What should we pray to John Chrysostom on the day of his memory?

Who is John Chrysostom

This holy man lived in the 4th century on the lands of ancient Syria (Antioch).
At the age of eighteen, he moved to Athens to study sacred writing there. When John's parents died, he gave all their belongings to the poor upon returning to their homeland. By that time, he had already become the author of the work “Six Words about the Priesthood.”

During his time, John Chrysostom was convinced that faith alone was not enough to save the soul. However, the Lord expects it from us, so that a person makes certain efforts for his salvation.

With his wise sermons the saint converted many to Christianity. He was the eparch of the capital and rightly held this post. However, the city rulers did not want to put up with John’s Christian mission, and began persecuting him. Thus began the holy path of the exile.

John Chrysostom rested in peace in exile on the territory of Abkhazia after a long illness. He was buried near Sukhumi.

John Chrysostom. Mosaic of the northern tympanum of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. 9th century Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

We, as the legacy of the saint, are left with his wise instructions:

• Let everyone think about their own self-development and self-education. This is necessary for spiritual growth.
• A believer must constantly remain in prayerful communication with the Creator.
• Provide help to those who need it, fight for good, stand up for justice, remember those who are weak and stand up for them.

John Chrysostom became the author of short prayers for believers for every hour of the day. This allows Christians to open themselves to God hourly.

Prayer to the saint

O great saint John Chrysostom! You received many and varied gifts from the Lord and, like a good and faithful servant, you multiplied all the talents given to you for good: for this reason, you were truly a universal teacher, as every age and every rank learns from you. You are the image of obedience to the youth, the luminary of chastity to the young, the mentor of hard work to the husband, the teacher of kindness to the old, the rule of abstinence to the monk, the inspired leader of God to those who pray, the enlightener of the mind to those seeking wisdom, the inexhaustible source of living words to those who are kind, the inexhaustible source of living words to those who do good. a star of mercy, a wise image for rulers, an inspirer of zeal for truth, an inspirer of daring, a mentor of righteousness for the persecuted, patience: you were everything to everyone, and you saved everyone.

Over all of these you have acquired love, which is the bond of perfection, and with that, as if by the power of the Divine, you have united all the gifts in your one person, and here you have shared the reconciling love, in the interpretation of the words of the apostles, you preached to all the faithful. We are sinners, we each have our own talent, we are not imams of unity of spirit in the union of peace, we are vain, annoying each other, envious of each other; For the sake of this gift, we are divided not into peace and salvation, but into enmity and condemnation. Moreover, we fall to you, the saint of God, overwhelmed by discord, and in contrition of heart we ask: with your prayers drive away from our hearts all pride and envy that divides us, so that in many places we will be one church body, so that, according to your prayerful words, we will love each other and with one mind we confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, Consubstantial and Indivisible, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Prayers for the holiday

John Chrysostom is asked about different things. But the saint does not respond to all calls for help. John Chrysostom will hear calls for help faster when:

• overcome the sin of despondency;
• healing of soul and body is necessary;
• you need to make the right decision;
• you need to protect yourself and your loved ones from problems, illnesses, and the machinations of enemies;
• It is necessary that the children were strong and smart, reaching for knowledge.

You need to pray to the saint thoughtfully and slowly. It is better to offer a prayer in the temple before the face of the saint. It would not be amiss to light a candle as a symbolic sacrifice to the Creator, because all our petitions are addressed only to Him.

John Chrysostom. Mosaic of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. XI century Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

Orthodox prayer - Orthodox book

Lord, I have sinned in Heaven and before You! Accept our conversion and repentance, accept our groaning and tears, accept the repentance of us sinners, accept our sobbing and cry even to death. Accept us, the damned, who lived without cold; accept us, O Lover of Mankind, who have greatly angered Thee; accept us, Master, who have spent our whole lives in debauchery, in all wickedness and uncleanness; accept us, O Lord God, who have transgressed Thy commandments; Receive us, O Master, Thy unworthy servants, and do not reward us according to the work of our hands. We confess to You, Master, that because of our sin we are not even worthy of life; We confess, Lord, that we are not worthy to even look at this sun, for there is no such sin, there is not a single such atrocity that we, the damned ones, would not have committed. But accept us, Lord, as the prodigal son, accept us as the thief, accept us as the harlot and the tax collector. Lord, convert us! Lord, give us reason and do not be angry with us, but be merciful to our sin! You are our God, and don’t we know otherwise to You? Lord, pluck us from our enemies and do not enter into judgment with Your servants. Lord, You are God, and we are Your people. We have sinned, we have committed lawlessness and untruth, we have created evil, we have sinned in everything, we have disobeyed Your commandments, and for this reason we have strayed far from You. But have mercy, O Lord, on the works of Your hands; Have mercy, O Lord, on you, who through the cunning of the serpent expelled you from paradise; have mercy on us and clothe us in the robe of gladness and the robe of salvation; Have mercy on us, whom the devil has deprived of Your help! Merciful, have mercy on you who forsook you and served him; have mercy on the erring; have mercy on those who did not keep Your commandments and followed the evil deeds of the demons; have mercy on those who have defiled themselves with sins; have mercy on you who are under the power of the devil; have mercy on those defiled by debauchery. Have mercy, Merciful, have mercy, Good One, have mercy, Long-suffering, through our hands we have committed all evil, all desecration, covetousness and unrighteousness. The desecrator of the soul you created in Your image, the desecrator of the body, the desecrator of the feeling. Our tongue appears like a sharp sword, directed against our neighbor, our eyes cast out flames, our hands are full of blood, our feet are quick to commit evil, our lips are defiled by slander and, to put it briefly, desecrate both the earth and the air. Truly, our unrighteous deeds have reached even to Heaven, our thefts have exceeded the mountains, our covetousness has surpassed the clouds, our vices have reached Heaven, our sins are unforgivable, our crimes have no excuse, our sins are incorrigible, and the earth cannot bear our atrocities. Moreover, Lord, the imams need Your mercy. You weigh the weakness of our nature: have mercy, O Lord, on the creation of Your hands. Behold, we appeal to Thy mercy: do not deprive us of Thy help, send down Thy mercy to us, the unworthy, grant us, sinners, Thy intercession, show us Thy face, and we will be saved. Amen.

Quoted from the book: PRAYERS FOR STRENGTHENING FAITH AND CONVERSING THE ELIZED. – M.: Publishing house. Tikhomirova M.Yu., 2022, p. 21-23. IS R16-641-3565

Orthodox book by mail pravmolitva.ru

Signs and prohibitions of the day

On holiday, ancestors always paid attention to weather phenomena. They were used to judge what the year would be like:

• A rainy day promises a harvest year.
• Windy weather foreshadows warmer temperatures in the coming days.
• Shining stars promise frost and snowfall.
• A snowy day foreshadows night frosts.
• The cawing of crows is heard during the thaw.

There are many prohibitions associated with the holiday among the people.

• On November 26, you cannot start quarrels and get angry. You should show restraint of emotions and prudence.
• You should not borrow money from your neighbors on holiday, so as not to spoil your relationship with them.
• It is forbidden to scold a saint. This is fraught with the fact that prayers will not reach the Almighty.

Stone tomb (according to local legend, the tomb of John Chrysostom) in Komani Abkhazia Photo: Trio7, ru.wikipedia.org
John Chrysostom is a great and revered saint, who is loved for the miracles he performed. On the day of his memory, it is worth visiting the temple and praying for well-being for yourself and your loved ones. Sincere prayer will definitely be heard.

Tags: Christianity, ban, John Chrysostom, Orthodox saints

Orthodox Life

Imagine a fearless person, boldly exposing the vices of people, regardless of their status, wealth and power.

Sometimes it seems that such people do not exist, that everyone, even with many virtues, has certain sins and shortcomings. And these are the biggest problems many of us have with courage and integrity. This is because at the opposite pole is fear - one of the most powerful enemies of our inner world. In addition to this, there is also embarrassment, awkwardness, a reluctance to stand out, to be like everyone else. I’m not saying that all this is bad, but it also happens that we are ashamed to cross ourselves when driving past a temple or before eating in a cafe. When this happens, it is worth remembering St. John Chrysostom, the transfer of whose relics the Orthodox Church celebrates on February 9.

We all know the name of the saint, but let’s remember a little about what kind of person he was! Such brave people are rare. Of course, courage is one of the most important traits of Christians and all the saints possessed it, but not everyone had so many opportunities and even temptations to realize it. The main thing is that you should not confuse courage with recklessness, and it manifests itself not only in the ability to jump with a parachute or risk your life to save another. Courage is a constant movement forward, towards the discovery of the unknown, towards the knowledge of the unknown and, ultimately, strengthening in the Truth, before which any earthly authority fades, no matter how powerful it may be. This is exactly what St. was like. John. His eloquence, known from the See of Antioch, could not have come from nowhere, of course, there is a place for talent here, but we also know well that success in any business is only a tenth of talent, and the rest is hard work. We can only imagine how much effort it took to speak as the saint spoke. Moreover, good speech is not so much the ornateness of words as their content. For example, a sermon filled with beautiful phrases and complex syntactic structures will be interesting to us only during the first couple of listens, and then it will quickly get boring, even if the preacher embellishes his empty speech with new phrases. You can share something with others only if you have it yourself. Just imagine that you need to preach a sermon on a dozen feasts of the Virgin Mary a year for several years - it’s difficult, but St. John coped well; he knew how to hold the attention of his listeners, which means he always had something to share.

It was the glory of an excellent preacher that brought John Chrysostom to the pinnacle of his episcopal service - to Constantinople, where, at the direction of the courtier Eutropius, who actually ruled the state in place of the weak-willed Emperor Arcadius, he occupies the chair of the late Bishop Nektarios. It is interesting that the saint did not want to leave his Syrian flock, and therefore was taken to the capital by cunning. The level of spirituality, and indeed morality of the inhabitants of the central Byzantine city at that time, to put it mildly, left much to be desired. It’s sad that this affected not only the common people, but also the clergy. Only such a luminary as John Chrysostom could clear out these “Augean stables.” At first, even his wonderful sermons were perceived by the people outwardly - with applause and shouts; the word of the saint could not “break through” to their ossified hearts. Then Vladyka John realized that the more depraved the flock, the stricter the shepherd should be towards himself. Much has been said about the modesty of the saint - not everyone can live in the capital like a hermit. Finally, the labors of John Chrysostom began to bear fruit - the people slowly changed.

The saint was a tough and uncompromising denouncer of vices. When some outrage occurred, he simply could not remain silent: “Can this be tolerated? Can this be demolished? I want to sue you yourself,” he said to those who, instead of worship, went to the races or theaters. So you can’t help but think: what about our people? In some places you can even turn a blind eye to Sundays, although this is also wrong, but here are the holidays or the days of Holy Week - how few people, in comparison with the total population of the country, are in our churches during these holy periods! “You were not even ashamed of the very day on which the signs of the salvation of our race took place,” exclaims the Bishop, “but on Friday, when your Lord was crucified for the universe, when such a sacrifice was made and paradise was opened, and the thief was elevated to the ancient fatherland, and the oath was resolved, and sin was destroyed, and long-term enmity ceased, and the reconciliation of God with people was accomplished, and everything changed - on the day when it was necessary to fast, praise and send prayers of thanks for the blessings for the universe to the One who performed them - then you, having left the church and the spiritual sacrifice, and the meeting of the brethren, and forgetting the holiness of fasting, captivated by the devil, was drawn to that spectacle.” How scary it really is to hear such words addressed to you!

Saint John writes that if a person gives his slave specific money, he will definitely demand from him an account of every penny spent. In a similar way, the Lord will exact from us evidence of the wasted days of earthly life. What will we answer Him? How can we justify ourselves? We get used to good things so quickly that we don’t even notice everything that God has done for us. A person should have at least a little gratitude to his Creator. And for many, at first it does not consist in serving good, but at least in not serving evil: “For your sake the sun shone, the moon illuminated the night, a diverse host of stars shone; for your sake the winds blew, the rivers flowed; for your sake the seeds grew, the plants rose, the flow of nature maintained its order, the day appeared and the night passed; and all this was done for your sake; and you, while the creatures serve you, fulfill the will of the devil,” sounds the uncompromising voice of the saint.

Naturally, such a brave lover of truth as John Chrysostom could not help but make enemies for himself, the most powerful of whom was Empress Eudoxia. The Bishop harshly rebelled against court luxury, and this greatly displeased the ladies who were hanging around the “first lady”, who with denunciations and slander incited her against Chrysostom. Although gradually the empress herself lost interest in the saint, because she did not want to change, and it was simply impossible to appease such a lump with beautiful words and promises. The rumors that spread throughout the city did their job - whatever the ruler was accused of, it even reached the point of absurdity. The number of dissatisfied and indignant people grew even outside the capital. Without going into details of the events, we note that John Chrysostom refused to try the Patriarch of Alexandria Theophilos, since he did not consider it his right, and he, in turn, having gathered considerable support, especially from those in power, carried out a trial against the saint. The cathedral “under the oak” in 403 deposed the ruler. He was arrested right on Easter during a service and sent into exile, where Saint John died.

In essence, we are the same people as John Chrysostom; perhaps we do not have oratory talent, but we do have some others. But courage and bravery in standing for the Truth is not so much a talent as an acquired skill that anyone can learn. Therefore, in those moments when we feel embarrassed for our faith or for our principles, let us remember St. John and, like him, not be afraid of anything.

Archpriest Vladimir Dolgikh

When and how to correctly read the 24 prayers of St. John Chrysostom

It is noted that Theophan the Recluse himself attached quite great importance to the 24 prayers of St. John Chrysostom. So, he recommended to his own students to read them, and even take them as a basis when pronouncing words directed to the Lord. The letters of Theophan the Recluse describe the rules by which Christian believers should pronounce the words from the 24 prayers of St. John Chrysostom, compiled for each hour of the day.

According to recommendations from the letters of St. Theophan the Recluse, the 24 prayers of John Chrysostom must be read before the main prayer. Thanks to short lines, a person’s thoughts can come together and direct all the favorable energy in the right direction. Also, 24 prayers can be said throughout the day. This, first of all, can help one learn to remember the Lord, thereby supporting spiritual life.

It is noted that the 24 prayers of St. John Chrysostom are also recommended to be read in the morning, immediately after waking up. It is especially important to memorize them so that no circumstances can interfere with turning to the Lord. According to the teachings of St. Theophan the Recluse, it is also especially important for each Christian believer to choose his own prayer from 24, which is closest to his state of mind.

It is known that reading the 24 prayers of St. John Chrysostom is also recommended before reading the Holy Scriptures. Through this, a Christian believer can receive the right attitude. Thus, lines need to be read deliberately, and not automatically. It is important to delve into every word. The saint’s prayers can also help to correctly comprehend what is written in the book and apply practical knowledge in real, modern life.

Order a prayer service “For the sick many, or for the one” via the Internet

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