Prayer (in general) is a reverent appeal of thoughts, feelings and words to God, or to one of His Holy Saints, blessed and worshiped by the Orthodox Church. It expresses: either glorification of the name of God, or thanksgiving to Him for giving various benefits, or asking for forgiveness of sins and other mercies, or, finally, it is used as an appeal to heavenly mediators and intercessors powerful with their help before God, to receive from Him what is asked. Prayer to the Triune God is the lifting of the mind and heart to the foot of the throne of His Glory with an expression of complete love and faith in Him. This is the best state of moral elevation of a person and the best means of communicating with heaven, for receiving heavenly blessings and the grace of the Omnipresent and All-Life-Giving Holy Spirit, without which a person would rely in vain on his weak and sin-depleted strength. In such a reverent and enthusiastic mood, a person acquires both the calm of a grieving soul and the ultimate triumph of a joyful soul! And therefore - prayer, as if divided into internal and external, i.e.
to mental or spiritual exaltation and to the reverent expression of these feelings in words and external actions, must necessarily contain both simultaneously and inseparably: otherwise, it will not achieve the goal and must remind the one praying that sad reproach that the Savior made to the Pharisees and scribes, saying: These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (Mark 7:6), and disobedience to that apostolic teaching, which says: Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, songs and spiritual song, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord (Eph. 5:20). External prayer, that is, the pronunciation of prayer words alone, without internal prayer, that is, without joining these words with the feelings of the heart and mind, is not only not acceptable, but also brings upon the one praying, according to the Prophet, a curse, for Cursed is everyone who does the work of God with negligence (Jer. 48:10).
Moreover, in the prayers sanctified by the blessing and use of the Church, the highest thoughts and the noblest feelings and aspirations of the souls of the righteous were poured out, and, among the briefest and simplest expressions, there is contained a large number of basic dogmatic truths and that Gospel morality, which recalls the words of the Prophet: I will put My laws in their thoughts and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people (Heb. 8:10).
In addition to prayers to the Triune God, the Orthodox Church also commands to constantly call on and please: the Mother of God, as the Ever-Virgin Mother of God, the Most Honest Cherub and the Most Glorious Seraphim without comparison; The Saints of God, as intercessors of people before the throne of God and the ethereal Powers, especially the Guardian Angel, as heavenly intercessors for people before the Lord and at the same time their vigilant guardians on earth.