I thank You, Lord my God, for giving me existence, for giving me birth in the Christian faith, for the Most Pure Virgin Mary, Intercessor for the salvation of our race, for the holy Saints Yours, praying for us, for the Guardian Angel, for public worship that supports faith and virtue in us, for the Holy Scriptures, for the Holy Sacraments, and especially for Your Body and Blood, for Mysterious grace-filled consolations, for the hope of receiving the Kingdom of Heaven and for all the blessings You have given me.
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The Lord is my being, the Lord is deliverance from eternal death, the Lord is my eternal belly, the Lord is cleansing and deliverance from many sins and my sanctification, the Lord is strength in my weakness, space in my crampedness, hope in my cowardice and despondency. The Lord is a life-giving fire in my coldness, the Lord is light in my darkness, peace in my confusion, the Lord is an intercessor in my temptations. He is my thinking, my desire, my activity, He is the light of soul and body, food, drink, my clothing, my shield, my weapon. Everything is Lord for me. My soul, love and thank the Lord unceasingly!
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Oh, Lady! Let it not be in vain and in vain that we call You the Lady: reveal and continually manifest over us Your holy, living, effective dominion. Reveal, for you can do all things for good, as the all-good Mother of the all-good King; Dispel the darkness of our hearts, repel the arrows of evil spirits that flatter us. The peace of Thy Son, let Thy peace reign in our hearts, and let us all ever exclaim joyfully: who is after the Lord, as is our Lady, all-good, all-powerful and swift Our intercessor? For this reason You are exalted, Lady, for this reason an unspeakable abundance of divine grace was given to You, for this reason ineffable boldness and strength at the throne of God and the gift of almighty prayer were given to You, for then You are adorned with indescribable holiness and purity; therefore, unrivaled power has been given to You by the Lord, so that You may preserve, protect, intercede, cleanse and save us, the inheritance of the Son Yours and God's and Yours. Save us, O Most Pure, All-Good, All-Wise and All-Powerful!
For you are the Mother of our Savior, Who of all names was most pleased to be called Savior. It is common for us, who wander in this life, to fall, for we are covered with many-passionate flesh, surrounded by spirits of wickedness in high places, enticing us to sin, we live in an adulterous world and a sinner who tempts us to sin; and You are above all sin, You are the bright Sun, You are the Most Pure, All-Good and All-Powerful, You tend to cleanse us, defiled by sins, like a mother cleanses her children our own, when we humbly call on You for help, It is Your nature to raise us, who are constantly falling, to intercede, protect and save us, haunted by the spirits of malice, and to instruct to lead us to every path of salvation.
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God! Your name is Love: do not reject me, an erring person.
Your name is Strength: strengthen me, who is exhausted and falling.
Your name is Light: enlighten my soul, darkened by worldly passions.
Your name is Peace: pacify my restless soul.
And Your Name is Mercy: do not cease to have mercy on me.
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God! Creator and Lord of the world! look mercifully upon Your creation, adorned with Your divine image in these morning hours: may Your Eye live and enlighten, the brightest rays are thus cut off by darkness sunny, my soul is dark and mortified by sin. Take away from me despondency and laziness, grant me joy and spiritual vigor, so that in the joy of my heart I glorify Your goodness, holiness, Your boundless greatness, endless Your perfections are for every hour and in every place. For You are my Creator and the Lord of my life, Lord, and You are due glory from Your rational creatures at every hour, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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Lord, look mercifully on Your servant (name), seduced by the flattery of the womb and carnal joy: grant him (name) to know the sweetness of abstinence in fasting and the consequences that flow from it fruits of the spirit. Amen.
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Glory to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son of the beginningless Father, who alone heals every ailment and every disease among people, for you have had mercy on me, sinner, and you delivered me from my illness, not allowing it to develop and kill me through my sin. Grant me from now on, Master, the strength to firmly do Your will for the salvation of my damned soul and for Your glory with Your beginningless Father and Your consubstantial Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
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Blessed be your faith, according to your faith may the Lord grant the fulfillment of my unworthy, unfaithful prayer and may He add faith to me.
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Lord, teach your servant, who has fallen into the pride of the devil, meekness and humility, and remove from his heart the darkness and burden of satanic pride!
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Lord, do good to Thy servant through Thy grace!
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Our treasure is imperishable and our wealth is inexhaustible! Grant to this Thy servant, created in Thy image and likeness, to know the flattery of wealth, and like all earthly things - vanity, shadow and sleep. Like the grass are the days of every man, or like the abyss, and like You, you alone are our wealth, peace and joy! Don’t be embittered by anything, conquer everything with love: all sorts of grievances, whims, all kinds of family troubles. Know nothing but love. Always blame yourself sincerely, admitting that you are the culprit of the troubles. Say: I am guilty, I am a sinner. Remember that just as you are weak, so is your neighbor, and weakness for weakness is destroyed, and there is nothing to blame for the weak and sinners, even if they admit their weakness. The devil, strong in evil, must be blamed.
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Lord, enlighten the mind and heart of Thy servant to the knowledge of Thy great, countless and unsearchable gifts, which they will receive from Thy innumerable bounties, in the blindness of passion. Forgetting Your rich gifts, and being impoverished, He is rich in Your blessings, and for this reason He looks with delight at the goodness of Your servants, oh O most unspeakable Grace, give mercy to everyone who is contrary to his power and according to the intention of Your will. Take away, O all-merciful Master, the veil of the devil from the sight of the heart of Your servant and give him heartfelt contrition and a tear of repentance and gratitude, so that the enemy does not rejoice over him, caught alive from him according to his will, and let him not be plucked out of Thy hand.
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Lady Theotokos! You, whose love for Christians surpasses the love of every earthly mother, every woman, listen to us in our prayers and save us! May we remember You constantly! May we always pray to You fervently! May we always run under Your holy roof without laziness and without doubt.
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Grant me, Lord, to love every neighbor of mine as myself, always, and not to become embittered towards him for any reason and not to work for the devil.
May the world crucify my self-love, pride, covetousness, lack of faith and other passions.
Let our name be: mutual love; Let us believe and trust that everything is the Lord for all of us; let us not worry, let us not worry about anything; may You, our God, be the only God of our hearts, and besides You, there is nothing.
Let us be among ourselves in the unity of love, as it should be, and let everything that separates us from each other and separates us from love be in contempt for us, like dust trampled underfoot. Wake up! Wake up! Amen.
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Lord, it is possible for You to do (this) and (that) to Your servant (name); Do this to him, for Your name is the good Lover of Mankind and the Almighty. If we, the wicked being, know how to give good things, not only to our children, but also to strangers, since You have given all kinds of blessings to those who ask You. Good Lover of Humanity! Who created creation with one word and created man from it, visit Your fallen servant with Your ineffable love for mankind, so that the work of your hand may not be completely destroyed. Yours. Amen.
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46. All my troubles occur in my invisible thoughts and in my invisible heart, therefore I need an invisible Savior who guides our hearts. O my strength, Jesus, Son of God! Oh the light of my mind! peace, joy, breadth of my heart - glory to You! Glory to Thee, the Deliverer from my invisible enemies, who attack my mind and heart and kill me at the very source of my life, in my most sensitive place.
52. With the mental eyes of my heart I see how I mentally breathe Christ into my heart, how He enters it and suddenly gives it rest and delight. Oh, may I not remain alone, without You, the Giver of Life, my breath, my joy! I feel bad without You.
62. I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). So, Master, You are with us - all the days, not a single day, we live without You, without Your co-presence. You are with us especially in the sacrament of Your Body and Blood. Oh, how truly and essentially you are in the Mysteries! You clothe yourself, Master, at every liturgy with a body subservient to us, except for sin, and feed us with Your life-giving flesh. Through the Mysteries You are completely with us, and Your flesh is united with our flesh and Your spirit is united with our soul - and we feel, feel this life-giving, premium, sweet union, we feel that, clinging to You in the Eucharist, we become one spirit with You, as it is said: be joined to the Lord, there is one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). We become like You, good, meek and humble, as You said about Yourself: I am meek and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:29). True, often the evil and blind flesh or the prince of this age living in our sinful flesh whispers to us that in the Mysteries there is only bread and wine, and not the very Body and Blood of the Lord, and sends sight, taste and touch as evil witnesses for this.
But we do not allow ourselves to listen to his slander and reason like this: for You, Lord, everything is possible; You create flesh for people, animals, fish, birds, reptiles - all creation; Do You not create flesh for Yourself, Who art everywhere and fulfill everything? What sculptor, making sculptures for others, is not able to make one for himself? Moreover, You transform dead matter into a living being, for example, the staff of Moses into a serpent, and nothing is impossible for You. Will You not create flesh for Yourself from bread and wine, which are so close to our flesh, being consumed as food and drink and transformed into our flesh and blood? You do not allow our faith to be tempted more than it can bear (1 Cor. 10:1), You do not transform the lump of the earth into Your most pure Body and Blood, but white, soft, clean, pleasant-tasting bread; You do not create water with Your blood, but wine suitable to the color of blood (which is called grape blood in St.
Scripture (Sir.50:17)), pleasing to the taste and gladdening the human heart; You know our weakness, the weakness of our faith, and therefore you deigned to use the most suitable substances for the sacrament of Your Body and Blood. Let us firmly believe that under the guise of bread and wine we partake of the true Body and true Blood of Christ, that in the sacrament of communion the Lord will be with us all the days until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
66. When you see the painful destruction of the body, do not murmur against the Lord, but say: The Lord is given, the Lord is taken away... blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). You are accustomed to looking at your body as an inalienable property, but this is extremely unfair, because your body is God’s building.
67. ...Lord Jesus! May your priests be clothed with righteousness (Ps. 132:9), may they always remember the height of their calling, and may they not become entangled in the snares of the world and the devil, may they flee from their hearts the sorrows of this age, and the flattery of wealth, and other lusts that enter into their hearts (Mark 4:19).
71. Morning prayer. God! Creator and Lord of the world! look mercifully upon Thy creation, adorned with Thy divine image in these morning hours: may Thy Eye live, may Thy Eye enlighten, in darkness so much brighter than the rays of the sun, my dark soul, mortified by sin. Take away from me despondency and laziness, grant me joy and spiritual vigor, so that in the joy of my heart I glorify Your goodness, holiness, Your boundless greatness, Your endless perfections at every hour and in every place. For You are my Creator and the Lord of my life, Lord, and You are due glory from Your rational creatures for every hour, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
80. ...O omnipotent and all-righteous power of our God, ruling invisibly over our invisible souls, all glory to You! Glory to You, God, our Savior! May Your will be done upon us!
81. ...Oh, save, save, save me, most gracious Lord, accept me into Thy Kingdom of Heaven! Everything is possible for You. Whether we stand for our Lord or fall, let us stand: for God is able to raise us up (cf. Rom. 14:4).
93. ...Glory to the One, glory to the One who loves everyone and generously gives his spiritual and physical gifts to everyone! Glory to Him who does not see faces and reveals the secrets of His love, omnipotence, and wisdom to infants (Luke 10:21).
105. ...Oh, how great you are, Lord! and how wonderful are Your works! How infinite is Your omnipotence! Whatever is touched by Your power and Your grace becomes life-giving.
110. There are in the life of pious Christians hours of abandonment by God - hours of darkness of the devil, and then a person from the depths of his heart cries out to God: why have You cast me away from Your presence, O Light that never goes away? For now the alien darkness of the accursed, evil Satan has covered me, my entire soul; it is hard for the soul to be in its painful darkness, which gives one a premonition of the torments of a gloomy hell; turn me, Savior, to the light of Your commandments and correct my spiritual path, I fervently pray to You.
155. ...Glory to You, Jesus, Son of God! You are cleansing for our sins, not for ours specifically, but for the whole world! (1 John 2:2)
156. ...Glory to the One, eternally unchanging God - the omnipotent Creator!
162. When you receive healing from any illness, give thanks to the Lord with the following short doxology: Glory to You, Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the beginningless Father, who alone heals every illness and every disease among people (cf. Matt. 4:23), for you have had mercy on me, a sinner, and delivered me from my illness, without allowing it to develop and kill me according to my sins. Grant me from now on, Master, the strength to firmly do Your will for the salvation of my damned soul and for Your glory with Your beginningless Father and Your consubstantial Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
167. Glory to Thee Savior, Almighty Power! Glory to Thee Savior, Omnipresent Power! Glory to Thee, most merciful Womb! Glory to Thee, ever-opening Hearing to hear the prayer of the accursed me, to have mercy on me and save me from my sins! Glory to Thee, brightest Eyes, looking at me kindly and despising all my secrets! Glory to Thee, glory to Thee, glory to Thee, Sweetest Jesus, my Savior!
169. ...Glory to You, immaterial, uncreated Light, enlightening every person coming into the world! (John 1:9)
171. When you see shortcomings and passions in your neighbor, pray for him; pray for everyone, even your enemy. If you see a proud and obstinate brother speaking proudly to you or to others, pray for him, so that God will enlighten his mind and warm his heart with the fire of His grace, say: Lord, teach Your servant, who has fallen into the pride of the devil, meekness and humility and remove from his heart the darkness and burden of satanic pride! - If you see an evil one, pray: Lord, do good to this servant of Yours by Your grace! - If he is money-loving and greedy, say: Our treasure is incorruptible and our wealth is inexhaustible! Grant to this Thy servant, created in Thy image and likeness, to know the flattery of wealth, and how all earthly things are vanity, shadow and sleep. The days of every man are like grass, or like a web, and like You alone are our wealth, peace and joy!
- When you see an envious person, pray: Lord, enlighten the mind and heart of this Thy servant to the knowledge of Thy great, countless and unsearchable gifts, which they have received from Thy innumerable bounties, for in the blindness of their passion they have forgotten Thy rich gifts, and are impoverished to be imputed to themselves, rich in Thy blessings, and for this reason deceiving the good. Thy servants, in the image, oh, most unspeakable Goodness, thou hast inflicted mercy on everyone, in every way against his power and according to the intention of Thy will. Take away, O all-merciful Master, the veil of the devil from the sight of the heart of Thy servant and grant him heartfelt contrition and tears of repentance and gratitude, so that the enemy does not rejoice over him, captured alive from him into his will, and may he not tear him away from Thy hand. When you see a drunken person, say with your heart: Lord, look mercifully on Your servant, seduced by the flattery of the belly and carnal joy, grant him to know the sweetness of abstinence and fasting and the fruits of the spirit that flow from it.
- When you see someone who is passionate about food and places his bliss in them, say: Lord, our sweetest food, which never perishes, but abides in the eternal belly! cleanse this Thy servant from the filth of gluttony, all flesh created and alien to Thy Spirit, and grant him to know the sweetness of Thy life-giving spiritual meat, which is Thy Flesh and Blood and Thy holy, living and effective word. - In this way, or in a similar way, pray for all those who sin and do not dare to despise anyone for his sin or take revenge on him, for this would only increase the ulcers of those who sin - correct with advice, threats and punishments that would serve as a means to stop or keep evil within the boundaries of moderation.
241. ...Glory to Thy omnipotence and goodness, Lord!
296. The new man (renewed) finds pleasure in obedience, but the old man wants to resist and disobey. So, Lord, Thy will be done! I accept as an expression of Your will everything that the authorities placed over me require of me, everything that others do to me (patience), everything that happens to me, for nothing happens without You. You are in everything, through everyone and everything.
314. ...Christ the King! Grant me apostolic zeal and the fire of the Holy Spirit in my heart, so that I may always boldly rebel against the impudent vice that has especially infected many, and may I not spare anyone for the sake of their salvation and the rest of Your people, so that they are not tempted, seeing the spread of vice, and do not fall themselves. If he seduces one from these little ones who believe in Me, let him not eat, and let the millstone of the village fall upon his neck, and drown in the abyss of the sea. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost (Matt. 18:6, 11).
318. My God! What terrible Mysteries You perform! What unspoken Mysteries You have made me a spectator and participant. Glory to Thee, my Creator! Glory to Thee, Creator of the Body and Blood of Christ!
335. ...Lord! Send zealous workers to Thy garden, not seeking their own (1 Cor. 13:5), but seeking Thy Christ. Grant them prophetic zeal, apostolic strength and wisdom, so that they tirelessly cultivate the fields of human hearts day and night.
338. ...Our Father, Who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name - in us all! May Your Kingdom come as in the beginning before the Fall; may Your good and perfect will be done, as in heaven - forever, so on earth, and may self-will not reign! Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, and so on.
339. ...Glory to Your goodness! Glory to Your bounties! Glory to Your wisdom! Glory to Your power!
424. Diligent, tearful prayer not only cleanses sins, but also heals bodily infirmities and illnesses and renews a person’s entire being and, so to speak, regenerates (I speak from experience). – Oh, what an invaluable gift – prayer! Glory to Thee, Father of bounties and God of all joy! Glory to You, Son of God, only begotten, who interceded for us endless forgiveness of our sins! Glory to Thee, All-Holy Soul, interceding for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26), giving fiery prayer with sighs and tears, warming a cold soul, giving tenderness and sorrow for sins, cleansing, sanctifying, pacifying, strengthening and renewing us! Glory to Thee, Holy Trinity, Beginningless, Life-Giving, forever blessed from all intelligent creatures!
430. Lord! how I will praise You, how I will glorify You for Your powers, for the miracles of healing from Your Holy Mysteries, revealed to me and to many of Your people, to whom I, unworthy, taught after the sacrament of repentance these holy, heavenly, life-giving Mysteries of Yours! Here they confess before me Your power, Your goodness, they say publicly that You stretched out Your miraculous hand on them and raised them from their sick bed, from their death bed, when no one expected that they would live - and after communion of Your Body and Blood, O Life-Giver, they soon came to life, were healed, and at the same hour and day they felt the life-giving Hand on them Yours. But I, Lord, an eyewitness of Your works, have not yet glorified You publicly, to confirm the faith of Your people, and I do not know how and when to glorify You, for every day I am busy with some kind of deeds. You yourself create a name for yourself, Lord, just as you created it; You yourself glorify Your name, Your Mysteries.
437. Your name is Almighty, Lord, as you hold not just heaven and earth, but the entire human race, the life of every person, the hearts of everyone in Your hand, and not only every person, but also every animal, every bird, fish, insect, worm, reptile and ciliate invisible to the eye. Glory to Your infinite sovereignty, Lord! Glory to Your all-good, wise and all-powerful providence, Lord of heaven and earth! Almighty Master! You hold all hell with Satan and his countless hordes in Your hand, and only by Your permission, for our admonition and punishment, Satan and his angels plot intrigues over us. Let us pray to You, our Savior, we will unfeignedly repent before You of our sins - and You, having brought us to understanding, will take away our enemies from us, saying: It is sufficient for you to act evilly against My servants, they again belong to Me. So, Lord, when Your incessant blessings and mercies toward us do not enlighten us, what remains to be done?
It remains with punishments, bitterness, cramped conditions, fire, and our own malice to admonish us - we, the voluptuous, who love space, carnal coolness, vainness, the lazy, the careless, the evil.
444. If it were not for Your salvation, Lord, if it were not for Your goodness, then we would have burned in our own cave of passions, Satan would have completely corrupted us, tormented us - and we would not have seen any joy in life. If the Lord were not in us, no one would be able to overcome us with the enemy’s battle: those who overcome are lifted up from here (Ant., ch. 6). But now Thy mercy, Thy grace, which Thou hast acquired for us through Thy suffering, Thy blood, and Thy death for us, comforts us. Glory to Thee for this, O Lover of Mankind! But what will happen to those Christians who do not want to know You, Your commandments, Your teaching? Woe to them.
445. What if You, Lord my God, Jesus Christ, would shine the light of Your Divinity from Your Most Pure Mysteries when they rest on the Holy. the throne - on the paten during the Liturgy, or in the tabernacle, or monstrance, when Your priest carries them on his chest, going to or from the sick! from this light, everyone who met them or looked at them from their homes would have fallen to the ground in fear, for the Angels are also covered from the fear of Your unapproachable glory!
447. Please God in everything and at all times and think about saving your soul from sins and the devil and assimilating it to God. Get out of bed, cross yourself and say: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” and also: Lord, grant us this day to be preserved without sin and teach me to do Your will (from the Great Doxology); When you wash at home or in a bathhouse, say: Sprinkle me with hyssop, O Lord, and when you have washed me I will be clean, and I will be whiter than snow (Ps. 50:9); when you put on underwear, think about the purity of your heart and ask the Lord for a pure heart: create in me a clean heart, O God (Ps. 50:12); sew a new one and put it on, think about the renewal of the spirit and say: the spirit is right, Lord, renew it in my womb (ibid.); ... whenever you go anywhere, think about the rightness of your spiritual walk before the face of God and say: direct my steps according to Your word, and let not all iniquity possess me (Ps. 119:133) ...
448. Lord! What will I bring to You, how will I thank You for Your constant greatest mercies to me and to the rest of Your people? For every moment I am enlivened by Your Holy Spirit, every moment I breathe the air You have diffused, light, pleasant, healthy, strengthening, I am enlightened by Your joyful and life-giving light - spiritual and material; I feed on sweet and life-giving spiritual food and the same drink, the Holy Mysteries of Thy Body and Blood and material food and drink of sweetness; You clothe me with a bright, beautiful royal robe - with Yourself, according to the Scripture: if you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ (Gal.
3:27) and material clothes - you cleanse my sins, heal and cleanse my many and fierce sinful passions; You take away my spiritual corruption in the power of Your immeasurable goodness, wisdom and strength, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit - the Spirit of holiness, grace; give my soul truth, peace and joy, space, strength, boldness, courage, strength, and endow my body with precious health, teach my hand to fight and my fingers to fight (Ps. 143:1) with the invisible enemies of my salvation and bliss, with the enemies of the holiness and power of Your glory, with the spirits of wickedness in the heavens; You crown with success my deeds done in Your name... - For all this I thank, glorify and bless Your all-good, fatherly, all-powerful power, O God the Savior, our Benefactor. But be known by Your other people as You appeared to me, O Lover of Mankind, so that they may know You, the Father of all, Your goodness, Your providence, Your wisdom and power, and glorify You with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
455. ...Glory to him who gives me strength! Glory to him who works by me and in me!
476. ...Oh, you, who by your glorious birth united God as a man and united the denied nature of our heavenly race (from the prayer of the Most Holy Bogor. for eternity), glory to you, worthy of glorification from all intelligent creation, for you found such purity and grace from God that you were able, by the grace of God the Father, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to incarnate the Son God's! But, O Lady, vouchsafe us also to achieve purity of spirit and body through communion of the Divine Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Your Son!
478. ... Grant, then, Lord, to completely avoid sin, and to become accustomed to every virtue, by Thy grace. To her, Master, Lord, without You we cannot do any good, nothing evil (Matthew 12:34).
495. Holy Soul, we are all Christians - Your breath. Your birth after baptism, and after the first creative breath in the person of the first man, we all, all the tribes of the earth - Your breath, Your birth! Have mercy and create us all. Holy soul! With Your breath, drive away the stench of our sins and passions, eradicate the stench of all sinful inclinations!
500. ...Oh, all-wise and all-powerful Artist! life-giving Artist! How wonderful, comfortable, and lively everything is with you! With You even the dust is revived, with You even the dust moves!
507. ...Oh! Glory, glory to Your victory, Lord! Thus may I conquer in the power of Your fortress enemies invisible and visible, all the days of my life, until my last breath. Amen. O simplicity of faith! don't leave me.
520. ...When praying, say: Lord! It is possible for You to do this and that to Your servant; do this to him, for Your name is the good Lover of Mankind and the Almighty. If we, being evil, know how to give good deeds not only to our children, but also to strangers, how much more do You give all kinds of good things to those who ask You (Matthew 7:11).
522. ...everything is possible for You, Master, but nothing is impossible for You. Amen.
523. Oh, You, Almighty Master, Whose mania alone everything obeys, the whole world, visible and invisible, grant me to glorify You unceasingly with the simplicity of my faith in Your infinite power. Grant me unashamed faith, firm hope, unfeigned love for You and for my neighbor!
530. Lord, You Yourself have spoken with Your most pure lips: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). I want to be perfect. Be thou therefore all perfection unto me, for thou art the saying: without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).
533. ...Heavenly Father! You, the leader of what we demand, and the giver of our petitions (cf. Matt. 6:8), have mercy on us, unfaithful, ungrateful and evil-willed! We hear Your merciful word, Master: I will not leave the imam from you, I will not leave the imam to you (Heb. 13:5), but, being seduced daily by earthly blessings, we disobey it and violate Your will.
538. ...If one royal word is the cause of great deeds in his kingdom: he will say, and the deed will begin and be accomplished; will not the word of the King of every creature, material and spiritual, visible and invisible, the Almighty and Wise King, accomplish everything that He pleases? He speaks, and will he not do it? He speaks, and will he not abide? O almighty Power, capable of accomplishing everything in one instant, do not forsake us for our sins, especially for our lack of faith and despair, to torment us with our own weaknesses, so that we may not be crushed like meager vessels. Grant us to believe with all our hearts in Your almighty power! Let us not doubt the fulfillment of every good request of ours.
545. ...Speak in your heart with all your heart: the Lord is everything to me, I am nothing, I am powerlessness, weakness. Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5),
551. ...O meek and humble-hearted Creator, Life-Giver, Redeemer, Nourisher and Guardian of ours, Lord Jesus! Teach us love, meekness and humility by Your Holy Spirit and strengthen us in these virtues most dear to You, so that Your rich gifts do not puff up our hearts, so that we do not imagine that we feed, satisfy and support anyone; You, the Common Breadwinner of all, nourish, satisfy and preserve; everyone is content and at peace under the wings of Your goodness, generosity and love for mankind, and not under ours, for we ourselves need to take refuge in the shadow of Your wings every moment of our lives. Our eyes are fixed on You, our God, like the eyes of a servant in the hand of the Lord, like the eyes of a slave in the hand of her mistress, until You have graciously given us (Ps. 122:2, 3). Amen.
577. ...Lord! I said: Heal Your servant from his illness. He is worthy, this is to him, he loves Your priests and sends his gifts to them. – I also prayed in church at the throne of the Lord during the liturgy, during prayer: “who has given us prayers that are common and concordant…” and before the Mysteries themselves. By the way, I prayed like this: Lord! Our belly! Just as it is easy for me to think about healing, so it is easy for you to heal every disease; Just as it is easy for me to think about the resurrection from the dead, so it is easy for You to raise every dead person. Heal Thy servant Vasily from his cruel illness and do not allow him to die, so that his wife and children do not give in to weeping - and the benevolent Master has mercy. And then he was on the verge of death. Glory to Thy omnipotence, goodness and good obedience, Lord!
580. How many times, O Master Lord Jesus, have You renewed my nature, frivolously corrupted by my sins! There is no limit to this! How many times have You taken me out of the cave that was burning inside me, from the cave of many different passions, from the abyss of despondency and despair! How many times by Your name alone, called upon by me with faith, have You renewed the corruption of my heart! How many times have I done this through the life-giving Mysteries? Oh, Master! Your mercies towards me, a sinner, truly have no number or measure. What will I bring to You, or what will I repay You for Your immeasurable benefits to me, Jesus, my life and my lightness! May I be prudent in my ways according to Your grace, for You are pleased with all those who are prudent on the way, as You, through Your Spirit, through the mouth of our father, David, declared (cf. Ps. 119:1; 17:21, etc.); I will try to be faithful to You, humble, meek, not irritable, kind, long-suffering, hardworking, merciful, generous, non-covetous, obedient.
604. ...Oh, Christ God, our Life and Resurrection! How fussy we have become, how blind we have become! What would happen to us if we were looking for You, if we had You in our hearts? The tongue cannot express the bliss that those who have You in their hearts taste. You are for them strong food, and inexhaustible drink, and bright clothing, and the sun, and peace, which surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7), and joy unspeakable, and everything, and everything. With You all earthly dust and decay.
610. Glory to Thee, Life-Father, Life-Son, Life-Soul, Holy One - Simple Being - God, who always delivers us from spiritual death caused by passions to our souls; Glory to Thee, Trinitarian Master, for from one invocation of Thy name you enlighten the dark face of our soul and body and bestow Your peace, which surpasses all earthly and sensual good and all understanding.
617. The human soul is a free force, for it can become either a good or an evil force, depending on the direction you yourself give it. Lord, Almighty Power! strengthen my weak soul in all virtue! Strengthen my heart, weak for all good, on the immovable stone of Your commandments! God! and I experience daily that without You I am nothing, that without You I cannot do any good; Without You there is only evil in me in its various forms; Without You I am a perishing son. Oh, indescribable Grace! Fill my heart with Your goodness! Most of all, I pray: grant me to love You with all my heart and my neighbor as I love myself. May I not be angry, proud, contemptuous, or disobedient, but may I be gentle, humble, respectful with tenderness, and obedient. Amen.
625. ...I glorify Your all-good, holy, omnipotent, all-wise power, Lord! Reveal upon me, O Lord, Thy wondrous power and, in the image of destinies, save me, Thy unworthy servant, despising my voluntary and involuntary sins, known and unknown sins, always instructing me on Thy path and strengthening me on this path with Thy grace, and through me - and others for whom You have made me a lamp, a shepherd, a teacher and clergyman.
626. When you eat immortal food and drink - the Body and Blood of the Lord, lift up your grateful heart to the Lord and say: I thank You, Lord, the Bread of life and the Source of immortality. You have given us Your Body and Blood for food and drink, and, being cleansed and sanctified here, we will enter Your eternal kingdom - to enjoy Your sight and Your blessed life forever. Lord, do not allow me to worry only about bodily bread and drink; do not allow me to become addicted to them, but let me cleave to You alone. When you taste perishable sweets, thank the Lord, saying: I thank You, eternal sweetness, incomparable, innumerably surpassing all earthly, carnal and rough sweets, incorruptible sweetness, life-giving, holy, quiet, light, premium, most joyful, not exhausting; I thank Thee, for Thou hast given me these perishable sweets to taste pleasure, and, although in part, I know how sweet You are, that You are all sweetness, all desire.
Shining with the material light, say: glory to Thee, the everlasting Light, sweet and all-joyful, as with this corruptible, but beautiful light - the image of Thy unapproachable divine light, we are illuminated, and from this material light we continually flow in thought to You, the eternal, everlasting Light, and let us strive through the purity of life to achieve Thy all-blessed contemplation.
Breathing air through your lungs - this life-giving and cooling element, which is incessantly necessary for us to maintain perishable life, again ascend in thought to the Life-Giving Lord, the Holy Spirit, with the Father and the Son, by Whom we live, move and exist, thanking Him for the incessant breathing, and know that just as a body without air, so a soul without the Holy Spirit cannot live a true life for even a minute, and pure, abstinent Through your life, try to constantly be in communion with God: for without Him the soul dies; so from every creature ascend unceasingly to the Creator, thank Him for everything and do not cleave to any creature, do not serve any creature more than the Creator: for the service or slavery of a creature, addiction to earthly things is idolatry.
631. Glory to the power of Your grace, Lord, nothing, no violence of sin, can withstand it among those who call on it with faith. So, raped by the enemy of all good - the devil and carried away by passions, I depicted the sign of the cross on myself and said internally: nothing can resist the power of Your grace - and the violence stopped, confusion and oppression passed away, silence and calm took their place. Glory to Your power, Lord!
633. Grant me, Lord, the grace to deny myself - this devil, which I became by succession from Adam. New Adam, Lord Jesus, transform me, make me a new man, clothe me in Thee.
637. Lord! may my heart cleave to You alone and not cleave to anything earthly: for in cleaving to the earthly there is sorrow, oppression, torment; Let nothing earthly be dear to the heart, but let me value the one Lord above all else, everything heavenly, and the immortal, rational, verbal, free soul created in His image, the breath of the mouth of God. Let there be no earthly idols for the heart: money, food, clothes, ranks and insignia, etc. You need to eat the simplest, most unpalatable food so as not to attract the heart, eat a little - only for reinforcement.
641. ...Make us wise and establish us, O God, to live according to Your will! For You are our Father, and we are Your children in Christ Jesus our Lord.
643. Lord! May Your gifts, spiritual and material, not be idle in us and with us, give them saving and useful movement. Do this in everyone. May your talents be multiplied, Lord, by the own activities of each of us.
658. Lord, do not allow me for a moment to do the will of Your enemy and mine - the devil, but that I unceasingly do the will of Your only God and King; You are the only one, my true King, by Whom kings reign, grant me to obey You, to revere You always sincerely and firmly. Come, let us worship our King God, let us work for Him with fear and rejoice in Him with trembling (cf. Ps. 94:6; 2:11).
686. Lord! let me see my sins, so that I do not despise sinners like me, and do not harbor evil in my heart for them for their sins, and I would despise myself according to my dignity, as the first sinner; I would always harbor irreconcilable anger towards myself - towards my carnal man. Unless someone hates... his own life, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26), says the Lord.
708. When communing the Holy Mysteries, O priest, say in your heart: come to me, O Life-Giver, to snatch me from the jaws of the hellish serpent, to cleanse me from the filth of passions, to pacify my restless heart, to revive my mortified soul, to cheer my sorrowful and despondent spirit; You are coming to feed me, languishing in the hunger of sin, to clothe me, naked of all virtue, to strengthen the weak me, to honor the dishonest me, to exalt the base me, to ennoble me the despised, to enlighten the dark me. You grant me every good deed: I thank You, Most Merciful!
709. Our heart is like a dark earth; The Gospel is like the sun, enlightening and reviving our hearts. Shine in our hearts the true sun of Thy truth, O Lord!
733. ...pray for me, St. Men of God: prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, reverends, righteous and all saints, may I be like you!
740. Like every word of the prayer: have mercy on me, O God, the Master hears and fulfills every word (experience), if only they speak from the heart; so are all the words of other prayers, even our own, sincere prayers. O benevolent Master! Glory to You! Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, press and it will be opened to you. Whatever you ask is accepted... (Matthew 7:7, 8). Only in simplicity of heart, pray without doubt.
743. I thank You, Lord, my Lord and Judge, for you teach me to simply pray to You, and hear me crying to You, and save me from my sins and my sorrows, and put my burdens on the scale. Behold, I cried out to You in the sin of my wickedness with the words of church prayer: Lord our God, who grants repentance to man... and as soon as I finished it, peace and lightness settled in my soul. June 29, 1864
746. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who loves mankind, I thank you with all my heart, because you heard my prayer for love of neighbor and care for earthly things and poured out peaceful, reasonable and sweet love into my heart. Confirm, O God, this in me through the prayers of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos, and may I be Your child, O Lord, and Her truest child. July 26, 1864, 11 pm.
747. ...Having become human for the sake of the Word of God and God! keep us in Your sanctuary! Our Holy Head! Do not give our hearts and our bodies to the foul Belial, lest he defile them with thoughts, but abide everlastingly with us and keep us pure and blameless. Grant us, Lord, to always have with You, our Divine Head, a living connection, like members of Your body - a connection in the thoughts of the heart, in prayer and in deeds. The falling away of our hearts from You is darkness and death, Lord, there is sorrow and oppression, shame and humiliation and spiritual abomination, but with You we have light, life, peace, joy, spaciousness in the heart, boldness, and greatness, and holiness.
752. ...Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ! Enlighten the eyes of our hearts and may Your good Spirit guide us all to rightness on earth (Ps. 142:10). Give us Your Spirit!
770. Lord! You came to save us by faith in You, behold, I believe that You are my Savior, save me! You have come to renew my nature, corrupted by sin; renew me, who has corrupted myself with passions and lusts, renew both mentally and physically, so that I may be pure in heart and strong in body for the glory of Your name. You have come to deliver us from the work of the enemy - deliver me from the work of the all-evil, unclean, nasty and disgusting enemy, who is at war in my members and inclining me, drawing me by violence to sin. You have come to enlighten us, enlighten my heart darkened by passions. You have come to gather up what has been squandered; gather up my thoughts, squandered by the enemy.
You came to strengthen us in our weakness and said: My power is made perfect in weakness, and Your Apostle says: Sweetly I boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Cor. 12:9); Behold, I am extremely weak and cannot do anything good without You; Without You I can neither think, nor feel, good, nor desire good, nor speak, nor do; I am decidedly weak for any good without You; Give me grace, give me light and strength to think and feel good and comfortably do it, say and do what pleases You. Behold, I commend my whole life to You, Christ God, my Savior, my Renewer; cleanse, sanctify and save me. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb (Ps. 50:12)! Help me: without You my destruction is near and swift at every hour.
780. Who am I? – On the one hand, sin, the abyss of sin, all opposition to God the All-Creator and All-Empowerer, worthy of all condemnation and torment, on the other – complete poverty of every virtue and weakness for every virtue. So I fell deeply, became corrupted, and became exhausted. I cannot do anything without my Savior, according to His word and my countless experiences. He created my soul and body, He grew me, He formed my abilities, He creates everything good in me, if I do something good, but mine is only evil. But, my Creator and my Deliverer! You created me, I am Your creation, Your slave. You control me. You do Your will through me, give me the grace to completely subdue my will to Your will, for I cannot do this without Your grace. You, my Shepherd, feed me. You, my Savior, save me. You, my Light, enlighten me. You, my Strength, strengthen me.
782. Oh, infinitely great Benefactor, my Savior! When I imagine the endless corruption of my nature by sins and manifold passions and at the same time my spirit falls and becomes despondent, then only I will remember You that You came to renew my nature corrupted by sin and to grant my dishonor, my shame, angelic nobility, even higher than angelic, the nobility of the Son of God, for the sake of faith in You, for the sake of birth by water and the Spirit and for the sake of communion of the Holy Mysteries Yours - my spirit will instantly perk up from despondency, shake off the dishonor of passions and be completely filled with gratitude to You. Glory to Thee, infinite Grace and Power, Son of God!
785. ...Set me on the rock of Your commandments, O Lord!
788. You alone know the cares, labors and sweats of Your saints, for their purification, for pleasing You, the Father of all, You weigh Your saints. Teach us to imitate them in our lives, so that we too may be united with everyone in love.
789. Why do the sons of this age mock at what is truth, light, peace, sweetness, our life, I mean church services, church readings and hymns, or at Your saints, glorified by You? Even if they do not lead, they blaspheme (Jude 1:10). Father! let them go, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34), and enlighten them.
795. Your power (vozl.), i.e. You contain everyone and everything in Your power and strength - including evil spirits; Thine is the kingdom: Thou art the King over all and over evil spirits; Your power: You uphold everyone with Your power - and glory: for You created everything for Your glory.
814. Grant me, Lord, to love every neighbor of mine as myself, always, and not to become embittered towards him for any reason and not to work for the devil. Let me crucify my self-love, pride, covetousness, lack of faith and other passions. Let our name be: mutual love; Let us believe and trust that the Lord is everything to all of us; let us not worry, let us not worry about anything; may You, our God, be the only God of our hearts and there is nothing besides You. Let us be in the unity of love among ourselves, as it should be, and let everything that separates us from each other and separates us from love be in contempt for us, like dust trampled under foot. Wake up! Wake up! If God has given Himself to us, if He abides in us and we in Him, according to His true word, then what will He not give me, what will He spare me, what will He deprive me of, what will He forsake me? The Lord shepherds me and will deprive me of nothing (Ps. 22:1). With Him, why is not everything given to us (Rom. 8:32)? So, be very calm, my soul, and know nothing but love. This commandment I command you, that you love one another (John 15:17).
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815. Lord! I am a miracle of Your goodness, wisdom, omnipotence, since I was brought by You from non-existence into being, since I am preserved by You hitherto in existence, since I have, by the goodness, generosity and love of Thy only begotten Son, to inherit eternal life, if I remain faithful to You, since by the terrible sacred act of sacrificing Myself as a sacrifice by Your Son, I restored from a terrible fall, redeemed from eternal destruction. I praise Your goodness, Your infinite power, Your wisdom! But perform miracles of Your goodness, omnipotence and wisdom over me, the accursed one, and with their own destinies, save me, Your unworthy servant, and bring me into Your eternal Kingdom, making me worthy of an ageless life, an unevening day.
816. ...Lord! draw my heart to You by Your Holy Spirit. God! turn my heart away from earthly vanities. God! I can’t do anything without You.
865. Lord! I confess before You that life and health and strength of spiritual and physical strength are not in the countryside, not in the forest, but in Your church, especially in the liturgy and in Your life-giving Mysteries! Oh, the greatest bliss of the Holy Mysteries! Oh, life-giving Holy Mysteries! Oh, unspoken love, Divine Mysteries! Oh, the wonderful and unceasing thought of the Lord God about our salvation and deification, the Divine Mysteries! Oh, transfiguration of eternal life, Divine Mysteries!
866. My Lady, Most Holy Theotokos! I prayed to you before the liturgy, and ask me the grace to perform it with great power, for the glory of God, for the salvation of the world and my own! You arranged everything for the good. Thank you, all-merciful Helper, Quick to Hear, unshameful hope!
868. Lord, I thank You with all my heart for the gracious inspirations of Your Holy Spirit during public and domestic Divine services, for the cleansing of sins, for peace, tenderness and tears, for fatherly consolation, for boldness, for strength.
877. ...Wonderful are Your works, O Lord! You are marvelous, sitting on the throne of Your glory in Christian churches. Lord, most righteous Judge and most merciful Savior and Almighty! Glory to Your invincible goodness, King of ages!
883. Do not rush to food and drink, but hurry to the work of God quickly and, while doing God’s work, do not think about food and drink. Remember firmly who you are standing before, with whom you are talking. Whom do you sing; be entirely in God, belong entirely to Him alone, pray with all your heart, sing with all your heart, serve for your neighbors as you would for yourself, cordially, wholeheartedly, without double hearts and thoughts. God! help: without You I can do nothing (John 15:5).
900. To the glory of the most holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lady Theotokos. – I felt a thousand times in my heart that after communion of the Holy Mysteries or after fervent prayer at home, ordinary or on the occasion of some sin, passion and sorrow and oppression, the Lord, through the prayers of the Lady, or the Lady Herself, through the goodness of the Lord, gave me, as it were, a new nature of the spirit, pure, kind, majestic, bright, wise, gracious instead of unclean, dull and lethargic, cowardly, gloomy, stupid, evil. I have undergone many wonderful, great changes, to the surprise of myself and often of others. Glory to Your power, Lord! Glory to Your goodness, Lord! Glory to Your mercies, O Lord, which You have shown to me, a sinner!
903. Christian! remember and always carry in your thoughts and in your heart the great words of the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven (remember, who is our Father? - God is our Father, our Love; who are we? We are His children, and among ourselves brothers; in what kind of love should the children of such a Father live among themselves? If they were children of Abraham, they would quickly do the works of Abraham (John 8:39); what kind of deeds should they do? us?)! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. Give us our daily bread today (our bread (everything is common), and not your own; self-love must be expelled from the hearts of the children of God: we are one), and forgive us our debts (if you want and love God to forgive you your sins, consider it commonplace to forgive the sins of people who sin against you, knowing that love is long-suffering and merciful); and do not lead us into temptation (and do not give in to temptation yourself; do not let your feet fall into confusion, keep you below. The Lord is your protection on your right hand (Ps. 121:3, 5)), but deliver us from the evil one (do not give yourself over to him willingly, and the Lord will not give you over to him).
For Yours is the Kingdom (recognize the one King God and work for Him alone) and strength (trust in His almighty power) and glory (jealous for His glory with all your might and throughout your life) forever (He is the eternal King, and the kingdom of Satan will soon pass away as a predatory, false one). Amen. All this is true. Remember this prayer most of all and read it in your mind more often and think about it, what every word, expression and petition means in it.
905. Save us, Thy race, O Lady! Save us, Your half-blooded ones! Save us, Mother of the Belly and Mother of us all, although we are unworthy to call You our Mother! Cleanse, sanctify, strengthen and save us through Your prayers!
916. Good Lady! Reveal and manifest Your dominion over me and Your people, God-fearing and well-behaved, by delivering us, through our prayer, from nasty, evil and blasphemous thoughts, from all sins and passions and from all the snares of demons, like the good Mother of God.
943. When depicting the sign of the cross, believe and constantly remember that your sins are nailed to the cross. When you fall into sin, immediately condemn yourself sincerely and make the sign of the cross on yourself, saying: Lord! You nailed our sins to the cross, nail my real sin to Thy cross and have mercy on me according to Thy great mercy (Ps. 50:3), and your sin will be cleansed. Amen.
959. When in your eyes people fall into various sins against you, against the Lord, against your neighbors and against yourself, do not be angry with them, for even without you there is a lot of evil in the world, but pity them from the heart and forgive them when they offend you, saying to yourself: Lord! let them go, for they are confused by sin, they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).
961. Lord! always give me a meek heart, a clear, direct, meek gaze. Wake up! - Glory, Lord, to the change made in me by Your right hand, I thank You, for You have taken away from me the thorns that burn my passions and my oppression, and my shame, and my weakness, and have granted me peace, silence, freedom, strength, boldness. Confirm what you have done in me. Glory to the power of faith, the power of prayer: everything I ask of You in prayer as a believer, I receive according to Your word (Mark 11:24). I thank You, Lord, for you have raised me from the dead many times over (2 Cor. 1:9), and destroyed the mortal, sinful kingdom in me.
982. Great is Thy love, O Lord: Thou hast exhausted Thyself entirely for the sake of love for me. I look at the cross and marvel at Your love for me and for the world, for the cross is a clear imprint of Your love for us. Greater love can no one have, but whoever lays down his life for his friend (John 15:13). Your life-giving Mysteries, Lord, serve as an ever-present loud proof of Your love for us sinners, for this divine Body of Yours was broken for me, for all of us; this Blood was shed for me, for all of us, Lord! I glorify the miracles of Your Holy Mysteries over Your faithful, to whom I taught them; I glorify the countless healings that I have witnessed; I glorify their all-saving action in me; I glorify Your mercy towards me, which is shown to me in them and through them, Your life-giving power, which acts in them. God! for Your great love for me, grant me to love You with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself, to love my enemies, not only those who love me.
983. Lord! teach and strengthen in mutual love by Your Holy Spirit; Tame the gusts of passions that stir the heavenly, evangelical love, and make our hearts dead for earthly pleasures. Grant me, Lord, to always prefer Thy grace, Thy peace, Thy truth and holiness to all earthly blessings, and to always abide in it, all the days of my life, until my last breath!
992. I thank You, Lord, for you grant me new life every time I perform the Divine Liturgy with tears of repentance and gratitude and partake of Your most pure and life-giving Mysteries. To Your Holy Mysteries I owe hitherto the continuation of my existence, the integrity of my ways and good glory among Your people. May Thy great name be hallowed more and more in me and in all Thy people, and upon them Thy holy name is called, and throughout Thy whole world; May Your Kingdom come, the kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, into all our hearts, as You have said: I will dwell in them and walk in them, and will be a Father to them, and they will be My sons and daughters (2 Cor. 6:16, 18 (Lev. 26:12; Jer. 3:19)), and may Your holy, wise, all-good will be done, all-perfect, all-blessed, as in heaven and on earth in all Your people, and in me, a sinner, for our own will is erroneous, short-sighted, sinful, disastrous, unloving, evil, envious, proud, lazy, luxurious, money-loving, stingy.
1003. What a wealth of light, air, water, earth, fire the Lord has - these five elements of matter from which our body is composed and with which it lives! What a wealth of products of earth and water, and all of this is primarily used by man, the king of creation! Thanks to You, our Creator! Glory to Thee, our Provider and Redeemer, who created us in His image and likeness and deigned to take upon Himself our nature!
1010. Lord! allow me to extend to You prayers for the whole world and for all the fulfillment of the Church always with all-encompassing love, unfeignedly, for I, by Thy grace, am a prayer book for everyone and for my sins. Grant me, O Lord God the Father, to contemplate Your ineffable love for the world, which has given us Your beloved, only-begotten Son. Grant me, God, Son of God, to contemplate Your exhaustion in the world and on our cross for the sake of salvation; grant me, God, Holy Soul, to contemplate Your grace, abundantly poured out and poured out upon the world for the sake of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, which so often fulfills my accursed heart; Holy Trinity, grant me to glorify You unceasingly with my heart and lips, and even more so with my deeds.
1025. ...Glory to Thee, all-good, wise and all-powerful Artist!
1026. Oh, my invisible Benefactor, by whom I constantly live! You, who listen to me, fulfill the good desires of my heart, save me from my sins, from the villainy of invisible enemies, You, who improve my destiny, my enlightenment, my help, my glory, my strength, my confirmation, when will I see You? When will I see my Benefactor and Creator face to face?
1027. What do I need? I don’t need anything on earth except the bare necessities. What do I need? I need the Lord, I need His grace, His Kingdom is in me. On earth, the place of my wandering, my temporary training, there is nothing that is mine, everything is God’s and everything is temporary, assigned to my temporary services; My excesses are the property of those who have no neighbors. What do I need? I need true, Christian, tenacious, active love, I need a loving, pitying heart for my neighbors, I need joy about their contentment and well-being, sorrow about their sorrows and illnesses, about their sins, weaknesses, disorders, shortcomings, misfortunes, poverty; they need warm, sincere sympathy in all circumstances of their lives, joy with those who rejoice and weeping with those who cry. Give full room to pride, selfishness, try to live only for yourself and attract everything only to yourself: wealth, sweets, and the glory of this world, and not live, but die, not rejoice, but suffer, carrying the poison of self-love within yourself, for self-love is the poison constantly poured into our hearts by Belial.
Oh, let me exclaim with the psalmist: what do we have in heaven, and what do we desire from You on earth? My heart and my flesh are gone, O God of my heart, and my portion God forever (Ps. 73:25, 26). Lord, witness of my heart, the movement of it and these lines! Give me this that I ask of You! From me this is impossible, but all things are possible with You (Mark 10:27). Give me true life, dispel the darkness of passions, enliven their power with Your power!
1033. Lord! We bring the saints to You in prayer for us, these spiritual incense, this myrrh of Your aromas! Accept their prayers, fragrant with love and purity, for us and deliver us from the stench of sin, for our hearts are unclean and our lips are unclean, and we are unworthy of the sweetest conversation with You. Everything in us is earthly, corruptible, nasty, evil, and they, Your saints, are the purest myrrh, - especially Your Most Pure Mother, Your animated, luminous chamber, the purest of the luminaries of the sun, the most fragrant of all aromas, for heaven and earth are full of the fragrance of Her holiness, Her divine virtues.
1038. ...Lord, have mercy on us, have mercy on humanity!
1041. Oh, how bitter were my sins for You, Christ my Savior, my God, when You were strangled, beaten, spat on, Your head was pierced with thorns and nailed to the cross - when You hung on the cross in unspeakable torment for my sake, delivering me from the bitterest, indescribable torments of hell! But I should remember this self-exhaustion of Yours, this torment of Yours more often, so as not to commit sins and diligently perform every virtue, to love You with all my heart, to fulfill Your saving commandments! Meanwhile, I often forget this terrible sacrifice made for me by the Son of the Heavenly Father, the only begotten, co-originating, co-essential. Grant me, O Lord, a pure heart and unchanging repentance for salvation, grant me the rest of my life to please You!
1044. Lord! I thank You with all my heart, for You have saved me countless times from dishonor, violence, the cruelty of passions and extinguished the arrows of the evil one that kindled in me and protected my soul with peace and cooled me with the dew of Your grace. Glory to You, Most Merciful and All-Powerful, for until now by Your grace I remain safe and sound, despite the countless treacheries of invisible and all-evil enemies over me, seeking to devour me. We know, Lord, that you have delivered me from all their snares and slander and saved me, in the image of destinies, into Your Heavenly Kingdom, and not only me, but also all those who live piously and are slandered from the spirits of evil: for it is Yours to have mercy and save those who want and even those who do not want to be saved. Either I want, it is said, or I don’t want, save me (the prayer of eternity of St. John of Damascus)!
1052. ...Lord and Master of my life, grant the spirit of love to me, Thy servant!
1087. ...Glory to Thee, Holy and Consubstantial, and Life-Giving, and Indivisible Trinity (look at the great eternity)! Holy Trinity! teach me to despise everything earthly, teach me to place peace, contentment, bliss in You alone! And so as not to make me proud, because of the gracious attention of the Most Holy Trinity to me and the salvation She gives me, let me remember that She graciously listens to every worm, every chick. I also remember that some Christians, who have created many powers in the name of God, will one day hear from the Lord the words: Depart from Me, I know you not (Matthew 7:23; 25:12), for your unevangelical life. Holy Trinity! save me from pride and teach me humility! You kindly and quickly listen to me and save me; I can be proud of this mercy. To turn your endless goodness and mercy into an excuse for self-praise, supposedly I myself was worthy of such attention, as having done some good! Cover me, most merciful Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Soul, with Your shelter from all sin.
1119. My Master, Lord Jesus Christ! My speedy, swift, unashamed Intercessor! I thank You with all my heart that You mercifully listened to me - when I, in darkness, crampedness and the flames of the enemy, cried out to You - quickly, sovereignly, graciously delivered me from my enemies and gave my heart space, lightness, light! Oh, Master, how I suffered from the machinations of the enemy, how timely You showed me help, and how obvious Your almighty help was! I praise Your goodness, benevolent Master, hope of the desperate; I praise You that You did not disgrace my face in the end, but mercifully delivered me from the darkness and dishonor of hell. How, after this, can I ever despair of Your hearing and mercy on me, the accursed? I will, I will always call on Your sweetest name, my Savior; But You, O innumerable Goodness, as always, now and before, save me according to Your immeasurable compassion, for Your name is the Lover of Mankind and the Savior!
1122. ...God, Your name is Love! Teach me true love, like strong death. So I have abundantly tasted its sweetness from communication in the spirit of faith, even in Thee, with Thy faithful servants and maidservants, and I have been abundantly pacified and enlivened by it. Confirm, O God, this which you have done in me! ABOUT! If only it were like this all the time! Grant me more often to have communion of faith and love with Your faithful servants, with Your churches, with Your Church, with Your members!
1123. My sweetest Savior! You, having gone out to serve the human race, not only preached the word of heavenly truth in the church, but flowed around cities and villages, did not shy away from anyone, went to everyone’s houses, especially to those whose warm repentance You foresaw with Your divine gaze. So You did not sit at home, but had fellowship of love with everyone. Grant us to have this communion of love with Your people, so that we, shepherds, are not confined to Your sheep in our houses, as in castles and dungeons, leaving only for services in the church or for services in houses, according to one duty, with memorized prayers. May our lips open to speak freely in the spirit of faith and love with our parishioners. May our Christian love for our spiritual children be revealed and strengthened through lively, free, fatherly conversation with them. Oh, what sweetness You have hidden, Master, our boundless Love, in the spiritual conversation, warmed by love, between the spiritual father and his spiritual children, what bliss! And how can I not strive on earth with all my might for such bliss?
And it is still only weak beginnings, only some weak semblance of the heavenly bliss of love! Love especially the fellowship of charity, both material and spiritual. Do not forget about charity and fellowship (Heb. 13:16).
1151. I will write thanksgiving to the Lord my God, the God of my salvation! Before confession during Holy Week, the enemy stopped me, striking my heart with tightness, confusion and evil despondency. But so I prayed with all my heart with undoubted faith to Him, the God of my salvation, and said: God, all-merciful Father! You, by Your only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, said: ask, and it will be given to you... everyone who asks receives it... or who is there a man from you, whose son, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone to eat? How much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him (Matthew 7:7-11). By faith, having embraced in my heart what You have spoken, I appeal to You: give me now Your Holy Spirit, may I strengthen my heart to undertake the work of confession, to a prudent decision or binding of human consciences, to patience and complacency, to a kind and edifying treatment of my spiritual children. So what? O God of mercy! I conducted the entire confession perfectly: calmly, kindly, edifyingly, without any burden or restless haste. I glorify the merciful right hand of the all-good Heavenly Father.
So you always need to strengthen yourself with heartfelt prayer to the Heavenly Father for every spiritual feat, as our Lord Jesus Christ prayed before appearing to the human race, before the election of the Apostles, before His sufferings.
1175. ...Glory to the grace of the Holy Comforter-Spirit! ... We thank You, Lord Jesus, for for Your sake the Holy Spirit is in the world!
1193. I thank You, my Joy, Lord of glory, for You received my image through incarnation from the Most Pure Virgin and honored, exalted, and deified humanity; I thank You, for you have raised me from corruption to incorruption, you have cleansed my filth, you have healed infirmities and illnesses, you have transformed sorrows into joy, you have turned the troubles of sin into the space of Your justification, which comes from faith and repentance of the heart, you have driven away the darkness of passions and given Your spiritual light, you have taken away confusion and peace from above. you have sent down, you have taken away cowardice and you have given courage with boldness. Glory to Your mercy!
1211. Grant to me, Lady, purity of heart, simplicity of heart, filial trust, devotion and love for You always, now and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.
1216. ...God's wonderful creation is man! Glory to the Creator and Provider! Glory to the Savior of the human race, who draws our race out of the mire of passions, from corruption and death, and leads us into the eternal belly.
1220. Lord! teach me to give alms willingly, with affection, with joy and to believe that by giving it, I do not lose, but gain infinitely more than what I give. Turn my eyes away from people with a hard heart, who do not sympathize with the poor, who face poverty with indifference, condemn, reproach, brand it with shameful names and weaken my heart so as not to do good, in order to harden me against poverty. Oh my God! how many such people there are! Lord, fix the matter of almsgiving! Lord, may all my alms be for benefit and not for harm! Lord, give alms to Your poor people! Lord, deign to build a house for the poor in this city, as I have repeatedly prayed to You, the all-good, all-powerful, wise, wonderful! (and erected).
1237. Lord! grant that Your church may impart enlightenment of souls, cleansing of sins, sanctification, peace, health, and peace of mind to all who come to it with faith, reverence and fear of God, strengthen faith, hope and love, contribute to the correction of life, success in all good undertakings and deeds of mutual love, pure Christian living, softening of hearts and the cessation of self-love, hard-heartedness, covetousness, greed, envy, malice, gluttony, drunkenness, debauchery - these vices are so harmful in public life and undermine its foundations. Grant this, grant, Lord, to all those who love to visit Your church, and even those who do not love it, incline them to love it and correct their hearts and deeds: for the time is near and judgment is at the door for all people of every rank and condition, of every gender and age, and everyone faces a matter of infinitely great importance - to give an answer at the Last Judgment of Christ.
1253. How good You are, my Lord, and how close You are to us - so close that we can always talk with You and be comforted by You. To breathe through You, to be enlightened by You, to have peace in You, to find space in the heart in You. God! teach me the simplicity of love for You and for my neighbor, may I always be with You, may I always have peace in You. God! do not allow me for a moment to commit fornication with the disgusting and all-evil enemy - the devil, neither malice, nor pride, nor envy, nor stinginess, nor covetousness, nor gluttony, nor lustful thoughts, nor blasphemy, nor despondency, nor lies, nor anything sinful. May I always be all Yours!
1254. My endless sweetness, Lord Jesus Christ, what sweets did You not give me to taste in my temporary existence! Thank you, my mercy, my sweetness! But if earthly sweets are so numerous, varied, and pleasant, then what are heavenly, spiritual sweets: they are truly endless, countless, unimaginably pleasant. Do not, O most merciful and generous Lord, deprive me of Your heavenly sweets, which You have prepared for those who love You. Do not deprive them and your other people! Let them all know You, Lord, our Sweetness. After all, You, this Sweetness of ours, are everywhere and on earth, i.e. Every sweet thing is your business. However, Lord, grant me to graciously endure the sorrows of life: they are needed for my many-passionate flesh, for my old man. Humanity! Teach them and Your other people to bear it with kindness and let them know their need. Affliction endureth (Rom. 12:12). You will be in a world of sorrow (John 16:33).
1264. Lord! Behold, I am Your vessel: fill me with the gifts of Your Holy Spirit, without You I am empty of all good, or, moreover, full of all sin. God! Behold, I am Your ship: fill me with a load of good deeds. God! Behold Your ark: fill it not with the charm of love of money and sweets, but with love for You and for Your animated image - man.
1273. ...Glory to Your creativity, Lord! Let us know and remember our earthiness and short-term existence, and let us revere the Creator. We are all the work of His hands, sheep of His pasture.
1277. When you pray to God using familiar prayers to which you are accustomed, say in your heart: Lord! You are always the same. My heart changes and grows cold towards the words of prayer, and yet their power is one and the same, just as You are eternally the same.
1292. Oh, the sweetest name, the most holy name, the almighty name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! My victory, Lord, glory to You Lord, we are Your members, we are one body, You are our Head. Lord, may all passions flee from us, may demons flee from us! God! give us the grace of love that never falls away! God! May we show respect and love to each other, as to You, as to those deified by You.
1293. How good it will be with You for Your chosen ones in heaven, Lord! How all the delights of earth are painful for the heart! How detrimental to the heart is an instant addiction to anything earthly! And in You what peace, what freedom, what space, what light, what joy!
1294. Glory, Lord, to the never-failing power of Your cross! When the enemy oppresses me with sinful thoughts and feelings, and I, not having freedom in my heart, draw the sign of the cross several times with faith, then suddenly my sin falls away from me, and the oppression disappears, and I go free. Glory to Thee, Lord! God! May nothing tear me away from You, nothing carnal or material, may I always be with You! How good it is to be with You!
1295. Lord! do not deprive me of Your heavenly blessings, for You are the Lord and can do this if You wish; Lord, deliver me from eternal torment, for You are the Lord and you can also conveniently do this if you wish; Lord, whether I have sinned in mind or in thought, in word or in deed, forgive me, seeing the weakness of my soul. So, You are the Lord and you can do everything for me, who repent and ask for Your blessings. And You, the Lady of all Angels and men, all-good and all-powerful, as a formidable mistress, the driver and flame of all opposing forces, as conveniently able to destroy with the speed of lightning all the diverse machinations of evil spirits, deliver us from all sin and strengthen us with Your power for all virtue; Make us conformable to Your Son and our God and to You, the Most Holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord, for we are called by the name of Christ, Your Son, as His members. May our name Christian not be an empty sound, without power, but may we all be imitators of Christ, the Head of our faith, and You, the Head of the mental creation.
May we all, like living stones being built into a spiritual church, holy holiness, offer sacrifices pleasing to God. Oh, Lady, Lady! Yes, it is not in vain and in vain that we call You the Lady: reveal and continually manifest Your holy, living, effective dominion over us. Show that you can do everything for good, as the all-good Mother of the all-good King; disperse the darkness of our hearts, repel the arrows of crafty spirits, flatteringly driven towards us. May the peace of Your Son, Your peace reign in our hearts, and let us all ever exclaim with joy: who is after the Lord, as our Lady, our all-good, all-powerful and most swift Intercessor? For this reason You are exalted, Lady, for this reason you have been given an indescribable abundance of divine grace, for this reason you have been given ineffable boldness and strength at the throne of God and the gift of almighty prayer, for this reason you are adorned with ineffable holiness and purity, for this reason you have been given unapproachable power from the Lord, so that You can preserve, protect, intercede, cleanse and save us, the heritage of the Son. Yours and God and Yours. Save us, O Most Pure, All-Good, All-Wise and All-Powerful!
For you are the Mother of our Savior, Who of all names was most pleased to be called Savior, just as His very name is Jesus, or Savior. It is common for us who wander in this life to fall, for we are covered with many-passionate flesh, surrounded by spirits of wickedness in high places, seducing us into sin, we live in an adulterous and sinful world, tempting us to sin; and You, above all sin, You are the brightest Sun, You are the Most Pure, All-Good and All-Powerful. It is in Your nature to cleanse us, defiled by sins, just as a mother cleanses her children, if we humbly call on You for help; It is in your nature to raise us, who are constantly falling, to intercede, protect and save us, who are slandered from the spirits of evil, and to instruct us to march towards every path of salvation.
1309. Will I forget You, Lord, invisible, incomprehensible Lord, who always fills my heart with life, light, peace, joy, strength, patience, You, Who is for me every good in my life and alone constitutes my life? - ABOUT! don't let me forget you!
1310. Lord! Your name is Love: do not reject me, a misguided person. Your name is Strength: strengthen me, who is exhausted and falling. Your name is Light: enlighten my soul, darkened by worldly passions. Your name is Peace: pacify my restless soul. Your name is Mercy: do not cease to have mercy on me.
1311. I sometimes pray in church for the people of God like this: behold, many of those standing in Your church stand idle with their souls, like idle vessels, and for what we will pray, as it should be, we do not know; fill their hearts now, at this favorable time for them, on this day of salvation, with the grace of Thy All-Holy Spirit and grant them to me, my prayer, my love, filled with the knowledge of Thy goodness and contrition and compunction of the heart, like filled vessels, grant them Thy Holy Spirit, interceding in them with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26). I myself, a shepherd, am sinful and unclean more than any person, but do not look at my sins, Master, but despise them according to Your great mercy, and hear my prayer, for the sake of the grace of the priesthood, which lies on me and abides in me, at this hour; May the grace of the priesthood not be idle in me, Lord, but may it always burn in me with faith, hope, love and filial boldness in prayer for Your people.
1312. Master! Accept my tearful prayer for my spiritual children and all Orthodox Christians who please You as my very concern for their salvation, for my pastoral care! Be, according to my prayer, You Yourself a voice and a trumpet for them, awakening them from the sleep of sin, and an eye watching over their hearts, and a hand that strengthens them on the path to the mountainous fatherland and raising up those who fall from lack of faith, cowardice and despondency, and maternal love, of which I am poor, tenderly caring for their true good; be unto them all, and save every one (1 Cor. 9:22). For you are the only truly Shepherd, who invisibly and secretly shepherds the very souls of men. You are the only true and wise Teacher, speaking into the very hearts of Your people; You are the only true Lover of Your creatures and children by grace; You have an abyss of wisdom and omnipotence. You are the only one who is ever awake and never sleeps, and in our very sleep you teach us Your ways.
- Be Thou, O Master, instead of me the Shepherd and Teacher of Thy sheep entrusted to me from Thee; Lead them yourself to green pastures; Protect them yourself from spiritual and carnal wolves; Direct their feet yourself to the path of truth, righteousness and peace. Instead of me, be for them light, and eyes, and lips, and hands, and wisdom, and most of all love, with which I, a great sinner, am poor.
1318. ...Glory to Thy righteousness, O Lord!
1335. ... O great God, glorified God, God of miracles, God of mercy, generosity and unspeakable love for mankind, glory to You always, now and ever and unto ages of ages! Amen.
1337. When, during the prayer of the Mother of God, you do not find in your heart the appropriate reverence for Her, and you feel evil and blasphemous thoughts, then exclaim the following praiseworthy words that are appropriate to Her: “You, Lady, are all light, all holiness, all goodness, all wisdom, you can do everything, as the Mother of the Almighty, You are always one and the same all-perfect as the Mother of the all-perfect King of glory!
1403. Oh, amazing proof of the omnipresence of God! For example, you were hurt, let’s say, by silver: you clung to it with your heart even for a minute, and your heart hurts; but only you will tell God with all your heart: You are my only Treasure, You are my silver and gold, food and clothing, and now it will be easy for you.
1459. ...God almighty, wise and all-good! Your hand is constantly on me, a sinner, and there is not a moment when Your goodness leaves me. Grant me to always kiss Your right hand with living faith! Why should I go far to look for traces of Your goodness, Your wisdom and Your omnipotence? Oh! These traces are so clearly visible in me. I am a miracle of God's goodness, wisdom and omnipotence. I, in a small form, am the whole world, my soul is a representative of the invisible world; my body is a representative of the visible world.
1490. Prayer hopes to receive everything. Tri-radiant Love, have mercy on me!
1504. ...Say to the Lord: my limited spirit has come from Your infinite, all-perfect Spirit; Behold, I am poor, my Lord, in wisdom and reason, or in faith, hope and love, meekness and humility: look upon the desire of my heart and grant me Your wisdom, unashamed faith, unchanging hope, unfeigned love (8 prayers of the priest in the morning).
1526. Lord! give me a simple, kind, open, believing, loving, generous heart.
1557. Glory to the Spirit of God, who proceeds from the Father to give life to every creature and fills the whole universe. Glory to Him, who gives life to angels and men and every creature. Glory to Him, our Strength, our Shrine. Glory to Him, coeternal Father and Son!
1560. Glory to you, All-Holy One, life-giving soul, proceeding from the Father and resting ever in the Son, inseparable from the Father and the Son! Glory to Thee, Son of God, in the Spirit of God you cast out demons and through Him build our salvation, sanctify, make us wise, strengthen us! Glory to Thee, Father, bless us ever in the Son with the Holy Spirit! Indivisible Trinity Unit, have mercy on us!
1566. Holy Soul, living, personal, sovereign, living connection of the Father and the Son - have mercy on me!
1567. Holy Soul, life-giving and uniter of all creation, especially rational creatures, the strength of all creation - have mercy on me!
1571. ...Wonderful are You, our God, who created everything with Your hypostatic Word and accomplished everything with the Hypostatic Spirit!
1572. This is the greatness of Your divine, Lord the Savior, that the life of every creature is in You, as a hypostatic Life, so that everyone honors You, as they honor the Father; This is your greatness, Holy Soul, life-giving, that you sanctify everyone, strengthen you and live together with the Father and the Son, so that everyone honors you as they honor the Father and the Son; This is Your greatness, Holy Soul, that the only begotten Son of God, as one in essence with You, has created powers and miracles through You, and through You He sanctifies, strengthens and leads us to His Father. Thus the imams bring one soul to the Father (Eph. 2:18).
1573. ...O Holy Soul, life-giving, Soul of grace, have mercy on us!
1575. ...Glory to the Comforter Spirit!
1608. Captivate me, O Master, into the sweet captivity of Your Holy Spirit, so that, like streams in the south (Ps. 125:4), my words will flow to Your Glory and to the salvation of Your people. Grant me this sweet and powerful inner urge to express freely on the charter the fullness of spiritual visions and feelings. Let my tongue be like the reed of the scribe (Ps. 44:2) - the All-Holy Spirit.
1687. Say: I have nothing of my own, everything is God’s. Ours is the dream of our sinful flesh. Everything is common - these are the words of a renewed man! “Everything is common to them, and not a single word says that it is their own (Acts 4:32). God! Yours is dati mi this.
1693. O Trinity, our God! simple Being, who created our soul in Your image, so that in You we have our life and peace! O Trinity, our Nourisher and our Hope! Give us in You alone to always place our hope, in You alone to find life and peace. O Trinity! You, like a mother, carry us all in Your arms and feed us all from Your hands, like the most tender mother! You will never forget us: for You Yourself said: even if a wife (mother) forgets someone, I will not forget you (Isaiah 49:15), i.e. I will not stop feeding, protecting, defending and saving you. You Yourself also said: the imam will not depart from you, the imam will leave you below (Heb. 13:5). ...
1721. Strengthen, God, strengthen, God, help, God! - Oh Lord, save me! O Lord, hasten (Ps. 118:25)!
1771. ...Say: Thy will be done, Holy Father! ...
1801. ...Glory to Thy mercy, O Lord! Glory to Your long-suffering, O Lord!
1809. ...Pray, brother, for me - (tell the one who blamed) - that the Lord will enlighten me and help me with His grace to carry out my title with due diligence and willingness and fulfill the work of public service entrusted to me. ...
* * *
We must most earnestly pray to the life-giving Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helmsman of the Holy Church of Christ, that he may breathe the spirit of love into the hearts of all Christians and illuminate everyone with His light, to the knowledge of the truth of God and Christ, to mutual unity, to the rejection of all heresies and schisms, to the ruin of all social parties opposing each other. All-good, all-powerful, all-wise, all-righteous Holy Soul, do this in the name of Christ! Oh, how close the Holy Spirit is always to us, how He always does us good, cleanses our sins, sanctifies, enlightens, pacifies, resolves, frees the soul from the bonds of sin and spiritual darkness, revives our souls, deadened by sin, strengthens, encourages, consoles, brings us to tenderness and tears, prays, intercedes with us with unutterable sighs! (Rom.8:26). Glory and thanksgiving to You, Holy Father, who forever wear out the Holy Spirit, and thereby give life to the world, which is perishing in evil, in the name of Your Son, our Savior, who served us with such exhaustion, patience and longsuffering!
...Glory to Thee, All-Holy Soul, Source of our life, equal to the Father and the Word!
...Teach, Lord, help, Lord, strengthen, Lord! We are weak, we are poor.
...Glory to Thee, Holy Soul, Life-giving Comforter, acting continually and everywhere in the Church of Christ. Convert, O Lord, with the same fate, the lost peoples: Jewish, Mohammedan, pagan and, in Christianity itself, heretical and schismatic peoples and tribes; expose and eradicate vices, instruct and enlighten in piety; Convict Orthodox Christians of wickedness and corruption and guide everyone on the path of salvation; admonish and guide youth, observe adolescence, grow up in infancy and guide guardian angels, instruct husbands and elders, enlighten and strengthen everyone and everything with your all-good power, strengthen with wisdom and omnipotence, and instruct in all virtue, dispelling, like darkness, sinful passions for the sake of Christ, our Lord, with the good will of the Father. Amen.
...Confirm, God! Enlighten us, God!
...Glory to the Orthodox Church! Glory to Christ God - the most holy Head, the only Head of the Church of God on earth! Glory to God in the Trinity that we have not fallen into blasphemy against God, have not recognized and will not forever recognize a sinful man as the head of the Holy Church!
The Most Holy Theotokos is my unshameful, firm consolation; She is full of goodness, holiness, mercy, compassion. What I do not have, is in Her in abundance; I do not have purity, holiness, sincere goodness and mercy, but She has all this with all abundance, and She can, with Her prayers and intercession, ask for everything from Her Son and God. And therefore I pray to Her: show the depths of Your love for mankind, the depth of your compassion and uncountable kindness and generosity on me, the accursed; satisfy the pasture of sin, give up chastity and keep my soul and my body undefiled - wake up, wake up!
What a wonderful power is repentance! Unfeigned, comprehensive repentance constantly bows to the mercy of God, who is angry with our sins and all sorts of untruths, and miraculously changes the state of our soul, taking away from it sorrow, oppression, confusion, impenetrable darkness, establishing in the soul peace, tranquility, rightness of spirit, boldness, light, strength, cheerfulness, renewal. Glory to God, who has deigned so well! And this grace of repentance is given to all believers, without distinction, throughout their lives.
My God, what immense love, what kindness! What a complete gift! He gave Himself to me as food and drink with all eternal and endless blessings! He gave himself entirely to the insignificant worm - man. God! That you exist, because you remember me, and visit me, and dwell in me!
...If I bring songs equal to the sand of the sea to You, Holy King, I will do nothing worthy of what You have given me! Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Life-Giving Mysteries!…
Lord, this begins the week of my service, unworthy of You, the King without beginning and before the ages, of serving, of standing before Your terrible and life-giving throne, and of interceding for myself and for Your people, so that you may cleanse the sins of all; a week of service to the most heavenly, Most Pure, all-redeeming Divine and terrible Mysteries, the service of truth, the service of incorruptibility and immortality, renewal and deification, the highest, Divine service, of which there is nothing holier and higher in the world. Help me in this ministry every day without ceasing, may the grace of Your Holy Spirit protect me from all sin, keeping me with the saints!
Grant me, Lord, for this service a pure, courageous and vigorous, firm heart, a good-voiced organ of the tongue, a magnificent, calm, firm appearance; grant that we stand before Thy throne with extreme fear, love and thanksgiving, with a burning spirit. Let us pray for ourselves and for all people sincerely; to praise and thank You on behalf of everyone with a fiery heart and lips; Perform, use and teach the Holy Mysteries with fear and great love. So grant me, Lord, to serve You by the strength of my turn all the days of my life. Amen.
Glory to the wondrous power of Your Cross, Lord! ...
... Wonderful are Your works, O Lord, for the salvation of the human race! Wonderful wisdom, truth, mercy, power, deliverance and salvation! Save us all, O Holy Trinity!
I thank my Lord Jesus Christ, who has made me worthy to celebrate the all-joyful and all-saving day of Holy Easter this year! Grant me to pass through the entire Bright Week and all the days of my life without sin and in holiness!
How sublime is the liturgy of John Chrysostom and Basil the Great! What a heavenly spirit! What a broad love for God and people! What a heavenly heart! Give me, Lord, the heavenly spirit, a pure, loving heart, not bound by any worldly lusts and passions: for none of those bound by worldly lusts and pleasures can come, or draw near, or serve You, the King of glory (Prayer of the priest during the Cherubic song)! The priest must be like an eagle, pompous, strong, and bastromoved. Grant, Lord! The whole earth, with all its treasures, beauties, sweets, is nothing before such a sacrament as the Most Pure Body and Blood of the Lord, like the sacred rite of the liturgy!
...Glory to Your mercy, Lord!
Why does the priest raise his hands before the throne during mass, before the great entrance? As a reminder and depiction of the prayer of the God-man in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His betrayal by Judas and in the depiction of the Calvary crucifixion. Great, wondrous, and effective was this prayer; it was spoken for the whole world; the Calvary sacrifice is immeasurably great and redemptive. For the sake of this prayer and this sacrifice on the cross, have mercy on me too, Heavenly Father, Only Begotten Son and Holy Soul! Amen.
...Glory be forever to the Holy Trinity from all of us people, so blessed by the Lord!
...Glory to God, who has granted us communion with Himself in prayer, praise and thanksgiving to Him!
...Glory to Your Cross, glory to Your power, given to him for victory over the enemies of our salvation: for it is fair that that very tree, or the image of that Cross, on which You were crucified by will and suffered torment and unrighteous execution, should become the surest instrument of our victory over the devil, who dreamed of completely killing You, of defeating You, Lord, with infinite goodness and truth. May we depict His Cross with faith in the Lord!
... Glory to Thee, Mary, Most Pure Bride of God!
Most Holy, Almighty, All-Good Head of Your Church, Lord Jesus, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, give me the grace to always, from beginning to end, safely, holy, peacefully, firmly, ardently perform all divine services under all circumstances, with large and small people, on holidays and weekdays, in the church and outside the church! Give me, give me this grace and cleanse my heart from all passion, defilement of the flesh and spirit, deliver me from all slander of the enemy; during my service, ignite with heavenly fire the hearts of all those present and praying; humble the hearts of the rich and famous, the learned or the wise of this age, enchanting their wisdom and subduing their minds and hearts to Your word; soften the hearts of those hardened in passions, recreate, renew your people! Amen. I am weak, but let Your power be made perfect in my weaknesses (cf. 2 Cor. 12:12, 9). I am a sinner and a sinner, but where sin abounds, grace abounds (Rom. 5:20), so let it be in me.
...glory to Thee, Lady! Remember us in Your Kingdom and help us with Your sovereign power against enemies visible and, especially, invisible, who are constantly seeking to devour us.
...Eternal God and King of every creature (hence, my Creator), forgive me every sin, voluntary and involuntary, and grant me worthy to do Your will, for You are my God, for You are the source of life!
Praise to the Mother of God. In the Quiet Light from the holy glory of Thy immortal Son and God, the holy and blessed Jesus Christ, O most holy Virgin Theotokos, we sing of Thee: for Thou art worthy at all times to be reverent in voice, as the Mother of God and the Intercessor of life; In the same way, the Christian race constantly glorifies You.
Grant me, O Lady, with a pure heart to always call on You, thank and glorify You according to your heritage, although the angelic mind is perplexed to praise You properly as the Mother of the Existing God Himself.
... Do not forget your purpose and strive with all your might to defeat sin and achieve truth and holiness in your heart and throughout your life; and encourage others to do the same, and God is ready to help you. Help, Master, Lord!
Prayers, glorifications, supplications, petitions, thanksgivings, the promise of mercy and salvation (will have mercy and save), the names of God, the Mother of God, holy Angels, holy saints, the powers that be and other authorities are repeated, so that the prayers, petitions, thanksgivings, glorifications are firmer, sincere, stronger and more effective and would bring great benefit to those who pray and those who do not pray, for the sake of those who pray; and for some of us, due to the action of the devil, the opposite often happens: prayers, praises, thanksgivings weaken and are not said several times (repeatedly), out of laziness and desire for worldly vanity or because of the vain fear of demons. Destroy, Lord, this charm of the enemy in us and grant us freely, with a pure heart, to always pray, thank and glorify You and the Lady and all Your saints, for our confirmation and salvation and for the glory of Your name and Your saints!
Oh, saints of God! Arouse us, lazy and careless, vain and passionate, to prayer, unceasing prayer, for we are all in constant trouble from evil and all-evil spirits, and pray for us, for you have been given the grace to pray for us! Amen.
...Glory to our All-Good and All-Righteous God, who punishes and has mercy!
Oh, greatness, oh, deification, oh, holiness, oh, the beauty of human nature, in the person of the God-Man Lord Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, Ever-Virgin Mary! Oh, Blessed Mary! From Thee, the All-Blessed God, has clothed all of me as a human being and, having clothed Himself, united Him to Your Divinity with an ineffable union! Oh, wondrous, indescribable, supernatural union! ...
Grant me, Lord, to fulfill Your law, which is love in all its strength, in all its breadth, in all its depth. Amen.
The Divine Liturgy contains the wonderful, unifying power of prayer for everyone, connecting all souls! Oh, wonderful Liturgy - a sign of God’s immeasurable love for the human race and the wonderful exaltation of human nature, deified through the incarnation of the Only Begotten Son of God and through the partaking of His Most Pure Body and Blood in the sacrament of communion. God! Grant us to be worthy of such Your condescension towards us, such communication! Grant us Your holiness and let us learn Your righteousness every day and become righteous in the Holy Spirit!
…I thank You, One Father of all, King, Savior, Shepherd, Doctor, righteous Judge of all; The One Head of His Church, uniting everyone into one body, into one spirit! You arrange all this wonderfully, you work in everyone with the Holy Spirit, uniting everyone in faith, hope and love, in truth and holiness!
… God bless! Glory to the Lady Theotokos!
December 25, 1899. I thank the Lord, who has made me worthy to see the day of the glorious Nativity according to the flesh of God the Word for the sake of universal salvation, and again and again grant for Your great goodness, O Lord, to see this day and sweetly sing and glorify Your immeasurable compassion, O Christ. Amen.
... All-merciful and all-powerful Sanctifier, Holy Soul, proceed from the Father and rest in the Son, come to cleanse us all, sanctify, heal, strengthen, enlighten and comfort us with Your wonderful, life-giving and sweet overshadowing!
...How are we saved every day, if not by the cross, if not by the merits of Christ, crucified for us! Without the Cross, we would all perish, we would be the prey of the devil and hell! O Christ God, glory to You, who suffered for us and redeemed us with Your cross from sin, curse and death!
Easter of Christ. I thank the Lord, who has made me worthy to live to see this Bright Feast and to meet it in joy, with good health, with praises to the Risen One. Make us worthy of the common Resurrection of all, and of emigration to You, the Source of our life!
Resurrection of Christ. I thank the Lord, who has made me worthy to celebrate this year’s Bright Feast of His Resurrection. Grant, Lord, that I may spend this bright week with dignity and all my life – for Your glory!
… God bless! Glory to the Mother of God!
Some of my secret prayers
In addition to the prayers secretly read by the celebrant according to the service book at the Liturgy of the Faithful, to awaken enhanced feelings of thanksgiving and glorification of the Lord, who immeasurably benefits us in the celebration of the Eucharist.
After the Cherubic song and the presentation of the Divine Gifts at the holy meal, as well as after the secret reading of the troparia relating to the removal from the cross and the placing of the Most Pure Body of the Lord in the tomb, I add from myself at the end of the prayer, beginning with the words: Lord God Almighty, the following words in this combination: grant us grace to find grace before You, to be more favorable to You than our sacrifice and to be indwelled by the Spirit of grace Your goodness is in us and on these gifts presented; in all nurseries of youth and adolescence, spiritual and worldly, male and female, urban and rural, and in all non-student youth; on all the nurseries of spiritual, monastic - male and female, on Your poor people, widows, orphans and wretched, on those who suffered from fire, flood, storm and cowardice, from shortage of bread and famine, on all those who commanded me unworthy to pray for them and on all Your people, for all are Your essence: for Thou didst create them in the image and according to in Your likeness; Thou hast revived them by water and Spirit; You gave them the grace of sonship; You have given the pledge of the Spirit into their hearts, which is more precious than anything, more sanctifying, more affirmative, more complete; You feed them with the Flesh and Blood of Your Son, and there is nothing sweeter; You give them all Your goodness, by nature and by grace, of which there is no number; Appropriate us all to You, alienated by sin and the enemy who fights us, and may no one gain from us and be a waste to the stranger.
You yourself have mercy on us, Father of generosity and God of all comfort.
After reading the Creed in secret, I add the following prayer: strengthen my heart and the hearts of all Orthodox Christians in this faith; sowing faith and this aspiration, it is worthy to live wisely; unite in this faith all the great Christian societies that have miserably fallen away from the unity of the Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, which is Thy body and who art the Head and Savior of the body, overthrow the pride and opposition of their teachers and those who follow them, grant them with their hearts to understand the truth and salvation of Thy Church and unflatteringly unite with it; gather together the saints of Your Church and those who suffer from ignorance, error and the stubbornness of schism, breaking through the power of the grace of Your Spirit their stubbornness and opposition to Your truth, so that they do not perish more fiercely in their opposition, like Korah, Dathan and Abiron, who opposed Moses and Aaron, Your servants (Ps. 105: 16-18).
All the tongues inhabiting the earth have been drawn to this faith, so that with one heart and one mouth all the nations glorify You, the only God and Benefactor of all; in this faith, unite us all with the spirit of meekness, humility, kindness, simplicity, dispassion, patience and long-suffering, mercy, condolences and rejoicing.
After uttering the exclamation: woe is our heart, I secretly say: lift up with Your Holy Spirit all those who come here to You, the God of our life, and cast away from our hearts all passions of the flesh and soul.
After the Eucharistic exclamation: we thank the Lord, a prayer is read worthily and righteously to sing thee and so on; During the secret reading of this prayer, after the words You brought us from non-existence into existence, I add to strengthen the grateful feeling the words: into a rational existence and immortal in the soul, i.e. you brought; after the words: Thou hast raised us who have fallen, and I add again: and a hundredfold every day thou raisest those who sin and repent; after the words: until now You have raised us to heaven, and You have bestowed the kingdom of the future, I add secretly: You, in our very communion of Your life-giving Mysteries, are already raising us to heaven, for where You are, there is heaven and heaven, and having given Yourself to the faithful, You have already granted with You the Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of the future, in pledge of the Most Pure Body and Blood Yours. When reading the prayer: with these blessed powers... with the words: Having betrayed myself for my worldly life, I add from myself, to deepen the feelings of gratitude and tenderness, the words: above all for me, a sinner, may I be freed from deadly sin and may I live forever.
After the words: take, eat, this is My body, broken for you for the remission of sins, I secretly add from myself to exalt the feeling of gratitude and amazement: oh divine, oh dear, oh your sweetest voice! ... Also after the words: Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins, I add the same words. At the same time, I imagine, if possible, the immeasurable goodness and voluntary exhaustion of the Lord, who by the will of all Himself exhausted for the sake of our salvation to the cross and death, and His extreme desire for us all to be fellow members of His Divinity and humanity, having crucified our flesh with passions and lusts (Gal. 5:24).
When I pronounce the words: Yours from Yours to You for all and for all, I imagine the solemnity and greatness of this moment, when a bishop or priest, standing face to face with the eternal, perfect, unchangeable truth of the Heavenly Father, who punishes sin, offers on behalf of all and for all the one, immeasurable, all-righteous, propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ the Son of God, the only one who can bend to the mercy of God Father, to redeem the whole world from the righteous curse and to intercede for all believers forgiveness of sins and blessings, and for those who have fallen asleep in the faith and hope of resurrection and eternal life - forgiveness of sins and peace with the saints; The sacrifice by which all the saints who have pleased God from the ages were justified, and in thanksgiving for whom it is also offered. Bringing this terrible, all-saving Sacrifice, the primate prays to God the Father or, according to the missal, asks and prays and prays (that is, tenderly asks) to send the Holy Spirit on those who stand before the throne of justice and mercy and on the gifts that are presented.
In these especially moments, the entire heart of the clergy should be completely given to God, so much so that the priest is terrified of our salvation and deliverance from the devil, from sin, damnation and eternal death, and not think about anything earthly, lest the terrible heavenly Sacrifice be offended by unworthy, base, passionate thoughts. After the blessing of the Eucharistic bread and wine and after their transformation into the Most Pure Body and Blood and after saying the affirmative: Amen, Amen, Amen, everyone bows to the ground, and I say to myself or in a low voice: God has appeared in the flesh (Tim. 3:16). The Word became flesh and dwelt in us (John 1:14).
After the exclamation: much about the Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Most Glorious Our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, remembering most of all those born of women, the venerable glorious prophet, the Forerunner and Baptist John, the holy apostles and saints, whose memory is celebrated on the day of the Liturgy, and having prayed for the repose of the departed, bishops or the priest prays to the Lord to remember every Orthodox bishopric, and I add secretly from myself: remember, Lord, all the Orthodox bishops, bearers of Thy Spirit, Thy righteousness, Thy power and Thy judgment, Thy holiness, Thy immortality, Thy new creation, Thy blessing, Thy good will, Thy sanctification and Thy deification, bearers of Thy mind and Thy heart: we are the mind of Christ imams (1 Cor. 2:16), Thy lordship and magnificence, all presbytery, and I add secretly: to whom have You entrusted the ministry of reconciliation of people with God, repentance, renewal, renewal, enlightenment, blessing, multiplication of the race through the sacrament of marriage, sanctification and deification and all the heavenly sacraments, except ordination - may it be worthy of its title, and may the right live and perform sacred acts, and bring prayers to You, Master, in a God-pleasing manner, for everyone and for everything.
Remember also in Christ the deaconry, which assists the priesthood and serves the heavenly Mysteries, and every priestly order.
We also bring to You a verbal service about the universe, about the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church composed of all nations; and in the storm of this world and the prince of darkness, pacify the existing churches and plant firm piety in them; about our Most Pious, Most Autocratic Sovereign, who is the image on earth of Your all-good, all-righteous, all-powerful, all-wise power, about His Spouse, about His Heir - the hope of Your Church and Your kingdom... and about the entire reigning House. And so on.
During the reading by the deacon of the litany: remembering all the saints and during the secret reading by the priest of the prayer: We offer You our entire life and hope, Lord, Lover of Mankind, and we ask, and we pray, and we pray, grant us to partake of Your heavenly and terrible Mysteries, sowing sacred and spiritual meals, with a clear conscience, for the remission of sins, for forgiveness sins, into the communion of the Holy Spirit, into the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, into boldness towards You, not into judgment or condemnation, I add secretly for myself: into boldness before all Your people, into the eradication of corrupting, flattering, annoying, violating, darkening, shaming, soul-killing passions that separate from You, to plant, the return, the establishment in the souls of all true, life-giving virtues, in fulfillment of wisdom, to teach all people your faith and commandments, for the illumination of my light before your people, for they may see my good deeds and glorify you, our Father in heaven, so that I do not wear in vain the great heavenly, angelic, idolizing, sovereign rank of the priesthood, not in trial or condemnation.
When I receive Holy Communion The Mysteries after reading the prescribed prayers: I believe, Lord, and confess... and your secret Supper... and so on, then I say secretly: the Lord is in me personally, God and man, hypostatically, essentially, immutably, cleansing, sanctifying, victorious, renewing, deifying, miraculous (which I feel in myself). Then I won’t add anything more from myself..
1 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 2. 1295.
2 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 2. 1310.
3 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 1. 71.
4 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 1. 171.
5 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 1. 162.
6 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 1. 504.
7 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 1. 255.
8 Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. Volume 1. 814.