Where and when we should pray

One may pray everywhere, wherever you are: at home, on the road or in the church of God, for God by His essence is everywhere. A Christian is bound to pray at home in the morning and in the evening, before and after eating, at the beginning and at the end of every task. These prayers are called private prayers. Unlike them there are also common, or church, prayers. On Sundays and feast days, and in time free from work, we go to pray in the church of God, where believing Christians gather, and there we pray all together. That is why this prayer is called common, or church, prayer.

At church prayers the services are celebrated by people who have special authority for this (lawful ordination). These are the servants of God: bishops and priests. They sign us with the cross — this is called a blessing.

When a servant of God blesses us, his fingers are set so that they form the letters IC.XC, that is, Jesus Christ. This means that in the person of the servant of God our Lord Jesus Christ Himself blesses us invisibly. Therefore the blessing of a servant of God should be received with reverence. When in church we hear the words of the general blessing, “Peace be unto all,” we should bow the head in answer (without making the sign of the cross).

In a particular case, when we wish a bishop or a priest to bless us, we should cross the palms of our hands as shown in the picture and say: bless, master (or father).

Having received the blessing, we kiss the blessing right hand. At that moment we kiss the invisible hand of the Saviour Himself.

The magazine “The Spring” No. 19, March 1993 What we must not forget

So that during prayer some may not give themselves over to false mysticism and imaginings, or lest prayer turn into meditation altogether, we shall recall the most important things which the one who prays must without fail remember.

— In prayer you meet the almighty God personally.

— You must desire from the heart that your prayer go well, and your conscience must be clean before God, before your neighbour, before everyone and everything.

— However great a sinner you may consider yourself, do not abandon prayer, do not think of parting from the Lord. Compared with the sea of God's love, all our sins are a drop.

— Every day you must begin prayer as though you were praying for the first time: seek humility…

— Accustom your heart to the remembrance of God; say the prayer without haste, be attentive, attend to every word, or else the prayer will go with the wind and mumbling will be all that is left. Have you noticed that your mind has run away? Do not be agitated; calmly return to that place in the prayer where your attention was lost.

— Choose the form of the “Jesus Prayer” that is better for you: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” or “Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us,” or “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

— When alone you may pray both aloud and in the heart.

— During prayer nothing may be imagined: neither an image of God nor the heavenly world — nothing! In the thought of the holy fathers, imagination is a great power of the soul, and to use it at prayer is wholly inadmissible.

— Pay no attention to blasphemous thoughts and unclean images that flash up during prayer: every one of them belongs to the unclean spirit, the devil, and if we do not follow them, they will vanish and be lost.

— Nor is it necessary to seek the place of the heart during prayer. That concerns those who live in solitude, the monastics. Attend to the words of the prayer themselves, and the heart itself knows when to join in the prayer.

— Prayer without fail requires the forcing of oneself, a struggle with oneself, which lasts not one year or two but a whole lifetime. This is precisely the struggle of which the Saviour says: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12).

— In prayer we should keep one single feeling, the feeling of our own unworthiness, the feeling of repentance. The rest is the mercy of God, which the Lord grants us according to our humility.

— Do not think for a moment that the fruit of prayer — the gathering of the mind, spiritual feelings, tears and the rest — is your own merit. Often God shows us mercy and lets us taste, especially at the beginning, the sweetness of prayer; but then He lets us go and watches from afar how we use our own strength, and tests us: how faithful we are to Him; and He makes visible what we are without Him.

— The “Jesus Prayer” may be said during the services and in church as well. Everything that surrounds us there helps a person to carry out their prayer well. During the Liturgy it is better to follow the words of the common prayer attentively. As the fathers of the Church say, holy Communion brings us closest of all to God.

— Read the Bible and the writings of the fathers about prayer every day. In our time, when the living example and the spiritual father have grown so scarce, reading takes on a special importance.

— Make your prayer rule your own, grow used to it. Trust it as your closest friend, but do not become its slave.

And finally, the chief thing: do not let malice, envy and judging come near your heart, if you want the Lord to hear you. Forgive everyone, and the Lord will forgive you; help everyone, and God will have mercy on you. Not in vain do the fathers say: “By thy neighbour shalt thou be saved.”