All smokers know how difficult it is to quit smoking, because they have done it many times. And it’s definitely worth doing this once and for all, because smoking shortens life, leads to serious diseases, and poisons the air of people around the smoker. From the point of view of the church, smoking is a sin, a devilish addiction that clouds the thoughts and poisons the soul and body of a person. After all, smoking is essentially the work of the devil. The smoker poisons the body with black, fetid smoke and tar. This is a hellish habit, and it takes a lot of effort to break out of this vicious circle.
Smoking in Orthodoxy is equated with fornication, pride, and disrespect for other believers. It is believed that a person who smokes serves Satan, because he imitates church fumigation with incense.
The heritage of the Orthodox Church includes prayers for all occasions, including prayers to quit smoking cigarettes.
Agree, extending your life, which means doing more good deeds, setting a good example, is worth giving up a bad habit. It is important that the quitter passionately desires to stop smoking, and the texts of Orthodox prayers against smoking will help to psychologically tune in and not deviate from the path. Of course, the church does not prohibit resorting to medications, patches and other aids; only hypnosis and black magic are not encouraged. Everything else is allowed by Orthodoxy to combat smoking. According to church canons, a person must take care of his body and soul, improving and perfecting himself. Even if a person has managed by willpower to hold out for several days without tobacco, Satan will increasingly whisper to him, “Light up, smoke, nothing will happen.” With the first cigarette smoked, a person is again trapped and all efforts are in vain. When quitting smoking, the first few days the quitter will feel irritation, melancholy, and nervousness. For such a case, prayers will be useful to help you quit smoking, strengthen your strength and intention, forever break the vicious connection between the devil and man, and lead you out of sin. If you read the prayer against smoking to the smoker himself, with each new day it will become easier and simpler.
Prayer of someone suffering from smoking addiction
Most merciful Lord! Hear my request, accept the prayer of Your unworthy servant, do not abhor my wounds, do not turn away from me. Just as you sometimes healed the money-loving soul of Zacchaeus the tax collector, heal my soul, which was sick with many passions and troubles. Lord, listen to the voice of my prayer, hear my groaning and pitiful cry. Oh, woe is me, woe is me a sinner, since I become like idolaters, I am not ashamed to burn demonic incense, I am not ashamed to offend You, Lord, with the wickedness of my heart. I tempt You with excessive reliance on Your long-suffering. Standing in Your Holy Temple, I enjoy the fragrance of incense, and every hour I again enjoy the stench of smoke. I defile my lips and with these same lips I speak words of praise to You. Like a dog returns to his vomit, I also serve sin. For everyone, this is a sin, but the Imam does not have the boldness to renounce the bribes of mercenaries. Most merciful Lord! Condescend with my weakness, forgive my indecency, strengthen me, give me patience and spiritual courage, do not leave me, do not let me perish in the mire of sin, Save, Lord! I'm dying! Just as you, O Lord, sometimes healed, through the prayers of your Most Pure Mother, a certain husband Sergius—heal also someone unworthy of me. Just as you, Lord, sometimes delivered, through the prayers of St. Ambrose of Optina, from the bad habit of a certain Alexei of Moscow, deliver also the less accursed one. As sometimes, Lord, through the prayers of the saints, the father of the Kiev-Pechersk freed from the oppressive passion of a certain Maxim and appointed him to serve You in Your Holy Temple - also free me, the foul and unclean one, and grant me to serve Your righteousness, and work tirelessly without laziness To you, my Lord Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Council of St. Silouan of Athos
In 1905, Father Silouan spent several months in Russia, often visiting monasteries. On one of these trips, on a train, he took a seat opposite a merchant, who, with a friendly gesture, opened his silver cigarette case in front of him and offered him a cigarette. Father Silouan thanked him for the offer, but refused. “Isn’t it because, father, you refuse because you consider it a sin? - asked the merchant and added: - But smoking often helps in active life; It’s good to take a break from the stress of work and rest for a few minutes. It is convenient to have a business or friendly conversation while smoking and in general in the course of life. ..” And further, trying to convince Father Silouan to take a cigarette, he continued to speak in favor of smoking. Then Father Silouan finally decided to say: “Sir, before you light a cigarette, pray, say one “Our Father.” But the merchant replied: “Praying before smoking somehow doesn’t work.” The Monk Silouan remarked: “So, any task that is not preceded by unabashed prayer is better not to do.”
Smoking, thus, alienates a person from the heavenly spiritual world and serves as one of the serious obstacles to the salvation of one’s own immortal soul, inclining it to sin and subordinating it to the willfulness of corruptible flesh.
“If you start something and don’t see God’s will for it,” exhorts St. Gregory the Theologian, “don’t do it for anything. Do not leave the will of God to do the will of people.” So, dear reader, before you light a cigarette again, remember the advice of the Monk Silouan and think if you could first read the “Our Father” or mentally take a blessing for this, undoubtedly important matter for you.
Strong prayer to Ambrose of Optina against smoking
Prayer to Ambrose Optinsky helps against smoking as soon as your hand reaches out to a pack of cigarettes. A saint once convinced a smoking father of a very sick daughter to quit smoking. The man left the bag of tobacco at the doorstep of the church and never smoked again. His daughter soon recovered. Since then, prayer has helped against the temptation to smoke again.
Reverend Father Ambrose, you, having boldness before the Lord, beg the Greatly Gifted Master to give me quick help in the fight against unclean passion. God! Through the prayers of Your saint, the Venerable Ambrose, cleanse my lips, purify my heart and fill it with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit, so that the evil tobacco passion will run far away from me, back to where it came from, into the belly of hell.
How to quit smoking?
American writer Mark Twain (1835-1910) described the difficulty of getting rid of tobacco addiction in a brilliant pun:
“Quitting smoking is very easy. I quit a hundred times, I still smoke.”
Quitting smoking for many is a serious problem and hard work, physical and mental. Not every smoker can immediately give up cigarettes. A smoker who quits experiences side effects. These are a strong craving for nicotine, irritability, aggression, bad mood, problems with concentration.
Christians believe that making changes in life is possible with God's help. But the “instant” victory - I prayed, woke up and no longer had the craving for tobacco - is not for everyone. This is a real miracle that still has a place today. But miracles don't happen every day to everyone. Having voluntarily fallen into the network of cigarette addiction, a person must make a lot of his own efforts and efforts to get out of it. If a person shows his humility and determination to fight, then the Merciful Creator will give him the strength to defeat passion.
The Monk Ambrose of Optina, in a letter to one heavy smoker, gave the following advice:
“I advise you to use spiritual healing against this passion: confess in detail all your sins, from the age of seven and throughout your entire life, and partake of the Holy Mysteries, and read the Gospel daily, standing, a chapter or more; and when melancholy strikes, then read again until the melancholy passes; will attack again and read the Gospel again. “Or instead, make 33 large bows in private, in memory of the earthly life of the Savior and in honor of the Holy Trinity.”
Prayer from smoking to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
Saint Nicholas the Pleasant is known among the people as a miracle worker. Isn’t it a miracle, once you decide to quit smoking forever? Such cases are known, and smokers around them are really surprised, secretly envying their strength of spirit and will. Read a prayer against smoking to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and everything will work out.
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Great Pleasant of God, hear the prayer of the servant of God (proper name) and help me cope with my addiction. Help me give up smoking. Beg the Almighty Lord to accept my sincere repentance for my sins and forgive all my voluntary and involuntary sins. Help me, Holy Wonderworker Nicholas, resist sinful temptations and reduce my desire to smoke. I thank you, Saint Nicholas, I trust in your support and glorify all your deeds. Amen.
Tobacco self-hypnosis
They have been talking about the dangers of smoking for a long time, convincingly and... to no avail. Nine out of ten smokers consider smoking a harmless habit, legitimized by modern society, and if they are Orthodox, it is a mild, forgivable sin that one can live with calmly. St. John Chrysostom is truly right: “The devil does not care so much about people sinning, as about not seeing sin and remaining sinners.”
Few people are convinced by arguments against him; To accept them, you need to be a fairly reasonable person. As Saint Gregory the Theologian said, it is easiest to become vicious, but it is difficult to acquire virtue. Virtue is a property of the will. Few people will be helped to get rid of tobacco addiction by numerous humiliating facts. For example, the fact that Adolf Hitler recognized smoking (along with drunkenness, the introduction of pornography and the permission of abortion) as the strongest weapon for the enslavement of the people in the conquered territories with his own hands. “No vaccinations, no hygiene, only vodka and tobacco!” – he declared in 1942.
Smoking is truly a diabolical invention. It arose in the dying cultures of Central America long before the era of Columbus's discoveries as part of the rituals of worship of the pagan gods of the Aztecs, to whom, among others, human sacrifices were made. Christians know very well what these “gods” are...
Today, hundreds of millions of people around the globe voluntarily sacrifice themselves to the devil. “Oh, how carefully the devil and the world sow with their tares the field of Christ, which is the Church of God,” wrote the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. – Instead of the Word of God, the word of the world is diligently sown, instead of incense - tobacco. Poor Christians! They have completely fallen away from Christ.”
But everything could have been different if Russia had remained Orthodox. The fact that the topic of smoking was not actually considered by the Holy Fathers speaks precisely of the fact that the Orthodox consciousness understands how much this sin is directed against God, is unnatural to the entire nature of man and desecrates the temple of his body, marked in nature by a special divinity of origin. Apostasy is always a clouding of consciousness, and, as harsh as it may sound, the mind of a person who has departed from God “becomes either bestial or demon-like,” as St. Gregory Palamas said.
Tobacco is not only a devilish invention, but also a means by which the devil binds a person to himself. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34); “For if anyone is overcome by someone, he is his servant” (2 Peter 2:19) - this is what we read in the New Testament.
The fetid smell of tobacco covers the smell of spiritual decay.
It has been established that negative mental states lead to changes in a person’s hormonal levels. Chemical substances formed during stress and other internal conflicts are removed from the body through the external integument; The discharge has a strong odor. Tobacco use makes it impossible to recognize the spiritual state of others at the deepest biological level.
The habit of smoking drowns out a person’s conscience and constantly pushes him to violate the commandment to love one’s neighbor (there are countless examples of when a smoker is unable to think about those around him who are forced to involuntarily breathe in the smoke of his cigarettes).
A man with a cigarette is the personification of the universality of sin, which has already become the norm in the public consciousness. A norm denied, however, by a morally healthy consciousness. Smokers live according to the moral laws they themselves invented, betraying their conscience to the instinct of weakness of the weak-willed herd majority. That is why a cigarette in one’s mouth is always an almost subtle sign of a certain corruption and betrayal. By burning incense to the demons of passions that we breed and nest in the dwelling of our body, the smoker thereby betrays the image of God in himself, becoming saturated with the spirit of stench and slow physical suicide. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God,” said the Apostle Paul, “and the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this temple is you” (1 Cor. 3:16-17). What other words are needed to reason with a smoker?!
There are countless proofs, facts, arguments and convincing examples that smoking only causes harm and death. And the purpose of this article is not to convince anyone of the need to fight this spiritual weakness, but to help overcome the demon of this godless passion for those who have already decided to take this step, having prepared a place in their soul for grace God's. Having asked for the grace of God in prayers, a person experiences its amazing effect on himself and feels invisible help to his wounded will.
Prayers to Matrona of Moscow against smoking
Saint Matrona of Moscow helps with alcoholism, smoking, and serious illnesses. The prayer to Matrona to quit smoking can be read both by the person quitting smoking and by his relatives. At the same time, Matrona will help strengthen her strength, and relatives should offer a prayer for the smoker with a request to guide him on the right path. We offer 3 prayers and chants to Matrona against smoking:
Blessed Elder, Matrona of Moscow. I believe sacredly in your strength, so that you will intercede - I sincerely pray. Deliver us from evil smoke and drafts, and guide us on God’s path through prayer. Let me stop smoking from the first puff, I will leave behind this evil habit forever. Thy will be done. Amen.
Blessed Matronushka, Righteous Elder. You save us from illness and disease, but I die in smoking tar. I’m trying to break the habit of a bad habit, but cigarettes and matches stick to my hands. I pray, help me in this difficult struggle, I come to you with prayer and faith. Let it be so. Amen.
Matrona of Moscow, Blessed Elder. I drown in sinful smoking, I infect myself and others every day. In this powerlessness I struggle with the habit, so that you help me, I sincerely pray. Thy will be done. Amen.
The spiritual dangers of tobacco
There are many reasons that motivate a person to start smoking. For example, a child who takes a cigarette has the first desire to show himself as “cool” and “adult.” Smoking among girls is often associated with a desire to be the center of attention. Or show off your manicure and rings along with a cigarette. An adult can have various motives: from the desire to relieve stress, relax, to simply looking for reasons to communicate. Each person has his own motives.
“Smoking and any kind of anesthesia obscure our sense of purity and chastity. The first cigarette is the first fall, the loss of purity. It is not false puritanism, but a direct feeling and deep conviction of this that prompts me to tell you this. Ask any smoker - undoubtedly, the beginning of smoking was in some sense a downfall for him. Psychologically, smoking opens the door to everything forbidden and vicious” (priest Alexander Elchaninov).
However, the result of smoking is almost always the same - an increasing craving for tobacco, which develops into real addiction. From the Orthodox point of view, any addiction enslaves the human will.
“The human will is essentially between two wills - Divine and devilish. Man’s task is to direct his will in accordance with the will of the Divine and in no case allow it to agree with the will of evil forces. What to direct one’s will to depends on the person himself” (Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill).
To make prayers against smoking more effective
To make your pleas for help in quitting smoking more effective, you should attend church and receive communion. Go to the icons in the church and read the prayer against smoking by Ambrose of Optina. Write down the text of the prayer you like on a piece of paper and read it every time the thought of smoking comes to your mind. Talk to the priest, ask him to pray for you. Continue to say the words of prayer at home several times a day whenever you want to smoke. Gradually, the words of prayers will reach your consciousness; refusal will strengthen your spirit every day. Remember the positive effect: health, beauty, right thoughts will begin to return. And most importantly, you will earn the love of God, because you will overcome this destructive bad habit. After 7-10 days, the craving will weaken, the person will begin to feel improvements in appearance, and will feel peace and joy in his heart from his action.
To avoid returning to a bad habit, be sure to read a prayer. May the Lord not leave us alone with our sins; repent, and he will definitely help you realize your good intentions and find the joy of living without poisonous smoke.
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Fighting tobacco addiction
In the early 1990s, Muscovite Andrei began to become a church member. In 1995, he decided to get rid of tobacco addiction, although before that he had been smoking for more than 20 years. When visiting the Serpukhov Monastery (Moscow region), a man prayed to the Mother of God in front of Her miraculous image of the “Inexhaustible Chalice”. After the water-blessing prayer, Andrei stocked up on holy water and returned home. However, daily consumption of holy water did not give immediate results - the craving for smoking did not disappear.
On the advice of his confessor, Andrei began to reduce the number of cigarettes he smoked per day. In three months, he managed to reduce the number of cigarettes from 20-30 per day to 10. All this time, the man read a prayer to St. Ambrose of Optina several times a day. For convenience, Andrei made a smoking schedule for himself. And when there was a strong desire to smoke outside the scheduled time, a prayer was read. Then, with the blessing of the confessor, “health days” were organized - a complete cessation of smoking on the days of Communion.
Over time, he “trained” himself to smoke only one cigarette a day. Andrei asked for help from the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. He smoked his last cigarette after the Great Canon of Andrew of Crete, read in the church on the first week of Lent before Easter. A week later, the man noticed that, by the grace of God, his craving for tobacco had passed, and peace reigned in his soul. Thus, the intensified fight against smoking lasted a whole year. But it ended in victory and the beginning of a new healthy lifestyle.
