All prayers to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea

Memory: April 30 / May 13

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov had an excellent education and favor at the royal court, but he renounced worldly honors and embarked on the path of monasticism. He worked a lot to improve the monastic monasteries. Known as a spiritual writer, researcher and continuer of the tradition of the holy fathers. He left a large number of ascetic writings. Prayerful patron of monks and all church clergy: clergy and choristers, seminarians and all students, missionaries and catechists who labored in the Caucasus, and in general among the aggressive heterodox environment. They pray to Saint Ignatius for peace and prosperity in the Caucasian land, for the granting of a feeling of repentance, with excessive attachment to the blessings of the world, for zeal for the fulfillment of Christian service, for the leadership of the church, for a firm position in Orthodoxy. Since Bishop Ignatius at one time consecrated the famous sources of Caucasian mineral waters, using healing power sources, they pray to him for successful healing during sanatorium treatment.

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Troparion to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea, tone 8

A champion of Orthodoxy, a great worker and teacher of repentance and prayer, a God-inspired adornment to the bishops, glory and praise to the monastics: with your writings you have made us all wise. Spiritual treasure, Ignatius the Wise God, pray to the Word of Christ God, Whom you bore in your heart, to grant us repentance before the end.

Kontakion to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea, tone 8

Even though you followed the path of earthly life, Saint Ignatius, you constantly saw the laws of eternal existence, teaching your disciples many words, which we should also follow, praying holy.

Prayer to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea

O great and wonderful servant of Christ, Holy Hierarch Father Ignatius! Graciously accept our prayers offered to you with love and gratitude! Hear us, the orphaned and helpless (names), who fall to you with faith and love and your warm intercession for us before the Throne of the Lord of Glory of those asking. We know that the prayer of a righteous man can do much, propitiating the Lord. From the years of infancy you have passionately loved the Lord, and having desired to serve Him alone, you have considered all the red of this world as nothing. You have denied yourself and, having taken up your cross, you have followed Christ. You chose the narrow and regrettable path of monastic life for yourself, and on this path you acquired great virtues. With your writings you filled the hearts of people with the deepest reverence and humility before the Almighty Creator, and with your wise words you taught sinners who had fallen in the consciousness of their insignificance and their sinfulness, in repentance and humility to resort to God, encouraging them with trust in His mercy. You rejected none of those who came to you, but you were a loving father and a good shepherd to all. And now do not leave us, who fervently pray to you and ask for your help and intercession. Ask us from our Humane-loving Lord for mental and physical health, confirm our faith, strengthen our strength, exhausted in the temptations and sorrows of this age, warm our cold hearts with the fire of prayer and help us, who through repentance have cleansed the Christian death of this life, receive and enter the palace of the Savior adorned with all the elect and there with you we will worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

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• Prayer to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea. Prayerful patron of monks and all church clergy: clergy and choristers, seminarians and all students, missionaries and catechists who labored in the Caucasus, and in general among the aggressive heterodox environment. They pray to Saint Ignatius for peace and prosperity in the Caucasian land, for the granting of a feeling of repentance, with excessive attachment to the blessings of the world, for zeal for the fulfillment of Christian service, for the leadership of the church, for a firm position in Orthodoxy. Since Bishop Ignatius at one time consecrated the well-known sources of the Caucasian mineral waters, using the healing power of the springs, they pray to him for successful healing during spa treatment

Akathist to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea:

• Akathist to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea

Canon to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea:

• Canon to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea

Hagiographic and scientific-historical literature about Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea:

• Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov- Pravoslavie.Ru

Works of Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov:

• "To help the penitent"
• "The concept of heresy and schism"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "The first word of the Flower-bearing week"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Sayings about Islam and Muslims" (extracted from the letters of the saint)- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Ascetic experiences. Volume one"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Ascetic experiences. Volume two"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "A Word about Man"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "A Word on the Sensual and the Spiritual Vision of Spirits"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "A Word about Death"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Addition to the "Word of Death""- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "A Word about Angels"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Ascetic Sermon"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "An offering to modern monasticism. Rules of external behavior for novice monks"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "An offering to modern monasticism. Advice regarding spiritual monastic activity"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Fatherland"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Selected letters. Letters to monastics"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Selected letters. Letters to monastics (continued)"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Selected letters. Letters to the laity"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Selected letters. Letters to the laity (continued)"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Selected letters. Letters to family and friends"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Correspondence with Abbot Anthony Bochkov"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Correspondence with Abbot Damascus"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Correspondence with Abbot Ilarius"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
• "Letters to Count D.N. Sheremetev"- Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov

Explanation of the meaning of the prayer Spiritual complex:

“Learn to see in every disease a prototype of Spiritual imperfection”

1. Hearing impairment- Spiritual deafness, when a person, behind earthly concerns, does not hear the voice of God within himself.

Prayer: “Lord, heal the deafness of my Soul, and may Your Voice abide in my heart forever and ever. Amen.”

2. Eye disease- lack of spiritual vision.

Prayer: “Lord, open my Spiritual eyes to see my paths of repentance and the imperishable Light of Your Kingdom. Amen.”

3. All skin diseases; the most serious of which is leprosy - enmity towards one's neighbor, envy, resentment.

Prayer: “Lord, cleanse me from spiritual leprosy, so that my mind will not be indignant against my neighbor, and make my heart free from the memory of insults. Amen.”

4. Disease of the lungs, bronchi, respiratory tract- the absence of Spiritual air, and Spiritual air is prayer.

Prayer: “Lord, fill the lungs of my Soul with the prayerful Spirit of Your Kingdom. Amen.”

5. Diseases of the digestive system(ulcers, gastritis...) - The soul cannot cope with sorrows, sorrows, adversities.

Prayer: “Lord, teach my Soul humility in the sorrows of the World, heal the ulcers of my Soul with Spiritual food. Amen.”

6. Diseases of the Cardiovascular System- paths (vessels) for the Spiritual energy of Faith are not laid.

Prayer: “Lord, strengthen the Spiritual vessel according to my faith, so that it may become a worthy receptacle for the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

7. Blood diseases and genetic (chromosomal) disorders- failure to comply with cosmic laws, because all Cosmic laws are encoded in human blood cells.

Prayer: “Lord, renew my Spirit, cleanse my Soul, enlighten my mind, teach me to live according to your inviolable laws, filling the vessel you created with the purity of perfection. Amen.”

8. Diseases of the skeletal system- absence of the foundation of the Spiritual Temple, the foundation of Faith, the skeleton is the foundation of the body, the bones are accumulators of Spiritual energy.

Prayer: “Lord, Help me build the Temple of my Soul on a strong stone, instead of sand, strengthen the foundation of my faith and may it remain incorruptible forever and ever. Amen.”

9. Brain disease and partial nervous disorders - the person forgot who he was, lost the memory of the Spiritual Homeland.

Prayer: “Lord, resurrect in me the memory of the Father’s house of my Soul, so that the path of return to the Heavenly palace of Your Glory may not be taken away. Amen.”

10. All diseases immune system (lymphograna lomatosis, lymphadenitis, thyroid diseases, poor body resistance to diseases, AIDS). The central organs of the immune system include: bone marrow, pancreas, lymph nodes, thymus gland (thymus), brain, liver, spleen - there is no Spiritual protection, a person has not come under the protection of God.

(see also: Prayer, Jesus Prayer). I hasten to present to you a weak experience of the rule, which I called “The Order of Hearing Oneself in the Middle of the World.” I was inspired to make it as general as possible, so that it would not embarrass you at all. It seemed all the more convenient to me that I personally conveyed to you how to read, according to the custom of those who are attentive, morning and evening prayers and an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus, i.e. slowly, very slowly, even drawn out, not trying to read the entire akathist or the entire collection of evening and morning prayers at one time, but taking care that the well-known section of these prayers you are reading is read with attention, as if into the ears of the Lord God , and not into the air. Guidelines for an active life - the Gospel commandments. Be guided by them in your palace, as Saint David was guided by them in his palace. This king spoke prayerfully to God about His commandments: “Thy law is light to my paths; I have been guided towards all Your commandments; I have hated every way of unrighteousness; leave the path of unrighteousness from Me and have mercy on me by Your law; I have loved Your commandments more than gold and topaz; live me in Your commandments" (see:). The greatest Holy Fathers command that the rule for a Christian should be as simple and uncomplicated as possible. The great Barsanuphius says that the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven are narrow and that there is no need to give broad rules for entering them; a broad rule can even prevent us from entering them, because, chasing after trifles, we can miss the most important.

Those who want to get used to the prayer in the name of the Lord, usually called the Jesus prayer, are initially taught according to the tradition of the Fathers, combining it with bows. This rule increases or decreases according to each person's strength. For many, the following is sufficient:

Rising from sleep, try to have your first thought be about God and His blessings, which God poured out on you without your knowledge or desire, by His sole mercy. Consider it a special blessing that you are enlightened Christian faith in the depths of the true Church; then start the rule like this:

20 prostrations; with each bow the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

20 bows from the waist with the same prayer.

10 prostrations to the ground: with each prostration, pray: “My Most Holy Lady, Mother of God, save me, a sinner.”

10 belts with the same prayer.

5 belts with a prayer: “O Angel of God, my holy guardian, pray to God for me, a sinner.”

5 belts with a prayer: “All saints, pray to God for me, a sinner.”

A total of 70 bows, of which 30 are to the ground and 40 are from the waist.

If you find that these bows are not enough for you, then you can add several bows with the Jesus Prayer according to your strength. But the rule must be balanced so that it is the same every day. The saints said: “It is better to do a little work, but constantly, than a big work, but soon stop.” After which morning prayers are read and, if you wish, a memorial service that you like for special reasons; after the memorial, read the Gospel, chapters of two or three. When you read about the blind, the lame, the lepers, the demoniac, the dead, then think that you are like them, and pray to the Savior to save you. Then your usual activities should follow with the fear of God, prayer, useful thoughts and memories.

The Holy Fathers, praising the rule of prayer and confessing the necessity of it, instruct to have it in moderation, commensurate with one’s strength, with the state of spiritual prosperity and with the circumstances in which a person is placed by God’s Providence. The essence of performance prayer rule The key is to perform it with attention. From attention our spirit comes into humility, from humility repentance is born. To be able to make a rule slowly, the rule must be moderate. The Holy Fathers, highly praising the moderate rule, advise us to fulfill it without neglect. Next rule can be useful for us and, in the first case, satisfactory: “Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee,” “O Heavenly King,” the Trisagion, “Our Father,” “Lord, have mercy” - 12, “Come, let us worship.” Psalm 50, “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice” - three times. After this, 20 prayers: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”; bow to the ground at every prayer. Then another 20 similar prayers, and with each one a bow from the waist. “It is worthy to eat, for it is truly,” “Through the prayers of our holy Fathers,” “Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.”

This prayer rule should be performed in the morning and evening. Bows should be made very slowly, with a feeling of repentance, as if standing before the Lord Himself, falling at His feet and begging for mercy, but not at all imagining the Lord, but only believing His presence and the fact that He looks at us and sees us. You have written instructions on prayer; try to borrow from it the direction for your spirit during prayer. Of the other prayers, the akathist to the Lord Jesus is most useful for the novice. Read it once a week, standing or sitting, whichever is more convenient for you, but certainly with attention and slowly. Also, do not allow yourself to read the Gospel and other holy books superficially and fluently; read them slowly and with attention. When reading, observe moderation. Moderation maintains a constant desire to read, and satiety with reading produces aversion from it.

In church, do not read any special prayers, but listen to the divine service. It is good to get used to the publican’s prayer, which is approved by the Lord and which the publican, as can be seen from the Gospel, said while in church. This one reads like this: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” or: “God, cleanse me, a sinner.” This prayer is equivalent to the prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” or “Lord, have mercy.” Read from these prayers the one that you find most convenient for yourself. But be sure to read slowly and with attention. I advise you to stick to the second one (i.e. G.I.X.S.B.p.m.g.). The first two prayers are identical, the third is an abbreviation of the second. In church, sometimes listen to the divine service, and sometimes say a prayer with your mind, without ceasing to listen to the divine service. You can pray together with your mind and listen to church prayer. The first promotes the second, and the second - the first.

The church service, when you stay at home, can be replaced by reading one of the akathists: an akathist to the Lord Jesus or an akathist Mother of God. In church, do not kneel and, in general, do not distinguish yourself from others in appearance by any peculiarities, but maintain both internal and external reverence. Bow as little as possible. Bows to the ground believe only two during the liturgy, at the end of it: when the Chalice with the Holy Mysteries is brought out twice. [...] In church, when you find it necessary to sit down, sit down, because he listens not to the one who sits or stands, but to the one whose mind is directed towards Him with due reverence. The desire for God, reverence for God and fear of God are acquired by attention to oneself. Read what you read. Reading the Apocalypse leads to the fear of God; refrain from explaining this mysterious book, being content with the effect it has on your soul. When you find it necessary to add or subtract something from your prayers and readings on the occasion of weakness or other activities encountered, regardless of you, do it without doubt or embarrassment. Be free! Don't bind yourself to any scrupulousness. The rules are for the man, not the man for the rules. The opposite of this understanding produces only bewilderment and frustration.

Regarding your rule, what do you say? It was given to you when your mind was dead and when bodily labor with short and uniform prayer contributed to the revival of the mind by killing daydreaming. Now, if this work is too burdensome for the body, it can be shortened by allowing the mind, freed from daydreaming, to float in the words of the Spirit, in psalms, chants and spiritual songs, singing not only with lips and thoughts, but also in the heart of the Lord. 331.

The life of a Christian is unthinkable without prayer. We turn to prayer in a variety of life circumstances - both sorrowful and joyful. The very growth of a Christian in spiritual life presupposes his growth and strengthening precisely in prayer. What is prayer? What should it be like? How to learn to pray correctly? Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov), whose life was spent in unceasing prayer and whose creations are imbued with the patristic experience of prayer, will help us understand this.

According to the works of the saint, prayer is “the offering of our petitions to God”, “the greatest virtue, a means of uniting man with God”, “communion of life”, “the door to all spiritual gifts”, “the highest exercise for the mind”, “the head, the source, mother of all virtues"; it is “food”, “book”, “science”, “life” of all Christians, and especially the holy desert dwellers.

What is the need for prayer? The fact is that we have fallen away from God, have lost bliss, eternal joy, but we strive to find what we have lost and therefore we pray. Thus, prayer is “the turning of a fallen and repentant person to God. Prayer is the cry of a fallen and repentant person before God. Prayer is the outpouring of heartfelt desires, petitions, sighs of a fallen man killed by sin before God.” And prayer itself, to some extent, is already the return of what was lost, since our bliss lies in the lost communion with God; in prayer we find it again, since in prayer we ascend to communion with God. “We need prayer: it assimilates a person to God. Without it, a person is alien to God, and the more he practices prayer, the closer he gets to God.” This is the principle of spiritual life that St. John Climacus pointed out: “After remaining in prayer for a long time and not seeing fruit, do not say: I have not acquired anything. For the very stay in prayer is already an acquisition; and what good is greater than this - to cleave to the Lord and remain unceasingly in union with Him.”

It is worth remembering that in the Fall, man inherited not only physical, but also spiritual death, since he lost communion with the Holy Spirit. In carelessness, we also lose the grace of baptism that regenerates us. But in prayer we are reborn again through the communion of our soul with the Spirit of God. “What air is to the life of the body, the Holy Spirit is to the life of the soul. The soul, through prayer, breathes this holy, mysterious air.” And prayer “from the union of the human spirit with the Spirit of the Lord” gives birth to spiritual virtues, “it borrows virtues from the source of goods - God, and assimilates them to the person who through prayer tries to remain in communion with God.”

Regarding the performance of prayer, Saint Ignatius pointed out two main points: correctness and constancy.

To achieve success in prayer, it is necessary to do it correctly, then it will lead us to the desired goal - communication with God. Correct prayer is taught by those who have already performed it correctly, who have achieved communion with God - the holy fathers, and this means that it is necessary to get acquainted with their writings. But it is important to pay attention to the fact that “of true prayer, the true Teacher - God alone, the holy teachers - men - give only initial concepts about prayer, indicate that right mood, in which the grace-filled teaching on prayer can be communicated through the delivery of supernatural, spiritual thoughts and sensations. These thoughts and sensations come from the Holy Spirit and are communicated by the Holy Spirit.” Hence, correct prayer can only be learned through experience, in personal prayerful appeal to God. Prayer cannot be learned from the words of others; only the Lord gives us the correct prayer when we try to find it and constantly remain in it.

However, Saint Ignatius, who himself has experienced all the stages of prayer, suggests what correct prayer should be, or rather, what the inner mood of a praying person should be.

We all, of course, know that prayer is inspired by our personal, sincere faith in God, trust in His Providence and care for us. Saint Ignatius confirms this: “Faith is the basis of prayer. Whoever believes in God, as he should believe, will certainly turn to God in prayer and will not deviate from prayer until he receives the promises of God, until he assimilates to God and unites with God.” Prayer is inspired by faith in order to ascend to the very throne of God, and faith is the soul of prayer. Faith makes the mind and heart constantly strive for God, it is faith that introduces into the soul the conviction that we are under the constant gaze of God, and this conviction teaches us to constantly walk before God with reverence, being in His sacred fear (that is, the fear of sinning even in thought, How can one lose communion with God?)

At the same time, few people know that faith is a natural property of the soul, planted in us by God, and therefore it often flares up or goes out from the action of our own will. What does the power of faith depend on? According to the saint, it depends on the degree of our rejection of sin, and where there is living faith in God, there is living prayer to God; only through the power of living faith is the unlimited power of God embraced; the prayer of such a person raises his created spirit to unity with the uncreated Spirit of God.

In prayer, we submit ourselves to the will of God, we ask for God’s will, and for this we reject in ourselves that which opposes God’s will. And this means that in prayer it is important to show self-sacrifice. “Carnal feelings,” writes the saint, “flowing from carnal kinship, prevent the assimilation of spiritual feelings and the very activity according to the spiritual law, which requires crucifixion for carnal wisdom. You must seek spiritual success in cutting off your will. This work mortifies passions and removes, as if from hell, from carnal wisdom. In one who cuts off his own will, the effect of prayer appears by itself when he exercises attentive prayer with the conclusion of the mind in the words of prayer. If a person is not first purified by cutting off his will, then true prayerful action will never be revealed in him. When the prayer action is revealed, then it will become clear that it is nothing more than a complete rejection of one’s will for the sake of the will of God.”

Now let’s pay attention to what is overlooked by so many. Often we wish that through prayer we would achieve self-improvement, spiritual strength, and perhaps even special gifts of grace. However, such a mood presupposes a certain self-interest, which may be followed by a deceptive impression of what has been achieved, that is, charm. Saint Ignatius warned: “Do not seek prematurely high spiritual states and prayerful delights.” “Do not look for pleasures in prayer: they are by no means characteristic of a sinner. The desire of a sinner to feel pleasure is already self-delusion. Seek for your dead, petrified heart to come to life, so that it opens up to the feeling of its sinfulness, its fall, its insignificance, so that it sees them, confesses to them with selflessness.”

Of course, prayer leads to spiritual perfection and introduces us to the gracious power of God, but this should not be considered as a special goal, but is presented only as a consequence of unity with God. Otherwise, self-interest lurks in the soul, an attempt to satisfy the desire of one’s separate “I,” separate precisely from God. In this case, the thought of St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain is similar to the teaching of St. Ignatius: for us, true and correct spiritual life consists in doing everything only for the sake of pleasing God and precisely because He Himself wants it that way. In other words, we begin to pray because it pleases God so much that we have moved away from Him, and in Him lies our whole life, all our good, and therefore we need to constantly lift our minds and hearts to Him.

According to Saint Ignatius, we must be unselfish even in relation to acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit. “Many, having received grace, have become careless, arrogant and presumptuous; The grace given to them served, due to their foolishness, only to their greater condemnation.” We should not deliberately wait for the coming of grace, since this implies the idea that we are already worthy of grace. “God comes of its own accord - at a time when we do not expect it and do not hope to receive it. But in order for God’s favor to follow us, we must first purify ourselves by repentance. In repentance all the commandments of God are combined. By repentance a Christian is led first into the fear of God, then into Divine love.” “Let us engage in the Jesus Prayer unselfishly,” calls Saint Ignatius, “with simplicity and directness of intention, with the goal of repentance, with faith in God, with complete devotion to the will of God, with trust in the wisdom, goodness, and omnipotence of this holy will.”

So, it is repentance that is the spirit that should fill our prayer. “True prayer is the voice of true repentance. When prayer is not animated by repentance, then it does not fulfill its purpose, then God is not pleased with it.” The first thing St. Ignatius draws attention to regarding repentance is seeing your sin. Without seeing our shortcomings, we will not be able to get rid of them, we will not feel that we generally need to pray before the Lord. “The more a person looks into his sin, the more he goes into crying about himself, the more pleasant he is, the more accessible he is to the Holy Spirit, Who, like a doctor, approaches only those who recognize themselves as sick; on the contrary, he turns away from those who are rich with their vain self-conceit.” He who seeks to reveal his sinfulness casts himself in contrition of heart before God; not even a shadow of an opinion about himself will arise in him. He is alien to any falsehood, unnaturalness, self-deception. The vision of one’s weaknesses and insignificance prompts one to rush to God in pure prayer. “All the hope of such a soul is concentrated in God, and therefore there is no reason for it to be entertained during prayer; she prays, combining her strength into one and rushing to God with all her being; she resorts to prayer as often as possible, she prays unceasingly.” “Through attentive prayer, let us seek to turn the eyes of the mind on ourselves in order to discover our sinfulness within ourselves. When we open it, let us stand mentally before our Lord Jesus Christ in the face of the lepers, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the paralytic, the demoniac; Let us begin before Him from the poverty of our spirit, from a heart crushed by illness over our sinfulness, a lamentable cry of prayer.” And therefore, the second thing the saint teaches about repentance is the cry of the heart, the cry of the human spirit about itself, about its distance from God, born from the sight of one’s sin. “Whoever combines crying with prayer strives according to the direction of God Himself, struggles correctly and legally. In due time he will reap abundant fruit: the joy of certain salvation. He who has eliminated crying from prayer is working contrary to God’s establishment and will not reap any fruit. Not only that, but he will reap the thorns of conceit, self-delusion, and destruction.” At the same time, it is important to know that crying does not necessarily mean tears - tearfulness in itself is not a virtue; rather, on the contrary, it is cowardice. By crying, Saint Ignatius understands a special type of humility, consisting in a heartfelt feeling of repentance, in the sorrow of the heart for our fall, in deep sadness for the sinfulness and weakness of man.

True prayer is not compatible with artistry. It should not be pronounced as if for show, in an emphatically eloquent manner, with passion, or in emotional excitement. From this, one’s “I” comes to life, arrogance enters the soul. Prayer must be imbued with simplicity, artlessness, then only it is capable of embracing the whole soul, then only we feel like a creature standing before the Almighty and All-Good God. “The robe of your soul should shine with white simplicity. Nothing should be complicated here! Evil thoughts and feelings of vanity, hypocrisy, pretense, man-pleasing, arrogance, voluptuousness should not be mixed in - these dark and fetid stains with which the spiritual clothing of praying Pharisees can be spotted.” Simplicity is alien to any insincerity, falsehood, unnaturalness, artificiality; it does not need a guise. A soul filled with simplicity does not compare itself with anyone, sees everyone better than itself, it does not imagine itself, but puts itself before God as it really is, because it completely surrenders itself to God. This should be the spirit of real prayer.

In this regard, Saint Ignatius does not advise composing his multi-verbal and eloquent prayers, since the writer is carried away by the elegance of his own expressions, and will consider delighting in the orbit of his fallen mind as a consolation of conscience or even as an act of grace, through which he will lose true prayer during the very utterance of the words of the prayer. For the Lord, more pleasant is the infantile babbling of a soul diminished by the sight of its many infirmities. “Bring to the Lord in your prayers the babbling of a child, a simple childish thought - not eloquence, not reason. If you don't contact- as if from paganism and Mohammedanism, from your complexity and duplicity - and you won't, said the Lord, like children you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven(Matthew 18:3)" We must open ourselves completely before God, open before Him all the secrets of our hearts, and our prayer to Him must be a pure and sincere sigh of the soul. “If you have acquired the village of repentance, go into the weeping of a child before God. Don’t ask if you can ask nothing from God; surrender yourself with selflessness to His will. Understand, feel that you are a creature, and God is the Creator. Surrender yourself unconsciously to the will of the Creator, bring Him one baby’s cry, bring Him a silent heart, ready to follow His will and be imprinted by His will.”

As for the very method of correctly performing prayer, Saint Ignatius saw it as enclosing the mind in the words of prayer, so that all the attention of the soul would be concentrated in the words of prayer. “The soul of prayer is attention. Just as a body without a soul is dead, so prayer without attention is dead. A prayer pronounced without attention turns into idle talk, and the one praying is thus counted among those who take the name of God in vain.” With the attention of the mind, the soul is imbued with prayer, prayer becomes the inalienable property of the one praying. At the same time, all thoughts, dreams, reflections, especially emerging images, must be rejected. The mind must remain dreamless, without O figurative, so that he is able to ascend into the immaterial land of the Holy Spirit. Attentive prayer expresses the self-sacrifice of the soul, which seeks not self-delight with the images that arise and the thoughts brought to it by fallen spirits, but fidelity to God.

When the mind pays attention to prayer, the heart begins to listen to it; the heart is imbued with the spirit of prayer, the spirit of repentance, tenderness, and blessed sadness for sins. The feelings allowed to the heart in prayer are feelings of sacred fear and reverence before God, consciousness of the presence of God and one’s deepest unworthiness before Him. There should be no enthusiasm, no heat or emotional excitement in the heart; it should be filled with prayer of silence, peace, and rest in God. And it is the attention of the mind to the words of prayer that elevates the soul to all this. “Attentive prayer, free from distraction and daydreaming, is a vision of the invisible God, drawing to itself the vision of the mind and the desire of the heart. Then the mind sees without form and completely satisfies itself with non-seeing, which surpasses all vision. The reason for this blissful invisibility is the infinite subtlety and incomprehensibility of the Object to which vision is directed. The invisible Sun of Truth - God also emits rays that are invisible, but cognizable by the clear sensation of the soul: they fill the heart with wonderful calmness, faith, courage, meekness, mercy, love for neighbors and God. By these actions, visible in the inner cell of the heart, a person undoubtedly recognizes that his prayer is accepted by God, begins to believe with living faith and firmly trust in the Lover and Beloved. This is the beginning of the revival of the soul for God and blissful eternity."

And when our personal life is included in prayer, then it, prayer, becomes a mirror of our spiritual success. By the state of our prayer we will be able to judge the strength of our love for God, the depth of our repentance and how captive we are to earthly addictions. After all, as much as a person desires eternal salvation, he pays attention to prayer to God, and someone who is immersed in earthly things has no time to pray all the time.

Having learned to pray correctly, we must pray constantly, “prayer is always necessary and useful for a person: it keeps him in communion with God and under the protection of God.” Almost all the holy fathers teach about the need for unceasing prayer. And some advise praying as often as we breathe. Since we are too easily inclined towards any evil, we are open to the temptations of the surrounding world and the influence fallen angels, we need constant communication with God, His protection and help, and therefore our prayer must be constant.

In order to get used to praying as often as possible, there are prayer rules. “The soul that begins the path of God is immersed in deep ignorance of everything Divine and spiritual, even if it were rich in the wisdom of this world. Because of this ignorance, she does not know how and how much she should pray. To help the infant soul, the Holy Church established prayer rules. A prayer rule is a collection of several prayers composed by the divinely inspired holy fathers, adapted to a certain circumstance and time. The purpose of the rule is to provide the soul with the amount of prayerful thoughts and feelings it lacks, moreover, thoughts and feelings that are correct, holy, and definitely pleasing to God. The grace-filled prayers of the holy fathers are filled with such thoughts and feelings.” The rule includes daily morning and evening prayers, canons, akathists, and Saint Ignatius pointed to the akathist to the Sweetest Jesus as an excellent preparation for practicing the Jesus Prayer: “The akathist shows what thoughts can be accompanied by the Jesus Prayer, which seems extremely dry for beginners. Throughout its entire space, it depicts one sinner’s petition for mercy by the Lord Jesus Christ, but this petition is given various forms, in accordance with the infancy of the minds of beginners."

The saint of God advises beginners to read more akathists and canons, and the Psalter after some success. The rule may also include bowing with the Jesus Prayer, as well as reading the New Testament combined with prayer; Among monks, the daily prayer rule is more complete and lengthy than among the laity. It is necessary that the chosen rule be consistent with our mental and physical strength, then only it will spiritually warm us. “It is not man for the rule, but the rule for man,” St. Ignatius often reminds; It is precisely the feasible rule that easily turns into a skill and is performed constantly, which is the key to spiritual success. Saint Ignatius draws attention to the fact that even the great holy fathers who reached unceasing prayer, did not abandon their rule, such was the benefit for their spiritual activity from the daily prayer rule, which turned into a habit; It will also be beneficial for us: “The one who has acquired this blessed skill barely approaches the usual place of performing the rules, when his soul is already filled with a prayerful mood: he has not yet had time to utter a single word of the prayers he reads, and already tenderness flows from his heart, and his mind has deepened completely into the inner cage."

Special attention It is worth paying attention to a short prayer, in particular the Jesus Prayer. Saint Ignatius makes a significant remark that “the holy fathers actually call prayer the Jesus Prayer, which is pronounced like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” as well as “the prayer of the publican and other very short prayers.”

Following the spirit of the ancient holy fathers, Saint Ignatius noted the special importance of short prayer before more complete and lengthy prayers. The latter, although they have spiritually rich content, but the variety of thoughts they contain distract the mind from focusing on itself and give the mind some entertainment. A short prayer collects the mind and does not allow its attention to wander; one thought of a short prayer embraces the mind, so that the whole soul is clothed in this prayer. The Monk John Climacus wrote beautifully about this: “Do not try to be verbose when talking with God, so that your mind is not wasted on finding words... Verbosity during prayer often entertains the mind and fills it with dreams, but unanimity usually collects it.” Learning short prayer allows you to pray at any time, in any place, and the acquired skill of such prayer makes it natural to the soul.

It must be said that Saint Ignatius, with all the power of conviction, asserted that the Jesus Prayer is a Divine institution, that it is commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: “After the Last Supper, among other most sublime final commandments and testaments, the Lord Jesus Christ established prayer in His name, gave this method of prayer like a new, unusual gift, a gift of immeasurable value.” In the following words of the Lord, the holy saint sees the establishment of the Jesus Prayer: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:23); “And if you ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14: 13-14); “Until now you have asked nothing in My name; pros And those and gender at May your joy be complete” (John 16:24).

One may recall that the holy apostles performed all miracles in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they called upon His name in prayers, in His name they saw the salvation of people (there are many such examples in the book of Acts). Saint Ignatius finds glorification of the name of the Savior and prayer in this name among the earliest saints: Ignatius the God-Bearer, Hermias, and the martyr Callistratus. He considers the Jesus Prayer to be well known in the first centuries of Christianity. Thus, the legend about the martyrdom of Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer tells that when he was led to be devoured by wild beasts, he constantly called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The torturers asked why he was doing this, and Saint Ignatius replied that “he has the name of Jesus Christ inscribed in his heart and confesses with his lips the One Whom he always carries in his heart.” It is reported about the martyr Callistratus that, while in the army, he prayed at night, often calling on the name of Jesus Christ.

The saint calls to approach prayer in the name of the Savior with childlike simplicity and faith, to perform the Jesus Prayer with reverence and fear of God. “In the name of the Lord Jesus, revival is given to the soul killed by sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is Life (see: John 11:25), and His name is living: it gives life to those who cry to him to the Source of life, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Jesus Prayer protects a person from the temptations of the world around him, delivers him from the influence of fallen spirits, it introduces him to the Spirit of Christ, and leads him to deification. “The name of the Lord is more than any name: it is a source of delight, a source of joy, a source of life; it is Spirit; it gives life, changes, melts, idolizes.”

At the same time, it is important to know that it is impossible to immediately ascend to the heights of prayer. There is a certain sequence in performing the Jesus Prayer, certain steps in the prayerful ascent to God. According to the teachings of St. Ignatius, these are such steps as oral prayer, mental prayer, heartfelt prayer, spiritual prayer. Moreover, in the description of all types of prayer action, the same principle is proposed, which will protect against possible errors. This principle is as follows: “Saint John Climacus advises to enclose the mind in the words of prayer and, no matter how many times it withdraws from the words, to introduce it again. This mechanism is especially useful and especially convenient. When the mind is thus attentive, then the heart will enter into sympathy with the mind with tenderness - prayer will be performed jointly with the mind and heart.” When following this principle, a step-by-step passage of prayer steps is proposed as follows.

The first type of performing the Jesus Prayer is performing it orally, publicly, verbally. It consists of verbally pronouncing the words of the Jesus Prayer while paying attention to them with the mind. “Let us first learn to pray attentively, verbally and publicly, then we will conveniently learn to pray with our mind alone in the silence of our inner cell.”

Of course, oral prayer, since it is pronounced with the tongue, is also a manifestation of the external, and not the internal, feat of a Christian. However, oral prayer already exists together with mental prayer when it is accompanied by the attention of the mind. “Oral, public prayer, like any other, must certainly be accompanied by attention. With attention, the benefits of verbal prayer are innumerable. The ascetic must begin with it.” “It is essential for each and every person to begin learning to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus by performing the Jesus Prayer orally while enclosing the mind in the words of the prayer. By enclosing the mind in the words of prayer, the strictest attention to these words is depicted, without which prayer is like a body without a soul.” In the attention of the mind to the words of prayer - the method of St. John the Climacus - lies the entire connection between oral prayer and mental activity; without this, oral prayer cannot benefit the soul. And therefore it is necessary to say the prayer slowly, quietly, calmly, with tenderness of the heart, to say it a little out loud, in order to drive away all the enemy thoughts that come, to collect the mind, to enclose it in the spoken words.

Verbal prayer, when attention is acquired and kept undistracted, over time turns into prayer smart And cardiac. Because “attentive vocal prayer is both mental and heartfelt.” From frequent practice in vocal prayer, the lips and tongue are sanctified, made incapable of serving sin, and sanctification cannot but be imparted to the soul. Therefore, Saint Ignatius gives as an example St. Sergius of Radonezh, Hilarion of Suzdal, Seraphim of Sarov and some other saints who did not give up oral and vocal prayer throughout their lives and were honored with the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit. These saints “had their mind, heart, whole soul and whole body united with their voice and lips; they said the prayer with all their souls, with all their strength, with all their being, with all their humanity.”

To engage in mental and then heartfelt prayer, spiritual maturity is already required. Prayer is called “clever when pronounced with the mind with deep attention, with the sympathy of the heart.” Here the method of St. John the Climacus is already bearing some fruit: the mind gets used to being enclosed in the words of prayer, the attention of the mind becomes deeper, and at the same time the heart cannot help but sympathize with the mind. The heart here participates in prayer with feelings of contrition, repentance, crying, and tenderness. St. Neil of Sinai also reports similar feelings: these are self-absorption, reverence, tenderness and mental pain about sins. But you still need to constantly force yourself to perform prayer correctly, since the nature has not yet been transformed and prayer is plundered by alien thoughts. Having not completely freed itself from attachments, impressions, and worries, the mind still indulges in daydreaming.

Saint Ignatius repeatedly said that in order to achieve the grace-filled non-vapority of the mind, it is necessary to demonstrate one’s own effort, keeping the mind in the words of prayer, constantly returning it from mental wanderings to prayer. Such a feat over time can lead to grace-filled, unsquandered attention, but first “it is left to the one praying to pray with his own effort; The grace of God undoubtedly assists the one who prays with good intentions, but it does not reveal its presence. At this time, the passions hidden in the heart come into motion and elevate the worker of prayer to a martyrdom, in which conquests and victories constantly replace each other, in which the free will of man and his weakness are expressed with clarity.” Often, forcing oneself to pray lasts a lifetime, because prayer kills the old man, and as long as he is present in us, he resists prayer. Fallen spirits also resist it and try to desecrate prayer, inclining us to absent-mindedness and to accepting the thoughts and dreams they bring. But often forcing oneself is crowned with grace-filled consolation in prayer, which can encourage further work.

If it is the will of God, then “the grace of God palpably reveals its presence and action, connecting the mind with the heart, making it possible to pray without steam or, what is the same, without entertainment, with heartfelt crying and warmth; at the same time, sinful thoughts lose their violent power over the mind.” According to Saints Hesychius of Jerusalem and John Climacus, prayer united with the heart blots out sinful thoughts and images in the soul and drives away demons. And such a prayer is called “heartfelt when it is pronounced with the mind and heart united, and the mind, as it were, descends into the heart and sends up a prayer from the depths of the heart.” Now that there has been liberation from the plunder and captivity of the soul by the thoughts inflicted by the enemy, the ascetic is allowed before the invisible face of God, standing before Him in his heart and offering up deep, pure prayer. The saint’s reasoning on this topic is insightful: “He who prays unclean prayer has a dead concept of God, as of an unknown and invisible God. When, having freed himself from plunder and captivity by thoughts, he is admitted before the invisible face of God, then he comes to know God with a living, experienced knowledge. He knows God as God. Then a person, turning his mind’s gaze to himself, sees himself as a creature, and not as an original being, as people deceptively imagine themselves to be, being in darkness and self-delusion; then he sets himself in the attitude towards God in which His creation should be, recognizing himself as obligated to reverently submit to the will of God and diligently fulfill it.”

And further, prayer becomes " spiritual, when it is done with all the soul, with the participation of the body itself, when it is done from the whole being, and the whole being is made as if by one mouth saying a prayer.” St. Neil of Sinai explains it this way: “There is the highest prayer of the perfect, a certain admiration of the mind, its complete detachment from the sensual, when with unutterable sighs of the spirit it approaches God, Who sees the disposition of the heart, open, like a written book, and expressing its will in silent images ". Spiritual prayer is characterized by a gracious spiritual feeling of fear of God, reverence and tenderness, which turns into love. Here the ascetic experiences spiritual pleasure in standing before the face of God, his prayer becomes self-motivated, unceasing.

The saint describes this final stage of prayerful ascent to God in the following way: “When, by the ineffable mercy of God, the mind begins to unite in prayer with the heart and soul, then the soul, first little by little, and then the whole will begin to rush together with the mind into prayer. Finally, our most perishable body, created with the lust of God, and from the fall infected with bestial lust, will rush into prayer. Then the bodily senses remain inactive: the eyes look and do not see; the ears hear but do not hear. Then the whole person is enveloped in prayer: his very hands, feet and fingers, unspeakably, but quite clearly and tangibly, participate in prayer and are filled with power inexplicable in words.”

The entire life of Saint Ignatius himself passed in prayer to the Lord, he experienced its beneficial effect, through it he entered into the peace of the Heavenly City, and he also called all Christians to it: “Do not waste precious time and strength of the soul on acquiring knowledge delivered by human sciences. Use both strength and time to acquire prayer, performed sacredly in the inner cell. There, in yourself, prayer will reveal a spectacle that will attract all your attention: it will give you knowledge that the world cannot contain, the existence of which it has no idea.”

Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint. Ascetic experiences. Part 1. pp. 140–141; Offering to modern monasticism // Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint. Creations. T. 5. M., 1998. P. 93.

Cm.: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint. Ascetic experiences. Part 1. pp. 498–499; Ascetic sermon. pp. 341, 369; Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus, Saint. Collection of letters / Comp. Abbot Mark (Lozinsky). M.; St. Petersburg, 1995. S. 138, 194, 200–201.

Right there. P. 74. The idea that God comes by itself was adopted by the saint from the Monk Isaac the Syrian. The Monk Isaac explains this idea perfectly: “One of the saints wrote: “Whoever does not consider himself a sinner, his prayer is not accepted by the Lord.” If you say that some fathers wrote about what spiritual purity is, what health is, what dispassion is, what vision is, then they did not write so that we would expect this ahead of time; for it is written that “the kingdom of God will not come without waiting” (Luke 17:20). And in those who had such an intention, they acquired pride and downfall. And we will bring the area of ​​the heart into order by deeds of repentance and a life pleasing to God; The Lord comes by itself if the place in the heart is clean and not defiled. What we seek “with observance,” I mean God’s lofty gifts, is rejected by the Church of God; and those who accepted this earned themselves pride and downfall. And this is not a sign that a person loves God, but an illness of the soul" ( Isaac the Syrian, Rev. Ascetic words. M., 1993. P. 257). Saint Isaac also has a shorter statement: “They say: “What is from God comes by itself, but you will not even feel it.” This is true, but only if the place is clean and not defiled” (Ibid. pp. 13–14). It is clear that the Monk Isaac himself refers to more ancient fathers. And there is a similar statement, for example, by Abba Isaiah the Hermit: “Do not seek the higher (gifts) of God while you pray to Him for help, that He may come and save you from sin. God comes by itself when an undefiled and clean place is prepared (for him)" ( Isaiah the Hermit, Abba. Words // Philokalia. Publication of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1993. T. 1. P. 316).

Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint. Ascetic sermon. P. 325. For example, the Monk Anthony the Great teaches about seeing one’s sin (Rule of hermit life // Philokalia. T. 1. P. 108, 111), Abba Isaiah (Words // Philokalia. T. 1. P. 283) . Venerable Macarius The Great One notes that even in the pure nature of man there is the possibility of exaltation, that is, achieving spiritual purity does not mean the inability to fall into sin again; and therefore the true sign of Christianity, which will protect you from pride: no matter how many righteous deeds have been done, to think that nothing has been done ( Macarius of Egypt, Rev. Spiritual conversations. Publication of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1994. pp. 66, 197). The statement of the Monk Theognostus is beautiful in terms of the power of thought: “With all your feelings, consider yourself an ant and a worm, so that you become a God-created man: for if this does not happen first, this will not follow. The more you go down in your feelings about yourself, the more you go up in reality. When you count yourself as nothing before the face of the Lord, like the Psalmist (see: Ps. 39:6), then you become secretly great from small; and when you recognize yourself as having nothing and knowing nothing, then you are rich in both deeds and intelligence, commendable to the Lord" ( Theognostus, Rev. About active and contemplative life // Philokalia. T. 3. P. 377). No less powerful is the statement of St. Isaac the Syrian: “He who felt his sins better than that who through his prayer raises the dead... He who spends one hour sighing for his soul is better than he who brings benefit to the whole world with his vision. He who is worthy to see himself is better than he who is worthy to see angels. For the latter enters into fellowship with the eyes of the body, and the former with the eyes of the soul" ( Isaac the Syrian, Rev. Ascetic words. P. 175).

Right there. P. 228. The teaching about crying as the very essence of repentance and the core of mental work runs through the entire patristic tradition. The Venerable Anthony the Great commands us to awaken from sinful sleep and mourn ourselves with all our hearts day and night, since it is through weeping that liberation from sins and the acquisition of virtues is achieved (Instructions, rules of hermit life and sayings // Philokalia. Vol. 1. P. 39, 55, 110, 134). According to Abba Isaiah, invisible enemies oppress us because we do not see our sins and have not acquired tears; it is the consciousness of sins and then crying about them that drives demons out of the soul (see: Fatherland, compiled by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). M., 1996. P. 129; Isaiah the Hermit, Abba. Words // Philokalia. T. 1. P. 359). The Monk Macarius the Great teaches that just as a mother cries for a dead son, so our mind should bring tears for a soul that has died for God through its sins, shed tears and constantly indulge in grief, and it is precisely such one that the grace of God will visit (Spiritual Conversations. P. 145) . The teaching on lamentation was especially developed by Saint John Climacus, and Saint Ignatius relied heavily on his teaching. St. John gives the following definition of this activity, the feeling of the soul: “Crying is the sorrow of the soul, rooted from habit, which has fire (Divine) in itself” (Ladder. P. 95) “Crying for God is the lamentation of the soul, such an arrangement of a painful heart that with frantically seeks what it longs for, and, not finding it, strives after it with difficulty and weeps bitterly after it. Or in other words: crying is a golden sting, with its wounding it exposes the soul from all earthly love and passion and is planted in the contemplation of the heart with holy sadness” (Ibid. pp. 86–87). According to Climacus, on Last Judgment we will not be condemned for not theologizing or performing miracles, but we will be condemned for not weeping unceasingly for our sins. Every day on which sins were not mourned should be considered lost. Moreover, Climacus notes that none of those who cry over sins should expect to receive notice of forgiveness upon leaving this life. And it is Climacus who teaches about crying without tears, about spiritual tears that allow you to cry before God in any place at any time (Ibid. pp. 80, 81, 88, 98). Saint Isaac the Syrian also teaches about crying; in crying he sees the essence of monastic activity; The Monk Isaac notes that consolation comes from crying, since one who weeps incessantly cannot be disturbed by passions (Ascetic Words. pp. 98, 99).

Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint. Ascetic experiences. Part 1. P. 144. In many ways, the saint here follows the teaching of the Monk Isaac the Syrian, who has the following words: “Walk before God in simplicity, and not in knowledge. Simplicity is accompanied by faith, and refinement and resourcefulness of thoughts are followed by conceit; for conceit, there is a distance from God” (Ascetic Words. P. 214). The reasoning about the simplicity of St. John Climacus is interesting: “Like an evil man there is something dual, one in appearance, and the other in heart disposition; so the simple is not dual, but is something united” (Ladder. P. 39). The simplicity of the soul reveals the absence of guile, reveals inner chastity, the integrity of nature. As St. Anthony the Great notes, “the saints are united with God by their simplicity. You will find simplicity in a person filled with the fear of God. He who has simplicity is perfect and like God; it smells fragrant with the sweetest and most gracious fragrance; he is filled with joy and glory; the Holy Spirit rests in him, as in His abode” (Fatherland, p. 5).

Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint. Ascetic experiences. Part 2. pp. 163, 171; Collection of letters. P. 154. Saint Isaac the Syrian also instructs: “The house of faith is an infant thought and a simple heart.” “No one can receive spiritual knowledge unless he is converted and becomes like a child... In a feeling of weakness and in simplicity, pray that you may live well before God and be without care” (Ascetic Words. pp. 119, 217). Close to this are the instructions of Saint John of the Climacus: “Let the whole fabric of your prayer be a little complicated, for the publican and the prodigal son propitiated God with one word... Do not use wise expressions in your prayer, for often the simple and unsophisticated babble of children pleased their Heavenly Father” (Ladder). pp. 235–236).

Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint. Ascetic experiences. Part 2. P. 123. “When you appear before God,” teaches Saint Isaac the Syrian, “become in your thoughts like an ant, like a reptile on the ground, like a leech and like a babbling child. Do not speak before God anything from knowledge, but with your childish thoughts draw near to Him and walk before Him, so that you may be worthy of that paternal Providence that fathers have for their children and infants. It is said: “The Lord protect the little ones” (Ps. 115:5)” (Ascetic Words. P. 214). Paisiy Velichkovsky Hesychius of Jerusalem, Rev. About sobriety and prayer // Philokalia. T. 2. P. 187, 189–190, 196; John of Sinai, Rev. Ladder. P. 215

Alexey OSIPOV

PRAYER
Directly related to the theme of monasticism is the teaching of the Saint about
prayer, about smart doing, the paramount importance of which in
monasticism, he wrote: “Without true mental activity, monasticism is a body
without soul".
Saying that “prayer is the highest exercise for the mind... Prayer is
head, source, mother of all virtues,” the Saint reveals those conditions
subject to which only she is such. Otherwise,
he warned, she turns out to be at least infertile, and maybe
lead to a fall into deep delusion: conceit, daydreaming,
seeking and experiencing false sweet states, visions, insights and
etc.
Some of these conditions for correct prayer are quite well known:
forgiveness of neighbors, absence of hostility towards anyone, mercy, etc. But
many are out of sight of most believers. Therefore especially
it is necessary to hear the voice of such a Teacher about correct prayer.
Two years before his death on January 29, 1865, he wrote: “At present
time is an essential need for correct prayer, but they don’t even know it! Not
know that it should be an instrument and expression of repentance, (and) they are looking for
pleasures and delights, flatter themselves, and with the instrument given for salvation,
killing their souls. It is essential to have a correct understanding of prayer in
Nowadays! She is the essential, the only leader in our time
to salvation. There are no mentors!” Therefore, “learn to pray to God correctly.
Having learned to pray correctly, pray constantly - and you will inherit comfortably
the rescue".
Saint Ignatius points out the types of prayer. The simplest of them is
oral or public prayer, which is said out loud or in a whisper. But
“oral and public prayer is fruitful when it is associated with
attention, which is very rare: because we learn to pay attention
mainly when practicing the Jesus Prayer.”
In addition to oral prayer, he talks about three more types of prayer. "From prayer
vowel of many, - says the holy monk (Dorotheus, author of “The Flower Garden.” -
A.O.), - mental prayer expires, and from mental prayer comes prayer
cardiac. The Jesus Prayer should not be said in a loud voice, but
quietly out loud to myself alone.” “A prayer is called smart when it is said
with the mind with deep attention and compassion of the heart; cordial when
pronounced by the mind and heart united, and the mind seems to descend into
the heart and from the depths of the heart sends up prayer; emotional when it happens
with all the soul, with the participation of the body itself, when done from the whole being.”
Let us present some more important provisions of the Saint’s teaching on
prayer.

4. External and internal prayer. “Not only in the process of breathing,
but in all movements of the body one should observe calmness, quietness and
modesty. All this greatly helps to keep the mind from wandering.”
“Whoever prays with his mouth,” St. Ignatius conveys the words very
the Russian ascetic Hieromonk Dorotheus, whom he revered, - and about the soul
is careless and does not protect his heart, such a person prays to the air, and not to God, and in vain
he works because God listens to intelligence and zeal, and not to verbosity.”
“...external prayer alone is not enough. God listens to the mind, and therefore those
monks who do not connect external prayer with internal prayer are not
monks (St. Seraphim of Sarov).”
“Every prayer,” said the great Father (St. Isaac the Syrian - A.O.), -
in which the body does not become weary, and the heart does not become contrite, it is recognized
an unripe fruit, because such prayer is without a soul.” He also said:
“The prayers of those who are bitter in memory are sowing on stone” (cf. Matthew 6:14–15).
“The amount of prayer is determined for each person by his lifestyle and
the amount of mental and physical strength."
2. Humility in prayer. In one of his letters, Saint Ignatius speaks of
a condition under which only prayer is accepted by God. "Today, -
he writes, “I read that saying of the Great Sisoy, which I always
I especially liked it, it was always especially to my heart. Some monk
told him: “I am in constant remembrance of God.” Reverend
Sisoi answered him: “It is not great; great will be when you consider yourself
worse than all creation." “A high occupation,” continues the Saint, “
unceasing remembrance of God! But this height is very dangerous when
the ladder to it is not based on the solid rock of humility.” "To be correct
prayer must be offered from a heart filled with poverty
spirit, from a contrite and humble heart."
3. Attention in prayer. “The soul of prayer is attention. Like a body without a soul
dead, so prayer without attention is dead. Pronounced without attention
prayer turns into idle talk, and the one praying is thus ranked among
those who take the name of God in vain” (Proverbs 30:9).
“One must... perform prayer with attention and reverence for the purpose of
repentance, caring only about these three qualities constantly
were present in prayer."
“The dignity of prayer lies solely in quality, and not in
quantity... The quality of true prayer is when the mind during
prayer is in attention, and the heart sympathizes with the mind.”
“Especially helps to maintain attention during prayer.
unhurried pronunciation of the words of prayer.”
“...attentive oral prayer automatically turns into mental and
heartfelt." “Prayer without attention is not prayer. She is dead! She -
useless, soul-harming, God-insulting idle talk!
4. Seeking pleasure in prayer. “Do not seek pleasure in prayer:
they are by no means characteristic of a sinner. The sinner's desire to feel
pleasure is already self-delusion. Seek for your dead to come to life,

a petrified heart so that it opens to the feeling of its sinfulness,
its fall, its insignificance, so that it sees them, confesses to them with
selflessness. Then the true fruit of prayer will appear in you: the true
repentance". “Bring quiet and humble prayers to God, not ardent and
fiery... Unclean fire - blind, material heating of blood -
it is forbidden to offer before the all-holy God.”
5. True pleasure lies in correct prayer. How often do they reproach
Christianity is that it, calling a person to a vision of corruption
human nature and one’s sinfulness, to repentance, to mourning for sins,
struggle with passions, etc., as if making the life of a believer dull and
unhappy. But such reproaches stem from
firstly, from a complete misunderstanding of the fact that the cause of all our
sorrows, internal and external, are precisely passions: selfishness, envy,
pride, greed, stubbornness, drunkenness and others, they are countless. They
poison personal and family life people, bring innumerable troubles.
And without fighting them, without repentance and prayer, expect nothing good in life
impossible. This is the law human life!
Secondly, these critics do not know that in a person who lives the gospel,
as passions are cleansed, a special peace of mind, joy,
love for humanity - everything that, in fact, characterizes the true
happiness. About what real life gives a person Christian life, Wonderful
said the apostle Paul: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it come to
heart to man, what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9). Church History
confirms this with countless examples of the lives of its saints.
Saint Ignatius writes: “Joy and gladness are characteristic of the soul,
felt revived, felt liberated from the captivity in which they were held
her sin and fallen spirits, who felt the overshadowing of Divine grace,
who felt that through the action of this grace she was presented to the face of God,
elevated to the immaculate and blessed service of God. Joy and cheerfulness so
are strong that the Holy Spirit invites the one who feels them to exclaim. How not
to exclaim with joy to the one who has been liberated, revived, given wings,
ascended from earth to heaven? So, for example, he writes about his
abbot's life in the Trinity-Sergius Desert: “Here I saw enemies,
breathing with irreconcilable malice and thirst for my destruction; here is merciful
The Lord has vouchsafed me to know joy and peace of soul inexpressible in words;
here He vouchsafed me to taste spiritual love and sweetness while I
I met my enemy who sought my head, and the face of this enemy became
in my eyes, as if the face of a bright Angel.”
Wonderful and varied are the words of the Saint about the joy that
a believer experiences different states of his soul when he lives
really Christian:
- in repentance. “Consolation lives mysteriously in tears, and in crying -
joy". “Consolation, joy, pleasure, the giving of [other] gifts are
consequences of the reconciliation of the soul with God;

In sorrows. “The Apostle commands thanksgiving during prayer... To such
thanksgiving brings wonderful peace into the soul, joy is introduced,
despite the fact that sorrow surrounds you from everywhere”;
- in gospel love. “George, recluse of the Zadonsk monastery, husband,
who has achieved Christian perfection, says this: “I want to say
a few words about the essence of love. This is the most subtle fire,
surpassing every mind and the lightest of all minds. The actions of this fire
quick and wonderful days, they are sacred and poured into the soul from the Holy One,
Omnipresent Spirit. This fire will only touch the heart, every thought and
restless feelings are instantly transformed into silence, into humility, into
joy, into sweetness that surpasses everything";
- in the internal state of your soul and in relation to your neighbors.
“The fruits of true prayer: holy peace of the soul, united with quiet,
silent joy, alien to daydreaming, conceit and heated
impulses and movements, love for neighbors, not separating the good from the love
evil, worthy from the unworthy, but interceding for everyone before
God";
c – holiness. The saints, it turns out, experience not only joy
spiritual, but also “indescribable pleasure of the body with spiritual joy.”
“Says the Venerable Abba Isaiah the Hermit in his sermon: Our God is
consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). Fire melts wax and dries up mud.
filthy impurities: so, through secret teaching, filthy thoughts are dried up,
and passions are destroyed from the soul, the mind is enlightened, clarified and refined
thought, joy pours into the heart.”
“God’s saints worked miracles, raised the dead, foretold
future, were intoxicated with spiritual sweetness, and together they humbled themselves, trembled,
seeing with bewilderment, surprise, fear that God was pleased to spare
dust, dust, He entrusted His Holy Spirit to the clay. Oh God! Attacks from
from the sight of these sacraments there is silence on the beholding mind; envelops the heart untold
joy".
What and how should we pray?
The instructions of St. Ignatius on this issue are extremely useful and
necessary in the practical life of any Christian.
Requests for earthly blessings. If we believe that the Lord is love and is ready
give us everything we need for our lives, then our prayer should be
prayer of faith: “Lord, You know what I suffer, what I want, and I believe,
that whatever You give to every person is the most beneficial for him,
for his salvation. Therefore, I ask You, may Your good will be done, and not mine.”
This is how the Lord Jesus Christ Himself prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before His
terrible suffering, giving an image of correct prayer to all those who
really believes Him.
Therefore, the Monk Barsanuphius the Great wrote: “It is not good to force
praying to be healed without knowing what
good for you." A
Saint Isaac the Syrian warned those persistently asking for something earthly:

“If anyone asks the king for a little dirt, he will not only dishonor himself
the insignificance of the request and will show himself to be a fool, but will also harm the king
insult by your request. This is what the one who asks for something in prayer does:
something earthly."
And Saint Ignatius wrote: “Do not be foolish in your requests,
so as not to anger God with his foolishness: he who asks the King of kings for something
something insignificant humiliates Him.”
“He who seeks in his prayer perishable earthly goods stirs up against himself
the indignation of the Heavenly King."
But, as a rule, the opposite happens. We don't pray for a reason
all our troubles - about the spiritual roots of our tree drying up in passions
souls, and we do not water them with tears of repentance, we do not fertilize them with deeds of mercy
and fulfillment of the commandments of Christ, but we ask immediately for fruits, and earthly ones at that.
We constantly repeat the sin of our forefathers, trying without effort on ourselves
pick the fruit and become like gods (Gen. 3:5).
The saint explains and famous words Christ: And when you pray, do not say unnecessary things, like
pagans, for they think that for their many words they will be heard (Matthew 6:7).
“Much verbiage, condemned by the Lord in the prayers of the pagans, consists in
numerous requests for temporary benefits."
“Combine prayer with prudent fasting” and charity.
“Do you want to become assimilated to God through prayer? Give your heart mercy...
Force your heart to mercy and goodness... until you feel in yourself
love for mankind, similar to the one who shines with His sun equally on the evil and
good and will rain on the righteous and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
During the service. “Even during Divine services it is useful to repeat
a short prayer in the mental cage: not only does it not interfere
attention to the prayers read and sung in the temple of God, but also
promotes especially careful attention to them, keeping the mind from
absent-mindedness."
“In church, do not read any special prayers, but listen
Divine service. It is good to get used to the publican's prayer, which is approved
Lord and which the publican, as can be seen from the Gospel, pronounced while in
churches".
“In church, sometimes listen to the Divine Service, and sometimes say with your mind
prayer, without ceasing to attend to the Divine service. We can pray together
mind and listen to church prayer. The first facilitates the second,
and the second to the first.”
“During church services it is useful to practice the Jesus Prayer.”
About heretics. “It is forbidden to pray for heretics, as if for members
belonging to the Church, why take out particles about them, like images
participation in the Church should not be, but it is possible to pray for their conversion.”

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