a focused mind (as in any other matter) and calm feelings (so that the energies of feelings are again concentrated). In yoga language, real, effective prayer requires good

If the energies are collected into one stream, then any appeal to the top will be heard and taken into account.

I also use canonical prayers specifically to strengthen concentration - Dharana.

And then, if I have any other tasks, besides cleansing myself and feeling the grace of the Superconscious, I turn to God in my own words (in general, I often turn to Him in my own words:). My favorite thing to do is address God as Father, as Mother, and as Beloved. Also in a purified state and with good concentration, I like to turn to the saints, like Christendom, and the Hindu world.

For those who have a teacher, a guru, they don’t have to turn to anyone other than him. As Paramahansa Yogananda said: “The Guru is the window to the Supreme.”

Of course, I often turn to my guru. But the Christian saints are also very close to me, and as if having many friends, and not yet feeling the need to abandon them, I want to maintain relationships with all of them.

One way or another, if you feel that you want to address God and the saints in your own words, if a request for help and love sincerely flows from your heart, such an appeal will always be heard. The more sincere and concentrated a person is, the more effective his prayer will be. And contact with Superconsciousness always purifies and brings positive consequences.

A life of prayer is the best life.

1. Prayer clarifies the consciousness and cleanses the subconscious, and, therefore, the deeper and more sincerely a person prays, the faster the world around him will change for the better.

2. When we really need help, in reality we need to bring something into the situation. Boundless expanses of energy in our own Superconsciousness, in God. And through prayers, tuning in with Him, we receive the right amount of energy (whether it be health problems, financial difficulties or a difficult exam).

3. If you need to help someone, then prayer is also the best way. After all, especially while a person is not working, with his help he can harm the soul of the person asking. And if you pray to God, with the wish that everything will turn out in the best way for the unfortunate person (not to decide for yourself how everything should turn out, but to leave it to God to decide), then everything will turn out that way - in the best possible way.

Conditions for effective prayer.

Time of day and locations are not particularly important. Yes, in well-prayed churches, next to shrines and relics, the likelihood of effective prayer increases, but this happens due to the fact that there is already a lot of good energy in these places. After all, they prayed there... these places are already, to one degree or another, channels of Divine energies.

God initially often sent those same saints to places with bad energy - swamps, wilds, so that by praying there they would neutralize the negative.

They had such strength and this strength, the same concentration aimed at God.

The higher a person’s ability to concentrate, the potentially more effective his prayer can be. Therefore, it is very healthy to pray after, because it calms the mind and feelings, redirecting energies to the Superconscious. Ideal conditions!

In the right state of consciousness, with a calm, God-directed mind and calm, God-directed feelings. The prayer will certainly be successful.

As an example of a prayer after this meditation, you can pray as follows (in this video, from the point of view of the science of yoga, it is incredibly interesting to explain how this prayer works and why it helps) :

The answer is from God.

Another important condition for effective prayer is receiving an answer after turning to God, the Superconscious.

If we really need something, if we want to resolve a difficult issue for ourselves, then it would be good not only to tell God about our problems, but also to listen to His answer.

Very often people just pray, as if they are having a monologue with themselves, God is very delicate, He will never speak while we are talking. For Him to speak, you need to calm your restless mind, agitated feelings and listen.

This again is best achieved through meditation. And the answer will not necessarily be thunder from heaven. Rather, it may be a quiet whisper in the heart, or just a feeling. In general, God speaks to us through our intuition. Intuition is a channel of communication with the soul, God. The cleaner the channel. the easier it is for us to hear Him and the more opportunities we have to live with Him. That's why

For those people for whom it is well developed, the above is easily achievable.

When you feel the Divine response in your heart. Then you are filled with joy and confidence that everything will work out in the best way. Living with such confidence is very pleasant.

Continuous prayer.

In Orthodoxy there is such an incredible tool for achieving Unity with God as the unceasing Jesus Prayer, I also call it mental prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

It is written about in great detail in the book “Frank Stories of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father.” I advise everyone to read this book.

Here I will say that for those who really want to find Unity with God, with their Higher Nature, this technique of unceasing prayer is simply necessary.

It is impossible to imagine the world of yoga without such a form of prayer as Mantra; I will talk about them separately in another article. Many of the mantras are also used for continuous repetition so that the connection with God is constantly strengthened, day and night.

What is the best thing to pray for? Prayer for yourself and for others.

The most common case when people pray is a desire to receive something. Some people want health, some want to improve their personal lives, others want to improve their living conditions and material level.

I can’t say that this approach is very wise. The goal in itself is to create favorable conditions for your body, feelings and mind - this is generally a futile endeavor. God, of course, can fulfill everything, but other needs will appear, and still others... in general, in the long term, such prayers for one’s own benefit are ineffective and even harmful. Very often God does not answer such prayers because

When praying, we must always keep in mind that God, the Superconscious, knows best what is good for us. Therefore, after each such prayer it is very cool to add the phrase:

For everything, the love of God or Thy will be done.

I love prayer so much:

Lord, strengthen and guide, Thy will be done.

It is much better to pray not for perishable things (that you cannot take with you into the subtle worlds after leaving your body), but to become closer to God, it is good to pray for cleansing from those qualities that prevent you from always being with God or for the gift to us those qualities that help you be with Him. This is the purpose of life and the guarantee of unbreakable happiness. Everything else is not so important. Quality data.

Gives a lot of strength and energy prayers for others. If we sincerely wish goodness and prosperity to someone, then enormous beneficial energy goes through us to this person, at the same time filling us. Moreover, in this case it comes to us much more than in the case when we simply pray for ourselves.

But the prayer must be sincere. If a person prays for others with the desire to benefit himself, then the flow of energy will sharply decrease, which means the effectiveness of his prayers will be low.

Another condition for effective prayer is the state of consciousness not of a beggar, but a firm, confident awareness that we are the children of our Heavenly Father, who have the right to all of his inheritance. At the same time, of course, you cannot blatantly demand something, but it is important to be worthy. Humility is necessary, but it is humility that is important, not self-abasement. True humility is the understanding that the Divine Consciousness is much wiser and more loving than all our own opinions and judgments. Willingness to accept with trust any situation as the best for us is humility. But you must always pray with dignity, as if saying:

“Father, you know better what to do, I will accept any of your decisions. Know what I want (for example, free yourself from worry about the child). I am Your child, and I know that You love me. Please do it. And let Your will be done for everything.”

If you are not at all sure that the fulfillment of your prayer will bring good (in relation to external things, such as cars, the return of husbands and even health, it may very well be that the fulfillment of your desire will not be for good - you can separately clarify - if what I am asking for really will bring benefit, then do it. In any case, it is better to end your non-canonical prayers to God with the words: May Your Will be done for everything or
and let the Love of God be in everything.

God is always happy to help his children become better people and make the world a better place. And the more often we turn to Him, opening ourselves to His beneficial energies, the better it will be for us and the whole world. After all, every attunement to His pure energies brings us closer to a state of holiness. And who else but the saints, being the purest channels of God, bring the greatest good to the world and themselves arrive in indescribable bliss, their true nature

It is quite easy to experience this bliss through prayer. So pray – for yourself, for others and be happy!

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