Contents · 30 parts
With the blessing of Archbishop Sergius of Ternopil and Kremenets
Priest John Anuriev, 1884
Instead of a preface
Preface
1. What does it mean to pray to God?
2. How did the Holy Church establish to pray to God?
3. Why is it so established to pray to God?
4. When should you pray to God?
5. How should one be baptized?
6. Opening prayer
7. Jesus Prayer
8. Brief doxology
9. Prayer to the Holy Spirit
10. Trisagion
11. Full doxology
12. Prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy.
13. Lord's Prayer
14. Morning prayer
15. Evening prayer
16. Prayer for the Fatherland
17. Prayer for the living and the dead
18. Prayer before eating
19. Prayer after eating
20. Angelic greeting to the Virgin Mary
21. Song of praise to the Mother of God
22. Conversation about the miraculous icons of the Mother of God
23. Prayer to the Guardian Angel
24. Prayer to the saint of the same name
25. Conversation about the names Christ and Christian
First published in the 19th century, the book by priest John Anuriev has not lost its relevance in our time. Its pages present: how to explain to a child, according to his age and development, the first prayers that he learns to say; how, together with a living understanding of prayer, present the foundations of the Christian faith, information about God as the Creator of the world, talk about Divine properties, Divine Providence, Angels, the Fall, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, about God the Holy Spirit; and finally, how to convey to a child the meaning of prayer and awaken in him a living need for communication with God.
The questions given at the end of each section help you consolidate what you have learned and assimilate prayer not only with your mind, but also with your heart.
The book “Explaining Church Prayers to Children” will be useful for parents, teachers of the Law of God and Orthodox teachers.
In the explanatory note to the program of the elementary course on the Law of God for primary schools, it is said, among other things: “In the first year of study, it is expected to go through daily prayers. There are few prayers listed. The requirement to know by heart a large number of prayers would be burdensome for children entering school illiterate, and would be inappropriate from a religious and pedagogical point of view. Since prayers express Christian beliefs, feelings and aspirations, a child, having studied them, with an understanding accessible to his age, will receive the first elementary knowledge of the Christian faith in full, although not extensive.”
“When studying prayers, the teacher should try not only to ensure that children solidify the words of the prayer and understand their external, so to speak, meaning, but also to evoke from the hearts of the children those prayerful dispositions for which the words of the prayer serve as an expression. It is desirable that the explanation of prayers should not even have the appearance of a lesson, but should be a pastoral conversation with children about their spiritual needs, aspirations, and beliefs, which find their most natural expression in prayer.”
1. “When explaining prayers, the teacher will inform the children the most general concepts about God, the Creator of the world, about His omnipresence, omnipotence, wisdom and goodness, about His loving Providence over all creation, about Angels, the human soul created in the image of God, about conscience, the fall of people and their destruction, will tell them about God the Son, our Savior, about God the Holy Spirit, sanctifying the souls of people who believe in Christ, about our need to pray to God in all circumstances of life, about external signs of prayer, especially the sign of the cross, about prayer at home before icons and in church, about prayers to the Mother of God and the saints, for the living and the dead.”
2. “Each explained prayer should be preceded by a conversation with the teacher, which would introduce the child to the inner content of the prayer, so that the explained prayer follows from this conversation as a natural consequence. The subject of such a conversation can be either an everyday story from the life of children and families, or a narration from Sacred history and the life of the holy saints of God.”
3. “When studying each prayer separately, it is proposed to follow the following order: 1) reading the entire prayer, of course, meaningful and felt; 2) an indication of the main thoughts contained in the prayer, an explanation of the incomprehensible words and expressions found in it; 3) translation or possibly a short and close to the text paraphrase of the prayer; 4) asking students again using leading questions that are in close logical connection with each other, relating not only to the words of the prayer, but also to the subject of the introductory conversation; 5) gradual generalization of questions and 6) learning the prayer by heart - in the first half of the year from the words of the teacher, and in the second with the help of a book” [*].
In relation to this, the proposed explanation of church prayers has been compiled, which, I believe, can be useful to a teacher of the law who begins to study in public schools.
S.I.A.
[*] The program for teaching the Law of God in rural two-year schools, compiled by the Ministry of Public Education and approved by the Holy Synod on September 24, 1869, says: each new prayer should be preceded by a conversation with children about the content of this prayer, so that the prayer itself emerges as a result of this conversation; it must be said in Russian, and only then translated into Church Slavonic; children must learn it in class from the words of a teacher of the law.
Before starting lessons on the Law of God, the teacher of the law needs to get to know the children through simple conversations with them. The content of these conversations, the so-called preliminary ones, could be approximately the following: what is the origin of the children, and which of them are orphans? Do they know how to correctly say their first, middle and last names, and do they know their name day? Do they know their parish church and do they go to it? Do they know what prayers and who taught them to be baptized and pray? Do they attend confession and Holy Communion? Do they avoid meeting the priest, do they have any superstitions and prejudices, and do they not live near people of other faiths or schismatics?
It is also necessary to talk about school: about its benefits for children, about their always attending school and about how they need to behave towards teachers and among themselves; how to behave and take care of yourself on the way to school and home.
The teacher of the law should conduct such conversations in a simple home manner, with the main goal of becoming familiar with the religious and moral state of children and at the same time familiarizing children with school order. All this can be useful to an experienced teacher of the law for deeply sowing the saving truths of the Law of God into a young soul.
Due to the differences in local customs, as well as the age, rank and condition of the children entering school (especially in populous cities or villages), it is difficult to give a sample of these conversations, and therefore the content and order of them must be determined by the teacher himself, who more or less directly knows the local population, their attitude towards school and church and some other conditions...
A teacher of the law must always remember the Savior’s parable about the sower and sow spiritual seeds with great care, since, according to the parable, they can easily be trampled by passersby or pecked by birds; They can sprout without taking deep root and immediately wither; or they may be choked by thorns; and, remembering all this, take care, as much as depends on him, to make the young hearts of children into good soil, capable of bearing fruit a hundredfold, and then with an experienced hand sow the Divine seed in firm trust in the gracious help of the Holy Spirit.
Children, you know that a person on earth cannot live safely without the help of others. He is born so weak that if his parents had not taken care of him, he could have died then and there. The more the father and mother take care of the children, the better off the children will be; Then they will have to experience less different sorrows in life. Children always have a good time with caring parents... If they want to eat, they will come up to their parents, say that they are hungry, and their parents will immediately feed them; the children will be chilly from the cold, they will tell their parents about it, and they will immediately dress them; If the children happen to get sick, they sadly approach their parents, or they just catch a cold, the father and mother will immediately take care of treating the children... But where do parents get everything they need and give it to their children?.. Parents receive everything they need for both their children and themselves from God, Who created heaven and earth and all people...
Have you noticed that your parents pray to God in the morning and evening, and also when they sit down for lunch and after lunch; When they start any work, they cross themselves and say a short prayer: Lord, bless! and Lord help! Sometimes: Thank God! Glory to Thee, Lord! And when there is a Sunday or a holiday, they still go to church and there, together with others, they pray to God and ask for everything they need for themselves. Likewise, the Merciful God gives people everything they need in due time. People sow bread in the field or plant various vegetables in the garden and do it all with prayer - then God will give birth to everything in abundance; For one grain or one potato, we will be born more than ten exactly the same grains or potatoes. Or else, they will cut down the trees needed to build a house in the forest, and after a few years, new trees will grow in the same place, without any human intervention.
God not only gives people everything they need to prepare food, shelter and clothing, but also helps in all good deeds. - So you, children, came here to study... And we did not immediately start teaching, but first prayed to God, asked God to help the teachers teach you more diligently, and for you to listen more diligently and remember what the teachers will say; and every school day at school we will also begin and end with prayer. Why are we going to do all this? Then, to ask God for the help we need, so that God would invisibly bless our labors and give us good success in our studies. Thus, in prayer we turn to God Himself, express our needs to Him and ask Him for everything we need for a prosperous life. But not always in prayer we should only ask for what we need; in prayer we must thank and glorify God for everything we receive from Him. God is so merciful that He accepts thanksgiving and praise from all people, and people, constantly taking advantage of God’s mercies, are obliged to thank and glorify Him every day and even hour. In order for our prayer to be heard by God, we must always pray with desire and diligently, and during prayer we must try to ascend with our minds to Heaven and, as it were, appear before the Face of God Himself... praying to God is the same as talking with God Himself. So, prayer is a great thing, in prayer we talk with God Himself, and during prayer He listens to us in everything.
Can a person live safely without the help of others? Who helps a person the most? Where and how do parents get everything they need for themselves and their children? Why do parents pray to God at home and in church? How does God provide everything a person needs? Doesn't God help in good deeds? Why do you need to pray to God before starting a task? What do we express to God in prayer? How should you pray to God in order to receive what you ask from Him? Should a person thank God for what he receives from Him? Who does a person talk to in prayer?
Each of these questions should be required to be fully answered by children. When the children are able to answer all the questions asked to them separately, then ask them to say the answers together and thus briefly repeat the content of the entire conversation.
The proposed conversation about prayer can be considered fully mastered by children with the help of the teacher’s questions only when they are able to convey its content in approximately the following order: A person cannot live safely without the help of others. Parents are the first helpers to a person; In prayer they ask God for everything they need for themselves and their children. God sends everything that a person needs from Heaven and invisibly helps us in good deeds. You cannot begin your business without praying to God, but you must always ask God in heartfelt prayer for help in good deeds: God helps when people pray to Him earnestly. For the help received from God, a person should thank Him in prayer. Prayer is a great and holy thing for a person: in prayer, he talks with God Himself and lifts his mind and heart to Heaven, where God, remaining unchanged, controls everything and sends His great mercies to earth.
(Brief conversation after class prayer)
What were we children doing now? They prayed to God. This means that you all know how to pray to God. Tell me, what did we do when we prayed to God? (Children are silent; leading questions follow.) Did we stand or sit during prayer? They stood. What did we look at when we prayed to God? On holy icons? Yes. Then what did you do, looking at the icons? Did you say a prayer? Yes. What else did you do? Have you been baptized? Yes. Have you done anything else? Didn't you bow? They bowed. So, what should you do to pray to God? To pray to God, you need to stand in front of the holy icons, say a prayer, cross yourself and bow. Who, children, established how to pray to God like this? This is how the Holy Church established praying to God.
The teacher of the law repeats this with the children, first separately, always demanding from them a complete answer to this question.
Have you forgotten, children, what I told you last time about prayer? Tell us how the Holy Church taught us to pray to God? Repeat with children separately. And when the children answer intelligently, then continue further.
Why do we children stand on our feet when we pray to God, do you think? And who do we sometimes talk to while standing? Is it good to talk to bosses and elders while sitting?.. It’s indecent, it’s not good. Well, if we had to talk to an important boss, or to a king, how would we talk to them and ask them for what we need? Of course, standing? “But God is by no means superior to the king.” This means that we must pray to God while standing to express our reverence for Him.
Why do we, children, stand before holy icons during prayer? What do we see on the icons? On the icons we see the image of the Savior, His Most Pure Mother or other saints... And if you were shown an image of your father or mother now, would you remember them? Probably, they would immediately introduce themselves to you as you know them at home, and you would begin to think about them. So, during prayer, we must look at the holy icons in order to more clearly, more vividly imagine our Savior or the saints of God and so that, while praying, we do not think about anything else but God. Repeat, children, why do you need to stand in front of holy icons during prayer?..
Why, children, should we pray to God? - After all, God knows which of us needs to be given what, just as fathers and mothers know what their children need, and without asking they give them everything they need. And when something unpleasant happens to you: you get sick or someone offends you - after all, you ask your parents to help you in grief. We need to do the same in relation to God, our Heavenly Father: ask Him to help us in this or that misfortune that has befallen us. And when God helps, children, won’t we really thank Him for taking care of us, won’t we glorify His great mercy and love for us? And what kind of prayer would it be if we only stood before the holy icons, crossed ourselves and bowed, but did not say anything to God! This is why God awarded man the gift of speech, so that he could express his needs to Him and ask Heavenly Father for everything he needed. But you, children, know how many needs a person has in life, how often various troubles and misfortunes happen to us... we must talk about all this with God, ask for His help and intercession for us, the weak. Should be repeated with children.
Why do we children cross ourselves during prayer? Are all people in the world baptized? Do Jews and Tatars get baptized? No; they are not baptized because they do not believe in Jesus Christ. And we are baptized because we believe in Jesus Christ, Who died on the Cross for the sins of people. In the church you saw a cross to which the hands and feet of the dying Savior were nailed. It is for the sake of the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross that God will give us everything we ask of Him. Repetition.
Why do we children bow during prayer? To whom and when do we still bow? When we do something bad, when we are guilty, how do we ask for forgiveness from our parents or bosses, who can punish us for our guilt? We bow and ask them not to be angry with us, but to be kind to us. And we anger God every hour, every minute, because we do not live as He pleases. By bowing we express our guilt before God and ask the Merciful God to have mercy on us sinners and give us everything we need for a comfortable life on earth. Repeat the entire conversation with the children.
When, children, should we pray to God? We always need to pray to God, because we always need God’s help. For this, there are short prayers in which we can ask God for help for good deeds. So, when we get down to business, then, having crossed ourselves, we must say: Lord, bless! With this short prayer we ask God to help us in the work we are taking on; whether to work or to study, Almighty God always helps us in every good deed. Then, if we are already tired, and the work is not finished yet, we need to say: help, Lord. Having finished the matter, we must thank God for His invisible help to us, saying: Glory to Thee, Lord. If you did something bad: did not listen to your parents or elders, offended someone, told a lie, took and spoiled someone else’s thing - you must immediately say: Lord, have mercy! Forgive me, Lord! Do not punish us for doing evil that You did not command us to do; but be merciful to us, Lord, and, despite our bad deeds, give us everything we ask of You. In addition, children, morning and evening, before breakfast, lunch and dinner, and also after them, we always need to pray to God. You see how often we have to turn to God; perhaps more often than to his own father and mother. It is impossible to do otherwise, children: God created us, He gives us everything we need for life, He also watches over us, how we live, bad or good. God is our Heavenly Father, and all people are His children and brothers among themselves; God commanded people to call Himself Heavenly Father. So, children, we must always and in everything ask our relatives, father and mother, in order to live as they command, and in addition, we must often turn to Heavenly Father God, take care not to anger Him in anything and thus not to lose His love.
Why do we children get baptized? (By the cross we express our faith in Jesus Christ, Who died for us in terrible agony on the Cross.)
Tell me, how do you get baptized? What do you need to do to cross yourself? (Children are silent, leading questions follow).
What are you children baptized with? By hand. Right or left? Say the full answer: we cross ourselves with our right hand. How do you cross yourself with your right hand? How do you put your fingers together? You must be able to put your fingers together correctly: do as I tell you and show you. Extend the first three fingers of your right hand and put them together (watch that all children do); Place the other two on your palm and place this hand first on your forehead, then on your chest, then on your right shoulder and finally on your left. What have you identified? (You should put four dots on the chalkboard and connect them with lines so that you get a four-pointed cross.) What did I depict on the board? - Cross. And you also drew a cross on yourself, but you didn’t mark it with chalk or ink, which is why your cross is called the sign of the cross, or sign. Tell us how we need to be baptized correctly.
Why, children, did we put our fingers together like that? Is it possible to fold the fingers of your right hand differently and make the sign of the cross on yourself? No, children, otherwise you cannot be baptized, and here’s why: the first three fingers folded together mean our faith in the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - this is our God; the three fingers of the right hand are folded tightly together in order to at the same time show that we do not have three Gods, but One God in three Persons. The Triune God is also called the Most Holy Trinity. Now you know why we should put the first three fingers of our right hand together. Tell me why? (Ask everyone separately.)
What do we show when we put the three fingers of our right hand together? Name the Triune God in whom we believe. What is the name of the First Person? Second? Third?
When the children consciously and firmly answer all questions about the Persons of the Holy Trinity, then it will be possible to continue the conversation about making the sign of the cross.
Why, children, do we put the other two fingers to our palm? “By doing this we show faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior.” -Who is Jesus Christ? — Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. When He was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, He was named Jesus Christ. Having become a man, similar to us in everything, Jesus Christ did not at the same time cease to be the Son of God. On earth, in the form of a man, the Son of God appeared in order to teach people a pious life, since people then lived badly: they forgot the True God and His law, everyone quarreled among themselves. People were so evil then, children, that the Son of God, who appeared on earth in the flesh, was nailed to the Cross, on which He accepted death. Since then, good, pious people remember their Savior, and not only pray in front of the cross, on which the dying Savior is depicted, but also depict the sign of the cross on themselves, and are called Christians by the name of Jesus Christ, because they always try to live according to the law of Christ. With two fingers bent to the palm, we, children, show our faith in Jesus Christ, who, for the salvation of people, became the God-man when he was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Who is called the Son of God? Isn't He called differently? Any other way? Does it matter: the Son of God or the Savior Jesus Christ? Why did the Son of God appear on earth? How did people receive Him? What did the evil people do to Him? How do we show our faith in Jesus Christ by putting our hands on the finger?
Now, children, now you know that by folding the fingers of our right hand to make the sign of the cross, we express our faith in the Triune God and in our Savior Jesus Christ.
Why do we then place our folded hand on our forehead, chest and shoulder? — To make the sign of the cross? Yes, but at the same time we also sanctify ourselves. How is this possible? Here's how: when we put our hand on our forehead, we sanctify our thoughts; when we put our hand on our chest, we sanctify our feelings, our desires; and when we put our hands on our shoulders, we will sanctify our deeds, since we do everything with our hands.
Why do we place our right hand on our forehead, chest and shoulders? Why else do we make the sign of the cross? Why is it necessary to sanctify the forehead, chest and shoulders?
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Do you remember, children, what God told us to call Him? God told us to call Him Father, which means that we are all His children and must do everything that Heavenly Father commanded us. And if we are obedient children, then Heavenly Father will help us in everything, just as our own father helps obedient children in everything. If we do not obey God, if we do not do what pleases Him, then He may not give us those mercies that we ask for in prayer. How should you live to receive help from God? We need to live in such a way that it can be seen that we are trying to do everything that pleases Heavenly Father. Therefore, in the first prayer to God, we express our desire to do everything in the name, that is, in honor, for the glory and with the help of the Triune God. This prayer goes like this: In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. And it is called the initial prayer, since the Holy Church has established that it should be said before all other prayers and before the beginning of every good deed. When saying this prayer, children, we need to sign ourselves with the sign of the cross, thereby showing that we said it with firm faith in the Triune God and in the Savior’s suffering on the Cross and with a sincere desire to do everything that He commanded us. Amen means truly, truly. With this word we show that we say prayer with faith in the invisible God. The word amen is often found at the end of prayers so that the person praying remembers: his prayer will be heard by God only when he says it with faith in the Triune God, Whom we do not see, but Who sees us and knows whether we pray to Him from a pure heart. Only to a true believer does the Heavenly Father always provide everything necessary.
Children say a prayer first in chorus, and then individually; The teacher of the law monitors the correct pronunciation of each word and stops where necessary. This is what you need to do when studying the following prayers.
What did God tell us to call Him? How should we behave in relation to Heavenly Father? Does God always give people what they ask of Him in prayer? What should we ask God first of all? Why should the opening prayer be said with the sign of the cross? Why is the word amen added to prayer? What does it mean?
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.
Tell me, children, who is Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. - What is it called again? Jesus Christ is also called the Savior. - Does it make any difference to say: Jesus or Savior? - Doesn't matter. Why is the Son of God called the Savior? - Because he came to earth to save people. - What did He need to save them from? - From bad deeds, in other words, from sins. You know that when you do something badly, your parents punish you for it. God can also punish us all for bad deeds. When people began to live badly; to do not what God ordered, but what they themselves wanted, then God, from a good Father, became a strict Judge and began to punish them. But people did not become better, but sinned more and more and became so accustomed to sin that they completely forgot about God and His holy law. All that remained was to destroy them all, and there were many people in the world. Then God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, who was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary and became in everything like people, only he never did anything bad, never sinned. The Most Holy Theotokos named her Son Jesus, that is, Savior. The Savior, while living on earth, taught people to be obedient to God in everything and to live among themselves in love and harmony. It was in Himself that He showed the first example of a holy, pious life. Some people willingly listened to the teachings of Jesus Christ and believed in Him, while others hated Him and killed Him, and how did they kill Him? Think about it, children, they nailed Jesus Christ by the hands and feet to the high Cross, on which He died in terrible agony. So, know what sins can bring a person to: he will not be ashamed to kill an innocent righteous person.
But you often do not obey your parents, you do not always live peacefully among yourself, sometimes you tell lies, and you do not always pray to God fervently; does that mean you, children, sin too? Yes, now all people sin. After this, what should we, sinners, do, if not ask for mercy from our Savior, Who, having taught us a holy life and suffering for us, can always punish for sins. Therefore, having expressed in the initial prayer to the Triune God our desire to do everything in His name, we must now ask your Savior to have mercy on us for the bad deeds that we often commit. The Holy Church has established that the prayer for mercy should be said after the initial prayer. Cross yourself, children, and say to me: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! This prayer is called the Jesus Prayer because in it we ask Jesus Christ to have mercy on us. The Savior is called Lord because He is our Master, and we are slaves, obliged to obey Him in everything; The Son of God - because the Savior, having become a man, did not cease to be the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. Christ means the Anointed One.
How did people live on earth before Jesus Christ? How did Jesus Christ save people? How did He live on earth? Did everyone believe in Him? How did evil people treat the Savior? Do people sin now? Don't children also sin? What prayer should sinners turn to the Savior with? Why is this prayer called the Jesus Prayer? When should it be said? Why do we call Jesus Christ Lord? Son of God? What does the word Christ mean?
Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.
Children, what happens to you when you have done something wrong to your parents, but they do not punish you because you asked for forgiveness and promised to behave well? Are you happy then? - Certainly! - Oh, how you rejoice then and thank your parents for loving you so much and being kind to you. And when your parents buy you new beautiful clothes, will they give you something? Aren't you happy again? - We must do the same in relation to Heavenly Father - God. We must thank God that He not only does not punish us for our sins, but also sends us His rich mercies. For this, and especially, children, for saving us all from eternal destruction, we must always say to Him with a feeling of heartfelt gratitude: Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee. This short prayer is called a short doxology, because in it we only glorify God for his love and mercy for us sinners, but we do not ask Him for anything and do not express any of our needs. By the word God we call not just the First Person of the Holy Trinity, but all Three Persons of the Divine. Since the Triune God is indivisible, in our prayers we always say: Glory to Thee, O God.
Repeat the short doxology. Why should we glorify God? For what else?
Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of truth, Who is everywhere and fulfills everything, Treasure of good things and Giver of life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from all filth, and save, O Good One, our souls.
You already know, children, that the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Son of God, our Savior Lord Jesus Christ, came to earth in order to teach people a pious life, so that people would obey God in everything, honor their parents, never lie, never quarrel among themselves, but would live in love and harmony and help one another in everything. Having taught people, Jesus Christ then ascended to Heaven. How is it, children, Jesus Christ taught the people with whom he lived, and then ascended to Heaven; who will teach us what the Savior taught while living on earth? - But listen. “When Jesus Christ told those who believed in Him that He would soon ascend from them to Heaven, they began to grieve about this. Then Jesus Christ said to them as a consolation: It is better if I leave you; then I will ask you from My Father for the Comforter Spirit, Who will remind you and repeat with you what I have told you, and will guide you into all truth (See: John 14:16-17; 16:13-14). Indeed, only ten days passed after the Ascension of the Lord, when the Holy Spirit descended on the believers in Christ, enlightened their minds, and they remembered and understood with particular clarity everything that Jesus Christ taught them.
Since then, the Holy Spirit has guided believers in Christ into all truth and helped them in every good deed. Therefore, we should take care not to upset the Holy Spirit with anything, so that the grace (power) of God does not leave us. And to prevent this from happening, we need to turn to the Holy Spirit more often with heartfelt prayer. After the Jesus Prayer and a short doxology, it is now established to ask the Holy Spirit to teach us what Jesus Christ taught people during his earthly life, so that he could cleanse us from all sin and thus save our souls from eternal destruction.
Here, children, is a prayer to the Holy Spirit: cross yourself and listen to its translation into Russian with attention. Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of truth, Who is everywhere and fills everything, Treasure of the good and Giver of life! Come and dwell in us, cleanse us from all impurity, and save, O Good One, our souls. Let's look at the prayer to the Holy Spirit in parts.
How many Persons are we talking about here, children? One or three? - Here we are talking about the same Person; but this Person is called by three names. Why are three names given to the same Person?
King of Heaven is the first title. You know that on earth the most honorable and greatest name is king; There is not a single person in the entire kingdom equal to the king in power. The king rules the whole people; He gives mercy to the good and punishes the evil. Who can we call, children, the Heavenly King? — The Heavenly King can be called the One who has the most power in Heaven. And who, besides God, is highest in Heaven?! This means that when we say to the Holy Spirit: King of Heaven, we call Him God. The Holy Spirit is God, the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, reigning together with the Father and the Son in Heaven and throughout the world. Should be repeated with children.
Comforter is the second name. Do you remember, children, whom Jesus Christ calls the Comforter? He called the Holy Spirit the Comforter when He promised to send Him to earth. Since then, the Holy Spirit, descending on believers, gives them true consolation and holy joy in all troubles, sorrows and misfortunes. Human life is full of such sorrows that no one on earth can alleviate. The Holy Spirit alone always brings comfort and peace in any sorrow. Repeat along with the previous one.
The Spirit of Truth is the third name. Why is the Holy Spirit also called the Spirit of truth? Because He instructs people in only one truth, helps them do only one good. There is, children, also a spirit of lies: an evil spirit that teaches us to tell lies and tempts us to do bad deeds. We must always move away from him so as not to be subjected to grave sorrows and troubles. Repetition.
So, children, three names are given to the Holy Spirit in prayer so that we know: the Holy Spirit is God, who comforts people in all troubles and guides them to all saving truth.
Why is the Holy Spirit called the King of Heaven? (Require a complete answer from the children.) What is another name for the Holy Spirit? Who called the Holy Spirit the Comforter and the Spirit of truth? Is there a spirit of lies in the world? Repeat all three names of the Holy Spirit. Why are these three names used in prayer to the Holy Spirit?
Now let’s look, children, what else is said in this prayer about the Holy Spirit. Further in the prayer to the Holy Spirit it is said that He is everywhere and fills everything. Who can be everywhere at the same time? - Can you and I be both in class and at home at the same time? No, we can't. Apart from God, no one can be everywhere. The Holy Spirit, like God, can be everywhere. And wherever we pray to the Holy Spirit, He will hear our prayer everywhere and give us what we ask of Him in prayer. Repetition with children.
Further in the prayer the Holy Spirit is called the Treasure of the Good. A treasure, or storehouse, storeroom, is also a precious thing. The Holy Spirit is called the Treasure of the good because He distributes the Divine powers necessary for a person to live a pious life. Believers can receive as many gifts of grace from the Holy Spirit as they can accept and accommodate. It is said about the Holy Spirit that He distributes His gifts of grace to each believer separately, as He pleases (1 Cor. 12:11). These gifts constitute a precious, irreplaceable treasure for Christians. Repetition.
The prayer to the Holy Spirit also says that the Holy Spirit is the Giver of life. What, children, is the difference between a living person and a dead person? Yes, because a living person can do something, but a dead person cannot do anything. Why can’t a dead person, like other people, do anything? Because there is no life in it, there is no power to act. This means, children, if a person does not have the strength to do good deeds, then he does not have a full life. It’s wonderful when the spring sun begins to warm up a plant frozen in winter, out of nowhere, on it: first the buds, then the leaves, then the flowers and finally the fruit. Likewise, a person without the Divine power of the Holy Spirit cannot do anything good and saving for himself: everything good then seems to him difficult and even impossible. But as soon as the Holy Spirit revives us with His gracious power, we become capable of great things. And this is because the Holy Spirit gives us Divine power to do and live as our Savior Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to live.
This same Holy Spirit, together with God the Father and the Son, at the creation of the world, gave life to man and other creatures, which is why He is called the Giver of Life. Repetition.
What have you children learned about the Holy Spirit? Why can He be everywhere and fill everything in the world? When and where can you pray to the Holy Spirit? Why is the Holy Spirit called the Treasure of the Good? What does the prayer say about the Holy Spirit and how should we believe in Him?
After meaningful children's answers to the proposed questions, you can continue studying prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Did we, children, ask for anything from the Holy Spirit in the words of the prayer we analyzed? Not yet. And we are allowed to ask much, very much from the Holy Spirit; we can ask Him to come and dwell in us and cleanse our souls from the filth of sin.
So, children, the Holy Spirit, although it is everywhere and fills everything, may not be with us, may not help us? Yes. And this happens when we do not call on Him in fervent prayer and when we do bad things. It wouldn’t be so scary if only we didn’t have the Holy Spirit; but when the Holy Spirit does not exist in a person, then an unclean spirit of malice settles in him, which tempts the person to do evil deeds. Oh, how terrible is this spirit of malice, which defiles a person with all sorts of unclean thoughts, sinful desires and criminal deeds. We need to earnestly ask the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us and cleanse us from all sinful impurity. Sins, children, always make us unclean before God; in a person’s soul they are like a dirty spot on white clothes. But since we on our own, with our own strength, cannot cleanse ourselves from the filth of sin, then what can we do but ask the Comforter Spirit to dwell in us and cleanse us from all uncleanness.
We end our prayer to the Holy Spirit with the following words: Save our souls, O Blessed One! Who do we call better? - Blazhe means Good, Kind; that's what we call the Holy Spirit, because no one is as good as the Holy Spirit. “We ask Him for a lot; we ask for what we don’t deserve at all; meanwhile, due to the infinite kindness and love of the Holy Spirit for us, we hope to receive from Him everything we ask.
What do we express to the Holy Spirit with the words of the prayer: Save our souls? - let's analyze these words.
Who is saved and when? - When a person is burning, drowning, or when he is robbed; in a word, when he dies, strangers save him from inevitable death. And we, children, when we sin, we are in danger of perishing forever, so we must pray to the Holy Spirit something like this: Holy soul, we do not have the strength and means to become good and pious on our own; We are aware of the danger, but we cannot help ourselves; have mercy on us, save us, good Comforter, soul of truth.
Tell me, children, what do we ask of the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit always with us and helping us? What happens to a person without the Holy Spirit? What uncleanness do we ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from? Why do we say Better to the Holy Spirit? Why do we ask Him to save us? Who is being saved? Repeat the entire prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Is this prayer read and sung in church the way we said it? - No, in church this prayer is read differently. Why, children, do they read and sing in church differently from what we say? This is what I want to tell you about. - Previously, Russian people also spoke in the church language, but over time, colloquial speech began to change little by little and finally changed so much that only in church can one now hear the dialect that our ancestors, the Slavs, spoke. That is why the church language is called Slavic. Our spoken language differs in many ways from Church Slavonic, and you should always try to notice every incomprehensible word in prayers and find out what it means and what colloquial Russian word can be replaced, otherwise we will not understand the prayers read in church.
You already know the prayer to the Holy Spirit in simple colloquial dialect, you still need to find out how it sounds in Church Slavonic. The Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth in the church says this: the Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Soul of Truth. Notice the incomprehensible words, and even those that I said with a slight difference from colloquial speech. Tsar, what did I say in church? To the Tsar. Heavenly and ecclesiastical in the same way. Comforter. I said: Comforter. Spirit of truth, or in church terms: Soul of truth. Now repeat the entire beginning of the prayer in the church way. - King of Heaven...
The prayer is repeated with all the children separately, and when everyone consciously learns the meaning of the words of the Church Slavonic language, then the translation of the prayer can continue.
Next, children, what do you say in prayer to the Holy Spirit? - Who is everywhere and fills everything, the Treasure of the good and the Giver of life. In church terms, these words read like this: Who is everywhere and fulfills everything, Treasure of good things and life to the Giver. - Word: Which I said in the church way: Izhe; is everywhere - in church terms: everywhere; fulfills everything in the church way: fulfill everything; Treasure of the good and in the church way; Giver of life, or in church terms: life to the Giver. Repeat in church: life to the Giver. Repeat in church style: Like everywhere, etc. Repeat the prayer from the beginning and say incomprehensible words: Like, like, fulfill - what do they mean? Izhe - Which, etc. Say words that are the same at the beginning, but different at the end: King - to the King, Comforter - to the Comforter, Spirit - to the Soul. Say the words that were spoken the same way in prayer: truth, life, Treasure of good things. So, children, we still say some words now in the same way as our Slavic ancestors spoke and how we hear them in church? “Yes, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to understand the church service at all.” (Ask all the children separately.)
Let's continue, children. What do we ask of the Holy Spirit? Speak as you please. Come and settle and so on. Listen to how I say this in the church way: come and dwell in us and cleanse us from all filth and save, O Blessed One, our souls. Notice again the difference in the words: the word come in the church way, I said: come; settled said: settled; in us said: in us; cleanse and I said the same; from all uncleanness in church terms: from all filthiness; and save, O Good One, souls, and I said the same; ours, and I said ours. Tell me, what incomprehensible words did you notice? There are two of them: filth, in us. What do they mean? Defilement - uncleanness, muck; in us - in us. Which words have a small difference and are quite clear? Come, come in church style; settled down, moved in like a church; from everyone, according to the church from everyone; ours, in church terms ours. What words are without any change? Save, O Lord, souls.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Thrice.)
I have not yet told you, children, about who composed the prayers with which we turn to God. So listen, I’ll tell you about this today. Some prayers were compiled by the holy fathers, others were given to us by God Himself. A short prayer, which is read after the prayer to the Holy Spirit, is given to Christians from Heaven. You have heard this prayer; it is not only read in church more often than others, but is also sung.
Here it is, cross yourself and repeat it with me: Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. A small prayer was given to us from Heaven, because God loves when people pray to Him and not for long, but from a pure heart and with zeal. To whom and how, children, did God give this prayer? Here's how: under a certain Greek king, a terrible earthquake occurred in Constantinople. Everyone expected that they were about to fall underground and be crushed by it. What to do? People gathered in the church, took the holy icons there and went out into the street with them to pray to God for mercy. They pray to God, but the earthquake and underground rumble continue. Suddenly, a strong wind, in full view of everyone, lifted one boy high into the sky. A few minutes later, the boy sank to the ground completely calm and unharmed and said that he heard people singing up there: Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal... Immediately this heavenly song was sung on earth, adding to it: have mercy on us. And what would you children think? The earthquake stopped and no underground rumble was heard. Here, for a short prayer, what great mercy God showed people! He saved them from a terrible death. - Probably the boy was kind and pious if God gave this prayer to people through him? - Certainly. Otherwise God would have taken someone else to heaven. Whose singing do you think the boy heard in the sky? - He heard the singing of the Angels, who in heaven sang and sing with the incessant voices of the Triune God. Now let's look at what the Angels sang in heaven, as the boy heard it.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal. In the angelic song, as you hear, the word Holy is repeated three times. Can't you guess, children, why the word holy is repeated three times? — In honor of the Triune God? - Yes. What does the word holy mean? Holy means pure, sinless. No one, children, is holy as God is holy. Although people can be saints, they do not become so on their own, but with the help of God, and holy people, although a little, sin. God can never sin, as the most holy and pure Spirit. The prayer goes on to say: Holy Mighty, in other words, holy Almighty. In these words, the Angels sing of the omnipotence of God. God is called omnipotent because he can do everything with one word and for God there is nothing impossible either on earth or in heaven. Finally it is said: Holy Immortal, that is, never dying, never ceasing to live, Eternal God. - So, children, the Angels in heaven sang the holiness, omnipotence and eternity of the Triune God. What can we, sinners and mortals, add to this prayer if not to ask the Most Holy, Almighty and Eternal God to have mercy on us sinners? So on earth Christians began to speak and sing the angelic song with the addition of the words: have mercy on us. This short prayer is called the angelic song, it is also called the Trisagion, from the repetition of the word saint three times. The prayer is repeated three times, as a sign that all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity equally belong to holiness, omnipotence and eternity.
Who composed the prayers with which we turn to God? To whom and how was the Trisagion prayer given? Why is the word holy repeated three times? What does it mean? What does strong mean? Immortal? Why was it added: have mercy on us? What is this prayer called and why? How many times does it repeat?
Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Do you remember, children, with the addition of what words the angelic song is always read and sung in church? When you are in church, notice that after they repeat the angelic song three times, they will immediately add the following prayer to it: Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. What do we express to God in this prayer? Are we asking God for anything? “We don’t ask for anything, we only glorify Him, we say that the Triune God belongs to people eternal glory on earth.” Remember the prayer we called a short doxology? In it, did we ask God for something, or not? They also did not ask for anything, but only glorified God, which is why they called it doxology; and this prayer is also called: doxology, only, unlike the first, full doxology, since here we call the Triune God by name, and we also add to it the words: now and ever... Amen; whereas in a short doxology we only say: Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee. So, remember, children, that we have two prayers called doxology; only one is called a short, short doxology, and the other is a full doxology.
In this prayer, some words are unclear, so you need to find out their meaning - now means now; constantly means always, incessantly; forever and ever means forever. Amen, remember what that means? In simple colloquial speech, the full doxology can be conveyed as follows: Glory belongs to God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now, always and forever. Truly so!
After the angel's song, what prayer is read? What is it called? Do we ask God for anything in it? Is there another prayer like this? What are the strange words in it? What do they mean? How can I say the full doxology more clearly? Why should we glorify God? Review what you remember about the short doxology.
Tell me, children, the prayer with which it is established to begin praying in the morning (In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.) What do we express to the Triune God in this prayer? Do we always keep our promise to do what God commands us? What should we do if, despite all our desire, we cannot live as God commanded? We need to ask the Triune God to have mercy on us. What prayers do we know in which we ask God for mercy? In the Jesus Prayer they asked the Savior for mercy; in Trisagion they also asked for pardon. There is, children, another special prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy, which is said immediately after the full doxology. Cross yourself and say it with me: Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse our sins; Master, forgive our iniquities; Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy name's sake.
In this prayer, almost all the words are understandable, the same ones that we use in conversations with each other, but the meaning of these words is not immediately clear, so we will try to find it. So let us examine carefully what exactly we ask ourselves from the Triune God in the prayer for mercy.
Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. This is how prayer begins. With these words, as you already know, we ask the Triune God to be merciful to us, sinners, and not to punish us for our bad deeds. Next, we say separately to God the Father: Lord, cleanse our sins. Do you remember, children, that we asked the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from all filth, that is, from sins, which in a person’s soul are like a dirty stain on a clean dress? And the Holy Spirit cleanses us from sins when it dwells in us and helps us do good, saving deeds instead of bad, destructive deeds. God the Father cleanses us from sins when He forgives us for them, does not punish us for them, but only when He sees that we, asking God to cleanse us from sins, are at the same time trying to get rid of them ourselves. Repetition with children.
What did we ask the Most Holy Trinity? To whom do the words of the prayer refer: Lord, cleanse our sins? Haven't we asked the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from our sins? How does God the Father cleanse our sins? Do we need to worry about cleansing our sins ourselves?
To the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity we say: Master, forgive our iniquities. And who, children, is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity? Son of God. What was the other name for the Son of God when he was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Jesus, or the Savior. What did He save us from? From sins that can destroy a person forever. How did He save us from sins? He saved us by suffering the punishment for sins in our place and, while living on earth, showed us how to do good deeds, and left us His law, in which he indicated how people should live so as not to be subjected to new punishments. When people do something that is not specified in His law, some bad deeds or sins, this means that they do not live according to the law of Christ, in other words, they are lawless, commit lawlessness. Here we are, like slaves, now always fulfilling the will of our Master and Lord, and we cry to Him: Master, forgive our iniquities!
What do we ask of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity? What is lawlessness? Why do we ask the Savior to forgive our iniquities? What do we call Him in this prayer? Why do we call Him Master?
We say to the Holy Spirit: Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities. And what, children, did we ask the Holy Spirit for in the prayer in which we called Him the King of Heaven, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth? They asked to come and live with us. Here too, when we say: Holy One, visit, we also ask the Holy Spirit to visit us, that is, to visit our soul, to live with us. Why do we ask the Holy Spirit for this? And so that He heals our infirmities. You know, when a person gets sick, a doctor comes to him and treats him, and close people look after the patient, help him get up and lie down. So we, when we sin and sin, we become like a sick, weak person, because without God’s help we cannot do good deeds. Then we have only one salvation - to ask with all our hearts the Holy Spirit to visit us and heal our infirmities, that is, our weakness and powerlessness to do good deeds. And only, children, the Holy Spirit, this Heavenly Physician and Healer, can completely heal our soul from sins and make it capable of fulfilling the law of Christ.
What do we ask of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity? Have you asked the Holy Spirit about this earlier in prayer? How is this prayer read? What are our weaknesses? Who can heal the infirmities of our soul?
We end our prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy with the words: for Thy name's sake. What name are we talking about here, children? Here the name of the Triune God is spoken of, and it is said so that we firmly remember, addressing separately each Person of the Most Holy Trinity, that we do not have three Gods, but one God in the Holy Trinity, and that the Triune God will give us what we ask for, not because we have earned it in any way, but because of His infinite love for us, for which we must always glorify Him.
How does a prayer for mercy end? What name is being talked about here and why? Will God give us what we ask if we ask not in the name of God? Repeat the opening prayer. What does it mean to do in the name of God. Repeat the prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy.
After the prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy, another short prayer is said: Lord, have mercy and full doxology.
Lord, have mercy is said three times as a sign that all three Persons of the Holy Trinity have equal power to forgive us sins, because by doing bad deeds we equally anger all three Persons of the Divine. A full doxology is said after this because the one who has received pardon from the Lord can and should thank Him by glorifying His holy name.
Why, after the prayer for mercy, is it still said, Lord, have mercy three times? Why is praise said?
Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Do you remember, children, who composed the prayers with which we turn to God? Some prayers were composed by the holy fathers, others were given to us by God Himself. Do you remember through whom God gave people a prayer called the Trisagion, or angelic song? Through one godly boy? There is, children, prayer, and prayer is the most important of all prayers, because the Savior taught us it when he lived on earth; This prayer is called the Lord's prayer. Cross yourself and say the Lord’s Prayer with me in conversational speech that we understand: Our Father who lives in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us our necessary bread for this day and forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom, the omnipotence and the glory forever. Amen.
The Savior gave us a small prayer, children, but in this prayer he allowed us to ask Him for a lot.
First, let's look at how the Savior told us to call God: Our Father who lives in heaven. What kind of our Father, who lives in heaven, is being spoken about here? Of course, about God, who created us all and gives us everything we need for life, who cares and takes care of us, loves us all, like the father of his children.
True, God is angry with people when they do not obey Him, and removes them from Himself when they sin seriously. But when people repent before God, then He forgives them and again helps them in everything.
Why did the Savior tell us to say our Father, and not my Father? Because we are all, redeemed by Jesus Christ from eternal destruction, brothers among ourselves and constitute one great family of the Heavenly Father. Is a family happy in which some of the children have plenty of everything, while others are poor? Of course not. So we must say to the Heavenly Father: Our Father, and not me alone; Give what we need for the well-being of all of us, and not just me.
Why did Jesus Christ tell us to say to God: Our Father who lives in heaven? Then, so that when we call God Father and pray to Him, our souls would be transported to heaven and would not think about anything earthly.
And what, children, when we said to God: Our Father who lives in heaven, did we ask Him for something or not? No, they didn’t ask for anything, but only named or called upon God, which is why these words in the Lord’s Prayer are called invocation. In church invocation it sounds like this: Our Father, who is in heaven. Here the word Father is said instead of Father; Who lives instead of ecu, in heaven instead of in heaven.
Who composed the prayers by which we pray to God? What prayers has God given us? Whom did Jesus Christ tell us to call Father in this prayer? Why do we need to say: Our Father, and not my Father? Why do we need to add: living in heaven? Repeat the invocation in church language. What words did you say differently in church than in conversation?
Hallowed be Thy name! Now, children, Jesus Christ taught us, first of all, to ask the Heavenly Father that the name of God may be holy. Isn't God holy? God is holy and most holy in Himself, but people do not always use the name of God holy. Sometimes they do not pray to God diligently, other times they even mention the name of God almost as a joke; There are also such bad people that they will perhaps swear, that is, call God Himself as a witness, that they told the truth; in fact, they will lie and not tell the truth. These are the people, think about it, children, do they use the name of God holy? Of course not. Because of this, misfortunes happen to them in life, and God deprives them of his heavenly blessings. Do you think that if people do not properly honor God, will they honor their bosses, their elders, and each other? Probably not, because God commanded us to love and honor everyone. So, children, the first good in life is when people use the name of God as a great shrine, when they holyly fulfill everything that has, so to speak, the seal of the name of God, which is commanded to people by God Himself. This means that if we live well and do good deeds, then we will show that we use and preserve the name of God holy and carefully. Let our first petition to the Heavenly Father be that He Himself help us to always use His great name holy and to show through our lives that we honor God, our Heavenly Father, above and above all.
What is the first thing Jesus Christ taught us to ask of Heavenly Father? Do people always use the name of God holy? Can people be happy without worshiping God? Why can't they? Who really uses God's name holy?
May Your Kingdom come! In these words, Jesus Christ taught us to ask Heavenly Father for His Kingdom to come, expand and establish itself on earth. Without our prayer, cannot God establish His Kingdom on earth? God established His Kingdom on earth once and for all; only not all people are in His Kingdom, because only he can be in the Kingdom of Christ who tries to fulfill the law of Christ. And whoever does not live according to the rules of Christ’s law cannot be in the Kingdom of God. And what kind of Kingdom would the Heavenly Father have on earth if all the evil, lazy and careless people were in it; they would interfere with the good and pious and oppress them!.. So, children, we need to take care and ask the Heavenly Father that He Himself will help us to stay in His gracious Kingdom on earth, so that His Kingdom will increase more and more, so that people, fulfilling the law of Christ, will become loyal subjects of the Heavenly King and receive eternal salvation. How do we know that we are in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father? The Kingdom of God on earth is truth, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit... This means that when we act in truth in everything, live with everyone in peace and harmony and never lose peace - even in misfortune, then we will belong to the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father.
What did Jesus Christ teach us to ask Heavenly Father for in the second petition? Who can really be in Heavenly Father's Kingdom? Why is this so? What do we need to do to stay in the Kingdom of Christ? How do we know that we are in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father?
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven! In these words, Jesus Christ commanded us to ask Heavenly Father that His will be done on earth just as it is done in heaven.
And what, children, is the will of the Lord? The will of the Lord is what God wants to do with all of us, as well as what He wants people to do for Him and for their salvation. With God in heaven, the first executors of His holy will are the Angels: what God tells the Angels to do with people in heaven, they will immediately do on earth. How can we, like the Angels, fulfill the will of the Heavenly Father on earth when God commands us nothing and does not send us anywhere? God conveyed His will to us through Jesus Christ. Everything that Jesus Christ taught people on earth is the will of God - what the Heavenly Father wants all people to do while living on earth for their own happiness and well-being. Have you seen a book in church, which is decorated with velvet and silver or gold, which lies on the holy throne in the altar; when the priest or deacon brings out the book, then all the believers worship it, and sometimes kiss it, kiss it. This book is called the Gospel. This is what is written in the Gospel about the will of the Lord; it says what and how people should do while living on earth. And so that we can all know God’s will for us, countless Gospels have been printed, and the poor will be given the Gospel for free. In addition, the will of God is explained by priests in the church, and outside the church, for example, in Sunday schools, as I explain to you. This means that we can all know God’s will for us. But it is not enough just to know the will of God, one must learn to fulfill it from childhood, to fulfill it as the Angels fulfill it in heaven - exactly and in due time. And since this is not always easy for us, living among temptations, Jesus Christ taught us to ask Heavenly Father to help us fulfill His holy will. And each of us should pray not for himself alone, but for everyone, so that God will help everyone to live according to the teachings of Jesus Christ, because the more people on earth who do the will of God, the easier it will be for each of us to do it.
And what, children, happens to people when they do not exactly fulfill the will of Heavenly Father, as you and I often do? Then God can punish us for it; but no matter how He punishes us, we must meekly obey His all-good will, remembering that He knows better than us when to have mercy and when to punish.
So, if God destined us to live in poverty, in orphanhood, let us not be discouraged and grumble at the Heavenly Father, but let us try to fulfill His will, expressed to us in the Holy Gospel, then He will show us His mercy here too and reward us with all earthly blessings. But, living in wealth, in luxury, we must not forget ourselves, but we must always be kind, obedient and remember that it is the will of God not only to give us wealth and honors, but also to take them back from those who forget God. The words of colloquial speech: and on earth, as in heaven, sound like a church: as in heaven and on earth.
What did Jesus Christ teach us to ask Heavenly Father for in the third petition? What is the will of God? Who in heaven does the will of God? How can people know the will of God? Why is it not always easy to do it? Why is it necessary to ask God to help all people live according to His holy will? What happens to those who do not fulfill God's will? How to obey God's will in happiness and misfortune? As they say in church words: on earth as in heaven?
Give us our necessary bread for this day! In these words, Jesus Christ taught us to ask Heavenly Father for the bread we need for existence. Why did Jesus Christ allow us to ask only bread from the Heavenly Father: after all, the whole world with its riches is in the power of the Almighty Ruler of heaven and earth? Perhaps something else is meant here other than the ordinary bread that we eat? Yes; By necessary bread we also mean housing and clothing, without which a person cannot do. How does God give all this to people? God does not serve any of us ready-made bread, but only sends down to earth something from which people can prepare food for themselves, which they consider healthy and tasty, as well as clothing and housing. Why should we ask God for bread every day? But remember, when you ask your father or mother for something, do you really say, for example, like this: give us breakfast and lunch today, and at the same time for tomorrow; or buy us a shirt, jacket and hat so that we won’t have to ask you for anything for a longer time. If you said that to your father or mother, you would make them angry because your parents care about your well-being. Likewise, the Heavenly Father cares more about us than we do ourselves, and He has everything ready for our well-being; we only need to ask in heartfelt prayer for everything we need for a comfortable life, and He will give us everything in due time. But since a person consists of a body and a soul, which also requires food corresponding to it, then, asking for daily bread for the body, we at the same time must ask God for food for our soul. Food for the soul is the word of God and especially the Body and Blood of Christ, which are given to us in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Behold, children, how much we ask from Heavenly Father in the words of the Lord’s Prayer: give us our necessary bread for this day. In church terms, this request of the Lord’s Prayer sounds like this: Give us this day our daily bread. The word necessary is said in the church language: urgent; for this day, it is said in church - today.
What did Jesus Christ tell us to ask Heavenly Father for in the fourth petition? What is meant by necessary bread? How does God provide people with the bread they need? Why is it necessary to ask God for the necessary bread for only one day? What do we ask God for our souls? How does this petition sound in church? How do you say the word necessary in church? How is this day? Repeat everything you asked Heavenly Father to do in the Lord’s Prayer.
Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors. This is another thing Jesus Christ told us to ask our Heavenly Father: to forgive us our debts! Do we children owe anything to God? We owed money because we didn’t always live well, we didn’t always do what Heavenly Father told us to do. So know this: if you do a bad deed, that is, a sin, you will do a debt to God, because God gave us spiritual strength so that we always use it for good deeds. Jesus Christ called sins debts so that we know: God will certainly exact from us for our sins, just as a judge collects debts from people and punishes faulty debtors; and, knowing this, we would more earnestly ask Heavenly Father to forgive us our sins, while at the same time trying to atone for them with good deeds.
Will Heavenly Father forgive us our sins if we commit them so often? In life, they can forgive us a debt once, and then, if they borrow it, they will demand payment, and even if not immediately, in parts, they will still have to pay the debt, so that later they can ask again. And we will do the same in relation to our debts to God, when we forgive those who have offended us, our debtors, we will, as it were, little by little pay off that great debt to Heavenly Father, which is our sins. Forgiveness of insults to one's neighbor is so valuable to God that it serves as a measure to forgive us as much as we forgive our debtors. Let us, children, willingly and with all our hearts forgive offenses to our neighbors, remembering that by our forgiveness of offenses we incline Heavenly Father to forgive us countless sins, for which He can punish us, as violators of His holy will, with eternal torment. In church terms, this request of the Lord’s Prayer sounds like this: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. The word forgive in the church is said: leave; as the church says: like; in church it is said to debtors: debtor.
What else did Jesus Christ tell us to ask Heavenly Father for? What debts do we owe to God? Under what condition will Heavenly Father forgive us our debts—our sins? Why is forgiveness of offenses towards our neighbor necessary for us? How does this petition sound in a church way? What words are said differently than in colloquial speech? How are the words said in the church way: forgive, what, to debtors? Repeat everything you asked Heavenly Father to do.
Do not lead us into temptation. In these words of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus Christ taught us to ask the Heavenly Father not to lead us into temptation, which refers to temptations to sin, various troubles, misfortunes and generally misfortunes in the world. True, misfortunes happen to people most often when they do not live according to God’s commandments or do not follow the advice of elders, parents, and bosses. But sometimes, regardless of people, misfortunes occur, for example, former orphanhood, loss of property from a fire, from a flood, from thieves, etc. Be that as it may, at any age and condition a misfortune can happen to a person. The evil spirit, this constant enemy of man, attacks him especially when he is in some kind of trouble or danger, in order to more conveniently tempt him to sin... And one sure way to get rid of destruction at this time is a heartfelt prayer to the Heavenly Father, so that He Himself, with His invisible but strong hand, would keep us from falling, save us from the evil spirit and help us survive the misfortune that generously happened. Remember this, children, always tell Heavenly Father the words of the Lord’s Prayer: do not lead us into temptation, with firm faith in the strong intercession of Heavenly God the Father for us, and in any trouble, in any misfortune that befalls you, do not become discouraged and do not lose hope of receiving faithful help from God.
What else did Jesus Christ teach us to ask Heavenly Father for? Why do people have misfortunes? Can all people have misfortunes? Why are misfortunes dangerous for us? What is the surest way to get rid of death in misfortune? With what feeling should we say the words of the Lord’s prayer: lead us not into temptation? Repeat everything we asked Heavenly Father in the Lord's Prayer.
Deliver us from evil. This is something else that Jesus Christ taught us to ask Heavenly Father for—to deliver us from the evil one. Who and what is meant by the evil one? - The evil one means a bad, evil deed - sin, as well as an evil spirit that tempts a person to sin. Man is prone to bad, evil by nature. He knows that evil is harmful to him, that his parents, bosses and God Himself can punish him for bad deeds, but he still does evil. Therefore, Jesus Christ taught us to ask Heavenly Father for Divine help to fight evil. Indeed, a person needs to fight evil. We ourselves are prone to evil, and then the evil spirit confuses us. Sometimes he haunts a person, tempting him to sin... And what evil thoughts he will not inspire in him! “No one will know that you did something bad, be lazy, enjoy yourself, take someone else’s, etc.; after all, you will get pleasure from it, and when they ask you why you did what you shouldn’t do, don’t tell the truth, but say that I didn’t do it, come up with something to justify yourself, and that’s the end of the matter.” This is how the evil spirit usually inclines us to evil. And so, when a weak person succumbs to his seductions (and this happens, children, to us, when we rely on our weak strengths and do not ask our Heavenly Father to help us drive away the evil spirit from ourselves), then the person becomes ashamed, his conscience begins to torment him for a bad deed. His parents or bosses will ask him: why did you do something bad, he will be ashamed to tell the truth, and he will begin to come up with something to justify himself - to lie. Thus, an evil spirit leads a weak person to deceit, the most shameful and evil deed. It is not for nothing, children, that evil deeds are also called evil deeds: they begin with the evil slander of the devil, and end with those who committed them being disingenuous before their parents or superiors. We need, children, to more earnestly ask Heavenly Father to deliver us from evil deeds, that is, sins, and especially from the devil, who tempts us into evil deeds.
What else did Jesus Christ teach us to ask Heavenly Father for? Who and what is meant by the evil one? Can a person get rid of evil without God's help? How does the devil persuade a person to do evil? Why does a person lie after doing something bad? What is another name for evil? Say everything you asked Heavenly Father to do in the Lord’s Prayer.
For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. We, children, asked the Heavenly Father for everything we needed; They asked for everything that was needed for a prosperous life on earth and for eternal bliss in heaven. But will Heavenly Father give us what we asked of Him? He will and will always give, if only we ask Him with firm faith and thank Him from a pure heart for all the mercies that we receive from Him. Therefore, Jesus Christ taught us at the end of the Lord's Prayer to glorify the Heavenly Father with the following words: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. These words of the Lord's Prayer are called doxology, because in them we glorify Heavenly Father as the Great King and Almighty God, in whose power our life and our well-being are. By heartfelt praise, or glorification of the Heavenly Father, we can thank Him for everything that we receive from Him. Let us, children, remember this and beware of angering the Heavenly Father by our inattention to His infinite greatness and power, and especially by our ingratitude for the mercies we receive from Him. In church terms, the doxology of the Lord’s Prayer sounds like this: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Here the word yako is said instead of for. Amen, you know, children, why is it added to prayers? Tell me.
Have we, children, asked ourselves anything else from Heavenly Father? Will He give us what we asked of Him? With what words did Jesus Christ teach us to end the Lord's Prayer? What are these words called? What do we express in praising Heavenly Father? What should we remember most in life and what should we beware of? What does the doxology of the Lord's Prayer sound like in the church? What words of colloquial speech are said differently in the church way? How do you say the word for in church?
In the Lord's Prayer, we, children, asked Heavenly Father for everything we needed for a prosperous life; only everyone asked for everything, not for themselves alone, but for all of us; They said to God this way: give us the bread we need; forgive us our sins; don't bring us to misfortune. But each of us, children, has our own special needs, so can’t we ask God to help each of us separately with what we need? Of course, this is also possible; God loves us so much that He allows each one to ask Him for one or another favor. And even, the more often we appear before the Face of God, the more we express our needs to God, the more God shows us certain mercies. God loves, children, when in the morning, even before the start of our everyday affairs, we stand before Him and tell Him everything we need; then from the very beginning of the day He takes us under His special care and gives us help and protection in every difficult matter and in every dangerous case of life. And you, children, although you have lived a little in the world, you already know how difficult it is to do good deeds, you also know that by nature man is so weak that without God’s help he cannot live happily and prosperously, not only a day, but also an hour, even a minute. Moreover, each of us has an evil invisible enemy - the devil, who only knows what to persuade us to evil deeds in order to destroy us forever and deprive us of eternal bliss, which the Savior, through His sufferings, prepared in heaven for all good and pious people. And no one for us, children, except God, can be a faithful helper in the fight against the devil: God created us, He cares about children and is ready to help us in every good deed; we only need to believe in God, hope in His mercy and love for us sinners, thank and glorify Him for all the mercies that we receive from Him. In the prayer that the Holy Church has established for us to read in the morning, each of us expresses all this to God. Cross yourself, children, and say your morning prayer with me in conversational language that we understand:
Lord Lover of Humanity! Rising from sleep, I hasten to You and try to do Your deeds with Your mercy, and I pray to You, help me always and in every matter, deliver me from earthly misfortune and from the devil’s help for evil, save me and lead me into Your eternal Kingdom. Since You are my Creator, Trustee and Giver of all good, all my hope is in You, and I glorify You now, and always, and forever. Truly so.
In this prayer we called God the Lord Lover of Mankind, that is, the Lord merciful, kind, loving us all, not denying us, His servants, anything necessary and useful for us. In the words: I hasten to You and try to do Your deeds with Your mercy, we tell God that, asking His help for good deeds, we at the same time try ourselves, with our own strength, to live as He commanded us; We don’t think that as soon as we ask God for help in prayer, good deeds will happen by themselves, without our work. God helps a person when he cannot cope with something with his own labors, but even during the labors of God, a person always needs God’s help in every matter. God promised to give this help to a person when he asks Him about it in a heartfelt prayer, which is why it is said further: I pray to You, which means: I ask You for help, since You allowed me to ask You when I alone, with all my efforts, cannot do something good. And in what exactly a person needs God’s help, we express this to God in morning prayer like this: deliver me from earthly misfortune, that is, from various earthly troubles, such as illness, death of close relatives, fires, insults, attacks on us by evil people and other things that often do not depend on us and that we cannot remove from ourselves on our own. Deliver me from the devil’s help for evil, because the devil, with various crafty suggestions, draws me from good to bad deeds and thus can destroy me forever, that is, deprive me of Your eternal Kingdom. You Yourself, the Lover of Mankind, save me with Your invisible and strong hand, help me not to succumb to the crafty temptations of the spirit of evil and lead me into Your eternal Kingdom, not defiled by evil deeds. With the words of prayer: since You are my Creator, Trustee and Giver of all good, we express to God why we ask Him for help and hope to receive it. After all, God, as the Creator, knows what we need His help with, what good we can do on our own and what we cannot do, and, as a caring Trustee, He will give us help when it is needed. Each of us must only, with the hope of God’s mercy, ask for help from God and glorify His endless mercy towards us sinners. At the end of the prayer we express to God this way: all my hope is in You, and I glorify You now, and always, and forever.
In church morning prayer is read differently than in spoken language. The words of the prayer: Master Lover of Mankind are said in the church way: Master Lover of Mankind. Having risen from sleep, I hasten to You in a churchlike manner: having risen from sleep, I have come running. I try to do Your works with Your mercy in a churchly way: I strive for Your works with Your mercy. I pray in the church way it says: I pray. (Repeat the first part of the morning prayer with the children.) Help me always and in every matter in the Church: help me at all times, in every thing. Deliver me from earthly misfortune, in church terms: deliver me from all worldly evil things. The devil's help for evil is said in the church: the devil's haste. (Repetition of the second part.) Since You are my Creator, Trustee and Giver of all good, in the church it is said: You are my Creator and Provider and Giver of all good. All my hope in the Church is in You: all my hope is in You. And I glorify You now, and always, and forever. Truly this is true in the Church’s way: I send glory to You now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
How do we ask God for everything we need in the Lord's Prayer? Is it possible for us to ask God each for ourselves? When does God help us in everything? What should we do in the morning before the business of life begins? Why do we need Divine help? How can we thank God for helping us in everything?
What do we express to God in morning prayer? Why do we call God the Lord and Lover of Humanity? Why do we tell God that we are trying to do His works? Why do we say: I pray to You? What is meant by earthly misfortune? What is under the devil's help? Why do we call God Creator and Trustee? Why do we glorify God? - Repeat everything we ask God for in morning prayer. Does this prayer sound so churchly? Which words are spoken in the church way only with the ending of the word changed, and which ones are completely different from the way they are spoken in colloquial speech? (Memorization of morning prayer in Church Slavonic should occur in parts.)
What, children, did we express to God in our morning prayer, what did we ask Him for? We told God that we were trying to do His works, that is, to live as our Savior Jesus Christ taught us to live; They asked Him to help us when we are alone, in our own strength, without His help we cannot do good. So we lived through the day: we changed our minds about a lot, talked a lot and did a lot of different things during the day. When should we think about whether we had a good day? Of course, at the end of it. And for all the good things we have done during the day, we must thank God, because we did it with His Divine help; in bad thoughts, words and deeds, we need to ask God for forgiveness, so that He does not become angry and punish us for our sins. Each of us must certainly do all this before nightfall. The night is appointed by God for man to calm down and restore strength after daytime fatigue. When we spend the night peacefully, we get up the next morning with renewed strength and eagerly take on the day's activities. But at the same time, the night hours are dangerous for us, because both visible and invisible enemies, taking advantage of our fatigue, can easily attack us at night and cause us various insults. So we need to make sure that the night time passes calmly and safely for us and that the next day we get down to business with renewed vigor. But when can we be calm? Then, when no one was angered by anything and did not do what we are forbidden to do. It feels bad and restless in our souls when we do something to anger our comrades, teachers or parents. What could it be like when we angered our Heavenly Father - God, did not try to do what was pleasing to Him, what we promised to do, for which we asked for His Divine help. No, children, then you can no longer be calm, because you will involuntarily think that God will not punish us, will not give us into the hands of our night enemies... But how much we, children, sin during the day, how much we change our minds, say, do bad things that are displeasing to the Lord God. All that remains for us is to ask God in heartfelt prayer, so that He, in His mercy, forgives us our sins and in the coming night preserves us from all evil.
And so, children, with what prayer the Holy Church commanded us to always turn to God before preparing for bed. Cross yourself and say this prayer with me in conversational speech.
Lord our God, everything in which I have sinned today in word, deed and thought, You, as the Good One and Lover of Mankind, forgive me. Give me a peaceful and calm sleep, send me Your Guardian Angel, who with His power would cover and protect me from all evil, since You are the Guardian of our souls and bodies, and we bring glory to You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now, and always, and forever. Truly so.
In this prayer, called evening prayer, each of us first asks God for forgiveness for what we have done sinfully during the day, and not only for what we have done bad, but also for what we have said and thought about evil. He asks for forgiveness from God, because He is kind and loves all people and willingly forgives them all their sins when they ask Him about it in heartfelt prayer. In evening prayer, each of us expresses all this to God like this: Lord our God... forgive me. And as if having received forgiveness of sins from the All-Good God, each of us asks Him for a peaceful and restful sleep and a Guardian Angel, who with His power would cover and protect us from everything that could make the coming night scary and sleep disturbing. Indeed, a person who is tired from the day's work gains strength only after a sound and restful sleep. But if a person has an anxious dream, if he dreams of various fears, then in the morning he cannot feel good and at ease. It’s scary when some misfortune happens to a person at night, a fire, or robbers attack, because evil people most often attack sleepy people. And it can be especially scary and painful when the devil attacks in a dream, who can easily overcome an unrepentant sinful soul. To protect us from all these troubles that can easily happen to each of us at night, God allowed us to ask Him for a Guardian Angel, who, with his invisible but strong power, would cover and protect us from all evil caused by the devil and evil people. This is what we express to God in evening prayer with the following words: Give me peaceful sleep... from all evil.
At the end of the evening prayer, we express to God our firm hope that we will receive everything we ask of Him, we say that God is the strong Guardian of the soul and body of every person, and with such firm faith we say that we immediately glorify God, as those who have already received help from Him: You are the Guardian... Truly so. In the church way, evening prayer is read differently than in colloquial speech.
Lord... the thought in the church way says: Lord our God, who have sinned in these days, in word, deed and thought. You, as the Good One and the Lover of Mankind, forgive me in the church way: as the Good One and the Lover of Mankind, forgive me. Send me... from all evil in the church way: send Your Guardian Angel, covering and keeping me from all evil. Since You are the Guardian... Truly so in the church way: for You are the Guardian of our souls and bodies, and we send glory to You, to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Do we children need to think about how we spent our day - good or bad? When should we think about this? Why did God establish night time? Isn't this a dangerous time for us? Why is it dangerous? What should we do before going to bed? —What do we ask God for in evening prayer? Why do we need forgiveness from God? Why do we ask God for restful sleep? What can happen to us at night? Why do we ask for a Guardian Angel? How do we express to God the hope that we will receive what we ask of Him? Why do we glorify Him? How is evening prayer read in the church way? What words are said in church the same way as in colloquial speech? Which ones only have a different ending? How to say in church about what? How - sin? Repeat the first part of the prayer, etc.
Save, O Lord, Thy people, and bless Thy inheritance, granting victories against resistance, and preserving Thy residence through Thy Cross.
Children, how would you rather live: each separately, alone, or together with your parents, brothers and sisters? Of course it's better with family. Which is better for you: when your house is alone or when many houses make up your village or city, in which there is a church and where to get everything you need for life; in case of illness or misfortune, is there anyone to turn to for help? Of course, in the latter case it is better. Finally, I ask you: is it good for us to live with people when they are poor, or sick, or in need of the bare necessities? Of course not. Because then we will have to watch how people suffer, and it will be sad and difficult to see their suffering.
And on whom, children, does happiness on earth primarily depend? First of all, it depends on God. If God grants heat and cold in due time, there will be no different diseases on earth, there will be a lot of grain and all kinds of fruits of the earth, there will be many domestic animals. People will only have to use what God sent to make food, shelter and clothing for themselves. In a word, when God blesses people with His mercies, then they will feel good, they will have everything they need for a prosperous life in abundance.
But here, children, is our grief. People love to live in society, they build large villages and cities for themselves, but they do not always live in peace and harmony among themselves, they often oppress one another, offend one another, envy one another, so that only that village, that city, that land is happy where there is a good ruler who knows how to justify the innocent and punish the guilty. It would seem that people should just live on earth and calmly enjoy the fruits of their labors; it doesn't turn out that way at all. And the people who are closest to each other, who profess the same faith in God, speak the same language, are called by the same name, for example, like us Russians, still do not live in complete harmony and love and thereby incur the wrath of God: sometimes He ceases to protect people who disagree with each other, giving them over to the power of other peoples, who bring with them a lot of grief and oppression.
In order, children, so that no misfortune befalls our Russian land, so that God does not become angry with the Russian people, deprive them of His blessing and betray us into the hands of enemies, we need to pray to God. And this is the prayer for the Fatherland given to us by the Holy Church. Cross yourself and say this prayer with me in conversational speech.
Save, Lord, Your people, and bless Your possession, giving victories to your enemies, and preserving Your dwelling place with Your Cross.
In this prayer we say to the Lord: save Your people and bless Your possession, because the Lord invisibly controls and controls the Orthodox Russian people on earth. When He blesses His possession, that is, rewards people with earthly blessings and healthy air, then everyone will live well. But if God deprives people of His blessing, then there will be pestilences, droughts, floods, famines and other misfortunes with people on earth, which is why many of us may die prematurely. Therefore, we ask God to bless us with an abundance of earthly fruits and save us from destruction.
But if people have a lot of all sorts of good things, and they themselves are sick, or there is no agreement and order between them, they offend each other, or, worst of all, their enemies defeat them, how can they then be happy? Of course not. So we continue in prayer and ask God to give strength and strength to our Orthodox people to pacify our enemies, that is, all evil people who, jealous of happiness and well-being, dare to harm us in obvious, and especially secret, ways. We say: Save... giving victory to your enemies.
But people can only live in harmony among themselves when they firmly believe in the Divine teaching of Christ and act in everything as the Holy Orthodox Church teaches. Therefore, further in prayer we ask the Lord this way: Save, preserving Your home with Your Cross. The word dwelling means Orthodox Russia and the Holy Church of Christ, that is, all Christians in whom God Himself dwells and invisibly lives. (Remember, children, we prayed to the Holy Spirit: come and dwell in us.) God protects the Holy Church from visible and invisible enemies for the sake of the suffering of the Cross; Because the Savior shed His Most Pure Blood on the Cross for people, God forgives people’s sins and gives everything for a prosperous life on earth.
In the church way this prayer is read differently than in colloquial speech: Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thy possession; in the church way it is said: Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thy property. Giving victories to enemies in the church way: granting victories to the enemy. Preserving Your dwelling by Your Cross, in the church way it is said: Preserving Your residence by Your Cross.
When is it good for people to live on earth? On whom does the happiness of people on earth depend? Do people always live in harmony with each other? How does God punish people who disagree? What must we do for God to save us? What do we say in prayer for the Fatherland? How does God own us? What do we ask God to save people from? Why are people unhappy even when there is an abundance of earthly fruits? Why do we ask God for victory over our enemies? When can people live in harmony? What is meant by housing? How does God preserve His Church with the Cross?
How is a prayer for the Fatherland read in a church way? What Words in prayer sound differently in church than in colloquial speech? Which ones only have variable endings? How do you say possession in church? And so on until the end. Repeat the first part of the prayer, the second, the third, the entire prayer in the church style.
Our Savior Jesus Christ taught us to pray for all people - both because we are all children of the Heavenly Father and brothers among ourselves, and because the more God sends His mercies to people on earth through common prayers, the better we will live. But God, children, is so merciful to us, sinners, that he allowed us to pray for each of us separately - both for ourselves and for our closest people and benefactors. Each of us has such people. First of all, our spiritual father, that parish priest who prays to God in church for all of us and in confession, in the name of God Himself, forgives us the sins that we repent to God before him, and then partakes of the Holy Mysteries of Christ; our parents, father and mother, through whom God brought us into the world and who, from the day of our birth, constantly take care of our happiness, providing us with everything we need for a prosperous and calm life; and our other closest relatives: brothers, sisters, uncles, grandmothers, living with whom we use their services; those benefactors who secretly or openly help us, such as our elder friends, teachers and many others. In a word, for everyone who provides us with special service or help, we must pray to God with the following short prayer: Save, Lord, and have mercy on my spiritual father, my parents, relatives, bosses, benefactors and all Orthodox Christians.
It’s good to live, children, with parents, close relatives and good friends, to use their help, affection and love, but we don’t always have to live with them for a long time. It happens that they die before reaching old age, and thus are separated from us. It is bitter to see off beloved parents, sincere friends and benefactors to the grave, and then endure the inevitable hardships of orphanhood and remember with sorrow in our hearts how happy we were, living together. Heavenly Father gave us, children, the consolation to pray to Him for the repose of the souls of deceased relatives and benefactors, so that God would forgive the sins they committed on earth. After all, the soul of a person - this invisible vital force that controls the human body, thinks, feels and strives for God - never ceases to live, does not die like the body, but immediately after separation from the body ascends to heaven and there, according to God’s definition, begins a new life together with disembodied spirits, joyful and blissful or sorrowful and painful, depending on what the person has done more here - good or evil. Sins, children, even here on earth torment a person and deprive him of peace of mind, and there, in heaven, they will torment him even more, because for sins the soul of a person will be deprived of the Kingdom of Heaven and imprisoned in a place of torment with evil spirits. The merciful God commanded us to pray like this for the dead: Remember, Lord, the souls of your departed servants (you can call them by name) and all my departed relatives and benefactors, and forgive them all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven. The word remember means remember; deceased means deceased; the dead are called asleep or asleep, because they will rise and be resurrected when it pleases God, on the day of the general Resurrection; sins - sins, bad deeds; grant - what prayer was this word in?
How did Jesus Christ teach us to pray to God? Is it possible to pray to God separately for people close to us? How to pray for them? What should we do when we lose our loved ones? What is the human soul? What happens to the soul after a person dies? Do not a person’s sins hinder his bliss in heaven? How should we pray for the dead? What does the word remember mean? Why are the dead called deceased? What does sin mean? Grant what? Repeat prayers for the living and the dead.
You know, children, that people prepare their food from what, by the grace of God, grows in the fields. If God does not give warmth and rain in due time, then the fields will not produce grain bread of various fruits and herbs; people will have nothing to bake bread with and cook food from, there will be nothing to feed livestock; This means there will be no meat, no milk, no eggs. So, we must remember that the food we eat is a gift from God. But God’s gift must be accepted and used always with prayer and God’s blessing. Therefore, the Holy Church established that Orthodox Christians must pray to God before eating food and after eating it. Cross yourself, children, and say a prayer with me before eating, in conversational language that you can understand.
Lord, the eyes of everyone look to You with hope, and You give them food in a timely manner, You open Your generous hand and fill every living creature with Your mercy.
In this prayer, we express to God that we rely on Him to receive everything necessary for existence, and it is as if we receive the prepared food from the hands of God Himself, Who promptly and generously gives not only people, but also any living creature as many gifts as it can accept. In church terms, this prayer does not sound the same as in colloquial dialect.
Lord, the eyes of all look to You with hope, as the church says: The eyes of all look to You, Lord, to trust. You give them food in a timely manner, according to the Church: You give them food in due season. You open Your generous hand in the church way: You have opened Your generous hand. You fill every living creature with Your mercy, as the church says: fulfilling every animal with good will.
Instead of this prayer, before eating, you can read the Lord's Prayer: Our Father...
What, children, is our food made from? Why is food called God's gift? Why do you need to pray to God before eating? What prayer is prescribed to be said before eating? What do we express to God in this prayer? How does this prayer sound like a church? How do you say it in church eyes? How they look with hope - and so on. What words are spoken without change in the church way? Don't people read prayers before eating? Do they read the Lord's Prayer?
Children, what can make our hope of receiving from God the earthly blessings we need in life certain? When will God not stop giving us everything in due time with his generous hand? Then when we thank Him for everything we receive from Him. By gratitude we show God: we feel and appreciate that we receive everything we need from God without any merit of ours, only through the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for us.
But should we ask God only for earthly blessings? - No, in addition to earthly blessings, there are heavenly ones, and we all must take care to become heirs of these heavenly blessings here on earth, so as not to lose the eternal Kingdom of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to care about heavenly blessings more than earthly ones. In the Holy Gospel He told us: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this [you need in life] will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). And so that after being satiated with earthly blessings we do not forget about heavenly, eternal blessings, then, while offering gratitude for earthly ones, we immediately ask our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ to deign us to still have great mercy - not to deprive Him of the Heavenly Kingdom. This is what we express in the short prayer that Christians are required to say after eating. Cross yourself, children, and say this prayer with me: We thank You, Christ our God, for you have filled us with Your earthly blessings; do not deprive us of Your Heavenly Kingdom.
In this prayer, all the words are clear to you, children, because they have already been encountered in prayers before. What do they mean: Tya, yako, ecu?
Should we thank God after eating? What do we express to God with our gratitude? Shouldn't we ask God for heavenly blessings? What did Jesus Christ tell us to care about above all? How to read the prayer
after eating? What do we express to God in it? What do we thank for and what do we ask of God? What words in this prayer are not used colloquially? In which prayer was the word ecu and what did it mean there? Here the ecu doesn't really matter.
Virgin Mary, Rejoice, O Blessed Mary, the Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women and blessed is the fruit of Your womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls.
Children, tell me, who is our Savior Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity? Was He always called Jesus Christ? No, He always was and is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, but He began to be called Jesus Christ when He was born of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. Listen, I will tell you about this today.
Do you know how people lived on earth before the coming of the Savior? Then people lived poorly: they did not honor the true God and did not love each other. God has punished people many times for their sins; threatened to completely destroy them, but people did not correct themselves. God could have destroyed sinful people from the face of the earth if the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, had not become the Intercessor for the human race. He Himself suffered punishment for the sins of the entire human race and taught people a righteous life. For this, the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth. That's how it was. God knew that there were two righteous spouses on earth: Joachim and Anna, who, although they lived among sinful and lawless people, never forgot the true God, but always fulfilled His holy Law and lived in love and mutual harmony. They lived to a ripe old age childless and were very sad about this, thinking that God was probably angry with them for their sins and was not giving them children. They did not stop praying to God and asking Him to send them a child, and at the same time they promised that if a child was born to them, they would give him up to be raised in God’s temple, so that the child, not seeing human temptations, could learn to love and honor God with all his heart and become kind and pious. The Lord revealed to Joachim and Anna that they would have a daughter, from whom the Savior of the whole world would be born. The couple named their daughter Maria and at the age of three they sent her to be raised in God's temple. In the temple, the Blessed Virgin Mary lived under the special protection of God, and the Angels fed Her with heavenly bread. When She was fourteen years old, then, according to custom, She left the temple and moved to her hometown of Nazareth, to the house of Joseph, a pious elder who was descended from King David. Here She did handicrafts and housework, and in her free time she always read the Holy Scriptures. One day, when the Blessed Virgin Mary was reading the Holy Scriptures, an Angel appeared to her and said: “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will give birth to a Son and call Him Jesus.” The Holy Virgin, having listened to the gracious message of the Angel, humbly said to him: “I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.” Soon the Blessed Virgin Mary went to her relative - the wife of the priest Zechariah, the righteous Elizabeth - to tell her about the appearance of the Angel. As soon as righteous Elizabeth saw the Most Holy Virgin Mary, then, at God’s special inspiration, greeting Her, she said in a loud voice: “Blessed are You among women and blessed is the fruit of Your womb, and where is it that the mother of God Himself came to me.” And indeed, children, soon the Blessed Virgin gave birth to a Son, whom she named Jesus, which means Savior.
In memory of the angelic gospel of the Blessed Virgin Mary [*] and Her meeting with the righteous Elizabeth, a sacred song was composed. Cross yourself, children, and say it with me: Virgin Mary, Hail, blessed Mary, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have given birth to the Savior of our souls.
Rejoice, Virgin Mary - these are the words of the Angel, as you already know, children, who was sent by God to announce to the Blessed Virgin Mary the birth of the Savior from Her to the whole world.
For all lost sinners, as for you and me, the coming of the Savior was a great joy. But most of all was the joy of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, through whom the Son of God deigned to appear into the world, who gave birth to Him as Her Son, nourished Him with Her breasts, carried Him in Her arms, in a word, raised Him as a Savior to the whole world. And on earth the Mother of God rejoiced over Her Son the Savior, and in heaven She rejoices over Him. And we, children, repeating from the bottom of our hearts the angelic greeting to the Mother of God: Rejoice, O Gracious One, the Lord is with You, as if we share Her joy with the Mother of God, we rejoice with Her, which, of course, is most pleasant to Her. The word grace-filled means having received from God special power, special mercy, which consisted in the fact that the Most Holy Theotokos gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race.
Words of prayer: Blessed are You among women and blessed is the fruit of Your womb - you children, remember whose? Righteous Elizabeth? Yes. Blessed means glorified or worthy of being glorified. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and not the righteous Elizabeth herself, she called the Mother of God the blessed of all wives, and Her fruit, that is, the Savior who would be born from Her, was also blessed. With these words, Righteous Elizabeth expressed to the Mother of God that no one on earth has ever been awarded such mercies from God as the Most Holy Virgin Mary, chosen to be the Mother of God Himself, and no one has ever given and will give to the world such mercies as the Divine Son conceived by Her, the Savior of the world, who will soon be born of Her. Repeating to the Mother of God the words of the Angel and righteous Elizabeth, we add to them: for she gave birth to the Savior of our souls, and with this we express to Her our faith in Her Divine Son, Whom we recognize with all our hearts as the Savior of our souls.
Angelic greeting to the Mother of God: it sounds quite clear in the church way, with only a few words changing the ending or shortening. The words: Mother of God, Virgin, Mary are used colloquially as follows: Mother of God, Virgin, Mary. In church it is said "Savior" instead of "Savior".
Who is our Savior? When did He begin to be called Jesus Christ? - Why was He born of the Mother of God? Who was the Mother of God? Did the Blessed Virgin Mary know that the Savior of the world would be born from Her? What did the Angel say to the Mother of God? Did the Most Holy Theotokos tell anyone about the appearance of an Angel to Her? How did righteous Elizabeth greet the Mother of God? Is there a prayer in memory of the Angel's greeting to the Mother of God? Whose words does this prayer consist of? What do we say on our own in this prayer to the Mother of God? What words sound different in church than in colloquial speech? What do the words mean: gracious, blessed, Savior? Who is meant by the fruit of the Mother of God's womb?
[*] The Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on March 25/April 7.
It is worthy to eat as you truly bless Thee, the Mother of God, the Ever-Blessed, and Most Immaculate, and the Mother of our God. We magnify You, the most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption.
The Blessed Virgin Mary was awarded great honor through the birth of the Savior to the whole world; countless people received salvation through Her. No person and not even one of the Angels has served as much for the salvation of people as the Most Holy of all saints, the Virgin Mary. Why, children, was the Blessed Virgin Mary awarded the high honor of giving birth to the Savior of the world? - Because on earth there was no one holier, purer and more humble and more obedient to the will of God than the Virgin Mary. Living on earth, She not only did not allow Herself to do anything bad or sinful, but she was always careful not to think about anything bad. With Her holiness and purity, She had deep humility. No one on earth has ever strove so strongly for God; no one was so completely devoted to Him as the Blessed Virgin Mary. She always thought about God, tried to do everything as God commanded, put herself entirely at God’s disposal and always loved to call herself the Lord’s servant. For such a pious life, the Lord God honored Her with the high honor of being the Mother of the Savior to the whole world. Now the Mother of God is in heaven with her Divine Son; For her deepest humility on earth, She is so exalted in heaven that she has incomparably more honor and dignity than the highest and closest Angels to God: Cherubim and Seraphim. It cannot be otherwise, children, because the Most Holy Virgin Mary gave birth to the Divine Son not in the same way as other mothers give birth, through the mediation of a husband. She gave birth to Jesus Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit, without breaking her virginity, and therefore She is the true, real Mother of God. This is what we express to the Mother of God in prayer, which is called a song of praise. Cross yourself and say with me this sacred song, first in conversational speech that is understandable to us: In justice, it is worthy to glorify You, Mother of God, ever blessed, and Most Holy, and Mother of our God. And we glorify You as more honorable than the Cherubim and most glorious without comparison with the Seraphim, as having preserved virginity in the birth of the Son of God, as the true Mother of God.
In the first half of this sacred song, we express to the Mother of God that we rightly honor and glorify Her, because with Her holy life on earth She earned the high honor of giving birth to the Savior of the world and becoming eternally blessed in heaven. No one on earth was so free from vices and holy as the Mother of God, therefore, of all people, it was established to call Her the Most Immaculate, or the Most Holy. In the second half, we express that we honor the Mother of God above the Cherubim and Seraphim surrounding the throne of the Heavenly King of glory, since, having given birth to Her Son through the action of the Holy Spirit, She painlessly, without breaking her virginity, gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore is called the Mother of God.
A church song of praise sounds different from colloquial speech. The first half, in church terms, reads like this: It is worthy to eat, as you truly bless Theotokos, Ever-Blessed and Most Immaculate and Mother of our God.
It is rightly said in church terms: truly. To glorify in the church way: bliss. Always blessed, it is said in church: Ever-blessed. Most Holy in church: Most immaculate, the rest of the words are unchanged.
The second half, in church terms, reads like this: Most honorable Cherub and most glorious without comparison Seraphim, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption, we magnify Thee as the real Mother of God. We glorify, as the church says: we magnify. Cherubim in church: Cherub. With Seraphim - in the church way: Seraphim. Preserving virginity at birth - in the church, three words are spoken in one way: without decay. The Son of God - these words are said in the church way: God the Word. The present is said in the church language: existing. The remaining words are unchanged.
What did the Blessed Virgin Mary receive through the birth of the Savior of the world? Why was the Virgin Mary honored to give birth to the Savior? Did She give birth to the Savior the way other mothers give birth? How should we honor the Mother of God? In what prayer do we glorify the Mother of God? What is the name of this prayer? How to say it colloquially? What do we say to the Mother of God in the first half of the prayer? Why do we call only one Mother of God the Most Holy? What do we express in the second half? Why do we glorify the Mother of God above the Cherubim and Seraphim? What is the Son of God called here? How does a hymn of praise to the Mother of God sound in a church way? Which words in the first half are spoken differently in the church way and which words are spoken differently than in colloquial speech? What words in the second half are unclear and how do they sound in colloquial speech? What words never change?
You heard, children, from your parents, and you yourself probably said something like this: today is the feast of the Kazan Mother of God, we live in the parish of the Vladimir Mother of God; prayed to the Tikhvin Mother of God; “Joy to all who mourn” and so on. How so? Isn’t the Mother of God one, why does She have different names? On holy icons She is depicted in different ways; sometimes She has the Divine Son on her right hand, sometimes on her left, sometimes She is written alone, without the Eternal Child - Christ. So, children, do you think: is the Mother of God one, if She is called and depicted differently? The Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary is one, and I will now tell you how the different names came about.
When the Mother of God still lived on earth, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, the Evangelist Luke, painted three icons from Her. When these icons were shown to the Mother of God, She, looking at them, said: “Let the grace of Him who was born of Me and Mine be with these icons.” And indeed, children, from then on miracles began to happen to the icons of the Mother of God. For example, some inevitable misfortune will happen to Christians, and no one will be able to help them; Heartbroken, they begin to pray for help in front of the image of the Mother of God, and the misfortune that threatened to make them unhappy suddenly passes. Many Christians began to receive healing from incurable diseases. When our land was attacked by enemies much stronger than the Russians, and everyone saw that we could not get rid of the enemy, then our ancestors began to pray before the image of the Mother of God, took it with them to war and defeated the seemingly invincible enemy. It happened that in some place: in a forest, on a lake, in an empty building, even in the air, the image of the Mother of God would suddenly appear, shining with an extraordinary light. In a word, countless miracles occurred from the icons of the Mother of God. In memory of them, the icons of the Mother of God began to be called by different names. A miracle happened in the city of Vladimir from the icon of the Mother of God, and they began to call it the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, in Smolensk - Smolenskaya, in Kazan - Kazanskaya, in Tikhvin - Tikhvinskaya; people in various illnesses, sorrows and misfortunes repeatedly received relief after praying before the icon of the Mother of God, so they called it “Joy of All Who Sorrow.” All the names of the icons of the Mother of God refer to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, therefore, on all holidays in honor of these icons, Christians equally pray in front of them, sing and say: Most Holy Theotokos, save us - Save Thy servants from troubles, Mother of God!
You and I, children, just like all Orthodox Christians, must deeply venerate the miraculous icons of the Mother of God.
What icons of the Mother of God do you know? Where and how did the various names of the icons of the Mother of God come from? Who painted the first icons of the Mother of God? What miracles happened from Her icons? What short prayer to the Mother of God do we hear in church? How should Orthodox Christians venerate the miraculous icons of the Mother of God?
Angel of God, my holy guardian, given to me from God from heaven for my protection. I diligently pray to you: enlighten me today, save me from all evil, guide me to good deeds and direct me on the path of salvation.
Have you, children, noticed in yourselves that when you don’t fulfill some of your direct duties, for example, on Sunday you don’t go to church to pray to God, and when you’re not going to school, or when you don’t help people close to you in any way you can, or when you offend someone, then it’s as if someone reproaches you for this, reminding you that you didn’t do what you should have done, that you did a bad deed and by doing so you angered God, who can He will deprive you of His mercy for this and may punish you!..
Who do you think, children, warns and protects you from bad deeds with this suggestion? This is the Guardian Angel, that good invisible spirit that is given by God to man to protect him from troubles. Angels are incorporeal spirits and are much higher than humans in their powers: God sends them into the world so that they help people in the difficult task of salvation.
But a virtuous life on earth, which alone can save a person from eternal death, is a very difficult matter. After all, a person is weak and can make mistakes in everything; instead of something good and useful for himself, he can very easily choose and do something harmful; Instead of a good person, make friends with a bad one and become attached to him. And it is all the easier for each of us to do all this because there is an invisible spirit of evil, the devil, who only knows what to deceive a person, plant sinful thoughts in his soul, seduce him into all sorts of bad deeds and thus drown out the good suggestions of the Guardian Angel. And in order not to succumb to the temptations of the spirit of evil, we need to pray diligently to the Guardian Angel both morning and evening, asking him to enlighten us, teach us to recognize what is good and what is bad in the world, who is a good person and who is evil, and from bad deeds, as well as from bad people, especially from the temptations of the spirit of evil, to keep and preserve us. This is why the Heavenly Father gave each of us a Guardian Angel, this purest and kindest spirit, so that with his inspiration he would instruct us in good deeds, in difficult cases he would help and keep us from falling, he would lead us during earthly life, so to speak, by the hand along the road of salvation, not allowing us to wander into various dangerous places where the spirit of malice lures people, so that it would be easier to destroy them. We, children, express all this in a short prayer to the Guardian Angel, with which we must certainly turn to him every day, morning and evening. This is the prayer; cross yourself and say it with me in a colloquial dialect that we understand: Angel of God, my holy guardian, given by God from heaven to preserve me, I diligently pray to you, teach me on this day to distinguish between good and bad and at the same time keep me from doing bad, and help me in a good deed and thus put me on the road of salvation. Truly so.
In a church way, this prayer does not sound like colloquial speech. Angel of God, my holy guardian, in the church way it reads: Angel of God, my holy guardian. Given by God from heaven for my preservation - in church terms: given from God from heaven for my preservation. I diligently pray to You - in the church way: I diligently pray to You. Teach me on this day to distinguish good from harmful, and at the same time keep me from evil, and help me in a good deed in a churchly way: Enlighten me today, and save me from all evil, instruct me in good deeds. And thus, put me on the road of salvation in the church way: and direct me on the path of salvation. You can also say a short prayer to the Guardian Angel: My holy Guardian Angel, save me from all evil.
What did you children notice about yourself when you did something bad? Who reproached you and at the same time protected you from bad deeds? Why is a Guardian Angel given to a person? What can a person do wrong? How and how does the spirit of evil harm a person? How and what should you ask the Guardian Angel for? How does the Guardian Angel enlighten us? How does it save? How does he instruct on the path of salvation? How is a prayer to the Guardian Angel read? What does it say in the church way that is different from colloquial speech? Which words change only at the end? Which ones sound completely different from their spoken counterparts? What other prayer can you say to the Guardian Angel?
Children, are you happy when your name day arrives? Yes, this is a joyful day in the life of every Christian. On your name day, your parents try to come to church with you and give you Holy Communion. They ask the priest to serve a prayer service to the saint or saint whose name you are called. During the prayer service, you hear the priest say many times: “Saint or saint, pray to God for us,” and together with you and your parents he fervently prays to God. After the prayer service, the priest will give you prosphora and congratulate you on Angel’s Day; Your parents and friends will also congratulate you. What does all this mean? Why do we celebrate name day not like ordinary days, but as a joyful and cheerful holiday? Because name day is a rare and expensive day for each of us. The Holy Church established that every Christian should be named in honor of some saint and, while living on earth, could imitate his godly life; to walk, so to speak, the path of life that the saint of the same name walked and achieved eternal salvation. Earthly life is full of various difficulties and seductions that make the path to the Heavenly Kingdom difficult and dangerous at all stages of human life. To live our earthly life safely, each of us needs a reliable, experienced leader. This leader, children, is that holy saint of God or that saint in whose honor we are named, that is, the saint of the same name to us, who has the same name with us. We definitely need to try to find out how he lived on earth, how he overcame adversity, resisted temptations, so that, following his example, we too can resist worldly temptations. The saint, to whose protection our parents entrusted us, is our quick helper and at the same time a prayer book for us before God. Seeing our efforts to imitate his pious life, he invisibly helps us in all our good desires and deeds, and on name days he seems to come closer to us, invisibly standing next to us to listen to our prayers and pray to God with us. This is why, children, on the day of the Angel it is so pleasant for us to pray to God in church: then the saint whose name we bear prays to God with us and for us. Let us try, children, to certainly learn the life of the saint of the same name and every day in prayer ask for his help and intercession for us sinners, since he is a quick helper to us in everyday troubles and a faithful prayer book before the Lord God for the salvation of our souls. In colloquial dialect, you can say a prayer to a saint like this: Pray for me to God, holy saint of God (name), because I earnestly ask you, who are always ready to help me and pray for my soul.
The saints are called saints of God because, while living on earth, they tried to act according to the teachings of Jesus Christ and to please God in everything. Having moved to heaven after death for the bliss and glorification of God, they all have one occupation: to help people living on earth, overcome sinful temptations and do good, pious deeds. The saints are quick helpers to everyone who diligently asks them for help and prayers, because they are close to God, the source of all good. With all this, they do not help themselves, but only with their holy prayers, asking us from God everything necessary for salvation.
Of all the saints of God, the one closest to each of us is the one after whom we are named. In church, the prayer to the holy saint of God sounds like this: Pray to God for me, holy servant of God (name), as I diligently resort to you, your quick helper and prayer book for my soul. The words of colloquial speech: Pray for me to God, holy servant of God, are said in the church way: pray to God for me, holy servant of God. Because I earnestly ask you, who are always ready to help me and pray for my soul, in the church way: as I earnestly resort to you, a quick helper and prayer book for my soul.
In addition to this short prayer, with which we can address all the saints of God without distinction, there are also separate prayers for each of them. They are called troparia and briefly describe the lives of the saints. The troparion to the saint in whose honor we are named is something that each of us definitely needs to know.
How do you spend your name day? Why is name day an expensive day for us? Why are we named after a saint? What is our duty towards the saint of the same name? How can you say a prayer to a saint in spoken language? Why is a saint called a saint of God? Why are saints our first aides? How do they help us? How does a prayer to a saint sound in a church way? What words in prayer are spoken differently in church than in colloquial speech? Which ones only have a different ending? Is there a special prayer for each saint? To which saint is each of us obliged to know the troparion?
Children, while analyzing prayers, we many times called Almighty God our Creator, and meanwhile we talked about the fact that man is weak and cannot live safely on earth without outside help, that he is more inclined to listen to the evil spirit than to follow the suggestions of his Guardian Angel. How so? Couldn't Almighty God have created man more capable of good than he is now? Now I will tell you why a person is more inclined to bad than to good, and who is to blame for this?
We call God the Creator of man. So, there was a time when there was no man, but there was One Triune God? Yes. And this Triune God, eternally blessed in Himself, wanted to make many others blessed - to share His bliss with those who would be able and worthy to bliss with Him. And so, according to the omnipotent word of the Triune God, countless numbers of the purest spirits - Angels - appeared in heaven, and on earth - man in a beautiful world given to him at his complete disposal. At first everything was fine, everyone was blissful, glorifying God: Angels in heaven, man on earth...
But, children, what soon happened in heaven. One of the Angels closest to God dared to disobey God and even persuade many of the other Angels to do so... For such an act, he was immediately deprived of the honor of being with the luminous Angels in heaven and expelled into the abyss.
Instead of repenting of his bad deed against God, the fallen angel, who seduced many angels in heaven and on earth, also seduced man into disobedience to God... The first man also sinned, and was immediately expelled from his beautiful home. From being pure, holy, obedient to God in everything, man became nasty, disobedient to the Creator, prone only to bad deeds. Where did everything go in him?.. Before sin, man’s highest pleasure was to think about God, to do everything that God commanded, and even to talk with God face to face. But as soon as a person sinned, he began to hide from God, because being with God became unbearably difficult for him, his conscience tormented him for the sin of disobedience he committed against God. Having moved away from God, the source of all good, man fell under the power of his seducer and began to obey him in everything... People began to multiply, but they lived in enmity among themselves; so, for example, the eldest son of the first man killed his own brother... Foreseeing all this, God could then destroy the man, destroy him. But God is good, He took pity on man, because man did not disobey God on his own - he was seduced by an evil spirit, the devil. Moreover, even after sin, man did not completely lose the desire to do good; he regretted the lost bliss with God, but his tendency to sin and the tempter - the devil - removed him more and more from the Creator. Therefore, as soon as God punished the first man for disobedience, He immediately showed him His mercy, promising the fallen salvation in the future.
To maintain faith in the Redeemer, God was pleased to gradually reveal the secret of salvation to certain virtuous men, who were called prophets. In the name of God Himself, the prophets, long before the coming of the Savior, predicted: Who will be the Redeemer of man from the power of the devil, where He will be born, where He will live, how He will teach people good, how He will suffer for them, how He will be resurrected, ascend to heaven and send the Holy Spirit to people. In a word, the prophets said everything that people needed to know about their Savior in order to believe in Him when He appeared on earth. In their predictions, all the prophets called the Savior Christ.
What, children, does Christ mean? - Probably, this is an important, meaningful name that we are all, in His honor, called Christians! Great is the name Christ: it means anointed one. Previously, only the king, the high priest and the prophet were anointed with fragrant oil, and they were anointed as a sign that special power was given to them from God. This Divine power was given to the king because he had to rule the whole people; to the high priest because he had to pray for the whole people; and a prophet because he had to teach a whole people. The One who came to deliver all people from the power of the devil, to ask God for the forgiveness of sins and to teach all people truth and goodness, had to unite in one Himself the power of a king, a high priest, a prophet, and not just one people, but the whole world of people forever, forever. This, children, was impossible for any person except God, Who was the Son of God, our Savior Jesus Christ (as you know from past conversations). In order to explain all this to people, so that they would wait for a Savior not from their midst, but from God, the prophets called Him Christ. And in relation to the Savior, who appeared to people in the form of a man, the name Christ means: having received Divine power without measure, all Divine power, all filled with grace-filled gifts to communicate them to people. Now, children, you can probably guess for yourself why all those who believe in Christ are called Christians? Yes, because through Jesus Christ they receive the grace-filled power needed for a good and pious life, as much as they can accept. Christian means a person who lives according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
How much we need the grace-filled power of Christ, you, children, know, because although you have lived a little in the world, you have already experienced how difficult it is to become smart, kind and obedient, and vice versa, how easy it is to remain stupid, disobedient and evil... All this, children, is because the evil tempting spirit is still trying to remove us from Christ in order to deprive us of His Divine help, to leave us with our weak forces and thus take possession of us and destroy us forever.
Now judge for yourself who is to blame for the fact that even now many people live badly, commit crimes and sin. God created man for bliss with Him. Man, by disobedience, angered God and became incapable of bliss with Him. For the salvation of man, God sent His Son to earth, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who through His suffering acquired Divine powers for people to fight sin, and man only has to believe in the Savior and pray to Him with all his heart in order to receive this Divine help to resist the devil. But many people do not want to do this either: they do not want to appear before the Divine image of Christ and in heartfelt prayer ask themselves for everything necessary for a virtuous life... So, children, a person can forget that he will not be able to feel how great mercy the Savior - Christ - has done for us. Beware of such terrible insensitivity. To arouse in yourself an ardent faith in Christ, pray more often and more diligently before His holy image at home, and especially in church, firmly remembering: then you learned prayers so that in them you can ask God for everything we need for a prosperous life here on earth, and for an eternally blessed life there in heaven.
What did we children have to say about a person when studying prayers? Has there always been a person in the world? Why did God create man? How did a person lose his bliss? What change happened to a person when he disobeyed God? Why did God show His mercy to man? What was this mercy? Did the first man know who the Savior would be? How did God maintain people's faith in the Savior? What did the prophets say about the Savior? What did they call the Savior? What does Christ mean? Why are those who believe in the Savior called Christians? Who is really a Christian? Who is to blame that some Christians live badly? Why is Divine help necessary for them? What should a Christian care about first of all? What should we do to awaken our heartfelt faith in Christ? How should we use the prayers we have learned?
Reprinted from: Explaining Church Prayers to Children. First year of study in primary schools. Vologda, 1884.
Christ (Greek); Messiah (Heb.); Anointed (Russian).
When naming us, the Holy Church prays to God like this: “Grant, O Lord, that I may not deny Your Holy Name to come upon him; we unite at the time of the good needs of Your Holy Church, and perform the terrible mysteries of Your Christ” (prayer when naming the name on the 8th day).