Is it possible, and how can Orthodox Christians pray for non-Orthodox Christians?

(Response to a letter received from abroad from a Russian Orthodox woman married to a Protestant, and regarding the excommunication of Count Leo Tolstoy) All of us, the children of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Ecumenical Church, in perplexed cases regarding doctrine, should not be guided by our own understandings, which can be sinful, but should have guiding rules for this. And these rules are contained primarily in a book called “The Helmsman”. This is a collection of rules of the holy apostles, Holy Ecumenical and Local Councils and some holy fathers. At the end of this book, in the chapter “On the Roman Apostasy, how it departed from the Orthodox faith and from the Holy Eastern Church,” the Pope and his followers, who wrongly call themselves Catholics, are called heretics. There is nothing to say about other Protestant Christian denominations, since they have deviated even further from Orthodoxy. In the same “Helmsman’s Book”, in the 10th chapter, in the 6th canon of the Local Laodicean Council about heretics, the following judgment of the Holy Church was generally pronounced: “It is not worthy for a heretic to enter the Church of God.” And in the 33rd canon of the same Laodicean Council it is said: “Let no one pray to heretics and those who have rejected the Catholic Church.” But here’s the question: what is the view of the holy fathers of our Orthodox Church on heresy? In the “Fatherland” of Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) 1 it is said about the Monk Agathon. One day some brothers visited him and wanted to test his humility and patience. They reproached him for pride, slander and a depraved life. The elder recognized all these vices in himself and tearfully asked visitors to pray for him. When they called him a heretic, the elder said that he was not a heretic at all. When asked by the brethren why the accusation of heresy alarmed him, he answered: “Because heresy is alienation from God. The heretic is separated from the living and true God and joins the devil and his angels. He who is separated from Christ (of course, through the false teaching about Christ he professes) no longer has God to whom he could pray for his sins, and in all respects he is lost.” And if this were not so, if, that is, heresies or false teachings as consequences of free-thinking did not have such a destructive significance in the Holy Church of Christ, then the holy Apostle Paul would not have written such warnings to leading Christians: Brothers, beware, lest anyone deceive you with philosophy and vain flattery, according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ ( Col.2:8). And one more thing: you are the ones who confuse and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven brings you more good news than we bring good news to you, let him be anathema (Gal. 1:7-8). However, our Orthodox Church, due to its inherent love for mankind, allows us to pray for those who are cut off 2 from it, that is, for heretics, as can be seen in the same “Helmsman’s Book”, in chapter 15, in the 66th rule of the Carthage Local Council. But what to pray for? - “Pray that they will leave delusion and come to know the truth.” And in another book - “The Orthodox Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East” 3, in its first part, at the end of the answer to the 92nd question, it is also allowed to pray “for heretics and schismatics, so that they turn to the Orthodox faith before the end of their lives.” This is what the Orthodox Church does. For example, in the commemoration book (at the end of the Followed Psalter) we pray: “Those who have departed from the Orthodox faith and are blinded by destructive heresies, enlighten the light of Your knowledge and bring Your Holy Apostles to the Catholic Church.” Now let's present some of our thoughts. From the above passages it is clear that our Orthodox Church allows us to pray for heretics only for the living, and not for the dead, and, moreover, only for their conversion to the Orthodox faith. When, let us add to this, the heretic, through the prayers of the Holy Church, turns to the Orthodox faith, then the Church’s prayer for him will be completely different, that is, for the salvation of his soul. How does a person achieve salvation? One of the main conditions for achieving salvation is repentance. We see examples of this in the Holy Gospel. The publican received justification through repentance (Luke 18:10–14). The Prodigal Son returned to the Father through repentance (Luke 15:11-32). The prudent thief, crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ, also entered heaven through repentance (Luke 23:40-43). Yes, and the Lord said about Himself that He came to earth in order to call sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). All people need repentance. All have sinned, as the apostle says, and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). But a non-Orthodox person or a heretic, if he decided to bring repentance for his sins before an Orthodox priest, his repentance would be invalid. We read in the first part of the “Orthodox Confession” question 113: what should we observe during the sacrament of Repentance? Answer. Firstly, we must ensure that the repentant is a Christian of the Orthodox and Catholic faith, for repentance without true faith is not repentance and is not accepted from God. But all this was said about living Christians who believed incorrectly, or heretics. What can we say about their souls who departed from this life? Although in the “Long Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church” 4 in the 11th clause it is said that the souls of the dead can be helped to achieve the blessed resurrection by prayers offered for them, especially combined with the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, but this is said about the souls of Orthodox Christians, and, moreover, those who died with faith. For the soul of a wrongly believer who died in his errors and did not bring sincere repentance for them before the Lord, what hope of salvation can there be? And how and what to pray for such a soul? – It is impossible to pray for her salvation (“Rest with the saints...”) - it is impossible, because during his lifetime the non-believer did not renounce his errors and did not bring sincere repentance for them before the Lord. It is too late to pray for the soul to turn to repentance, because the soul cannot repent after being detached from the body, since the future life is not a time for repentance, but for retribution. And even this must be taken into account: why would the Orthodox Church draw up special orders for the joining of Roman Catholics and Protestants to the Orthodox faith, if it were already possible to pray for the salvation of their souls? However, our Holy Church certainly demands from every non-believer who wishes to be in communion with her that he publicly - before the whole Church - renounce his errors and accept pure Christian teaching. And one more thing: if it were possible to pray with church prayer for the salvation of the souls of dead non-believers, or at least for the alleviation of their fate after death, then during the services of the Orthodox Church special litanies or petitions would certainly be used for them. However, in all our church services there is nothing like that. On the contrary, in the first week of Great Lent, celebrating the Triumph of Orthodoxy, our Holy Church pronounces anathema, that is, excommunication from unity with itself of all heretics and apostates from Orthodoxy; therefore, both Latins, or Roman Catholics, and Protestants. How, we ask, will the Church at the same time anathematize and pray for them? In confirmation of what has been said, we cite here the words of our ever-memorable saint, the late Moscow Metropolitan Philaret. He says: “It is another thing to pray for the union of non-Orthodox churches with the Orthodox Church in an extensive composition of prayers that embrace the whole world, and another thing to remember the non-Orthodox in diptychs 5 (synodics or memorials) at the sacrament of the Eucharist. Non-Orthodox people, by their very non-Orthodoxy, have excommunicated themselves from the communion of the sacraments of the Orthodox Church. This corresponds to their non-remembrance at the sacrament of the Eucharist and their exclusion from diptychs” 6. Let us note at the same time that the words “exclusion from diptychs” lead to the idea that the names of non-Orthodox Christians and in general during any Orthodox church service should not be remembered. For how, in fact, can we remember them when they are excluded from diptychs? They will say: it is very strict to reason like this. - What to do? But you cannot force mercy from the Lord. For our God is a jealous God (Ex. 20:5); The Lord is righteous and loves righteousness (Ps. 10:7). There were cases when He Himself forbade praying for people. Thus, he spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about His people: Do not pray for these people, and do not ask to be shown mercy to them, and do not pray, come to Me about them, lest I hear you (Jer. 7:16). And this command of the Lord applies to people who are still alive, therefore, who still had the opportunity to repent. And the prophet did not dare to listen to the word of the Lord, justifying his prayer for them with love for mankind. However, speaking about this, we mean here only church-public prayer for non-Orthodox Christians, which if actually allowed in the Orthodox Church, then the greatest harm, inexhaustible evil, will inevitably follow for Orthodoxy. Let us think, for example: are there many Orthodox Christians who are firm in the faith they profess? Isn’t it true that most of them have weak faith, like a spark, ready to go out at any moment? And if such people hear in Orthodox churches commemoration of the health or repose of Roman Catholics or Protestants, won’t they soon come to the following conclusion: therefore, no matter how you believe, it doesn’t matter? And through this, apostasies from the Orthodox Church will have to be repeated more and more often, if not formally, then in the soul. And here comes the greatest sorrow. Unbeknownst to the most corrupted person, he is Orthodox only in name, but in the thing itself he is not a believer or is not a believer at all. Also, Christians of other confessions, seeing that the Orthodox Church is praying for them, should come to the same conclusion about the equality of all faiths. And this can distract even non-believers from joining the Orthodox Church. “After all, the Orthodox are already praying for us,” they will say. However, this is precisely what some are concerned about, saying that all people, no matter what faith they profess, will be saved, and also: the Lord has not shown us what kind of faith to contain. These are human false dreams. That not everyone will be saved is clear from the Holy Gospel. Depicting His Last Judgment, the Lord directly divides all people into two categories, and places some at His right hand and introduces them into the Kingdom of Heaven, and others at His left and sends them into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel (see: Matt. 25, 31-46). And those who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven will be a smaller part - even among the Orthodox, only those who will live in the Orthodox way. This is also evident from the words of the Lord Himself: for many are the callings, but few are the chosen (Matthew 20:16). Regarding the second objection, that is, that the Lord did not show us what kind of faith to contain, it must be said that this is slander against God. For was it not for this purpose that the Son of God came to earth to teach people a clear and detailed teaching about how they should believe and direct their lives according to faith? That is why He says: I did not come to destroy the law of Moses, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). And he also spoke about Himself: I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6). And His teaching is called the verbs of the eternal life (John 6:68). And therefore, He called everyone to Himself, saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink (John 7:37). And again: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and so on. (Matthew 11, 28, 29). And after His resurrection, sending His disciples to preach, the Lord commanded them to teach all nations, so that they would observe everything He commanded (see: Matt. 28:20). The Apostles set forth all the true dogma and moral teaching commanded by the Lord in writing in the Holy Gospel and in their Epistles. The holy fathers and teachers of the Church of Christ who followed them explained in detail all this true doctrine and moral teaching contained in the Holy Scriptures, in all its completeness and purity, without any admixture of human wrong opinions and understandings. And in the beginning this Church of Christ was one and only in the whole world. And only from the 9th century did the Roman popes arbitrarily begin to mix their deceitful thinking into the true teaching of Christ, through which the Roman Church separated from the Eastern Orthodox Church. And the further time went, the more errors increased in the Roman Church, and finally it came to the point that some Roman Catholics, dissatisfied with it, fell away from it and formed their own churches, Protestant, which retreated even further from Orthodoxy. About the importance of obedience to the Holy Church of Christ, the Lord Himself said in the Holy Gospel: if anyone disobeys the Church, let him be like a pagan and a publican (cf. Matt. 18:17). But let's return to our main subject. What does this mean: Orthodox Christians do not ask Roman Catholics and Protestants to pray for themselves and for their dead, but these latter, on the contrary, often ask Orthodox Christians to serve memorial services for their relatives, etc.? What is the reason here? It is obvious that this reason is the poverty of the internal spiritual content of Western non-orthodox Christian churches. The soul of a Roman Catholic or Protestant, thirsting for salvation, cannot find satisfaction of its highest spiritual needs in its church, and therefore turns to the Orthodox Church, which alone possesses all Divine powers, including life and piety (2 Pet. 1, 3). And this is confirmed by the case itself. Often, non-believers who sincerely joined the Orthodox Church, soon after joining and after partaking of the Divine Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, felt in their souls inexplicable spiritual consolations, which they had no idea about before joining the Orthodox Church. And this can also serve as proof of the inconsistency of the Western churches, that their defenders always defend their incorrect speculations with passion and bitterness against our Holy Orthodox Church. And the Holy Scripture says about God: His place is in the world (Ps. 75:3). This means that where there is peace and love, there is only God, and where there is unpeace and bitterness, there cannot be the grace of God, and the Lord does not take pleasure in embittered hearts. However, when speaking about the strictness of our Orthodox Church regarding the commemoration of wrongly believing Christians, we are not talking about the fact that our Holy Church commands us, her children, not to pray for them in any way. It only forbids us to pray on our own, that is, to pray as we want and as we please. Our Mother, the Orthodox Church, instills in us that everything we do, like prayer itself, should be done in order and in a decent manner (cf. 1 Cor. 14:40). We pray during all our church services for all peoples of different tribes and for the whole world, most often without knowing or understanding it ourselves. Namely, we pray as our Lord Jesus Christ taught His apostles to pray in the prayer He dedicated: Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth (Matthew 6:10)! This comprehensive petition embraces all the needs, both ours and those of our half-blooded, albeit non-religious, brothers. Here we ask the All-Good Lord for the souls of deceased non-Orthodox Christians, so that He would do with them what is pleasing to His holy will. For the Lord knows immeasurably better than us who to show what kind of mercy. So, Orthodox Christian! Whoever you are, a layman or a priest of God, if during any church service the zeal comes to you to pray for someone close to you, Charles or Edward, then while reading or singing the Lord’s Prayer, sigh for him to the Lord and say: “Thy holy will be done about him, Lord!” – and limit yourself to this prayer. For this is how you were taught to pray by the Lord Himself. And believe that such a prayer of yours will be a thousand times more pleasing to the Lord and more beneficial for your soul than all your unauthorized church commemorations. All the thoughts we have expressed, based, as anyone can see, on Divine Scripture and the tradition of the Holy Fathers, naturally lead us to the following conclusion: “Praying for non-Orthodox Christians with church-public prayer on an equal basis with Orthodox Christians, that is, commemorating their names in churches in the same way as the names of Orthodox Christians are commemorated, is contrary to the teachings and decrees of our One Holy Catholic Apostolic Ecumenical Church.” That's what we say, that's what we do. And this is not at all out of hatred for wrongly believing Christians and not because we do not wish them well, but because our unauthorized or unauthorized prayer for them will not be pleasing to God, and will be useless for their souls, and will turn into sin for those praying for them. We can see a clear example of this in King Saul of Israel 7 . Apparently, he did a good deed when, before the start of the war with the Philistines, he turned to God with prayer and sacrifice. But since he acted in this case arbitrarily, without waiting, as he was told, for the prophet of God Samuel, he not only did not attract the favor and blessing of God, but also deserved God’s wrath and punishment. Let us add to this that self-will is a sin in everything, and even an intolerable vice between people. A proverb has developed: one’s own will prevails over the king. However, we note that the king punishes those who do not obey the royal laws. Why? Because a self-willed person causes harm to himself, his family, the society in which he lives, the state, and the Church; in a word, a self-willed person is an unpleasant person. And the squatters themselves do not like those who disobey them and, if they have the opportunity, punish them. But we all want to live and pray each in our own way. Now let's say a little about private prayer. There is perhaps the only example known in our Orthodox Church that the private prayer of one saint of God helped the souls of deceased people of other faiths, even pagans. This is how the Monk Macarius of Egypt spoke about himself. “One day, while passing through the desert, I found the skull of some dead man lying on the ground. When I hit the skull with a palm stick, he said something to me. I asked him: “Who are you?” The skull answered me: “I was the chief priest of the idols and pagans who lived in this place, and you are Macarius the Spirit-Bearer. When you, having taken pity on those suffering in torment, begin to pray for them, they feel some joy.” The elder asked him: “What kind of joy is this? And what kind of torment?” The skull tells him: “As far as the sky is from the earth, there is so much fire under us, and we stand from head to toe in the midst of fire. None of us can see the other face to face. We have the face of one turned to the back of the other. But when you pray for us, then each sees the face of the other somewhat. This is our joy!” The elder began to cry and said: “Unfortunate day on which a man was born!” The elder asked further: “Is there no even more severe torment?” The skull answered him: “Under us the torment is even more terrible.” The elder asked: “Who is there?” The skull answered: “We, as those who did not know God, were still somewhat pardoned, but those who knew God and rejected Him (of course, through foolishness in faith and a vicious life) are under us.” After this, the elder took the skull and buried it in the ground” 8. From this story of the blessed father, first of all, we see that his prayer for the pagans suffering in the flames was not church-public, but private. This is the prayer of a solitary hermit who prayed in the secret chamber of his heart. For if he himself had not told others about this prayer, then it would have remained unknown to anyone. Then, this prayer can partly serve as a reason for us, Orthodox Christians, to pray for living and dead non-believers with private, home prayer, but only as a reason, and not at all as an example, for the monk did not tell us how he prayed for the pagans, did not teach us how to do so; This prayer alone cannot serve as an example for us, because the Monk Macarius, who prayed it, was a great saint of God, therefore, having acquired great boldness towards the Lord. Should we, wallowing in the abyss of sinfulness, take an example from such a prayer book? In only one thing can she serve as an example for us, namely, that the Monk Macarius prayed for the pagans not with spontaneous prayer, but as he was instructed by the Spirit of God, who dwelt in his pure heart, which not only instructed him, but also forced him to pray for the whole world - for all people, living and dead, as is usually and characteristic of the loving hearts of all God's saints; just as the holy Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: enlarge our hearts: do not fit too tightly within us (2 Cor. 6:11-12). So, we can now agree that Orthodox Christians can pray for non-Orthodox Christians - living and dead - through private prayer at home, but at the same time let us also remind you: not to pray on your own - not as we please and wish (so as not to incur the wrath of God instead of favor), but according to the instructions of people experienced in spiritual life. There was an incident during the life of the Optina elder Leonid (in the schema of Leo), who died in 1841. One of his students, Pavel Tambovtsev, had a parent die an unfortunate violent death - suicide. The loving son was deeply saddened by the news of this and therefore poured out his grief before the elder: “The unfortunate death of my parent is a heavy cross for me. Yes, I am now on the cross, whose illnesses will go with me to the grave. Imagining an eternity terrible for sinners, in which there is no longer repentance, I am tormented by the idea of ​​eternal torment that awaits my parent, who died without repentance. Tell me, father, how can I console myself in real sorrow?” The elder’s answer: “Commit both yourself and the fate of your parent to the will of the Lord, all-wise, all-powerful. Do not experience the miracles of the Most High. Striving with humility to strengthen yourself within the limits of moderate sadness. Pray to the Most Good Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and filial duties.” Question: “But how to pray for such?” Answer: “According to the spirit of the virtuous and wise: “Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father; if it is possible, have mercy! Thy destinies are unsearchable. Do not make me sin this prayer of mine. But let Thy holy will be done!” Pray simply, without testing, committing your heart to the right hand of the Most High. Of course, it was not the will of God for such a sad death of your parent, but now it is completely in the will of the Mighty One to cast both soul and body into the fiery furnace, who both humbles and exalts, kills and gives life, brings down to hell and raises up. Moreover, He is so merciful, omnipotent and loving that the good qualities of all earthly beings are nothing before His highest goodness. For this reason, you should not be overly sad. You will say: “I love my parent, which is why I grieve inconsolably.” - Fair. But God, without comparison, loved and loves him more than you. This means that you can only leave the eternal fate of your parent to the goodness and mercy of God, Who, if He deigns to have mercy, then who can resist Him? 9 " This private, cell, or home prayer given here, taught by the elder Leonid, experienced in spiritual life, to his disciple, can serve as an example or model for an Orthodox Christian of prayer for some non-Orthodox Christian close to him. He can, for example, pray in the following sense: “Have mercy, Lord, if possible, on the soul of Your servant (name), who has departed into eternal life in apostasy from Your Holy Orthodox Church! Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin for me. But Thy holy will be done!” We do not know and it is not open to anyone to what extent such a prayer can benefit the soul of a deceased unfaithful Christian. But experience has proven that it moderates the burning heartfelt grief of the prayer book for the soul of a person close to him, although he died not in Orthodoxy. In conclusion, let us say: may our hearts not be troubled and may the severity of the statutes of our Holy Orthodox Church not frighten us! Above all, dare, dare, people of God! All this should not lead us to the hopelessness of our salvation, but, on the contrary, should awaken our souls to contrite, humble repentance before the Lord for our sins, while the doors of His mercy are not yet closed for us. For, according to the word of the Psalmist, God will not despise a contrite and humble heart (Ps. 50:19). And the more humble and self-condemning the prayer, the more reliable and successful it is. See: Fatherland: Selected sayings of holy monks and stories from their lives / Comp. St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). Rep. ed. M., 1992. pp. 42–43. Cutting off (obsolete) – retreating. This book is an Orthodox catechism. Its first part contains a statement of the Orthodox faith based on the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. The second teaches about prayer based on the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes. The third part tells about virtues and sins based on the Ten Commandments. The book was originally written by the Kyiv Metropolitan Peter Mogila and his assistants in Latin. Then a translation was made into Greek, and in 1643 this catechism was approved by the Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1837, with the blessing of the Holy Synod, the “Orthodox Confession...” was translated into Russian and published in 30,000 copies for distribution to all churches of the empire. This catechism is the official catechism of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was compiled by Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow in 1822–1823, was first published in 1823 and was later reprinted many times. A diptych is a list of names commemorated during the Liturgy. See: Sushkov N.V. Notes on the life and times of St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow. M., 1868. P. 162. Saul (11th century BC) - the first king of the united kingdom of Israel. Saul waged continuous wars with the enemies of Israel. He was a believer, but an evil spirit took possession of him - and Saul fell away from the Lord. In a battle with the Philistines, he was seriously wounded and threw himself on his sword. See about him: 1st and 2nd Books of Kings of the Old Testament. Memorable tales about the asceticism of the holy and blessed fathers. Ch. 69: About Abba Macarius of Egypt, paragraph 37. M., 1845. See Appendix to the Biography of the Optina Elder Hieromonk Leonid. Ed. Optina Pustyn, 1890.