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(1) There are seven classes of persons for whom the prayer of the Church for their salvation is required. – (2) Those who pray to God, but at the same time do not know what they are asking for, are not heard. – (3) Those who do not pray in the spirit labor in vain. 1. There are seven classes of persons for whose salvation the Church needs prayer: the lost, the captive, the lost, the wounded, the falling, the rebel, and the marching. There is also an eighth grade - the perfect ones, who, forgetting the back, extend everything into the front (future - Ed.) Each of these eight classes has a need for special prayer from the Church of God for its salvation: the lost have a need for prayer that the omnipresent God, for whom both hell and destruction are obvious, will seek and find them; captives, that is, enslaved (to passions and the devil), - so that He who contains everything and rules over everything will free them with His Divine grace, because this kind of enslaver cannot free himself; those who have gone astray - so that Divine grace will enlighten them and direct them to the path of truth, as the psalm teaches: guide me, O Lord, in Thy path, and I will walk in Thy truth (Ps. 85:11); the wounded, that is, the contrite, so that the Lord heals them and raises them from their bed, because not one of the wounded can be healed and stand on their own feet by their own strength; those who fall, that is, those who fall into sins, may the mighty right hand of the Most High God strengthen them so that they do not fall; those who have rebelled, that is, those who have stopped sinning - may Divine grace confirm them, so that they will no longer be cast into this ditch; let those who walk, that is, those who strive in virtue, walk without stumbling, and let the Angel of the Lord remove stones and obstacles from the long and narrow path of virtues, so that they will no longer be exposed to extreme troubles and dangers because of them; the eighth class, that is, the perfect, so that they do not be proud and think of themselves that they are better than others, but grieve and lament, feeling that they are lower than everyone else, and realizing how much they still lack to that true height, which is above all. The work of those who are perfect, as the Apostle says, is for the purpose of the mother-in-law, for the honor of the high calling: for having said this, he added: if perfect, let us be wise (Phil. 3:14-15). 2. So, whether anyone himself, out of the love of God, desires, or is asked by others to pray for any of the eight classes shown, let him take care to make his prayer consistent with each of them, so as not to work in vain, asking for something that is incompatible with one or the other. For in this case, how is it possible for God to hear him? - One of the fathers of our Church teaches the abbot (of the monastery) this way: do not be negligent in praying to God for those who are extremely negligent, but ask Him not to have mercy on them, because this is impossible while they themselves sit in inaction and do not move, but ask Him to enlighten them, awaken them from sleep and make them diligent **. Whoever begins to feed a child who is still nursing with rough and heavy food will not revive him, but will upset his life and kill him. In the same way, whoever began to milk his husband completely would be senseless and would milk the senseless. So here, too, everything has its own order and its time. For God is a God of order and peace. It is true that for the most part they have no knowledge of the above-mentioned eight classes of people, but it is in every possible way necessary that the one who prays asks God for what is needed by the one for whom he is praying. So Christ the Savior prayed to His Father, saying: not as I will, but as You will. If someone prays for himself and asks, for example, for deliverance from corruption and death, let him listen in advance and find out what corruption is and what life is, and then ask God for liberation from corruption and death, whether he has boldness towards God or not. For whoever asks for something must know what he is asking for and clearly imagine it, so that when he receives it, he can thank the Giver and always remain grateful to Him. If someone, while praying, does not know what he is asking for, then how will he know that he has received what he asked for, and, therefore, how will he thank God who gave it to him? And having failed to give thanks, he will be guilty of condemnation as an ungrateful person. Whoever says: free me is clearly in captivity and in slavery; also, whoever says: deliver me, of course sits in prison and is imprisoned. But if those who say such words say them so-so, simply at random, according to custom (therefore coldly and indifferently), not realizing the trouble they are in, and not feeling the cramped conditions, slavery, prison and bonds, then who will listen to them? Likewise, those who cry out to God day and night: Lord, save me! Lord, deliver me! Lord, spare me! - but they do not know the trouble they are in, they do not feel the bitterness of slavery, nor the darkness of the prison, nor the burden of the bonds, they do not even realize that they are in extreme trouble, they bear the yoke of slavery, they are imprisoned, they are shackled in iron - such people have never been, are not and will not be heard from God. Therefore, it is necessary for us to hear about all this in advance, learn this and know this from those who know this, and then pray to God about it. If it is not convenient to find such knowledgeable ones nearby, let us carefully look for them far away; if such are not visible in other places, let us turn with prayer to God, so that He Himself will invisibly show us the misfortune, captivity, slavery, and bonds in which we are; and when we realize how great the evil is in all this, then we will begin to cry out to Him, with tears, in a great voice, so that He will take pity on us and show His mercy to us, unworthy of any mercy, and save us, free us and deliver us. And it is impossible for God to have mercy on us in any other way or way. For even a person who has the opportunity to show mercy cannot show it to his only begotten man if he does not know what he needs and what he is looking for. God, of course, can do everything, but He cannot lie, nor deny Himself; why can’t he have mercy on someone who doesn’t repent, or give to someone who doesn’t ask, or guide someone who doesn’t seek to find it, or open the doors of mercy to someone who doesn’t hit them; He equally cannot give to one who, although he asks, asks evilly, nor can He have mercy on one who himself does not have mercy on another, although he cries out: Lord, have mercy on me. For God is as omnipotent as he is righteous; His power is with righteousness, and His mercy is with weight and measure. So, it is necessary for a person to know for sure what God can do for him, and then ask him for it, so that he may receive it. (And this should also be kept in mind that if you give something to a person at the wrong time, then such a gift will not be beneficial, but will be harmful.) But if a carnal father cannot give his child the deadly food he asks for, much less does God give anything to such a person, Who says: will the woman forget her food? ask Me about my sons and my daughters (Is.45:11). So, since He considers people His sons and daughters, how is it possible for Him to give them something deadly, even if they themselves asked Him for it for a long time, with sighs and tears? God will give the Christian, if he asks, the following great and lofty gifts, which no one can acquire on his own, namely, a contrite and humble heart, sober and chaste, repentant and weeping, will give him the memory of death and future judgment, wisdom and reason - to understand the Divine Scriptures, the meaning of fearing God, the power to pray with fear, reverence and thanksgiving, will give chastity, meekness, patience and complacency. Whoever receives everything that has been said will receive sanctification and the health of his soul, and the health of the soul is: not to thirst for any sin and nothing of what the world thirsts for, that is, neither money, nor carnal sweets, nor human glory and honor. And God cannot heal someone and give him health before he receives and has the gifts shown above (for this would be at the wrong time). Even if someone had become healthy in soul before receiving those gifts, then one cannot deny the possibility of looking at human glory (despite his confidence that he is healthy and not subject to mental illness) and falling into the snare of the devil, that is, into pride. And the last will be worse for that man than the first (Matthew 12:45). For pride is the greatest sin of all sins, since all others have already come from it, and it became the beginning and cause of all sins, as Scripture says: the beginning of sin is pride (Sir. 10:15). 3. The Lord said to the Samaritans: woman, I have faith in them, for... the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth... The Spirit is God, and whoever worships Him is worthy to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:21-24). And the Apostle says: God... does not live in churches made by hands, nor does he accept gratification from the hands of men, demanding anything (Acts 17:24-25). God lacks and needs nothing. He is full of every good, and not only people, but also the Angels themselves receive from the fullness of God, and they all have a need for the inexhaustible and full of all God, Whom they thank, sing, glorify, not doing it themselves, but by grace, from His fullness acceptable, being moved and strengthened to thank, glorify and glorify God, the Master and Creator his. So, what are these true fans? Those who do not confine their service to God to any place, but serve and worship Him in spirit. When the Lord says that the spirit is God, this shows nothing else than that He is incorporeal. So, we must offer service to the incorporeal God with our own incorporeal nature, that is, with our soul. For the incorporeal God can be pleased only with the mind and pure thought. Since, according to the word of the Lord, the hour has already come and is now when God must be worshiped in spirit and truth, is it now possible to serve Him in reverence and truth except with the mind and thought? But we need to know that our mind and thought cannot properly worship God if they are not first purified by the power of faith in Christ the Savior, unless the Lord Himself first heals them, heals them and brings them to freedom, so that even other people strive in good deeds and think that they are doing everything for the glory of God, but if their mind is not healed by Christ, not healed, not brought to freedom mysteriously and mentally, everything they do is in vain and useless - fasting, vigils, prayers, almsgiving, and all kinds of ill-suffering, and even complete non-covetousness. They had not yet worshiped God in spirit, which is the only true worship. And where there is no truth, everything else is lies and delusion, ignorance of God and misunderstanding of life in Christ. Там жизнь заблудная, где не живут по неложному Христу. So, those whose minds have not yet been healed, if they want to worship God in spirit, must first make every effort to acquire this great good, that is, Divine grace, the good for which Christ endured the crucifixion and death. And let them not give up on their work, doing with zeal everything that can move the goodness of God to give such a gift. For this is the deliverance that God has sent to His people through Jesus Christ the Lord. This is great mercy, this is cleansing, this is the destruction of the mediastinum of the great barrier. This is the resurrection of the soul, which occurs before the general resurrection of bodies. This is incorruptibility and eternal life, reconciliation and fellowship of God with people. This is the correction of the universe, which comes from God, which does not move. From this it happens that another, the last of all and the slave of all, is the first. Because of this, someone becomes poor in spirit, that is, he becomes humble, whose kingdom is the kingdom of heaven, he becomes pure in heart, he sees God, he becomes a peacemaker, who is called the son of God. This is what a wondrous and great good a Christian should strive to acquire through prompt and tireless labor! What will follow after this? It will follow that he who has acquired such a gift, having a sound and perfect mind, clearly contemplates and understands all the miracles of the law of God (Ps. 119:18), since his eyes have been opened by the grace of Christ. Such a one puts off the image of the earthly man, that is, the old Adam, and puts on the image of the heavenly man, that is, Christ. For just as the Son of God and God the Word became man, and He is the God-man, then, as man, He transfers human virtue and restored human nature to people similar to Himself, precisely to those who accepted Him, just as Adam passed on the corrupted human nature to the people descended from him, so that the partakers of Jesus are heavenly people, just as the partakers of Adam are earthly people. And again, as God, He conveys from His Divinity to those who were restored and healed by the power of His incarnation. For it is not possible for anyone to approach the holy and pure God unless he is first sanctified, purified, made good by the grace of Christ, and thus becomes rich by grace. Our Holy Fathers laid down such a decree that it is impossible for anyone to be saved in any other way, unless he is made rich by grace in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory forever. Amen. St. John Climacus Special Word to the Shepherd, Ch. 12, 11. You might be interested in: