Akathist to the All-Merciful Lord - Physician of our souls and bodies

Prayer to the Lord

Master Almighty, Holy King, punish and do not kill, strengthen those who fall, raise up the overthrown, correcting bodily sorrows of people and, we pray to Thee, our God, visit Thy servant (name), who is weak with Thy mercy, forgive him every sin, voluntary and involuntary. Hey, Lord, send down Your healing power from heaven, touch the body, extinguish the fire, tame passion and all lurking infirmity, be the doctor of Your servant (name), raise him from the sick bed, and from the bed of bitterness, whole and all-perfect, grant him to Your Church pleasing and doing Your will, for it is Yours to have mercy and save us, our God, and we send glory to You. To the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages, Amen.

A monastery is not a collective farm

Mother Afanasia, how did you come to monasticism?

It all started with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. When I was in school, we were taken there on a tour. It was a wonderful day, Easter week was underway. Having examined the monastery and venerated the relics of St. Sergius, I sat down on a bench, and suddenly two monks walked along the path. They stopped and greeted each other: “Christ is Risen!” I remember that it all simply amazed me: the unusual clothes, the hoods, the greeting.

Then, already in adulthood, I began to come to the Lavra often. Monasticism seemed to me a very attractive way of life. I was interested in how people took this path. One day I miraculously got to confession to Father Kirill (Pavlov). I began to confess to him. Gradually, decisive changes and a desire for a different life appeared in me. Father Kirill begged my soul so that my desire for monasticism would be strengthened. I am very grateful to him for everything. It is the grace of God that I knew this man. He gave birth to me in spirit.

I am a teacher by profession; I have taught geography and biology at school around the world. The profile also allowed him to teach ecology and chemistry. She was the head teacher of studies. One day, the rector of the church, where at that time I read in the choir, taught Sunday school, helped organize the library, Archpriest Stefan told me: “Pray for you, and you will be the abbess!” I thought: “Well, father waved!” I was 23 years old. And six years later I came to the monastery...

Before my appointment as abbess in Rostov the Great, I labored in the Tolgsky monastery for nine and a half years. And when I arrived in Rostov, I had to learn to live in a new world. Imagine that you were sent to an unfamiliar city, where you don’t know anyone or anything, they didn’t give you any money with you, or documents for a monastery. It was getting ridiculous. A lot of scammers swarmed around me, they prowled past me like sharks. Probably, one appearance betrayed my naivety. When the swindlers realized that there was nothing to take from me, there was no money in the monastery, they disappeared. They later explained to me that they wanted to “divorce” me. I've never heard such a word (laughs)

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I didn’t know what a flash drive or email was – can you imagine! In the first year, they translated modern slang into normal Russian for me, so that I would be “in the know,” as they say now. This is what it means - a person came from another world, from a monastery. Only nine and a half years have passed, and the world has become different...

Many note, and monastics themselves admit, that modern monasticism is experiencing a crisis. Do you notice something similar?

Our problem is that we look at the external, we are fixated on the external. Moreover, today for some people monasticism is a certain status in society. A very dangerous conceit! Monasticism is not a status; it’s like the Lord said: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). You have to go to the monastery with such an attitude that you are nothing of yourself, your main task is to save your immortal soul.

Previously, when faith was prohibited, it was necessary to perform two feats: personal (overcome gravity) and go against the laws of society and the state. In our time, a person is only required to make a personal refraction: can you do it for the sake of the Lord or not. But sometimes pride is capable of exploits (to tickle one’s vanity), as St. John Climacus says. Some people think that if they cut off the ends of their hair and clothed them in monastic robes, then they are already monks. Nothing like this! A monk is the most serious, painstaking work to improve one’s soul until the grave. To become a monk, you need to change your soul so much in order to at least in some way get closer to this title.

People often ask me: how many cows and hectares of land do you have? But a monastery is not an exemplary collective farm! Products, milk, harvest are not the goal - this should not be a minus in prayer. Otherwise, this is a collective farm, not a monastery. If a person calls me and says that his mother was in the hospital, and I was going to weed the garden, what will I do? Of course, I will pray for my sick mother. As a result, the garden was overgrown, but they prayed for the people - this is monasticism. People should understand this and cherish it.

What is prayer? These are a few hours out of 24 days, which are always not enough. But prayer is the most important thing. The Lord will ask me not about the milk yield on the farm, how many beds I weeded, but how I fulfilled my monastic duty: how I humbled myself, how I repented, how I treated people, how I carried out my monastic vows.

Every monastery, if the monks there do more than just farm and garden, is a concentration of grace. We must not forget: first of all, Christ, prayer, and everything else - along the way, in between. I am often offered to organize monastery production. But this creates the risk of becoming a collective farmer, not a monk. If I have time to weed the bed, I will weed it; if not, let it overgrow. This is not the main thing in life - the beds should not be a priority. I will put everything aside for the sake of service and prayer.

How to prevent the monastery from turning into a labor camp, which, unfortunately, is not uncommon today?

Christ must come first. A farm and a vegetable garden are good if they do not become a hindrance in spiritual life.

As an abbess, what do you consider the most difficult thing in modern monasticism?

As an official I have encountered everything. Our Church is separated from the state, but you have no idea how much reporting I submit. Our monastery does not have hired workers due to scarcity of funds, but it must send declarations and all kinds of reporting documents, even with zero indicators. It is quite obvious that this takes too much time. But you still need to fulfill the rule, perform the service, and do the most vital things around the house. It is difficult to even imagine that St. Sergius of Radonezh could have been involved in reporting. He devoted time to prayer and spiritual guidance to his brethren.

Interviewed by Khristina Polyakova

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March 19, 2022 Source: “Monastic Bulletin” (No. 3 [47] 2018

Another prayer to the Lord

Lord Almighty, Physician of our souls and bodies, humble and exalt, punish and again heal! Visit Thy servant (name) who is infirm and heal him, raising him from his bed and infirmity. Rebuke the spirit of infirmity, leave from it every ulcer, every disease, and even if there is sin or lawlessness in it, weaken, leave, forgive Your love for mankind. To her, Lord, have mercy on Thy creation in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Him art thou blessed, and with Thy Most Holy, and Good, and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The meaning of the Akathist to the All-Merciful Savior in Orthodoxy

At the end of summer - August 1 (August 14 according to the Julian calendar) the entire Orthodox people glorify the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Theotokos. The great holiday has its own glorious history. On this day in 1164, Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky, the princely son of Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, defeated the army of the Volga Bulgars, who annoyed the Rostov and Suzdal lands with robberies and robbery.

This battle is associated with a true miracle. The soldiers trusted in the help of the saints and before the battle they served a prayer service to the Mother of God. Having marched in formation to meet the enemy, they carried in front of the army icons with the Savior, the Most Holy Theotokos and the Holy Cross. Witnesses to the event saw a sign - the icons suddenly lit up with bright fiery rays. The soldiers took heart, and in the name of the Savior and the Mother of God the enemy was defeated.

Since 1168, the feast of the first Savior, in honor of the mercy of the Lord and the Blessed Virgin, has been celebrated in Rus' in the last month of summer. On the same day, only in 988, the Baptism of Rus' took place, and therefore, during the celebration, the ritual of small illumination of water is performed. And that is not all. Since ancient times, according to tradition, beekeepers brought the first honeycombs to the church at the beginning of August for consecration and to express gratitude to God for help in earthly affairs. So to this date the popular name was added and fixed - Honey Savior.

The double holiday is filled with joy, prosperity, and God's grace. Icons of the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Theotokos are in a place of honor in every Orthodox church, monastery, and chapel. After his death, Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky was canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

An akathist, prayers, kontakion, and troparion are dedicated to the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Theotokos. The significance of these prayers in Orthodoxy is great. They are read in front of icons, addressing the holy faces.

• The All-Merciful Savior protects the Russian state from enemies and people who cause trouble.
• Those who pray to the Lord and the Mother of God acquire the grace of Divine and spiritual vision. Heavenly helpers help in strengthening faith and fortitude.
• Believers in the Savior find support in him in the fight against evil, temptation, the Fall, slander, and unfair slander.
• Prayers help to clear the mind of bad thoughts, ignite the spark of God in the soul, and steadfastly fulfill God’s commandments.
• Orthodox Christians draw spiritual strength from this life-giving source.
• In days of difficult life trials, believers, turning to the Savior, receive his protection, blessing, consolation and protection from enemies, evil misfortunes, adversity and sorrow.
• Patients ask for relief from ailments, especially diseases of the hands, feet, joints, and mental disorders.

Prayer (for toothache) to the Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum of Asia 4

Oh, glorious Hieromartyr Antipo and quick helper to Christians in illness! I believe with all my soul and thought that the Lord has given you the gift of healing the sick, healing the sick, and strengthening the weak. For this reason, for your sake, as a gracious doctor of illnesses, I, the weak, come running and, kissing your venerable image with reverence, I pray: through your intercession from the King of Heaven, ask me, the sick one, to be healed I’m sorry for the dental disease that’s depressing me, even though I’m not worthy of you, my most gracious father and ever-present protector, but you, being an imitator of God’s love for mankind, made me worthy of your intercession through my conversion from evil deeds to a good life, heal with what was abundantly given to you by the grace of the ulcers and scabs of my soul and body, grant me health and salvation and in Good haste to all, yes, having lived such a quiet and silent life in all piety and purity, I will be deemed worthy with all the saints to glorify the all-holy name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Source

Should we pray for St. Nicholas?

In church prayers for repose, we do not remember suicides who voluntarily deprived themselves of the main gift received from the Lord - their life.

For 40 days after death (starting from the very day of repose), we call the deceased “newly deceased,” that is, presented before the Lord. It is incorrect to write “reintroduced”, because this would mean that the person had already died, then was resurrected, and now died again.

We call the deceased “ever remembered” on special days of his memory: birthday, death day, name day. Usually they write “p/p” in front of the name.

When praying for the deceased clergyman, we still indicate his rank: His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, newly deceased Archpriest Dimitri.

There is no need to include the names of saints in the repose note (“about the repose of St. Nicholas”). By canonizing this or that ascetic of piety, the Church expresses confidence that their souls have already reached the Kingdom of Heaven. That's why the saints pray for us in heaven.

Troparion, tone 4 1

Speedy in intercession is the One, Christ, / show speedy visitation from above to your suffering servants (to your suffering servant, to your suffering servant), / and deliver from ailments and bitterness diseases;/ and raise up thee in praise and glorify you unceasingly,// with the prayers of the Mother of God , One more humane.

Translation: You are the only speedy Intercessor, Christ, show from above speedy help to Your suffering servant, deliver him from ailments and serious illnesses, raise him through the prayers of the Mother of God, so that he will constantly sing and glorify You, the only Lover of mankind. *

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November 2021

Kontakion, tone 2

On the bed of illness (lying) and wounded (wounded) with a mortal wound, / as you sometimes raised up, Savior, Peter’s mother-in-law, / and the relaxed one, on the bed of the wearer, / now , O Merciful One, visit and heal the afflicted (suffering):/ For You alone are the one who bears the ailments and illnesses of our generation, // and is all mighty, as You are Many-Merciful.

Translation: Just as You, Savior, once raised Peter’s mother-in-law and the paralytic brought to his bed, so now, O Merciful One, visit and heal him who is lying on his sick bed, struck with a mortal wound and suffering, for You alone have taken upon Yourself all the ailments and illnesses of our race and You can do everything, as the most merciful. *

St. Archangel Raphael

Oh, holy Archangel Raphael! We earnestly pray to you, be our guide in our lives, save us from all visible and invisible enemies, heal our mental and physical illnesses, guide our lives towards repentance for sin. everyone and to the creation of good deeds. Oh, great holy Raphael the Archangel! Hear us, sinful servants of God (names), praying to you, and grant us in this and the future life to thank and glorify our common Creator to the endless ages of ages. Amen.

Reading rules

The main thing in any prayer is living faith in the Lord God and the absence of any doubts. By following simple rules, you can convey your prayer appeal to the Savior within the walls of the church or at home in front of the icons of the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Theotokos.

• Before reading the prayer, you need to ask God for forgiveness for previous mistakes and bring repentance.
• The Holy Fathers of the Church advise to clearly listen to the words of prayer, without distracting the mind to other thoughts.
• We must not only ask in prayers, but also be able to thank and glorify the Savior of our souls. This helps to establish inner peace and tranquility, remove negative thoughts, and not commit bad deeds.
• To open the door to Christ in prayer, you can first confess and receive communion.
• If someone feels the need to repent of sins, then in solitude and complete humility one can read the canon with an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus Christ in front of his icon with a lit candle.
• You should not rush while reading the prayer, since every holy word in the text is a creative force and helps to get closer to God.
• Faith must be firm, and prayer must be unceasing. Therefore, you need to read holy texts daily.
• You can pray for other people too. This action extends the grace of God to everyone for whom they ask the Almighty.