From ancient times, people pray to the Lord for help in many life situations. They turn to him daily and not every time, if absolutely necessary. Often they pray before eating or going out, waking up or, conversely, laying in bed. So why not turn to God before entering the vast expanses of the Internet?
How long have such prayers appeared?
Paradoxically, the prayer before going to the Internet has an official date of its occurrence. More precisely, a year. It arose a little later than the Network itself appeared. It happened in 1999.
Of course, devout Internet users have prayed before, but no texts of such appeals have been presented in church collections. Today, they are not particularly difficult to find in every modern prayer book.
Who initiated the introduction of these texts into collections?
Prayer before entering the Internet entered the relevant collections thanks to the pontiff John Paul. It was probably not easy for the pope to decide on such a step. And not because of their own advanced age, but for completely different reasons.
Since the advent of the World Wide Web and until the entry into force of the decree of the pontiff, the Internet was perceived by the church as a creature of the devil. The network was considered the concentration of all kinds of evil, sin, and its use was not just not encouraged, it was condemned by church officials.
However, over time, the official position of Christian denominations has changed, and prayer for access to the Internet has become part of the daily addresses of believers to the Lord.
Who to pray for?
The question is not very simple for the Orthodox and completely not difficult for Catholics. In the Catholic denomination, the patron of those who use the World Wide Web is Isidore of Seville. For some reason, clergymen believe that prayer before going to the Internet should be addressed to him.
The earthly life of the saint is inextricably linked with scientific and educational activities. He was the author of a rather large and detailed encyclopedia and devoted a considerable part of his life to the issues of education and enlightenment.
In Orthodoxy, the church leadership did not come to a consensus on the question of who should be addressed to the prayer for access to the Internet. Most often, believers turn to John the Theologian.
How and what to pray for?
Like any appeal to higher powers, this should be filled with sincere faith and come from a pure heart. Of course, you can pray in your own words or use ready-made texts. You should contact the saints or the Lord himself before you go online.
What do they pray before turning on the computer? About different things. The content of the appeal to the Lord or saints varies depending on what goals a person pursues when going online. Someone needs protection from various virtual threats - viruses, spam, hacking or annoying advertising banners. It is important for someone to feel confident, literally understand what to press on the keyboard.
Others ask for help in finding the right information, and those who work on the Web often pray for deliverance from laziness, fatigue, apathy, or a headache, for the granting of patience and luck. They also ask for help in finding people who are interesting for communication, increasing responses to published posts, and even in searching for films, books or games. Often, prayers are addressed to the saints by anxious parents, whose children spend most of their time at the computer monitor. As a rule, in such situations, they ask for their children protection from all kinds of evil, temptations, corrupting the soul of information and other similar things.
A prayer before going online can be:
“Lord God Almighty and Almighty!” I pray you, help me, save and protect my soul and mind, grant attention and perseverance, patience and clarity of thoughts. Do not let time be lost in empty talk. Do not let me distract from my goals and grant success in their achievement. Save from the temptations of the devil and do not let the soul fall into sin, whatever it may be. Amen".