How does the icon of St. Boniface help? The life of the holy martyr, as well as a strong Orthodox prayer against drunkenness and alcohol, which will save your loved ones from illness!
On the first day of the year, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of the martyr Boniface, a saint who is prayed for deliverance from drunkenness. The day of remembrance of the martyr of the faith fell at the beginning of the year as a result of the transition to the Gregorian calendar in 1918.
Mothers of alcoholics often turn to the martyr for help.
To get rid of the disease as quickly as possible, you should adhere to the following rules:
- support the repentant in every possible way,
- visit the church and listen to the speeches pronounced by the saint at the hour of the service,
- do not despair and do not lose heart.
It often happens that a person’s independent struggle with an illness ends in failure. In this case, turning to the holy martyr helps to overcome indecision and uncertainty. A person gains faith in himself.
You need to pray to the martyr Boniface even after healing. The temptation is great and in order not to lose faith, you need to pray tirelessly. Only pure and heartfelt prayer can give a person strength and determination.
When a person repents and realizes the harmfulness of addiction to drinking for the soul and body, prayer is the best means of therapeutic action on the path to healing.
Life of Saint Boniface
Boniface was a slave of the Roman aristocrat Aglaida. He was handsome, smart, had a cheerful disposition, and it is not surprising that she noticed a capable young man, entrusted him with the management of her entire estate, and soon a connection arose between the mistress and her servant. Not only were relationships between a woman and a man from different classes considered unacceptable in Roman society, but the lovers themselves also experienced remorse: both of them were Christians and understood that they were committing the mortal sin of fornication. And for some time Aglaida and Boniface could not try on their lives with their faith. They could not deny themselves the pleasure of close communication with each other and spent time in all kinds of entertainment. But, at the same time, they prayed, tried to do good deeds, and gave out alms. Aglaida inherited a large fortune from her parents, and therefore decided to buy the relics of the martyrs killed for Christ from the pagans, who asked for a lot of money for it. She sent Boniface to the East, where at that time there was great persecution of Christians. The young man happily went to carry out the assignment.
Together with his entourage, the servant arrived in the city of Tarsus, having a large sum of money, and went for a walk. His companions were waiting at the hotel, but the night passed, the day passed, and Boniface still did not return. At first no one was worried, thinking that the young man, who was never averse to drinking and having fun, decided to have fun before getting down to business. But the wait dragged on, and they went in search. They soon learned from the townspeople about the amazing event that had happened the day before. A certain stranger saw how Christians were being tortured in the square, rushed to them, fell on his knees in front of them and began to praise the strength of their faith and the power of the Lord. When the executioners grabbed him and asked who he was, he said that he was a Christian. And he responded with a decisive refusal to offers to renounce and worship pagan idols.
The life of Saint Boniface describes the terrible tortures that both the martyrs he saw in the square and he himself endured. His death is also described, during which miraculous phenomena occurred that showed the greatness of God and made hundreds of eyewitnesses believe. It is also described how Boniface’s companions found his body and severed head, repented of thinking of him as a libertine, while he laid down his life in the name of Christ, and how they brought his holy relics to Aglaida. She spent the rest of her life in repentance and prayer and rested in peace after 18 years of righteous life.
Venerable Moses Murin
Troparion, tone 8
In you, Father, it is known that you were saved in the image: accept the Cross that you followed Christ, and you taught in action to despise the flesh, for it passes away; In the same way, O Reverend Moses, your spirit will rejoice with the angels.
Kontakion, tone 4
Having killed the murine mules and spat on the faces of the demons, you mentally shone like the sun is bright, guiding our souls with the light of your life and teaching.
Prayer to Moses Murin
Oh, the great power of repentance! Oh, the immeasurable depth of God's mercy! You, Reverend Moses, were formerly a robber, but then you were horrified by your sins, grieved over them, and in repentance came to the monastery, and there, in great lamentation for your former iniquities and in difficult deeds, you spent your days until your death, and was awarded the grace of Christ's forgiveness. and the gift of miracles. Oh, reverend, you have achieved wonderful virtues from grave sins! Help also the servant of God (names) who pray to you, who are drawn into destruction by indulging in the immeasurable consumption of wine, which is harmful to the soul and body. Bow your merciful gaze upon them and do not despise them, but listen to them as they come running to you. Pray, holy Moses, the Lord Christ, so that He, the Merciful, does not reject them, and may the devil not rejoice at their destruction, but may the Lord have mercy on these powerless and unfortunate (names), who were possessed by the destructive passion of drunkenness, for we are all God’s creatures and redeemed by the Most Pure One The blood of His Son. Hear, Reverend Moses, their prayer, drive away the devil from them, grant them the power to overcome their passion, help them, stretch out your hand, lead them to the path of good, free them from the slavery of passions and deliver them from wine drinking, so that they, renewed, in sobriety and a bright mind, they loved abstinence and piety, and eternally glorified the All-Good God, who always saves His creatures. Amen.
To the list of prayers
Prayers to Saint Boniface
The lifestyle of Saint Boniface was far from righteous, but, realizing that he was living in sin and unable to give up his addictions, he prayed to the Lord for guidance on the path of salvation of his soul. God gave him the heavy and terrible cross of martyrdom, but he was also given the strength to bear it. They often pray to Boniface to get rid of bad habits, and first of all, drunkenness.
Hoping for the intercession of a saint before the Lord, you need to understand that no prayers or words will help if behind them there is emptiness, that is, if behind them there is no sincere desire to change your life.
But it also happens that a disease - alcoholism, drug addiction or other addiction - turns out to be stronger than a person, and he, even having the desire to stop, cannot cope. The example of the martyr Boniface calls not to lose heart and not to give up in such a difficult situation, because the saint, too, for a long time went towards the spiritual feat that ended his life. Therefore, after each fall, you need to again and again ask the Lord for forgiveness and help, and again and again begin from the beginning your path of repentance and the fight against sin.
There is no need to despair for those who pray for their loved ones who are susceptible to serious illnesses. Where a person is powerless, there is always hope in God, and only He knows through what and how a sinner can come to Salvation.
Prayer to Saint Boniface for drunkenness
First prayer
O long-suffering and all-praised martyr Bonifatius, we now resort to your intercession: do not reject the prayers of us who sing to you, but graciously hear us, see our brothers and sisters overcome by the grave illness of drunkenness, see for this sake from their Mother, the Church of Christ, falling away from eternal salvation . Oh, holy martyr of Christ Boniface, touch their hearts with the grace given by God, quickly raise them from the fall of sin and bring them to saving abstinence. Pray to the Lord God, for whose sake you suffered, that having forgiven us our sins, may He not turn away His mercy from His sons, but may He strengthen us in sobriety and chastity, may He help His right hand to maintain strong and saving God’s promise to the end, in the days and keep vigil about him at night, and give a good answer about him at the Last Judgment. Accept, servant of God, the prayers of mothers who shed tears for their children; honest wives who weep for their husbands; children of orphans and wretched children abandoned by pianists; and all of us who fall to your icon, and may this cry of ours come through your prayers to the Throne of the Most High, granting to all through their prayers health and salvation of souls and bodies, especially the Kingdom of Heaven. Cover and protect us from the evil deception and all the snares of the enemy, in the terrible hour of our exodus, help us to pass through the airy ordeals without stumbling, and with your prayers deliver us from eternal condemnation. Pray to the Lord to grant us unfeigned love for our Fatherland and unshakable will before the enemies of the Holy Church, visible and invisible, so that God’s mercy will cover us for ever and ever. Amen.
Second prayer
“Save, O Lord, and have mercy on Your servants (names) with the words of Your divine Gospel, read about the salvation of these Your servants (names). The thorns of all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, have fallen, Lord, and may Thy grace dwell in them, enlightening, scorching, purifying this person. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Canon to Saint Boniface
Akathist to Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface the Merciful
Troparion, tone 4
The rule of faith and the image of meekness and abstinence as a teacher show you to your flock as the truth of things: for this reason you have acquired high humility, rich in poverty. Father Hierarch Boniface, pray to Christ God to save our souls.
Kontakion, voice 2
Divine thunder, spiritual trumpet, faith-planter and cutter of heresies, saint of the Trinity, great Saint Boniface, with the angels standing ever before, pray unceasingly for all of us.
Prayer to Saint Boniface
Oh, all-holy Boniface, merciful servant of the Merciful Master! Hear those who come running to you, possessed by an addiction to drinking wine, and, just as in your earthly life you never refused to help those who asked you, so now deliver these unfortunates (names). Once upon a time, God-wise father, hail destroyed your vineyard, but you, having given thanks to God, ordered the few remaining grapes to be placed in a winepress and to invite the poor. Then, taking new wine, you poured it drop by drop into all the vessels that were in the bishopric, and God, fulfilling the prayer of the merciful, performed a glorious miracle: the wine in the winepress multiplied, and the poor filled their vessels. Oh, saint of God! Just as through your prayer wine increased for the needs of the church and for the benefit of the poor, so you, blessed one, now reduce it where it causes harm, deliver those who indulge in the shameful passion of wine drinking (names) from their addiction to it, heal them from a serious illness, free them from demonic temptation, strengthen them, the weak, give them, the weak, strength and strength to quickly endure this temptation, return them to a healthy and sober life, direct them to the path of work, put in them the desire for sobriety and spiritual vigor. Help them, saint of God Boniface, when the thirst for wine begins to burn their larynx, destroy their destructive desire, refresh their lips with heavenly coolness, enlighten their eyes, place their feet on the rock of faith and hope, so that, leaving their soul-harming addiction, which entails excommunication from the Heavenly Kingdom, they, having established themselves in piety, were awarded a shameless peaceful death and in the eternal light of the infinite Kingdom of Glory worthily glorified our Lord Jesus Christ with His Beginning Father and with His Most Holy and Life-giving Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Icon of Saint Boniface
On the icon, Saint Boniface is usually depicted as a young man of pleasant appearance in a cloak and with a cross in his hand. There are also rare hagiographic images of the martyr. An unusual icon has also been preserved, in which a young man is depicted at the moment of prayer in front of the image of the Virgin Mary. In his hand he holds a scroll with the words: “Sovereign Lord Almighty, deliver people from idols, anger and from all sorrow and sorrow.”
Saint Boniface received special veneration in Russian icon painting in the 16th century. It was then that he, as it is said in his life, “who committed fornication, was a drunkard, but merciful and loving of the poor,” began to be glorified as a prayer book for all those suffering from the sin of drinking wine.
You can find the icon of St. Boniface in many churches. So, for example, in Moscow you can pray for deliverance from drunkenness in front of an image with a reliquary in the Church of the Holy Unsilvered Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka. A particle of relics and an icon are also in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krylatskoye. However, you can pray to the saint in front of a home icon or even without it. After all, it is not the miraculous icon that helps, but the Lord God and His saints.
Troparion, voice 4*
Audio:
0:19
Martyrs were sent to the class, / you were a true martyr, / having suffered for Christ most powerfully, most valiantly, / with the power of you you returned by the faith that sent you, blessed Boniface, / / pray to Christ God to receive Forgive us of our sins.
Translation: Sent to the assembly of martyrs, you yourself became a true martyr, having courageously suffered for Christ, glorified by everyone, and with your relics you returned to the one who sent you with faith, Blessed Boniface, pray to Christ God to receive forgiveness of our sins.
Saint Boniface's Day
According to the church calendar, the feast day of St. Boniface falls on January 1. And there is a certain symbolism in this.
On the one hand, it is on this day that it is customary to celebrate the New Year, and for many, unfortunately, it is a holiday of drunkenness and gluttony, from which they pray to the saint for deliverance.
On the other hand, January 1 is associated with the beginning of something new, with some changes. But Boniface himself in an instant changed beyond recognition, turning from a merry fellow, a libertine and a joker into a zealous defender of Christianity. And after the martyrdom of the young man, a new life began for his mistress Aglaida, who devoted the rest of her life to prayer and repentance.
On January 1, everyone can pray to the saint, ask him to help get rid of some big and small sins, in the hope that in the new year he will actually be able to change something in his life and become a little closer to the Lord.
How to pray
Every prayer is a sacrament of communication with God.
Monotonous and thoughtless repetition of memorized text will not help here. Turning to Saint Boniface in prayer and repentance must come from the heart. The person praying should do the following:
- Before starting prayer, a blessing from the clergy is required.
- The one who prays and suffers must openly tell the holy martyr about his difficulties and adversities, and also admit his weakness. Only after sincere and pure repentance will the long-awaited healing come.
- Every day should begin with conversion and gratitude to the Almighty.
You need to turn to a saint for deliverance from drunkenness correctly. If the son is dependent, then the mother should read the mother’s prayer. And also the mother should ask the clergyman to pray for her child before the Lord. If a person turns to God for the salvation of his soul, he should ask for blessings from the holy father.
Saint Boniface is the protector and mentor of those prone to alcoholism and gluttony. He is also the protector of lovers. Prayers addressed to him make it possible to admit mistakes and correct your life.
