What, children, did we express to God in our morning prayer, what did we ask Him for? We told God that we were trying to do His works, that is, to live as our Savior Jesus Christ taught us to live; They asked Him to help us when we are alone, in our own strength, without His help we cannot do good. So we lived through the day: we changed our minds about a lot, talked a lot and did a lot of different things during the day. When should we think about whether we had a good day? Of course, at the end of it. And for all the good things we have done during the day, we must thank God, because we did it with His Divine help; in bad thoughts, words and deeds, we need to ask God for forgiveness, so that He does not become angry and punish us for our sins. Each of us must certainly do all this before nightfall. The night is appointed by God for man to calm down and restore strength after daytime fatigue. When we spend the night peacefully, we get up the next morning with renewed strength and eagerly take on the day's activities.
But at the same time, the night hours are dangerous for us, because both visible and invisible enemies, taking advantage of our fatigue, can easily attack us at night and cause us various insults. So we need to make sure that the night time passes calmly and safely for us and that the next day we get down to business with renewed vigor. But when can we be calm? Then, when no one was angered by anything and did not do what we are forbidden to do. It feels bad and restless in our souls when we do something to anger our comrades, teachers or parents. What could it be like when we angered our Heavenly Father - God, did not try to do what was pleasing to Him, what we promised to do, for which we asked for His Divine help. No, children, then you can no longer be calm, because you will involuntarily think that God will not punish us, will not give us into the hands of our night enemies... But how much we, children, sin during the day, how much we change our minds, say, do bad things that are displeasing to the Lord God.
All that remains for us is to ask God in heartfelt prayer, so that He, in His mercy, forgives us our sins and in the coming night preserves us from all evil.
And so, children, with what prayer the Holy Church commanded us to always turn to God before preparing for bed. Cross yourself and say this prayer with me in conversational speech.
Lord our God, everything in which I have sinned today in word, deed and thought, You, as the Good One and Lover of Mankind, forgive me. Give me a peaceful and calm sleep, send me Your Guardian Angel, who with His power would cover and protect me from all evil, since You are the Guardian of our souls and bodies, and we bring glory to You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now, and always, and forever. Truly so.
In this prayer, called evening prayer, each of us first asks God for forgiveness for what we have done sinfully during the day, and not only for what we have done bad, but also for what we have said and thought about evil. He asks for forgiveness from God, because He is kind and loves all people and willingly forgives them all their sins when they ask Him about it in heartfelt prayer. In evening prayer, each of us expresses all this to God like this: Lord our God... forgive me. And as if having received forgiveness of sins from the All-Good God, each of us asks Him for a peaceful and restful sleep and a Guardian Angel, who with His power would cover and protect us from everything that could make the coming night scary and sleep disturbing. Indeed, a person who is tired from the day's work gains strength only after a sound and restful sleep. But if a person has an anxious dream, if he dreams of various fears, then in the morning he cannot feel good and at ease. It’s scary when some misfortune happens to a person at night, a fire, or robbers attack, because evil people most often attack sleepy people.
And it can be especially scary and painful when the devil attacks in a dream, who can easily overcome an unrepentant sinful soul. To protect us from all these troubles that can easily happen to each of us at night, God allowed us to ask Him for a Guardian Angel, who, with his invisible but strong power, would cover and protect us from all evil caused by the devil and evil people. This is what we express to God in evening prayer with the following words: Give me peaceful sleep... from all evil.
At the end of the evening prayer, we express to God our firm hope that we will receive everything we ask of Him, we say that God is the strong Guardian of the soul and body of every person, and with such firm faith we say that we immediately glorify God, as those who have already received help from Him: You are the Guardian... Truly so. In the church way, evening prayer is read differently than in colloquial speech.
Lord... the thought in the church way says: Lord our God, who have sinned in these days, in word, deed and thought. You, as the Good One and the Lover of Mankind, forgive me in the church way: as the Good One and the Lover of Mankind, forgive me. Send me... from all evil in the church way: send Your Guardian Angel, covering and keeping me from all evil. Since You are the Guardian... Truly so in the church way: for You are the Guardian of our souls and bodies, and we send glory to You, to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Do we children need to think about how we spent our day - good or bad? When should we think about this? Why did God establish night time? Isn't this a dangerous time for us? Why is it dangerous? What should we do before going to bed? —What do we ask God for in evening prayer? Why do we need forgiveness from God? Why do we ask God for restful sleep? What can happen to us at night? Why do we ask for a Guardian Angel? How do we express to God the hope that we will receive what we ask of Him? Why do we glorify Him? How is evening prayer read in the church way? What words are said in church the same way as in colloquial speech? Which ones only have a different ending? How to say in church about what? How - sin? Repeat the first part of the prayer, etc.