Everyone has wondered why prayers help people in their requests, aspirations, in sorrow and joy? What is the power of prayer?
Prayer for a believer is a helper, protector, healer, comforter, and a very strong amulet.
“In the beginning was the Word...” we read in the wisest and most important holy source, the Gospel of John (New Testament). Having acquired intelligence and consciousness, a person uttered a word - a set of sounds with a meaning contained in them, which made him different from other living beings.
The power of prayer is in the words addressed to the Almighty
Prayers are not just a set of words. This is the sent energy, light and love for God. Let's talk about what is the power and magic of prayers? Why do they help a person with his requests and aspirations?
The word is what we use to live, create, how the day begins in our life: “Good afternoon” and ends with “Good night.”
The speech of human communication is difficult to replace, it contains the whole palette of our feelings towards the words spoken, our attitude towards the event being described, it is difficult to replace it with something else.
“Language is a storehouse, a receptacle of human knowledge, influencing the development of a person as an individual.”
People have always felt the power of words and approached it with reverence. It is no coincidence that they say:
“Words can kill and melt the soul.”
Have you noticed that when we say the word “thank you” dozens of times a day, without really thinking about its essence, we feel warmth and special gratitude to the one we thank. And if you delve deeper into the essence of these sounds, this is nothing more than “God SAVE.”
Or other bright word formations:
“Thank you”: “Thank you, I give.”
“Hello”: “Be in good health.”
Believers who revere God's temple, who serve God with joy and depth of feeling, always recognize the power of prayer, calling it a connection with God.
Why do prayers help in terms of energy?
- A word is a complex combination of digital codes through which we, without realizing it, communicate with the Almighty and the entire Universe. Each letter of the alphabet has an inherent definite form, creating a special energy torsion field.
- All the words that live around us are certain information of universal consciousness. Therefore, it is important that they carry good fulfillment and are devoid of negativity.
- Faith is a special energy invested in the words of prayer, transmitted mentally through space.
Appeal in prayer to the Creator - the image of which lives in every person. In fact, we each have a piece of God in us. Remember, God created us in his own image and likeness. - Prayers especially help in holy places: churches, especially revered springs, at burial places, holy relics, that is, where there is a special energy that cannot be described and defined, but it is there, it works, it lives.
- Being in God's temple during the liturgy, an ordinary service, all believers radiate a common powerful energy. And you, in this general chorus of appeal to otherworldly forces, to the faces of the Saints, weave your desire, prayer, request into the general chorus. This way, they are more likely to be heard and reach the Creator than for you to pray alone at home. But you can also set up your communication channel alone at home in such a way that it will have a significant impact on the Universe and, therefore, the opportunity to find what you expect from it.
If a person truly believes in the power of prayer, in the power of faith, and is able to surrender to it, then in this state special waves arise in his brain, called delta waves, which only infants can feel.
In prayers, the person praying temporarily leaves earthly reality, thought processes are suspended, and a person begins to perceive the world with his soul.
Jesus said:
“To pray means to send luminous streams into space. If you do not receive help and protection from Heaven, it is only because you yourself did not send light. The sky will not deal with what has gone out. Do you want it to shine on your calls? Light all your lamps."
Prayer will only help if it comes from the heart with faith. It’s good if a person knows the canonical prayers, those that religion gives us. If you don’t know, this is not a reason not to read prayers. Just have a conversation with God:
“Thank you, Lord, for everything you have done, for the morning... for sleep... for food... for life... for health, for strength, so that I can do Your will.”“Thank you, Lord!”, “Save, Lord!” Saying these simple words, filled with meaning, you yourself will quickly notice how higher powers heard you and responded with goodness, light, and joy.
It has been scientifically proven that prayers next to a burning candle enhance sound vibrations, causing vibrations in the general biofield of the earth, and it translates them into waves and lifts them to God. And the opposite effect is triggered: God’s Grace descends on a person - the energy and information of very subtle vibrations that heal both soul and body.
The health benefits of prayer and its beneficial effects on brain function have been scientifically proven. That is why believers who visit the temple and perform prayers have better health, live longer and are not devoid of sanity.
Talk to God as to your Father, trusting him with all of yourself, ask for strength and love in your heart - and your life will be filled with joy, you will truly find your path, and understand your destiny.
And your requests and prayers will be heard!
This book contains stories that have long been loved by our readers. Among the authors are Nina Pavlova, Alexander Segen and Maria Sarajishvili, Alexey Solonitsyn and Elena Zhivava, Alexander Bogatyrev and Vladimir Shcherbinin, Sergey Shcherbakov, Yulia Kulakova and Leonid Garkotin. The stories told are varied life stories, the characters are dissimilar - monks and laymen - but all the authors conduct a complex conversation with the reader about the difficult modern reality without false edification, everyone makes them think about their own place in the world.
Nina Pavlova, Alexander Segen, Maria Sarajishvili, Alexey Solonitsyn, Elena Zhivava, Alexander Bogatyrev, Vladimir Shcherbinin, Sergey Shcherbakov, Yulia Kulakova, Leonid Garkotin
“The POWER OF PRAYER” AND OTHER STORIES
NINA PAVLOVA
The Sorrowful Life of Monk Job
It was then that a store was built in our village adjacent to the monastery. And at first, a truck shop came twice a week and brought bread, pasta, pearl barley and salted sprat in barrels.
Once, during a harsh, snowy winter, the auto shop was gone for two weeks. We sat without bread. And when, skidding in the snowdrifts, the auto shop finally appeared in the village, it was greeted with a promise:
We will write to Moscow if such a disgrace happens again!
Yes, write anywhere! - the driver of the auto shop, Shurik, grinned. - Automobile shops, good bye, are now cancelled, and I came to you today for the last time.
Automobile shops were actually liquidated that winter. The era of soul-destroying innovations called the struggle for progress was coming. At first, people didn’t believe in these innovations, and everyone was outraged that day by something else: the truck shop arrived empty. No pasta, no salted kale, but how good they are with hot, crumbly potatoes! They only brought thirty loaves of bread. One is not enough for everyone, especially since Lyuba, nicknamed Gypsy, has already managed to stuff seven loaves into her backpack at once.
Lyubka, don't be insolent! - they shouted in line. - Don’t give more than two loaves to your hands!
One loaf per hand! - Grandma Frosya, who was the last to stand, demanded.
One at a time, you say? - Irina, a young woman with many children, was indignant. - You, Baba Frosya, live as a bachelor, and I have five bark beetles on my neck and a husband. You’re used to eating and you won’t get out of the habit!
In a word, the bread riot was in full swing when the monk Job from the “shatal desert” appeared near the truck shop and said, raising his voice:
These are the signs of the coming of the Antichrist - you can’t even buy bread now. And who is to blame? Who, together with the commies, built the kingdom of the Antichrist and sold his soul to the devil for a party card?
Irina, who had many children, crossed herself in fear, and grandmother Frosya said judiciously:
But who, dear man, gave us this membership card? The little red books are at the top, and we are simple collective farmers.
Who performed abortions and killed children in the womb? - thundered the accuser. - O Herod’s tribe and Christ-sellers, who flooded Holy Rus' with blood!
The “Christ sellers” were at first stunnedly silent, and then started shouting with each other: “I haven’t had any abortions in my life!” - “So that I, that I? Never!"
The spontaneous rally ended there. The bread was sold out, and the frost was already getting so deep into the bones that everyone hurried to the warmth and home.
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! - Monk Job called after them, but only Lyuba the Gypsy listened to the speaker.
And I, father, want to repent,” she sighed. - My soul is sick. Who would you like to open it to? Excuse me, where are you going now?
“I’m going from Diveyevo to Valaam,” the cold monk coughed hoarsely.
Yes, Holy Father, it looks like you have bronchitis,” Lyuba, a former nurse, was alarmed. - Quickly get into Shurik’s car. My bathhouse is just heated. Warm up in the bathhouse, rest from the road, and then we’ll talk.
A claw gets stuck - the whole bird is lost, - grandmother Frosya said after the departing monk, clarifying that Lyubka was walking and woe to the monk who ended up in a brothel.
The book “The Power of Prayer and Other Stories” contains works that have long been loved by our readers. Among the authors are Nina Pavlova, Alexander Segen and Maria Sarajishvili, Alexey Solonitsyn and Elena Zhivava, Alexander Bogatyrev and Vladimir Shcherbinin, Sergey Shcherbakov, Yulia Kulakova and Leonid Garkotin. The life stories told are diverse, the characters - monks and laymen - are different, but all the authors conduct a complex conversation with the reader about the difficult modern reality without false edification, they all make you think about your own place in the world.
About the author
Born on March 22, 1938 in the city of Bogorodsk, Gorky Region, in the family of journalist Alexei Fedorovich Solonitsyn. The Solonitsyn family became famous thanks to the first peasant to receive an education, Zakhar Stepanovich Solonitsyn, who graduated from the theological seminary in the city of Vyatka and became the “Chronicle of the Vetluga region” in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries (mentioned in the “History of the Russian State” N. Karamzin).
Having graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Ural state university(1955-1960) in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Alexey Solonitsyn travels a lot around the country, works for the newspapers “Komsomolets of Kyrgyzstan” (Frunze), “Soviet Youth” (Riga), “Kaliningrad Komsomolets” (Kaliningrad ), at the Kuibyshev newsreel studio.
In 1986, he was elected First Secretary of the Board of the Volga region branch of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia. Works in this position until 1988.
In 2000, he was elected and worked until 2006 as Chairman of the Board of the regional social movement"Orthodox Samara"
Member of the Russian Writers' Union since October 1972.
Member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia since February 1984.
Laureate of the All-Russian Literary Prize named after St. St. Seraphim Sarovsky (2004), All-Russian Literary Prize named after Ivan Ilyin (2004), All-Russian Literary Prize named after. Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky (2005), International Film Festival "Golden Knight" (2000).
For his great personal contribution to the spiritual enlightenment of his compatriots, he was awarded patriarchal awards: the medals of St. Sergius of Radonezh and the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow. Also awarded commemorative medals for the 100th anniversary of Marshal Zhukov and the 100th anniversary of Mikhail Sholokhov.
He also has other awards.
Lives in Samara.
Remember the sensational domestic film of the late nineties of the last century, main character whom he kept asking: “What is the strength, brother?” Over time, this phrase gradually migrated from sacramental to comic. However, this question has not remained idle for most of us, and, alas, we often do not find a satisfactory answer to it. They decided to give a hint at the Sretensky Monastery publishing house. The “green series of hope”, which has long been loved by readers, has been replenished with another book –
Ever since the aforementioned series was opened by the bestseller “Unholy Saints” by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), publishers have made it a rule to select the best for books under a green cover. So this time they brought together authors, most of whom readers know and love: Nina Pavlova, Alexander Solonitsyn, Alexander Segen, Leonid Garkotin. In total, ten writers took part in this collection, and each of them presented several of their works to our judgement at once.
The first thing that catches your eye is how different the authors are - in style, in mood, in emotionality. This is felt especially strongly at the junction of works, when you finish reading one writer and, turning the page, plunge into the texts of another.
A calm and even somewhat homely narration by Alexander Segen, who talks about his godfather, who during the Soviet years worked in the state security agencies, kept an eye on spies, but at the same time did not want to hide his sympathy for Orthodox Church. And then - the story of Maria Sarajshvili, in the best sense reminiscent of a repost in social networks, titled “That Old Fashioned Word of Loyalty.” The author combined two amazing stories: one of them is about an eighty-year-old man who visits his seriously ill wife every day in a nursing home, despite the fact that she has long ceased to recognize him. And the other is about a woman who is one hundred and three years old, and she is still waiting for her husband... since the First World War!
The pearl of the collection “The Power of Prayer and Other Stories” can perhaps be called the works of the young writer and mother Yulia Kulakova. She, unlike her laurel-crowned neighbors in the book, is not yet known to such a wide circle of readers. But, judging by the texts, she has a great future as a writer. She weaves words coming from the very heart like lace. Their pattern is not complicated, but immaculately beautiful and subtle. The story “Before the Exaltation” is a frank reflection aloud about the origin of faith, about a grain that, having once fallen into human soul, sooner or later it will definitely sprout.
And then both love and faith will ignite in your heart, and the “Power of Prayer” will help you overcome all adversity.
The “Literary Navigator” program and its presenter Anna Shepeleva were with you. Stay on the right literary course!
Father Sergius
My good friend, a spiritual person, Father Sergius from Odessa, once told an amazing story. His back hurt. This happens with priests too. What he didn’t do: he turned to the luminaries of medicine and to grandmothers-healers. But one fine day the priest entered Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv. He walked both as a pilgrim and on official business. But the main thing is that Father Sergius felt as if some bright force was leading him to this particular temple. Having crossed the threshold of the cathedral, he, as he honestly admitted to me, suddenly clearly realized his sin as a priest and a Christian: he did not pray for recovery. How could this be? The eclipse just hit a person. In the church, Father Sergius not only experienced a strong feeling of guilt, but also felt hope. He began to earnestly, sincerely, and with all his heart pray at the icons, especially at the famous image “Unexpected Joy.” And a miracle happened: after the fortieth prayer, the back pain disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
Later, Father Sergius sincerely repented of his stupidity and made vows to pray not out of “duty of service,” so to speak, but at the behest of his heart. The priest deeply felt the passage from the Gospel where it was about the disciples of Jesus who were unable to heal a certain youth. Christ intervened, upset by the revealed unbelief of the people. He told the boy’s father that a believer can do anything. And when the disciples asked Him why they were unable to heal the boy, the Lord replied that “this kind” (He meant demons) could not come out of the boy except through prayer and fasting.
What about science?
However, skeptics can also say: so what? Just a coincidence: a man entered the temple, and everything passed. He could have been healed, they say, in another place, but prayer had nothing to do with it. But is this true? Let's not argue, but just turn to science.
Amazing discoveries await us here. Not long ago, scientists from Germany and Russia simultaneously discovered the so-called fourth state of consciousness. It occurs in a person during prayer. Until now, three states have usually been called: wakefulness and two phases of rest, rapid and slow sleep. However, scientists have proven that during prayer the human brain works in a specific mode. This state can be compared to the bliss of a healthy baby, the state of a baby when he is simply happy, without knowing why. The baby just feels that his loving parents are nearby, that they protect him and take care of him. It is simply happiness “for no reason” and serenity.
But such a state is also given to a person by prayer, an appeal to the Heavenly Father and the Mother of God... Scientists have found that during sincere, deep prayer, people’s heart pain goes away, their blood pressure normalizes, and the state of stress goes away. As a result, such believers live longer and get sick less. The feeling of happiness, peace and security penetrates their soul and heals their body.
And Canadian neurologists and neurologists confirmed that people who know how to sincerely pray practically do not experience nervous disorders and breakdowns. They worry less about big and small failures in life, are less upset, do not become embittered, and feel protected. And this, according to scientists, allows us to talk about the special functions that they have nervous system and the brain of believers.
However, not every prayer is effective. And believers realize this. The prayer that is heard by God is true. But what does this mean? It is interesting that it is scientists who provide the answer to this question. The prayer heard by God is precisely the one that allows us to rise above the vain, ordinary and see everything around from above, to understand that there is an earthly world, but there is also a heavenly one. There is something transitory, and there is something eternal. With such prayers, and this is surprising, the rhythms in the cerebral cortex disappear or decrease. That is, a feeling of peace and enlightenment is achieved. The deeper the immersion in prayer, the more noticeable the ordering of biorhythms.
It is known that the holy martyrs, thanks to prayers and sincere faith in God, were able to endure physical suffering. The example of Ambrose of Optina is well known. Leo Tolstoy, after a conversation with this elder, said: “This Ambrose is a completely holy man. I talked to him, and my soul felt light, I felt the closeness of God.” Ambrose, meanwhile, suffered from serious physical ailments, from which, according to doctors, he would have died immediately if he had been an atheist. But the old man lived 79 years. Moreover, despite the constant pain, he was cheerful, encouraged everyone and gave people advice.
How prayer works
But why does prayer directly affect brain function? Yes, because human speech consists of sounds of a certain height, or, as scientists say, a set of certain frequencies of the sound spectrum, their combinations and amplitudes. Therefore, prayer spoken even in a whisper is similar to music and is essentially meditation.
Scientists explain the healing effect of prayer with a new look at oneself, others and the world, a departure from earthly concerns, their immediacy and vanity in comparison with eternal values, open to people By God. Thus, many patients who sincerely and for a long time read prayers overcome the fear of death, despondency, and gain optimism and confidence in a favorable outcome. All this leads to a natural increase in immunity and better health. The body's resistance to disease increases and healing occurs.
British scientists from the Center for Brain Research in Cambridge conducted an experiment on 20 volunteers, among whom were 10 deeply religious people and the same number of atheists. Each participant in the experiment had electrodes attached to his arm and received weak electric currents. During the experiment, believers were asked to look at an icon with the face of Jesus Christ, and atheists were asked to look at a reproduction of one of Gauguin’s paintings. During the 20-minute experiment, each volunteer received 20 unpleasant electrical shocks. But the two groups perceived them differently. Those looking at the face of Christ felt completely safe and did not worry. At the same time, the instruments showed that they did not experience such severe pain, like those who looked at Gauguin's painting. A device that analyzes brain function showed that among believers, the anterior lobe of the right half was activated, that is, these people themselves suppressed the pain caused to them. But atheists did not have such a brain reaction.
Interestingly, scientists at Baptist Medical Center in Wake Forest, North Carolina, predict that people will soon forget about painkillers because meditation is much better at blocking pain.
Canadian scientists have also recorded differences in the brain activity of believers and non-believers. They conducted a test that measured the activity of the cerebral cortex under different conditions. It turned out that religious people have a significantly less active area of the brain that changes human behavior under the influence of stress and emotional experiences. Scientists have shown a direct relationship: the stronger the religious feeling, the calmer this area of the brain is and the fewer mistakes a person makes in a variety of situations.
"And star speaks to star..."
But the facts of not only healings are important, but also the unique protection of those praying and their loved ones, those whom prayer touches in different ways. life situations. Let us remember the soldiers who returned home thanks to the prayers of their mothers, relatives and friends, protected by prayer in wanderings and persecutions, hardships and hardships... They say: “God heard the prayer.” And now it has become clear that these are not just words. After all, all of us, our body, the entire Universe is a rhythm. Pulse, breathing, movement of waters and winds, planets and the Sun. Stars pulsate, comets and galaxies follow their own paths. And sincere prayer, its rhythm, voiced and sent outward, to the Universe, does not disappear, it resounds and resounds, reaching the One who gave man this gift - the gift of speech. The Bible says: “In the beginning was the Word...” And we are only beginning to comprehend the deeper meaning of this phrase.
Meanwhile, the miracles of prayer continue. So at the end of last year in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, after persistent prayers, the blind girl Elena Melnichenko regained her sight. Tumor optic nerve the girl's disappeared. Healing happened near miraculous icon Holy Mother of God“The Tsaritsa” in the Church of All Reverend Fathers of Pechersk. Israeli and Ukrainian doctors, who unsuccessfully treated Elena, confirmed the fact of healing.
News edited Black_cat - 4-02-2014, 21:20
