Akathist and prayer service only for churchgoers?translated

Reader question:

Hello, I want to ask a question. Is it possible to submit the names of atheists at an akathist or prayer service in a church? Or only believers? I was in a monastery in Khotkovo: they only accept the names of churchgoers. How then can we pray for others?

Tatiana

Priest's answer:

Archpriest Andrey EFANOV

Hello, Tatyana!

It is up to the specific Christian community to decide who to pray for and who not to pray for. After all, as the saying goes: a slave is not a pilgrim.

Imagine the situation. In some chat they offer to pray for some person. This does not oblige you to pray, it is only a request that can be fulfilled, or you can abstain.

In the same way, at a particular parish or monastery, the community itself makes a decision: to pray or not for those who deny the existence of God.

No one deprives you of the opportunity to independently pray for those whose lives you care about. But in church-wide prayer one must adhere to the rule of respect for those praying with one another. If they are ready to pray with you for atheists, then their choice must be accepted. Finding churches where they are ready to pray for everyone, even the unbaptized, is not so difficult. Become a parishioner of such a church, and then...