Prayer is a person’s conversation with the Lord, a thread that connects the believer with God. In some ways, prayer is akin to visiting a psychotherapist’s office, because a person shares in him the most painful, secret, deeply personal. It is not for nothing that after visiting the temple and saying prayers in front of the images, people feel a surge of spiritual strength, peace, and confidence in the future.
There are many prayer options in Orthodoxy, but each of them is pronounced for a specific reason. Many of them, as they say "by ear". For example, rarely has a person heard of a prayer "for health." But what exactly this prayer service represents is not clear to everyone.
About prayer
The individual prayer to the Lord delivered during church service is a pure litany. It is one of the traditional ones that make up the liturgy of prayers. In the part of the ministry in which individual petitions are read, far from one or even two such prayers can be said. Accordingly, these petitions affect the duration of church service.
Pure litany at the liturgy is pronounced not only for health. This prayer can affect almost any aspect of life that is important to the believer. You can order a reading before serving in any Orthodox parish — a church, a monastery, a chapel, a cathedral.
What is the difference between litany and other prayers? The opinion of the priests
The main difference is obvious even to a person far from the Orthodox culture. It is contained in the name, it is enough to read it with attention only - “pure litany”, that is, personal, individual and special, special, thematic. In such a prayer, the believer turns to the Lord purely, that is, on a specific, concrete occasion, in connection with the need arisen.
According to the priests, an important difference from other prayers is another nuance. Petitions on a pure litany are read out by the ministers of the church in a manner appropriate to the needs of the faithful. That is, the more terrible a person’s problem is, the more desperate he is, the earlier his petition will be read. Also, the time devoted to reading depends on the complexity of the problem with which a person turns to the Lord.
For what reasons is such a prayer read?
Of course, it is absolutely not required to get into a difficult life situation or wait for something terrible to happen in order to come to church and order such a prayer.
As a rule, a pure litany is read in accordance with the following topics:
- health;
- admonition;
- family preservation;
- the instruction of children;
- giving a child;
- help in life;
- protection;
- redemption;
- deliverance.
Prayer can be ordered in connection with other needs. Each such prayer is a request of a person addressed to God about what is important for a believer. Of course, there are no restrictions on the grounds for petition.
Priest Tips and Complaints
Nowadays, clergymen are concerned about the attitude of some parishioners to a pure litany of health. What is this kind of financial offering, many newly-made believers sincerely believe. By submitting a note and paying the required amount, people believe that their own participation in the prayer ends here. Not everyone can even remember what exactly was addressed in the submitted petition.
The clergy complain about the misunderstanding by the new parishioners of the very essence of pure prayer. Like any other prayer, it cannot be effective without the direct participation of the believer. Special petitions on a pure litany will be completely useless for people who do not try to cultivate themselves spiritually and make efforts to solve life problems.
According to the opinions of many clergymen, modern people lose their spirituality or are not at all familiar with this concept. Coming to the temple, as if to a supermarket, and buying a place in the liturgy, and sometimes additional petitions on a pure litany, you should not expect life circumstances to change. Prayer, even if ordered, will not be effective if faith is absent in the soul of a person. In prayer, a person trusts in the Lord, but does not acquire a miracle from him.
Can I pray without a note? On your own?
Questions about whether one can read or even sing independently, outside the church, a pure litany, notes for which are acquired in a church shop, are often asked by priests. As a rule, this question worries people who are church-goers, who understand the details and subtleties of worship.
Such reading or singing of litany is not forbidden. Especially in those situations when a person is not able to come to the temple. For example, if we are talking about a disabled person who is not able to move around, or about a cancer patient who does not get out of bed. However, in such very difficult circumstances, relatives of the one who needs prayer should talk with the priest. When necessary, clergymen never refuse to visit believers and pray with them.
How long should litany be read?
The effectiveness of prayer depends on the strength with which the believer trusts in it. It is impossible to say how long it takes to read this prayer. In one case, a single reading is enough, and in another it takes months.
As a rule, litany is ordered at twelve liturgies. Many believers claim that petitions on the pure litany of Peter and Fevronia are heard much earlier than the twelfth service. However, the duration of the reading is individual. In the event that when submitting a note with a petition any questions arise, you should ask their clergyman.
In some situations, if the problem in the life of the believer is very serious, priests advise a long reading. Sometimes thirty liturgies, forty, or even more are required. For example, if the person who asks the Lord cares for the deliverance of the loved one from the addiction - alcoholism, gambling, drug addiction, then, of course, a significant amount of reading will be required.
A very important point is the understanding that the effectiveness of a prayer does not depend on the number of repetitions, but on the strength with which the believer relies on litany. Repetition only strengthens the faith of the supplicant, strengthens this person spiritually, gives firmness to his intentions.
Do I need to take any action?
After a pure litany was ordered, many people feel bewildered and wonder what they should do now. Maybe something needs to be done or is it necessary to be present while reading, to make some vow? These troubling questions come to people filled with anxiety.
The concern, as a rule, arises not because of doubts about the power of the Lord, but from the lack of information about what should be done when ordering a prayer service.
The Lord Himself does not require any action from man. God needs only unlimited, unconditional and absolute faith. But the man himself really needs everyday actions that strengthen his spirit and give strength to faith.
What to do after ordering litany?
It is important for a believer to feel his participation in prayer, to express zeal, to join the reading spiritually. If nothing is done, then anxiety begins to absorb the soul, and doubts come after it.
Clergy often advise parishioners to do the following:
- clean and consecrate your own home;
- reflect on daily activities, emotions, and compliance with their commandments;
- remember the dead by putting a candle before the image;
- to repent;
- attend the temple.
These are quite simple actions that can fill a person’s heart with confidence, peace and tranquility.
Where is the best way to order a prayer?
Of particular importance is the place in which litany will be read. If a person attends church services regularly, then the reading of prayers should be ordered in the same church.
But if a person does not go to church, does not pray and, in principle, does not consider himself a deep believer, then the choice of a place becomes important. In this case, the temple should be “prayed”. The spiritual energy of the room itself, in which believers for centuries have been asking the Lord for something and praising him, will give strength to prayer.
The best option for choosing a place is a kind of “insight”. As people say - the legs brought. This means that a person unconsciously, wandering through the streets in thought, suddenly notices that he has approached the entrance to the temple. Such accidents cannot be ignored. Such a situation can be called in different ways - a sign from above, an accident, a coincidence, or otherwise. But no matter how one calls the fact that he was facing the entrance to the church, one should not pass by this temple. It is in it that one needs to order litany.
Of course, by no means always the temple "finds itself" a person in need of his visit. Usually, however, the believer himself has to determine the church, if he wants to order a prayer service or the need for this action.
Although the place does not have much significance, do not forget that most of the temples in our country have completely lost their special aura. Churches have been desecrated for decades. And the need for ordering litany, as a rule, arises in very difficult life circumstances. How many trust the treatment of their illness to an unfriendly doctor in a hospital without equipment? Probably no one. This example is true of church premises. A special pure prayer is to be ordered in a temple that has spiritual energy, and not in recovering from desecration.