События в восьмом столетии первого тысячелетия

Righteous Enos, when his tribe multiplied, began to glorify God collectively, as it is written about him: “This is the hope of calling on the name of the Lord God” (Gen. 4:26), not that no one had called on the name of the Lord before him, but (according to the explanation of the interpreters) that he was the first inventor of the conciliar (joint) praise of God. For even before him, Adam, Abel and Seth called on the Lord, prayed to Him and made sacrifices, but each of them did this separately and separately from the others. Enos began to gather together all his children and the children of his children (that is, grandchildren) every day in the morning in order to collectively (together with everyone) offer sacrifice, praise and prayers to God. He composed some hymns and prayers and wrote them down on boards, since he perfected the writings that originated from his father Seth. For Seth (as was said before) began writing, and Enosh completed it. Having written the hymns and prayers that he composed, he handed them over to his tribe for conciliar prayer to God; That’s why it is written about him that he began to call on the name of the Lord, that is, to collectively glorify and pray to God. The holy forefathers, admonished by God, were the first to know how great the need for prayer is for a person who honors God! And just as they studied it themselves, they taught it to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Prayer is as necessary for a person as daily food is for the body: bread strengthens the flesh, but prayer strengthens the soul. For prayer, according to the legend of the Climacus, is the food of the soul (Clairman. Homily 28, chapter 1). And just as the body becomes weak without food, so does the soul without prayer. The soul cannot receive grace from God for its strengthening and revitalization if it does not ask for it through prayer. “Ask,” it is said, “and it will be given to you; if you ask, he will receive” (Matthew 7:7-8). Prayer is the key to the treasures of God, through which anyone who wishes opens the door of God’s mercy for himself and enters and leaves and finds pasture (John 10:9). Was it not through prayer that Saint Elijah opened the closed heaven? He prayed, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit. A person needs prayer as much as a warrior needs a weapon in battle; for our life is a constant war, and we are warring, and our adversaries, constantly acting invisibly against us, are devils. What warrior goes into battle without weapons? Who wants to defeat the invisible satanic regiments without being armed with prayer? Enemies are driven away with weapons, and demons with prayer. Here we hear Saint Chrysostom, who says: “If somewhere the demons see us armed with prayer, they run away from there just like robbers and villains when they see a naked military sword somewhere above their head.” But prayer to defeat even visible adversaries is powerful. Was it not through the prayer of Moses (Ex. 17:8-16) that the visible enemy Amalek was defeated in the desert? Prayer is as necessary for a soul concerned about its salvation as walls are necessary for a city besieged by foreigners. For the soul is the city of the great King God, and in this city good works dwell as citizens, and the gifts of God are kept as royal treasures. This spiritual city, oh, how greatly it always remains besieged by invisible enemies, who fight against it day and night with all their crafty machinations, trying to gain it, conquer it, ruin it and subjugate it in their dark region! But what can prevent their evil intentions and drive away their many-witted power? Truly, there is only a wall of prayer when it is strong and has boldness towards God. Having received help from this, the spiritual city is preserved safe and sound, as we find much written about this in the lives of the saints. Prayer is just as necessary for every believer, just as an overtired old man needs a rod on the road, as someone sitting in the dark needs a night candle, as someone polluted by a swamp needs clean water for washing, and as a foundation for a house being built. For with it we, burdened with sins, support ourselves on our life’s path; with it the darkness and gloom of our soul are enlightened; it washes away the sinful filth of our souls; good deeds are built on it as a foundation. No good deed can begin well and be created unless it is established on a prayerful basis. It is in vain that anyone begins his work if he does not first offer his warm prayer to God. That is why Saint John Climacus (in his word on prayer) calls prayer the mother and the queen, and the source of virtues, the cleansing of sins, the mediastinum of sorrows, the destruction of regiments, the intercessor of gifts, the enlightenment of the mind, the ax of despair, the announcement of hope and the resolution of sorrow and other praiseworthy names, he pleases it, indicating in those names its strength and effectiveness. Let us know that prayer only has this power and effectiveness when it is done by us and is pleasing to God. For it often happens that the prayers of many are not only objectionable, but also abominable before God, and not only do not in the least act for good, but are also imputed to sin, as they say in the psalms: “His prayer becomes sin” (Ps. 108:7). Anyone who wants his prayer to be pleasing to God must first of all learn within himself how to begin prayer. Sirach advises: “First prepare your prayers” (Sir. 18:23). To prepare oneself means, first of all, to put aside all worldly worries and cut off all vain thoughts, and then turn one’s entire mind to God, focus on Him, stand before Him with fear, reverence and honestly, as one stands before an earthly king. It is proper to pray with attention and understanding of the spoken words, according to David’s admonition: “Sing to our God, sing wisely” (Ps. 46:7-8), that is, listen and understand what you read and sing in prayer. For what is the use of prayer that is done without attention and understanding? There is prayer in the mouth, but unpleasing thoughts in the mind; the tongue prays, but the heart angers the One to whom it prays; The lips honor God, but the heart is far from Him. Can such a prayer be pleasing to God, and will the Lord hear it? Saint Cyprian says: “How do you want to be heard from God when you don’t hear yourself? You want God to remember you when you pray, but you don’t remember yourself” (Cyprian, in the book “Peace with God”). Prayer without attention is like a censer without fire and incense, a lamp without oil, a body without soul; such prayer is an abomination, and not pleasing to our Lord Christ, for it is not the words emanating from the mouth that implore Him, but the mind, wholly turned to Him. It is not the voice of the throat that reaches the ears of the Lord of hosts, but the groaning of a broken heart; and the Lord does not bow to the many words of the one who prays. In addition, the one who wants to offer a prayer pleasing to God must add to the prayer undoubted faith in receiving what he asks through hope, as the holy Apostle James teaches: “Let him ask by faith without hesitating: hesitating is like the turbulence of the sea; Let no man imagine that he will receive anything from God” (James 1:6-7). And Saint Theophylact says: “If a person does not believe that he will receive with benefit what he asks for, then he prays in vain” (Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 18). And the Climacus speaks of the need for faith in prayer, since the latter opens prayer, and without faith prayer cannot fly to heaven. He indicated the following two prayer wings - kindness and mercy, in order to forgive the sinner and give to the one who asks. If you want to ask God for something, then first of all, do not despise the one asking you. If you want to beg Christ for forgiveness of your sins, then first forgive your brother who has saddened you. And the Gospel teaches not to first bring a gift to God with prayer until reconciliation with the brother is accomplished and hostility is destroyed (Matthew 5:23-24). And many other things that are appropriate to good prayer (which we are not talking about in detail now), let anyone who wants to pray pleasing to God collect for himself, such as fasting, abstinence, silence, long-suffering, labor and mortification of his lusts. With all this, the most important thing is that prayer is performed with a clear conscience. “If our heart (that is, conscience) does not despise us,” says the Apostle, “the imam’s boldness towards God, and if we ask, we are acceptable from Him, because we keep His commandments” (1 John 3:21-22). This is a sign of good and God-pleasing prayer: a heart that is not shameful, a clear conscience that does not consume within and does not denounce before God, does not disgrace prayer and keeps the commandments of God. Boldness towards God operates in us when we keep His commandments; and at that time we accept from Him what we ask. In order for us to worthily pray to our Lord, we must first of all cleanse our conscience with true repentance and adhere to the preservation of the commandments of the Lord, otherwise it is impossible to beg Him for anything. For what reason does God sometimes not heed the prayers of sinners? Because they do not listen to His commands. The Pritochnik clearly speaks about this: “He who turns away his ear not to listen to the law (of the Lord), has detested his prayer” (Proverbs 28:9). The prayer of a sinner who does not repent and does not obey the laws of God is vile before God. And how can such a sinner beg God, Who constantly grieves day and night? Let us listen to what the Lord God, through the mouth of His prophets, speaks to unrepentant sinners: “For I have filled the land with iniquity and turned to anger Me, ... and I will deal with them with wrath, and My eye will not spare them, neither will I have mercy; and they will cry in My ears with a great voice, and I will not hear them” (Ezek. 8:17-18). Here we see what exactly makes our prayer before God ignoble and vile and incites Him more to anger than to mercy: this is our evil conscience, our sins, from which we do not want to give up and repent. Just as an ulcer on the body that has iron embedded in it cannot be healed in any way; If first of all the iron is not removed from it, it is just as impossible to beg God for the forgiveness of sins if first of all we do not expel our sins from our souls and do not hate them. All this about prayer was said briefly, but for the rest, let everyone ask for the gift of prayer from God Himself, Who Himself teaches prayer to the one praying: “For we must not pray as we ought, unless He guides us with His Holy Spirit” (Rom. 8:26). It is also good to listen to the advice of David, who says: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart” (Ps. 36:4). How to “enjoy the Lord”, let anyone who wishes to ask about this from Divine love, and she will teach; those who have comprehended what warm love is, addressed to God, and what its teaching is, know this. Cainan, the son of Enosh, lived 170 years and begat Maleleel. 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