The modern rhythm of life is very fast, many things have to be done on the run. A working person, for example, can not always have a full dinner, because there is not enough time. Snack something right at the workplace - already good. There is no time for prayers before dinner, there is no time to read them.
Why pray?
If you open a browser, enter a query about it, then the results will be very unexpected. Others believe that prayer before lunch, breakfast and dinner is just a whim and a show. They do not help a person, why waste time on all kinds of nonsense?
People who say so are deeply mistaken. The Lord gives food; without it, humanity is not able to get enough. Take bread as an example, so that it grows, it needs both rain and heat. And the farmer, who is feeding from his garden, also needs strength to look after him. Who, if not the Lord, sends everything necessary for human labor?
When we read prayers before eating food and after a meal, we thank God for mercy towards us and the gift of food.
Food harm
After reading this subtitle, did you raise your eyebrows in surprise? Did you think that we were crazy about the dangers of ordinary food falling on our tables?
Wait to be surprised, let's continue our thought together. Look, as it used to be: peasants worked in the fields and gardens with prayer on their lips. They sowed and read a prayer, plowed with it, gathered a crop and thanked God for it.
What do we see now? Nowadays, at bakeries, for example, this is happening. What prayer can there be? Unsanitary conditions, swearing employees who are not shy about smoking next to the dough vats. It is easy to guess what kind of bread it will turn out in such a production. Soaked in cigarette stench and dirty words.
Then this bread will fall on someone's table, a person will eat it and begin to suffer from pain in the stomach. Just think about it, now every second problem with the gastrointestinal tract. Gastritis and ulcers have become regular guests of modern people who have forgotten what prayer is before lunch or dinner.
Rev. Seraphim Vyritsky said that food should be sprinkled with holy water. Now many Orthodox families and communities are doing just that, the laity, in turn, have not heard anything like it.
Food is sweeter with prayer
Those who happened to make a pilgrimage to one or another holy place, having been there for a meal, know for sure the taste of the food during the preparation of which they pray. It is far from frills, but how tasty it is, beyond words.
Let us turn to the famous Christian parable, which tells about the power of prayer before dinner or another meal.
There was one hermit not far from Constantinople. He was revered as an ascetic, the people periodically followed advice. Once the emperor himself, dressed in the simplest outfit, visited a modest monastery. The representative of the "blue" blood was hungry while talking with the old man, he saw a basket with stale bread and hinted that he did not mind a bit of a snack.
The monk gave the emperor bread and fresh water, when he ate a simple treat, he opened to the old man. The emperor was surprised that he never ate such delicious food, although he was used to eating sumptuous delicacies. To this the monk replied that his food was simple, but he received it with prayer and thanksgiving of the Lord. And the emperor, delighting the womb with exquisite dishes, hardly prayed before sitting at the table. That is why his meal was tasteless in comparison with simple bread eaten in the monastery's monastery.
Table behavior
What prayers are given before the memorial dinner? The question is strange, for they are always the same. They are called prayers before eating food. Below readers will find the necessary texts, while it’s worth talking about the correct behavior at the table.
Among the Orthodox, it is customary to wish each other an angel at a meal. When a person, having prayed, sits down at the table and reverently begins to eat food, the angels are present next to him. That is why it is unacceptable during a meal to talk loudly, discuss obscene topics and wash the bones with others. Jokes and explosions of laughter are better to postpone for later and forget about them.
They ate, thanked God for the food given, went about their business. Arranging an endless feast from a meal is unacceptable.
How to give thanks?
Before eating, we read the prayer, "Our Father, be thou in Heaven (Heaven)." The prayers of thanks given after the meal are different. If in the presented prayer we ask for a daily bread daily, then we thank him for it.
After the meal is over, do not rush to clean the dishes or run about your business. Stand in front of the icons, pray slowly, and then proceed to cleaning or go where necessary.
Speaking of icons, they should be present in the kitchen. More often than not, over the table or in the red corner on the shelf put the icon of the Savior, the image of the Virgin "Sporitelitel loaves". If there is no such icon, you can hang or put any other, the main thing is the presence of the Mother of God, and not this or that image of Her.
How to pray before eating?
The table is set, the kitchen was filled with delicious smells, it would be more likely to sit down at the table. Have you forgotten to pray? Do not know how is it? Everything is fixable, now we will tell.
About the icons in the kitchen is written above. Before you start your meal, let's do this:
- We turn to face the images.
- We begin to read the prayer "Our Father".
- At the end of the reading, we impose a sign of the cross on ourselves.
- We read the prayer, "Virgin Mary, Rejoice."
- Once we overshadow ourselves with the sign of the Cross.
- The short prayer “Glory to the Father and the Son” follows.
- And again the sign of the cross.
- Another short prayer ending with the word "Amen."
- Cross food, take a meal.
How to pray after a meal?
The procedure is the same as described in the subsection above. Only the texts of the prayers are different, they are presented in the article.
The duration of prayers of thanks after eating is less than before.
Prayers before the meal
Here are the texts of prayers read before you sit at the table and start eating. The very first prayer before eating food is "Our Father":
Our Father, Thou art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, may Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth. Give us our daily bread today; and leave our debts to us, as well as we leave our debtor; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Then the Orthodox read a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Hail Virgin, rejoice! Grace Mary, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed are you in women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. As the Savior gave birth, eat our souls.
The following are brief prayers:
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.
Lord, have mercy (3 times). Bless me
A short prayer for the blessing of food
As it is written above, it is very good to consecrate a meal with Epiphany water. In Orthodox families, as well as among monks, they still sprinkle food. Among modern worldly families, such things are not common, people forget to pray before the meal, what kind of sprinkling can we talk about?
So the prayers have been read, rather to start eating. Bear a little, read the last short prayer before eating, cross the table with dishes, sit down and eat.
With the prayers of saints, our father, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Having uttered the last word, they overshadow the food with the sign of the Cross three times.
Prayers of thanks after the meal
It is explained above why prayers are read before lunch, dinner or breakfast, as well as why it is customary to thank the Lord for giving food.
Prayers will not take much time, if you read with concentration and attention, it will take 5-7 minutes. Thanked - and you can go about your business.
The very first prayer that is read after a person is full:
We thank you, Christ our God, for he has filled your earthly goods with us; do not deprive us and your heavenly kingdom, but as if in the midst of your disciples came thou, Savior, give peace to them, come to us and save us.
It can be called double, because people not only thank the Heavenly Father for sending food (earthly goods), but also ask for the gift of the Kingdom of Heaven after the soul is separated from the body.
The second prayer is dedicated to the Virgin Mary:
It is worthy of it, for truly blessed Thee, Mother of God. The blessed and the Immaculate, and the Mother of our God. The most honest Cherub and the most glorious Seraphim without comparison. Without the extermination of God, the words of the born, existing Mother of God, thee are magnified.
And finally, short prayers after eating look like this:
Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen.
Lord, have mercy (3 times). Bless me
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. With the prayers of Your Most Holy Mother and all saints, have mercy on us. Amen.
Interesting facts about the meal
What prayers before dinner and other types of meals are read are discussed in the article. In fact, our material is coming to an end, I would like to tell you about interesting points regarding the meal:
- In tsarist Russia there lived a pious people. The peasants were illiterate, for the most part, but they worshiped and feared God. They didn’t sit down at the table without prayer gasp, and if one of the children or adults behaved inappropriately during a meal, he immediately received a spoon on his forehead from the oldest man in the family. This was done because poorly educated people believed that not only angels sit down with them at the table, but also all sorts of “bastards-okayashki”. A person begins to behave badly at the table, food goes to the enemies of the human race. It seems that the eater received the same amount of food as the rest, but there is no satiety. So the father or grandfather admonished such a spoiled child so that he would not feed the unclean.
- In monasteries and pious families, the custom of reading during the meal was preserved. So that there was no talk at the table, they quickly ate without sitting down, and went about their business.
Conclusion
Prayer is a conversation with God, it is worth paying attention to it. Even the simple sigh “Lord save and save” is a call from God. Thanking for the food given is the first necessity of a pious person.