How to save the soul of an Orthodox Christian
Only those who perish truly want to be saved. It’s not for nothing that many hardened sinners turned out to be saints. A classic example of this is St. Mary of Egypt. It is not easy for an ordinary person, immersed in everyday worries, to realize and feel his tendency to sin - he must make daily efforts, observing himself.
Why, for example, when trying to pray, thoughts so easily dissipate, and why is it difficult to allocate half an hour for this? For what reason is it much easier to criticize a person’s actions than to delve into the reasons, much less help? Why is it more tempting to go to a barbecue on a weekend than to visit an orphanage or visit a lonely old man?
According to the holy fathers of the Christian Church, the salvation of the soul begins precisely with control over one’s thoughts and feelings. Therefore, the main thing in this matter is personal repentance, participation in church sacraments, good deeds and, of course, prayer.
Saint Macarius (Nevsky), who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, answered the question of where to start:
“Saving the soul is not as difficult as it seems. <…> The main reason that people postpone their salvation until the future is that they lack determination<…>. How to do this? It is best to begin salvation not with what is more difficult, not with the feat of withdrawal from the world, not with strict fasting and long prayers, but with the easiest thing. The easiest thing is for the sinner to recognize his sinfulness, sigh for himself and turn to God with a prayer, although short, but earnest, like the following: “Lord, I am a sinner, I am perishing - save me!” This prayer must be repeated every day and at the same time think about the fact that you need to begin your salvation. This thought about salvation will be the beginning leading to salvation. After this, you need to begin to cleanse your soul from those sins that have surrounded it, just as all sorts of reptiles surround a stinking corpse. <…>In other words: you need to start fighting your bad habits, your vices, your passions. But this fight needs to start small.”
Introduction The Power of Prayer
Prayer is food for the soul,” this is how the fathers of the Christian Church instruct us. And just as our body cannot do without daily food and water, so our soul withers and perishes without a saving prayer word.
The history of Christianity knows many examples of how this spiritual food could become a substitute for material food - quite a number of holy saints of God refused water and food and exhausted themselves with strict fasting, but their body lived and thrived thanks to the grace-filled power of prayers.
Prayer is not only the spiritual nourishment of every believer, it is also a unique tool that helps to cope with any trouble. When turning to the Lord with a prayer request for help in a difficult life situation, in grief or illness, a person invariably receives the gracious help of the Heavenly Father.
Text of the prayer for the salvation of your soul
Search engines often contain queries about who to pray for recovery and buying a house, for children to study well and get a job, for a successful marriage and a good harvest... Orthodox prayer books contain a fair number of texts for every need. But still, the main prayer that the Lord himself gave to people is “Our Father.”
“Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
Moscow priest Alexy Uminsky writes:
“Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer to the apostles in response to a request to teach them how to pray. Why are there so many other prayers? If you look closely, they are all, to one degree or another, an adaptation of the Lord’s Prayer; each patristic prayer is its interpretation. In fact, we always offer one prayer to God, it is simply transformed into a prayer rule in relation to various circumstances of our lives.”
So, the first and fundamental Lord's prayer is “Our Father.” The second, called Jesus, is very short:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
Another contemporary of ours, Archpriest Andrei Ovchinnikov, says about her:
“This prayer can and should always be with us. The value of <…> is in its brevity; it can be done either orally, if conditions and surroundings allow, or mentally, by reading it within oneself. Lay people spend a lot of time in transport, on the road, in queues, on walks, and working around the house. You should not waste precious time in these activities, but it is better to do the necessary things and at the same time say the Jesus Prayer. The most important thing here is practice and diligence.”
Is illness a punishment for sins?
At all times, people have been interested in the causes of their illnesses, and over the centuries, many thinkers, doctors, and scientists have been looking for the answer to this question. The connection between the internal, spiritual health of a person and his physical condition was pointed out by philosophers from ancient times, the Christian Church spoke about sin as the cause of many diseases for two millennia, and modern medicine confirms this theory - a healthy body is impossible without the deep moral health of the human spirit.
Yes, indeed, very often a person brings illness upon himself by indulging in harmful passions. It is unlikely that anyone will doubt that disruption of the gastrointestinal tract and metabolic processes is a consequence of the sin of gluttony, and sexually transmitted diseases, which often lead to infertility, go hand in hand with the sin of adultery.
The sins of despondency and anger are a direct road to nervous disorders, which, in turn, will lead to malfunctions in the functioning of all vital organs and systems...
So, the conclusion that illness is a punishment for sins is undeniable. However, it is absurd in this case to complain about God, because man punishes himself. The Almighty only allows illness so that the sufferer can return from the wilds of sin to the true Path.
Over the millennia of the existence of medicine, humanity has been enriched with means to treat a huge number of diseases. But often the best medicines are powerless to overcome an illness, the cause of which lies deep in the sinful human soul. And the surest way to fight the disease is prayer.
It is not for nothing that in former times the first question that a wise doctor asked a patient who came to him was “How long ago did you take communion?” – truly it was the treatment of the patient, not the disease.
Turning our mind and soul with a holy word of prayer to the Almighty, the Most Pure Mother of God or the holy saints of God, we ask first of all to understand what exactly in our lives led to such a painful discord. Sometimes this understanding comes quite quickly, but sometimes it takes hours of fervent prayer before the true essence of a person’s soul is revealed.
The next step after realizing your sins is repentance for them - sincerely, with hope in the mercy of the all-forgiving Lord, and atonement - through prayer, fasting, and kindness to your neighbors...
Holy Baptism, confession, Holy Communion - all these means for preserving spiritual and physical health were given to man by the Lord, and the first step on this path to achieving true health is holy prayer.
How to correctly read a prayer for the salvation of your neighbor’s soul
The matter of personal salvation is unthinkable for a Christian without love for the people around him. It is not for nothing that at each Divine Liturgy the priest lists those whose names are given in the memorial notes.
In the modern daily morning prayer rule, which is offered to Orthodox laity, there are the words: “Save, Lord, and have mercy on Your servants...” with a further listing of names. In the complete pre-revolutionary edition, this part of the rule was much more extensive.
“Remember, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, Thy mercy and generosity from the present world, for whose sake thou art made man, and crucifixion and death, for the sake of the salvation of those who believe in Thee, thou hast deigned to endure; and rose from the dead, you ascended into heaven and sit at the right hand of God the Father, and listen to the humble prayers of those who call upon You with all their hearts: incline Your ear and hear the humble prayer of me, Your indecent servant, into the stench of the spiritual fragrance. Thy people bring you for all things. And in the first place, remember Your Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, which You have provided with Your venerable Blood, and establish, and strengthen, and expand, multiply, pacify, and preserve the insurmountable gates of hell forever; Calm the tearing of the Churches, quench the pagan vacillations, and quickly destroy and eradicate the heresies of rebellion, and convert them into nothingness by the power of Your Holy Spirit. (Bow)
Save, Lord, and have mercy on our God-protected country, its authorities and army, so that we may live a quiet and silent life in all piety and purity. (Bow)
Save, Lord, and have mercy on the Great Lord and Father of our Most Holy Patriarch (name), Your Eminence metropolitans, archbishops and Orthodox bishops, priests and deacons, and all the church ranks, who You have appointed to shepherd Your verbal flock, and with their prayers have mercy and save me sinful. (Bow)
Save, Lord, and have mercy on my spiritual father (his name), and with his holy prayers forgive my sins. (Bow)
Save, O Lord, and have mercy on my parents (their names), brothers and sisters, and my relatives according to the flesh, and all the neighbors of my family, and others, and grant them Your peaceful and most peaceful goodness. (Bow)
Save, Lord, and have mercy on the old and the young, the poor and the orphans and widows, and those who are in sickness and sorrow, troubles and sorrows, conditions and captivity, prisons and imprisonments. rather in persecution, for the sake of You and the Orthodox faith, from the tongues of the godless, from the apostates and from heretics, Thy living servants, and remember me, visit, strengthen, comfort, and soon by Thy power I will weaken, grant them freedom and deliverance. (Bow)
Save, Lord, and have mercy on those sent to the service, those traveling, our fathers and brethren, and all Orthodox Christians. (Bow)
Save, O Lord, and have mercy on them, because I tempted them with my madness, and turned them away from the path of salvation, and led me to evil and inappropriate deeds; By Your Divine Providence, return again to the path of salvation. (Bow) Save me. Lord, have mercy on those who hate and offend me, and those who create misfortune for me, and do not leave them to perish for me, a sinner. (Bow)
Having departed from the Orthodox faith and been blinded by destructive heresies, with the light of Your knowledge, the enlightenment and Your Holy Apostles come to the Catholic Church (Bow).”
Despite the fact that there are no special texts about salvation, every appeal to God of a loving heart is, in essence, aimed at this. An Orthodox Christian who cares about his neighbors can read akathists and canons at home, mentioning their names, at any time of the day.
No less importance is attached to caring for the dead. The Daily Rule ends with these words:
“Remember, Lord, the most holy patriarchs, eminence metropolitans, archbishops and Orthodox bishops who departed from this life, who served You in the priesthood and clergy, and in the monastic rank, and rest in Your eternal settlements with the saints. (Bow) Remember, Lord, the souls of Your departed servants, my parents (their names), and all relatives in the flesh; and forgive them all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, giving them the Kingdom and the communion of Thy eternal good things and Thy endless and blissful life of pleasure. (Bow) Remember, O Lord, and all those who have fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection and eternal life, our fathers and brothers and sisters, and those who lie here and everywhere, Orthodox Christians, and with Thy saints, where the light of Thy face shines, have mercy on us. , as Good and Lover of Humanity. Amen. (Bow)
Grant, Lord, remission of sins to all who have previously departed in the faith and hope of resurrection, our fathers, brothers and sisters, and create for them eternal memory. (Three times)"
Or briefly “Rest, O Lord, the souls of your departed servants...”.
Reading the Psalter
The reading of the Psalter brings particular benefit to the souls of our neighbors, living and dead. This is an ancient book, which is a collection of one hundred and fifty essays written mainly by King David. The texts are quite difficult to understand, so at first it is recommended to read them with a parallel translation into Russian.
The Psalter is divided into twenty sections - kathisma, each of which has three parts, separated from each other by a short doxology: “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” therefore in everyday life they are called “glories.” At the end of the first “glory” it is customary to remember the names of the living, at the end of the second “glory” - the names of the dead.
Prayer for a good life and good luck: who to pray to
The secret of any prayer lies in faith and energy. It doesn’t matter where a person will pray - at home or within the walls of the Church. The only thing that matters is how he says the prayer - with or without faith. Prayer can even be said in your own words - sincere words, an appeal to God and the saints.
A prayer for a good life and good luck will be effective if said from the heart. So, who to pray to if you need luck and want to live well:
To the Guardian Angel:
Prayer for a good life and good luck: who to pray to
Lord God:
Prayer for a good life and good luck
Matrona of Moscow:
Prayer for a good life and good luck to Matrona of Moscow
