In 2013, the Church solemnly celebrated the 750th anniversary of the holy blessing Prince Alexander Nevsky. There is no doubt that the Great Prince Alexander Nevsky is the most famous saint among a large number of famous warriors. and-new Holy Ru-si. Considering him as a saint arose immediately after his death and was preserved by the Russian people on -the whole history - right up to the latest times. The name of St. Alexander Nev-sko-go hundred si-no-mom you pat-ri-o-ti-che-s-s-service, reproached for striving to fulfill God's righteousness. It’s not surprising that in the Western is-to-rio-graphy the military movements of the princes are down to the chalk level - many border-conflicts, and according to him he is seen as “near-sighted.” The tendency of such assessments is obvious.
Alexander Nevsky was born near-by-tel-but in 1220 in Pe-re-ya-s-lav-le. His father, Prince Yaro-slav Vse-vo-lo-do-vich (in holy baptism Fe-o-dor), was at that time Pe-re-ya-s-lav-sky prince-zem. The prince's palace - built like most buildings in Russia at that time - stood not far from Spa -so-pre-ob-ra-w-w-w-so-bo-ra - the only one of the pre-extant white-ka- men-nyh temples of Se-ve-ro-Vostoch-noy Ru-si before-Mon-Gol-sk-go-ri-o-da (Prince Yuri Dol-go-ru lived there -ky, and built in 1157 by St. Andrei Bo-go-lyub-sky). In this co-re and baptism of Prince Aleksandr.
In his youth, Alexander, together with his older brother Fedor, was his father’s place in Novgorod, and after that, how his father received a great prince in Ki-e-ve, the prince lived in Nov-go-ro-de (in fact from 1236 to 1252) . In 1239, Alexander married the do-che-ri of Prince Brya-chi-sla-va.
The reign of Prince Aleksandr has fallen on an extremely difficult time: the enemies have come to Russia one day from different sides: from the sto-ka - ta-ta-ro-mon-go-ly, from the za-pa-da - la-ti-nanny. God-g-ty Nov-gorod drank from ta-tar, but you can’t drink from the Lithuanian state and the Swedes po-lu-chi-elk. The Swedes set off on a campaign against Novgorod in 1240; they were planning to establish a new fortress and cut off the city from Ka-re-lia, i.e., to deprive Nov-gorod of almost five that part of the ter-ri-to-rii that lies above him (later - Here's the five).
This is how the Tale of the life of Aleksandr Yaro-sla-vi-cha Nev-sko-go, on-pi-san-naya in Vladi-mir a few years after the death of the prince, in the 1280s: “The king of the country of Rome from the northern land... gathered great power , and filled many of the slaves with half of his own, moved with a huge army, puffing with the spirit of a warrior. And he came to the Neva, intoxicated with madness, and returned his words, proudly marveling, to Novgorod to Prince Alek -san-dru, saying: “If you can, defend yourself, for I am already here and ruining your land.”
Prayer of Alexander Nevsky in the Church of St.Sophia and the blessing of its archbishop
before the battle. Miniature of the Facial
Alexander, having heard such words, lost his heart, and entered the church of St. Sophia, and, falling on his knees, before al-ta-rem, he began to pray with his tears: “God is glorious, righteous, God is great, strong, - the Most Eternal One, who created the heavens and the earth and established the deeds of the people, you commanded to live, not stepping on other people's borders." And, remembering the words about-ro-ka, he said: “Su-di, Lord, offend me and protect me from the bo-ryu-shch- Be with me, take a weapon and a shield and stand up to help me.”
And, having finished his prayer, he stood up and bowed to the ar-hi-episco-pu. Ar-hi-bi-skop was then Spi-ri-don, he said his blessing and sent him away.”
Before the battle was decided, there was a certain miraculous foreknowledge, about which the News spread says this: “There was one husband, an old man on the land of Izhora, named Pe-lu-giy, he used to have a night- naya guard at the sea. He was baptized and lived among his clan, the pagans, whose name in holy baptism was Philip, and he lived -but, keeping fast on Wednesday and Friday, that’s why God vouchsafed him to see a miraculous vision on that day. Let's talk briefly.
St. Alexander wounds Birger in the faceat the Battle of Neva. Miniature of the Facial
Chronicle collection. Moscow, XVI century.
Having learned about the power of the enemy, he went out to meet Prince Alek-san-dru to tell him about the camps of the enemies. He stood on the seashore, watching both of them, and spent the whole night without sleep. When the sun began to rise, he heard a strong noise on the sea and saw one garden floating on the sea, and standing standing in the midst of the holy men Bo-ri-sa and Gle-ba in red clothes, holding their hands on their shoulders -wasting away at each other. The oarsmen sat there, as if dressed in darkness. Bo-ris said: “Brother Gleb, go ahead and let us be related to your prince Alek-san-dru.” Having seen such a vision and heard these words of mu-che-ni-kov, Pe-lu-giy stood, tr-pe-ten, until he hid the garden - out of his sight.
Soon after this, Alexander came, and Pe-lu-gy, gladly meeting Prince Alexander, told him one thing about vi-de-nii. The prince told him: “Don’t tell this to anyone.” And there was a fight with the Romans, and the prince beat them with countless numbers, and on the face of the The king left a trace of his sharp spear..."
The description of the battle on the Neva contains a number of striking episodes, which will later be printed in mini- a-tyu-rah, il-lu-stri-ru-yu-shih Li-tse-voy le-to-pis-ny vault - Oster-ma-novsky I (BAN) and Lap-tev-sky (RNB ) that was created in the second half of the 16th century.
Battle of the Neva. Gavrila Oleksicenters an enemy ship.
Miniature of the Front Chronicle
vault. Moscow, XVI century.
“A brave man from Aleksandr’s regiment named Gav-ri-lo Olek-sich... fell on the auger and, seeing the queen, was drawn hand in hand, rode up to the ship itself along the gangway along which he ran with the queen; Those who followed him seized Gav-ri-lu Olek-si-cha and threw him off the ramp along with his horse. But by God's mercy he came out of the water unharmed, and again attacked them, and fought with himself in the middle -di their troops."
The following episodes of the Battle of the Neva are presented on the mi-ni-a-ty-rah of the Li-tse-vo-go:
The prayer of Alexander Nevsky in the Church of St. Sophia and the blessing of his arch-bishop before the battle no;
Gav-ri-la Olek-sich enters the enemy ship;
Alexander ra-nit in the person of Bir-ger in the Battle of the Neva.
The rout of the Swedes on the Neva on July 15, 1240 became the first brilliant victory of Prince Alexander; from now on they stopped calling him
Nev-sky. According to the testimony of his life, it was just before this battle that the prince turned to the army with the words: “God is not in power, but in truth." Alexander managed to recapture the ancient Russian fortress of Ko-po-rye, liberated Pskov, and in 1242 defeated Chud-sko on the ice of the lake of the army of the Li-von-sko-go army:
“It was Saturday, and when the sun rose, they came together against each other. And right now there was a crackling sound from the flying spears and the ringing from the blows of swords, and it seemed that it was moving Well, the lake was frozen over, and there was no ice to be seen, for it was covered with blood.
And I heard this from an eye-witness, who told me that he saw the ministry of God in the air that came to with the help of Alec-san-dru. And so he defeated the enemies with the help of God, and they fled, while Alexander cut them down, driving them as if air, and there was nowhere for them to hide. Here God glorified Alexander in front of all the half, like Jesus Na-vi-na at Jeri-kho-na.”
Mi-ni-a-tyu-ra Li-tse-vo-go Le-to-pis-no-go svo-da, ill-lu-stri-ru-yu-sh-chaya battle on Lake Peipsi , which calls for the power of the Heavenly Host to Prince Aleksandr Nevsky.
Battle of Lake Peipsi. Heavenly Helparmies of St. Alexander Nevsky. Miniature
Facial Chronicle Code. Moscow, XVI century.
After the death of his father in 1247, Prince Alexander, together with his younger brother An-dre-em, went to Golden Or-du to ha -Well, Ba-tyu, and then - to Mon-go-lia, to the headquarters of the great khans of Kara-ko-rum. He returned home in 1249. His brother Andrei became the prince of Vladislav Mir, and Alexander, having received a yarlyk as prince of Kiev Well, I stayed in Novgorod.
Prince Alexander saw that it was impossible to cope with his own si-la-mi one-on-one with all the enemies, and showed loyalty in relation to the Golden Horde. The main one for whom he saw the defense of the Western Ru-be-zhey. His brother Andrey the prince lived in Vladimir and helped with the help of Za-pa-da in the fight against ta-ta-ra-mi, but pla- for this help she would receive a union. In 1251, two kar-di-na-la with pa-pa’s bull-loy In-no-ken-tiya came to Alek-san-dr Nev-sky in Nov-gorod IV. According to the story of the scribe, Alexander, in his papal embassy, lived throughout the history of Russia and in conclusion he said: “We know all the good things, but we don’t accept teachings from you.”
With the support of the ta-tar, Alexander Nevsky took possession of Vladimir, installed his own prince in Novgorod son-na Va-si-lia. Prince Andrei, a supporter of the union, fled to Sweden. After the flight of Andrei, the great princely power of the world passed to Aleksandr. In 1262, Alexander entered into a union treaty with the Lithuanian prince Min-dov against the Lithuanian ord-de- to and from the right-of-way to the Golden Or-da: in Vla-di-mir, Suz-da-le, Ro-sto-ve, Per-re-ya-s-lav- le, Yaro-slav-le and other cities would-be-re-bi-you ta-tar from-kup-schi-ki yes-ni, and sa-rai-sky Khan Ber -there is a demand for the news of military recruitment among the inhabitants of Ru-si, since there has been a threat for it Vla-de-ni-yam from a hundred Iranian pra-vi-te-lya.
Alexander Nevsky went to Or-da to try to get the khan out of this demand. Having been there for a whole year, the prince died on the way back. Before his death, he was shorn into a schema with the name Alexy. The body of the prince was rowed in 1263 in the Rozhdestvensky monastery of Vladimir. Mit-ro-po-lit Kirill told the people in Vla-di-mi-re about his death with the words: “Why, my dear, ra- zu-mey-te, as if behind the sun of the Russian land,” and everyone cried out with tears: “I’m already dead.”
The story of the life of Alexander Yaro-sla-vich Nevsky testifies about the nation's grief about the deceased prince " But the words of our knowledge of the is-to-ri-ka S. M. So-lo-vie-va: “Conservation of the Russian land -from troubles in the vo-sto-ke, who know how to move for faith and land in the za-pas-deux to-sta-vi-li Alek-san- another glorious memory in Russia and made him the most prominent historical figure in ancient history...”
Life tells about these sorrowful events like this:
“Alexander carried the holy body to the city of Vladimir. The mit-ro-po-lit, the princes and bo-yars and all the people, small and large, met him in Bo-go-lu-bo-ve with a candle -mi and ka-di-la-mi. People crowded around, trying to touch his holy body on the honest bed. There was a hundred screams, and a groan, and a cry, the likes of which had never happened before, and the earth shook. By the way, his body was in the Church of the Nativity of the Holy God... on the 24th day of November , in memory of the holy father Am-fi-lo-hia.
1960-1980
It was a wonderful and amazing thing back then. When was his holy body in the tomb, then when Se-va-styan-econom and Kirill-mit-ro-po- Do you want to open his hand in order to impart a spiritual gram. He, as if alive, extended his hand and took the letter from the hand of the mit-ro-po-li-ta. And the confusion engulfed them, and they barely set foot from his tomb. The mit-ro-po-lit and the eco-nom Se-va-styan informed everyone about this. Who is not surprised by that miracle, because his body was dead and he was being transported from distant lands in the winter. And so God glorified His pleasure.”
In 1380, the incorruptible relics of St. were recovered. Aleksandra Nevskogo. In 1491, a terrible fire broke out in Vladimir, not long before the city was seen above Rozhdestvensk. the girlish monastery of St. Alexander on horseback. During the hot weather, the power and pe-le-na, lying on the saint’s tomb, survived.
General-church pro-glorification in the ranks of the saints of the good-faithful Prince Alexander Nev-skogo with-a-hundred on So-bo-re 1547. To this event there was a service and a “Word of praise to Alek-san-dru.” The author of the “Words” wrote about the miracles from the relics of the Chu-de-sa, which were for-certifica- wa-ny mo-na-ha-mi Rozh-de-stven-sko-go-na-sta-rya.
About the name of Saint Alexander Nevsky as a protector and witness of the Russian land -there is a letter from the mit-ro-li-ta of Moscow and all Russia Ma-ka-ria to Tsar John the Groz-no-mu, to-pi- dignity before taking Ka-za-ni. The first-saint, the blessed-word-tsar of the battle, calls upon him to remember “the bravery of the great-ro-di-te-lei of his -their God ven-chan-no-go king Vla-di-mi-ra Mo-no-ma-ha and the brave prince Aleksandr Nevsky and others your kinsman, how-you won over your fellow-creators and glorified by God" (Ni -ko-new-letter-writing).
Illustrations of St. Prince Alexander Nevsky appeared in the 16th century. after his ka-no-za-tion. According to tradition, as he was received by the schema before his death, he was depicted in monastic clothes ( man-tiya, ku-kol).
One of the earliest icons depicting Alexander Nevsky in the mo-na-she-region - new city -skaya tablet-ka se-re-di-ny of the 16th century from the church of St. So-phia “The Most Reverend John, Av-ra-amiy of Ro-stov-sky and Alexander Nev-sky” (New-Gorod-Museum-for-ved-nik ). The saint is presented in a brown robe, a grey-ochre chi-tone, on the shoulders of the ku-kol schema, with a mouth Kie, slightly curled hair and a small kli-but-o-r-naya bo-ro-da touch-well-you-si-di-noy, in the left-howl hand-turned scroll with the text: “My brother, fear God and do good for Him.”
In the mo-na-she-region, the prince was also represented in the ros-pi-syakh of the Bla-go-ve-schen-sk-so-bo-ra Mos-kov- skogo Kremlin. This ico-no-graphy is ha-rak-ter-on and for the face-bloods on the tomb of the saint, created in the 17th century. There have been preserved several people's blood-boxes with the image of St. Aleksandra Nevskogo. The shelter, kept in the vestment of the Tro-i-tse-Ser-gi-e-howl laurels, and the production, in-vi-di- I think, from the village of Rozhdestvensky mo-na-sta-rya in Vladimir, it was completed in 1670-1680. in the Stro-ga-novsky workshops. On the blood of St. Alexander Nevsky is presented with his eyes closed, wearing a schema and a robe; in your hands - the unfolded charter with the text of your prayers; the short mouth and mustache are covered with that red silk that makes your face stand out against the backdrop of the silver and golden clothes, nim-ba and fo-na.
Pa-ral-lel-no “mo-na-she-sko-mu” iko-no-gra-fi-che-sko-mu from-vo-do St. Aleksandra Nevskogo was also a “princely”, who appeared already in the 16th century.
St. blgv. book Alexander Nevsky, Wonderworker. Icon of the late 16th century. from Trinity Cathedral
Ipatiev Monastery. KGOIAMZ
"Ipatiev Monastery". Kostroma.
The images of the holy and unholy princes of Ancient Russia were included in the composition of special ico-graphic programs of the palace -ex-temples, for example, Ar-khan-gel-skogo and Bla-go-ve-schen-sko-go-go-bo-rov of the Moscow Kremlin, and also No-vospas-sko-go-na-sta-rya - mustache-fingers of Ro-ma-new-vykh. If in the Bla-go-ve-shchen-sky so-bo-re Prince Alexander is depicted in the mo-na-she-sky region, then on the frescoes of Ar- Khan-gel-sko-go so-bo-ra in the layer of zhi-vo-pi-si of the 17th century. - according to the traditional prince's ico-no-graphy - in a cloak and hat.
As already indicated above, a whole series of mi-ni-a-tyur with vo-in-ski-mi on-be-da-mi Aleksandra Nev-sko-go co-der -lives in the Li-tse-voy Le-to-pis-nom svo-de.
In the 17th century How long should both lines of ico-no-graphy continue to develop? Towards the beginning of the hundredth anniversary of the living icon of St. Alex-sandra Nev-sko-go, kept in the vicinity of the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem with-bo-ra Po-kro-va-na -Ditch (Temple Va-si-lia Bla-zhen-no-go, State Historical Museum). This temple-image came from a certain existence on the territory of the Kremlin church in honor of the saint Aleksandra Nevskogo. In the middle of the picture, the prince-schema-nik, surrounded by 35 glue-ma-mi, tells us about his life and chu-de- sah.
Throughout the 17th century. to the Kremlin Church of St. Aleksandra Nevskogo's annual royal exits took place on the day of the saint's memory (later the church would -la dis-bra-na).
St. blgv. book Alexander Nevsky.Icon from the Ipatiev Trinity Cathedral
monastery Photo 1910
In the small middle there is a full-length frontal image of Alexander Nevsky in monastic attire, inscription: “The Holy, Blessed and Great Prince Alexander Nevsky, ordained to a foreign workshop, Alexy.”
Around the middle there are two rows of marks, of which 12, for the upper part, are sacred to the -yam of life is holy, the rest - on mortal miracles: first - about the “spiritual art”, then next -there are various personal miracles and researches at the tomb, in the end - “The Miracle of the Don River” (Alexander Nev- he will help the blessed Prince Dimitri Donsky in the Battle of Ku-likov) and “Miracle” in the battle on Mo-lo-dekh" (Alexander Nevsky, holy princes Bo-ris and Gleb, princes Andrey, Vse-vo-lod, Ge-orgy and Yaro-slav took part in the battle of the Russian army with the Crimean khan Devlet-Gi-re in 1572). In some adhesives above the coffin of Aleksandra Nevsky, on a high stand, placed on an analogue icon with there is a clear picture of the prince (in the schema), which, perhaps, re-creates specific re-a-a- lily of the Rozhdestven-sko-bo-ra, where the powers of the saint were.
St. Alexander Nevsky with his life. Icon from the beginning of the 17th century. Temple of the Intercession
on the moat (St. Basil's). Moscow.
In the Moscow region, he is represented on the icon “Tree of the Moscow State” (“In Praise of Bo -go-ma-te-ri Vla-di-mir-skoy"), on-pi-san-noy Si-mo-nom Usha-ko-vym in 1668 (Tretyakov Gallery). Its image is located on the right, at the base of the Tree of the State. Both branches, which are the two integral parts of the state - secular and spiritual power, pro-from they grow from the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin and border the miraculous image of God-ma-te-ri Vla-di-mir- Sky.
In life in the 17th century. there are many known examples of ico-no-graphy of the mo-na-she-sko-go va-ri-an-ta, as in the icon from the Church of the Assumption on Apukh- teen-ke in Moscow (Tretyakov Gallery).
In Vladimir, in connection with the special name of Alexander Nevsky as a local saint, there was -pi-sa-na icon-na “Christ the Almighty with the princes Alek-san-drom Nev-sky and Ge-or- gi-em Vla-di-mi-ro-vi-chem", XVII century. (Vla-di-mi-ro-Suz-dal-sky museum-za-ved-nik). The local ability to create a special building from the icons of the Holy Council -di-worldly princes.
St. Alexander Nevsky. Icon of the 17th century. from the Assumption Church
on Apukhtinka. Moscow, State Tretyakov Gallery.
Si-tu-a-tion with iko-no-gra-fi-ey Aleksandra Nev-skogo card-di-nal-ra-z-z-z-s-la-s-in 1724 g. after the transfer of his relics by decree of Peter I to St. Petersburg, to Alec-san-dro-Nev-sku-yu-lav-ru. In the same year, a decree was issued by St. Si-no-da (dated June 15, 1724) to write St. Alexander Nevsky not in Moscow -in her clothes, but in great-princely clothes. Our holy iconography has been used since then only in the old-time environment.
For the relics of the prince in the Alek-san-dro-Nevsky Lavra there was a tomb made of silver, made of es-ki-zu G.H. Gro-tha in 1750-1753. (now in the State Er-mi-ta-same). Ra-ku of the holy stole-sha-la icon, na-pi-san-naya by Ivan Adol-sky Jr. In the company of the holy relics in the days of his remembrance, there were ka-va-le-ry or-de-on St. Aleksandra Nevskogo. This order was conceived by Peter I for civil-de-military purposes, but it was established by Eka-te-ri-na I after his death Peter, and on civilians and military personnel alike.
In the 18th century according to the new va-ri-a-tions of the ico-no-graphies of St. Aleksandra Nevskogo. The prince is often depicted with a view of the Alec-san-dro-Nevsky Lavra - as in an icon of the 18th century. from the palace of Mont-plaisir to Pe-ter-go-fe. The sacred figure is in the right place, as is right, and the main space of the board is set aside for the iso -sconces of the building of the Lavra.
St. Alexander Nevsky. 18th century icon from Monplaisir Palace
in Peterhof. Timing belt
In the 18th century a series of pictures of Aleksandra Nevsky will also appear with a small life cycle consisting of four -reh brands. For example, on the icon “St. Alexander Nevsky with scenes from his life”, the second half of the 18th century, on-pi-san-noy in behold, Pav-lo-vo-on-Oka (NGKhM), present-le-ny syu-same-you, il-lu-stri-ru-yu-shchie battles on the Neva.
There are separate icons with the image of the prince against the backdrop of the Battle of the Neva (GMIR).
In the 19th century there is an in-the-re-example of the co-che-ta-niya of Bo-go-ma-te-ri Bo-go-lyub-skaya with an image of a co-le-no- pre-klonen-no-go Aleksandra, although tra-di-tsi-on-but Bo-go-ma-ter Bo-go-lyub-skaya pretended to be married to the prince An-dre-em. In the 19th century living icons of St. were created. Aleksandra Nevskogo with a small number of stories. In the icons-nah-mi-not-yah But-in-the-time St. Alexander is depicted in princely robes.
Most icons of the 18th-19th centuries. depicts St. Aleksandra Nevskogo exactly as it was established by the Holy Si-no-house - in military armor and royal mantle , decorated with mountains, sometimes on horseback.
St. Alexander Nevsky in schema. Nun Juliania (M.N. Sokolova).
Pill icon. Sergiev Posad.
1960-1980
In the 20th century, St. Alexander Nevsky was depicted as in the traditions of “the great prince” "because of-yes, and in the form of schema-ni-ka - in accordance with the re-co-men-da-tsi-ey Iko-no-pis-no-go under-lin-ni-ka of the 18th century: “in the schema, ri-zy pre-po-do-no-che-skiya, ku-der-tsy see ma-len-ko is under the schema-we , the body itself is clean, ri-za-ba-gor, from-under the game, in the r-tse svi-tok is clamped" (Stro-ga-novsky iko-no-pis-ny sub-lin -nickname, BAN).
Mo-na-hi-ney Iuli-a-ni-ey (M.N. So-ko-lo-voy) in the mid-1970s. was on-pi-sa-na as an educational aid for students of the Moscow School of Science -khov-noy se-mi-na-rii iko-na-tab-let-ka of St. Alexander Nev-skogo, presenting as a great-co- princely, and schema-ni-che-sky from-y.
The wide distribution of icons of St. Alexander Nevsky is connected with the significant role that I play Russia in the world in the 19th century. In particular, those who were defeated in the Russian-Turkish conflicts, liberated by God at work puppies tour-ka-mi na-ro-dov sp-sob-stvo-va-li in-chi-ta-nuyu St. Aleksandra Nevskogo in Europe. Collections in honor of Alexander Nevsky were carried out in Paris (1859-1861), Sophia (1883-1912), Varsha- ve (1894-1900), Belgrade (1894-1912) and Tallinn (1895-1900).
St. Alexander Nevsky in his life. 19th century icon Private collection
The special honor of Saint Alexander Nevsky is connected with the protection of the Ro-di-na in the years of the Great Father. honorable war of 1941-1945. At the call of the Bla-zhen-she-mit-ro-of Moscow Sergius, the believers were with us -supply of funds for the creation of an air force named after Aleksandr Nevsko. On one of the is-tre-bi-te-leys, the Hero of the Soviet-Soviet So-yu fought on board the “Alexander Nevsky” -for Alexander Dmit-ri-e-vich Bi-lyukin; over the years of war he completed 430 successful combat missions, in 36 air battles he personally shot down 23 and in groups 1 sa-mo-let pro-tiv-ni-ka.
There are many temples in Russia dedicated to the blessed and blessed Prince Alek-san-dru Nevsky. So, in the Moscow diocese, among the Russian saints, most of the churches are dedicated to him. Numerous icons of saints are found in military units and on military ships of the armed forces -th forces of Russia. There is no doubt that on the basis of well-known ico-graphic plots there will appear new, evidence -telling about the prayer of the chi-ta-nii and the blessing of the holy, pro-from-she- those once-known words: “God is not in power, but in truth.”
Bishop of Ba-la-shi-khinsky Ni-ko-lay
Is-accurate-ni-ki and whether-te-ra-tu-ra
An-to-no-va V.I., Mne-va N.E. Ka-ta-log of ancient Russian life of the 11th - early 18th centuries. (State Tre-tya-kovskaya Ga-le-Rea). T. 1-2. M., 1963.
Be-gu-nov Yu. K. Life of Alexander Nevsky in the camp of life in the 17th century. TODRL. T. 22. M.-L., 1966.
Ancient Russian princely lives. M., 2001.
Icons of Vla-di-mi-ra and Suz-da-la. State-owned Vla-di-mi-ro-Suz-dal-skiy-i-sto-ri-ko-ar-hi-tech-tur-ny and artistic-mu- zey-for-ved-nick. M., 2006.
Iuli-a-niya (So-ko-lo-va), mo-na-hi-nya. The work of an ico-no-scribe. Holy Trinity Ser-gi-e-va lav-ra, 1995.
Kv-li-vid-ze N. V. Alexander Yaro-sla-vich Nev-sky. Iconography. The right-to-glorious en-cyclo-pedia. T. 1. M., 2000.
Prince Alexander Nevsky and his era. St. Petersburg, 1995.
Ko-mash-ko N.I., Sa-en-ko-va E.M. Russian living icons. M., 2007.
Museum named after Andrei Rublev. From new steps. M., 1995.
Na-za-ren-ko A. V. Alexander Yaro-sla-vich Nev-sky. The right-to-glorious en-cyclo-pedia. T. 1. M., 2000.
Okhot-ni-ko-va V.I. The story of the life of Alexander Nevsky. SKKDR. Vol. 1. L, 1889.
Pan-chen-ko O. V. From the arch-heo-graphic research in the field of so-lovets-coy books. “Ka-non to all the saints, like those in Great Russia, who pro-si-appeared in the post.” So-chi-ne-nie Ser-giya She-lo-ni-na. TODRL. T. 56. St. Petersburg, 2004.
Under-both-do-va O.I. Mi-ni-a-ty-ry of Russian is-to-ri-che-ru-ko-pi-sey. To the history of the Russian language. M., 1965.
A complete meeting of Russian le-to-pi-seys. T. 12-13. Le-to-pis-ny collection, named Pat-ri-ar-shey or Niko-nov-sky le-to-pi-sue. M., 2000.
Smir-no-va E.S., La-u-ri-na V.K., Gor-di-en-ko E. A. Painting of Ve-li-ko-go Nov-go-ro -yes, XV century. M., 1982.
So-ko-lov M.I. Re-written books of Ko-stroma-Ipa-tiev-sko-go-mon-on-sta-rya 1595. M., 1890.
Date of publication or update 12/15/2017
Gallery of icons.
Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky was born on May 30, 1219 in the city of Pereslavl Suzdal and lived in the world for forty-four years and five and a half months. His paternal grandfather was the famous Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest, or the Great, and his father was Yaroslav-Theodore, one of the eight sons whom Ossetian Maria gave birth to Vsevolod. He inherited Pereslavl of Suzdal from his father. There, in 1214, a bride was brought to him from Veliky Novgorod - the daughter of Mstislav the Udalous Theodosius-Rostislav. She became Alexander's mother.
Icon of the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky. Feodorovsky Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Bobrenev Monastery.
The Life of Alexander Nevsky was written in the 13th century, some time after his death. The author praises his father, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, as a meek man, “merciful and manly.” In his youth, however, he was not always meek and merciful and sometimes showed immoderate cruelty in the struggle for power with his relatives and with the Novgorodians. After an unsuccessful battle with his relatives on Lipitsa in 1216, his father-in-law and one of his opponents, Mstislav Udaloy, took his daughter from him.
Memorable places associated with the name of Alexander Nevsky.
Holy Blessed Grand Duke was buried in Vladimir in the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery, and later, by order of Emperor Peter I, his relics were transferred to St. Petersburg.
Monument Alexander Nevsky installed in Vladimir near the St. Nicholas Kremlin Church, not far from the walls of the Mother of God Nativity Monastery.
Also a monument Alexander Nevsky installed in
Pereslavl-Zalessky in front of the Transfiguration Cathedral.
Monument Alexander Nevsky in Pereslavl.
Holy Blessed Prince born in
Pereslavl-Zalessky in the princely chambers next to the Transfiguration Cathedral. On the Cathedral Square of Pereslavl-Zalessky there is the Church of Alexander Nevsky.
The Alexander Monastery in Suzdal, standing on the high bank of the Kamenka, according to legend, was founded in 1240. Alexander Nevsky.
Novgorodians more than once forced Yaroslav to leave their city. In 1218, during another disagreement with them, Yaroslav was forced to leave “with all the will of Novgorod” his two sons. One of them was nine-year-old Alexander, the other his older brother Theodore. One night that same year, the princely brothers, seizing the moment, fled from Novgorod to their father in Pereslavl.
The image of the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky.
Two years later, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was again invited to reign in Veliky Novgorod, but he spent only two weeks there and went back, again leaving his sons Theodore and Alexander there. In 1233, Theodore was supposed to get married, but during the preparations for the wedding he unexpectedly died. Alexander was left alone in Novgorod. Just on the eve of Batu’s invasion, in 1236, going with the Novgorodians to reign in Kiev, recently devastated by civil strife with the participation of the Polovtsians, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich elevated “his son Alexander the Brave” to the Novgorod princely table.
Icon of St. book Alexander Nevsky with a particle of holy relics. Church of the Great Martyr Catherine on Vspolye in Moscow.
The author of the Life of Alexander, a “witness of his growth” (a contemporary and close associate), says that the prince was taller than other people, that his voice sounded like a trumpet among the people, his face was beautiful, like the biblical Joseph, his strength was part of the strength of Samson, God gave him the wisdom of Solomon, and in courage he was like the Roman Caesar Vespasian - winning, he was invincible.
In 1238, during Batu’s invasion of Rus', Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich died, and the Grand Duke’s throne in Vladimir was taken by his brother Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Alexander’s father. Going to Novgorod, the Tatars besieged Torzhok, there was no help from Novgorod, and the city was taken. As is known, the Tatars did not reach Veliky Novgorod itself a hundred miles and turned south. So the young Novgorod prince, like his father, did not participate in attempts to resist them. Like his father, when he reigned in Novgorod, Alexander Yaroslavich as a politician initially turned his main attention to the west. They also looked at him from there. Master of the Livonian Order Andrei Velven - Andreyash, according to the Life - specially came to Novgorod to meet Alexander - “as in ancient times the Queen of Yuzhskaya came to Solomon, wanting to listen to his wise speech.” Returning to his people, he said: “I have passed through many countries and peoples, but I have not seen such a thing either in the kings of the king or in the princes of the prince.”
Mother of God Nativity Monastery in Vladimir Taking advantage of the defeat of Rus' by the Tatars and the inability of the Grand Duke to provide assistance to the Novgorodians and Pskovians, the Swedes and Lithuanians at that time intensified their attack on the border Russian lands, hoping to subjugate them to their power without much effort. The Roman popes approved and sanctified the fight against “schismatics” (“schismatics”), as Catholics called the Orthodox, hoping that the force of arms would bring them, along with the pagans, into submission to the Roman Church. In 1240, when the conquest of Rus' by the Tatars was still underway, a Swedish army, accompanied by Catholic bishops, invaded the Novgorod lands.
Icon of St. blgv. Prince Alexander Nevsky, St. Nicholas Church in Kolomna.
Image from the “Renaissance” page of the book “Temple of St. Nicholas Gostiny in Kolomna.”
Prince Alexander Yaroslavich in 1239 married Alexandra Bryachislavovna, the daughter of the Polotsk prince, who also experienced pressure from the west. The wedding took place in Toropets, wedding feasts in Torzhok and Novgorod. Immediately after the end of the celebrations, Prince Alexander and the Novgorodians began building border fortifications and cut down a city on the Sheloni River. But the Swedish attack almost took him by surprise.
Ark with the relics of the holy noble princes Alexander Nevsky and Daniil of Moscow. From the page of the Shrine of the Monastery of the book Serpukhov Most Pure Mother of God Vysotsky Monastery.
The Swedish army was commanded by Birger, a brave knight and commander, a relative of the Swedish king Eric. In addition to the Swedes, the army included Norwegians and Finns. Having entered the Neva on ships, to the mouth of the Izhora, Birger sent envoys to Novgorod to Alexander with the words: “If you can, resist me, otherwise I’m already here, capturing your land.” According to the Novgorod chronicle, Birger intended to “take over” Ladoga, Novgorod and the entire Novgorod region.
The author of the Life writes that when Alexander heard the words of the ambassadors, his heart flared up, and he, entering the Church of Hagia Sophia, fell on his knees in front of the altar and began to pray with tears in the words of the psalm: “Judge, O Lord, those who offend me, overcome those who fight me.” . Take your weapon and shield and rise to my aid.” Having finished the prayer, he stood up and bowed to the archbishop. Archbishop Spiridon of Novgorod blessed him and released him. And the prince left the church, wiped away his tears and began to inspire his squad, saying: “God is not in power, but in truth. Let us remember the Psalmist and his words: “They are on chariots and they are on horses; We will call on the name of the Lord our God. They were tied up and fell, but we rose and straightened up.”
Icon of St. Alexander Nevsky, written in memory of the rescue of Alexander III from the assassination attempt of revolutionary terrorists. Kaluga St. Tikhon's hermitage.
Having said this, he went against the enemies with a small squad, without waiting to gather much of his strength, trusting in the Holy Trinity. Unfortunately, his father, Grand Duke Yaroslav, did not know about this attack on his dear son Alexander, and he did not have time to send news to his father, for the opponents were approaching; That’s why many Novgorodians did not join him, because the prince was in a hurry to set out on a campaign. The chronicle says that as soon as the news came to Novgorod that “theirs” were coming to Ladoga, Prince Alexander, without hesitating at all, went against them with the Novgorodians and Ladoga residents. On July 15, 1240, the prince reached the enemy camp.
Icon of St. Alexander Nevsky.
Upper shopping arcades (GUM building) in Moscow.
According to the Life, the Russian prince was helped in this battle by his holy “relatives”, relatives, princes, brothers Boris and Gleb. They were seen by a lookout shortly before the battle. “The sentinel was a certain named Pelguy, or Pelgusy, an elder in the Izhora land. He was entrusted with night guard by the sea, near the Gulf of Finland. He himself received holy baptism, but lived among his clan, which remained pagan. At baptism he was given the name Philip.
Mosaic icon of the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky. Danilov Monastery in Moscow.
He lived piously, spending Wednesday and Friday in abstinence.” For this, the author of the Life believes, God honored him with an amazing vision that day. Having spent the night in vigil and watch on the seashore, at sunrise he heard a noise from the sea with fear and saw a rowing boat floating, in the middle of which stood the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb in red robes, holding their hands on their chests. The rowers sat as if shrouded in darkness. The watchman heard Boris say: “Brother Gleb, let us row so that we can help our relative Prince Alexander.” Pelgusius stood, trembling, until the ship disappeared from his sight. Soon the prince arrived, and the watchman told him about his vision. The prince replied: “Don’t tell this to anyone.” After a short time, the prince led his squad into battle.
In this battle, six brave men showed themselves in Alexander’s regiment, fighting with him courageously and steadfastly. One of them, named Gavrila Aleksich, rode on horseback onto the ladder and reached the ship, but the enemies ran into the ship in front of him, and then, turning around, threw him off the board along with his horse into the water. By God's grace, he got out of the Neva unharmed, and again attacked the Swedes, and fought with the governor himself in the middle of their regiment.
Another, Novgorodian Zbyslav Yakunovich, repeatedly rushed into battle, fighting with one ax, without fear in his heart, and Prince Alexander Yaroslavich marveled at his strength and courage. The third, Yakov Polochanin, was a hunter for the prince; Having met the enemy regiment with a sword, he fought courageously, praising God, and the prince praised him. The fourth was a Novgorodian named Misha, who on foot with his retinue attacked the Roman ships and sank three ships. The fifth, a young man named Savva, attacked a tall golden-domed tent and cut down a pillar near the tent. Seeing that the tent had fallen, Alexander's regiments rejoiced. The sixth is one of the prince's servants named Ratmir; he fought on foot, and was surrounded by many enemies; Having received many wounds, he fell and died. The author of the Life himself heard all this from his master, Prince Alexander, and from other people who were in that battle at that time.
They also told him about an amazing miracle that happened then, similar to what happened under King Hezekiah, when the Assyrian king Sennacherim attacked the Holy City: then suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand people from the Assyrian regiment; and, getting up the next morning, they discovered their corpses. The same thing happened during the battle of Alexander, when he defeated the king: on the other side of the Izhora River, where Alexander’s soldiers had no access, there were many people beaten by the angel of God.
The remnants of the enemies fled, and the corpses of their dead were thrown into ships and drowned in the sea. Novgorodians and Ladoga residents, the chronicler writes, twenty people died, and countless enemies. They loaded only the most noble into two ships, and threw the rest into a dug hole, and, taking advantage of the darkness, retreated in shame during the night from Sunday to Monday. And Prince Alexander returned to Novgorod in victory, praising and glorifying his Creator. For this battle he received the nickname Nevsky.
That same summer, the Germans moved to Pskov lands and cities, defeated the Pskov people, took possession of Pskov and installed their governors there, and then began to plunder Novgorod villages. However, they did not receive an immediate rebuff, for Alexander Nevsky, having quarreled for some reason with the Novgorodians, left their city “to the bottom” - to the Suzdal land, to his father. The Novgorodians, who came to their senses, sent Vladyka Spiridon for him to Pereslavl, and he barely persuaded Grand Duke Yaroslav to return Alexander to them.
This was all the more timely because the year after the Battle of the Neva, the Germans entered the Novgorod possessions, imposed tribute, built their fortress in Koporye on the shores of the Gulf of Finland and robbed Russian merchants already three dozen miles from Novgorod. The returning Alexander went with the Novgorod army on a new campaign and crushed the new German fortress, and of its inhabitants he hanged some, took others into captivity, pardoned others and released others, for - the author of the Life notes - “he was merciful beyond measure.”
A year later, in the winter of 1242, Alexander Yaroslavich set out with a large army to liberate Pskov. “And soon he took the city of Pskov and killed the Germans there, tied up others, and liberated the city from the godless Germans, and fought and burned their land and took countless prisoners, and chopped some,” says the Life of Alexander. And the Livonian chronicler reports that seventy courageous knights laid down their heads there and some officials were hanged by the victor.
In Livonia, where Alexander went after Pskov, one of his detachments was attacked by the Germans and was defeated. The Germans gathered their strength and prepared for a decisive battle. “Let's go and defeat Alexander and take him with our hands,” they said. Alexander retreated, choosing a place, and stood on Lake Peipus, still covered with ice.
The approaching Germans were noticed by sentries, and Prince Alexander prepared his army for battle. “Alexander’s father, Prince Yaroslav, sent his younger brother Andrei to him with a large squad; and Prince Alexander himself had many brave men, like King David in ancient times, strong and strong. These men of Alexandrov were filled with the military spirit, for their hearts were like the hearts of lions, and they said: “Oh, our valiant prince! Now the time has come for us to lay down our heads for you!” And Prince Alexander, raising his hands to the sky, said: “Judge me, O God, and judge my quarrel with the venerable people. And help me, Lord, as in ancient times Moses against Amalek and our great-grandfather Yaroslav against the accursed Svyatopolk!”
The warriors walked across the ice towards each other, and Lake Peipus was covered with many warriors, both of them. It was the morning of Saturday, April 5, and the sun was rising when the regiments converged and the evil battle began: “Spears cracked, the sounds of sword blows were heard, and the frozen lake seemed to move, and the ice was no longer visible, for it was covered with blood.” An eyewitness told the author of the Life that he saw an angelic regiment of God in the air, coming to the aid of Alexander. And Prince Alexander Nevsky began to defeat his opponents, and they offered him their shoulders, and the prince’s warriors flogged them, catching up with them as if through the air, and there was no place to escape from them.”
Here God glorified Alexander before all the regiments, like Joshua at Jericho. And the one who said: “Let us take Alexander with our hands,” God gave him into his hands, and he never had the chance to turn out to be his opponent in battle. And Alexander returned from the battle with a glorious victory, and his soldiers led, beside their horses, many barefooted who call themselves God’s knights.” The chronicle reports that four hundred Germans were killed, and fifty were taken prisoner, and that in the same year they sent an embassy to Alexander with a bow: “What we captured with the sword, we retreat from.”
“When the victorious prince approached the city of Pskov, he was met in front of the city by abbots, priests and all the people with crosses, giving praise to God in song and glory to his master, Prince Alexander: “You, Lord, helped meek David and our faithful prince to defeat foreigners with weapons Godfather freed the city of Pskov from foreigners by the hand of Alexandra.”
The prince made a speech here: “O foolish Pskovites! If you forget this before the generation of Alexander’s great-grandchildren, then you will become like the Jews, whom the Lord fed in the desert with manna and baked quails, and they forgot all this and their God, who brought them out of Egypt, where they were slaves.” And from that time on, his name began to become famous throughout all countries - to the Sea of Egypt, and to the mountains of Ararat, and on the other side of the Varangian Sea, and to the great Rome,” says the Life.
Alexander inevitably had to make a decision also in relation to the Horde. “At that time there was a strong king in the Eastern country, to whom God subjugated many nations from east to west.” This was the Khan of the Golden Horde, Batu, the conqueror of Rus'. “That king, having heard that Alexander was so glorious and brave, sent ambassadors to him with the following words: “Alexander, do you know that God has conquered many nations to me? And you alone do not want to submit to me? If you want to preserve your land, then come to me quickly and you will see what the honor of my kingdom is.”
Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Alexander's father, was the first Russian Grand Duke to reign with the permission of the Tatars. In 1243, he first went to Batu in the Horde, and in 1246 he died “in Tatarakh”, returning poisoned from Central Asia from the Great Khan. His brother Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, Alexander’s uncle, began to reign in Vladimir. Refusal to recognize the supremacy of the eastern “king” would have made Alexander an enemy of the most powerful Mongol-Tatar empire, which, of course, he would not have had the strength to resist, fighting both in the west and in the east.
And besides, this refusal would mean for Alexander a break with his family, with the totality of people of Russian princely blood, belonging to which gave the right to power in Rus'. He could then lose his moral right to power in the eyes of the population of Novgorod itself. Connection with the clan required submission to the Tatars. And yet, when Alexander Nevsky “with great power” went from Novgorod to Vladimir after the death of his father, the Tatars and the princes submissive to them were not clear about how he would behave towards them. “And his arrival was menacing,” reports the Life, “and the news of this rushed to the very mouth of the Volga, and Muslim wives began to frighten their children with him, saying: “Alexander is coming!”
Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich apparently made the final choice only in Vladimir, after consultation with Bishop Kirill. The Life says that Alexander treated priests and monks with love, and he honored and listened to the metropolitan and bishops as Christ himself. Both the prince and the bishop understood that under Tatar rule the country suffered, but Orthodoxy was preserved, but under German, Swedish or Hungarian rule the country suffered and Orthodoxy was eradicated.
It is not difficult to imagine that the bishop should have advised the prince to meekly go to the Horde. “Prince Alexander thought, and Bishop Kirill blessed him, and he went to the king in the Horde. And when King Batu saw him, he was surprised and said to his nobles: “You told me the truth, that there is no one like this prince.” And, having given him due honors, he released him.” From the chronicle it is known that in addition to Alexander, Batu had his brother Andrei, and that Batu sent both of these important Russian guests to his superiors, “to the Kanoviches,” in Karakorum.
Alexander's visit to the Horde meant that the Novgorod land became a border vassal of the Tatar-Mongol empire. As a commander with successful experience in fighting Western Europeans, Alexander was granted power both in southern Rus' and in Kyiv - along the western border of the lands conquered by the Tatars. Andrei Yaroslavich, by the grace of the Tatars, became the Grand Duke of Vladimir, that is, he received the right to expel his uncle Svyatoslav from Vladimir.
Soon after returning to Rus', Alexander Yaroslavich was supposed to read the message of Pope Innocent IV, written on February 10, 1248 in Lyon. The message was brought by “two of the wisest” of the twelve papal cardinals, as stated in the Life, Gald and Gemont. The Pope offered to listen to their teaching about the law of God. In addition, Innocent informed Alexander that his father Yaroslav, while with the Great Khan, made a promise to John de Plano Carpini to join the Latin Church and, undoubtedly, would have fulfilled it if his sudden death had not prevented him. The son is obliged, he wrote, to follow the example of his father; and if he does this, then both he and the Russian people will find peace and glory under the shadow of the Western Church. As a faithful guardian of Christians, Alexander must immediately notify the knights of the Livonian Order about the approach of the Mongols to the borders of Europe.
In conclusion, the pope praised Alexander for not recognizing the power of the khan over himself. “Prince Alexander,” says the Life, “having thought with his sages, wrote to him in response: “From Adam to the flood, from the flood to the division of nations, from the confusion of languages to the birth of Abraham, from Abraham to the passage of Israel through the Black Sea, from the the sons of Israel until the death of King David, from the beginning of the kingdom of Solomon until Augustus and until the birth of Christ, from the birth of Christ until His passion and resurrection, from His resurrection and ascension into heaven until the accession of Constantine, from the beginning of the kingdom of Constantine until the first council and until the seventh - We know all this well, but we don’t accept teachings from you.”
However, Alexander did not fully accept the Mongols’ view of Catholics as enemies who had yet to be conquered and began to think about improving relations, at least with the neighboring part of the Western world. He sent an embassy to the Norwegian king Haakon with a proposal for a peace treaty and dynastic union, asking that Princess Christina be given in marriage to his son Basil. The king agreed to both and sent his ambassadors to Novgorod. Peace was concluded, but they did not have time to celebrate the wedding, because relations with the Horde required urgent trips there by Alexander and, possibly, a revision of his Western policy.
In 1252, Grand Duke Andrei Yaroslavich lost favor with the Tatars, Nevryuy’s punitive expedition defeated his squad near Pereslavl, and he fled to Sweden. The Vladimir-Suzdal lands were “conquered” by the Tatars. Alexander Nevsky in the Horde managed to prove his loyalty to Sartak, the son of Batu, and received the great reign abandoned by his brother. Leaving his son Vasily to reign in Novgorod, he sat down on the Vladimir table and began to restore what had been destroyed - he erected destroyed churches, restored cities, gathered the frightened population, and began ransoming prisoners. “And God rewarded Alexander’s land with wealth and glory, and extended his years.”
In 1255, the Novgorodians invited their younger brother Alexander Yaroslavich to reign, and Prince Vasily Alexandrovich was expelled, while unrest broke out in the city, and Alexander went on a campaign to Novgorod, trying to restore order there, but achieved little. And the next year, knowing about the absence of a prince in Novgorod, the Swedes, Finns and Livonian knights invaded the Novgorod lands and began to build a city on the Narova River. The alarmed Novgorodians sent for help to Grand Duke Alexander in Vladimir.
Having learned about this, the Swedes abandoned the city unfinished and went overseas. Alexander nevertheless arrived in Novgorod - with his squad and with Metropolitan Kirill. Having replenished his army with Novgorodians, he led it without telling them where. The Metropolitan walked with them. It was winter. When they reached Koporye, the Metropolitan and part of the Novgorodians returned, but the rest, led by Alexander, went across the ice of the Gulf of Finland to Finland. They walked day and night, many died in this difficult campaign, “and the Novgorodians,” the Novgorod chronicler wrote, “God preserved.” Having entered Finnish soil, the Russians killed some, took them prisoner and took them to Novgorod. Then leaving Novgorod for Vladimir, the Grand Duke restored his son to the reign, and took Novgorod ambassadors and hostages with him.
The Tatars at this time decided to carry out a census of the Russian population in order to impose tribute on them. At the same time, for the first time, a network of Horde military administration was established throughout the country - foremen, centurions, thousanders, temniki (“ten-thousanders”). Only the church clergy and monasticism were exempt from tribute. First, a census was carried out in the Vladimir-Suzdal land. When news came to Novgorod from there, “from Rus',” that soon the same thing would happen to them, unrest began there again. Indeed, soon, the following winter, Tatar ambassadors arrived in Novgorod. Alexander Nevsky came with them. The Novgorodians refused to pay taxes to the Tatars; their prince Vasily Alexandrovich, apparently frightened, fled to Pskov. The Novgorodians, however, conveyed gifts to the khan through ambassadors and released them in peace. Alexander Yaroslavich summoned his son from Pskov and sent him to the land of Suzdal, and severely punished his advisers, cutting off the nose of some, tearing out the eyes of others.
The Novgorodians were deceived, frightened that there were regiments in the Nizovsky land, ready to ruin their city if they did not allow themselves to be counted and imposed tribute. This was in 1259. They gave up. The Tatars arrived in the city, and extortions and unrest began. Fearing that they would be killed, the Tatars asked Alexander for guards. The Grand Duke ordered the mayor's son and all the boyar children to guard them at night. In the end, the city, making some noise, surrendered, and the Tatars began to boldly ride through the streets, “seeing the houses of the peasants,” and left, “taking the number.” Prince Alexander left the city after them, seating his other son, Dimitri, on the table.
In 1261, Alexander Nevsky had a son, Daniel, from whom a branch of Moscow princes descended. In the same year, through the efforts of Metropolitan Kirill and Prince Alexander, an Orthodox Russian bishopric was established in the capital of the Golden Horde on the lower Volga and in Sarai.
The task of collecting taxes for the Tatars in Rus' was taken up by “besermen”, Muslims who were experienced in handling money, as well as Russian apostates. At the same time, they did a lot of evil and offended the religious feelings of people. In 1262, an uprising broke out against them throughout the Vladimir-Suzdal land, some of them were expelled from the cities, some were killed. Alexander decided to go to the khan in the Horde to “pray” the people from trouble. Before leaving, he sent his brother Yaroslav and son Dimitri with the Novgorod and his regiments “to the western countries”, to Yuryev Nemetsky, perhaps to please the Tatars: in any case, it was clear that he was not going to defend his lands from a possible punitive expedition.
Alexander arrived to Khan Berke in the city of Sarai and was detained there by the khan. Khan at this time waged wars in the southern borders. Khan wanted the Russians to help him. “Then a great burden came from the foreigners: they drove Christians to war, ordering them to fight with them. The great prince Alexander went to the king to pray for people from this misfortune. He succeeded in this too, living in the Horde. But I started getting sick there.”
Meanwhile, the city of Yuryev was taken by Dimitri Alexandrovich from the first attack, the Russian princes and troops returned to their land “with many troops and with great honor.” And Prince Alexander, returning along the Volga, reached Nizhny Novgorod, spent a little time there, then reached Gorodets, already very sick, “very ill.” Weakening, on November 14, 1263, he took monastic vows, then accepted a greater monastic rank - the schema - and died the same night.
“Metropolitan Kirill said then: “My children, know: the sun has set on the land of Suzdal!” Priests, deacons, monks and other people, poor and rich, said: “We are already perishing!” The prince's holy body was carried to the city of Vladimir. The Metropolitan, princes, boyars and all the people, young and old, met him in Bogolyubovo with candles and censers. The people crowded in, trying to touch the bed on which his revered body lay. There was screaming and shouting, everyone was struggling like never before, so that the earth shook. And his body was laid in the monastery of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God, in the great archimandrite, on November 23, on the day of memory of the holy father Amphilochius.
Then an amazing and memorable miracle happened, the author of the Life of Alexander Nevsky concludes his story. “When his holy body was already placed in the shrine, then the housekeeper Sebastian and Metropolitan Kirill wanted to open his hand in order to put a spiritual letter into it. And he, as if alive, extended his hand and took the letter from the metropolitan’s hand. And they were seized with horror, and they barely managed to retreat from his shrine. Everyone heard about this from Mr. Metropolitan Kirill and from his housekeeper Sevastian. Who would not marvel at this, for the body was soulless and was transported from a distant city in winter. So God glorified his saint.” And the Novgorod chronicler accompanied the message about the death of Alexander Nevsky with his following prayer: “Give him, merciful Lord, to see Your face in the next century, for he worked for Novgorod and for the entire Russian land.”
About Prince Alexander Nevsky on the pages of the book
The composition of “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” dates back to the 80s. XIII century and are associated with the names of Dmitry Alexandrovich, son of Alexander Nevsky, and Metropolitan Kirill, with the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vladimir, where the prince’s body was buried. Here in the 13th century. The veneration of the prince as a saint begins and the first edition of his life appears.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
I, thin and sinful, narrow-minded, dare to describe the life of the holy Prince Alexander, son of Yaroslav, grandson of Vsevolodov. Since I heard from my fathers and myself witnessed his mature age, I was glad to tell about his holy, honest, and glorious life. But as the Tributary said: “Wisdom will not enter an evil soul: for it dwells in elevated places, stands in the middle of roads, and stops at the gates of noble people.” Although I am simple in mind, I will still begin, with the prayer of the Holy Mother of God and the help of Holy Prince Alexander.
This prince Alexander was born from a merciful and philanthropic father, and most of all a meek one, the great prince Yaroslav and from his mother Theodosia. As Isaiah the prophet said: “Thus says the Lord: “I appoint princes; for they are sacred, and I lead them.” And truly, it was not without God’s command that his reign took place.
And he was handsome like no other, and his voice was like a trumpet among the people, his face was like the face of Joseph, whom the Egyptian king made the second king in Egypt, and his strength was part of the strength of Samson, and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon, His courage is like that of the Roman king Vespasian, who conquered the entire land of Judea. One day he prepared to besiege the city of Joatapata, and the townspeople came out and defeated his army. And only Vespasian remained, and turned those who opposed him to the city, to the city gates, and laughed at his squad, and reproached them, saying: “They left me alone.” Likewise, Prince Alexander won, but was invincible.
That is why one of the eminent men of the Western country, from those who call themselves servants of God, came, wanting to see the maturity of his strength, just as in ancient times the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon, wanting to listen to his wise speeches. So this one, named Andreas, having seen Prince Alexander, returned to his people and said: “I went through countries and peoples and did not see such a king among kings, nor a prince among princes.”
Hearing about such valor of Prince Alexander, the king of the Roman country from the Midnight Land thought to himself: “I will go and conquer the land of Alexander.” And he gathered great strength, and filled many ships with his regiments, and moved with great strength, puffing with the military spirit. And he came to the Neva, intoxicated with madness, and sent his ambassadors, proud, to Novgorod to Prince Alexander, saying: “If you can, defend yourself, for I am already here and ruining your land.”
Alexander, having heard such words, burned in his heart and entered the Church of Hagia Sophia, and, falling on his knees before the altar, began to pray with tears: “Glorious God, righteous, great God, mighty, eternal God, who created heaven and earth and set the boundaries You commanded the peoples to live without transgressing other people’s borders.” And, remembering the words of the prophet, he said: “Judge, Lord, those who offend me and protect them from those who fight me, take a weapon and a shield and stand up to help me.”
And, having finished the prayer, he stood up and bowed to the archbishop. The archbishop was then Spyridon, he blessed him and released him. The prince, leaving the church, wiped away his tears and said to encourage his squad: “God is not in power, but in truth. Let us remember the Songmaker, who said: “Some with weapons, and others on horses, but we call on the name of the Lord our God; They were defeated and fell, but we survived and are standing upright.” Having said this, he went against the enemies with a small squad, not waiting for his large army, but trusting in the Holy Trinity.
It was sad to hear that his father, the great prince Yaroslav, did not know about the invasion of his son, dear Alexander, and he had no time to send news to his father, for the enemies were already approaching. Therefore, many Novgorodians did not have time to join, as the prince hurried to speak. And he came out against the enemy on Sunday, July fifteenth, having great faith in the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb.
And there was one man, the elder of the Izhora land, named Pelugiy, who was entrusted with night watch at sea. He was baptized and lived among his people, who were pagans, and his name was given in holy baptism Philip, and he lived godly, observing fasting on Wednesday and Friday, which is why God deigned him to see a wonderful vision that day. Let's tell you briefly.
Having learned about the strength of the enemy, he went out to meet Prince Alexander to tell him about their camps. He stood on the seashore, watching both routes, and spent the whole night without sleep. When the sun began to rise, he heard a strong noise on the sea and saw one boat floating on the sea, and standing in the middle of the boat were the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb in red robes, holding their hands on each other’s shoulders. The rowers sat as if covered in darkness. Boris said: “Brother Gleb, tell us to row, and let us help our relative Prince Alexander.” Seeing such a vision and hearing these words of the martyrs, Pelugius stood, terrified, until the attack disappeared from his eyes.
Soon after this, Alexander came, and Pelugius, joyfully meeting Prince Alexander, told him alone about the vision. The prince told him: “Don’t tell this to anyone.”
After that, Alexander hastened to attack the enemies at six o'clock in the afternoon, and there was a great slaughter with the Romans, and the prince killed countless numbers of them, and on the face of the king himself he left the mark of his sharp spear.
Six brave men, like him, from Alexander’s regiment showed themselves here.
The first one is named Gavrilo Oleksic. He attacked the auger and, seeing the prince being dragged by the arms, rode all the way to the ship along the gangplank along which he and the prince were running; those pursued by him grabbed Gavrila Oleksich and threw him off the gangplank along with his horse. But by God's mercy he emerged from the water unharmed, and again attacked them, and fought with the commander himself in the midst of their army.
The second one is named Sbyslav Yakunovich, a Novgorodian. This one attacked their army many times and fought with one ax, having no fear in his soul; and many fell by his hand, and they marveled at his strength and courage.
The third - Yakov, a native of Polotsk, was a hunter for the prince. This one attacked the regiment with a sword, and the prince praised him.
The fourth is a Novgorodian named Mesha. This man on foot and his retinue attacked the ships and sank three ships.
The fifth is from the younger squad, named Sava. This one burst into the large royal golden-domed tent and cut down the tent pole. The Alexandrov regiments, seeing the fall of the tent, rejoiced.
The sixth is from Alexander's servants, named Ratmir. This one fought on foot, and many enemies surrounded him. He fell from many wounds and died that way.
I heard all this from my master, Grand Duke Alexander, and from those who participated in this battle at that time.
There was a wondrous miracle at that time, as in the days of old under Hezekiah the king. When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came to Jerusalem, wanting to conquer the holy city of Jerusalem, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army, and when morning came, only dead corpses were found. This was the case after Alexandrov’s victory: when he defeated the king, on the opposite side of the Izhora River, where Alexandrov’s regiments could not pass, a countless number of those killed by the angel of the Lord were found here. Those who remained fled, and the corpses of their dead soldiers were thrown into ships and sank them into the sea. Prince Alexander returned in victory, praising and glorifying the name of his Creator.
In the second year after Prince Alexander returned with victory, they again came from the Western Country and built a city on the land of Alexandrova. Prince Alexander soon went and destroyed their city to the ground, and hanged them, some, took others with him, and, having pardoned others, released them, for he was immeasurably merciful.
After Alexandrova’s victory, when he defeated the king, in the third year, in winter, he went with great strength to German land, so that they would not boast, saying: “Let us subdue the Slovenian people.”
And they had already taken the city of Pskov and imprisoned the German governors. He soon expelled them from Pskov and killed the Germans, and tied up others and liberated the city from the godless Germans, and ravaged and burned their land and took countless prisoners, and killed others. The proud Germans gathered and said: “Let's go and defeat Alexander and capture him.”
When the Germans approached, the guards found out about them. Prince Alexander prepared for battle, and they went against each other, and Lake Peipus was covered with many of these and other warriors. Alexander's father Yaroslav sent his younger brother Andrei with a large retinue to help him. And Prince Alexander also had many brave warriors, like King David in ancient times, strong and strong. So Alexander’s men were filled with the spirit of war, because their hearts were like the hearts of lions, and they exclaimed: “O our glorious prince! Now the time has come for us to lay down our heads for you.” Prince Alexander raised his hands to the sky and said: “Judge me, God, judge my quarrel with the unrighteous people and help me, Lord, as in ancient times he helped Moses overcome Amalek and our great-grandfather Yaroslav the accursed Svyatopolk.”
It was then Saturday, and when the sun rose, the opponents met. And there was a cruel slaughter, and there was a crash from breaking spears and a ringing from the blows of swords, and it seemed that a frozen lake was moving, and no ice was visible, for it was covered with blood.
And I heard this from an eyewitness who told me that he saw the army of God in the air, coming to the aid of Alexander. And so he defeated the enemies with the help of God, and they fled, but Alexander cut them down, driving them as if through the air, and they had nowhere to hide. Here God glorified Alexander before all the regiments, like Joshua at Jericho. And the one who said: “Let’s capture Alexander,” God gave into Alexander’s hands. And there has never been an opponent worthy of him in battle. And Prince Alexander returned with a glorious victory, and there were many captives in his army, and they led barefoot next to the horses of those who call themselves “God’s knights.”
And when the prince approached the city of Pskov, the abbots, and priests, and all the people met him in front of the city with crosses, giving praise to God and glorifying the lord Prince Alexander, singing the song: “You, Lord, helped the meek David to defeat the foreigners and our faithful prince with the arms of the godfather, liberate the city of Pskov from foreigners by the hand of Alexandra.”
And Alexander said: “O ignorant Pskovites! If you forget this before the great-grandsons of Alexander, then you will become like the Jews, whom the Lord fed in the desert with manna from heaven and baked quails, but they forgot all this and their God, who delivered them from captivity in Egypt.”
And his name became famous in all countries, from the Khonuzh Sea and to the Ararat Mountains, and on the other side of the Varangian Sea and to the great Rome.
At the same time, the Lithuanian people gained strength and began to plunder the Alexandrov possessions. He went out and beat them. One day he happened to ride out against his enemies, and he defeated seven regiments in one ride and killed many of their princes, and took others prisoner, while his servants, mocking, tied them to the tails of their horses. And from that time on they began to fear his name.
At the same time, there was a strong king in the Eastern country, to whom God subjugated many nations, from the east to the west. That king, having heard about such glory and courage of Alexander, sent ambassadors to him and said: “Alexander, do you know that God has conquered many nations to me? So, are you the only one who doesn’t want to submit to me? But if you want to save your land, then come to me quickly and you will see the glory of my kingdom.”
After the death of his father, Prince Alexander came to Vladimir in great strength. And his arrival was menacing, and news of him rushed to the mouth of the Volga. And the Moabite wives began to frighten their children, saying: “Alexander is coming!”
Prince Alexander decided to go to the Tsar in the Horde, and Bishop Kirill blessed him. And King Batu saw him and was amazed, and said to his nobles: “They told me the truth, that there is no prince like him.” Having honored him with dignity, he released Alexander.
After this, Tsar Batu became angry with his younger brother Andrei and sent his governor Nevryuy to destroy the land of Suzdal. After the devastation of the land of Suzdal by Nevruy, the great Prince Alexander erected churches, rebuilt cities, and gathered the dispersed people into their homes. Isaiah the prophet said about such people: “A good prince in countries is quiet, friendly, meek, humble - and in this way he is like God.” Without being seduced by wealth, without forgetting the blood of the righteous, he judges orphans and widows with justice, is merciful, kind to his household and hospitable to those who come from foreign countries. God helps such people, for God does not love angels, but in His generosity He generously gifts people and shows His mercy in the world.
God filled the land of Alexander with wealth and glory and God extended his years.
One day, ambassadors from the Pope from great Rome came to him with these words: “Our Pope says this: “We heard that you are a worthy and glorious prince and your land is great. That’s why they sent to you the two smartest of the twelve cardinals - Agaldad and Repair, so that you could listen to their speeches about the law of God.”
Prince Alexander, having thought with his sages, wrote him the following answer: “From Adam to the flood, from the flood to the division of nations, from the confusion of nations to the beginning of Abraham, from Abraham to the passage of the Israelites through the sea, from the exodus of the children of Israel to the death of King David , from the beginning of the reign of Solomon to Augustus and to the Nativity of Christ, from the Nativity of Christ to His Crucifixion and Resurrection, from His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and to the reign of Konstantinov, from the beginning of the reign of Konstantinov to the first Council and the seventh - we know all this well , but we will not accept teachings from you.” They returned home.
And the days of his life multiplied in great glory, for he loved priests, and monks, and beggars, and he revered and listened to metropolitans and bishops as to Christ himself.
In those days there was great violence from non-believers; they persecuted Christians, forcing them to fight on their side. The great prince Alexander went to the king to pray his people out of this misfortune.
And he sent his son Dmitry to the Western countries, and sent all his regiments with him, and his close household members, saying to them: “Serve my son, as you serve me, with all your life.” And Prince Dmitry went in great strength, and conquered the German land, and took the city of Yuryev, and returned to Novgorod with many prisoners and with great booty.
His father, Grand Duke Alexander, returned from the Horde from the Tsar, and reached Nizhny Novgorod, and fell ill there, and, arriving in Gorodets, fell ill. Oh woe to you, poor man! How can you describe the death of your master! How will your eyes not fall out along with your tears! How can your heart not be torn out by the roots! For a man can leave his father, but he cannot leave a good master; If it were possible, I would go to the grave with him!
Having worked hard for God, he left the earthly kingdom and became a monk, for he had an immeasurable desire to take on the angelic image. God vouchsafed him and O The highest rank to accept is schema. And so in peace he gave up his spirit to God in the month of November on the fourteenth day, in memory of the holy Apostle Philip.
Metropolitan Kirill said: “My children, know that the sun of the land of Suzdal has already set!” Priests and deacons, monks, poor and rich, and all the people exclaimed: “We are already perishing!”
The holy body of Alexander was carried to the city of Vladimir. The Metropolitan, the princes and boyars and all the people, small and large, met him in Bogolyubovo with candles and censers. People crowded, trying to touch his holy body on his honest bed. There was a cry, a groan, and a cry like never before, even the earth shook. His body was laid in the Church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God, in the great archimandrite, on the 24th day of November, in memory of the holy father Amphilochius.
There was a miracle then, wonderful and worthy of memory. When his holy body was laid in the tomb, then Sebastian the Economist and Cyril the Metropolitan wanted to unclench his hand in order to insert a spiritual letter. He, as if alive, stretched out his hand and took the letter from the hand of the metropolitan. And confusion seized them, and they retreated slightly from his tomb. Metropolitan and Housekeeper Sevastian announced this to everyone. Who wouldn’t be surprised by that miracle, because his soul left his body and he was brought from distant lands in winter!
And so God glorified His saint.
Read an excerpt from hagiographic literature.
“... This prince Alexander was born from a merciful and philanthropic father, and most of all - meek, the great prince Yaroslav and from his mother Theodosia... And he was handsome like no one else, and his voice was like a trumpet among the people, his face was like the face of Joseph , whom the Egyptian king installed as the second king in Egypt, his strength was part of the strength of Samson, and God gave him the wisdom of Solomon, and his courage was like that of the Roman king Vespasian, who conquered the entire land of Judea... Hearing about such valor of Prince Alexander, the king the country of Rome from the northern land thought to himself: “I will go and conquer the land of Alexander.” And he gathered a great force, and filled many ships with his regiments, and moved with a huge army, puffing up the military spirit. And he came to the Neva, intoxicated with madness, and sent his ambassadors, proud, to Novgorod to Prince Alexander, saying: “If you can, defend yourself, for I am already here and ruining your land.” Alexander, having heard such words, burned in his heart, and entered the church of St. Sophia, and, falling on his knees before the altar, began to pray with tears: “Glorious God, righteous, great God, strong, righteous God, who created heaven and earth and established borders for the nations, you commanded to live without transgressing the borders of others." And, remembering the words of the prophet, he said: “Judge, Lord, those who offend me and protect them from those who fight me, take a weapon and a shield and stand up to help me.” And, having finished the prayer, he stood up and bowed to the archbishop. The archbishop was then Spyridon, he blessed him and released him. The prince, leaving the church, dried his tears and began to encourage his squad, saying: “God is not in power, but in truth. Let us remember the Songmaker, who said: “Some with weapons, and others on horses, we will call on the name of the Lord our God; they, defeated, fell, but we resisted and stand upright.” Having said this, he went against the enemies with a small squad, not waiting for his large army, but trusting in the Holy Trinity. ... After that, Alexander hastened to attack the enemies at six o'clock in the afternoon, and there was a great slaughter with the Romans, and the prince killed countless numbers of them, and on the face of the king himself he left the mark of his sharp spear. Six brave men, like him, from Alexander’s regiment showed themselves here. The first one is named Gavrilo Oleksic. He attacked the auger and, seeing the prince being dragged by the arms, rode all the way to the ship along the gangplank along which he and the prince were running; those pursued by him grabbed Gavrila Oleksich and threw him off the gangplank along with his horse. But by God's mercy he emerged from the water unharmed, and again attacked them, and fought with the commander himself in the midst of their army. The second, named Sbyslav Yakunovich, is from Novgorod. This one attacked their army many times and fought with one ax, having no fear in his soul; and many fell by his hand, and they marveled at his strength and courage. The third - Yakov, a native of Polotsk, was a hunter for the prince. This one attacked the regiment with a sword, and the prince praised him. The fourth is a Novgorodian named Mesha. This man on foot and his retinue attacked the ships and sank three ships. The fifth is from the younger squad, named Sava. This one burst into the large royal golden-domed tent and cut down the tent pole. The Alexandrov regiments, seeing the fall of the tent, rejoiced... In the second year after Prince Alexander returned with victory, they again came from the Western country and built a city on the land of Alexandrov. Prince Alexander soon went and destroyed their city to the ground, and hanged them, some, took others with him, and, having pardoned others, released them, for he was immeasurably merciful. After Alexandrova’s victory, when he defeated the king, in the third year, in winter, he went with great strength to German land, so that they would not boast, saying: “Let us subdue the Slavic people.” And they had already taken the city of Pskov and imprisoned the German governors. He soon expelled them from Pskov and killed the Germans, and tied up others and liberated the city from the godless Germans, and fought and burned their land and took countless prisoners, and killed others. The Germans, being daring, united and said: “Let’s go and defeat Alexander and capture him.” When the Germans approached, the guards found out about them. Prince Alexander prepared for battle, and they went against each other, and Lake Peipus was covered with many of these and other warriors. Alexander's father, Yaroslav, sent his younger brother Andrei with a large squad to help him. And Prince Alexander had many brave warriors, like King David in ancient times, strong and steadfast. So Alexander’s men were filled with the spirit of war, because their hearts were like the hearts of lions, and they exclaimed: “O our glorious prince! Now the time has come for us to lay down our heads for you.” Prince Alexander raised his hands to the sky and said: “Judge me, God, judge my quarrel with the unrighteous people and help me, Lord, as in ancient times he helped Moses defeat Amalek and our great-grandfather Yaroslav the accursed Svyatopolk.” It was then Saturday, and when the sun rose, the opponents met. And there was a cruel slaughter, and there was a crash from breaking spears and a ringing from the blows of swords, and it seemed that a frozen lake was moving, and no ice was visible, for it was covered with blood...”
Using the text, select three correct judgments from the list given. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated in your answer.
1) the events described in the text of the life took place in the 12th century.
2) the city that the German knights built on the captured “Alexandrova land” was called Koporye
3) for services to Novgorod, the boyars proclaimed Prince Alexander Yaroslavich the Prince of Novgorod “for all times”
4) in the battle on the Neva River, the army of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich fought with the army of the Danes
5) one of the military deeds of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich described in the life was the victory over the Germans on the ice of Lake Peipsi
6) a squad from the Vladimir-Suzdal principality took part in the battle against the German knights
Explanation.
1) the events described in the text of the life took place in the 12th century. - NO, incorrect, the events date back to the 13th century.
2) the city that the German knights built on the captured “Alexandrova land” was called Koporye - YES, that’s right, the German knights built the Koporye fortress.
3) for services to Novgorod, the boyars proclaimed Prince Alexander Yaroslavich the Prince of Novgorod “for all time” - NO, incorrect, after the victory over the Swedes, Prince Alexander Nevsky left Novgorod after quarreling with the Novgorodians.
4) in the battle on the Neva River, the army of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich fought with the army of the Danes - NO, incorrect, on the Neva River in 1240, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich defeated the Swedes.
5) one of the military deeds of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich described in the life was the victory over the Germans on the ice of Lake Peipsi - YES, that’s right, in 1242 Russian troops under the leadership of Alexander Nevsky defeated the German knights on the ice of Lake Peipsi.
6) a squad from the Vladimir-Suzdal principality took part in the battle against the German knights - YES, that’s right.
All about prayer: what is prayer? How to properly pray for another person at home and in church? We will try to answer these and other questions in the article!
Prayers for every day
1. PRAYER-MEETING
Prayer is a meeting with the Living God. Christianity gives a person direct access to God, who hears a person, helps him, loves him. This is the fundamental difference between Christianity, for example, and Buddhism, where during meditation the person praying deals with a certain impersonal super-being into which he is immersed and in which he dissolves, but he does not feel God as a living Person. In Christian prayer, a person feels the presence of the Living God.
In Christianity, God who became Man is revealed to us. When we stand in front of the icon of Jesus Christ, we contemplate God Incarnate. We know that God cannot be imagined, described, depicted in an icon or painting. But it is possible to depict God who became Man, the way He appeared to people. Through Jesus Christ as Man we discover God. This revelation occurs in prayer addressed to Christ.
Through prayer we learn that God is involved in everything that happens in our lives. Therefore, conversation with God should not be the background of our life, but its main content. There are many barriers between man and God that can only be overcome through prayer.
People often ask: why do we need to pray, ask God for something, if God already knows what we need? To this I would answer this way. We do not pray to ask God for something. Yes, in some cases we ask Him for specific help in certain everyday circumstances. But this should not be the main content of prayer.
God cannot be just an “auxiliary means” in our earthly affairs. The main content of prayer should always remain the very presence of God, the very meeting with Him. You need to pray in order to be with God, to come into contact with God, to feel the presence of God.
However, meeting God in prayer does not always happen. After all, even when meeting a person, we are not always able to overcome the barriers that separate us, to descend into the depths; often our communication with people is limited only to the superficial level. So it is in prayer. Sometimes we feel that between us and God there is like a blank wall, that God does not hear us. But we must understand that this barrier was not set by God: We We ourselves build it with our sins. According to one Western medieval theologian, God is always near us, but we are far from Him, God always hears us, but we do not hear Him, God is always inside us, but we are outside, God is at home in us, but we are in Him strangers.
Let us remember this when we prepare for prayer. Let us remember that every time we rise to pray, we come into contact with the Living God.
2. PRAYER-DIALOGUE
Prayer is a dialogue. It includes not only our appeal to God, but also the response of God Himself. As in any dialogue, in prayer it is important not only to speak out, to speak out, but also to hear the answer. God’s answer does not always come directly in the moments of prayer; sometimes it happens a little later. It happens, for example, that we ask God for immediate help, but it comes only after a few hours or days. But we understand that this happened precisely because we asked God for help in prayer.
Through prayer we can learn a lot about God. When praying, it is very important to be prepared for the fact that God will reveal himself to us, but He may turn out to be different than we imagined Him to be. We often make the mistake of approaching God with our own ideas about Him, and these ideas obscure from us the real image of the Living God, which God Himself can reveal to us. Often people create some kind of idol in their minds and pray to this idol. This dead, artificially created idol becomes an obstacle, a barrier between the Living God and us humans. “Create a false image of God for yourself and try to pray to him. Create for yourself the image of God, an unmerciful and cruel Judge - and try to pray to him with trust, with love,” notes Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. So, we must be prepared for the fact that God will reveal himself to us differently than we imagine Him to be. Therefore, when starting to pray, we need to renounce all the images that our imagination, human fantasy creates.
God's answer may come in different ways, but prayer is never unanswered. If we do not hear an answer, it means that something is wrong in ourselves, it means that we have not yet sufficiently tuned in to the way that is necessary to meet God.
There is a device called a tuning fork, which is used by piano tuners; This device produces a clear “A” sound. And the strings of the piano must be tensioned so that the sound they produce is in exact accordance with the sound of the tuning fork. As long as the A string is not properly tensioned, no matter how much you strike the keys, the tuning fork will remain silent. But at the moment when the string reaches the required degree of tension, the tuning fork, this lifeless metal object, suddenly begins to sound. Having tuned one “A” string, the master then tunes “A” in other octaves (in a piano, each key strikes several strings, this creates a special volume of sound). Then he tunes “B”, “C”, etc., one octave after another, until finally the entire instrument is tuned in accordance with the tuning fork.
This should happen with us in prayer. We must tune in to God, tune in to Him throughout our lives, all the strings of our soul. When we tune our lives to God, learn to fulfill His commandments, when the Gospel becomes our moral and spiritual law and we begin to live in accordance with God’s commandments, then we will begin to feel how our soul responds in prayer to the presence of God, like a tuning fork that responds to a precisely tensioned string.
3. WHEN SHOULD YOU PRAY?
When and for how long should you pray? The Apostle Paul says: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Saint Gregory the Theologian writes: “You need to remember God more often than you breathe.” Ideally, the entire life of a Christian should be permeated with prayer.
Many troubles, sorrows and misfortunes occur precisely because people forget about God. After all, there are believers among criminals, but at the moment of committing a crime they do not think about God. It is difficult to imagine a person who would commit murder or theft with the thought of an all-seeing God, from whom no evil can be hidden. And every sin is committed by a person precisely when he does not remember God.
Most people are unable to pray throughout the day, so we need to find some time, no matter how short, to remember God.
In the morning you wake up thinking about what you have to do that day. Before you start working and plunge into the inevitable hustle and bustle, devote at least a few minutes to God. Stand before God and say: “Lord, you gave me this day, help me spend it without sin, without vice, save me from all evil and misfortune.” And call on God’s blessing for the beginning of the day.
Throughout the day, try to remember God more often. If you feel bad, turn to Him with a prayer: “Lord, I feel bad, help me.” If you feel good, tell God: “Lord, glory to You, I thank You for this joy.” If you are worried about someone, tell God: “Lord, I am worried about him, I hurt for him, help him.” And so throughout the day - no matter what happens to you, turn it into prayer.
When the day comes to an end and you are getting ready for bed, remember the past day, thank God for all the good things that happened, and repent for all the unworthy acts and sins that you committed that day. Ask God for help and blessings for the coming night. If you learn to pray like this every day, you will soon notice how much more fulfilling your whole life will be.
Often people justify their reluctance to pray by saying that they are too busy and overloaded with things to do. Yes, many of us live in a rhythm that ancient people did not live in. Sometimes we have to do many things during the day. But there are always some pauses in life. For example, we stand at a stop and wait for a tram - three to five minutes. We go to the subway - twenty to thirty minutes, dial a phone number and hear busy beeps - a few more minutes. Let us at least use these pauses for prayer, let them not be wasted time.
4. SHORT PRAYERS
People often ask: how should one pray, in what words, in what language? Some even say: “I don’t pray because I don’t know how, I don’t know prayers.” No special skill is needed to pray. You can simply talk to God. At divine services in the Orthodox Church we use a special language - Church Slavonic. But in personal prayer, when we are alone with God, there is no need for any special language. We can pray to God in the language in which we speak with people, in which we think.
The prayer should be very simple. The Monk Isaac the Syrian said: “Let the whole fabric of your prayer be a little complicated. One word from a tax collector saved him, and one word from a thief on the cross made him heir to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Let us remember the parable of the publican and the Pharisee: “Two men entered the temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, and the other was a publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed to himself like this: “God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this tax collector; I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of everything I acquire.” The publican, standing in the distance, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven; but, hitting himself on the chest, he said: “God! be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:10-13). And this short prayer saved him. Let us also remember the thief who was crucified with Jesus and who said to Him: “Remember me, Lord, when you come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). This alone was enough for him to enter heaven.
The prayer can be extremely short. If you are just beginning your prayer journey, start with very short prayers - ones that you can focus on. God doesn't need words - He needs a person's heart. Words are secondary, but the feeling and mood with which we approach God is of primary importance. Approaching God without a sense of reverence or with absent-mindedness, when during prayer our mind wanders to the side, is much more dangerous than saying the wrong word in prayer. Scattered prayer has neither meaning nor value. A simple law applies here: if the words of prayer do not reach our hearts, they will not reach God either. As they sometimes say, such a prayer will not rise higher than the ceiling of the room in which we pray, but it must reach heaven. Therefore, it is very important that every word of prayer is deeply experienced by us. If we are not able to concentrate on the long prayers that are contained in the books of the Orthodox Church - prayer books, we will try our hand at short prayers: “Lord, have mercy,” “Lord, save,” “Lord, help me,” “God, be merciful to me.” , sinner.”
One ascetic said that if we could, with all the strength of feeling, with all our hearts, with all our soul, say just one prayer, “Lord, have mercy,” this would be enough for salvation. But the problem is that, as a rule, we cannot say it with all our hearts, we cannot say it with our whole lives. Therefore, in order to be heard by God, we are verbose.
Let us remember that God thirsts for our heart, not our words. And if we turn to Him with all our hearts, we will certainly receive an answer.
5. PRAYER AND LIFE
Prayer is associated not only with the joys and gains that occur thanks to it, but also with painstaking daily work. Sometimes prayer brings great joy, refreshes a person, gives him new strength and new opportunities. But it very often happens that a person is not in the mood for prayer, he does not want to pray. So, prayer should not depend on our mood. Prayer is work. The Monk Silouan of Athos said, “Praying is shedding blood.” As in any work, it takes effort on the part of a person, sometimes enormous, so that even in those moments when you don’t feel like praying, you can force yourself to do so. And such a feat will pay off a hundredfold.
But why do we sometimes not feel like praying? I think the main reason here is that our life does not correspond to prayer, is not tuned to it. As a child, when I studied at a music school, I had an excellent violin teacher: his lessons were sometimes very interesting, and sometimes very difficult, and this did not depend on his mood, but on how good or bad I prepared for the lesson. If I studied a lot, learned a piece and came to class fully armed, then the lesson went in one breath, and the teacher was pleased, and so was I. If I was lazy all week and came unprepared, then the teacher was upset, and I was sick of the fact that the lesson was not going as I would like.
It's the same with prayer. If our life is not a preparation for prayer, then it can be very difficult for us to pray. Prayer is an indicator of our spiritual life, a kind of litmus test. We must structure our lives in such a way that they correspond to prayer. When, saying the prayer “Our Father,” we say: “Lord, Thy will be done,” this means that we must always be ready to do the will of God, even if this will contradicts our human will. When we say to God: “And forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors,” we thereby undertake the obligation to forgive people, to forgive them their debts, because if we do not forgive debts to our debtors, then, the logic of this prayer, and God will not leave us our debts.
So, one must correspond to the other: life - prayer and prayer - life. Without this conformity we will have no success either in life or in prayer.
Let us not be embarrassed if we find it difficult to pray. This means that God sets new tasks for us, and we must solve them both in prayer and in life. If we learn to live according to the Gospel, then we will learn to pray according to the Gospel. Then our life will become complete, spiritual, truly Christian.
6. ORTHODOX PRAYER book
You can pray in different ways, for example, in your own words. Such prayer should constantly accompany a person. Morning and evening, day and night, a person can turn to God with the simplest words coming from the depths of the heart.
But there are also prayer books that were compiled by saints in ancient times; they need to be read in order to learn prayer. These prayers are contained in the “Orthodox Prayer Book”. There you will find church prayers for morning, evening, repentance, thanksgiving, you will find various canons, akathists and much more. Having bought the “Orthodox Prayer Book”, do not be alarmed that there are so many prayers in it. You don't have to All read them.
If you read the morning prayers quickly, it will take about twenty minutes. But if you read them thoughtfully, carefully, responding with your heart to every word, then reading can take a whole hour. Therefore, if you do not have time, do not try to read all the morning prayers, it is better to read one or two, but so that every word of them reaches your heart.
Before the section “Morning Prayers” it says: “Before you begin to pray, wait a little until your feelings subside, and then say with attention and reverence: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". Wait a little longer and only then start praying.” This pause, the “minute of silence” before the start of church prayer, is very important. Prayer must grow from the silence of our heart. People who “read” their morning and evening prayers every day are constantly tempted to read the “rule” as soon as possible in order to begin their daily activities. Often, such reading eludes the main thing - the content of the prayer. .
The prayer book contains many petitions addressed to God, which are repeated several times. For example, you may come across a recommendation to read “Lord, have mercy” twelve or forty times. Some perceive this as some kind of formality and read this prayer at high speed. By the way, in Greek “Lord, have mercy” sounds like “Kyrie, eleison.” In the Russian language there is a verb “playing tricks”, which came precisely from the fact that the psalm-readers on the choir very quickly repeated many times: “Kyrie, eleison”, that is, they did not pray, but “played tricks”. So, in prayer there is no need to fool around. No matter how many times you read this prayer, it must be said with attention, reverence and love, with complete dedication.
There is no need to try to read out all the prayers. It’s better to devote twenty minutes to one prayer, “Our Father,” repeating it several times, thinking about every word. It is not so easy for a person who is not accustomed to praying for a long time to read out a large number of prayers at once, but there is no need to strive for this. It is important to be imbued with the spirit that breathes the prayers of the Fathers of the Church. This is the main benefit that can be derived from the prayers contained in the Orthodox Prayer Book.
7. PRAYER RULE
What is a prayer rule? These are prayers that a person reads regularly, daily. Everyone's prayer rules are different. For some, the morning or evening rule takes several hours, for others - a few minutes. Everything depends on a person’s spiritual make-up, the degree to which he is rooted in prayer and the time he has at his disposal.
It is very important that a person follows the prayer rule, even the shortest one, so that there is regularity and constancy in prayer. But the rule should not turn into a formality. The experience of many believers shows that when constantly reading the same prayers, their words become discolored, lose their freshness, and a person, getting used to them, stops focusing on them. This danger must be avoided at all costs.
I remember when I took monastic vows (I was twenty years old at the time), I turned to an experienced confessor for advice and asked him what prayer rule I should have. He said: “You must read morning and evening prayers, three canons and one akathist every day. No matter what happens, even if you are very tired, you must read them. And even if you read them hastily and inattentively, it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that the rule is read.” I tried it. Things didn't work out. Daily reading of the same prayers led to the fact that these texts quickly became boring. In addition, every day I spent many hours in church at services that spiritually nourished me, nourished me, and inspired me. And reading the three canons and the akathist turned into some kind of unnecessary “appendage”. I started looking for other advice that was more suitable for me. And I found it in the works of St. Theophan the Recluse, a remarkable ascetic of the 19th century. He advised the prayer rule to be calculated not by the number of prayers, but by the time that we are ready to devote to God. For example, we can make it a rule to pray in the morning and evening for half an hour, but this half hour must be completely given to God. And it is not so important whether during these minutes we read all the prayers or just one, or perhaps we devote one evening entirely to reading the Psalter, the Gospel or prayer in our own words. The main thing is that we are focused on God, so that our attention does not slip away and that every word reaches our heart. This advice worked for me. However, I do not rule out that the advice I received from my confessor would be more suitable for others. Here a lot depends on the individual person.
It seems to me that for a person living in the world, not only fifteen, but even five minutes of morning and evening prayer, if, of course, it is said with attention and feeling, is enough to be a real Christian. It is only important that the thought always corresponds to the words, the heart responds to the words of prayer, and the whole life corresponds to the prayer.
Try, following the advice of St. Theophan the Recluse, to set aside some time for prayer during the day and for daily fulfillment of the prayer rule. And you will see that it will bear fruit very soon.
8. DANGER OF ADDITION
Every believer faces the danger of becoming accustomed to the words of prayers and becoming distracted during prayer. To prevent this from happening, a person must constantly fight with himself or, as the Holy Fathers said, “stand guard over his mind”, learn to “enclose the mind in the words of prayer.”
How to achieve this? First of all, you cannot allow yourself to utter words when both your mind and heart do not respond to them. If you begin to read a prayer, but in the middle of it your attention wanders, return to the place where your attention wandered and repeat the prayer. If necessary, repeat it three times, five times, ten times, but ensure that your whole being responds to it.
One day in church a woman turned to me: “Father, I have been reading prayers for many years - both in the morning and in the evening, but the more I read them, the less I like them, the less I feel like a believer in God. I’m so tired of the words of these prayers that I no longer respond to them.” I told her: “And you don't read morning and evening prayers.” She was surprised: “So how?” I repeated: “Come on, don’t read them. If your heart does not respond to them, you must find another way to pray. How long do your morning prayers take you?” - “Twenty minutes.” - “Are you ready to devote twenty minutes to God every morning?” - “Ready.” - “Then take one morning prayer - of your choice - and read it for twenty minutes. Read one of its phrases, be silent, think about what it means, then read another phrase, be silent, think about its content, repeat it again, think about whether your life corresponds to it, whether you are ready to live so that this prayer becomes the reality of your life . You say: “Lord, do not deprive me of Your heavenly blessings.” What does this mean? Or: “Lord, save me from eternal torment.” What is the danger of these eternal torments, are you really afraid of them, do you really hope to avoid them? The woman began to pray like this, and soon her prayers began to come to life.
You need to learn prayer. You need to work on yourself; you cannot allow yourself to utter empty words while standing in front of an icon.
The quality of prayer is also affected by what precedes it and what follows it. It is impossible to pray with concentration in a state of irritation if, for example, before starting prayer we quarreled with someone or yelled at someone. This means that in the time that precedes prayer, we must internally prepare for it, freeing ourselves from what prevents us from praying, tuning into a prayerful mood. Then it will be easier for us to pray. But, of course, even after prayer one should not immediately plunge into vanity. After finishing your prayer, give yourself some more time to hear God’s answer, so that something in you can be heard and respond to the presence of God.
Prayer is only valuable when we feel that thanks to it something changes in us, that we begin to live differently. Prayer must bear fruit, and these fruits must be tangible.
9. BODY POSITION WHEN PRAYING
In the practice of prayer of the Ancient Church, various postures, gestures, and body positions were used. They prayed while standing, on their knees, in the so-called pose of the prophet Elijah, that is, kneeling with their head bowed to the ground, they prayed while lying on the floor with outstretched arms, or standing with raised arms. When praying, bows were used - to the ground and from the waist, as well as the sign of the cross. Of the variety of traditional body positions during prayer, only a few remain in modern practice. This is primarily a standing prayer and a kneeling prayer, accompanied by the sign of the cross and bows.
Why is it even important for the body to participate in prayer? Why can’t you just pray in spirit while lying in bed, sitting in a chair? In principle, you can pray both lying down and sitting: in special cases, in case of illness, for example, or when traveling, we do this. But in ordinary circumstances, when praying, it is necessary to use those body positions that have been preserved in the tradition of the Orthodox Church. The fact is that the body and spirit in a person are inextricably linked, and the spirit cannot be completely autonomous from the body. It is no coincidence that the ancient Fathers said: “If the body has not labored in prayer, then prayer will remain fruitless.”
Walk into an Orthodox church for a Lenten service and you will see how from time to time all the parishioners simultaneously fall to their knees, then get up, fall again and get up again. And so on throughout the service. And you will feel that there is a special intensity in this service, that people are not just praying, they are are working in prayer, carry out the feat of prayer. And go to a Protestant church. During the entire service, the worshipers sit: prayers are read, spiritual songs are sung, but people just sit, do not cross themselves, do not bow, and at the end of the service they get up and leave. Compare these two ways of prayer in church - Orthodox and Protestant - and you will feel the difference. This difference lies in the intensity of prayer. People pray to the same God, but they pray differently. And in many ways this difference is determined precisely by the position of the praying person’s body.
Bowing greatly helps prayer. Those of you who have the opportunity to make at least a few bows and prostrations during your prayer rule in the morning and evening will undoubtedly feel how beneficial this is spiritually. The body becomes more collected, and when the body is collected, it is quite natural to concentrate the mind and attention.
During prayer, we should from time to time make the sign of the cross, especially saying “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” and also pronouncing the name of the Savior. This is necessary, since the cross is the instrument of our salvation. When we make the sign of the cross, the power of God is palpably present in us.
10. PRAYER BEFORE ICONS
In church prayer, the external should not replace the internal. The external can contribute to the internal, but it can also hinder it. Traditional body positions during prayer undoubtedly contribute to the state of prayer, but in no way can they replace the main content of prayer.
We must not forget that some body positions are not accessible to everyone. For example, many older people are simply not able to prostrate. There are many people who cannot stand for long. I have heard from older people: “I don’t go to church for services because I can’t stand,” or: “I don’t pray to God because my legs hurt.” God doesn't need legs, but a heart. If you cannot pray while standing, pray while sitting; if you cannot pray while sitting, pray while lying down. As one ascetic said, “it is better to think about God while sitting than to think about your feet while standing.”
Aids are important, but they cannot replace content. One of the important aids during prayer is icons. Orthodox Christians, as a rule, pray in front of icons of the Savior, the Mother of God, saints, and in front of the image of the Holy Cross. And Protestants pray without icons. And you can see the difference between Protestant and Orthodox prayer. In the Orthodox tradition, prayer is more specific. Contemplating the icon of Christ, we seem to be looking through a window that reveals another world to us, and behind this icon stands the One to whom we pray.
But it is very important that the icon does not replace the object of prayer, that we do not turn to the icon in prayer and do not try to imagine the one who is depicted on the icon. An icon is only a reminder, only a symbol of the reality that stands behind it. As the Fathers of the Church said, “the honor given to the image goes back to the prototype.” When we approach the icon of the Savior or the Mother of God and kiss it, that is, we kiss it, we thereby express our love for the Savior or the Mother of God.
An icon should not turn into an idol. And there should be no illusion that God is exactly as He is depicted in the icon. There is, for example, an icon of the Holy Trinity, which is called the “New Testament Trinity”: it is non-canonical, that is, it does not correspond to church rules, but in some churches it can be seen. In this icon, God the Father is depicted as a gray-haired old man, Jesus Christ as a young man, and the Holy Spirit as a dove. Under no circumstances should one succumb to the temptation to imagine that the Holy Trinity will look exactly like this. The Holy Trinity is a God whom human imagination cannot imagine. And, turning to God - the Holy Trinity in prayer, we must renounce all kinds of fantasy. Our imagination must be free from images, our mind must be crystal clear, and our heart must be ready to accommodate the Living God.
The car fell into a cliff, turning over several times. There was nothing left of her, but the driver and I were safe and sound. It happened early in the morning, around five o'clock. When I returned to the church where I served in the evening of the same day, I found several parishioners there who woke up at half past five in the morning, sensing danger, and began to pray for me. Their first question was: “Father, what happened to you?” I think that through their prayers both I and the man who was driving were saved from trouble.
11. PRAYER FOR YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
We must pray not only for ourselves, but also for our neighbors. Every morning and every evening, as well as while in church, we must remember our relatives, loved ones, friends, enemies and offer prayer to God for everyone. This is very important, because people are bound together by inextricable bonds, and often the prayer of one person for another saves the other from great danger.
There was such a case in the life of Saint Gregory the Theologian. When he was still a young man, unbaptized, he crossed the Mediterranean Sea on a ship. Suddenly a strong storm began, which lasted for many days, and no one had any hope of salvation; the ship was almost flooded. Gregory prayed to God and during prayer he saw his mother, who at that time was on the shore, but, as it turned out later, she sensed danger and prayed intensely for her son. The ship, contrary to all expectations, safely reached the shore. Gregory always remembered that he owed his deliverance to his mother’s prayers.
Someone might say: “Well, another story from the lives of the ancient saints. Why don’t similar things happen today?” I can assure you that this is still happening today. I know many people who, through the prayers of loved ones, were saved from death or great danger. And there have been many cases in my life when I escaped danger through the prayers of my mother or other people, for example, my parishioners.
Once I was in a car accident and, one might say, miraculously survived, because the car fell into a cliff, turning over several times. There was nothing left of the car, but the driver and I were safe and sound. It happened early in the morning, around five o'clock. When I returned to the church where I served in the evening of the same day, I found several parishioners there who woke up at half past five in the morning, sensing danger, and began to pray for me. Their first question was: “Father, what happened to you?” I think that through their prayers both I and the man who was driving were saved from trouble.
We should pray for our neighbors, not because God does not know how to save them, but because He wants us to participate in saving each other. Of course, He Himself knows what every person needs - both us and our neighbors. When we pray for our neighbors, this does not mean that we want to be more merciful than God. But this means that we want to participate in their salvation. And in prayer we must not forget about the people with whom life has brought us together, and that they pray for us. Each of us in the evening, going to bed, can say to God: “Lord, through the prayers of all those who love me, save me.”
Let us remember the living connection between us and our neighbors, and let us always remember each other in prayer.
12. PRAYER FOR THE DECEASED
We must pray not only for those of our neighbors who are alive, but also for those who have already passed on to another world.
Prayer for the deceased is necessary first of all for us, because when a loved one passes away, we have a natural feeling of loss, and from this we suffer deeply. But that person continues to live, only he lives in another dimension, because he has moved to another world. So that the connection between us and the person who left us does not break, we must pray for him. Then we will feel his presence, feel that he has not left us, that our living connection with him remains.
But prayer for the deceased, of course, is also necessary for him, because when a person dies, he moves on to another life in order to meet God there and answer for everything he has done in earthly life, good and bad. It is very important that a person on this path be accompanied by the prayers of loved ones - those who remain here on earth, who keep the memory of him. A person who leaves this world is deprived of everything that this world gave him, only his soul remains. All the wealth he owned in life, all that he acquired, remains here. Only the soul goes to another world. And the soul is judged by God according to the law of mercy and justice. If a person has done something evil in life, he has to bear punishment for it. But we, the survivors, can ask God to ease the fate of this person. And the Church believes that the posthumous fate of the deceased is made easier through the prayers of those who pray for him here on earth.
The hero of Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov,” Elder Zosima (whose prototype was St. Tikhon of Zadonsk) says this about prayer for the departed: “Every day and whenever you can, repeat to yourself: “Lord, have mercy on all who stand before You today.” For at every hour and every moment, thousands of people leave their life on this earth, and their souls stand before the Lord - and how many of them parted with the earth in isolation, unknown to anyone, in sadness and anguish, and no one will regret them ... And now, perhaps, from the other end of the earth, your prayer will ascend to the Lord for his repose, even if you did not know him at all, and he did not know you. How touching it was for his soul, standing in fear of the Lord, to feel at that moment that there was a prayer book for him, that there was a human being left on earth and one who loved him. And God will look more mercifully on both of you, for if you have already pitied him so much, then how much more will He, who is infinitely more merciful... And forgive him for your sake.”
13. PRAYER FOR ENEMIES
The need to pray for enemies follows from the very essence of the moral teaching of Jesus Christ.
In the pre-Christian era, there was a rule: “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” (Matthew 5:43). It is in accordance with this rule that most people still live. It is natural for us to love our neighbors, those who do good to us, and to treat with hostility, or even hatred, towards those from whom evil comes. But Christ says that the attitude should be completely different: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). During His earthly life, Christ Himself repeatedly set an example of both love for enemies and prayer for enemies. When the Lord was on the cross and the soldiers were nailing Him, He experienced terrible torment, incredible pain, but He prayed: “Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). He was thinking at that moment not about Himself, not about the fact that these soldiers were hurting Him, but about their salvation, because by committing evil, they first of all harmed themselves.
We must remember that people who do us harm or treat us with hostility are not bad in themselves. The sin with which they are infected is bad. One must hate sin, and not its carrier, man. As Saint John Chrysostom said, “when you see that someone is doing you evil, hate not him, but the devil who stands behind him.”
We must learn to separate a person from the sin he commits. The priest very often observes during confession how sin is actually separated from a person when he repents of it. We must be able to renounce the sinful image of man and remember that all people, including our enemies and those who hate us, are created in the image of God, and it is in this image of God, in those beginnings of goodness that exist in every person, that we must look closely.
Why is it necessary to pray for enemies? This is necessary not only for them, but also for us. We must find the strength to make peace with people. Archimandrite Sophrony in his book about the Monk Silouan of Athos says: “Those who hate and reject their brother are flawed in their being, they cannot find the way to God, who loves everyone.” That's fair. When hatred for a person settles in our hearts, we are unable to approach God. And as long as this feeling remains in us, the path to God is blocked for us. This is why it is necessary to pray for enemies.
Every time we approach the Living God, we must be absolutely reconciled with everyone whom we perceive as our enemies. Let us remember what the Lord says: “If you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you... go, first make peace with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23) . And another word of the Lord: “Make peace with your adversary quickly, while you are still on the way with him” (Matthew 5:25). “On the way with him” means “in this earthly life.” For if we do not have time to reconcile here with those who hate and offend us, with our enemies, then we will go into the future life unreconciled. And there it will be impossible to make up for what was lost here.
14. FAMILY PRAYER
So far we have talked mainly about the personal, individual prayer of a person. Now I would like to say a few words about prayer within the family.
Most of our contemporaries live in such a way that family members get together quite rarely, at best twice a day - in the morning for breakfast and in the evening for dinner. During the day, parents are at work, children are at school, and only preschoolers and pensioners remain at home. It is very important that there be some moments in the daily routine when everyone can gather together for prayer. If the family is going to dinner, why not pray together a few minutes before? You can also read prayers and a passage from the Gospel after dinner.
Joint prayer strengthens a family, because its life is truly fulfilling and happy only when its members are united not only by family ties, but also by spiritual kinship, a common understanding and worldview. Joint prayer, in addition, has a beneficial effect on each family member, in particular, it greatly helps children.
In Soviet times, it was forbidden to raise children in a religious spirit. This was motivated by the fact that children must first grow up, and only then choose for themselves whether to follow a religious or a non-religious path. There is a profound lie in this argument. Because before a person has the opportunity to choose, he must be taught something. And the best age for learning is, of course, childhood. It can be very difficult for someone who has been accustomed to living without prayer since childhood to accustom himself to pray. And a person, raised from childhood in a prayerful, grace-filled spirit, who from the first years of his life knew about the existence of God and that one can always turn to God, even if he later left the Church, from God, still retained some in the depths, in the recesses of the soul, the skills of prayer acquired in childhood, the charge of religiosity. And it often happens that people who have left the Church return to God at some stage in their lives precisely because in childhood they were accustomed to prayer.
One more thing. Today, many families have older relatives, grandparents, who were raised in a non-religious environment. Even twenty or thirty years ago one could say that the church is a place for “grandmothers.” Now it is grandmothers who represent the most irreligious generation, raised in the 30s and 40s, in the era of “militant atheism.” It is very important that older people find their way to the temple. It is not too late for anyone to turn to God, but those young people who have already found this path must tactfully, gradually, but with great constancy involve their older relatives into the orbit of spiritual life. And through daily family prayer this can be done especially successfully.
15. CHURCH PRAYER
As the famous theologian of the 20th century, Archpriest Georgy Florovsky, said, a Christian never prays alone: even if he turns to God in his room, closing the door behind him, he still prays as a member of the church community. We are not isolated individuals, we are members of the Church, members of one body. And we are not saved alone, but together with others - with our brothers and sisters. And therefore it is very important that every person has the experience of not only individual prayer, but also church prayer, together with other people.
Church prayer has a very special significance and special meaning. Many of us know from our own experience how difficult it can sometimes be for a person to immerse himself in the element of prayer alone. But when you come to church, you are immersed in the common prayer of many people, and this prayer takes you to some depths, and your prayer merges with the prayer of others.
Human life is like sailing across the sea or ocean. There are, of course, daredevils who, alone, overcoming storms and storms, cross sea spaces on a yacht. But, as a rule, people, in order to cross the ocean, get together and move on a ship from one shore to the other. The church is a ship in which Christians move together along the path to salvation. And joint prayer is one of the most powerful means for progress on this path.
In the temple, many things contribute to church prayer, and above all, divine services. The liturgical texts used in the Orthodox Church are unusually rich in content and contain great wisdom. But there is an obstacle that many who come to the Church face - the Church Slavonic language. Now there is a lot of debate about whether to preserve the Slavic language in worship or switch to Russian. It seems to me that if our worship were entirely translated into Russian, much of it would be lost. The Church Slavonic language has great spiritual power, and experience shows that it is not so difficult, not so different from Russian. You just need to make some effort, just as we, if necessary, make an effort to master the language of a particular science, for example, mathematics or physics.
So, to learn how to pray in church, you need to make some effort, go to church more often, maybe buy basic liturgical books and study them in your free time. And then all the wealth of liturgical language and liturgical texts will be revealed to you, and you will see that worship is a whole school that teaches you not only church prayer, but also spiritual life.
16. WHY DO YOU NEED TO GO TO CHURCH?
Many people who occasionally visit the temple develop some kind of consumerist attitude towards the church. They come to the temple, for example, before a long journey - to light a candle just in case, so that nothing happens on the road. They come in for two or three minutes, hastily cross themselves several times and, after lighting a candle, leave. Some, entering the temple, say: “I want to pay money so that the priest will pray for such and such,” they pay the money and leave. The priest must pray, but these people themselves do not participate in prayer.
This is the wrong attitude. The church is not a Snickers machine: you put a coin in and a piece of candy comes out. Church is the place where you need to come to live and study. If you are experiencing any difficulties or one of your loved ones is sick, do not limit yourself to stopping by and lighting a candle. Come to church for a service, immerse yourself in the element of prayer and, together with the priest and the community, offer your prayer for what worries you.
It is very important to attend church regularly. It is good to go to church every Sunday. The Sunday Divine Liturgy, as well as the Liturgy of the Great Feasts, is a time when we can, renouncing our earthly affairs for two hours, immerse ourselves in the element of prayer. It is good to come to church with the whole family to confess and receive communion.
If a person learns to live from resurrection to resurrection, in the rhythm of church services, in the rhythm of the Divine Liturgy, then his whole life will change dramatically. First of all, it disciplines. The believer knows that next Sunday he will have to give an answer to God, and he lives differently, does not commit many sins that he could have committed if he had not attended church. In addition, the Divine Liturgy itself is an opportunity to receive Holy Communion, that is, to unite with God not only spiritually, but also physically. And finally, the Divine Liturgy is a comprehensive service, when the entire church community and each of its members can pray for everything that worries, worries or pleases. During the Liturgy, a believer can pray for himself, and for his neighbors, and for his future, repent for sins and ask for God’s blessing for further service. It is very important to learn to fully participate in the Liturgy. There are other services in the Church, for example, the all-night vigil - a preparatory service for communion. You can order a prayer service for a saint or a prayer service for the health of this or that person. But no so-called “private” services, that is, ordered by a person to pray for some of his specific needs, can replace participation in the Divine Liturgy, because it is the Liturgy that is the center of church prayer, and it is it that should become the center of everyone’s spiritual life Christian and every Christian family.
17. TOUCHING AND TEARS
I would like to say a few words about the spiritual and emotional state that people experience in prayer. Let us recall Lermontov’s famous poem:
In a difficult moment of life,
Is there sadness in my heart:
One wonderful prayer
I repeat it by heart.
There is a power of grace
In the consonance of living words,
And an incomprehensible one breathes,
Holy beauty in them.
Like a burden will roll off your soul,
Doubt is far away -
And I believe and cry,
And so easy, easy...
In these beautiful simple words, the great poet described what very often happens to people during prayer. A person repeats the words of prayers, perhaps familiar from childhood, and suddenly he feels some kind of enlightenment, relief, and tears appear. In church language this state is called tenderness. This is the state that is sometimes bestowed upon a person during prayer, when he feels the presence of God more acutely and stronger than usual. This is a spiritual state when the grace of God directly touches our heart.
Let us recall an excerpt from Ivan Bunin’s autobiographical book “The Life of Arsenyev,” where Bunin describes his youth and how, while still a high school student, he attended services in the parish Church of the Exaltation of the Lord. He describes the beginning of the all-night vigil, in the twilight of the church, when there are still very few people: “How all this worries me. I’m still a boy, a teenager, but I was born with a feeling of all this. So many times I listened to these exclamations and certainly the following “Amen”, that all this became, as it were, a part of my soul, and now, already guessing every word of the service in advance, it responds to everything with a purely related readiness. “Come, let us worship... Bless the Lord, my soul,” I hear, and my eyes fill with tears, for I now firmly know that there is and cannot be anything on earth more beautiful and higher than all this. And the holy mystery flows, flows, the Royal Doors close and open, the vaults of the church are illuminated brighter and warmer with many candles.” And further Bunin writes that he had to visit many Western churches, where the organ sounded, to visit Gothic cathedrals, beautiful in their architecture, “but nowhere and never,” he says, “did I cry as much as in the Church of the Exaltation in these dark and deaf evenings.”
Not only great poets and writers respond to the beneficial influence with which visiting church is inevitably associated. Every person can experience this. It is very important that our soul is open to these feelings, so that when we come to church, we are ready to accept the grace of God to the extent that it will be given to us. If the state of grace is not given to us and tenderness does not come, we do not need to be embarrassed by this. This means that our soul has not matured to tenderness. But moments of such enlightenment are a sign that our prayer is not fruitless. They testify that God responds to our prayer and the grace of God touches our heart.
18. STRUGGLE WITH STRANGE THOUGHTS
One of the main obstacles to attentive prayer is the appearance of extraneous thoughts. Saint John of Kronstadt, the great ascetic of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, describes in his diaries how, during the Divine Liturgy, at the most crucial and sacred moments, an apple pie or some kind of order that might be awarded to him suddenly appeared before his mind’s eye . And he speaks with bitterness and regret about how such extraneous images and thoughts can destroy the state of prayer. If this happened to the saints, then it is not surprising that it happens to us. In order to protect ourselves from these thoughts and extraneous images, we must learn, as the ancient Fathers of the Church said, “to stand guard over our mind.”
The ascetic writers of the Ancient Church had a detailed doctrine of how extraneous thoughts gradually penetrate into a person. The first stage of this process is called “preposition,” that is, the sudden appearance of a thought. This thought is still completely alien to man, it appeared somewhere on the horizon, but its penetration inside begins when a person focuses his attention on it, enters into a conversation with it, examines and analyzes it. Then comes what the Church Fathers called “combination” - when a person’s mind already, as it were, becomes accustomed, merges with thoughts. Finally, the thought turns into passion and embraces the whole person, and then both prayer and spiritual life are forgotten.
To prevent this from happening, it is very important to cut off extraneous thoughts at their first appearance, not to allow them to penetrate into the depths of the soul, heart and mind. And to learn this, you need to work hard on yourself. A person cannot help but experience absent-mindedness during prayer if he does not learn to deal with extraneous thoughts.
One of the diseases of modern man is that he does not know how to control the functioning of his brain. His brain is autonomous, and thoughts come and go involuntarily. Modern man, as a rule, does not follow what is happening in his mind at all. But in order to learn real prayer, you need to be able to monitor your thoughts and mercilessly cut off those that do not correspond to the prayerful mood. Short prayers help to overcome absent-mindedness and cut off extraneous thoughts - “Lord, have mercy”, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” and others - which do not require special concentration on words, but encourage the birth of feelings and movement of the heart. With the help of such prayers you can learn to pay attention and concentrate on prayer.
19. JESUS PRAYER
The Apostle Paul says: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). People often ask: how can we pray unceasingly if we work, read, talk, eat, sleep, etc., that is, we do things that seem to be incompatible with prayer? The answer to this question in the Orthodox tradition is the Jesus Prayer. Believers who practice the Jesus Prayer achieve unceasing prayer, that is, unceasing standing before God. How does this happen?
The Jesus Prayer sounds like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” There is also a shorter form: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” But prayer can be reduced to two words: “Lord, have mercy.” A person who prays the Jesus Prayer repeats it not only during worship or at home prayer, but also on the road, while eating and going to bed. Even if a person speaks to someone or listens to another, then, without losing the intensity of perception, he nevertheless continues to repeat this prayer somewhere in the depths of his heart.
The meaning of the Jesus Prayer lies, of course, not in its mechanical repetition, but in always feeling the living presence of Christ. This presence is felt by us primarily because, when saying the Jesus Prayer, we pronounce the name of the Savior.
A name is a symbol of its bearer; in the name there is, as it were, the one to whom it belongs. When a young man is in love with a girl and thinks about her, he constantly repeats her name, because she seems to be present in his name. And because love fills his entire being, he feels the need to repeat this name again and again. In the same way, a Christian who loves the Lord repeats the name of Jesus Christ because his whole heart and being is turned to Christ.
When performing the Jesus Prayer, it is very important not to try to imagine Christ, imagining Him as a person in some life situation or, for example, hanging on a cross. The Jesus Prayer should not be associated with images that may arise in our imagination, because then the real is replaced by the imaginary. The Jesus Prayer should be accompanied only by an inner feeling of the presence of Christ and a feeling of standing before the Living God. No external images are appropriate here.
20. WHAT IS JESUS’ PRAYER GOOD?
The Jesus Prayer has several special properties. First of all, it is the presence of the name of God in it.
We very often remember the name of God as if out of habit, thoughtlessly. We say: “Lord, how tired I am,” “God be with him, let him come another time,” without thinking at all about the power that the name of God has. Meanwhile, already in the Old Testament there was a commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Ex. 20:7). And the ancient Jews treated the name of God with extreme reverence. In the era after liberation from Babylonian captivity, pronouncing the name of God was generally prohibited. Only the high priest had this right, once a year, when he entered the Holy of Holies, the main sanctuary of the temple. When we turn to Christ with the Jesus Prayer, pronouncing the name of Christ and confessing Him as the Son of God has a very special meaning. This name should be pronounced with the greatest reverence.
Another property of the Jesus Prayer is its simplicity and accessibility. To perform the Jesus Prayer, you do not need any special books or a specially designated place or time. This is its huge advantage over many other prayers.
Finally, there is one more property that distinguishes this prayer - in it we confess our sinfulness: “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” This point is very important, because many modern people do not feel their sinfulness at all. Even in confession, you can often hear: “I don’t know what I should repent of, I live like everyone else, I don’t kill, I don’t steal,” etc. Meanwhile, it is our sins that, as a rule, are the causes of our main troubles and sorrows. A person does not notice his sins because he is far from God, just as in a dark room we see neither dust nor dirt, but as soon as we open the window, we discover that the room has long needed cleaning.
The soul of a person far from God is like a dark room. But the closer a person is to God, the more light there is in his soul, the more acutely he feels his own sinfulness. And this happens not due to the fact that he compares himself with other people, but due to the fact that he stands before God. When we say: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner,” we seem to put ourselves in the face of Christ, comparing our life with His life. And then we really feel like sinners and can bring repentance from the depths of our hearts.
21. PRACTICE OF THE JESUS PRAYER
Let's talk about the practical aspects of the Jesus Prayer. Some people set themselves the task of saying the Jesus Prayer during the day, say, a hundred, five hundred or a thousand times. To count how many times a prayer is read, a rosary is used, which may have fifty, a hundred or more balls on it. Saying a prayer in his mind, a person touches his rosary. But if you are just beginning the feat of the Jesus Prayer, then you need to pay attention first of all to quality, not quantity. It seems to me that you need to start by very slowly saying the words of the Jesus Prayer out loud, ensuring that your heart participates in the prayer. You say: “Lord... Jesus... Christ...”, and your heart should, like a tuning fork, respond to every word. And do not try to immediately read the Jesus Prayer many times. Even if you say it only ten times, but if your heart responds to the words of the prayer, that will be enough.
A person has two spiritual centers - the mind and the heart. Intellectual activity, imagination, thoughts are associated with the mind, and emotions, feelings, and experiences are associated with the heart. When saying the Jesus Prayer, the center should be the heart. That is why, when praying, do not try to imagine something in your mind, for example, Jesus Christ, but try to keep your attention in your heart.
The ancient church ascetic writers developed a technique of “bringing the mind into the heart,” in which the Jesus Prayer was combined with breathing, and while inhaling, one said: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,” and while exhaling, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” A person’s attention seemed to naturally switch from the head to the heart. I don’t think that everyone should practice the Jesus Prayer in exactly this way; it is enough to pronounce the words of the prayer with great attention and reverence.
Start your morning with the Jesus Prayer. If you have a free minute during the day, read the prayer a few more times; in the evening, before going to bed, repeat it until you fall asleep. If you learn to wake up and fall asleep with the Jesus Prayer, this will give you great spiritual support. Gradually, as your heart becomes more and more responsive to the words of this prayer, you can come to the point that it will become incessant, and the main content of the prayer will not be the utterance of words, but the constant feeling of the presence of God in the heart. And if you started by saying the prayer out loud, then you will gradually come to the point that it will be pronounced only by the heart, without the participation of the tongue or lips. You will see how prayer will transform your entire human nature, your entire life. This is the special power of the Jesus Prayer.
22. BOOKS ABOUT THE JESUS PRAYER. HOW TO PRAY CORRECTLY?
“Whatever you do, whatever you do at all times - day and night, pronounce with your lips these Divine verbs: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s not difficult: both while traveling, on the road, and while working - whether you’re chopping wood or carrying water, or digging the ground, or cooking food. After all, in all this, one body works, and the mind remains idle, so give it an activity that is characteristic and befitting of its immaterial nature - to pronounce the name of God.” This is an excerpt from the book “On the Caucasus Mountains,” which was published for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century and is dedicated to the Jesus Prayer.
I would like to especially emphasize that this prayer needs to be learned, preferably with the help of a spiritual leader. In the Orthodox Church there are teachers of prayer - among monastics, pastors and even lay people: these are people who themselves, through experience, have learned the power of prayer. But if you do not find such a mentor - and many complain that it is now difficult to find a mentor in prayer - you can turn to books such as “On the Caucasus Mountains” or “Frank Tales of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father.” The latter, published in the 19th century and reprinted many times, talks about a man who decided to learn unceasing prayer. He was a wanderer, walked from city to city with a bag on his shoulders and a staff, and learned to pray. He repeated the Jesus Prayer several thousand times a day.
There is also a classic five-volume collection of works of the Holy Fathers from the 4th to the 14th centuries - “Philokalia”. This is a rich treasury of spiritual experience; it contains many instructions about the Jesus Prayer and sobriety - attention of the mind. Anyone who wants to learn to pray for real should be familiar with these books.
I cited an excerpt from the book “On the Caucasus Mountains” also because many years ago, when I was a teenager, I had the opportunity to travel to Georgia, to the Caucasus Mountains, not far from Sukhumi. There I met hermits. They lived there even in Soviet times, far from the bustle of the world, in caves, gorges and abysses, and no one knew about their existence. They lived by prayer and passed on from generation to generation the treasure of prayer experience. These were people as if from another world, who had reached great spiritual heights and deep inner peace. And all this thanks to the Jesus Prayer.
May God grant us to learn through experienced mentors and through the books of the Holy Fathers this treasure - the unceasing performance of the Jesus Prayer.
23. “OUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN”
The Lord's Prayer has special significance because it was given to us by Jesus Christ Himself. It begins with the words: “Our Father, who art in heaven,” or in Russian: “Our Father, who art in heaven.” This prayer is comprehensive in nature: it seems to concentrate everything that a person needs for earthly life , and for the salvation of the soul. The Lord gave it to us so that we would know what to pray for, what to ask God for.
The first words of this prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven” reveal to us that God is not some distant abstract being, not some abstract good principle, but our Father. Today, many people, when asked whether they believe in God, answer in the affirmative, but if you ask them how they imagine God, what they think about Him, they answer something like this: “Well, God is good, it’s something bright, It’s some kind of positive energy.” That is, God is treated as some kind of abstraction, as something impersonal.
When we begin our prayer with the words “Our Father,” we immediately turn to the personal, living God, to God as the Father - the Father about whom Christ spoke in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Many people remember the plot of this parable from the Gospel of Luke. The son decided to leave his father without waiting for his death. He received the inheritance due to him, went to a distant country, squandered this inheritance there, and when he had already reached the last limit of poverty and exhaustion, he decided to return to his father. He said to himself: “I will go to my father and say to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you and am no longer worthy to be called your son, but accept me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19). And when he was still far away, his father ran out to meet him and threw himself on his neck. The son did not even have time to say the prepared words, because the father immediately gave him a ring, a sign of filial dignity, dressed him in his former clothes, that is, he completely restored him to the dignity of a son. This is exactly how God treats us. We are not mercenaries, but sons of God, and the Lord treats us as His children. Therefore, our attitude towards God should be characterized by devotion and noble filial love.
When we say: “Our Father,” it means that we pray not in isolation, as individuals, each of whom has his own Father, but as members of a single human family, a single Church, a single Body of Christ. In other words, by calling God Father, we thereby mean that all other people are our brothers. Moreover, when Christ teaches us to turn to God “Our Father” in prayer, He puts Himself, as it were, on the same level with us. The Monk Simeon the New Theologian said that through faith in Christ we become brothers of Christ, because we have a common Father with Him - our Heavenly Father.
As for the words “Who art in heaven,” they do not point to the physical heaven, but to the fact that God lives in a completely different dimension than we do, that He is absolutely transcendent to us. But through prayer, through the Church, we have the opportunity to join this heaven, that is, another world.
24. “HOLY HOLY NAME”
What do the words “Hallowed be Thy name” mean? The name of God is holy in itself; it carries within itself a charge of holiness, spiritual power and the presence of God. Why is it necessary to pray with these exact words? Will not the name of God remain holy even if we do not say “Hallowed be thy name”?
When we say: “Hallowed be Thy name,” we first of all mean that the name of God must be hallowed, that is, be revealed as holy through us, Christians, through our spiritual life. The Apostle Paul, addressing the unworthy Christians of his time, said: “For your sake the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles” (Rom. 2:24). These are very important words. They talk about our inconsistency with the spiritual and moral norm that is contained in the Gospel and by which we, Christians, are obliged to live. And this discrepancy, perhaps, is one of the main tragedies both for us as Christians and for the entire Christian Church.
The Church has holiness because it is built on the name of God, which is holy in itself. Members of the Church are far from meeting the standards that the Church puts forward. We often hear reproaches, and quite fair ones, against Christians: “How can you prove the existence of God if you yourself live no better, and sometimes worse, than pagans and atheists? How can faith in God be combined with unworthy actions?” So, each of us must ask ourselves daily: “Am I, as a Christian, living up to the gospel ideal? Is the name of God sanctified through me or blasphemed? Am I an example of true Christianity, which consists of love, humility, meekness and mercy, or am I an example of the opposite of these virtues?”
Often people turn to the priest with the question: “What should I do to bring my son (daughter, husband, mother, father) to church? I tell them about God, but they don’t even want to listen.” The problem is that it's not enough speak about God. When a person, having become a believer, tries to convert others, especially his loved ones, with the help of words, persuasion, and sometimes through coercion, insisting that they pray or go to church, this often gives the opposite result - his loved ones experience rejection of everything ecclesiastical and spiritual. We will be able to bring people closer to the Church only when we ourselves become real Christians, when they, looking at us, say: “Yes, now I understand what the Christian faith can do to a person, how it can transform him, change him; I’m starting to believe in God because I see how Christians are different from non-Christians.”
25. “THY KINGDOM COME”
What do these words mean? After all, the Kingdom of God will inevitably come, there will be an end of the world, and humanity will move into another dimension. It is obvious that we are not praying for the end of the world, but for the coming of the Kingdom of God to us, that is, so that it becomes reality our life, so that our current - everyday, gray, and sometimes dark, tragic - earthly life is permeated with the presence of the Kingdom of God.
What is the Kingdom of God? To answer this question, you need to turn to the Gospel and remember that the sermon of Jesus Christ began with the words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Then Christ repeatedly told people about His Kingdom; He did not object when He was called the King - for example, when He entered Jerusalem and He was greeted as the King of the Jews. Even standing at the trial, mocked, slandered, slandered, to Pilate’s question, asked, apparently with irony: “Are you the King of the Jews?”, the Lord answered: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:33-36) . These words of the Savior contain the answer to the question of what the Kingdom of God is. And when we turn to God “Thy Kingdom come,” we ask that this unearthly, spiritual, Kingdom of Christ become the reality of our lives, so that that spiritual dimension appears in our lives, which is talked about a lot, but which is known to so few from experience.
When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to the disciples about what awaited Him in Jerusalem - torment, suffering and godmotherhood - the mother of two of them said to Him: “Tell that these two sons of mine sit with You, one on your right side, and the other on your left. Thy kingdom” (Matthew 20:21). He talked about how He had to suffer and die, and she imagined a Man on the royal throne and wanted her sons to be next to Him. But, as we remember, the Kingdom of God was first revealed on the cross - Christ was crucified, bleeding, and above Him hung a sign: “King of the Jews.” And only then was the Kingdom of God revealed in the glorious and saving Resurrection of Christ. It is this Kingdom that is promised to us - a Kingdom that is given through great effort and sorrow. The path to the Kingdom of God lies through Gethsemane and Golgotha - through those trials, temptations, sorrows and suffering that befall each of us. We must remember this when we say in prayer: “Thy kingdom come.”
26. “THY WILL BE DONE AS IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH”
We say these words with such ease! And very rarely do we realize that our will may not coincide with the will of God. After all, sometimes God sends us suffering, but we find ourselves unable to accept it as sent by God, we grumble, we are indignant. How often do people, when they come to a priest, say: “I cannot agree with this and that, I understand that this is the will of God, but I cannot reconcile myself.” What can you say to such a person? Don’t tell him that, apparently, in the Lord’s Prayer he needs to replace the words “Thy will be done” with “My will be done”!
Each of us needs to fight to ensure that our will coincides with the good will of God. We say: “Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth.” That is, the will of God, which is already being accomplished in heaven, in the spiritual world, must be accomplished here on earth, and above all in our lives. And we must be ready to follow the voice of God in everything. We must find the strength to renounce our own will for the sake of fulfilling the will of God. Often, when we pray, we ask God for something, but we do not receive it. And then it seems to us that the prayer was not heard. You need to find the strength to accept this “refusal” from God as His will.
Let us remember Christ, Who on the eve of His death prayed to His Father and said: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” But this cup did not pass from Him, which means that the answer to prayer was different: the cup of suffering, sorrow and death Jesus Christ had to drink. Knowing this, He said to the Father: “But not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39-42).
This should be our attitude towards God's will. If we feel that some kind of sorrow is approaching us, that we have to drink a cup for which we may not have enough strength, we can say: “Lord, if it is possible, let this cup of sorrow pass from me, carry it through.” past me.” But, like Christ, we must end the prayer with the words: “But not my will, but Thine be done.”
You need to trust God. Often children ask their parents for something, but they do not give it because they consider it harmful. Years will pass, and the person will understand how right the parents were. This happens to us too. Some time passes, and we suddenly realize how much more beneficial what the Lord sent us turned out to be than what we would like to receive of our own free will.
27. “GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD THIS DAY”
We can turn to God with a variety of requests. We can ask Him not only for something sublime and spiritual, but also for what we need on a material level. “Daily bread” is what we live on, our daily food. Moreover, in prayer we say: “Give us our daily bread today”, that is today. In other words, we do not ask God to provide us with everything we need for all the subsequent days of our lives. We ask Him for daily food, knowing that if He feeds us today, He will feed us tomorrow. By saying these words, we express our trust in God: we trust Him with our lives today, just as we will trust it tomorrow.
The words “daily bread” indicate what is necessary for life, and not some kind of excess. A person can take the path of acquisitiveness and, having the necessary things - a roof over his head, a piece of bread, minimal material goods - begin to accumulate and live in luxury. This path leads to a dead end, because the more a person accumulates, the more money he has, the more he feels the emptiness of life, feeling that there are some other needs that cannot be satisfied with material goods. So, “daily bread” is what is needed. These are not limousines, not luxurious palaces, not millions of sums of money, but this is something that neither we, nor our children, nor our relatives can live without.
Some understand the words “daily bread” in a more sublime sense - as “supra-essential bread” or “super-essential.” In particular, the Greek Fathers of the Church wrote that “super-essential bread” is the bread that comes down from heaven, in other words, it is Christ Himself, whom Christians receive in the sacrament of Holy Communion. This understanding is also justified, because, in addition to material bread, a person also needs spiritual bread.
Everyone puts their own meaning into the concept of “daily bread”. During the war, one boy, praying, said this: “Give us our dried bread this day,” because the main food was crackers. What the boy and his family needed to survive was dried bread. This may seem funny or sad, but it shows that every person - both old and young - asks God for exactly what he needs most, without which he cannot live a single day.
