Contents

Preface

About the veneration of the Mother of God

About the pious Agathonik

And invisible help can be miraculous

Prayer canon of the Mother of God, and the repentance of an envious person

The wall is unbreakable

Extract from the biography of the ascetic of piety of the 20th century, student and follower of the Glinsk elders, Metropolitan Zinovy

About the Theotokos Rule

About the intercession of the Queen of Heaven

Prayer offerings to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Hourly prayer requests of a repentant sinner to the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos

One hour

Hour two

Hour three

Hour four

Five o’clock

Sixth hour

Hour seven

Eight o’clock

Nine o’clock

Ten o’clock

Eleventh hour

Hour twelve

Hour thirteen

Hour fourteen

Hour fifteen

Hour sixteen

Hour seventeen

Hour eighteen

Hour nineteen

Hour twentieth

Hour twenty one

Hour twenty two

Hour twenty three

Hour twenty four

Appendix to the prayers of Rev. Ephraim the Syrian

I. Consolative kontakion with ikoses

II. Consolative Kontakion with Ikos to the Most Holy Theotokos

Canon of Penitence to the Most Holy Theotokos

Prayer of a repentant sinner to the Most Holy Theotokos 1st

Prayer 2

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos 3rd

Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos St. Ephraim the Syrian

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos by St. Nil of Sorsky

Prayer to the Mother of God, read by St. Sergius of Radonezh

Prayer of the schema-monk of Kiev Parthenius

Prayer to St. Silouan of Athos to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow

Prayer to the Mother of God of Saint Righteous John of Kronstadt

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos for the spiritual Father

Prayer cry to the Mother of God

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos by Hieroschemamonk Sampson

When they offend

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called the “Deliverer”

Psalm 90

An incident from the biography of Elder Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Tbilisi)

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos for help and protection

Icon of the Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts”

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos from a man who wants to go on a journey

Teachings of the Athonite Elder Daniel of Katunak on reading spiritual books

Miracle-working icon “Increase in Mind”

The miraculous icon “Abbess of Athos”

Prayer for the granting of the unceasing Jesus Prayer

Another short prayer for the gift of unceasing prayer

Prayer before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called “Quick to Hear”

An incident from the life of the Pskov-Pechersk elder schema-abbot Savva

Prayer before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called “The Desperate One Hope”

About chastity

Prayerful appeal to the Most Pure Virgin Mary for the preservation of virginity and purity

Prayer when there are unclean thoughts and a desire to sin or despondency, despair, melancholy

From the life and instructions of St. Jonah of Kiev

Prayer to St. Macarius of Optina, that during carnal warfare

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos in honor of her icon called “The Unfading Flower”

About those who are sick

Troparion to the Most Holy Theotokos in honor of Her icon, called “Healer”

On the need to pray for our neighbors and those we want to help

Some advice from the elders on praying for our loved ones

Prayer for others

Other prayers for others

Prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos for our neighbors or people around us whom we want to help

Prayer 1

Prayer 2

Prayer 3

Prayer to the Mother of God of St. Gabriel of Novgorod for the conversion of the lost

Gratitude

Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayers at the end of prayers

“The joy of all intelligent creation…”

Afterword

Preface

This brochure contains extracts from sermons, instructions and conversations of many saints, ascetics and elders about who the Most Holy Theotokos is for us, and why we should diligently seek Her help in prayer.

Rare prayers of many saints to the Zeal Intercessor of the Christian race are also placed here. In their appeals to the Virgin Mary, the ascetics poured out all their heartfelt petitions and entrusted their entire lives to Her. All these instructions and prayers were left to us as a legacy in order to show us the right guideline on the path to salvation. So that we, Christians of the last times, walking in the footsteps of the saints, will be worthy of their reward in eternal life. And since all the saints of God placed their hope in the Mother of God, then all the more so do we, in our apostasy time, have a great need for the protection and intercession of our Lady, the Most Holy Theotokos.

ABOUT THE REVERENCE OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

Sermons, teachings and sayings of St. fathers, devotees of piety, modern elders about the need to venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary

* * *

The Most Holy Virgin Mary reigns above all the ranks of the Archangels. The entire host of heavenly Spirits, illuminated by the radiant radiance of Her glory, praises and extols Her. But on her high throne, the Mother of God does not forget her earthly children; she loves and blesses them. Her tender gaze follows them on all their paths. Who can measure the depth of Her love? When you pray to Her, the Angel says, I lift up your desires and petitions to Her throne; and don’t you feel how the dew of grace immediately sprinkles and revives your soul? One memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary drives out all despondency and all sorrow from the heart. She sends down her blessing to all who flow under Her protection. The gracious gifts of Her blessings are pure thoughts, holy desires, heavenly hopes, joy of the heart, enlightenment of the mind, holiness of the will.

Prayer to the Mother of God is as necessary for your soul as breathing is necessary for your body. Grace is the life of your soul; but grace is sent down to you through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. She is your cover; She prepares you for heavenly life; She feeds you with the blessings of her Son, just as she once fed Jesus Christ with her milk. From the very morning, upon awakening, send prayers to the Most Holy Mother of God; do not forget that She, upon your awakening, wants to hear your voice, the voice of the ardent love of your heart. In all your prayers, resort to the intercession of the Mother of God. Throughout the day, from time to time, lift your eyes to heaven and cry out to the Mother of God. If the enemy wants to draw you into wickedness, resort to the protection of the Mother of God. Vigor often weakens in your soul, mortal weakness grips your heart – run, run with faith to the Mother of God and She will heal all your illnesses. Her power is equal to Her love, and Her love exceeds everything that the human mind can imagine. To Her glory, what praises, what thanksgivings are offered by the angelic faces surrounding Her throne! The prayers of earthly wanderers are combined with the consonant songs of these faces, whose voice is always listened to with mercy by the Queen of Heaven. Do you know what a fiery desire Her is? This is the desire to see you in heaven with Himself. But even on earth, for your heartfelt piety, for your fervent prayers, you can be warmed by the rays of Her light, enjoy Her love and be magnified by the beauty of Her perfections. Join the celestials and bless the Mother of God with them. Everything encourages you to worship Her. Heaven and earth proclaim Her glory. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit testify of Her. To the Ever-Virgin, Mother of Jesus, our Lady, be glory, worship and thanksgiving forever.

Hear our praise, Most Holy Mother of God. Queen of Heaven and earth, listen to our praise: we bless and glorify You, we send You our heartfelt praises. Oh, You, salvation for those who call on You, refuge for sinners, intercession of Christians, consolation for the sorrowful, bliss of the elect, hope of people – listen to us and show mercy; save the sinner who falls at Toim’s feet; may the blood shed on the cross by Your Divine Son cleanse his sins. You are the Mother of the orphans and the poor; he is wretched and a sire. He places all his bliss in transporting his thoughts to the foot of Your throne and calling you his Mother. How sweet, how comforting is this name, giving him joyful hopes! We will not cease to bless You, to run to You with the same love and hope. You will hear us, for you love the confessors of Your Son and reveal Yourself to them, so that they may find refuge and consolation in You. May the Most Pure Virgin Mary, the treasure of all grace and all the perfections of the blessed, be blessed forever and ever.

* * *

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Beloved fathers, brothers and sisters in the Lord!

In one of the morning prayers that we read every day, having risen from sleep, there are such wonderful words: “I sing of Your grace, Lady, I pray to You, my mind of grace… O wondrous Lady of the chamber, create for me a house of the Divine Spirit.” With these words, a Christian, with the boldness of a son, turns to the Heavenly Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as to his own and beloved mother, and asks Her for grace. And blessed is the one who is worthy of grace descending on him, for on earth there is no happier person on whom God’s blessing rests and over whom the all-honorable omophorion of the Mother of God is always extended. And those of us who, in difficult moments of life, having no other help, no other hope, resorted to the all-powerful protection of the Lady, know how wonderfully the Mother of God consoles those who honor Her. And that love for the Mother of God, that reverence for Her Most Pure Face, depicted on the holy icons, before which believers often bow the knees of their grateful hearts, testifies more clearly than any words to the many experiences of Her gracious overshadowings and blessings.

The grace of God is the invisible power of God, but it is visibly manifested. Filling the soul, it is reflected on the body of a grace-filled person. It is visible on his face, shines in his gaze, and can be heard in his conversation. How sweet is a conversation with such a person! Often one word from a blessed person removes a whole stone from an aching heart, and the soul becomes so light, joyful, and blessed. The soul then involuntarily turns to God, wondrous in His saints.

We all know the life of St. Seraphim of Sarov. This chosen one of God, the favorite of the Mother of God, like St. Sergius, is especially close to the Russian people. Even during his lifetime, the fame of the great ascetic, the great spiritual physician and seer spread throughout Russia, and Mother Rus’ began to stir.

The people, in a continuous stream, reached out to the poor cell of the ascetic, bringing here their grief, their tears, their bewilderment. And how many thousands of people who came to him with a devastated soul and considered themselves to be completely lost, left the gracious elder as renewed people, returned to life, to family, society, the Motherland and the holy faith.

Such, beloved, is the power of God’s grace, so great and wondrous is God in His saints. Many of those who came had one question: “Father, how to live, how to be saved?” And the elder said: “My joy, acquire a peaceful spirit, and then thousands of souls will be saved around you.”

To acquire a peaceful spirit means to have a clear conscience and to be at peace with God, at peace with people and at peace with oneself.

You and I for the most part live in external feelings, we care about temporary pleasures, we try more to know others, but we do not know what is happening in our soul. But there is no peaceful spirit in our souls—every day we become angry and irritated.

Saint Theophan, the Recluse of Vyshensky, says that our main daily sins are: anger, irritability and short temper. And our trouble is that we, being prone to irritability and anger, pay almost no attention to this, we do not care about healing this mental illness, which prepares a person to fall and causes serious harm to the soul. For the dark confusion of the soul from anger, according to the teaching of the holy fathers, puts an impenetrable barrier to the luminous rays of God’s grace.

“My joy, acquire a peaceful spirit,” said St. Seraphim. But we don’t have a peaceful spirit, which means you and I are not saving ourselves well, but we want to be saved.

How can we get rid of these passions that destroy our soul, depriving it of the grace of God, this life-giving power of God? Where can I find the treasure of the spiritual world?

The ascetic seeks it in solitude and silence. Having shut himself up in his “cage,” he, according to the word of God, prays in secret, and the Heavenly Father, seeing the secret, rewards him with the obvious. Rising from prayer, the ascetic burns with the spirit of love for God and neighbor, and his face shines with joy.

Virgins find this treasure in chastity and abstinence, for a pure and chaste life is inextricably linked with the radiance of grace.

Every believer will find this treasure in the temple of God, for here “the salvation of our God is preached day by day,” here the word of God illuminates for us the paths of a gracious and holy life. The whole Church prays here, here we resort to the prayers of the saints, and also to the Most Holy and Most Pure Virgin Mary.

Beloved fathers, brothers and sisters in the Lord!

We have learned that we do not have peace of soul, because our sins confuse us and take away our boldness in prayer. We are sinners. But let us remember that the Mother of God is the Helper of sinners. Through Her all-powerful prayers, many souls of unrepentant sinners were resurrected and reconciled with God. We will also resort to Her in our prayers in grave sins.

We have no peace with our neighbors. And others are unfriendly to us, and our evil heart brings us a lot of sorrows.

“To whom shall I cry, O Lady, to whom shall I resort in my sorrow, if not to You, the Queen of Heaven,” Which the Holy Church calls the Softening of Evil Hearts and the Unexpected Reconciliation of those who are bitterly at war.

Is grief or distress troubling your heart, is sadness tormenting your soul? You will not find refuge more conveniently than here, for the Mother of God is the Joy of All Who Sorrow. She is a consolation in sorrow and sorrow. She is the Giver of unexpected joy to the faithful.

Therefore, Orthodox Christian, resort every day in your prayers to the Queen of Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, seek spiritual peace from Her and save yourself, remembering the words of St. Seraphim: “My joy, acquire a peaceful spirit, and then thousands of souls will be saved around you.” Amen.

Metropolitan Simon (Novikov)

* * *

“Neither the tongue of man nor the mind of the most worldly Angels can worthily praise Her, through Whom it is given to us to clearly see the glory of God… for She surpasses all laws of praise.”

“For those who piously honor Your memory, the mere remembrance of You is truly a precious gift, for it gives inalienable joy. Indeed, what pleasure will he not be filled with, what blessings will he who makes his mind a repository of Your all-holy memory?”

St. John of Damascus

* * *

“The Mother of God does not need our praise; but we have need of Her glory. Indeed, how can one glorify something that has already been glorified?” “But what is sweeter than the Mother of my God? She captivated my mind, fascinated my tongue, I think about her day and night.”

“If someone considers himself a Christian and yet does not assimilate to the Divine Virgin the dignity and title of the Mother of God in the most authentic and proper sense, such, contrary to dogma, is vainly and falsely adorned with the holy name of a Christian.”

St. Theodotus, Bishop of Ancyra

* * *

“According to the testimony of many, whoever of the mourners looked at Her during Her life was filled with spiritual joy: special grace emanated from Her, comforting those who mourn, cheering those who grieve, bringing joy to those who mourn; and then the Most Holy Virgin was in the primacy of the Church, like a crown of joy.”

St. Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky

* * *

“Let only the sick call on Your name and be healed; captive – and will be freed; a beggar will find food; the sailor will be saved.”

St. Ilya Minyatiy

* * *

Others! Look at the image of the Lady, look with hot, fiery prayer! She constantly prays to the Heavenly King of Glory, who became incarnate and suffered for us.

True, our sins and needs are great, but the prayers of the Mother of God are stronger than all needs and bitterness.

Holy Righteous Alexy (Mechev)

* * *

Let us thank the Lord for His great mercy towards us, for His great love. Let us also give thanks to the Most Pure Virgin Mary, who has served as our greatest instrument of salvation. Let us ask that through Her prayers the Lord would strengthen us on the path of salvation, so that we may preserve our faith immaculately and be worthy of the eternal blissful joy that the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.”

Metropolitan John (Snychev) of St. Petersburg

About the pious Agathonik

The pious Agathonik was taught from childhood by his parents to read the prayer “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice…” every day before the icon of the Mother of God.

Having reached the age of perfection, Agafonik began to live on his own and, being overwhelmed by the worries and worries of everyday life, he rarely began to read the above prayer, and finally abandoned it altogether. One evening he received a wanderer for the night, who announced to him that he was a hermit from Thebaid and had seen a vision to go to Agathonik and reproach him for abandoning the prayer of the Mother of God. Agathonik’s reason for leaving was that he had been reading this prayer for many years and did not see any benefit. Then the hermit said to him: “Remember, blind and ungrateful, how many times has this prayer helped you and delivered you from disasters? Remember how in adolescence you were miraculously saved from drowning! Do you remember how a widespread infectious disease drove many of your neighbors to the grave, but you remained unharmed! Do you remember how, while riding with a friend, you fell off the cart with him? He broke his leg, but you didn’t suffer anything. Don’t you know that a former young man known to you is now lying in relaxation, and you are healthy and do not feel suffering?

And having reminded Agathonicus of many other things, he finally said: “Know that all such cases have been turned away from you by the patronage of the Most Holy Theotokos for the short prayer with which you daily aroused your soul to unite with God… See, continue and in the future do not give up glorifying the Queen of Heaven with this prayer, until you are abandoned by Her.”

The Venerable Ambrose, the Elder of Optina, advised his children to read the prayer “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice…” at least 24 times, according to the number of hours a day.

* * *

The young Christian suffered from bouts of melancholy. He considered this to be the work of an evil spirit. At first I tried treatment, but to no avail, then I decided to intensify my prayer. He began to read the prayer on his rosary: ​​“Virgin Mother of God, rejoice…” He reads it easier. If you get distracted, your grief intensifies again. Then he began to constantly wear a rosary and read the Virgin Mary with it until he finally recovered. Having been healed, he glorified the Queen of Heaven.

And invisible help can be miraculous

Metropolitan Benjamin recalled that when he was in Crimea in 1917, very difficult conditions were created for him and he did not see a way out of the situation. Knowing from others that it would be good in this case to read the canon of the Mother of God “We contain many misfortunes…”, written for those overcome by sorrows, he began to read it. I had not even read half of the canon when the news arrived that all the confusion had been resolved successfully.

The Metropolitan himself spoke about it this way: “The case was apparently very simple, but for me it was unexpected and miraculous. And then I prayed very little, about five minutes! Merciful Queen of Heaven!

Prayer canon of the Mother of God, and the repentance of an envious person

From the life of St. Gabriel of Spaso-Eleazarovsky

Over the next year, Father Archimandrite again began to treat Father Gabriel worse and worse. It was time to go to another monastery. Having decided this, Father Gabriel did not even try to justify himself before the abbot, but left everything to the will of God. Finally, I decided to especially pray to the Mother of God, and so I began to read the prayer canon to Her: “We suffer from many misfortunes.” He reads for a day or two, and began to read for the third time, when suddenly there is a knock on the door and a call to Father Archimandrite. Father Gabriel left the reading halfway, got dressed and went to the abbot. Father Gregory blessed him and immediately called his cell attendant Volodya and ordered him:

–   Volodya, speak up!

Volodya bowed to the ground to Father Gabriel, told him the whole truth: how he had slandered him, at the instigation of others, how he now realizes all the guilt, and added:

“And for some reason my conscience has tormented me these two days, I can’t find a place… And… I told Father Archimandrite everything… Forgive me!..” and bowed again.

Father Gregory added his own apology. Immediately, Father Gabriel bowed at his feet and asked for forgiveness for the fact that, without making excuses, he thereby seemed to strengthen the abbot’s suspicions against himself. A sweet reconciliation took place: everyone kissed, and Father Gregory joyfully smiled with an angelic smile. And having arrived at the cell, the elder warmly and with tenderness thanked the Lady, his quick helper and intercessor. From that time on, he became even more confirmed in his faith in Her.

* * *

The wall is unbreakable

Elder Gabriel once dreamed of a straight and wide road leading to a certain city, where he also had to go. People are moving along the road. Above them is a terrible giant, whose head rests on the sky. The giant has a net in his hands, which he throws at those passing by. He grabs you and drags you towards him. How to escape his network? The elder noticed a high, sky-high wall to the left of the road. Below it is a narrow path along which rare travelers walked. The giant threw a net at them, but it hit the wall and bounced off without catching those walking, and they continued on their way. The elder realized that the Wall is the one about which the akathist says: “Rejoice, Indestructible Wall of the Kingdom…” and in the church song it is sung: “To you both the Wall and the refuge of the imams…”. He turned from the long path onto this path. The net flew over the old man more than once, but he pressed himself against the wall and safely reached the city. But how would one be here if not for the Unbreakable Wall?

* * *

Happy, infinitely happy is the person who loved the Mother of God, and completely betrayed his life to Her, entrusting himself and his loved ones to Her. She will not leave both in this temporary life and in the future. Just don’t think that She will save you from all sorrows, that everything will be safe and calm. No, but She will give you the strength to endure, she will teach you to bear life’s trials with humility, will help you in the fight against temptations, and will protect you from the misfortunes of the enemy. Much less will She forsake us in eternal life, but will intercede for us before Her Son.

In these last times, all Orthodox Christians should have an intense prayer to the Mother of God – the Intercessor of the Christian race. She is now entrusted with a sinful, perishing world. Our only hope is in Her. Before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, pray fervently and shed tears. She will comfort you, She will protect you from evil people, She will never leave you in difficult times, and at the hour of your death She will come to you and drive away evil demons, and give you a joyful death, and will place you in the Kingdom of Heaven for a blissful life forever.

Arch. Tikhon (Agrikov), in schema schiarch. Panteleimon

* * *

If we compare the life of the ancient fathers as described by their contemporaries with the life of the elders of the last century, it seems to me that the ascetics of our time especially need the help of the Most Holy Theotokos and increasingly entrust their children to the prayers of the Mother of God. It seems to me that the ancient saints were warriors matured in battles who go to battle following the example of their father, and modern ascetics are like small children who seek protection from their enemies from their mother. They walked along the paved road, holding each other’s hands: those who fell were lifted up, those who were exhausted were carried in their arms. And these walk through the muddy swamp almost alone. And they especially feel Mother’s love, full of compassion.

Arch. Rafail (Karelin)

* * *

And the Most Holy Virgin, God’s Chosen Maiden, the Daughter of Man, who for the first time opened heaven to us and became the Mother of suffering and sick humanity, is always ready with Her grace to support, strengthen and lead through life, along the path of salvation, all who resort to Her with faith and love.

The Mother of God always is and will be with those who are faithful to Her Divine Son, who follow His call along the path of eternal salvation. She, according to St. John Chrysostom, is the first Successor of Divine gifts and the first Distributor of these gifts and blessings to people who seek help from the Lord and mercy from Her. It will always be this way, until the last hour and moment of the life of the world.

And may our believing heart, knowing the great power of the intercession of the Mother of God, always fall at the feet of the Mother of God with its sighs, needs, sorrows, in all trials and in moments of crying over sins. And She, the Joy of all who mourn, our Heavenly Mother, extending Her sovereign Cover, will intercede and save, and have mercy on us all. Amen.

Arch. John (Peasant)

* * *

From apostolic times to the present day, all who truly love Christ pay homage to the One who gave birth to Him, raised Him and protected Him in the days of His childhood. If God the Father chose Her, the Holy Spirit descended on Her, God the Son dwelt in Her, obeyed Her in the days of childhood, took care of Her while hanging on the cross, then shouldn’t everyone who confesses the Holy Trinity bow to Her.

St. John of Shanghai

* * *

The Mother of God is called “the plague of demons,” because there is no way for a demon to destroy a person, as long as the person himself does not retreat from resorting to the help of the Mother of God.

Rev. Seraphim of Sarov,

from a conversation about the purpose of Christian life

* * *

“Most Holy Mother of God, save us.” The Lord brought salvation to the world through You. You are the leader of our salvation. Your Son and our God does not deny You anything, showing You honor as the Son of His Mother.

The Holy Church sings “save us” to no one except the Lord Himself and the Mother of God, only through Him. The Church addresses the saints who have pleased the Lord: “Pray to God for us.” Save us from troubles, our All-Merciful Mother of God, forever. Amen. Grant us, O Most Pure One, to serve You continually with zeal and love until our last breath, and with boldness, together with Father Seraphim of Sarov, say: “I am a wretched servant of the Mother of God.”

The Most Pure Virgin gives all types of healing to those who ask, and Her mercy will never become scarce, for there is an inexhaustible treasure; No matter how much the world receives Her mercy, they are endless. For all generations will bless Her, and Her mercies will endure throughout all generations and forever and ever.

Hieromartyr Metropolitan Seraphim (Zvezdinsky)

* * *

I have such hope in the Mother of God as I do in a stone mountain: since I am so sure about Her by God that from Adam until the end of time there will not be those people deprived of the eternal glory of pleasure, who, according to God, trusted and hoped in Her, with their frequent cry and pestering of Her; even if one of them was like me, a sinner and a lawless one. All was devoted to Her from Her Son; She is merciful and humane and kind! For her sake and for me, my dear Jesus Christ the Lord will accept you into His eternal abodes, for the shedding of His blood.

Scheme-monk Parthenius of Kiev
1

* * *

Oh, if we heard and saw the prayer for us and for the world of the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God, angels and saints, we would be horrified and ashamed of our laziness and carelessness in prayer, we would rise not only during the day, but also in the middle of the night to pray and praise the Lord’s goodness, God’s patience, God’s greatness, God’s wisdom and almighty power.

St. right John of Kronstadt

* * *

Christ is given to the soul by His Most Pure Mother. Pray to the Most Holy One fervently and you will be with Her Son. Remember these words.

Schiarch. Zechariah

* * *

He who distinguished himself in chastity and holiness, and was worthy of all kinds of spiritual gifts, became worthy of them thanks to the protection of our Lady Theotokos.

Athos Elder Daniil Katunaksky

* * *

Let us fall to the Heavenly Queen – the Most Pure Mother of God, quick to hear the Daughter, so that She can help us, “for no one who comes to her leaves ashamed, but asks for grace and accepts the gift of a useful petition.” After God, She alone can help us. Let us trust in Her and not be ashamed. I secretly got up at night and made prostrations, prayed earnestly to the Mother of God, and the Mother of God miraculously condescended to my humility.

Prayer is a double-edged sword that cuts through despair, danger, sorrow and the like.

Diligently ask the Mother of Light, the Immaculate Mother of God, to console you, because after God She is the Greatest Comforter. When anyone calls on Her holy name, he immediately feels Her intercession. She is the Mother, and when she was on earth, She also suffered, like a person similar to us. Therefore, She sympathizes with suffering souls, hurries and comes to their aid.

Athos elder schiarch. Ephraim

* * *

Our earthly life is full of sorrows and sorrows. It is not for nothing that it is so often called the vale of weeping and lamentation. A person is born crying, and he goes to another world with many sighs and torments. So no one can escape sorrows and tears in this life; a person has much more troubles and misfortunes than joys. Everyone knows from experience how sometimes life’s grief crushes the soul from all sides, the heart is exhausted from melancholy and sorrow, and sometimes tears flow from the eyes involuntarily. It is difficult for a person to endure misfortunes, and he sometimes becomes despondent, and a feeling of sadness takes possession of him. But, my dears, the most important thing is do not despair, take heart! When a cloud of sorrows surrounds you so that there seems to be no way out of this situation, then remember that you have a Mother in heaven, the Queen of Heaven, who sees you, hears you and knows all your spiritual movements. Call on Her with faith, and She will immediately come to you and deliver you from troubles and misfortunes.

Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)

Extract from the biography of the ascetic of piety of the 20th century, student and follower of the Glinsky elders, Metropolitan Zinovy2

Vladyka had special prayerful zeal for the Mother of God. To the question of one hieromonk about what must be done to remain faithful to Christ and endure all trials if bloody persecution of the church begins again, the Metropolitan answered: “Pray to the Mother of God and read “Virgin Mother of God, Rejoice” as often as possible. Whoever reads this prayer is protected by the Most Holy Theotokos. I was in exile with one bishop. They demanded that he sign a document stating that he had participated in a conspiracy against the authorities; Several other people were listed there. He was tortured during interrogations, but he withstood the torture and did not betray his brothers. This bishop told me that he constantly read the prayer “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary…”, and at night he read the canon of Hodegetria, which he knew by heart. He said that he felt pain, but as if muffled, and then lost consciousness. Finally, having achieved nothing, they left him alone.”

ABOUT THE THEORY RULE

The “Theotokos Rule” is the reading of the Archangel’s greeting 150 times a day: “Virgin Mother of God, Hail, O Blessed Mary, the Lord is with Thee, blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb, for Thou hast given birth to the Savior of our souls!”

There is a church tradition that the Queen of Heaven Herself gave people this rule in the 8th century, and it was once followed by all Christians, but over time it was forgotten.

The Venerable Seraphim of Sarov reminded of this rule, instructing us to walk along the groove circled around the Diveyevo monastery, reading “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice 150 times…”

In the elder’s cell they found an old book describing miracles that happen to people who fulfill this rule of reading the Archangel’s Rejoicing to the Queen of Heaven 150 times.

In his conversation with Motovilov about the purpose of Christian life, the Monk Seraphim of Sarov said:

“Although the enemy the devil deceived Eve and Adam fell with her, the Lord not only gave them a Redeemer in the fruit of the seed of a woman, who trampled death by death, but also gave us all in the Ever-Virgin Wife, the Mother of God Mary, who erased the head of the serpent in Herself and in the entire human race, an unrelenting Intercessor to His Son and our God, unashamed and invincible A representative even for the most desperate sinners. That is why the Mother of God is called the Plague of Demons, for there is no way for a demon to destroy a person, as long as the person himself does not retreat from resorting to the help of the Mother of God.”

Many shepherds of high spiritual life themselves fulfilled the Rule of the Mother of God and blessed their spiritual children for this work.

Here is an excerpt from a letter from the meekest Father Alexander (Gumanovsky), in the monastic life of Daniel, nicknamed the Elder of the Mother of God for his love and constant service to the Ever-Virgin Mary: “I forgot to offer you essential saving advice. Read “Theotokos Virgin” 150 times daily, and this prayer will save you. This rule was given by the Mother of God Herself around the 7th century, and it was once followed by all Christians. We Orthodox Christians have forgotten about it, and St. Seraphim reminds us of this rule. I have in my hands a handwritten book from the cell of St. Seraphim with a description of many miracles through prayer to the Mother of God, and in particular from reading “Theotokos the Virgin” 150 times. If, out of habit, it will be difficult for you to complete 150 times a day, read it 50 times at first. After every ten, read “Our Father” and “Open the doors of mercy to us” once. No matter who I told about this miraculous rule, everyone remained grateful.”

Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), now glorified among the host of holy new martyrs and confessors of Russia, performed the Theotokos rule daily and knew from his own experience its mighty power.

In 1926, Vladyka Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) lived in the Diveyevo Monastery. During the winter he lived in the rooms of Elena Ivanovna Motovilova, in their building, behind the “ditch”. Abbess Alexandra reassured: “Live in peace, the Bolsheviks will not touch this place. St. Seraphim said that the ditch will become a wall from earth to heaven, and the Antichrist will not cross over it.” “You misunderstand the words of the Reverend,” answered the Bishop. – He taught to read “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice…” one hundred and fifty times and said: “Whoever fulfills this rule will never be overcome by the Antichrist in his soul.”

This is what he wrote from exile to his spiritual children: “I am making a long, long journey with transfers and tedious stops. But this entire path from Melenki to Moscow, from Moscow to Alma-Ata, from Alma-Ata to Uralsk, coming from Uralsk to Guryev on the Caspian Sea is a wondrous and unforgettable path. To put it briefly, this is the path of miracles from reading 150 times “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!” Sometimes I think that the Lord deliberately sent me this way in order to show me with my own eyes how powerful the prayer of His Most Pure Mother is before Him and how effective the Archangel’s greeting brought to Her with faith: “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!” I believe and confess that I have known, as never before, on the path I am now taking all the warmth, all the protection, all the cover of this wonderful greeting of this “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!” This appeal in the most impassable places paved the way for me with my faithful companions, in desperate circumstances it gave a way out, won over those who were not disposed towards me, repeatedly softened evil hearts, and burned and shamed those who were not softened. As if they disappeared like smoke. Archangel greeting “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!” in the midst of complete helplessness, unexpected help was suddenly given and, moreover, from a direction from which it was impossible to expect, not to mention the inner peace in the midst of storms, about the inner order in the surrounding disorder from this greeting of the Archangel, it removes the righteously driven wrath of God from our head and cancels the very sentence of the Judge-Knower of the Heart. O great boldness! O terrible intercession! It lifts passions from the fire, and delights grief from the bottom of the fall to heaven. Protect yourself more often and more diligently, my dear children, with this unbreakable wall, with this indestructible fence “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!” With this prayer we will not perish, we will not burn in fire, we will not drown in the sea. If Satan, who hates us, stops us on our path and knocks us down, then even then, sending up the Archangel’s greeting, we will rise up, we will rise up for good, the darkened ones will be enlightened, the sick in soul will be healed, those polluted by sin will be cleansed and made white, like snow with purity, by the prayer “of the Highest heavens and the purest lordships of the sun.” The dead, killed by passions, will rise again, we will come to life and cry out in delight of the spirit: “Christ is risen! Truly risen!”

* * *

About the intercession of the Queen of Heaven

From the instructions of the Pskov-Pechersk elder schema-abbot Savva (Ostapenko)

“To whom shall I cry, O Lady?..” With these words, on behalf of all believers, the Holy Church addresses the Queen of Heaven. And really, to whom, if not to Her, do we turn for help? At all times, Orthodox people have resorted to the protection of the Queen of Heaven, tearfully begging Her to be their Intercessor and Intercessor before Her Son.

How many miraculous healings She sent from Her icons for the admonition, support and glorification of Her faithful servants!

And today we resort to Her merciful intercession, because “the imams have no other help.” And today She turns to the Lord: “My son, have mercy and mercy on Your creation! Spare him for My sake, because he always resorted to Me and asked me to be his Intercessor.”

One person has such a dream: a trial is being carried out on him. He trembles terribly that he will be condemned to torture. And the Guardian Angel whispers to him:

–    Don’t be afraid, you will be fine.

He asks the Guardian Angel:

– How do you know?

The angel answers him:

– Because the Mother of God is approaching the Throne, and She will beg for you! You honored Her, prayed to Her and always asked Her.

In great joy, he woke up and began to honor the Mother of God even more. So we will always try to resort to the Mother of God in the hope of Her help, and we will not be deceived!

Many follow the Theotokos rule – this is 150 prayers “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary…” must be read per day. Once upon a time, the Mother of God Herself said:

– On earth I went through 15 stages of earthly life. And whoever remembers these 15 stages with a dozen “Mother of God…”, I will help him in everything.

This means: in family life, in work life and in personal life, in sorrows and illnesses. So, if you multiply 10 by 15, you get 150 prayers.

When people came to Seraphim of Sarov, he said: “Walk around the monastery along the ditch and there, on the rosary, say 150 times, “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary.”

And when they complete this, then he gives them some water and says: “The Mother of God is healing you. The Mother of God delivers you from sorrows.”

And everyone received help and healing! And he punished them to continue to follow this rule at home.

The Mother of God rule can be read while walking, lying down, or sitting, without bowing, just read:

– Virgin Mary, rejoice! Blessed Mary, the Lord is with You, blessed are You among women and blessed is the Fruit of Your womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls.

And I wish everyone who can read the “Virgin Mary” 150 times, even while sitting, even while lying down, or even while walking. And some do this: they read 50 prayers in the morning, 50 in the afternoon, 50 in the evening, or 30 prayers 5 times. If only you could read “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” 150 times a day… Got it?

And we are sinners in this: we are both careless and lazy. But laziness is the mother of all vices, prayer is the mother of all virtues!

Fulfilling this commandment of the Queen of Heaven, we will begin to read the Mother of God rule, that is, 150 times a day the prayer “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice…”. What great strength and help in the fight against evil power this rule represents!

And the Queen of Heaven will always help us according to Her false promise.

* * *

As if this mysterious word of adoption still sounds throughout the centuries of Christianity – “Woman, behold your son”, “Behold your mother” – with which Christ adopted the human race to His Mother in the person of his beloved disciple John. And to these words the human race responded with boundless faith in the Mother of God… And how we all, in all eras of life, need this maternal protection! How painfully we long for there to be a living soul, whom we could all trust without hiding, without fear of condemnation, confident only that they will take pity on us, console us… And we know from experience: – She will understand. She will respond. She will heal.

I once heard a conversation between a believer and an elder. He admitted that the Mother of God was somehow closer to him, that he thought about Her more than about Christ, that he would more willingly donate to a temple in Her name than to a temple to Christ; and he asked the elder if this was not a distortion of faith.

The elder replied:

– Imagine a man who loves his mother infinitely. What better way can you please him than with attention to his mother? It will be dearer to him than any attention shown directly to himself… Understand, we love the Mother of God because She is the Mother of Christ and, therefore, because of Christ… And, of course, all zeal for Her, even apparently obscuring the face of Christ Himself before us, is pleasing to Him. Love the Mother of God and through Her glorify Christ – She leads us all to Her Son and God.

She will support you and strengthen you in your life. What grief, what sorrow, when we are under Her cover! Let the whole world rise up against us. She’s for us!

E. Villager

* * *

On the path of life we ​​are not alone: ​​God is with us, His Most Pure Mother is with us. She walks with us along the roads of the cross of earthly life. Her help and joy are always with those who seek God and salvation, who seek to meet Her at home and in churches, who love people and bring them joy with sympathetic words, good advice, and useful deeds. Her Son, our Savior, suffered for everyone, His Most Pure Mother suffers for everyone and prays for everyone. To realize this is already enough to be happy and joyful, to repeat in joy: “Rejoice, our Joy, cover us from all evil with Your honest omophorion.” Amen.

* * *

“A person who knows that he will find himself under the shelter of his own mother rejoices, because no one else will understand, listen, sympathize and help like his own mother. We have our own Mother – the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, before whom every Christian heart is ready to open with joy, with complete trust, with bright hope. She was and remains forever the Mother of every person and all of humanity. She knows the worries and anxieties of earthly mothers. She is close to our needs and sorrows, illnesses and difficulties with which each of us, Her son or daughter, is burdened. In moments when the Christian heart, under the holy protection of the Mother of God, finds shelter, hope and consolation for itself, I want to constantly exclaim to Her, the warm Intercessor of the cold world: “Cover, protect and preserve, offer prayers to Thy Son and our God, that through Thee He may save our souls.”

Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan)

From the sermons of Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)

Our most powerful leader in the matter of salvation, our very first intercessor before the Lord is the Most Holy Virgin Mary, as more honorable than the cherubim and more glorious than the seraphim, without comparison, as having more maternal boldness before God the Son. She, of course, is stronger than all the holy saints of God and the angels in being able to intercede before the Almighty for the human race. All the saints in heaven in relation to us, pilgrims on earth, are like unsetting stars without clouds, and the Most Holy Virgin Mary is like the moon, full in days, always shining for us in the nights of sin, so that we, like the Israelites, do not stray from the path of the promised land into the desert of eternal destruction. Just as the moon, borrowing from the sun more light than the stars, illuminates the earth with a light greater in comparison with them, so the Mother of God, having received from the Sun of Truth divine light in incomparably greater abundance than all the saints, pours out from Herself large, compared to them, streams of grace-filled light onto the Holy Church, sending her with Her powerful intercession consolation and help in all sorrows and disasters and driving away from her the darkness of wickedness enveloping nations alienated from the light of truth.

Let us imagine that priests, and monks, and bishops are praying on earth; Moreover, all the saints in paradise, and prophets, and apostles, and martyrs with the saints offer prayers to the throne of God and ask for mercy.

But much more than this intercession is one single word of the Mother of God. When the terrible Judge turns and sees the face of His Mother, This holiest and sweetest Mother who begs Him, He will immediately become friendly, meek, peaceful, put aside the sword and bow of His divine wrath and show us His condescension and love. “Mother’s prayer can do much for the mercy of the Lord”3. Other saints beg the Lord as slaves; She, as the Mother of God, begs the Son, whom she gave birth to, nursed, and whom she raised with all her love. All the saints intercede for us as for brothers, and the Most Holy Virgin as for children! Now, therefore, understand how important it is for us to pray to the Mother of God. This is the kind of mercy and help Our Lady gives us! What reverence and veneration we Christians should show Her! She is both the Mother of God and our Mother. As our Mother, we must honor and reverently treat Her, because this is our natural duty, approved by the law of God; on the other hand, as the Mother of God, we must honor Her even more and revere Her, for She, as the Mother of God, is honored and revered by the saints themselves and even the angels and archangels. He who does not honor and respect his mother is not worthy of the title of man. Anyone who does not honor and revere the Mother of God is not worthy of the name Christian.

* * *

The Mother of God takes care of the Christian race and delves into human needs even to the smallest – this is how She loved the Christians adopted by Her. Loving believers, She did not leave them without Her consolation and gracious help, for which purpose She left Her icons on earth for the Orthodox people, through which She comforts and heals all the grieving and unfortunate who come running to Her with faith. She sent more than two hundred of Her miraculous icons to the earth to suffering people, through them She heals all illnesses and pours out Her mercy. Among the great shrines that are glorified on our Russian land is the miraculous icon of the Pochaev Mother of God.

This icon became famous for many miracles and signs. Monastic books record cases of resurrection of the dead, deliverance from sudden death, from serious incurable illnesses, liberation from captivity, punishment and admonition of the lost, and so on. The miraculous icon has been in the Lavra for four hundred years, Pochaevskaya Mountain was glorified by the Mother of God much earlier – more than seven hundred years ago. In ancient times, in 1240, when there were no inhabitants on this mountain, two monks came and settled there. For their pious life they were honored with the appearance of the Mother of God. One day, after a prayer rule, one of them decided to climb to the top of the mountain and suddenly saw a wonderful vision: the Mother of God stood on a stone in a pillar of fire. The amazed old man hastened to inform his companion about this, and they both looked at this wondrous vision. The third chosen one, the shepherd John Bosoy, who at that time was grazing cattle at the foot of the mountain, also saw the same vision. All together they looked at this wonderful vision and glorified God. In the place where the Most Holy Theotokos stood, an imprint of her right foot formed on the stone, filled with fresh clear water, which later became a source of healing diseases! More than three hundred years later, Metropolitan Neophytos passed through those places on the road from Constantinople and, at the invitation of a pious wife named Anna Goiskaya, stopped for some time in her house. When leaving, as a sign of gratitude for her hospitality, he left her an icon of the Mother of God, which he brought from Constantinople. A little time passed, and they began to notice that some extraordinary radiance was emanating from the icon, then Goyskaya’s blind brother, Philip, was healed from it. Reverently before this shrine, Anna gave the icon to the monks who were on Pochaevskaya Mountain. And a church was built in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and then a monastery was founded, which began to be called Pochaevsky, and the icon began to be called Pochaevskaya.

More than six hundred miracles were recorded that were performed from this icon. Here are some great examples. One monk, captured by the Turks, grieved greatly in captivity, grieved that he was in a distance and could not hear the beautiful monastic services. Once, when the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God was approaching, he prayed with tears to Her for his deliverance from captivity. Instantly he was delighted with divine power and placed before the altar of the Assumption Cathedral. In a feeling of heartfelt tenderness, he offered deep gratitude in front of Her icon.

Another time, the Turks attacked the lands surrounding the monastery, approached the walls and besieged the Pochaev Monastery. The besieged monks and laymen, having no hope for their strength, turned to the Mother of God with tearful prayer, asking for Her protection. With tenderness and tears they cried out before Her miraculous image: “Have mercy on us, Mother of God! Show us Your ancient mercies. You are the Intercessor of the Christian race, do not let those who serve You perish.” Then, when they sang the kontakion “To the Chosen Voivode,” the Mother of God appeared above the church with an outstretched omophorion, covering the monastery with it, surrounded by a radiant radiance, with many angels dressed in military robes, with drawn swords. This vision prompted the Turks to intensify their attack on the monastery, and some even began to shoot arrows at the heavenly warriors, but the arrows returned and wounded them. Then confusion and fear arose in their camp, for they saw that the heavenly warriors were chasing them. Having thrown down their weapons, the Turks fled without causing any harm to the monastery. So miraculously the monastery was saved by the intercession of the Mother of God. This took place in 1675.

One day, a nine-year-old girl who was blind from birth came to the monastery with her grandmother. When she washed her eyes with water from the foot of the Mother of God, her eyes miraculously regained their sight.

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, all these examples testify that the Mother of God immeasurably loves those who resort to Her and hope for Her help. Our Christian duty is to honor and glorify the Mother of God and always thank Her for the great bounties and mercies that She has shown to us and to the entire human race. You and I should especially be grateful to the Mother of God for the fact that we have survived to this day and have been granted the honor of being present at church prayer in the church where the holy feet of the Mother of God trod.

Let us honor Her and always resort to Her with our sorrows and praise Her, saying: “Rejoice, zealous Intercessor of the Christian race; Rejoice, our Joy, cover us from the enemy’s evil with Your honest omophorion!” Amen.

* * *

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

“The intercession of Christians is not shameful, the intercession to the Creator is immutable, do not despise the voices of sinful prayers, but advance, as the Good One, to the aid of us who faithfully call Thee: hasten to prayer and drag ourselves to supplication, interceding ever since, the Mother of God who honors Thee.” Thus, we often sing with special tenderness in honor and praise of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, placing before Her all our unworthy prayers and referring to Her alone all timely help from above.

Why do we have such complete devotion to our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and what does the author of this hymn want to instill in us with such a lively feeling of his zeal for Her? This is how the Church expresses its faith and conviction that the first all-powerful and speedy helper and intercessor before God is truly the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, that She, standing face to face before the throne of Her Son and our God, silently prays for the salvation, blessing and protection of His inheritance. Thus, the Church inspires us that the Blessed Virgin, having become the Mother of the Son of God – our Redeemer, became the Mother of all the righteous and a reliable refuge for sinners. Throughout the Christian world, Her most pure hands are spread out with beneficial miracles and signs – undoubted and obvious evidence and guarantees of Her mercy and intercession, so that hardly anyone can count them. The immeasurable greatness by which She is exalted in heaven above the cherubim and seraphim is truly equal to the indescribable mercy with which She appears everywhere on earth among Christians.

Therefore, with dignity and righteousness, the Holy Church magnifies the Mother of God with silent voices, urging us, unworthy, to this praise of Her. And we are all under Her all-powerful protection and intercession and embraced by Her great mercy. Given our insignificance, it is dear to us to have a kind and faithful helper in our everyday needs and especially in dangers; it is all the more dear and joyful to have hope in the Most Holy Virgin Mary and Her intercession for us before the throne of the Most High. We have many all kinds of needs, spiritual and physical, that cannot be satisfied by anyone except Him, and many dangers of all kinds, which cannot be averted without His all-powerful help. Meanwhile, our prayers and petitions often do not reach the King of Heaven due to our sins and due to our extreme unworthiness. We often ask and cry out to the Lord, but the Lord does not listen to us, because we ask without faith, we cry out without hope. We often have an attraction to goodness, but we cannot follow it, and, on the contrary, we often do what we internally abhor. We want to be virtuous, but we still remain sinners. We make vows to hate sin – and we cannot part with the habit of it and destroy the pleasure of sin in our hearts. And we all, according to the word of the Holy Scripture, drink iniquity like water (see: Job 15:16).

In such weaknesses, needs and spiritual dangers of ours, the Most Holy Virgin intercedes for us, who are not completely established in faith, hope and love, and inclines the mercy of Her Son and our God towards us, unworthy, asking His mercy, intercession and protection. Knowing our weaknesses, She extends Her merciful gaze to our smallest needs and demands. Being of the same nature with us, She loves us with complete holy love, and having experienced many needs, sorrows and humiliation, She is especially close to the unfortunate, the broken-hearted, the orphans, the sick, the helpless, the persecuted, the offended. Open the history of the Church, remember the life of a pious believing people, and before you in its entirety will appear the immensity of the benefits and miracles poured out by the Mother of God to the human race. Amen.

* * *

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

“Joy to all who mourn, and those who are offended by intercession, and those who are hungry for nourishment, strange consolation, those who are overwhelmed by shelter, visiting the sick, the infirm, protection and intercessor, the rod of old age, You are the Mother of the Most High God, O Most Pure One: we strive, we pray, that Thy servant may be saved,” – with such touching and deeply meaningful words, the Holy Church on behalf of all Christians addresses the Most Pure One Virgin Mary, teaching us to always run under Her Mother’s cover.

Dear brothers and sisters, happy is the person who has a kind, warm-hearted mother! This means that there is always sincere love, affection, warm, sincere words next to him. This means that a good mentor, guardian and leader of his moral, pure life is always nearby. And what warm, fiery and fervent prayers for a child are raised by a mother’s lips to the throne of the Most High! Even when a mother gives up her life, her main concern is about her children. In the person of the mother, everyone has an expensive treasure, more valuable than which there is nothing in the world. On the contrary, people who lose their natural mother early are forced to suffer and are doomed to a hard lot. We have compassion for such unfortunate people and call them orphans. But, dear ones, the Church now publicly says that no, there have not been and will not be orphans with God! Everyone living on earth has a Mother: dear, holy, deeply loving and tenderly caring for us from the cradle to the grave. This Mother is our Heavenly Queen. She is always ready to provide us with Her help, to ease our suffering, to pour consolation into our tormented, restless and grieving soul, and in Her Motherly embrace to calm, console, support and encourage us. There is no refusal in Her Maternal heart for any prayer, for any request! Even more, She, like a tender Mother, hurries to Her children when they mourn, are troubled and perish. She, as the Mother of the Most High God, has the gracious divine power to help us.

So, dear ones, you see: everyone living on earth has a loving, bright, all-powerful Mother. She is an indestructible wall, hope for the unreliable, She is the joy of all who mourn. And when you suffer, suffer, when life is truly difficult and difficult for you, when you are on the verge of death, when you lose hope and fall into despair – remember that we have a deeply loving Mother, despite all the impurity of our life! Remember, remember that She will come right away, and is already coming to you with help, consolation, relief and salvation! Just call Her, just tell Her with tears, with hope, with faith: “There are no other help for the imams, no other hope for the imams, except for You, the Lady. Help us, we rely on You and boast in You, for we are Your servants, let us not be ashamed.” And believe that She, having heard your mournful cry, will come to you, wipe away your tears, ease your suffering and deliver you from danger, death and from evil melancholy and despondency.

My dears, believe with all your heart, with all your soul, that the Queen of Heaven will never leave us, will never forget us, that She is always with us: in sorrow and in joy, when we are born and when we die, both here on earth and there in heaven. And it is the same for everyone: both for the righteous and for sinners, now and always, until the end of the age. For She is our Mother, unchanging, loving and saving.

Celebration of the icon of the Mother of God,

referred to as “Unexpected Joy”

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

“Rejoice, you who give unexpected joy to the faithful!”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the feast celebrated today in honor of the icon of the Mother of God, called “Unexpected Joy,” reveals to us the bright hope of our unashamed hope in the intercession of the Mother of God for us, Her love for the Christian race – love not only for people of impeccable life, but also for people mired in their sins, for people with a bad conscience, for lawless people. It is not for nothing that the Holy Church always turns to the Mother of God during divine services in her prayers and chants, knowing Her ineffable mercy and love for mankind, teaching us that in our sorrows and needs we should always run under the protection of our all-powerful and merciful Heavenly Mother and receive help. You know from history that our ancestors, Russian Orthodox Christians, were very God-fearing people; they always had a firm and deep faith in the heavenly intercession of the Mother of God. And the Queen of Heaven did not leave their faith in vain, but always sent help to everyone who resorted to Her with faith.

It is difficult to even indicate such a disaster or misfortune from which the Mother of God would not deliver when they turned to Her with faith and fervent prayer. Through Her intercession and intercession those suffering from long-term and incurable diseases were healed, the dead were resurrected; many got rid of impending death, from robbers, from drowning, from fire, from freezing. Through her intercession, public disasters were stopped: fires, famines, wars; entire villages, cities and regions were freed from deadly and destructive diseases. Orthodox Christians know many other examples of Her intercession. But most importantly, She repeatedly prevented the righteous wrath of God on sinners, admonished them and helped them turn from error to the path of repentance and correction of life.

It is to such cases that the currently celebrated event, which is depicted on the “Unexpected Joy” icon, belongs. One sinner had the custom of standing every day in his room before the image of the Mother of God in prayer and sending Her the Archangel’s praise: “Rejoice, O Blessed One!” One day, getting ready for a sinful task, out of habit, he entered the room and stood in front of the icon of the Mother of God. But suddenly the icon began to move before his eyes, the faces of the Mother of God and the Child of God appeared before him alive, wounds opened on the arms, legs and ribs of the Child and blood flowed from them in a stream. Seeing this, the sinner fell in fear and exclaimed: “O Lady, who did this?” To this, the Mother of God replied: “You and other sinners, with your sins, again crucify My Son, like the Jews.” – “Have mercy on me, Mother of Mercy!” – the horrified robber then exclaimed. She answered him: “You call Me the Mother of mercy, but you yourself insult Me with your lawless deeds.” “No,” the sinner exclaimed, “let not my malice overcome Your ineffable goodness, for You are the only hope for all sinful people. Pray for me, Thy Son and My Creator.” Then the most blessed Mother of God began to beg Her Son, saying: “My blessed Son! For the sake of My love, remember this sinner and forgive his sins.” To this the Son answered Her: “Do not be angry, My Mother, that I will not listen to You, for I also prayed to My Father that the cup of suffering would pass from Me, but He did not listen to Me.” The Most Holy Mother of God turned to Her Son three times, begging for the sinner’s forgiveness, but He remained adamant. Then She stood up, sat the Son down and wanted to throw herself at His feet. “What do you want to do, O My Mother!” – exclaimed the Son. “Until then I will lie at Your feet, until you forgive this sinner his sins,” answered the Mother of God. “The law commands every son to honor his mother, and justice requires that the legislator should also be the executor of the law; therefore I fulfill Your request, may it be done according to Your desire. Now this man’s sins are forgiven for Your sake. Let him kiss My wounds as a sign of the forgiveness of his sins.” With great joy, the repentant and forgiven sinner stood up and with great reverence kissed the Savior’s most pure wounds and from that time began to live in a manner pleasing to God.

Beloved brothers and sisters, the event now remembered testifies, first of all, to the ineffable love of the Mother of God for sinners, to Her maternal care for Her children, who are drowning in the abyss of sin. But at the same time, it reveals to us the greatest evil hidden in sin. Sin is a terrible evil, the destruction of which required the death of the Only Begotten Son of God. With our sins we again crucify the Son of God and lacerate His wounds. How many such wounds have we caused to our Lord Jesus Christ by living lawlessly and unrighteously! Therefore, we will flee from sin and fear it more than any evil. However, each of us can say that we are weak and everywhere we meet stumbling blocks and temptations that cannot be easily avoided. Indeed, we are weak and weak, and there are a lot of temptations – from our own flesh, which always wars against our spirit; from the world, which, according to the word of God, lies entirely in evil (1 John 5:19) and, finally, from the enemy the devil, who, like a roaring lion, walks around, seeking to destroy any Christian soul (1 Peter 5:8). But, dear ones, we have a reliable refuge and protection in the person of the Mother of God. Let us firmly hope that She is always with us, no matter where we are and no matter how we live, and that She will not forget us if we resort to Her with fervent prayer.

The Most Pure Lady is close and compassionate to our sorrows and sorrows. Having experienced many sorrows and sorrows in Her life, She Herself is now always ready to help those who suffer and provide them with comfort and help. The Most Holy Lady has ascended to heaven and stands at the right hand of Her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, but She does not leave Her earthly fatherland and Her beloved children of God and Her own in flesh and spirit, whom the Lord adopted as Her sons in the last minutes of His life on earth. And we can say that the Blessed Virgin spends most of Her time on earth, visiting the unfortunate and mourning. Saint Andrew, the fool for Christ’s sake, when he was ascended to heaven and saw all the saints of God there in glory, he did not see the Mother of God; and when asked where the Mother of God is, the angel answered him that She is not here, She walks on the earth, wiping away the tears of every mourner. And indeed, the cover of the Mother of God, which was in Constantinople, certifies us of the vigilant care of the Mother of God for us. What a consolation for us that we have in heaven the Intercessor before the throne of God, our common Heavenly Mother, who loves us so tenderly and ardently! Dear brothers and sisters, there is no word more holy, warm, warmed with love than mother. What won’t a mother do for her child? If a child is sick, the family sits at night, watching the patient’s every move, his every breath. She is ready to give her soul for a child. Soul, life, everything. And happy is the man who has a mother: there is always love and affection around him. Near his soul is a kind, holy guardian. But whoever does not have a mother could be called unhappy if such people existed. But there are none. There are no people without a mother. Each of us has a common Mother – the Queen of Heaven and Lady. She endured all the torment, the whole cross of motherhood, the sword passed through Her soul more than once. She saw that Her Son had no place to lay his head, no shelter, like even birds and foxes have. She saw the persecution of the Son, saw Him when He fell under the heavy cross, saw Him on the cross. Before her eyes, the thorns of the holy crown turned from dark to red from the holy blood. Her Son was dying before her eyes. She suffered a lot and learned to understand suffering. As a person, like all people, She suffered on earth, but now Her suffering is over. She is in the glory of the Son, near His throne. But She still had memories of Her Mother’s torments, and these memories in Her holy and purest heart gave birth to eternal love for the suffering lesser brothers of Her Son. She is always with them and is always ready to help them, to lend her hand in difficult and sorrowful moments. There is no refusal in Her anguished heart for any prayer. She, like a Mother, hurries to Her children, the sorrowful and offended. And who among us, Orthodox Christians, in moments of sorrow has not resorted to the help and intercession of the Mother of God? Who among us has not asked Her intercession? Which of us, who prayed to Her with faith, went away inconsolable, rejected by Her? Lady, Queen of Heaven, speedy, intercessor of all the weak and infirm, of all Christians who with faith and zeal resort to Her wonderful protection – She does not shun anyone, She does not neglect anyone, She does not push anyone away. To be worthy of Her intercession, Her help, little is needed – only firm faith is needed, humble prayer is needed. And great, immeasurably great are the mercies of the Mother of God towards the human race. Marvelous is Her love for us sinners!

Dear brothers and sisters, our ancestors especially revered the Mother of God, and their hope and hope were never put to shame. The history of our Fatherland testifies to the special mercy of the Mother of God, shown by Her in the most difficult moments of testing of the Orthodox Russian people. There are so many miracles that flowed from the Mother of God that it is impossible to count them all. The entire history of the Russian Orthodox people is full of these mercies of the Mother of God, who especially favored the Russian land for the simple good-natured disposition of the Russian people, for his firmness and purity of the Orthodox faith. The lives of the saints tell us that our pious ancestors had the custom of entrusting themselves and their loved ones to the patronage of the saints and especially the Mother of God. They were invincible intercessors for those entrusted to them.

So, knowing the ineffable mercies of the Mother of God, let us cherish Her love for us and ours for Her, and let us keep ourselves pure from all lawlessness and vice and with deep faith honor Her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as our pious ancestors honored Him. We will always resort to Her, the wonderful intercessor of the Christian family. Whether some kind of attack or spiritual sorrow befalls us, let us hasten quickly to pray to the Lady; sins or passions torment us or bad habits take possession of us – let us resort to the Helper of our salvation. Whether grief, sadness or illness befalls us, let us remember the blessed Virgin who stood at the cross of Her Son, let us turn our prayerful sighs to Her and be sure that She understands our sorrows, She sees our grief, She will shed joy and warm our aching soul with Her Motherly love. She will save us from trouble and danger.

To whom shall we cry, Lady? To whom shall we resort in our sorrow, if not to You, Queen of Heaven? Help us, we rely on You and boast in You. Rejoice, our Joy, cover us from all evil with Your honest omophorion! Amen.

* * *

The Mother of God by grace is the Mother of the whole world, especially the Christian world. Christ the Savior called all those who believed in Him His brothers and sisters, therefore the Mother of God at the same time became our Mother. Throughout our entire life’s journey, She remains our constant leader to Christ the Savior. If all the saints intercede for us as brothers, then the Blessed Virgin intercedes for us as for children. If all the saints beg God as servants of God, then the Blessed Virgin asks as the Mother of God. They implore God as Father, the Blessed Virgin as Son. For whom is he begging? For Christians who are Her children, who are dear to Her. Great is Her boldness and fervent is Her prayer before God. The Mother of God gives us Christians great mercy and help, and it is our duty to honor Her and revere Her. As our own Mother, we must honor and revere Her as a natural duty established by divine law; as the Mother of God, we people must honor and revere Her even more. He who does not honor and respect his mother is not worthy of the title of man. Anyone who does not honor and revere the Mother of God is not worthy to be called a Christian.

In any misfortune, physical or mental, in which I find myself, I will resort to Her in the confidence that with her I will find healing in my illnesses, consolation in my sorrows, forgiveness in my sins. I am not afraid of destruction as long as She protects me in Her arms. But when I lose reverence for Her, then I am a lost soul. Dear brothers and sisters, let us fall to our Intercessor; to Her wonderful image with a tender soul and a contrite heart. Each of us has many different sorrows. Who, if not Her Mother’s heart, understands all the sighs, sorrows, sorrows and illnesses of the dejected and broken-hearted? She herself experienced many sorrows and grief on earth, and therefore she can help those who are tempted. How happy we, Christians, are to have such a powerful and merciful comforter in troubles, the all-good Mother of God!

None of those who resorted to the Mother of God left unconsoled and unencouraged. One invocation of the name of the Mother of God drives away demons and destroys all their machinations. There was the following event in the history of the Greek Church. One Christian, who fell into poverty from a riotous life, appeared in human form and offered wealth if he gave up his wife. He agreed. The day of handing over my wife has arrived. This was supposed to happen outside the city in the forest and in the dead of night. The wife was a pious woman, with meekness she endured all the troubles caused to her by her husband, and only prayed; especially in her sorrows she resorted to the Most Holy Theotokos. This is what was disgusting to the tempting spirit. On the evening of the day of the transfer, the husband invites his wife to follow him. My dear wife wanted to go to church to pray. The husband agreed to wait for her. He had to wait a long time, so he began to scold his wife in his soul and together mock her piety. Finally he sees: a woman covered with a scarf comes out of the temple. The husband mistook Her for his wife and, expressing his indignation at the slowness, hastened to head into the forest, and the Woman followed him. The wife’s buyer appeared there. “Now you are mine, great prude,” the latter told her and grabbed her hand. At this time, the scarf fell from the Woman’s head, and it turned out that it was the Most Holy Theotokos Herself. The evil spirit, seeing the Most Holy Intercessor of the unfortunate woman, trembled as if scorched by fire and disappeared. The husband was also struck with a terrible fright and could not come to his senses for a long time. And that unfortunate woman, when she was praying in the temple before the image of the Most Holy Theotokos, bent over and fell asleep and remained in this position until the morning.

This is how quickly the Most Holy Mother of God delivers from danger! Entire countries consider Her their patroness, but our Russian land was especially honored with the mercy and protection of the Mother of God. How many miraculous icons have been revealed in our country, and through them, help! Since ancient times, the Russian people have been distinguished by their simple, reverent and sincere, heartfelt love for the Lord Jesus Christ. In this faith of ours and in our love for the Son of the Ever-Virgin Mary lies the reason for the special mercy of the Mother of God towards us. And from here it happens that Her intercession and help are poured out on those who from ancient times sacredly honor, reverently worship and confess the Lord Jesus Christ and lovingly obey the Church established by Him on earth…

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, from the least to the greatest, honor and revere the name of the Most Pure Virgin Mary and in all your physical and mental needs call on Her, the patroness of our life. None of the rescued animals died on the ark; Thus, none of the Christians who resort to the protection of the Holy Virgin, Who is the Irk of Consecration, perishes. Let all the wrath of God be directed at you, but if She intercedes, then She will transfer all the wrath of God and indignation to mercy and compassion, for “the prayer of the Mother can do much for the mercy of the Master.” Therefore, our Holy Church sings: “No one who comes to You is put to shame, O Pure, Most Holy Theotokos, but asks for mercy and accepts the gift of useful petition.”

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, after the Lord Jesus Christ, let us honor and revere the name of the Most Pure Virgin Mary. Let the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be written in our hearts and never leave our lips. Let the names of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Pure Virgin Mary be the beginning and end of our morning and evening prayers. With these names, enter and leave the church, begin and finish every work, so that at the hour of our last sigh we may be worthy to have on one side the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the other the Most Pure Virgin Mary, and together be glorified in the Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

PRAYER OFFERINGS TO THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY

* * *

HOURLY PRAYER CALLS OF A REPENTANT SINNER TO THE REPRESENTATION OF THE HOLY MOTHER OFFICE

From creations

St. Ephraim the Syrian4

Preface to the first edition

In the history of the Christian church, the 4th century was decisive. In 312, the persecution of Christians finally stopped – and the dawn of freedom flashed.

Constantine the Great, miraculously converted to the Christian faith, granted Christians many privileges, allowed the construction of churches without hindrance and sanctioned the legislative activities of the spiritual authorities on issues of faith and church worship in the persecuted church.

Immediately after the strengthening of the external world, a dispute arose about the face of Jesus Christ and the relationship to the Divine and human nature – a persistent and fierce dispute. Heresy after heresy raised the “head of the serpent”… No century, it seems, has been so abundant in quickly emerging heresies.

Three times anathematizes St. Ephraim of the heretics in his “Testament” to the Edessians.

He mentions: Arians, Manichaeans, Kafars, Ophites, Marcionites, Eunomians, Subbotniks, Vardesanites, Paulians, Vitalians, etc. (see Works like the saints of our father Ephraim the Syrian, part VII, Moscow, 1852, p. 215). They reveal stubborn blindness, short-sightedness and unsteadiness of thought in the construction of their evidence, and immeasurable rage and subtlety in their attacks against the Orthodox-minded faithful children of the Church.

A difficult feat fell to the lot of the great teachers of the Church (such as Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, etc.) in this difficult but victorious time. Among them, these “pillars of Orthodoxy,” St. rightfully belongs. Ephraim of Nizibia (born in 306 and died in 373 AD), who worked hard to establish Orthodoxy within Syria, and partly Egypt (see his letter to the Coptic monks).

Many sects arose within Syria, and many compatriots and contemporaries of St. Ephraim was carried away in the web of heresies by the eloquence of the heresiarchs (of whom the most famous was Bardesan).

How much living and deep faith, amazing strength of spirit, amazing patience and amazing eloquence the saint had to have. Ephraim, so that at his death he would be able to call the Edessians “faithful”!..

The inspired and convinced eloquence of St. Ephraim, which embraces the soul of everyone with deep and pure poetry, is revealed in almost every one of his numerous works. It is not for nothing that the 14th century Syrian bibliographer, Metropolitan of Soba (Nizibia) Ebed-Jesus, in his “Catalogue of Church Writers” calls St. Ephraim was the “prophet of Syria” (according to Asseman’s translation), and the Byzantine church historian Sozomen was the “universal teacher.”

Characterizes the meaning of St. even more expressively. Ephraim in the Christian Society of St. John Chrysostom (407) in his discourse “on false prophets” (written by him shortly before his death, in the same year 407).

Enumerating the fighters of Orthodoxy who have departed to another world, Chrysostom exclaims with deep pathos: “Where is the great Ephraim, the encouragement of those who are discouraged… the mentor of youth, the leader of the repentant, the sword against heretics, the repository of virtues”?..

On the following pages we offer the reader the prayer addresses of St. Ephraim to the Most Holy Theotokos, found in volume III of the Greek edition of Aseeman (S. Ephr. opera omnia, Romae 1746, zhol. III, col. 524–552).

Due to the fact that they were written as if from the perspective of a repentant sinner, begging the Mother of God for intercession before the face of Her Son and God, we considered it possible to distribute their text into 24 parts, corresponding to the 24 parts of the day, so that each of the pious people, if desired, could every hour from the depths of his heart send a prayerful sigh to the Mother of God, seeking Her gracious help.

The sublime nature of these prayer appeals, the majestic simplicity and touchingness of their content involuntarily attracts one to oneself, provokes reflection, and helps to eliminate all exclusively earthly feelings from the heart.

The power of inner faith and the beauty of outer expression complement each other and merge into one indissoluble whole…

These beautiful, inimitable addresses of St., poured out from the heart, make an inseparable, integral, diverse and uniform impression on the soul. Ephraim to the Blessed Virgin… Blessed is God, who in His immeasurable mercy has given us, for strengthening and teaching, the creator of these wonderful appeals and prayers, Saint Ephraim!

Blessed be the Most Pure Mother and Virgin, Lady of the world, Intercessor of Christians, cause of the deification of mortals!

Blessed be our venerable father Ephraim, pillar of the Church, lamp of faith, ascetic in soul and body, preacher with mouth and heart!

Leonid Denisov

* * *

The Heavenly Queen is our first and highest Intercessor before the Son and Her God, our vigilant and shameless intercession, the protection of the whole world, the giver of all good things, our consolation, refuge and salvation.

Reverend Ephraim the Syrian

HOUR ONE

The Most Holy Lady Theotokos, the only one pure in soul and body, the only one who has surpassed chastity and virginity, the only one who has become the abode of the complete grace of the All-Holy Spirit! Do not reject me, unworthy, unclean, who has defiled my soul and body with my voluptuous life; cleanse my mind from attraction to passions; turn my wandering and blind thoughts to immaculate aspirations; be the leader of my feelings; free me from the evil and shameful inclination to prejudices and passions that dominates me; weaken the sin that oppresses me and grant to my cursed, darkened mind vigor and prudence, so that, having been delivered from sinful darkness, I may be worthy to glorify You with songs of praise, the true Mother of the True Light, Christ our God, for You are one with Him and about Him, visible and invisible creatures bless now and ever, and in the future. forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR TWO

I pray to Thee, Mother of the Never-Evening Light: listen to what I tell Thee. I’m sinking into the mud, damned one; I have desecrated the earth with many sins… And it seems to me: the earth groans and with a sigh shows the incorruptible Judge against me, calling both the sun and the sky with the stars as witnesses… The storm of my thoughts is already plunging me into despair. My soul approaches with trepidation in anticipation of the verdict. All my hope is in You, Mother of God!

The face of Your servant is filled with shame, although You incessantly beseech Him Who was born by You, so that He would give some of His bounty to me, the unworthy. Loosen my insoluble bonds, and whiten the defiled one with tears of repentance. You, who gave birth to my Life, resurrect me, killed by carelessness; and bring him who is alienated from the angels to them, O Mother of God!

A terrible miracle, truly terrible! How the Lord tolerated my sins! How alive has He not yet brought me to the bottom of hell! Kako did not send an invisible weapon from above to hit me!..

Mistress, through Your prayers You gave me life, awaiting my repentance, which You Yourself grant to me, Your servant, for You are my refuge and protection.

Illuminate me with the light of Your Divine countenance, so that in the night I may sing Your songs. Grant me, Lady, heartfelt contrition, sobs and tears; grant complete remission of sins, like the Wife who had God incarnate in her womb. Let me see You, Most Pure One, with my mind’s eye tonight, and rejoice.

Oh, my strength, my hope, sweet light to Your servant! Accept prayer from my vile lips! May this night be a day of salvation for Your servant, O Blessed One! I know that whatever You want, you can do everything in the presence of the One born of You, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR THREE

Virgin Lady, Mother of God, who in her womb bore Christ the Savior and our God, I place all my hope in You, I trust in You, for You are greater than the incorporeal powers! Preserve me, Most Pure One, with Your Divine grace; guide my life in accordance with the holy will of Your Son and our God.

Grant me remission of sins and be my refuge, protection, protection and guide to eternal life.

In the terrible hour of death, do not abandon me, O Lady, but hasten to my aid and snatch me from the hands of the tormenting demons.

You are one, Lady Theotokos, exalted above all the earth; We, O Blessed One of God, bless You with faith, magnify You with love, worship You with fear, for You are the honor of honors, the height of heights.

Lady, the joy given to me by God, the Divine irrigation of my inner heat, the stream that again burst out in the dried-up source of my tears, the radiant light of my darkened soul, wealth in poverty, strength in weakness, healing of incurable wounds, cessation of sobs, destruction of shackles!

Hear my prayerful sighs, take pity on my crying, and, touched by my tears, bow to my petition, and show me mercy, like the Mother of the Humane God!

Fulfill my insatiable desire, free me from the tormenting passion that kills my soul, and join me to Yourself in the land of the living, in the bosom of the righteous.

I pray to You, the common joy of all, the common intercession of all, grant me to rejoice in the inexpressible joy of the King and God born by You, in His ineffable palace, in endless sweetness, in His eternal Kingdom.

My mistress, my refuge, life, weapon, praise, hope and strength! Grant me the privilege of enjoying the incomprehensible gifts of Your Son!

This I ask of You, because You, as the Mother of the Most High, have the power corresponding to Your desire. Therefore, I hope that I will receive what is expected from You, O Blessed One of God, who gave birth to the hope of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, together with His Beginning Father, and His Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR FOUR

We know, Virgin Lady, Mother of God, that I am unworthy to look at Your image, for Your body and soul are pure, and You, in justice, should abhor me. But since God, born by You, became Man in order to call sinners to repentance, then accept my confession of many grave sins and beg Your Son and God to show mercy to my poor soul.

A great many iniquities prevent us from raising our eyes to Him and asking Him for forgiveness. Having enjoyed many gifts from God who created me, the ungrateful one forgot everything! I am poor in virtues, but rich in passions; filled with shame and condemned by God.

Angels mourn me, demons laugh at me, my conscience denounces me, my own actions shame me; I am a dead man until death, I am condemned by myself until judgment, I am tormented by despair until endless torment.

Therefore, I resort to Your ambulance, Lady Theotokos! Descend into my humility, Most Pure One; have pity on my weakness, Immaculate One! You have great boldness before the One born of You: no one else has this.

You can do everything, like the Mother of God, and nothing is impossible for You, if only You want to.

Just do not despise my tears and sobs, do not reject the sorrow of my heart, do not leave my hope in You in vain!

Through Your prayers, incline the mercy of Your Son and Your God and grant me, Your unfortunate and unworthy servant, to perceive the original spiritual beauty, throw off the ugliness of passions, get rid of sin, bow before the truth, eradicate voluptuousness and put on the shrine of dispassion, die for the world and come to life for virtue.

Be a traveling companion and a swimming companion, strengthen the waking one, protect the sleeping one, comfort the crying one, encourage the despondent one, deliver the offended one, free the slandered one, lift up the weak one; defeat the demons fighting against me and help me in mortal danger, daily showing me invincible to visible and invisible enemies, so that they all know that I am Your servant, the Mother of God, Who gave birth to God and the King of all, to whom honor and worship are due forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR FIVE

Virgin Lady, Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ, I know that I am not pure, defiled, unworthy, my iniquities have exceeded the measure, they have become more countless than the sand of the sea.

I come running to You, bringing repentance and confessing my sins. Forgive me, Lady.

Have mercy on me, you who have mercy on everyone!

Do not turn Your face away from me, lest I, humiliated, be turned away from You! May my enemies not rejoice at this.

Awaken my thoughts to repentance and guide me on the path of salvation. Having entered it, I have You as my companion, so that with Your help I may be saved.

Lady, Mother of the humane God! Humble my heart and fill it with contrition; Grant tears to my eyes and enlighten them with the light of Your prayers; sprinkle and cleanse me with the hyssop of Your mercy; wash me in Thy grace with my tears.

O Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ, accept my humble confession and prayer; Save the rest of my life in repentance; During the exodus of my soul from my body, mercifully look at me, free me from merciless tormentors, be my protector and destroy the handwriting of my sins.

Bring me, saved, to the throne of Your Son, and His Firstless Father, and the All-Holy Spirit, the most luminous and consubstantial Trinity, to which belongs all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR SIX

Virgin, Lady, Most Pure Mother of God, my all-glorious Lady, the highest of heaven, the purest of the rays of the sun, the most honorable cherub, the most glorious of the heavenly armies, the praise of the apostles, the preaching of the martyrs, the joy of the saints, the radiance of the ascetics, the golden censer, the luminous lampstand, the true ark, the most divine of the law, the unburnt bush, frozen with Aaron’s rod! You have truly become a rod, and Your Son Christ, my God and Creator, is the true Color. You gave birth to God the Word in the flesh, and before birth and after birth you remained a Virgin. By You we have been reconciled with God the Father through Christ Your Son.

You are a helper to sinners and helpless people, a consolation to the world, protection of orphans, redemption from captivity, support for monastics, hope for the laity.

You are patience, protection and protection for widows, praise, joy and crown of virgins. Honest Lady and Lady, shelter and protect me, so that my evil enemy does not exalt himself over me.

You, Most Immaculate, are my help, and I don’t know any other refuge besides You. With tears I pray to Thee, Lady, that Thy Son and my Creator will not condemn me to eternal torment for the many sins I have committed. I pray to You that, through Your intercession, I may enter the abode of the saints, where there are no tears, no sorrows, no death, no torment, but where there is uninterrupted joy, the pleasure of the righteous, endless life, consolation and glory!

Fill my lips with Your grace, prompt my tongue to praise You with a joyful soul and a warm heart; give me the strength to proclaim the angelic song that Gabriel spoke to you.

Grant, O Virgin, Thy humble servant to be delivered from passions and sins. Dispel the thoughts that come from the devil and are sent to cast my soul into the underworld.

Grant me, O Virgin, the fear of God and love; Grant me an immaculate life, love for the Lord and my neighbors, patience, humility, abstinence and fasting, tears of contrition, thoughts of eternal torment and aversion from evil deeds, so that I may be worthy to enter the palace of Your Son and God, and there with all the saints glorify the magnificent name of the Most Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR SEVEN

Virgin Mary, the common salvation of the Christian race! Like a mother, You constantly take care of us; being compassionate, You surround us with Your benefits, saving us, protecting us, delivering us from dangers, protecting us from temptations, freeing us from sins.

For all this we thank Thee and, without hiding Thy benefits, we glorify Thy wondrous deeds, glorify compassion, magnify providence, glorify intercession and, remembering what dangers we were delivered from through Thy intercession, we offer Thee a song of thanksgiving, which cannot be worthy of Thy great benefits.

We pray to You to take pity on Your servants and for us to bring a prayer to Our God, born of You, that He may deliver us from eternal torment.

All-Holy Lady Theotokos! You see what disasters the evil demon surrounds us with. He inspires us with the desire to indulge in passions. Do not turn Your face away from us! Break the snares of the evil one, destroy our enemies, stop the wrath of God with Your intercession.

Let us add this prayer to Thy good deeds, and we will glorify the all-holy name of Thy Son and our God, with His Originless Father and His Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR EIGHT

Lady, God-given joy to me! Divine irrigation of my inner heat, again bursting forth to cleanse my iniquities. The stream in the dried-up source of my tears, the radiant light of my darkened soul, the guidance of my path, the covering of my nakedness, the cessation of my groans, the relief of troubles, the destruction of shackles! Heed my prayers and, touched by my crying, have pity on me.

Bend to my request, fulfill my insatiable desire, free me from the tormenting passion that wars against me day and night and kills my soul; deliver me from the arrows of Belial and from enemies visible and invisible, through Your intercession grant me to be equal with the venerable and righteous, and to number me among Your servant and servant in the heavenly dwelling, in the land of the living.

I pray to Thee, common intercession of all, common joy of all, grant me to rejoice in the inexpressible joy of Thy Son and King in His endless Kingdom.

Grant me to enter into His palace and there glorify Him to Whom is due all glory, honor and worship, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR NINE

Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ our God! For those who travel, travel and save them; Save the captives from heavy slavery, comfort the sad, ease all bodily suffering and free them from mental ailments and passions with Your invisible prayers, so that, having completed the journey in this temporary life, we can receive eternal blessings in the Kingdom of Heaven through You.

Strengthen our faithful rulers, who trust in Your mercy and intercession, against the enemies surrounding them; dispel the cloud of sadness that confuses their souls, deliver them from despondency and weakness, and give them a bright and joyful state of mind, granting peace and tranquility to their state. With Your prayers, Lady, save the flock dedicated to You, the whole city and the country – from famine, cowardice, flood, fire, sword, invasion of foreigners and internecine warfare; and turn away the righteous wrath of God from us through the good will and grace of Your Only Begotten Son and God, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, with His Beginning Father, and the Most Holy, and Good, and His Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR TEN

Virgin, Lady, gracious Mother of God, Most Blessed, God-Blessed, receptacle of the Divinity: the Only Begotten Son of the Immortal and Invisible Father! Incline Your ear to me and listen to the words uttered by my foul and unclean lips! With a contrite heart and humble thoughts I resort to Your compassion.

Do not leave me, the unfortunate one, in contempt, do not allow me, Your unworthy servant, to perish. Heal my accursed soul, overwhelmed by evil passions.

The enemy trampled her, crushing her with sins of voluptuousness… I am bitter and ashamed, and I do not dare ask the humane God for forgiveness of my many sins and healing of my incurable ulcers.

He desecrated the physical temple, desecrated it with obscene desires and offended all my feelings with unacceptable actions…

Therefore, I do not dare to raise my hands to Him, contaminated by evil deeds. And I opened my lips to prayer, defiled by slander and slander against my neighbor. Therefore, before Your bounties I am thrown into the dust, unhappy and lost.

I have no other hope, no other refuge except You, my only consolation, the joy of my soul, deliverance from sorrow, redemption from captivity, the deification of mortals, the rebirth of the fallen, the restoration of my soul and body, the radiant light of my darkened soul, the covering of my nakedness, the cessation of my sobs, the change of my lot!..

All hope is in You: do not deprive us of Your intercession, but help and protect us! Thy petitions are pleasant to Thy Son, for He who was pleased to take upon Himself the form of a servant preserves His mercy towards You, which served Him with an ineffable birth.

He rejoices at Your intercessions, and, considering Your glory to be His own, He willingly fulfills them.

Do not leave me, the unfortunate one, in contempt, O Mother of God, and may the unseemliness of my actions not serve to terminate Your mercy.

I don’t see stronger help than Yours anywhere, and guilty of many sins, with repentance I resort to You, a quick helper in need, and from the depths of my heart I exclaim: have mercy on me, full of laziness and carelessness, accept my insignificant prayer and through Your prayers show me favorable to Your Son and God, and grant me the Kingdom of Heaven. to be a participant in glorifying the One God in the Trinity, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR ELEVEN

Lady, You know that I have no hope of salvation, because I voluntarily corrupted my soul and body, and from a young age I became a useless and worthless vessel; In everything, the accursed one, I followed Belial: both in my thoughts and in my actions. To this day he oppresses my will, plotting intrigues against me every day…

I have acquired the habit of sin, and from time to time the thought comes to me to come to my senses…

With all my heart I make a terrible oath to Your Son and God, crying out: “Forgive me, Master, my sins! From now on I will stop sinning before You!”

Great is Your long-suffering, O Christ, Giver of Life!

How Your Son endures, O Lady, seeing the constant perjury and lies, for which there is no measure in the accursed me!

What fearlessness I have, what contempt! As soon as I make a promise, I already renounce it; I strive for worse and greater sin, and will never come to my senses…

I pray, Most Pure Lady! Help me! Do not allow us to be the property of the evil one.

Make me a servant of Your Son and a worthy vessel of the All-Holy Spirit!

Save me, O All-Singing One, as You Yourself want and know; let me just glorify Thee, cry out to Thee with all my soul and with all my heart:

Rejoice, cherubic song, hymn of angels!

Rejoice, peace and joy of people!

Rejoice, heaven of delights!

Rejoice, tree of life!

Rejoice, wall of the faithful, refuge for the needy!

Rejoice, Adam’s proclamation!

Rejoice, Eve’s redemption!

Rejoice, source of grace and immortality!

Rejoice, sealed in the vessel of the Holy Spirit!

Rejoice, Most Divine Temple!

Rejoice, throne of the Lord!

Rejoice, Immaculate One, who crushed the head of the serpent!

Rejoice, refuge for those weary of labor!

Rejoice, redemption from the oath!

Rejoice, you who have shown joy to the world in what You have born!

Rejoice, Mother of Christ, Son of the Living God, to Him belongs glory, honor and worship, now and ever, and unto ages of ages! Amen.

HOUR TWELVE

The human race in You, Mother of God, has acquired for itself an Intercessor before the God born of You, intercession depends on Yours and has protection in You, for You have boldness towards the Son.

Therefore, I also run to You with a fiery heart, and, not daring to approach Your Son, I pray to You for salvation: may I see him through Your intercession!..

Listen to Your servant, who places all his hope after God in You, and have mercy on Your servant, Mother of the Humane-loving and Merciful God!

Deliver me from a condemned conscience: extinguish the heat of lust and ignite in me love for Your Son and God; protect my feelings from obscene desires.

I pray to Thee: may I be given time for repentance, so that the death of the barren does not strike me, so that I, like the barren, will not be consigned to fire.

Kindle the extinguished lamp of my soul, dispel the darkness of my sorrows, drive away the fog of passions with Your prayers.

Give me the light of repentance, guide me to contrition, grant me all the days of my life to please the Humane God!

As long as I am in this life, protect me and protect me: swim with the one who swims, accompany the wanderer in his wanderings, cover the one sleeping and make all my paths comfortable.

When my soul leaves the body, appear to me, Lady, quench my illness, ease my suffering, and show my poor soul the way to the eternal abode…

May the dark forces not meet me and drag me to the bottom of hell! May I see the Judge merciful; Yes, through You, O Bride of God, I will get rid of the eternal flame, enjoy the heavenly consolation in the Trinity and receive the Heavenly Kingdom!

Protected by You, I will exalt and glorify You, for You have become the protection of the human race. All nations bless Thee, the Virgin Lady Theotokos, the hope of all Christians.

Drive away from me, Your humble servant: despondency, oblivion, ignorance, negligence, vanity, adultery, fornication, gluttony, all the evil thoughts of my damned heart and my darkened mind.

Free me from all my evil aspirations, because I am weak, and You are glorified before all mortals, as the Mother of Christ our God, to whom all glory, honor and worship are due forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR THIRTEEN

Most Holy Lady Theotokos, joy of the oppressed, representative of the offended, help of the helpless, strength of the weak, rod to the blind, saving leader of the lost, holy ark, by which we are saved from the sinful flood; the fireproof purchase, contemplated by Moses the Seer of God, the golden censer, from which the Word, having ignited the flesh, filled the universe with fragrance; The God-written tablet, the seven-branched lamp, the brilliance of which surpassed the radiance of the sun; the holy tabernacle, which the spiritual Beseliel built; stamna, which contained manna; the source imprinted, the pure streams of which water the universe; the frozen rod of Aaron, the dew-bearing fleece of Gideon; The God-written book, even for the sake of Adam’s handwriting was torn; the mountain of God, on which the Lord was pleased to dwell; holy root of Jesse; city ​​of God, about which glorious words were spoken (Ps. 86, 2); beautiful by nature, inaccessible to reproach; containing within itself the entire essence of the Divine; freely unappreciated; the most precious decoration of all beauties; Ezekiel’s gate, looking towards the east (Ezekiel 40:6); the red-hot tongs that Isaiah saw (Isaiah 6:6); the insectless city of Daniil (Dan. 2:34); mountain overshadowed by virtues (Habakk. 3, 3); the adorned dwelling of God’s condescension, the reconciliation of the world, the most holy paradise planted in Eden; life-giving tree, fragrant rose, unfading blossom, whitest lily; the image of virginity, inscribed without letters; Richly woven purple, the clearest fulfillment of every prophecy, the silent lips of the apostles, the confidence of irresistible victorious people, the confirmation of kings, the praise of priests, the forgiveness of sins, the propitiation of the righteous Judge, the restoration of my soul and body; my salvation, my consolation, my life, my light, my hope, my joy, my refuge; cover, strength, joy, sweetness, wall, fence, weapon, protection, glory, silence, peace, chant, joy, blessing, anchor, abundance, dew, shrine; deliverance of sorrows, enlightenment and sanctification of my soul, atonement for my sins, my rest in God; abstinence, purity, courage, chastity, freedom, refuge, treasure, height, strength, beauty, prudence; eternal gain, confirmation in repentance, my vigilant intercession before God!.. You see my faith and enthusiastic love, and, being compassionate and powerful, like the Mother of the Merciful God, accept my most unfortunate soul.

Through Your intercession, grant her to be at the right hand of Your Son and God and to rest with His elect and saints.

Do not deprive me of Your intercession, for You have Him as Your debtor, who said: honor your Father and Mother (Matthew 19:19).

I place all my hope in You, for You gave birth in the flesh to the true God, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, with His Beginning Father, and His Most Holy, and Good, and His Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR FOURTEEN

Mother of God, You are beyond all understanding! O Virgin, who has surpassed all virginity, for before the birth of the Incarnate You were a Virgin more than all virgins, and you remained the same at Christmas and after Christmas!

Oh, Virgin, Her human nature, which had once departed from God, according to the law of inexpressible love for mankind, united with the nature of the Divine so that the hypostasis suffered neither fusion nor change!

Oh, Virgin, even after reconciliation, we, through the envy of the evil one, not fulfilling our duty, find Thy Son and God merciful to us.

I ask You, Lady, I pray to You, merciful and humane-loving Mother of the merciful and humane God: at this hour, protect me, who needs Your protection.

I am the home of all soul-destroying passions. I am tormented by fear from the innumerable multitude of my sins.

Which of your feelings has not the accursed one desecrated? With what vain thoughts did you not corrupt your soul? What was it that captivated my mind?

My passionate, weak, worthless mind, acting in concert with the author of evil, clothes in images and gives a shade of reality to what I have never seen or heard in reality.

Do not reject, O Lady, my humble prayer, be my deliverer, so that, saved by Your grace, I glorify You and glorify the All-Blessed Trinity forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR FIFTEEN

Mistress, Mother of the Good, All-Good and Most Good God, look mercifully at the prayers of Your indecent servant and act with me according to Your ineffable mercy, leaving without attention my sins, committed in word or deed, by virtue of my desire or against my will, in the consciousness and without the consciousness of sin. Renew all of me, making me a temple of the All-Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, Who is the power of the Most High, Who overshadowed Your most pure womb and dwelt in it.

You are the helper of those exhausted by work, the representative of the needy, the savior of the overwhelmed, the refuge of those in trouble, the intercessor of those caught in need.

Grant to Your servant contrition of heart, calmness of thoughts, chastity of mind, vigor of soul, humility in the way of thinking, a pious mood of spirit, a prudent disposition, as well as the peace that our Lord gave to His disciples.

May my prayer reach Thy holy temple and may it ascend into the dwelling of Thy glory. Let springs of tears flow from my eyes, and You will wash me with my own tears, cleansing me with them from passions.

Blot out the handwriting of my sins, dispel the cloud of my sadness, the darkness and confusion of thoughts, remove from me the excitement of passions, keep me in silence, undisturbed by anything, please me with inexpressible joy and unceasing rejoicing, so that, following the right path of the commandments of Your Son, I may pass through the field of life without reproaches of conscience.

Grant me, who is now praying to You, pure prayer, so that day and night, with a serene mind and unerring meditation, I may learn the words of the Divine Scripture: confessing, singing and in the joy of my heart offering prayer in honor and glory of Your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR SIXTEEN

Gracious Mother of a man-loving and merciful God, hear me from the height of Your glory, deign to hear Your words, listen to my cry coming from the depths of my soul, and do not reject my sorrowful prayer!

You, who give me life through Your intercession, allow me to open my mouth in order to proclaim Your greatness before my death.

I have sinned, O All-blameless One, I have sinned, and I know my iniquities, and I will take away my sin before me (Ps. 50:5).

Descend to my last prayer and to the confession of Your servant; grant me streams of sorrowful tears and cleanse with them the mud of my sins; instill in my petrified heart the holy fear of Your Son and God; penetrate into my insides, so that I may be cleansed with tears and the saving spirit will be reborn in me.

The mental light of ignition in my darkened mind, so that in the silence and purity of this light I would offer the sacrifice that Your Son and my God commanded, Who came to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance, and Who, at Your intercession, will accept me, unworthy.

There have been many who have sinned since the ages, O Lady; There have been many at all times who did not keep the commandments of Your Son; but there is no one who surpasses me in the number of iniquities.

The entire Old and New Testament glorifies the virtues of the righteous; but the inner judgment of my conscience shows me that my sins and iniquities exceed all the evils of the ages.

Adam received the commandment and the law, but did not keep them. But he, the Most Pure One, had not yet experienced another fall and condemnation. And I, unfortunate one, what can I say in my defense? Being intemperate and self-willed, I sought to become bad; therefore there is no excuse for me, the most unfortunate of all the unfortunate descendants of Adam, more unfortunate than the Sodomites who were consumed by fire.

So I realize that I am more unfortunate than all the unfortunate and more sinful than all the sinners of the New Testament; having been baptized, I become defiled; being honored by the acceptance of grace, I clothe myself with the shame of sins and destroy the grace received at baptism. Will I have enough thoughts and words, time and ways to cleanse my sins, which are as large as the sea? What will happen to me? Which way should I go? The heavenly path is inaccessible, the earthly path is cramped, the underground path is terrible, and the sea path is barred. I find myself in an unimaginable extreme, inevitable danger awaits me everywhere, thought and word dry up. Mighty Mother of the Almighty and Living God, give me a helping hand, deprived of help, and uplift my soul, saying to it: “I am your salvation!” Hear my prayer and snatch me from the abyss of disasters, and I will glorify You, Most Blessed Mother of Christ our God, to Him belongs glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR SEVENTEEN

Virgin, Lady, Mother of God, who gave birth to the Creator and Lord of everything visible and invisible, the One of the Trinity, God and man: who became the abode of the Divine, the receptacle of holiness and grace, in which, by the grace of God the Father and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Divinity physically dwelt; having precedence over every creature, the glory and consolation and joy of angels, the royal crown of the apostles and prophets, the supernatural courage of the martyrs, the honor and glory of the saints, the champion of exploits and the giver of victories, the infallible guide, the teacher of silence, the door of revelations and spiritual secrets, the source of light, the gate of eternal life, the inexhaustible river of mercy, an inexhaustible sea of talents and miracles.

We pray to Thee, compassionate Mother of the humane-loving Master, be merciful to us, Thy humble and unworthy servants, bow to our humility, scatter visible and invisible enemies.

Be in the face of our enemies, unworthy for us, with weapons of war, strong protection and invincible champion, so that the lawless will know that everything is possible for You, whatever You want, Lady, to accomplish in heaven or on earth, because You are truly the Mother of God, who gave birth in the flesh to the true God, the only King and Lord of all, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR EIGHTEEN

Virgin Lady Theotokos, I now resort to You with tearful prayer. Ask Thy Son and God for forgiveness of my previous sins; fulfill my prayer, Most Immaculate, and show me a way in which I could spend the rest of my life, like the last hours of this fading day, in repentance, humility and purity.

Most blessed Lady, do not reject my humble request, but in this life, and at the end of my damned soul, and at the future terrible and incorruptible judgment, appear as my champion and savior, so that, illuminated by Your rays, I glorify You and silently glorify the All-Blessed and Blessed Trinity in hymns forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR NINETEEN

Virgin Lady, Mother of God, who in her womb bore Christ the Savior and our God, I place all my hope in You, I trust in You, for You are above the incorporeal forces!

Preserve me, Most Pure One, with Your Divine grace; guide my life in accordance with the holy will of Your Son and our God.

Grant me remission of sins and be my refuge, cover, protection and guide to eternal life!

In the terrible hour of death, do not abandon me, O Lady, but hasten to my aid and snatch me from the hands of the tormenting demons. You have the power to fulfill this, being the true Matter of God.

Accept to You the only befitting gifts from us, Your humble servants, All-Holy Lady of God, chosen from all generations and found above all creatures of earth and heaven!

By you we recognized the Son of God; Through You the Lord of hosts appeared among us, and we were made worthy of His holy Body and Blood…

Blessed are you throughout all generations, blessed by God, most holy cherub and most glorious without comparison seraphim! And now, All-Holy One, do not stop praying for us, Thy unworthy servants, that we may get rid of the wiles of the evil one and avoid extreme and hopeless circumstances.

With Your prayers, keep us uncondemned, so that, saved by Your intercession and Your help, we may send up praise of thanksgiving and worship to the One God in the Trinity and the Creator of all, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR TWENTY

Most Holy Lady Theotokos, Blessed Mother of God, Most Blessed, God-Blessed Mother of God, receptacle of the Divinity: the Only Begotten Son of the Immortal and Invisible Father, fiery throne, All-immaculate, All-pure, All-sung, All-blessed, All-inviolable, All-honorable, All-venerable, All-blessed, All-desired Virgin soul, mind and body; the throne of the King sitting on cherubs; heavenly gates, through which we enter heaven; Bride of God, reconciliation with God has come to us; an incomprehensible miracle, an inexplicable message, the discovery of God’s hidden secret, irresistible intercession, powerful protection, a life-giving source, an inexhaustible sea of ​​divine gifts; a height that surpasses the powers of heaven; the depth of secret thoughts inaccessible to exploration; after the Trinity, common to the Lady of all, after the Comforter, common to all the Comforter, after the Intercessor, common to the Intercessor for the whole world; the chariot of the mental Sun, the true Light, Which enlightens every person coming into the world (John 1:9); bearing the One who bears all things by His word; the robe of one who is clothed in light, as in a robe; the bridge of the universe, leading us to the premium sky; without comparison, higher and more glorious than the cherubim and seraphim; decorating angels, saving people; Mother and slave of the never-ending Star; the ray of the true day; the abyss of God’s inexplicable love for mankind; firm support of the right faith; the true vine that bears the fruit of life; lightning illuminating souls; safety of those staying at height; the fruitful olive tree, which brings joy to the faithful; the revival of the fallen, the excitement of the lazy, the strength of those who are awake, the unanimity of the Churches, the invincibility of armies, the improvement of cities, the peace of the universe, the firmness of ascetics, the courage of martyrs; a cloud exuding heavenly dew!

I have no help and protection, except for You. Hoping in Thee, may I not remain without receiving what I want.

I boast in You: because of the multitude of my iniquities, do not turn Your face away from me, Your unworthy servant.

You have power, like the One who inexpressibly gave birth to the One of the Trinity. You have something to convince and something to appease! There are hands on which You carried Him; there are breasts with which You nursed Him as a child.

To what is from You, add what is from Him: the cross, blood and plagues, by which we are saved and glorified. He will always do what is pleasing to You, who served as His birth in the work of redemption.

You filled the world with blessings.

You will take away every tear from the face of the earth.

You brought joy to those in heaven and saved those on earth.

You appeased the Creator, bowed the angels, exalted humanity.

You have reconciled those on high and those below.

You changed everything for the better, transformed everything into the most perfect.

In You we have a true sign of our resurrection, Through You we hope to reach the Kingdom of Heaven, in You we have acquired the helper of our salvation!

Mother of God! You have given us access to heaven and made it easier for us to ascend to heaven. You have made us yours to Your Son and Your God.

In You, Most Pure One, from Adam until the end of time there was, is and will be glory and honor to the apostles, prophets, martyrs, righteous people, and in You, O Most Pure One, all creation rejoices, blessing the One God in the Trinity forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR TWENTY-ONE

Most Pure Mother of God, my intercessor, accept the prayer of Your unworthy servant.

I believe, O All-Immaculate One, that you can fulfill this and save me.

My hope, O Lady, is in me, who is the most unfortunate of all; show all the more wondrous Thy mercies.

You know my thoughts and actions, You are not unaware of my weakness.

I entrust my soul, defiled by sins, to you.

You see, O Lady, my ulcers: heal them by pouring in a drop of Your compassion.

Your intercession for a despairing soul is favorably accepted by Your Son and King of all, who has made You a refuge for sinners. To Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, together with His beginningless Father, and His Most Holy, and Good, and His Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR TWENTY-TWO

Most Holy Lady Theotokos, hear this plaintive prayer and fulfill it to the extent of my hope for the hope of all the ends of the earth.

Extinguish the heat in my body, tame the storm of anger, completely destroy the arrogance of vain youth.

Reduce in my heart the evil dreams that are sent at night by the evil spirit; Reduce the daily tide of unclean thoughts.

Teach my tongue to speak only about useful things, and teach my eyes to see the beauty of virtue.

Purify my mouth, so that I can boldly call the Most High God father.

Open my ears so that I can feed on the sweetest words of Holy Scripture and fulfill them with Your help.

Give me time to repent and spare me from sudden death.

Appear before me at the separation of my humble soul from my poor body; then ease the unbearable torment, ease the inexpressible melancholy, console me in a joyless situation, deliver me from the sight of demons, free me from the merciless torment of the air tax collectors, repel the flaming swords of my sins, grant me the right to stand at the right hand of Your Son at the Last Judgment, save me from endless torment and grant me to inherit eternal bliss.

To you, the Lady Theotokos, the light of my darkened eyes, the consolation of my soul, my hope and my salvation, I offer this confession!

Cleanse me from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, grant me in this life to uncondemnably partake of the most pure Blood and Body of the Son and Thy God, and in the future to be worthy of communion of the sweetness of the heavenly supper, the delights of heaven, the kingdom of God.

Having been worthy to receive these blessings, I will forever and ever glorify Your Son and God, with His Originless Father, and His Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOUR TWENTY-THREE

All-sung Lady, source of mercy, abyss of love for mankind, living water, intercessor of sinners, true vine, heavenly bliss, common refuge for all, the belly of the whole world!

Devoted to a rebellious and adulterous world, I am careless in my thoughts and actions and spend my life idly.

But You, compassionate Mother of God, do not abhor me, a sinner. Accept my prayer, brought to You by my profaned lips, and with Your favorable prayers show me the Judge who is merciful to me.

Beseech Thy Son to despise my sins; direct my thoughts to repentance; do not allow me to become the property of Satan. Through Your intercession, renew me and correct my life, so that I may fearlessly stand before the Judge and avoid terrible torment.

Make me an heir of glory, praying for this to my Creator, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.

HOUR TWENTY-FOUR

I thank You, Lady Theotokos, and I praise You for giving me the opportunity to live until the end of the day and until this time of night, when I ask for Your prayers!

Forgive me, All-Immaculate One, for laziness and carelessness and fill me with zeal to continually bring hymns to You and the Humane-loving Son and Your God for the fact that I, the accursed one, have gotten rid of and am getting rid of illnesses, misfortunes and sorrows of soul and body.

Falling before You, with a grateful and enthusiastic heart, I exclaim and proclaim a song of gratitude to You, your servant, merciful by You, Most Blessed Mother of the Human-loving God:

Rejoice, All-Immaculate, Blessed One!

Rejoice, Virgin, glory to men!

Rejoice, fulfillment of all prophecies!

Rejoice, seal of the covenant of the Lord!

Rejoice, explanation of the Lord’s mysteries!

Rejoice, council of those unjustly deprived of honor!

Rejoice, union of those who have long been divided!

Rejoice, supporter of those who have fallen down!

Rejoice, illumination of those found in darkness!

Rejoice, renewal of the dilapidated!

Rejoice, propitiatory sacrifice of the lost!

Rejoice, guiding beacon for those who wander!

Rejoice, home of the floating!

Rejoice, helper in need!

Rejoice, salvation of the faithful!

Rejoice, new Divine gift!

Rejoice, Lady of all earthly creatures!

Rejoice, joy and glory of the angels!

Rejoice, highest of all creatures!

Rejoice, servant of God!

Rejoice, Blessed One forever and ever!

Rejoice, Mariam, Bride-Mother!

Rejoice, beautiful Daughter of David!

Rejoice, table of mysterious gifts!

Rejoice, victory of the King and my God!

Rejoice, praise of the patriarchs!

Rejoice, wall of those who call upon Thee!

Rejoice, strong defense and protection!

Rejoice, throne of God Himself!

Rejoice, Mother of God!

Rejoice, most holy bed of Solomon (Song of Songs, 3, 7).

Rejoice, resolution of my sins!

Rejoice, rich one helping the poor!

Rejoice, guardian of inexhaustible bounties!

Rejoice, Most Pure Mother and Virgin!

Rejoice, Lady of Adam’s race!

Rejoice, I wield the sword against the evil demons!

Rejoice, all-generous giver of wisdom!

Rejoice, consolation to the needy!

Rejoice, cause of all that is beautiful in life!..

APPENDIX TO PRAYERS OF REVEREND. EPHREM THE SYRINA

* * *

I. CONSOLIATING KONDAC WITH ICOTS

Creation by Rev. Theodora Studite

Kontakion, tone 2.

Similar to: In unceasing prayers…

In need, the soul-saving Manager, and in danger, the unashamed Representative, You, the only Mother of God and immaculate, listen to my prayer – to me, who mournfully cry out to You: “Dispel the sadness of my soul.”

Ikosy:

1) What will be given to me, and what will be added when I have to ask for forgiveness of sins with a heartfelt cry? For I have made my soul vain with sins, and I have desecrated my flesh with sins, multiplying evil deeds, I am hard-hearted, like no one on earth, which is why I cry out with groaning: “Most Pure Mother of God, do not despise me, but quickly save me, and freeing me from many sins, disperse the sadness of my soul.”

2) You, the mountain of God, steeped5 in Your radiant purity, as David preaches (Ps. LXVII, 16), and Mother of my Lord, have mercy, have mercy, heal me, and deliver me from all need; for I, the accursed one, knowing Your warm intercession, I beg You, may I find propitiation through You. Listen, O Pure One, to my prayer, and having filled me with Your grace, disperse the sadness of my soul.

3) Raise up me, humbled, You, who raised up human nature, which had fallen in ancient times through the deception of the tree, for I have lost the work of heaven, and have been stripped of the wealth of virtues, having become like the prodigal son in the poverty of my soul. Therefore, You grant me grace, enlightenment, mercy, joy; look at the wickedness of Your servant, and always delivering me from temptations, disperse the sadness of my soul.

4) Rise up the fallen me, You who truly revived Eve, who fell under the curse of food. For the abyss of sin embraces me, and the sea of ​​insane passions drowns me, who surpassed the ancient people of Sodom in lawlessness. For I know You alone as a strong intercession before God. Accept, O Pure One, my prayer, and always disperse the sadness of my soul.

5) Enlighten me, darkened, You, who drove away the ancient darkness of error by Your Divine birth; for I extinguished the radiance of the light, without seeking for myself the tunic of good deeds, completely covered in shame, ungrateful, gloomy and ugly, I, who turned out to be so from my insane impulse and, truly, from my worthless shamelessness. See my sorrow, O Lady, and cleansing my carnal passions, disperse the sadness of my soul.

6) Extend a helping hand to me, You who saved the nations to the end from the storm of the insidious enemy; for I am drowning in the unrest of passions, and am indignant at the impulse of sinful temptations. But give me the strength to escape the nasty snares of the enemy, always delivering me from his snares through Your prayers. See my shame, O Lady, and, having quickly calmed the storm of temptation, disperse the sadness of my soul.

7) Give me joy, oppressed by sorrow, You, who give Divine joy to the world; for my enemies oppress me; deliver me from the tongue of flattery (Ps. CXIX, 2), and snatch me from the evil slander. Do not let me die among the whirlwind of the wicked; With Your prayers, deliver me from the den of lies and slander; Accept the prayer of Your servant, disperse the sorrow of my soul.

8) Guide my mind and disposition, You who gave birth to the Word – Christ for the deification of people; direct my steps (Ps. CXVIII, 133), and guide my life henceforth. Quickly deliver me from insults, from threats and anger, so that I may boast in You, my Representative: tame the indignation of my heart, and having filled me with Your joy, disperse the sadness of my soul.

9) Kill my carnal passions, You, who killed the serpent who is constantly at war with us; Hear me at the hour of my prayer, and in the day of need help me, always delivering me from the wicked and unrighteous man (Ps. CXVIII, 133); always be a Wall for me, protecting me in times of temptation: for I have fled under Your protection, and, daring (in trust) in Your power, I cry out: “Dispel the sorrow of my soul.”

10) Shower me the dew of health, You, filling everything with unbearable light and the best heavenly glory; for my strength has weakened, and the wounds (Ps. XXXVII, 6) of my soul have become rotten; do not despise the sighs of me, weak and always sorrowful; come hastening from on high; ease my great sorrow; pour out the oil of healing on me, and by granting me life from Yourself, disperse the sadness of my soul.

11) Make me healthy when I am sick, now pouring out currents of healing on me with Your hand; raise me up from the bed of sorrow and, strengthening my feet and knees (Acts III: 7), grant me strength in soul forever. For You are the only healer of mental and physical illnesses; accept the prayer of Your servant, who earnestly cries out with tears: “Dispel the sorrow of my soul.”

II. CONSOLIATING KONDAC WITH IKOSES TO THE HOLY MORTAR

Creation of St. Romana Sladkopevets

Kontakion, tone 6. I agree.

You, shameless intercession of Christians, immutable intercession before the Creator, do not despise the voices of the prayers of us sinners; but, as the Good One, hasten to help us, who call upon You with faith: “Hurry to prayer, and hasten to save us, interceding, O Theotokos, always for those who honor Thee.”

Ikosy:

1) Hasten to prayer, and strive for salvation, always interceding, O Theotokos, for those who honor Thee. Stretch out Your hand, in them all the Lord, according to the multitude of His goodness, was encompassed, remaining unchanged in His divine nature; do not make us orphaned, deprived of Your prayer, and do not allow us to be abandoned by Your powerful presence. Have mercy on us and have mercy on our souls, You, source of compassion. For we have You, Most Pure One, through your intercession, having been redeemed from our ancient disaster. But as one who has the mercy of generosity, hasten to prayer, and hasten to save us, always interceding, O Theotokos, for those who honor Thee.

2) You, All-Immaculate, despising with the eyes of Your compassion the exiles and Your servants who come running to You in extreme exhaustion, do not despise us, surrounded by all kinds of greatest misfortunes, sorrows and needs; but have mercy on those who are humbled by Your prayers, O Lady, to the Lord; for You can do whatever You want. Have mercy on us, have mercy, we pray, as one who pours out an abundance of generosity on those who ask for Your warm intercession, You, who come and call upon You for help, are always ready to hear, while crying out to You: “Hurry to prayer, and hasten to save us, always interceding, O Theotokos, for those who honor You.”

3) You, the height of the humiliated, the fallen correction, the consolation of those in sorrow, and the exaltation of those in pain, show the firm greatness of Your divine boldness towards Your Son – You, by whom the power of prayer is always favorable before Him, do not leave without the cover of Your intercession, Most Pure and Most Blessing, us immersed in iniquities, from which, according to Scripture, we are truly them embraced, we bear only the corrupting fruits of temptation. Praying to Your mercy, O Pure One, let us get rid of the disaster that is upon us; We fall to You, praying: “Hurry to prayer, and hasten to save us, always interceding, O Theotokos, for those who honor You.”

4) To all who are in need, to all who are in danger – You, shameless hope, unmarried of God; You are the joy of the poor, the salvation of sinners, the deliverance of captives, the strength of the fickle; You are the only Intercessor for Christians before God; You are a refuge for the faithful, a propitiation for the poor. But look now, O All-Singing One, we pray to Thee, who are upon us in sorrow, O sovereign Lady, and do not forget our humiliation; for we know of no other intercession but Thee; Therefore, we cry to You: “Hurry to prayer, and hasten to save us, always interceding, O Theotokos, for those who honor You.”

CANON OF REPENTANCE TO THE HOLY VIRGIN

Tone 6

Song 1

Irmos: As Israel walked across the abyss on dry ground, seeing the persecutor Pharaoh drowned, we sing a victorious song to God, crying out.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

I weep for all my vile life, and for the multitude of my immeasurable evils: what shall we confess to Thee, Pure One, I am perplexed and horrified: help me, O Lady.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Where will I begin to say, wicked and fierce, my passionate fall; woe is me that I will do otherwise; but Lady, before the end, spare me.

Glory: I always think about the hour of death and the terrible judgment, Most Pure One, but I am seduced by the all-evil custom: but help me.

And now: The corrupter of the good, looking at me now naked of the Divine virtues and having retreated far and alienated from God, rushes to devour me: Lady, advance.

Song 3

Irmos: No one is holy like You, O Lord my God, Who has exalted the horn of Your faithful ones, Who has established us on the rock of Your confession.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

My soul is sickened by the immeasurable evils of my passionate soul, to the Lady of the Mother of God: and everything else I will go, completely overcome with despair.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

And the hedgehog was stained in her own image, Pure, and in her likeness: in deed and word, and in thought she acted without place.

Glory: There is no other man who has done anything like him, nor was he born in the world, but I, the Good One, was darkened in mind: for I desecrated divine baptism.

And now: The evil ones have reached the end, O Most Pure Virgin, You will help me soon: heaven and earth cry out to the mountain, because of the placeless and incomparable deeds.

Canto 4

Irmos: Christ is my strength, God and Lord, the honest Church sings divinely, crying out from a pure meaning, celebrating in the Lord.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

The ranks of angels and the hosts of the heavenly powers of Your Son are terrified by the powers, Pure One: now even I, in despair, am possessed by fearlessness.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

The whole earth was amazed and horrified at seeing the cruel and evil things that I do, and the placeless: and Your Son seems to see much mercy.

Glory: Having desecrated the Church with bodily evil, and the Church of the Lord, men tremblingly enter into the nakedness, but I, the prodigal, enter without hesitation: woe is me.

And now: Do not reveal me, O Lady, do not reveal me, having removed the blood of Your Son, but wash me from the filth of my sins.

Canto 5

Irmos: Thy God’s light, O Blessed One, illumine the morning souls with love, I pray to lead You, the Word of God, the true God, from the darkness of sin.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

By Your divine radiance, O Good One, heal the passions of my soul, which are the corruption of all things: and deliver me from this bitter captivity.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Adam transgressed the one commandment, O Virgin, and fell into exile: how I weep for my sins into the abyss, the criminal.

Glory: The murderer appeared in ancient times, and the fratricide Cain was cursed by God; What will I do, I, the all-daring one, have killed my soul now and am not ashamed.

And now: I am jealous of Esau with fierce gluttony and satiety: I have defiled my entire soul with drunkenness, and my life with kindness: and whoever does not cry for me, passionate: woe is me.

Canto 6

Irmos: The sea of ​​life, raised in vain by misfortunes and storms, flowed to Your quiet refuge, crying out to You: lift up my belly from aphids, O Much-Merciful One.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

My life is prodigal, my soul is filthy and my whole belly is cursed, but my body is all in evil evil.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

The end is before me and I cannot endure it, O Good One, my conscience convicts me: for I have before me evil deeds and a prodigal life, and I am horrified at the judgment of Your Son, O Pure One.

Glory: My flesh is kindled, a terrible and unquenchable river of fire awaits truly and an unquenchable worm: but quench this with Your prayers, O Most Pure One.

And now: Now I am overcome with trembling, O Good One, and I am terrified of the evil one’s entrapment: before the end, the corrupter wants to kill me, holding me captive of everything and naked of virtues.

Lord, have mercy. (Thrice)

Glory: and now.

Sedalen, tone 6:

Hope and wall and refuge for Thy people, Virgin: from Whom I was born without passion, the Savior of all: just as Thy Son wept at the cross, pray to Him even now to deliver from aphids, all who sing of Thee.

Canto 7

Irmos: The angel did the work of the venerable lad in the furnace, and the Chaldeans, the scorching command of God, admonished the tormentor to cry out: blessed art thou, O God of our fathers.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

By the seventh seventh, the flame is kindled by my evil passions, and by fornication my heart always dies: with the same currents of my tears, quench it, Mother of God, and save me.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Scorched by the mud of my sins, do not tear me away, O Good Lady: for in vain am I in despair, the evil enemy laughs: but raise me up with Your sovereign hand.

Glory: A terrible judgment, passionate and insensible to my soul, and endless and terrible torment: but now fall to the Mother of your Judge and God, and do not despair yourself.

And now: Darkened, passionate, with a multitude of immeasurable evils and desecrated the soul and body and mind: also, Most Pure One, with the light of Your radiance, quickly lead me to dispassionate sweetness.

Canto 8

Irmos: From the flames of the saints you poured dew, and you burned the righteous sacrifice with water: do everything, O Christ, only as you will. We extol You forever.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Who gave birth to the one God from the Trinity, and carried in her hand, the Virgin Mother: quench the fiery furnace of passions and wash my soul with tearful currents.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

I am horrified at the coming of a mortal, O Most Pure One, and now I am all afraid of its judgment: this is an evil deed, I am in no way ashamed: spare me before the end, with your prayers, O Virgin.

Glory: Unsilent groaning, O Lady, grant me, and give me clouds of tears, so that I may wash away my many sins and incurable wounds: so that I may gain eternal life.

And now: I confess my many evils to You, Lady, as not one in the world has angered God, Your Son and Lord: I will soon change this to mercy, O Virgin.

Canto 9

Irmos: It is impossible for a person to see God, the ranks of the Angels do not dare to look at the Worthiness: By You, All-Pure One, the Word Incarnate has appeared, and He is magnified, with the heavenly howls we please You.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Behold, I come to You, Most Pure One, with much fear and love, fortress knowing Your many prayers, Your servant, who can truly, Lady, pray the Mother to the Son: with mercy she bows down.

Chorus: Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Receive the faces of the Archangel, and the multitude of the highest armies of my Creator, the Apostle and the Prophet of the councils, and the Martyrs, and the Venerables and Holy Martyrs: and make a prayer, O Pure One, for us to God.

Glory: And now, and then, may I find Your help, Pure One, in the same hour my spirit will depart: you will soon take away the demonic torment, Most Immaculate One, and I will be given over to be them.

And now: Judges of the generous tea, and of Your man-loving Son: Pure one, do not despise me, but do Him well for me, place me at my right hand then, All-Immaculate, His most pure judge, in Your trust.

Prayer of a repentant sinner to the Most Holy Theotokos 1st

O Most Holy Theotokos, Most Pure Mother of the Virgin! I run to You, I fall into Your Mother’s embrace, I ask for Your intercession and help. Behold, we are filled with sorrow; troubles overwhelm me; temptations and sins will overcome my poor soul; I am filled with bewilderment; I wet my face with tears.

And where will I find salvation? To whom will the unworthy flow?

If I look at Your Son, I am immersed in fear: I know that the Savior is merciful; both the Judge is righteous; I always trample on His covenants, and like a publican I do not dare to raise my eyes to the Most Pure Face of sinners.

If I turn to the saints, and again I am cramped; This is because I am heavenly in life, but I am all earthly; For this reason, I am ashamed to pray to them, for I stand far from them with my deeds.

But even if You are the most holy of all saints, and the most honorable of Cherubim; Otherwise, I run to You with hope. We don’t know where the imam’s boldness comes from; I believe that you are the Mother of all, you yourself grant such grace to your children.

For this reason, touchingly, like your true and good Mother, I ask and pray: do not reject me, indecent and sorrowful; hear the secret sighs of my saddened soul; look with your merciful eye on Your distressed servant; stretch out Thy motherly hands to my poor head, which has no other refuge. And help me, as You are powerful and willful. Comfort my heart, which is aching with sorrow; enlighten my mind, darkened by vanity; strengthen the will weakened by sins; ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit the Comforter; and give everything that is needed for life and salvation; Above all, lead me in your time into the abode of Your Son and my God.

I believe and know without a doubt that everyone who calls on You from the heart will in no way perish, but will be worthy of pardon from the Lord; For we are your children, and imams have immutable trust in your intercession, for you are the Mother of our Savior Christ God, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer 2

St. Maximus the Greek6

To you, who surpasses the incomparable purity and ethereal rank, I pray, the All-Singing One: cleanse my vile soul from lawless thoughts, which are always born in me from evil in the carnal passions of habit, trained over a long time; and even though the evil demon never ceases to sow filth into my thoughts, defilement and weakening me with filthy and flattering thoughts, I envy the salvation of my soul. For this reason, I pray to Thee, Most Pure One, do not despise me, who am poor and immersed in this filthy mire; but with the fragrant peace of Your prayers, cleanse me from this stench; with the sweetest light of Divine love, change all the darkness of my soul; and with the bridle of the pure fear of God that always abides in me, tame forever the wisdom of my disorderly flesh, keeping it pure; that without blemish I may beg my Savior, the only one who is pure in nature, and ask for forgiveness of the iniquities in which I angered Him, living like dumb cattle and committing every lawless act; having no fear of His Last Judgment; fearing neither the unquenchable fire, nor the pitch darkness, nor the incessantly swarming worm, nor the gnashing of teeth.

Moreover, the most severe torment awaits me, unless I bring repentance equal to my iniquities. And I, O Lady Queen, tremble and fear in horror, and I am constantly wounded in my soul by extreme illnesses, and I tremble in my mind: how have the deeds of the righteous Court of God hit me so far? Behold, with my hands I nailed my Creator, crucifying him naked on the Cross!

Oh, countless blessings of the Lady! Ole my cruelty of a sinful slave! Alas for me, alas for me! How can I avoid the torment that awaits me?! What abyss on earth will hide me from the face of God?!

But be merciful to me, I pray, Lady! And pray to the Master for me, that he may be merciful to my sin, which I committed because of my great foolishness; and may he grant me to bring repentance to Him, by which I will be freed from the jaws of the terrible serpent and his evil henchmen. Compassionate me, O Lady, who has come running to You, and deliver me from their vile violence.

Your inexorable servant from youth, and trusting in You, I joyfully bowed down to the monastic yoke (if a layman, say: “Christ’s”), I renounced everything, so that I could escape the eternal torment awaiting me. But even now grant me the ability to carry this yoke of good deeds, entrusted to me by the Master, without stumbling to the end; Yes, although with the workers of the last hour I will receive a reward from His hand and will hear a voice calling inside the palace those worthy of the communion of joy, the Master.

To her, I beg You, Most Pure Mother of the Most High, my soul’s only consolation, hope and sweetness, Divine protection, my light, intercession and salvation! Make me worthy to receive this through Your holy prayers. For you are, O Lady, the beginning of my salvation; deign to arrange a good end for him yourself. Make me, O Most Pure One, a partaker of the incorruptible glory of Thy beloved Son born to Thee; May I be saved by You and be worthy to glorify the One Trihypostatic One in the one being of God, the Originless Father, the Originless Son and the All-Powerful Spirit, to whom befits glory, honor and power for endless ages. Amen.

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos 3rd

By it, as the Netes say, the great Thessalonian Gregory Palamas prayed, as in this life he is seen

Virgin Lady Theotokos, who gave birth to God the Word in the flesh, we know that there is nothing more beautiful than worthy of me, so all-prodigal, a pure image of You, pure, You, Ever-Virgin, You, who has a pure and undefiled body and soul, to see with defiled eyes and with unclean and foul lips to embrace or pray. It is right for me, the prodigal, to hate and abhor Your purity. Moreover, before God existed, You gave birth to Him, a man, as if He would call sinners to repentance, boldly, and I come to You, praying with tears.

Accept my present confession of many and serious sins and offer to Your only begotten Son and God, making a prayer, that He may be merciful to my more wretched and humble soul, for for the sake of my many iniquities I am forbidden to look to Him and ask for forgiveness. For this sake, I offer you a prayer book and intercessor, as if I have tasted many and great gifts from God who created me and have appeared without memory of them all, accursed and ungrateful, attached to senseless cattle and becoming like them, poor in virtues, rich in passions, cold in execution, deprived of divine boldness, condemned by God, weeping from angels, mocked by We are hated by demons and by humans, we are convicted by conscience, we are ashamed of my evil deeds, and before death we were dead, and before judgment we were self-condemned, and before endless torment we were self-tormented out of despair. In the same way, I resort to Your intercession, the only one, Lady Theotokos, with the darkness of talents I owe, having squandered my father’s property in fornication with harlots, having committed fornication more than a harlot, having committed lawlessness more than Manasseh, having been merciless more than the rich man, a throaty, celestial slave, a companion of evil thoughts, shameful and foul words. treasure keeper, alien to all good deeds.

Have mercy on my humility, have mercy on my weakness; You have great boldness towards the One born from You, no one can do it like You, the Mother of God. You can do everything, for you are superior to all creatures, and it is impossible for You to eat anything unless you desire it. Do not despise my tears, do not be disgusted by my sighing, do not reject my illness from the heart, do not disgrace my hope in You, but with Your Mother’s prayers of Your Good Son and God, forcing unnecessary compassion, grant me, Your cursed and unworthy servant, my first and primordial perception of kindness and passions put aside ugliness, be freed from sin, become enslaved to truth, put off the filth of carnal pleasures and put on the sanctity of spiritual purity, mortify the world and live a life of virtue.

Travel with me on a journey, float in the sea, strengthen me to watch, console me in sorrow, pacify the faint-hearted, grant me healing to the sick, deliver me to the offended, reveal me to the slandered, innocent, soon to save me in need of death, show me to the invisible enemy at every hour of fear, yes They will all take away the one who unjustly tormented him, whose slave I am.

To her, O Most Blessed Lady Theotokos, hear my accursed prayer and do not disgrace me because of my aspirations, which according to God is the hope of all the ends of the earth. Quench the trembling of my flesh, calm the most severe storm in my soul, tame the bitter rage, destroy the arrogance and pride of vain opinions from my mind, destroy the nightly dreams of wicked spirits and the daytime dreams of unclean thoughts from my heart, enlighten my tongue to speak useful words, teach my eyes to see the right, virtues of righteousness, make my mother-in-law in a blessed way. Prepare to sanctify my hands of God’s commandments, so that I may worthily hold them to the Most High. Purify my mouth, as I boldly call on the Father, the terrible God and the all-holy. Open my ears, so that I can hear sensually and mentally the words that are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb of the Holy Scriptures, and I live according to this, we are strengthened by You.

Give me the time of repentance, the thought of conversion, free me from the vain death, change me, condemned by my conscience. And finally, appear to me at the separation of my soul from my damned body, alleviating the unbearable need, alleviating the unspeakable illness, inconsolable comforting the cramped conditions, delivering the dark demonic vision of me, taking away the bitterest answer of the publicans of the air and the principles of the dark, and tearing apart the manuscripts of many of my sins, appropriating me to God, and at the right hand of His blessed standing at the Last Judgment, grant me the eternal and incorruptible blessings of a participant.

I bring this confession to You, my Lady Theotokos, the light of my darkened eyes, the consolation of my soul, according to God, my hope and intercession, accept with good will, and cleanse me from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and grant me in this present age without condemnation to partake of the all-holy and most pure body and blood of Your Son and God, in in the future there will be a heavenly supper, the sweets of heaven, where everyone will have a dwelling place for those who rejoice. Having received these good ones, unworthy, I will glorify forever and ever the most honorable and magnificent name of Your Son and God, who accepts everyone from all repentant souls, for Your sake, who was the intercessor and guarantor of all sinners. For your sake, all-singing and all-blessing Lady, all human nature is saved, praising and blessing the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the All-Holy Trinity and the Consubstantial One, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

PRAYERS TO THE HOLY VIRGIN

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos St. Ephraim the Syrian

Help me, Most Pure Lady, do not allow me to become the property of the evil one. Make me a servant of Your Son and a worthy vessel of the All-Holy Spirit! Save me, All-Singing One, as You Yourself want and know. Mighty Mother of the Almighty and Living God, give me a helping hand, deprived of help, and uplift my soul, saying to it: “I am your salvation!” Hear my prayer and snatch me from the abyss of disasters, and I will glorify You, Most Blessed Mother of Christ our God, to Whom befits honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos by St. Nil of Sorsky

O all-merciful Virgin Mother of God, Mother of generosity and love for mankind, my most beloved hope and hope!

O Mother of sweetness and all the love of the surpassing Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, lover of mankind and my God.

Light of my darkened soul!

I fall down to You, a great sinner, and I pray to You, the source of mercy and the abyss of generosity and love for mankind: have mercy on me, I cry out to You painfully, have mercy on me, all the wounded, who fell into the cruel robbers, and from clothes, in nakedness the Father clothed me, woe is me, naked. In the same way, my wounds became stale and rotten in the face of my madness.

But, my Lady Theotokos, I humbly pray to You, look at me with Your merciful eye and do not disdain me, all that is darkened, all that is defiled, all that is immersed in the mire of pleasures and passions, who is fallen in the cruelty and cannot rise: have mercy on me and give me a helping hand, in raise me up from the depths of sin.

O my joy! Deliver me from those who have bypassed me; enlighten Thy face upon Thy servant, save the perishing, raise up the fallen; for thou canst do all things, as the Mother of Almighty God.

Pour upon me the oil of Thy mercy, and give me the wine of tenderness; You truly have only one hope for the gains in my life.

Do not reject me, who flows to You, but see my grief, Virgin, and the desire of my soul, and accept this and save me, the intercessor of my salvation.

Prayer to the Mother of God, read by St. Sergius of Radonezh

Most Pure Mother of my Christ, intercessor and intercessor, strong helper to the human race! Be an intercessor for us, unworthy, always praying to Your Son and our God, that He may look upon this holy place. For you, Mother of the sweet Christ, we offer you an intercessor and a prayer book, for your servants have acquired much boldness towards Him, for all those who have been saved will find peace and refuge.

Prayer of schema-monk Parthenius of Kiev
8

Beloved Daughter of God the Father, husbandless Emmanuel Mother, crystal-shaped Paraclete (Comforter) Bride, and receptacle of all holy things! Rejoice in the Lord!

O Holy Dove, the highest Lady of the heavens and the purest of the sun’s lordships, the white-lined ark of the Creator, the lightning-beamed vessel of Christ, watered by the Dew-Bearing Spirit and raised by the Angel with manna, having received grace from above above all others, and surpassing all creatures! My dearest Patroness! Have mercy on me, a poor monk! The unthinkable Word is on the throne and the unsearchable Bridegroom is in the palace; the noble nest of the Heavenly Eagle and the mirror of Christ’s Mysteries; beauty by the disembodied Angel and praise by the saint of God! My beloved Protector and Trustee! Do not reject my request in my extreme need! Imperishable to the Mother of the Lady, and uninvolved in marriage, and unmarried to the Queen; fireproof, brighter than the world and shining to the blind! All-sung Mother, Comforter and Savior! Save me from the evil one in this destructive vanity!

The Archangel Gabriel’s voice cries out to You, crowned with the Trinity, called the Young Lady, found a mediator between God and people: Reigning One, O Rejoice! The Lord is with you! Triumph, be the Mother of the Lord Messiah honored!

You are our common Guardian Angel, O Virgin, and quick to obey in calling. May my request for help be useful; Be my guarantor in life, the correctional officer!

I don’t want anything more from You, less than daily food; I wish only one thing: grant that I may love with all my heart Your Son, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and through Your Mother’s intercession receive the inheritance of eternal life acquired for us by His honest Blood. Amen.

Prayer to St. Silouan of Athos to the Most Holy Theotokos

Oh, Most Holy Theotokos. You see my sorrow: I offended the Lord, and He forsook me. But I pray for Your goodness: save me, Your servant.

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow

Hope to all the ends of the earth, Most Holy Lady Theotokos, do not disdain me who is bad in the bold prayers of my lips and help me to extinguish the flame of sin, cleanse my mind from evil thoughts, heal and alleviate my ailments, calm the storm of evil attacks. Most Pure Lady, quench the sorrows that crush my heart, and protect me with repentance from the darkness of sin, for You are the leader of the human race and the Quick Comforter in sorrows. For so much of Your mercy, until my last breath, praise You to the Imam. Most Holy Theotokos, save me, a sinner. Amen.

Prayer to the Mother of God of Saint Righteous John of Kronstadt

O Maria! The sweetness of the Angels themselves, the sad Joy! O Maria! Mother of God and our Christian Mother! I am Your indecent servant, Your Son is angry with me! What should I do? Who should I resort to? I repent of my sins, I resort to my Savior, but I give You as my guarantee, I beg You, I trust in You! After all, You are the Hope of the unreliable, You are the Refuge of sinners, You are the Mother of Christians!

My mother! My mother! Receive Your servant, have mercy on Your sinful child! Intercede, pray to Your Son, and I will be saved. O Maria! Whoever trusts in You will never be put to shame!

Lady Theotokos! You, whose love for Christians surpasses the love of every earthly mother, every wife, listen to us in our prayers and save us! May we always remember You! May we always pray to You fervently! May we always resort to Your Holy roof without laziness and without doubt!

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos for our spiritual father

Oh, my Most Holy Lady, Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and earth! Listen to my crying soul, and hear my sinner’s prayer, Most Pure Mother of God, for my spiritual father (name). Always be his companion, and at all times accompany and protect him with holy angels. Strengthen him when he is awake, protect him when he sleeps, comfort him when he is crying, encourage him when he is despondent, deliver him from sorrows, free him from slander, lift up the weak, defeat the demons fighting against him and in mortal danger help him, so that they know that he is Your servant, Mother of God, who gave birth to God and the King, to whom honor and worship are due. forever and ever.

Mother of God! Soften the hearts of evil people who rebel against him. You see the works of my spiritual father, his sorrows are known to You alone. You know all the secrets of his soul, look mercifully at him from heaven, ease his suffering, cover him with Your cover, visit him with Your heavenly mercy, send a blessing to his deeds and give him invisible help. And with his holy prayers give me humility, self-reproach, patience, meekness, chastity, silence and cover me from all misfortunes and enemies, visible and invisible. Amen.

Prayerful cry to the Mother of God

What should I pray to You for, what should I ask of You? You see everything, you know everything Yourself, look at my soul and give it what it needs. You, who have endured all the sorrows, will understand everything. You, who entwined the Baby in a manger and took Him with Your hands from the Cross, You alone know all the height of joy, all the burden of grief. You, who have received the entire human race as adoption, look upon me with Your maternal care. From the snares of sin, lead me to Your Son. With the tears of Your mercy, poured out over me, the accursed, all my sins were washed away. So I have come, I stand, I wait, O Mother of God, O All-Singing One, O Lady! I don’t ask for anything, I just stand before You, only my exhausted heart cries out to You, Lady! Grant to all who call You to reach the eternal day by You and worship You face to face.

* * *

Oh, Most Holy Virgin, Mother of the Lord Most High, All-Merciful Intercessor and Patroness of all who come running to You with faith! Look down from the height of Your heavenly glory upon me, falling at Your foot, hear the humble prayer of me, Thy sinful and unworthy servant, and offer it before Your Beloved Son. Oh, Most Blessed Mother of God!

You, who are called the Quick to Hear and the Joy of the Sorrowful, hear even the sorrowful;

You are the Satisfaction of Sorrow, assuage my mental illness and sorrow;

You, the burning Kupino, save the world and all of us from the harmful fiery arrows of the enemy;

You are the Seeker of the lost, do not let me perish in the abyss of my sins;

You, the Healer of the afflicted, heal me, wounded from mental and physical infirmities;

You are Unexpected Joy, with the joy of Your salvation you have taken away from me the fear of future torment;

You are the Helper of sinners, be me, a sinner, a merciful Helper of repentance and my salvation.

In You, through God, I place all my hope, be the vigilant Intercessor and All-Powerful Representative before Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen my faith in Him, confirm in His love, teach me to love and glorify You, the Most Holy Mother of God: I entrust to Your almighty protection, the Mother of God, for all eternity. Amen.

* * *

O my Most Holy Lady Theotokos, the Source of mercy, the Protection, the Hope and the Refuge of Christians, to You, the all-powerful Representative and Helper of my repentance and salvation, I, Thy sinful servant, entrust my soul and body, my entry and exit, my faith and residence, my death and number of days, my verbs and thoughts, my deeds and undertakings. You, merciful Mother of God, guide me, cover me, protect me and save me from all intrigues unharmed, and silently, until my last breath, I cry to You: Rejoice, Unmarried Bride.

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos by Hieroschemamonk Sampson

“All-Merciful”
9

My all-merciful Lady, Most Holy Lady, All-Pure Virgin, Mother of God Mary, Mother of God, undoubted and my only Hope, do not disdain me, do not reject me, do not leave me, do not depart from me; intercede, ask, hear; see, Lady, help, forgive, forgive, Most Pure One!

When they offend

At all times, try to endure reproaches in silence… Pray:

“Queen of Heaven, save us sinners and do not let us fall into the abyss. I know, Lady, all these sorrows are good for our souls. But, Lady, you see how weak we are and how strongly we are attached to earthly life. Give us patience to bear our cross and do not leave us sinners with Your heavenly consolation.”

And if you do this throughout your entire temporary life on earth, then the Lord will not leave you with His Mother and from time to time will give you such inner consolations that no earthly pleasure and consolation can compare with…

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary

To my queen, my most holy hope, refuge for the orphaned and strange intercessor, help for the needy and protection for the embittered! See my misfortune, see my sorrow: I am overwhelmed by temptation everywhere, but there is no intercessor. You Yourself, help me as I am weak, guide me as I am strange, guide me as I am lost, heal and save me as I am hopeless. There is no other help, no other intercession, no consolation except You, O Mother of all who grieve and are burdened! Look upon me, a sinner and in the bitterness of my existence, and cover me with Your most holy omophorion, that I may be delivered from the evils that have befallen me, and I will always praise Your revered name. Amen.

Prayer before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called “Deliverer”

Oh, Mother of God, our help and protection, whenever we ask, be our Deliverer, we trust in You and always call upon You with all our souls: have mercy and help, have pity and deliver, and incline Your ear, and accept our sorrowful and tearful prayers as you wish, calm and rejoice us, who love Your Beginning Son. Amen.

Psalm 90

From the Psalter of the Mother of God.

Living in the help of the Mother of God under Her strong shelter will be established; the enemy of hell will not harm him, and his flying arrow will not touch him, for the mighty Lady will deliver him from the snare of the one who catches him and cover him with Her wings. Cry out to Her all in your troubles, and the harmful wound will not come close to your souls and bodies: for He will show you His salvation everywhere.

* * *

Prayer

Oh, Most Holy Lady, my Lady Theotokos, Heavenly Queen! Save and deliver me, Your sinful servant, from vain slander, from all misfortune and misfortune and sudden death. Have mercy on me in the daytime hours, and in the morning and evening, and preserve me at all times; Protect those who stand, those who sit, and those who walk on every path, and those who sleep at night, provide, cover and protect. Protect me, Lady Theotokos, from all my enemies, visible and invisible, and from every evil situation. In every place and at every time, be the Mother of God, an insurmountable wall and strong intercession, always now, and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.

An incident from the biography of Elder Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Tbilisi)

Once, when we were at Father’s, we started talking until late. Then Mother Maria came and started swearing:

– Enough already! Let’s go to bed! How much time! Why are you going to sit until the morning?!

I felt that Mother Maria was angry with me. In general, it seemed to me that from the very beginning she “disliked” me for something. And I was so worried about this! Then I went into the room next to the one in which we spent the night, stood in front of the holy corner and began to pray to Mother theotokos. I stand and cry: “Mommy, soften the heart of God’s servant Mother Mary!” I prayed like this and prayed – suddenly Father Vitaly came out of his room and came straight to me. He came up and said quietly:

– Mother Lydia, Mommy heard your prayer.

And this made my tears flow even more… This is how Mother of God consoled me.

This shows how close the Lord and the Mother of God are to us. The incident described by the servant of God Lydia was a spiritual exam for her. That time she solved the problem correctly, and therefore received consolation. This was a lesson for the future. Through Father Vitaly, the Lord wanted to strengthen Lydia in her understanding of how to act in similar situations in the future. If you feel a person’s dislike for you, then don’t be angry, don’t be offended, don’t murmur, don’t complain, don’t try to defend your “rightness,” but just pray for the person with love, and the Lord will arrange everything. Father himself always did exactly this.

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos for help and protection

Warm intercessor for an adulterous and sinful race! According to Your word in Cana of Galilee, Your Son and our God made the firstfruits a sign and turned the water into wine. Ask, O Mother of God, and now Your Son, may He perform a miracle on us too, may He transform our sorrowful days, entwined with lies, resentment and tears, into the joy of rebirth, into the happiness of love and truth; may the beginning of the Divine Light, the pure source of the Holy Spirit of the Holy God, the Triune, strengthen in us. Let all that is evil and unclean be cast out from our hearts. Oh, unattainable Purity and Ineffable Mercy! Incline Your ear to our prayer: O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, joy and refuge for all Christians: venerating Your Most Pure Image, we sing a song of praise to You, We offer You our needs, grief and tears. You, O our Meek Intercessor, all our earthly sorrows and sorrows are close to You, accept our sighs in prayers, help us and save us from troubles.

Oh, greatest Love and most fragrant heart! Turn away from us the wrath of God, which is righteously moved against us for our sins; strengthen those who love us, so that neither persecution nor cruel times will shake them; bring to reason those who hate us and those who harm us; forgive our enemies, who do not know what they are doing, soften their angry heart, and illuminate their darkness with the light of Christ’s love, and transform their anger and hatred into shame and repentance. Oh, fragrant flower! Our vessels are empty, we do not have the oil of good works, and the lamps of our faith are extinguished by the storm of life. Have mercy on us: fill our hearts with the joy of pure joys, renew us spiritually, and with grateful lips we continually cry out to You: Oh, All-Singing Mother Mary, who gave birth to all the saints, the Most Holy Word! Now accept our offering and deliver everyone from every misfortune. Warm us with maternal love and rejoice us with eternal joy. Save us from eternal torment through unceasing prayer to Your Son and vouchsafe us, O Queen, the heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

Icon of the Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts”

“Unfortunate and pitiful are those who are far from love,” says Rev. Ephraim the Syrian. – He spends his days in sleepy delirium. And who will not cry for that person who is far from God, deprived of light and lives in darkness? In everyday reality, anger, irritability, and hostility have become our constant companions. It is difficult to reconcile those at war, to calm the flow of unbridled anger from our loved ones and those far away. Oh, if only people knew what they are losing by refusing love! “Blessed is the man in whom there is the love of God,” St. Ephraim tells us, “because he carries God within himself… In whom there is love, he, together with God, is above all else. He who has love in him is not afraid; because love casts out fear… Heaven has been opened to us by love, and the entrance to heaven is shown to everyone. Through love we, who were His enemies, have been reconciled to God.” A tearful prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos through Her miraculous icon “Softening Evil Hearts,” or otherwise “Seven Arrows,” is capable of performing a miracle. Where our words are powerless, the power of God’s grace, called upon through an appeal to the Mother of God, will surely soften “the hearts of evil people” and give a feeling of peace and love.

Troparion

Soften our evil hearts, Mother of God, and extinguish the misfortunes of those who hate us, and resolve all the tightness of our souls. Looking at Your holy image, with Your suffering and mercy for us, we are touched and we kiss Your wounds, and we are horrified by the arrows of our tormenting You. Do not let us, Mother of the Compassionate, perish in our hardness of heart and from the hardness of our neighbors. You are truly the softener of evil hearts.

Prayer

O my Most Holy Lady Theotokos, the source of mercy, the protection, hope and refuge of Christians! To You, the all-powerful representative and supporter of my repentance and salvation, I, Your sinful servant, I entrust my soul and body, my entrances and exits, my faith and life, my death and number of days, my verbs and thoughts, my deeds and undertakings; You, Merciful Mother of God, guide me, cover me, protect me and save me from all the enemy’s machinations unharmed. Yes, silently, until my last breath, I cry out to You: Rejoice, unbridled Bride! Rejoice, great holy of holies! Most Holy Theotokos, save me! Amen!

Another prayer

By Thy grace, O Lady, soften the hearts of evildoers, send down benefactors, keeping them from all evil, to those who earnestly pray to Thy before Thy honest icons.

* * *

Many of us often go on the road, either by plane, or by ship, car or bus.

How often do many disasters and accidents happen in our time of rapid technological development? In order for the Lord and His Most Pure Mother to keep us unharmed on land, air and water, the elders advise before going on the road to read the following prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos.

* * *

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos from a person who wants to go on a journey

Oh, my Most Holy Lady, Virgin Mary, Hodegetria, patroness and hope of my salvation! Behold, on the journey set before me, now I want to leave and for the time being I entrust to You, my most merciful Mother, my soul and body, all my mental and material powers, entrusting everything to Your strong gaze and Your all-powerful help. Oh, my good companion and protector! I earnestly pray to Thee, that this path may not creep, guide me on it, and direct it, O All-Holy Hodegetria, as She herself did, to the glory of Thy Son, my Lord Jesus Christ, be my helper in everything, especially in this long and difficult journey, keep me under Thy sovereign protection from all troubles and sorrows that may arise, from enemies visible and invisible, and pray for me, my Lady, Thy Son, Christ our God, that He may send His Angel a peaceful, faithful mentor and guardian to help me, and as of old He granted His servant Tobias Raphael, in every place and at all times, keeping him on the road from all evil: so guide my path safely and preserve me by heavenly power, – may she return me to health, peace and completeness to my dwelling for the glory of Your Holy Name, glorifying and blessing Him all the days of my life and magnifying You, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

TEACHING OF THE ATHONS ELDER DANIEL OF KATUNAKSKY ABOUT READING SPIRITUAL BOOKS

Only after you have prayed to the Lady Theotokos in front of Her holy icon, made three prostrations to the ground, asking for Her mercy for yourself, and begin reading with attention and reverence. This is what Saint Gregory (Palama) acted throughout his godly life. Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople writes about this, who described the life of the saint:

“So our good Gregory devoted himself to practicing eloquence and studying the so-called secular wisdom – philosophy, since it was necessary that such a high soul and strong nature should not be unfamiliar with arrows and weapons from the other side. And when he was still studying the rudiments of grammar, at the very first he experienced the intercession and help of the wondrous Receiver – I mean the common Lady of all, who thereby proved at the very beginning of his orphanhood that the words of the father spoken at his last breath, when he chose the Mother of God as the intercessor and leader of his children, were not just empty sounds that had no application in practice, but that She constantly, all the days of his life, will control him and ultimately calm him down in a quiet, saving refuge. Having begun to study grammar, Gregory, since he was still at a very young age and therefore found it very difficult to memorize, made it a rule not to take up a book or start memorizing until he had first made three bows with prayer before the icon of the Mother of God. And if this was done, then Gregory always learned the lesson by heart easily, without the slightest stumbling block; if it happened that sometimes, in his haste, he forgot to say his usual prayer in front of the icon, then learning the lesson was difficult for him, as if he had been deprived of heavenly help from Her, and it happened that in such cases he was even beaten by his teachers and mentors. With all this, the Heavenly Queen and intercessor convinced the soul of the emperor to be especially favorable and fatherly towards him and the rest of his brothers, and the king not only took every care that they had in sufficient quantities all the necessary maintenance, clothing and money for other needs from the royal treasury, but also often called them to the palace and talked with them for a long time very mercifully and philanthropically, despite the fact that they were all, as said, very young, young.

The second year had already passed since Gregory, according to this vow, completed the difficult path of asceticism in fasting, vigil and in unceasing day and night prayer to God, hourly guided and assisted by the intercessor and strong intercessor of the Mother of God. And so, one day, when Gregory, having given himself up to complete solitude, concentrated all his thoughts on himself, without losing sight of the remembrance of God, a godly husband, the Evangelist John, a confidant disciple of Jesus Christ and a friend, appeared to him not in a dream, but in reality. Looking meekly and friendly at Gregory, he said: “I, as you see, came to you as a messenger from the Lady of all saints to ask you why, night and day, almost every hour, you do not stop crying out: “Enlighten my darkness, enlighten my darkness!” And Gregory responded to this: “What else can a person who suffers and, like me, filled with sin, ask in his prayer from God, if not to know and do His saving will?” “But do not be afraid and do not doubt,” says the beloved disciple of Christ, “the Lady of all, through me, Her servant, commands and tells you that both She and I will be your helpers.” And Saint Gregory asked again: “When will the Mother of my Lord be my helper – in the present life or in the future?” To this the divine evangelist meekly and friendly said: “Both in this and in the next century.” Having said this and filling Gregory’s heart with inexpressible joy and joy, with the promise of all grace-filled gifts from the Mother of God, he became invisible.

Saint Gregory later spoke about this, with tears of tenderness, to his good disciple and companion Dorotheus, a zealot of his high life, who later became his companion in the struggle for the Orthodox faith. He also told him that even in his father’s house and then, living in the palace, when studying science, and in general in all his affairs, he always had great hope in the Ever-Virgin Mother of God. Therefore, every day, at dawn, his first urgent duty, before any work, was to stand before the holy icon and say with contrition of heart that sacred and great prayer of repentance, which began with the Venerable Mary of Egypt.

Another time, Gregory once prayed for himself and for his disciples, and his prayer was to the Virgin Mother of God, the ever-present leader and intercessor, so that She would make both their spiritual life and approach to God temptation-free, and would also make what was necessary for bodily needs convenient and easier to obtain, so that they, suffering from a lack, would not be forced to think and bother about it to the detriment of spiritual, more necessary needs. This was the essence of his prayer. And the Lady of all, forestalling with Her speedy providence any request of those praying, immediately appeared before him in reality, as majestically and virginally dressed as we depict on good (from the artistic side) icons. And, turning to those who followed Her, of whom there seemed to be a lot and all of them were noble, she said: “From now on and forever, be the givers of everything necessary to Gregory and his brethren.” Having said this, the Virgin Mary left. And St. Gregory told us that from then on, in all subsequent times, wherever we were, we obtained everything we needed without much effort.”

Miraculous icon “Increase in mind”

Troparion, tone 4

O glorious Mother of Christ our God, the good Giver, by Your mercy preserve the entire universe, grant us, Your servant, wisdom and understanding, enlighten our souls with the light of Your Son, the only All-Singing One, glorified by the Cherubim and Seraphim.

Kontakion, tone 2

As we are enlightened by the mind of Christ, we praise You, Most Pure Mother of the Lord, who holds the entire universe, the Beauty of the visible and invisible world, illuminating us with the rays of Life.

Prayer

O Most Holy Virgin! You are the Bride of God the Father and the Mother of His Divine Son Jesus Christ! You are the Queen of angels and the salvation of people, the accuser of sinners and the punisher of apostates! Have mercy on us too, who have gravely sinned and failed to fulfill the commandments of God, who have broken the vows of baptism and many others that we promised to fulfill. When the Holy Spirit departed from King Saul, then fear and despondency attacked him, and the darkness of despair and a joyless state of soul tormented him. Now, for our sins, we have all lost the grace of the Holy Spirit. The mind has become fussy with vanity of thoughts, oblivion about God has darkened our souls, and now all kinds of sadness, sorrow, illness, hatred, evil, enmity, vindictiveness, gloating and other sins oppress the heart. And, not having joy and consolation, we call to You, Mother of our God Jesus Christ, and beseech Your Son to forgive us all our sins and send to us the Comforter Spirit, as He sent Him to the apostles, so that, comforted and enlightened by Him, we will sing a song of gratitude to You: Rejoice, Most Holy Theotokos, who has added to our minds towards salvation. Amen.

* * *

The miraculous icon “Abbess of Athos”

Troparion, tone 4

A terrible and shameless intercession, / do not despise, O good one, our prayers, / the all-sung Mother of God, merciful steward of the faithful, / establish the Orthodox residence, “save our country / and protect all Orthodox living in it, / you have given birth to God, the only blessed one.”

Troparion in another voice 3

We bring songs of thanksgiving to Thee, Mother of God, for all of us, living in Thy mountain, have ever delivered us from the evil slander of the enemy, and bestowed all that is useful to us: and the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven has been vouchsafed to those who love Thee.

Kontakion, tone 5

Who does not rejoice, hearing Your promises, O Mother of God? Who doesn’t enjoy them? You have declared, Bride of God: having ended your life well here, present the imam to my Son and God, thereby asking for forgiveness of sins. We also cry out to You with tenderness: Rejoice, hope and salvation of our souls.

Prayer

O Most Pure Lady Theotokos, our most honorable Mother Abbess of all Orthodox holy monasteries of monastic life, in the Holy Mount Athos and throughout the entire universe! Accept our humble prayer and bring it to our all-generous God, that He may save our souls by His grace. Look upon us with Thy merciful eye and bring about our salvation in the Lord, for without the mercy of our Savior and Thy holy intercession for us we will not be able to achieve our own salvation, as if our life has become calcified in the vanities of the world, for the time of the harvest of Christ is drawing near and the day of the Last Judgment has arrived. We, the damned, are perishing in the abyss of sin more than negligence for our sake, according to what was spoken by the holy fathers, the pioneers of angelic life in the flesh, as the last monastics, through the negligence of their lives, will become like a worldly man, which will come true today, for our last monasticism floats with its life in the sea of ​​\u200b\u200blife, in the midst of great storms and bad weather.

O our sweetest Mother Abbess! Gather us, the scattered flock of Christ, together and save Orthodox monasticism of the last century of this, and grant all Orthodox Christians heavenly life with the angels and all the saints in the Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him be honor and glory, with His Beginning Father and with His Most Holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

* * *

Prayer for the granting of the unceasing Jesus Prayer

(on behalf of the only one)

O One Most Pure and Most Holy Lady Theotokos, chamber of the Holy Spirit, almighty Intercessor and Intercessor of the Christian race! Do not tear away me, unworthy, who has defiled my soul and body with sins, cleanse my mind from vain thoughts that embroil me in the destruction of this charming world. Tame my passions and deliver me from my sins. Give courage and reasoning to my darkened mind, so that I may appear skilled in the work of God’s commandments. The fire of Divine love ignited my frozen heart. Above all, I pray to You, Good Mother, as to Maxim Kavsokalivit, ask for the gift of unceasing prayer for me, so that this may remain in me as a stream, from the heat of passions and sorrows found, cooling and filling, so that having acquired peace of heart with Your help, and having been cleansed from sinful defilements by tearful repentance, I may be honored in the future a world of joy and bliss, a partaker of the existence of all the holy fathers (of Athos) and all the saints from the ages who have pleased God. Amen.

Another short prayer for the gift of unceasing prayer

Holy Mother of God! Grant me the unceasing Jesus Prayer.

* * *

Unceasing prayer is prayer that constantly comes to God from the heart. This is a gift of grace. Saint Macarius the Great says: “Pray and strain yourself in prayer, and God, seeing how earnestly you desire to pray, will give prayer.” In the Slavic Philokalia, Elder Maxim Kavsokalivit says about himself that for two years he prayed to the Mother of God that She would give or ask for prayer. “One day,” he says, “as I prayed and venerated the icon of the Mother of God, a sweet light instantly sank into my heart and has been glowing there ever since.” This is the gift of prayer! Seek it, too, and express it in words in prayer, keeping in mind the prayer that Maximus speaks of.

St. Theophan the Recluse

Prayer before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called “Quick to Hear”

O Most Holy Virgin, Mother of the Lord Most High, quick to obey the Intercessor of all who come running to You with faith! Look down from the height of Thy heavenly majesty upon me, the indecent one, falling before Thy holy icon: hear the humble prayer of the less sinner soon and bring it to Thy Son: beseech Him that He may illumine my dark soul with the light of His Divine grace and cleanse my mind from vain thoughts, that my suffering heart may pacify and He will heal his wounds, may he enlighten me to do good deeds and strengthen me to work for Him with fear, may he forgive all the evil I have done, may he deliver me from eternal torment and not deprive me of His heavenly kingdom. O most blessed Mother of God! You have deigned to be named in Your image, Quick to Hear, commanding everyone to come to You with faith: do not despise the sorrowful me and do not allow me to perish in the abyss of my sins: in You, through God, is all my hope and hope of salvation, and I entrust myself to Your protection and intercession forever and ever. Amen.

Glorification

We magnify Thee, the Virgin Mother of God, and honor Thee, as the Supreme Ruler of Athos, and our Good Mentor and Patroness.

* * *

An incident from the life of the Pskov-Pechersk Elder Schema-Abbot Savva

Continuing his ascetic deeds and growing spiritually, for three months he experienced terrible satanic attacks: an evil enemy took revenge on him for his piety. The demon frightened and threatened, pursued him everywhere: at home, on the street, in the temple… It got to the point that he even felt the demonic stench, felt the fur, claws, saw its ugly, disgusting and terrible appearance.

Subsequently the elder told his close friend:

– Now the enemy does not appear in reality, he only takes revenge invisibly, but, for the prayers of my spiritual children, it’s easy for me. And then he even pinched during the day! In the church of the Holy Martyr Tryphon, in the Znamensky chapel, one pious woman saw this and, surprised, asked: “How can you bear it? After all, how he pinches you!”

Courageously enduring demonic fears, Nikolai Mikhailovich (that was Father Savva’s name before becoming a monk), did not lose the feat of prayer. And then one day, during such an enemy attack, he prayed and fervently, with tears, asked his heavenly patron, St. Nicholas, for intercession. And suddenly he hears a voice:

– It’s good that you ask me, but a more perfect way is to ask the Mother of God. She is the First Assistant in everything!

Here he had a second vision of the Mother of God: immediately all the demonic intrigues ceased, and She, the All-Good One, appeared to him in the form of “Quick to Hear.” After this, he became accustomed to especially often resorting to the Mother of God for help in difficult circumstances.

* * *

Prayer before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called “The Desperate One Hope”

Oh, Most Pure Lady Theotokos! To You, exhausted from despondency and relaxation, and convicted by our conscience, we fall in a contrite heart and cry out to You with tenderness: do not depart from us, many sinners, seeing our countless sins, in the image of the most bitter of the Trinitarian God and You, the Queen of Heaven.

Deliver us, O our Intercessor, from sinful habits and captivity of passions, in which the enemies have captivated our will, tied us with strong bonds, forcing us to work in sin. We have come in multitudes to desire the commandments of our Creator, and for our sins we have also lost the grace of Your Son, with which God protects those who love Him from the snares of the evil one. The imams, O Lady, do not have the strength to escape from this demonic rope. For our will fails without the grace of Thy Son and we know that we do not want, and like his servants the enemy forces us to work for him.

Do not leave us, O All-Merciful One, without Your help, for the Imams have no other hope except You, Most Immaculate. If you do not implore Your Son to have mercy on us, we will all perish in our sins. Deliver us from this sinful slavery, be for us the Liberator and the Solver of demonic bonds. Enlighten our minds, so that the memory of the imams, like all that exists on earth, is dust and ashes, especially our flesh, which the enemy forces us to serve, like an idol.

Awaken, O Lady, our sleeping conscience to repentance, fallen with the fear of the present Terrible Judgment Seat of God, where the imams will give an answer about all our deeds and words and thoughts. Kindle our souls with the fire of zeal for God, which God kindled in us in the beginning. We did not observe this gift and destroyed it through negligence; Now, like five foolish virgins, we sit in darkness, not having anything to burn at the meeting of the Bridegroom Christ.

Oh, Mother of Light, Queen of Heaven, Hope for those who are desperate and burdened with many sins, send us help from Your Son and our God, pray to the Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, may He not be angry with us, but lead us out of the slavery of sin, may He strengthen our will with His grace, as having been delivered by Your intercession from the network of the enemy, we will glorify in the Trinity we glorify God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

ABOUT CHASTITY

Teachings of the Athonite elder Daniel of Katunak

He who distinguished himself in chastity and holiness and was worthy of all various gifts became worthy of them thanks to the protection of our Lady Theotokos.

To preserve his purity, the struggling virgin must, first of all, be exclusively devoted to the Lady Theotokos and humbly pray to Her for help, since the vestments of infallible virginity cannot be achieved only through asceticism and personal struggle. This, however, must certainly be, but it is given by the grace of the Ever-Virgin Mary, Who cleanses the souls of virgins.

Whoever wants to maintain chastity must make a lot of effort, cleansing his soul from sensual thoughts that are introduced to damage the soul by the accomplice of evil. You can get rid of these thoughts with the help of the Jesus Prayer and invoking the name of the Lady Theotokos, Who knows how to cleanse the souls of true adherents of chastity.

* * *

Prayerful appeal to the Most Pure Virgin Mary for the preservation of virginity and purity

Most Pure Virgin, Mother of God!..

Light of Purity! Rod of Virginity!..

Establish me in virginity

And keep it clean!..

(Archbishop Anthony Mikhailovsky)

Prayer when there are unclean thoughts and a desire to sin or despondency, despair, melancholy

Thy offer, O enemy, is upon thy head; Mother of God, help me.

And read the prayer many times: “Virgin Mother of God, Hail, O Blessed Mary, the Lord is with Thee: blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb, for Thou hast given birth to the Savior of our souls.”

The Holy Fathers considered it especially useful to resort to the Mother of God prayer during the invasion of blasphemous and lustful thoughts, for the enemy, who often raises this battle against ascetics, flees from them in fear, driven away by the Most Pure Virgin. It is not for nothing that we please the Mother of God with the following words: “You drive away adversity and drive away passions, O Virgin…” (Canon of Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, Canto 8). The elders also advise reading this canon under different life circumstances.

* * *

From the life and instructions of St. Jonah of Kyiv

One novice told Elder Jonah that he was struggling with unclean thoughts. Father Jonah advised him to read the last prayer to the Mother of God included in the morning prayers:

“My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, with Your saints and all-powerful prayers, drive away from me Your humble and cursed servant, despondency, oblivion, unreason, negligence, and all the nasty, evil and blasphemous thoughts, from my cursed heart, and from my darkened mind, and extinguish the flame of passions mine, for I am poor and damned, and deliver me from many and cruel memories and undertakings, and free me from all evil actions, as you are blessed from all generations, and glorified is Your Most Honorable name forever and ever. Amen”

“Read this prayer,” said the elder, “and you will get rid of tempting thoughts.”

* * *

Prayer to St. Macarius of Optina, that May during carnal warfare

O Mother of the Lord, my Creator! You are the root of virginity and the unfading color of purity. Oh, Mother of God! Help me, the one who is weak with carnal passion and painful, for one thing is Yours and I have intercession through You, Your Son and God. Amen.

The elders also advise those who are zealous for chastity to read the akathist to the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos: “The Unfading Flower.”

* * *

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos in honor of Her icon, called “The Unfading Color”

Most Holy and Immaculate Mother of the Virgin, hope of Christians and refuge for sinners! Protect all those who come running to You in misfortune, hear our groans, incline Your ear to our prayer. Mistress and Mother of our God, do not despise those who require Your help and do not reject us sinners, enlighten us and teach us: do not depart from us, your servants, for our murmuring. Be our Mother and Protectress, we entrust ourselves to Your merciful protection. Lead us sinners to a quiet and serene life; let us pay for our sins. Oh, Mother Mary, our most offering and speedy Intercessor, cover us with Your intercession. Protect from enemies visible and invisible, soften the hearts of evil people who rebel against us. O Mother of the Lord, our Creator! You are the root of virginity and the unfading flower of purity and chastity, send help to us who are weak and overwhelmed by carnal passions and wandering hearts. Enlighten our spiritual eyes, so that we may see the ways of God’s truth. By the grace of Your Son, strengthen our weak will in fulfilling the commandments, so that we will be delivered from all troubles and misfortunes, and we will be justified by Your wonderful intercession at the Last Judgment of Your Son. To him we give glory, honor and worship, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

ABOUT THE SICK

Troparion to the Most Holy Theotokos in honor of Her icon, called “Healer”

Voice 4.

Like the Blessed Star, asking for Divine miracles, Your Holy Image, Healer, grant us, the Mother of God Mary, healing of mental and physical ailments, salvation and great mercy. Heal, O Pure Virgin Lady, the infirmity of my soul and grant me health with Your prayers.

Another troparion, tone 1

To Love, Pure Virgin, to those who venerate Your holy icon, and to those who glorify You, the true Mother, and faithfully worship You, the Healer appears, removing all evil and illness from these, like the Almighty.

Prayer 1.

Most Holy Lady Queen Theotokos, Supreme of all heavenly powers and Holiest of all saints. We fall down and worship You before Your all-honorable image, remembering Your wondrous appearance to the sick clergyman Vincent and earnestly pray to You, the All-powerful Intercessor and Helper of our family, as in ancient times you bestowed healing on that cleric, so now heal our souls and bodies, sick with the wounds of sins and varied passions, deliver us from all misfortunes, troubles, sorrows and eternal condemnation. Save from soul-destroying teachings and unbelief, from flattering and arrogant attacks of invisible enemies. Grant us a Christian death that is painless, peaceful, and without shame, and that I participate in the Holy Mysteries. Vouchsafe us, at the impartial judgment of Christ, to stand at the right hand of the All-Righteous Judge and to hear His blessed voice: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” Amen.

Prayer 2

Accept, O All-Blessed and All-Powerful Lady Lady Theotokos the Virgin, these prayers, now brought to You with tears from us, Your unworthy servants, who send up the singing of Your celibate image with tenderness, as if You yourself are here and heed our prayer. For every request you fulfill, you alleviate sorrows, you grant health to the weak, you heal the weakened and sick, you drive away demons from demons, you deliver the offended from insults, you cleanse lepers and have mercy on little children; Moreover, O Lady, Lady Theotokos, you free us from the bonds of prison and heal all manifold passions: for all things are possible through Your intercession to Your Son, Christ our God. O All-Singing Mother, Most Holy Theotokos! Do not cease to pray for us, your unworthy servants, who glorify You and honor You, and who worship Your most pure image with tenderness, and who have irrevocable hope and undoubted faith in You, the Ever-Virgin, Most Glorious and Immaculate, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER FOR NEIGHBORHOOD AND THOSE WE WANT TO HELP

When we want to help a person, and, as it seems to us, we are making every possible effort to do this, but nothing works, then we have forgotten to use the most powerful helping tool – prayer for him. You need to learn to begin all your actions with sincere, heartfelt prayer. And the one whom we want, but are unable to help, we must entrust to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother. Yes, it is the Most Holy Theotokos who is our first helper after God. That is why She is called in Her miraculous icons the Helper of sinners, the seeker of the lost, the desperate with a single hope, unexpected joy, and these names can be continued for a long time.

The story of the icon of the Mother of God “Unexpected Joy” very clearly shows Her maternal care for every person, and especially for the sinful and lost. She alone can plead with Her Son for any sinner. Therefore, our loved ones, or other people whom we want to help, should be entrusted to Her Mother’s protection and guardianship. And how the Most Holy Theotokos will act in the lives of these people is a mystery, often hidden from prying eyes. But if we ask, She will definitely respond. We need to remember one thing: we cannot free a person from any sin or addiction, but She can. To her, who has such the greatest boldness before Her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, all things are possible. It is not for nothing that one of the devotees of piety called the Most Pure Virgin Mary “The Lady of the Impossible”!

* * *

SOME ADVICE OF THE ELDERS ABOUT PRAYING FOR OUR LOVED ONES

Pray calmly for your loved ones, committing them to God.

I am sending you a prayer, my beloved, I think that it should be kind to you too, for it removes all unnecessary worries from the heart and mind and reliably trusts both us and our loved ones to the Lord:

“God! You know everything; do to me and my loved ones as you please.”

Prayer, only it has real power, do not forget about it. Pray this prayer for your loved ones:

Prayer for others

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of the Mother of God and all the saints, send peace, prosperity, blessing to Your servants: (names).

Other prayers for others

O All-merciful Lord! Not wanting the sinner to die, but wanting everyone to be saved and come into the mind of truth. We pray to Thee, O Blessed One, through the intercession of Thy Most Pure Mother, our Intercessor and first Intercessor, protect the servant of God (name) from evil demons tempting him, and from evil people, and let him know their wickedness. May grace rise in his soul, immersed in a deep sinful sleep, and may his enemies be scattered, may all their intrigues disappear.

Oh, All-Merciful Lady! Destroy all the hellish malice of the enemies who hate the human soul, turn away the will of Thy servant (name) from their flattery, open it to the most holy will of Thy beloved Son and our God, enlighten his sleepy conscience, so that Thy praise may not fail from his lips, lower his love for You within him; peace to many who love Thee, Lady, their souls will not see eternal death forever.

PRAYERS TO THE HOLY VIRGIN for our neighbors or people around us whom we want to help

Some people of high spiritual life, when they wanted to help a person they met on their path in life, but due to various circumstances they could not do this, prayed like this: “Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos, take this soul (name, or names), and do with it what You want, what I would like to do with it, but I cannot. I entrust him (or their – names) to Your maternal care and protection.”

Prayer 1

O Most Holy Lady Lady Theotokos! Raise us, the servants of God (names) from the depths of sin and deliver us from sudden death and from all evil. Grant us, O Lady, peace and health and enlighten our minds and the eyes of our hearts to salvation, and grant us, Thy sinful servants, the Kingdom of Thy Son, Christ our God: for His power is blessed with the Father and His Most Holy Spirit.

Prayer 2

Most Holy Virgin, Mother of the Lord, show me, the poor, and the servants of God (names) Your ancient mercy: send down the spirit of reason and piety, the spirit of mercy and meekness, the spirit of purity and truth. Hey, Most Pure Lady! Be merciful to me here and at the Last Judgment. For you are, O Lady, the glory of heaven and the hope of earth. Amen.

Prayer 3

O Most Holy Lady Lady Theotokos! Look down from Thy holy height upon us, servants of God (names), and help us the weak, satisfy our sorrows, guide us on the right path; Heal our painful hearts, grant us the rest of our lives to spend in peace and repentance; Grant a Christian death and at the Last Judgment of Your Son, the intercessor of mercy will appear to us, may we always glorify You with all those who have pleased God forever and ever.

* * *

Prayer to the Mother of God of St. Gabriel of Novgorod for the conversion of the lost

Oh, All-Merciful Lady, Virgin, Lady Theotokos, Queen of Heaven! By Your Nativity You saved the human race from the eternal torment of the devil: for from You Christ was born, our Savior. Look with Your mercy on this (name), deprived of God’s mercy and Grace, intercede with Your Mother’s boldness and Your prayers from Your Son, Christ our God, so that He may send down His grace from above on this perishing one. O Most Blessed One! You are the hope of the unreliable, You are the salvation of the desperate, may the enemy not rejoice over his soul!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

(from the sermons of Archimandrite Tikhon (Agrikov))

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Beloved brothers and sisters, there is no person on earth who would love us so much and do us so much good as the Mother of God.

In the world there is very tender parental love, the love of brothers and sisters, the love of true friends, marital love… But nothing, no affection, no one’s disposition can compare with the love of the Queen of Heaven for us. And no matter how much people loved Her, no matter how much they praised Her, all human love for Her is a drop compared to the ocean of Her endless Divine love for all people: those who have died, those who live now and those who have to live. She alone was chosen as the Mother of God. She gave the world the Son of God in the flesh, Christ the Savior. She loved Him immensely, but she gave Him to us, obedient to the will of God, she gave Him for our salvation, for our redemption. He is our Lord, Teacher and Savior. He feeds us with His Most Pure Body and Blood.

The Mother of God gave us Her beloved Son, and ungrateful humanity lifted Him to the cross. But the Mother of God – the Mother of Sorrows – did not abandon such ungrateful children and, giving them her Son, accepted motherhood over all humanity. She adopted us all in the moments of the terrible Calvary suffering of Her Son. Since then, She has not left us, has not left our land of sin and sorrow. She covers entire countries and peoples, the Holy Church, and our families with Her all-powerful, fiery omophorion. She preserves, protects and leads each of us to salvation, and grieves and aches for all of us with Her warm maternal heart. She promised to come to us at the terrible hour of death and gently bend over our troubled soul, drive away evil demons, and ease our outcome with Her presence. She is the only faithful helper on the terrible path of afterlife ordeals, where demons will try to grab the soul, plunge it into fear, despair and drag it with them into eternal destruction. She alone is strong to protect us in the hour of the Last Judgment!.. O beloved, in this terrible hour, when, according to the voice of the Archangel, all people who have lived since the ages will be gathered, then trembling will seize everyone and everything. Nature itself will tremble and move. And only She will stand invariably, according to Her maternal right, at the right hand of the formidable Judge. Only She, His Mother and our Mother, will bring at that hour a bold maternal prayer for all of us…

Yes, it is impossible, my dears, it is impossible to list all the mercies of the Mother of God to us. But for all these great benefits, for Her love and care, how do we respond to our Heavenly Mother, our Intercessor? My dears, we have to admit the bitter truth: we are not grateful to Her, we often ask Her for many things, but we do not remember Her mercies towards us, we do not see Her protection over us, we do not notice, we do not appreciate Her care for us.

One boy revered the Mother of God from childhood and read the Archangel’s greeting to Her every day: “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice…”. But time passed, he grew up, life turned him around. In addition, he began to think: “I pray, but I don’t see any benefit from it, I live no better than others.” And he stopped praying to the Mother of God, and one day he saw Her in a dream. She came and meekly reproached him, saying: “Why have you stopped turning to Me? Why do you think that prayer did not bring you any benefit? Remember how you and a friend fell from a tree as a child. He broke his leg, but you remained unharmed. It was I who saved you. Remember, there was another case back then… And there were many more cases.”

So the Mother of God reminded him of stories from his life, and this man realized that he was very inattentive and ungrateful to his Heavenly Patroness. And what a terrible sin this is – black ingratitude; such a disgusting sin, unworthy of a person, especially a Christian. And with what wondrous beauty does holy, grateful love shine.

The Holy Fathers say that gratitude especially attracts the mercy of God, brings down more and more blessings to us, and instills peace and grace in the soul. “Give thanks in everything,” teaches the holy Apostle Paul
11
. But an ungrateful person never has peace in his soul, he only angers God and deprives himself of God’s mercy.

The history of Christianity contains many examples of grateful devotion to the Lord. It was a long time ago, more than one and a half thousand years ago. In one pagan city, a Christian woman with her little son was captured and brought to trial. Her name was Iulitta, and the little one was Kirik
12
. The judge ordered the holy wife to be tortured, and took the baby on his lap. He attracted the little one with affection and made her forget her mother and her holy faith. But the baby, he was only three years old, was breaking away from the hands of the hypocritical ruler. He saw how his own mother was being tortured, he cried and rushed to her, saying: “Let me go to my mother, let me go, I’m also a Christian.” Finally, in order to get rid of the hated tormentor, the boy painfully bit his hand. He, angry, pushed him away, and the child rolled down the stairs, hitting his head on the sharp stone steps. He rolled down completely broken, covered in blood, and gave his innocent soul to the Lord.

And here is a modern case. A mother accompanies her son to war. Hunger. She’s all swollen. Lunch was brought to the recruits. The son wants to thank his mother, maybe she will never see him again. But how to repay? The signal to send has already been given. The son quickly took a sip from the pot, wrapped the remaining mush in paper and handed it to his mother: “Mom, eat it.” Wiping away tears, she looked after her son. There he is waving his hand at her from the carriage, shouting something… She, poor thing, does not take her eyes off the departing train. Now he completely disappeared, and she kept looking, leaning forward… The bundle suddenly fell out of her hands onto the ground, and… the mush spilled. “My dear son, he didn’t eat it himself…” the mother whispers, and her tears mixed with the food.

Beloved brothers and sisters, if only we were so grateful, so sensitive and appreciative! After all, we do not value mutual love at all, even in families. We are burdened by our loved ones and don’t remember what we owe them, we are ungrateful towards our relatives, especially towards our parents. We have to listen to the tearful complaints of unhappy elderly mothers about ungrateful, rude children. This is very scary and painful to hear. We are also ungrateful to our spiritual father, but he takes responsibility for our life and salvation before God, and how much he suffers for this from the enemy, from people. And how many reproaches he hears, faces ingratitude, misunderstanding and insults from his own spiritual children…

We are also ungrateful to our Guardian Angels. After all, they do not leave us; clean, bright, but they tolerate our sinful stench. We are ungrateful to the holy saints of God, our patrons and prayer books. We are ungrateful especially to the Mother of God, our faithful and strong helper, and ungrateful to the Lord, our Creator, Nourisher and Savior…

Why does this happen, my dears? What is the reason, the root of ingratitude? In our forgetfulness, but above all in our rudeness. “It is not a great thing,” says the Holy Father, “to remember God in sorrow; it is a great thing not to forget in joy, to thank Him.” What about us? How much do we give thanks? We live so absent-mindedly that we do not notice and do not appreciate the heavenly cover above us and the help of the Mother of God. In our bustle we intend to decide and arrange everything ourselves. Out of pride, we are all dissatisfied, we grumble, we envy, we seek more, instead of being amazed with humble gratitude at how much the Lord gives us every day, every hour. How much ability He gives us, how much beauty and goodness is scattered around us. How He still tolerates us, such sinners and unworthy of His love, and not only tolerates us, but also pours out many mercies on us completely freely and undeservedly.

Beloved brothers and sisters, we often sing an akathist to the Mother of God, chanting to Her: “Rejoice, Unbrided Bride! Rejoice, rejoice…” But does the Queen of Heaven rejoice? Did the joy touch our own soul, or did only the lips sing, and the heart remained cold, rude and ungrateful? How painful it is to live without love, without gratitude, because only it warms and softens the soul. And most importantly, it is insulting to the Queen of Heaven if we forget to thank Her. Will the Mother of God depart and leave us completely alone and helpless in the storm of life? So what should we do then? Who will we go to? My dears, let us be grateful to Her. Let us always remember what the Mother of God means to us, to our life and salvation. We must correct ourselves and constantly thank Her tenderly. And then She will rejoice at our childish devotion, cover us, protect us, and Her mercy will save us in this life from all evil and ensure eternal salvation for our souls. Amen.

THANKS TO THE HOLY VIRGIN

(read with kneeling)

Prayer 1

What shall we bring to Thee, or what shall we reward Thee, O Most Gracious Lady Lady, intercessor of the Christian race, for all Your innumerable good deeds, which You always show to all who call on Your name and to those who ask for Your help? Whoever flows to You is put to shame and leaves You unheard, O Most Merciful Mother? We, Most Pure One, because for the multitude of our sins and iniquities we are not worthy to call Thy sweet name below, let alone bring hymns from defiled lips to Thee, and it is more convenient for us to love silence. But may we not appear unmemorable and ungrateful before You, we dare to offer You this kneeling praise: But You, Most Merciful Mother, do not disdain to accept it, as it is lifted up from the abundance of hearts that love You. You Yourself, Lady, touch our hearts with Your grace, so that, like melted wax, they will shed before You in tearful thanksgiving and praise. We thank You, All-Singing One; We do not hide Your good deeds, but loudly proclaim, so that all who hear will flock to You, the only shameless intercessor of the Christian race, and may they silently praise You, the All-Singing One, forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer 2

Benevolent and humane-loving Lady, Most Holy Theotokos, You, as a Mother who loves children and parents, do not cease to help providentially and save, protecting and preserving unworthy prayer books. In response, we proclaim gratitude, do not hide our good deeds, loudly sing Your miracles, glorify Your care, magnify Your providence, glorify Your intercession. And, remembering what You have given in the past, from how many dangers we have been rescued thanks to You, we owe our gratitude. We pray to Your mercy, do not forget about us, standing and grieving, this Your flock, but, standing before Your Son and our Master, be our vigilant Intercessor, help us who are in danger, and rescue us from unexpected troubles. You see, Lady, what dangers we find ourselves in! Rise us, you who have destroyed all that is sorrowful! Allow yourself from upcoming fears! Stop temptations. Break up the feud. Soften the looming anger. Destroy confusion and confusion, and reward us with permanent peace. To her, most gracious Lady, add this to the rest of Your good deeds, so that we always and unceasingly proclaim Your mercies and miracles, and glorify You and the God born from You with His beginningless Father and His Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer 3

Benevolent and Humane-loving Lady, Most Holy Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary! We thank, magnify and glorify You! We proclaim good deeds. We do not hide our mercy. Let’s not forget fishing. We profess care. We give thanks for your countless gifts and graces, singing loudly Your miracles. You corrected the ancient fall of the forefathers. You have renewed the darkened image, returning it to its former beauty. You turned the birth in the pain of the foremother Eve into the Christmas of the joy of tremulous carrying in the womb.

The locked gates of heavenly delight were opened to us, and we tasted the former pleasure of paradise. Through You we have been redeemed from corruption and hope to achieve restoration and the Kingdom in Heaven. You are the Intercessor of our salvation and the Chosen Leader of our help. You are our rejoicing and the praise of the whole universe.

You, many-singing Virgin Omnipotent, do not despise those who call for prayer in faith. Reach out to the tired. Catch those caught in the whirlpool, calm the fierce waves. Gather in one breath the spirits of temptation. Let your request come true! You, like a Mother to her Son, have great and unquestionable boldness, irresistible strength and invincible power. No one can resist Your power. Everything obeys Your command. Everything yields to Your command. Everything works under Your authority. He who was born from You has placed You above all creations in a more natural way and does everything according to Your prayer. He is merciful to petitions, He rejoices in prayer, He fulfills righteous prayers, giving You His own glory, and, being Your Son, fulfills Your petitions.

I have confidence in You, Lady! By your strength and love for mankind I wrest this fruit of spiritual exercises from my sinful lips. Do not despise the prayers of us, unworthy, but as the Good and Humane One, the giver of redemption and the worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, make the Son and God merciful, so that He will grant us the grace to unceasingly and incessantly glorify You and from You the God born with His Beginning Father and His All-Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit forever. Amen.

* * *

Troparion, tone 4

Let us now diligently approach the Mother of God, sinners and humility, and let us fall down in repentance calling from the depths of our souls: Lady, help us, having had mercy on us, struggling, we are perishing from many sins, do not turn away your slaves, for you are the only hope of the imams.

Kontakion, tone 6

The intercession of Christians is shameless, the intercession to the Creator is immutable, do not despise the voices of sinful prayers, but advance, as the Good One, to the aid of us who faithfully call upon Ty; hasten to prayer, and strive to entreat, interceding ever since, the Mother of God, those who honor Thee.

Kontakion, tone 8

To the chosen Voivode, victorious, as having been delivered from the evil ones, let us write thanks to Thy servants to the Mother of God, but as having an invincible power, free us from all troubles, let us call Thee: Rejoice, Unmarried Bride.

Glorious Ever-Virgin, Mother of Christ God, bring our prayer to Your Son and our God, may You save our souls.

I place all my trust in You, Mother of God, keep me under Your roof.

Virgin Mary, do not despise me, a sinner, who requires Your help and Your intercession, for my soul trusts in You, and have mercy on me.

PRAYERS AT THE END OF PRAYERS

It is worthy to eat as one truly blesses Thee, the Mother of God, the Ever-Blessed and Most Immaculate and the Mother of our God. The most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption, the real Mother of God we magnify Thee.13

Glory, and now: Lord, have mercy. (Thrice.)

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, prayers for the sake of Your Most Pure Mother, our reverend and God-bearing fathers, and all the saints, have mercy and save us sinners, for you are Good and Lover of Mankind. Amen.

We take refuge under Your mercy, O Virgin Mother of God, do not despise our prayers in sorrows: but deliver us from troubles, O One Pure and Blessed One.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Mistress, accept the prayers of Your servant, and deliver us from all need and sorrow.

“The joy of all intelligent creation…”

But She – the Mother of God – embraced everyone with Her maternal love, She feels sorry for everyone, everyone is dear to Her, and She prays for all living things to Her Son.

I look at Your holy face, Most Blessed Lady, and I feel bitter both for myself and for my brothers living today, that we honor You only with our lips, sing songs of praise to You only with our tongue and voice, clothe Your icons with fresh flowers, place them in a prominent and honorable place. But where is our true love for You? Where is the fiery prayer and living childish faith? We ask You, Mother of God, more that You will intercede and save us from enemies visible and invisible, and we do not pray to You to correct our sinful life, so that, according to the word of St. Seraphim of Sarov, find peace of mind and the grace of the Holy Spirit, succeed in spiritual life and save your souls…

How bad we have become now and how deceitful and impatient. We all say that we feel bad, but we live cramped and no one loves us. And what they are like: worthless, lazy, proud, lascivious. We are ashamed to look, Most Pure Virgin, at Your bright and virgin image…

And You look at us with Your kind eyes, and there is not a shadow of indignation or anger in Your motherly meek eyes. You are the Joy of all rational creation – the Mother of God, and among this creation, awaken us sinners with immeasurable Joy forever. Amen.

From the book of Archimandrite. Tikhona (Agrikova):

“Mother of Light”

AFTERWORD

The purpose of every Christian’s life, as Rev. Seraphim of Sarov – acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. The main means to this is prayer. In order to kindle the spirit of sublime prayer, the Orthodox Church blesses its children to include the Psalter in their daily rule, for in it everyone will find what they need according to the state of their spirit: contrition, inspiration, thanksgiving, and consolation.

The Psalter inspired imitative doxology not only by such the greatest ancient fathers of the Church as St. Ephraim the Syrian, but also later elders and ascetics, as well as pious laymen, with whom Orthodox Rus’ was once so rich. Thus, in addition to the Psalter of the Prophet David, the Psalter dedicated to our Most Holy Lady the Virgin Mary appeared in Orthodox prayer use, which was especially loved by Russian pilgrims and went through numerous reprints in the 19th century. These enthusiastic outpourings to the Ever-Virgin Mary, composed in the likeness of the psalms. Its other name is “Christian hymns to the Most Holy Queen of Heaven, Ever-Virgin Mary, Theotokos.” This book was first published in the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery of St. Mount Athos. This Psalter is rarely mentioned because it is not a statutory church reading. But at the same time, it contains such beautiful petitions to the Mother of God, and such promises to those who diligently resort to Her and place all their hope in Her, of which human language is only capable. Many of the elders of high spiritual life, who loved the Most Holy Theotokos, blessed their spiritual children to read the “Psalter of the Mother of God” more often.

But everyone chooses prayers that are more suitable to his spiritual structure, or asks for the blessing of his confessor for prayers. Some read the Akathists, others read the Prayer Canon or other canons, others like to read the Theotokos rule, i.e. 150 times “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice…”, which Seraphim of Sarov blessed the Diveyevo sisters to read. Some people read the “Prayers of Five Numbers” every day, compiled by Dmitry of Rostov. But everything must be done with the advice of an elder or confessor, as well as with regard to practicing the Jesus Prayer, or other rules imposed on oneself. A small rule that is always followed is better than a large rule that is rarely followed.

You don’t need to take on rules, feats, or posts beyond your measure, but you need to do everything with advice and taking into account your well-being. The purpose of our prayer is to learn to humbly surrender ourselves to the will of God and patiently endure everything that the Lord allows.

It’s not a matter of the number of prayers read, it’s a matter of living appeal to the Lord, the Most Holy Theotokos, the saints and the Angels. We must believe that the Lord, with His Most Pure Mother and all the saints and Angels, is closer to us than anyone close to us, that the Lord hears not only the rustle of our lips, but hears the prayerful beating of our heart and what it is filled with at the moment of our prayer.

Prayer, only it has real power, let’s not forget about it. Let us more diligently resort to the maternal protection of the Lady of the world, the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God, She is our great Helper and Intercessor! Her maternal intercession can do much before the throne of Her Son and God, and everyone who flows to Her with zeal is heard. Let us also ask Her, may She direct our paths for good and salvation, and may she help us on the day of the world Judgment of God, on the day of righteous reward for everyone according to his deeds.

May the Lord arrange the path of your life for the good, and may the Queen of Heaven protect you forever under the shade of Her blessed cover!

Let us fall to the Heavenly Queen, the Most Pure Mother of God, so that she will help us, for no one who resorts to her leaves ashamed, but asks for grace and accepts the gift of a useful petition. After God, She alone can help us. Let us trust in Her intercession and not be ashamed.

Athos Elder Schema-Archimandrite Ephraim

* * *

Notes

See: Biography and instructions of St. Elder Parthenius of Kiev-Pechersk. M., 1993. P. 18.

Vladyka Zinovy ​​is canonized among the saints in the host of saints.

See Theotokos, 6th hour.

Translated from Greek and arranged for each hour of the day by Leonid Denisov

That is, irrigated.

Presented in abbreviation. Died 1556 in the Trinity Lavra. He is commemorated on January 21st. – M.V.

Inexcusable (church – glorified) – worthless, obscene.

St. Partheny of Kiev-Pechersk (Krasnopevtsev, ☦1855). Canonized by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1993; memory – March 17/30.

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov appeared to Elder Sampson three hours before his arrest. He silently entered the cell in a light robe, bent over the sleeping man and slowly, very clearly began to read the prayer, which Hieromonk Sampson called “The All-Merciful.” He did not know this prayer before, but immediately understood, She, the All-Merciful, will save and preserve…

This prayer is placed third after the penitential canon of the Mother of God, see page 79.

Fez. 5.18

Commemoration July 15/28

From Easter to Ascension, instead of this prayer, the chorus and irmos of the 9th song of the Easter canon are read. “The angel cried out with grace: Pure Virgin, rejoice! And again the river: Rejoice! Your Son is risen three days from the grave and raised up the dead; people, have fun! Shine, shine, new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is upon you. Rejoice now and be glad, O Zion. You, Pure One, show off, O Mother of God, about the rise of Your Nativity.”