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.
The dangers of smoking
It's no secret that smoking is harmful to physical health. This bad habit contributes to the development of many dangerous diseases, including lung and larynx cancer. However, in addition to physical damage, craving for tobacco also causes psychological and spiritual harm. Therefore, sooner or later, every smoker has an urge to stop smoking. To do this, they are trying to use a variety of means. Medications and psychotherapy are used. However, believers have another powerful remedy - prayer against smoking.
Prayer for smoking
Prayer for yourself who is not baptized
A person may not be baptized at all, or he may not be baptized, but immersed. An immersive rite performed by a lay person is generally considered baptized. An unbaptized person can pray, but not during a church service. There is the following circumstance.
If an unbaptized person prays, but does not want to be baptized, it means that he wants to connect to the egregor of Christianity, but does not want to give up his spiritual powers for it. Christian prayer for him becomes a kind of conspiracy. This practice exists.
It is known that witches often use Christian symbols and prayers. There is no prohibition on such actions in the doctrine of Christianity, but it can be assumed that the benefit from such prayer will be less than for a baptized person. However, a person’s reluctance to be baptized may well be the machinations of a demon who is resisting his expulsion.
Is smoking a sin?
For smokers coming to faith, the question inevitably arises: how does Orthodoxy relate to smoking?
Neither the Holy Scriptures nor the ancient Holy Fathers say anything about smoking. Then perhaps the craving for cigarettes is just a slight weakness? Perhaps this habit is forgivable and has no spiritual significance? Or is tobacco addiction a sin that needs to be fought?
“Sin - from what point of view? After all, there are many more sins than are mentioned in the Bible. And there is no such set of sins that would be accepted by the entire Orthodox Church. If we set out to find a loophole in the formal rules, we will prove that smoking is not a sin. Not prohibited means allowed. But the fact is that the spiritual position is not based on the points of canonical rules. True Orthodoxy is in the spirit. And from a spiritual point of view, smoking is, of course, completely unacceptable. This is a habit that makes spiritual life difficult” (Archpriest Andrei Lorgus).
The influence of prayer
Many people are interested in the question of how effective the power of prayer can be. In fact, it all depends solely on the person and his inner mood. If he really, with a pure heart, turns to the saints for help and asks them to protect him from this temptation, then it is quite possible that the person praying will be able to protect himself from an addiction.
Naturally, you should not believe that prayer can be a cure for any ailment. Quitting smoking requires serious work on yourself, and prayer is only one of the components. It is no secret that deeply religious people are much calmer from the fact that they additionally enlist the support of saints in this matter.
Prayers are read to make a person’s heart feel lighter, because he sincerely asks for help. And at the same time, it’s stupid to think that a second after reading you will immediately get rid of tobacco addiction. It is important to remember that turning to the saints is necessary only for support, but someone else will never completely solve the problem for you.
Many people are interested in what the effect will be. As we have already mentioned, the main effect will be the internal calm of a person, because he turned to higher powers with his problems and was heard. It is also worth noting that this allows many to strengthen self-control and not take up a cigarette, because they need to get rid of temptation.
What you shouldn't expect is immediate addiction recovery. Turning to the saints is just one of many steps of painstaking work on oneself, including, possibly, medical intervention. Therefore, if you think that you will suddenly get rid of your problems by simply reading a couple of lines, it is better not to resort to this method at all.
There are several prayers that are usually read when a desire arises to get rid of tobacco addiction:
- Ambrose Optinsky. This is the most popular prayer in the fight against smoking, since this saint even created the doctrine that smoking is a sin, since it is not inherent in human nature and has a detrimental effect on people. Therefore, there is a special text designed to help overcome this addiction.
- Lord. You can turn to the Lord with a humble request for help, so that he will provide his support to the person praying.
- Guardian angel. You can also ask your guardian angel to protect you from temptation and evil, and also to guide you on the right path.
- Nicholas the Wonderworker. This saint can also listen to you and provide his support in the fight against smoking, but his prayer should be read directly in church.
- Holy Trinity. People turn to the Trinity for healing from illnesses, and since nicotine addiction is almost identical to illness, you can read this prayer.
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).
How to heal from a passion for smoking with the help of prayer
Prayer against smoking will be an effective remedy only if a person has a strong desire in his soul to quit smoking. For a faster effect, prayer must be combined with traditional treatment methods.
In Christianity, smoking is equated with fornication, which is a sin. Therefore, prayer helps to realize this. That is why every word and phrase of the prayer text should be pronounced consciously. Only patience and sincere faith in the soul will help you cope with destructive passion with the help of prayer.
In order to get rid of smoking, you need to be patient, because you will have to pray for this for a long time. You need to pronounce prayer words slowly and with deep understanding. It is important at the time of prayer to discard all extraneous thoughts and focus only on the desire to quit smoking. It is important to force yourself to imagine that life after quitting nicotine will become brighter and more joyful. During prayer, you should completely focus on your goal.
Also, to strengthen the reading of prayers against smoking at home, you can additionally order a prayer service in the temple. It is advisable to attend Sunday services and actively participate in them. Prayer for smoking cessation is, of course, a very effective remedy, but you should not rely on it alone. It is important to show willpower and control the number of cigarettes you smoke. If withdrawal periodically occurs, then you should make an effort and overcome yourself, and you need to start praying more often and more diligently. You definitely need to believe in the strength of your own natural character and that with the help of higher powers, you will definitely be able to get rid of your destructive passion.
Prayer against smoking: to smoke or not to smoke?
Therefore, smoking is recognized as a spiritual passion, which is also fraught with obvious harm to human health.
“Smoking is a spiritual passion: by nature, smoking is unusual for a person in the same way as, say, eating, drinking, or having a family. We can probably say that smoking is a kind of antipode to prayer. The Holy Fathers call prayer the breath of the soul. Concentrating a person’s mind in himself and in God, it gives him true peace, purification of the mind and heart, a feeling of spiritual strength and vigor. Smoking, associated with the body's breathing, causes surrogates of these feelings. And the very symbol of prayer—smoking fragrant incense—very clearly expresses the opposite of the fragrance of incense—the use of a foul-smelling devil’s potion” (Rev. Nicodemus the Svyatogorets, 1749-1809).
Smoking helps to relax the soul, multiply and strengthen human passions.
“The spiritual meaning of smoking and all the small “justifiable” illegalities of the spirit is licentiousness. Not only the body, but also the soul. This is a false calming of oneself (one’s “nerves,” as they sometimes say)... “Calming” this leads to an ever greater distance from true peace, from the true consolation of the Spirit. This reassurance is a mirage. Now - while there is a body - it must be constantly renewed. Afterwards, this narcotic calm will be the source of painful captivity of the soul” (Archbishop John Shakhovsky, 1902-1989).
The effect of the prayer to Matrona for getting rid of the smoking habit
Matrona of Moscow is a saint, known since the times of Rus' for a large number of miracles that occurred both during her life and after her death. People who are addicted to nicotine, alcohol or other drugs turn to her.
There is a classic prayer to Matrona against smoking, the content of which asks her to convey to God a request to forgive a person and receive protection from him against insidious addiction. But you can read the prayer in your own words, the main thing is that the spoken text is presented from the heart and with understanding of each spoken word.
Prayer to Matrona should be performed every day during the period of treatment for nicotine addiction. It must be repeated more than 3 times; the sign of the cross must be present on the body of the person reading the prayer.
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 to the Guardian Angel
Prayer will help strengthen the willpower to quit smoking on your own to your guardian angel. After all, an angel is appointed by God to help you. And a prayer addressing him can be in your own words.
To the Angel of God, my holy guardian, given to me by God from heaven to keep him! I sincerely ask you: enlighten me today and save me from all evil, instruct me in every action and guide me on the path of salvation. Amen.
Prayer for smoking
A believer’s prayerful appeal to the Lord helps overcome tobacco addiction. But Orthodox prayer against smoking is not witchcraft or coding. The main condition is the will of a person to fight passion and addiction, sincere hope in the Grace of God.
“We must remember that passion can be overcome gradually. And a person must show an effort of will and show God that he wants to be free from passion. But freedom from passion is given by God Himself. A person can struggle intensely with this passion for many years. But when God sees a person’s real desire to free himself from passion, he will give him healing” (Priest Alexy Shlyapin).
To quit smoking, a believer needs not only sincere prayer, but also constant participation in the church Sacraments of Confession and Communion.
“If a person is obsessed with the passion of smoking, there is no need to be afraid to take communion. Because we cannot cope with our passions without God's grace. The Lord says: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). This means that we must receive God’s help by resorting to the Holy Sacraments” (Priest Valentin Tsikulaev).
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.
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.
How to correctly read prayers and chants on your own
You can read prayer texts within the walls of an Orthodox church or at home. In the temple they light candles and pray in front of the icon of the Heavenly Intercessor. At home, prayers are also read in front of the image of the holy face.
For a home prayer service, choose a secluded place and time when household members will not disturb the person praying. You need to read texts consciously and thoughtfully, pronouncing each word clearly. You cannot be distracted from prayer, think about extraneous things and pressing concerns.
The main thing in prayer is true faith in the Lord God and complete trust in His providence and justice. Trusting in help from Above, you need to live honestly and righteously, without violating the Laws of God. Prayers are read early in the morning, before bed, or at another convenient time. It is recommended to learn a short prayer by heart and say it at moments when it is especially difficult to resist temptation.
Orthodox prayers against smoking
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! Descend from my weakness, forgive my lewdness, 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! As sometimes, Lord, you 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 if sometimes, Lord, through the prayers of the saints, the father of the Kiev-Pechersk people freed from the oppressive passion of a certain Maxim and appointed him to serve You in Your Holy Temple - also free the foul and unclean me, 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.
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.
