What is the danger of prayer by agreement, practiced by Fr. Vladimir Golovin?
Priest's answer:
It was not my answers about prayer by agreement “that were of some commercial nature,” but the prayer itself, promoted by Fr. Vladimir is of a commercial nature: participation in it involves paying a lot of money collected for it (it is calculated that in order to receive the maximum prayer “services” for one name on Father Golovin’s website, you need to pay 34,700 rubles. https://iriney.ru/iskazhenie- pravoslaviya-i-okolopravoslavnyie-sektyi/uchenie-i-praktika-svyashhennika-vladimira-golovina/novosti-ob-uchenii-i-praktike-svyashhennika-vladimira-golovina/gde-sekta,-tam-i-dengi.-replika- protoiereya-andreya-efanova.html And unfortunately, this money goes past the Church, into electronic cards and wallets of individuals.
What is the danger of praying by agreement? In the version as it is proposed by Fr. Vladimir Golovin, its danger is as follows. Firstly, prayer here turns into “an annoying demand, a cathedral groan, a spiritual racket,” as priest Georgy Osipov commented on it in strong but truthful words: https://iriney.ru/iskazhenie-pravoslaviya-i- okolopravoslavnyie-sektyi/uchenie-i-praktika-svyashhennika-vladimira-golovina/novosti-ob-uchenii-i-praktike-svyashhennika-vladimira-golovina/o-“molitve-po-soglasheniyu”.
Not a single Orthodox saint taught this. On the contrary, they always warned: pray with faith, but rely on the will of God to fulfill what you ask. God knows best what is good for us and what is not. Here we see the opposite: prayer for 700 rubles did not help, try to “strengthen” it by paying another 400, maybe for 1500, and eternal remembrance for 5000 (though it’s not clear: how can you remember forever?!). I repeat that the full price list of services will cost 34,700 rubles. for one name. This means that this prayer operates on the principle of magic: an attempt is made, with the help of many thousands of voices, to “force” God to fulfill the demands set by those praying. Secondly, the city of Bolgar, thanks to prayers by agreement, is secretly turning into the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church, because it is necessary to check the time of personal prayer with him. Don't you sense a dangerous substitution here? The Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery cease to be real spiritual centers. This center is shifting to a town that spontaneously (I wonder: which bishop blessed the holding of this prayer?) practices prayer by agreement. Thirdly, Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes the following about prayer: oral or public prayer is not sufficient to teach correct prayer. For this, practicing the Jesus Prayer is absolutely necessary. But in prayer, by agreement, it is proposed to focus only on external, vocal prayer. I hope there are enough arguments to force us to take a critical look at the practice of prayers by agreement taking place in the city of Bolgar.
Orthodox icons and prayers
Prayer is very powerful; Fulfills all desires (if it pleases Heaven - this means that you will not harm anyone with your desires, voluntarily or unwittingly); wishes are often fulfilled even before the end of the reading cycle. 1. Prayer to Saint Martha - Read 1 time “Oh Saint Martha, You are Miraculous! I turn to you for help! And completely in my needs, and you will be my helper in my trials! I promise you with gratitude that I will spread this prayer everywhere! I humbly and tearfully ask you to console me in my worries and hardships! Humbly, for the sake of the great joy that filled your heart, I tearfully ask you to take care of me and my family, so that we preserve our God in our hearts and thereby deserve the Saved Supreme Mediation, first of all, with the concern that now burdens me... (further desire, e.g., help me find a well-paid job; help me meet my loved one and create a happy family; etc.) ... ... I tearfully ask you, Helper in every need, overcome hardships the way you defeated the snake, until I lay at Your feet!” 2. Prayer “Our Father” - read 1 time 3. Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos - Read 1 time “O Mother of God, Virgin, rejoice! Blessed Mary, the Lord is with you! Blessed are You among Women and Blessed is the Fruit of Your Womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls!” 4. “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! And now, and forever, and forever and ever! Amen!" — Read 1 time 5. “Saint Martha, ask Jesus for us!” — Read 9 times *- Prayer is very powerful; Fulfills all desires (if it pleases Heaven, this means that you will not harm anyone with your desires, voluntarily or unwittingly); wishes are often fulfilled even before the end of the reading cycle. - You need to read it in a cycle - 9 Tuesdays in a row. If one of the Tuesdays is missed, start all over again. If your wish came true earlier, still read to the end of the cycle (all 9 Tuesdays). There should be a candle burning nearby (to the right) on the table. You can use any candle, but preferably a church candle, a small one. - The time of day - morning or evening - does not matter. If the candle is a church candle, let it burn out to the end; if it’s different, let it burn for 15-20 minutes, and then you can put it out (don’t blow it out!). It is better if you lubricate the candle with bergamot oil (with your palm, from bottom to top, from the base of the candle to the wick). It’s also better if there are fresh flowers nearby! But bergamot and flowers are not necessary, but very desirable! — It is also highly recommended to take a bath and wear light clothes before reading prayers (any); be in the room alone! — The desire is better to write down on paper so that it always sounds the same when reading the entire text of the prayer. One cycle - one desire. — The prayer cannot be printed and read; You need to rewrite all the texts by hand and use them already! The text you have rewritten cannot be passed on to others - each person must rewrite the text of the prayers in his own hand (you can dictate to him or simply give him yours or this printed text for rewriting).
~ Guardian Angel
“The human soul is an arena where an angel fights with the devil.” That's what the Bible says. Each of us constantly has our personal Guardian Angel behind our right shoulder, who is responsible for everything bright and good that is in our soul. He guides us, suggests the direction of movement that is pleasing to God and which will not allow us to be destroyed. If, of course, we listen to our inner voice, with which our Guardian Angel often speaks to us.
True, it is impossible not to take into account that a personal trait inextricably follows us behind our left shoulder, which can also make its way into our consciousness and push us to mistakes, sins and other ungodly deeds. That is why, when leaving the house, you should call your Guardian Angel behind you (My Angel, come with me, you are ahead, I am behind you), trying to “leave the devil at home.” Of course, our Angel is already next to us, but he will not do anything for us, that is, he will not suggest anything until we consciously ask him to do so. But damn, I'm glad to try. Even without addressing him, he will gladly push his arm. But today we are not talking about him, but about that bright half of our soul, which we call the Guardian Angel, and who, no matter what, protects and takes care of us. And he does this without any requests from us. For it was given to us from above.
Who is a Guardian Angel
In the Christian tradition, a Guardian Angel is a good spirit given by God to a person at baptism for protection and guidance. Although, to be precise, God, the most merciful, gives everyone, and not just a baptized person, his Angel at birth. It’s just that, according to the canons of the church, an unbaptized person does not have the right to intercession, and, as you understand, God and the canons written by people are still two different things. Moreover, even an unbaptized person can remember cases where he was saved from danger by something that defies rational explanation.
So, a person and his Guardian Angel walk through life together. And after death, it is the Guardian Angel who takes his ward (his soul) to heaven, if the person lived a righteous life, and did not immediately fall to those who drag him into fiery hell. And already in heaven, the Guardian Angel reads from the “book of life” all the actions of a person, or rather, all his good, correct actions. He collects bright thoughts and actions bit by bit, then putting them on the scales on which everything a person has done is measured.
There are individuals who say that they have 3 or even 10 Guardian Angels. To be honest, thinking about how many Guardian Angels a person can have is simply ridiculous. Tell me, how can we count those whom we cannot see? Yes, many of us feel the presence of the Guardian Angel in our lives, his intercession, his tips and help. But to assert, as particularly “competent” comrades do, that there may be 9 or 15 Guardian Angels is, at the very least, not serious. What do we know about God's providence? I was especially touched by the opinion that the largest number of “personal Angels” are among saints (well, it’s clear what the person was thinking about when he wrote about this) and... among actors! But the site where I found this nonsense claims to know the Bible. But what about in this case the fact that actors from ancient times (according to Scripture) have been denied entry into the kingdom of God? They were even buried behind the church fence as suicides.
So a person can only have one Guardian Angel; he goes with us from the very beginning to the very end. And they won’t send him a “reinforcement”; they can only “change” him if suddenly for some reason he fails to cope with his responsibilities. And this most often happens through the fault of a person who does not want to listen to the signs that the Angel gives him, if the person is ossified in his sinfulness and does not want to correct himself.
How not to offend your Guardian Angel
Besides the fact that we offend our Angel when we don’t hear his promptings, or rather, we don’t want to hear them, with persistence worthy of better use, continuing to make the same mistakes and paying for them, we can also show our disrespect through other actions. Although, in principle, there are not many prohibitions.
Under no circumstances should you spit over your right shoulder, that’s where our Angel belongs. If you really want to spit, then do it over your left shoulder - the devil sits there. He, in general, doesn’t care, but Angel will be pleased.
You should not ask him to cause harm to others - the Guardian Angel will never do this, and in some way he will “remind” you of one of the commandments. A kind, pious person will never stoop to revenge, to lynching; he knows that evil is punishable in any case, but it is punishable not by him, but by God.
We also offend our Guardian Angel with any sins, because he is next to us, including in order to protect us from sins. Therefore, follow the path of virtue, do not use verbiage, do not indulge in vices. Do not brush off your intercessor, because he may be offended and leave at the most inopportune moment for you.
And don’t scold the Guardian Angel for your own mistakes. Remember that before you did them, you felt doubt in yourself whether you were doing the right thing, but you did not listen to the quiet voice, you did it according to your own will.
How to ask for a Guardian Angel
In order to receive help and guidance from your Guardian Angel, first of all, you must be prepared to act in accordance with these instructions, even if you do not like them. After all, we often ask for someone’s advice so as not to follow it if it is not in tune with what we want to do. So contact your Guardian Angel sincerely, with an open soul, recognizing in advance that he is right, and follow the prompts of your inner voice and the signs that you receive from the external environment.
For example, a broken car would be such a clue if you are in doubt whether you should go somewhere or not. Or there may be no money in the ATM when you are unsure whether to lend to someone or buy something.
Just remember that you need to ask for everything very carefully, so as not to later get what you want at the expense of what you would not like to lose. Of course, the Guardian Angel tries to ensure that everything turns out in the most favorable way, but there are situations when in order to receive something, you have to give a lot.
For example, you ask for peace of mind, but it is not there because of the person you love: this person offends you, does not appreciate you, does not take you into account. And what does your desire mean in this case? For this person to change dramatically? But he doesn’t want this, and your Guardian Angel doesn’t have much power over other people. So what remains? Right. Rid your life of this person. But how – these are nuances. At best, you will simply stop loving him and leave on your own. No, the Guardian Angel will not harm this person, he can simply make sure that you change your life dramatically and, for example, leave that person for another city. And at the same time, you will lose not only your beloved, but also much of what you value. So be more specific in your requests, think through the possible consequences of your desires. And only after making sure that the wording of your desire meets your real needs, bother the “higher authorities.”
It’s also better if you don’t ask for anything material. Ask for strength, health, intelligence, luck, in order to achieve the desired financial opportunities yourself. In the end, money is not the “sphere of influence” of the Angel; he is “responsible” for the spiritual side of your life.
And in no case forget to thank your Guardian Angel, and do it sincerely, and even if at some point you cannot reproduce the words of the prayer, thank in ordinary words. The main thing is that these words come from the heart. Nevertheless, you need to know at least one prayer to the Guardian Angel.
Prayers to the Guardian Angel
First prayer:
Holy Angel of Christ, falling to you I pray, my holy guardian, given to me for the protection of my sinful soul and body from holy baptism, but with my laziness and my evil custom I angered your most pure lordship and drove you away from me with all the cold deeds: lies, slander , envy, condemnation, contempt, disobedience, brotherly hatred, and resentment, love of money, adultery, rage, stinginess, gluttony without satiety and drunkenness, verbosity, evil thoughts and crafty ones, proud custom and lustful indignation, driven by self-will for all carnal lust. Oh, my evil will, even beasts without words do not do it! How can you look at me, or approach me like a stinking dog? Whose eyes, angel of Christ, look upon me, entangled in evil in vile deeds? How can I already ask for forgiveness with my bitter and evil and crafty deed, I fall into misery all day and night and at every hour? But I pray to you, falling down, my holy guardian, have mercy on me, a sinful and unworthy servant of yours (name), be me a helper and intercessor against the evil of my opponent, with your holy prayers, and make me a partaker of the Kingdom of God with all the saints, always, and now and ever and ever. Amen.
Second prayer:
Holy Angel, standing before my accursed soul and my passionate life, do not leave me, a sinner, and step away from me for my intemperance. Do not give room to the evil demon to possess me through the violence of this mortal body: strengthen my poor and thin hand and guide me on the path of salvation. To her, holy Angel of God, guardian and patron of my accursed soul and body, forgive me everything, I have offended you so greatly all the days of my life, and if I sinned this past night, cover me on this day, and save me from every opposite temptation, Let me not anger God in any sin, and pray for me to the Lord, that He may strengthen me in His passion, and show me worthy as a servant of His goodness. Amen.
Prayer three:
Angel of God, my holy guardian, given to me from God from heaven for my protection! I diligently pray to you: enlighten me today, save me from all evil, instruct me in every deed, and direct me on the path of salvation. Amen.
Honor your Guardian Angel, offer prayers to him, act according to honor and conscience, and then your intercessor before people and before God will never leave you with his mercy.
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