Prayer before starting training
Lord our God and Creator, who adorned us, people, with His image, taught Your chosen ones Your Law, so that those who listen to it marvel, Who revealed to children the secrets of wisdom, Who bestowed upon Solomon and all who seek it - open the hearts, minds and lips of these Your servants (names) in order to understand the power of Thy Law and successfully learn the useful teaching taught by it for the glory of Thy Most Holy Name, for the benefit and structure of Thy Holy Church and the understanding of Thy good and perfect will. Deliver them from all the snares of the enemy, keep them in the faith of Christ and purity all the time of their lives, - may they be strong in mind and in fulfilling Your commandments and so taught, glorify Your Most Holy Name and be heirs of Your Kingdom, - for You, God, are strong by mercy and goodness and strength, and all glory, honor and worship is due to You, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
She also wanted to be a student at school
Researchers of the life of Blessed Matrona of Moscow express a fairly reasonable opinion that she, while still a child and possessing a lively, inquisitive mind, wanted, like all children, to study at school, go to classes, take exams, etc. But because of her innate bodily blindness, she could not do this. But later this childhood dream of the saint was transformed into her desire to miraculously help other students, in particular, in passing certain exams.
Blzh. Matrona of Moscow
There was such a case during the saint’s lifetime. As Z.V. recalls Zhdanova:
“Mother was completely illiterate, but she knew everything. In 1946, I had to defend my diploma project “Ministry of the Navy” (I was then studying at the Architectural Institute in Moscow). My boss, for some unknown reason, was following me all the time. For five months, he never consulted me, deciding to “fail” my diploma. Two weeks before the defense, he announced to me: “Tomorrow a commission will come and confirm the inconsistency of your work!” I came home in tears: my father was in prison, there was no one to help, my mother was dependent on me, my only hope was to protect myself and work. Mother listened to me and said: “Nothing, nothing, you’ll defend yourself! We’ll have tea in the evening and talk!” I could barely wait for the evening, and then my mother said: “You and I will go to Italy, to Florence, to Rome, and see the works of the great masters...” And she began to list the streets and buildings! She stopped: “Here is Palazzo Pitti, here is another palace with arches, do the same as there - the three lower floors of the building with large masonry and two entrance arches.” I was shocked by her behavior. In the morning I ran to the institute, put tracing paper on the project and made all the corrections with brown ink. At ten o'clock the commission arrived. They looked at my project and said: “Well, the project turned out great, it looks great - defend yourself!”
But let us return to the early years of the blessed one’s life and think about why the Lord did not favor the fulfillment of her childhood desire to study at school? Obviously because the latter, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, became the lot of free-thinking exercises of all sorts of commoners. Who, along with teaching positive knowledge there, also preached their own deceitful and soul-harming ideas, in particular, revolutionary and atheistic ones. Studying in such a school, spoiled by them, would harm the soul of the young Matrona. From which the Lord providentially delivered her with the help of bodily blindness.
Useful materials
But in return he gave her not only spiritual vision, but also an amazing ability to see with her inner vision even distant worldly objects - as we can see from the memoirs of Z.V. Zhdanova.
Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos before the icon of Her “Giver of Mind” or “Add of Mind”
O Most Holy Virgin! You are the Bride of God the Father and the Mother of His Divine Son Jesus Christ! You are the Queen of Angels and the salvation of people, the accuser of sinners and the punisher of apostates. Have mercy on us too, who have gravely sinned and failed to fulfill the commandments of God, who have broken the vows of baptism and vows of monasticism and many others that we promised to fulfill. When the Holy Spirit retreated from King Saul, then fear and despondency attacked him and the darkness of despair and a joyless state of soul tormented him. Now, for our sins, we have all lost the grace of the Holy Spirit. The mind has become fussy with vanity of thoughts, oblivion about God has darkened our souls, and now all kinds of sadness, sorrow, illness, hatred, evil, enmity, vindictiveness, gloating and other sins oppress the heart. And, having no joy and consolation, we call to You, Mother of our God Jesus Christ, and beseech Your Son to forgive us all our sins and send the Comforter Spirit to us, as He sent Him to the apostles, so that, comforted and enlightened by Him, we will sing a song of gratitude to You : Rejoice, Holy Mother of God, who has added wisdom to our salvation. Amen.
Troparion, tone 4
O Glorious Mother of Christ our God, the good Giver, by Your mercy preserve the entire universe, grant us, Your servant, wisdom and understanding, enlighten our souls with the light of Your Son, the only All-Singing One, glorified by the Cherubim and Seraphim.
Kontakion, tone 2
As the One who enlightens us with our minds, we praise You, the Most Pure Mother of Reason, who holds the entire universe, the Beauty of the visible and invisible world, illuminating us with the rays of life.
Why study?
For every Christian, the main goal of earthly life is to achieve the Kingdom of Heaven. But first, everyone must fulfill his duties on earth. This also requires education. And that means prayer before studying.
Start of studies
“An intelligent person is a person who has purified himself, freed from passions. The one who has sanctified his mind is truly smart. If the mind is not sanctified, then its sharpness is of no use. When a person himself does not benefit from his mind, the devil will use his mind. If a person does not use the sharpness of his mind for good, then the devil will use it for evil. Without working spiritually, a person perverts good. And then it is not the devil who does evil, but man himself. For example, someone is smart, but does not work with his mind, he is lazy. But since he doesn’t use his head, what’s the point in her being smart?” (Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets, 1924-1994).
The first schools appeared in Rus' in 988. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, by order of Prince Vladimir, churches were built in all cities. Schools were organized under them to teach children books. The main task of the school at that time was to prepare literate people capable of overcoming pagan folk traditions.
Venerable Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh
Oh, sacred head, reverend and God-bearing Father Sergius, by your prayer, and by faith and love, even for God, and by the purity of your heart, you have established your soul on earth in the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity, and have been granted angelic communion and the visitation of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the gift received miraculous grace, after your departure from earthly people, you came closer to God and partook of heavenly powers, but did not retreat from us in the spirit of your love, and your honest power, like a vessel of grace full and overflowing, was left to us! Having great boldness towards the All-Merciful Master, pray to save His servants, His grace existing in you, believing and flowing to you with love. Ask us from our Greatly Gifted God every gift that is useful to everyone and everyone: observance of the immaculate faith, establishment of our cities, peace, pacification, deliverance from famine and destruction, preservation from the invasion of foreigners, consolation for the grieving, healing for the sick, restoration for the fallen, for those who are led astray on the path of truth and return of salvation, strengthening for those who strive, prosperity and blessing for those who do good in good deeds, upbringing of infants, instruction for the young, admonition for the ignorant, intercession for orphans and widows, departing from this temporary life for the eternal, good preparation and parting words, blessed rest for those departed, and all of us assisted by your prayers vouchsafe on the day of the Last Judgment to be delivered from this part, and to be part of the right hand of the country and to hear the blessed voice of the Lord Christ: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Amen.
How parents can help their children study
Hence Matronushka’s first lesson to believing parents: protect your children from the poison that the current school will feed their souls with! After all, since the time of this saint, she has become much worse spiritually. There was a long period of Soviet atheism implanted in it. And since the late 80s of the last century, all sorts of infectious pedagogical-stupid, depraved and corrupting Western ideas have crept into it.
Remember that no amount of external knowledge given in educational institutions, as well as their rather dubious promise to make a career with the help of this knowledge, will not replace the spiritual and physical health of your children!!!
Hence, another extremely negative property of our school is the depressing state of current pedagogy, which, in turn, is due to the general and comprehensive crisis of Western European civilization (culture). So, for example, the total amount of information that a student must learn due to the development of science, technology, arts, etc. is growing like an avalanche.
Pedagogy has not yet figured out how to learn all this without harm to the soul and body. Therefore, this whole difficult problem falls entirely on the fragile shoulders of a still very weak and easily vulnerable child student. Which manifests itself with particular force when they pass certain exams, causing various nervous breakdowns, and sometimes even suicide attempts!
Most often this is a consequence of stress. What the latter are, science still does not fully know. But in general terms it looks like this. There is a certain hidden energy in the human body that manifests itself and acts in extraordinary situations, helping us to successfully resolve them. Exams are exactly such a situation.
But... as the student goes through them constantly and excessively, as a rule, the student loses control over the mental mechanism, including the release of stress energy. And the latter pops up when it is not needed at all, for example, at night, preventing you from falling asleep. We all know this state: when tomorrow is a difficult, important day - a school or an even more important exam, you should get a good night's sleep before it... But it is precisely this thought about the importance and significance of the next day, on the contrary, that does not allow you to sleep! You want to get rid of it, but, as they say, you can’t order your heart!
To the unmercenary and miracle workers Cosmas and Damian
Oh, wonderworkers of glory, physicians of mercilessness, Cosmo and Damian! You, who have loved Christ God from your youth, have received not only the art of healing, but moreover the inexhaustible grace of healing all sorts of ailments from God. Likewise, you will soon hear us, who fall before your honorable icon. Young children, asking for your help in the teaching of the book, instruct them with your prayers, so that your life will be zealous, not just earthly, and may they continually prosper in piety and true faith. To those who are lying on their sick beds, who are desperate for help in humanity, who come running to you for warmth with faith and fervent prayer, grant healing of illnesses with your merciful miraculous visit: in the same way, from severe illnesses, despondency, cowardice and murmuring have come, strengthen the grace given to you from God in patience and instruct, so that they may understand from them God’s holy and perfect will, and may become partakers of God’s saving grace. Keep everyone who diligently comes running to you unharmed from severe illnesses, and protect them from sudden death, and through your powerful intercession to God, keep them firmly in the right faith, and those who advance in piety, so that together with you, in the future, they will be honored to ever sing and glorify the All-Holy and magnificent Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.
Kontakion, tone 6
The representation of Christians is unashamed, the intercession to the Creator is immutable, do not despise the voices of sinful prayers, but advance, as the Good One, to the aid of us who faithfully call upon Ty; hasten to prayer and strive to supplicate, ever presenting the Mother of God to those who honor Thee.
Translation: The protection of Christians is reliable, Intercession to the Creator is unchangeable! Do not despise the prayerful voices of sinners, but come quickly, as the Good One, to the aid of us who call upon You with faith: “Hasten with your intercession and hasten your prayer, Mother of God, always protecting those who honor You!”
Who else should I pray to?
In Russia, prayers for students are also offered to the martyr Tatiana Rimskaya, and her memory day, February 25, became the second student day. Many turn to the already mentioned Nicholas the Wonderworker and Matrona of Moscow. If a child does not study well, then it is also customary for parents to pray to St. Theodosius of Chernigov.
Theodosius of Chernigov
The saint himself lived in the 17th century and before becoming a monk he received a good education - he studied at the Kiev Brotherhood College, whose teachers included leading personalities of that time.
When he became the archimandrite of one of the Chernigov monasteries, he took care of the spiritual nourishment of his flock: he opened new churches and monasteries and improved old ones, and also supported theological schools. Saint Theodosius himself invited the most educated monks from Kyiv to teach. And today, 320 years after his repose, people turn to this saint in prayer for students.
Prayer to Theodosius of Chernigov
O sacred head, our strong prayer book and intercessor, Saint Theodosius, hear us, calling you with faith and diligently falling before the race of your honest and multi-healing relics (or: your icon). Have mercy on us at the Throne of the Almighty and do not stop praying for us. We know that our sins separate us between you and us, and we are unworthy of such a father and intercessor. But you, being an imitator of God’s love for mankind, do not stop crying out to the Lord for us, ask through your intercession from our All-Merciful God the peace of His Church, on the militant earth, for its shepherds the strength to zealously strive for the salvation of people. Beg the Heavenly Father to give us all a gift that is beneficial to everyone, true faith, firm hope and unfailing love, the establishment of our cities, peace, deliverance from famine and destruction, preservation from the invasion of foreigners, good growth in faith for young people and infants, healing for the sick, orphans and mercy and intercession to widows, correction to those who have gone astray, and timely help to those in need. Do not disgrace us in our hope, make haste, as a loving father, for us to bear the yoke of Christ in complacency and patience, and guide us all in peace and repentance, shamelessly end your life and be the heir of the Kingdom of God, where you now live with the Angels and all the saints, glorifying God, in the Trinity glorified, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Euphrosyne of Polotsk
Few people know about another amazing saint who did a lot to spread education. This is the Venerable Euphrosyne of Polotsk.
She was the great-great-granddaughter of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and at the age of 12 she wanted to take monastic vows. From early childhood she was distinguished by her love of knowledge and books. Already being a nun, she devoted a lot of time to spiritual reading and rewriting theological literature.
By the Providence of God, she became the founder of a women's monastery. I only took books with me to the new place. While setting up the monastery, she immediately took up the spiritual education of the sisters. Then she even founded one of the first girls’ schools in Rus', where all students studied literacy and crafts.
Therefore, St. Euphrosyne, who devoted so much time to education, should also offer prayer for the students. If on earth she helped everyone who wanted to study, then will she, while in heaven, turn away from our requests?
Prayer of Euphrosyne of Polotsk
O Reverend Mother Euphrosyne! Hear us praying to you; ask us, God's servants (names), for success in a more virtuous life; protect our hearts with faith, hope and love, and the fear of God, give us help in our labors and sorrows, free us from all need and distress, from severe illnesses and from unexpected death, and lead us to true repentance when leaving this life; ask us from the Lord God for a peaceful, painless, shameless death, participation in the Holy Mysteries; and lead us through the ordeals of the air. To her, Venerable Euphrosyne, help us with your prayers: protect us and intercede from all the snares of the enemy, so that we may be worthy to receive salvation from Christ the Lord, Whom we will be worthy to glorify, with the Father Without Beginning and with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
Priest Maxim Kaskun talks about the importance of prayer and communion for those who study:
Knowledge is light
In the modern world, one cannot do without education. The development of society, technical and scientific progress and the quality of life of each person directly depend on knowledge. Without them, it is impossible to understand nature, use its laws and resources. It is necessary to design, create and manage complex equipment that forms the basis of production. And any knowledge is acquired through the learning process.
Knowledge is also needed in the spiritual sphere. In order to be a real Christian, you need to adhere to Orthodox teaching. This will prevent you from getting carried away by heretical trends. In the modern world, churchly “uneducated” people are easy to deceive and turn away from the true path of soul salvation.
“Knowledge without enlightenment is a disaster. A person is enlightened by God by working spiritually on himself, by asceticism. He has divine enlightenment, the experience of life in God, and not his own thoughts. Therefore, he sees at a long distance. A nearsighted person sees well near, but does not see distant objects. And even those who do not have myopia, even if they see objects that are a little further away. This is also not a great achievement.
A person has only two bodily eyes, while a person has many spiritual eyes. Those who move away from Christ deprive themselves of divine enlightenment. They, like fools, themselves leave the sunlight and go to a place where the sun's rays do not reach. As a result, they are spiritually cold and sick. If a person does not purify himself, if divine enlightenment does not come to him, then his (human) knowledge, no matter how correct it may be, is just rationalism and nothing more” (Elder Paisius the Holy Mountain).
Only by possessing the knowledge that Holy Scripture gives, adhering to the instructions of the Holy Fathers, can one preserve the purity of faith. Even in the Book of Proverbs of Solomon (13:19) it was written: “Poverty and shame to him who rejects teaching; and whoever keeps the instruction will be honored.”
