Matins in the evening - Green Michael. Prayers of the evening service before the ascension text in the Orthodox Church

Do you have children or not? - Shmakov interrupted his thoughts.
Sintsov, all the time, all this month, persistently convincing himself with every memory that everything was in order, that his daughter had been in Moscow for a long time, briefly explained what had happened to his family. In fact, the more forcefully he convinced himself that everything was fine, the weaker he believed in it.
Shmakov looked at his face and realized that it was better not to ask this question.
- Okay, go to sleep - the halt is short, and you won’t have time to catch your first sleep!
“What a dream now!” - Sintsov thought angrily, but after sitting with him for a minute with open eyes, nodded his nose in his knees, shuddered, opened his eyes again, wanted to say something to Shmakov and instead, dropping his head on his chest, fell asleep dead asleep.
Shmakov looked at him with envy and, taking off his glasses, began to rub his eyes with his thumb and forefinger: his eyes hurt from insomnia, it seemed that daylight was pricking them even through his closed eyelids, and sleep did not come and did not come.
Over the past three days, Shmakov saw so many dead peers of his murdered son that his father’s grief, driven by force of will into the very depths of his soul, came out of these depths and grew into a feeling that no longer applied only to his son, but also to those others who died before his eyes, and even to those whose death he did not see, but only knew about it. This feeling grew and grew and finally became so great that it turned from grief to anger. And this anger was now strangling Shmakov. He sat and thought about the fascists, who everywhere, on all the roads of war, were now trampling to death thousands and thousands of the same age of October as his son - one after another, life after life. Now he hated these Germans as much as he had once hated the whites. He did not know a greater measure of hatred, and, probably, it did not exist in nature.
Just yesterday he needed an effort above himself to give the order to shoot the German pilot. But today, after the heartbreaking scenes of the crossing, when the Nazis, like butchers, used machine guns to chop the water around the heads of drowning, wounded, but still not finished people, something turned upside down in his soul, before this last minute still not wanting to completely turn over, and he made a rash vow to himself not to spare these murderers anywhere, under any circumstances, neither in the war, nor after the war - never!
Probably, now, when he was thinking about this, an expression so unusual appeared on his usually calm face of a naturally kind, middle-aged, intelligent man that he suddenly heard Serpilin’s voice:
- Sergey Nikolaevich! What happened to you? What happened?
Serpilin lay on the grass and, with his eyes wide open, looked at him.
- Absolutely nothing. - Shmakov put on his glasses, and his face took on its usual expression.
- And if nothing, then tell me what time it is: isn’t it time? “I’m too lazy to move my limbs in vain,” Serpilin grinned.
Shmakov looked at his watch and said that there were seven minutes left until the end of the halt.
- Then I’m still sleeping. - Serpilin closed his eyes.
After an hour's rest, which Serpilin, despite the fatigue of the people, did not allow to drag on for a minute, we moved on, gradually turning to the southeast.
Before the evening halt, the detachment was joined by another three dozen people wandering through the forest. No one else from their division was caught. All thirty people met after the first halt were from the neighboring division, stationed to the south along the left bank of the Dnieper. All these were people from different regiments, battalions and rear units, and although among them there were three lieutenants and one senior political instructor, no one had any idea where the division headquarters was, or even in what direction it was departing. However, based on fragmentary and often contradictory stories, it was still possible to imagine the overall picture of the disaster.
Judging by the names of the places from which the encirclement came, by the time of the German breakthrough the division was stretched out in a chain for almost thirty kilometers along the front. In addition, she did not have time or was unable to strengthen herself properly. The Germans bombed it for twenty hours straight, and then, having dropped several landing forces into the rear of the division and disrupted control and communications, at the same time, under the cover of aviation, they began crossing the Dnieper in three places at once. Parts of the division were crushed, in some places they fled, in others they fought fiercely, but this could no longer change the general course of things.
People from this division walked in small groups, twos and threes. Some were with weapons, others without weapons. Serpilin, after talking with them, put them all in line, mixing them with his own fighters. He put the unarmed in formation without weapons, saying that they would have to get it themselves in battle, it was not stored for them.
Serpilin talked to people coolly, but not offensively. Only to the senior political instructor, who justified himself by the fact that although he was walking without a weapon, but in full uniform and with a party card in his pocket, Serpilin bitterly objected that a communist at the front should keep weapons along with his party card.
“We are not going to Golgotha, dear comrade,” said Serpilin, “but we are fighting.” If it’s easier for you to be put up against the wall by the fascists than to tear down the commissar’s stars with your own hands, that means you have a conscience. But this alone is not enough for us. We don’t want to stand up to the wall, but to put the fascists against the wall. But you can’t do this without a weapon. That's it! Go into the ranks, and I expect that you will be the first to acquire weapons in battle.
When the embarrassed senior political instructor walked away a few steps, Serpilin called out to him and, unhooking one of the two lemon grenades hanging from his belt, held it out in his palm.
- First, take it!
Sintsov, who, as an adjutant, wrote down names, ranks and unit numbers in a notebook, silently rejoiced at the reserve of patience and calm with which Serpilin spoke with people.
It is impossible to penetrate into the soul of a person, but during these days Sintsov more than once thought that Serpilin himself did not experience the fear of death. It probably wasn't like that, but it looked like it.
At the same time, Serpilin did not pretend that he did not understand how people were afraid, how they could run, get confused, and throw down their weapons. On the contrary, he made them feel that he understood this, but at the same time persistently instilled in them the idea that the fear they experienced and the defeat they experienced were all in the past. That it was like that, but it won’t be like that anymore, that they lost their weapons, but can acquire them again. This is probably why people did not leave Serpilin depressed, even when he spoke coolly to them. He rightly did not absolve them of blame, but he did not place all the blame solely on their shoulders. People felt it and wanted to prove that he was right.
Before the evening halt, another meeting took place, unlike all the others. A sergeant came from a side patrol moving through the thicket of the forest, bringing with him two armed men. One of them was a short Red Army soldier, wearing a shabby leather jacket over a tunic and with a rifle on his shoulder. The other one is tall beautiful person about forty years old, with an aquiline nose and noble gray hair visible from under his cap, which gave significance to his youthful, clean, wrinkle-free face; he was wearing good riding breeches and chrome boots, a brand new PPSh with a round disk was hanging on his shoulder, but the cap on his head was dirty and greasy, and just as dirty and greasy was the Red Army tunic that sat awkwardly on him, which did not meet at the neck and was short in the sleeves .
“Comrade brigade commander,” the sergeant said, approaching Serpilin along with these two people, looking sideways at them and holding his rifle at the ready, “permit me to report?” He brought the detainees. He detained them and brought them under escort because they did not explain themselves, and also because of their appearance. They didn’t disarm because they refused, and we didn’t want to open fire in the forest unnecessarily.
“Deputy chief of the operational department of the army headquarters, Colonel Baranov,” the man with the machine gun said abruptly, throwing his hand to his cap and stretching out in front of Serpilin and Shmakov, who was standing next to him.
“We apologize,” the sergeant who brought the detainees said, having heard this and, in turn, putting his hand to his cap.
- Why are you apologizing? - Serpilin turned to him. “They did the right thing in detaining me, and they did the right thing in bringing me to me.” Continue to do so in the future. You can go. “I’ll ask for your documents,” releasing the sergeant, he turned to the detainee, without calling him by rank.
His lips trembled and he smiled in confusion. It seemed to Sintsov that this man probably knew Serpilin, but only now recognized him and was amazed by the meeting.
And so it was. The man who called himself Colonel Baranov and actually bore this name and title and held the position that he named when he was brought to Serpilin was so far from the idea that in front of him here, in the forest, in military uniform, surrounded by other commanders, it may turn out to be Serpilin, who in the first minute only noted to himself that the tall brigade commander with a German machine gun on his shoulder reminded him very much of someone.
- Serpilin! - he exclaimed, spreading his arms, and it was difficult to understand whether this was a gesture of extreme amazement, or whether he wanted to hug Serpilin.
“Yes, I am brigade commander Serpilin,” Serpilin said in an unexpectedly dry, tinny voice, “the commander of the division entrusted to me, but I don’t see who you are yet.” Your documents!
- Serpilin, I’m Baranov, are you crazy?
“For the third time I ask you to present your documents,” Serpilin said in the same tinny voice.
“I don’t have documents,” Baranov said after a long pause.
- How come there are no documents?
- It happened that I accidentally lost it... I left it in that tunic when I exchanged it for this one... the Red Army one. - Baranov moved his fingers along his greasy, too-tight tunic.
- Did you leave the documents in that tunic? Do you also have the colonel’s insignia on that tunic?
“Yes,” Baranov sighed.
- Why should I believe you that you are the deputy chief of the army’s operational department, Colonel Baranov?
- But you know me, we served together at the academy! - Baranov muttered completely lost.
“Let’s assume that this is so,” Serpilin said without softening at all, still with the same tinny harshness unusual for Sintsov, “but if you had not met me, who could confirm your identity, rank and position?”
“Here he is,” Baranov pointed to the Red Army soldier in a leather jacket standing next to him. - This is my driver.
- Do you have documents, comrade soldier? - Without looking at Baranov, Serpilin turned to the Red Army soldier.
- Yes... - the Red Army soldier paused for a second, not immediately deciding how to address Serpilin, - yes, Comrade General! - He opened his leather jacket, took out a Red Army book wrapped in a rag from the pocket of his tunic and handed it to him.
“Yes,” Serpilin read aloud. - “Red Army soldier Petr Ilyich Zolotarev, military unit 2214". Clear. - And he gave the Red Army soldier the book. - Tell me, Comrade Zolotarev, can you confirm the identity, rank and position of this man with whom you were detained? - And he, still not turning to Baranov, pointed his finger at him.
- That’s right, Comrade General, this is really Colonel Baranov, I’m his driver.
- So you certify that this is your commander?
- That's right, Comrade General.
- Stop mocking, Serpilin! - Baranov shouted nervously.
But Serpilin didn’t even bat an eyelid in his direction.
- It’s good that at least you can verify the identity of your commander, otherwise, at any moment, you could shoot him. There are no documents, no insignia, a tunic from someone else’s shoulder, boots and breeches from command staff... - Serpilin’s voice became harsher and harsher with each phrase. - Under what circumstances did you end up here? - he asked after a pause.
“Now I’ll tell you everything...” Baranov began.
But Serpilin, this time half turning around, interrupted him:
- I'm not asking you yet. Speak... - he turned to the Red Army soldier again.
The Red Army soldier, at first hesitating, and then more and more confidently, trying not to forget anything, began to tell how three days ago, having arrived from the army, they spent the night at the division headquarters, how in the morning the colonel went to headquarters, and bombing immediately began all around, how soon one arrived From the rear, the driver said that German troops had landed there, and when he heard this, he took the car out just in case. And an hour later the colonel came running, praised him that the car was already ready, jumped into it and ordered him to quickly drive back to Chausy. When they got onto the highway, there was already heavy shooting and smoke ahead, they turned onto a dirt road, drove along it, but again heard shooting and saw it at the intersection German tanks. Then they turned onto a remote forest road, drove straight off it into the forest, and the colonel ordered the car to stop.
While telling all this, the Red Army soldier sometimes glanced sideways at his colonel, as if seeking confirmation from him, and he stood silently, with his head bowed low. The hardest part was beginning for him, and he understood it.
“Ordered to stop the car,” he repeated last words Red Army soldier Serpilin, - and what next?
“Then Comrade Colonel ordered me to take out my old tunic and cap from under the seat, I had just recently received new uniforms, and left the old tunic and cap with me - just in case they were lying under the car.” Comrade Colonel took off his tunic and cap and put on my cap and tunic, said that now I would have to leave the encirclement on foot, and ordered me to pour gasoline on the car and set it on fire. But only I,” the driver hesitated, “but only I, Comrade General, did not know that Comrade Colonel forgot his documents there, in his tunic, I would, of course, remind you if I knew, otherwise I set everything on fire along with the car.” .
He felt guilty.
- You hear? - Serpilin turned to Baranov. - Your fighter regrets that he did not remind you about your documents. - There was mockery in his voice. - I wonder what would happen if he reminded you of them? - He turned to the driver again: - What happened next?
- Then we walked for two days, hiding. Until we met you...
“Thank you, Comrade Zolotarev,” said Serpilin. - Put him on the list, Sintsov. Catch up with the column and get into formation. You will receive satisfaction at the rest stop.
The driver started to move, then stopped and looked questioningly at his colonel, but he still stood with his eyes lowered to the ground.
- Go! - Serpilin said imperiously. - You are free.
The driver left. There was a heavy silence.
- Why did you need to ask him in front of me? They could have asked me without compromising myself in front of the Red Army soldier.
“And I asked him because I trust the story of a soldier with a Red Army book more than the story of a disguised colonel without insignia and documents,” said Serpilin. - Now, at least, the picture is clear to me. We came to the division to monitor the implementation of the orders of the army commander. So or not?
“So,” Baranov said, looking stubbornly at the ground.
- But instead they ran away at the first danger! They abandoned everything and ran away. So or not?
- Not really.
- Not really? But as?
But Baranov was silent. No matter how much he felt insulted, there was nothing to object to.
- I compromised him in front of the Red Army soldier! Do you hear, Shmakov? - Serpilin turned to Shmakov. - Like laughter! He chickened out, took off his command tunic in front of the Red Army soldier, threw away his documents, and it turns out I compromised him. It was not I who compromised you in front of the Red Army soldier, but you who compromised you in front of the Red Army soldier with your shameful behavior command staff army. If my memory serves me correctly, you were a party member. Did they burn the party card too?
“Everything burned,” Baranov threw up his hands.
- Are you saying that you accidentally forgot all the documents in your tunic? - Shmakov, who entered this conversation for the first time, quietly asked.
- Accidentally.
- And in my opinion, you are lying. In my opinion, if your driver reminded you of them, you would still get rid of them at the first opportunity.
- For what? - asked Baranov.
- You know better.
- But I walked with a weapon.
- If you burned the documents when there was no real danger, then you would have thrown your weapons in front of the first German.
“He kept the weapon for himself because he was afraid of wolves in the forest,” said Serpilin.
- I left my weapons against the Germans, against the Germans! - Baranov shouted nervously.
“I don’t believe it,” said Serpilin. - You, the staff commander, had an entire division at your disposal, so you ran away from it! How can you fight the Germans alone?
- Fedor Fedorovich, why talk for a long time? “I’m not a boy, I understand everything,” Baranov suddenly said quietly.
But it was precisely this sudden humility, as if a person who had just considered it necessary to justify himself with all his might suddenly decided that it would be more useful for him to speak differently, caused a sharp surge of distrust in Serpilin.
- What do you understand?
- My guilt. I'll wash it away with blood. Give me a company, finally, a platoon, after all, I wasn’t going to the Germans, but to my own people, can you believe it?
“I don’t know,” said Serpilin. - In my opinion, you didn’t go to anyone. We just walked depending on the circumstances, how it would turn out...
“I curse the hour when I burned the documents...” Baranov began again, but Serpilin interrupted him:
- I believe that you regret it now. You regret that you were in a hurry, because you ended up with your own people, but if it had turned out differently, I don’t know, you would have regretted it. “What, commissar,” he turned to Shmakov, “let’s give this former colonel under company command?
“No,” said Shmakov.
- Platoon?
- No.
- In my opinion, too. After everything that happened, I would sooner trust your driver to command you than you to command him! - said Serpilin and for the first time, half a tone softer than anything said before, he addressed Baranov: “Go and get into formation with this brand new machine gun of yours and try, as you say, to wash away your guilt with the blood of... the Germans,” he added after a pause. - And yours will need it too. By the authority given to me and the commissar here, you have been demoted to the rank and file until we come out to our own people. And there you will explain your actions, and we will explain our arbitrariness.
- All? Don't you have anything else to tell me? - Baranov asked, looking up at Serpilin with angry eyes.
Something trembled in Serpilin’s face at these words; he even closed his eyes for a second to hide their expression.
“Be grateful that you weren’t shot for cowardice,” Shmakov snapped instead of Serpilin.
“Sintsov,” said Serpilin, opening his eyes, “put fighter Baranov’s units on the lists.” Go with him,” he nodded towards Baranov, “to Lieutenant Khoryshev and tell him that the fighter Baranov is at his disposal.
- Your power, Fedor Fedorovich, I will do everything, but don’t expect me to forget this for you.
Serpilin put his hands behind his back, cracked his wrists and said nothing.
“Come with me,” Sintsov said to Baranov, and they began to catch up with the column that had gone ahead.
Shmakov looked intently at Serpilin. Himself agitated by what had happened, he felt that Serpilin was even more shocked. Apparently, the brigade commander was very upset by the shameful behavior of his old colleague, of whom, probably, he had previously had a completely different, high opinion.
- Fedor Fedorovich!
- What? - Serpilin responded as if half asleep, even shuddering: he was lost in his thoughts and forgot that Shmakov was walking next to him, shoulder to shoulder.
- Why are you upset? How long did you serve together? Did you know him well?
Serpilin looked at Shmakov with an absent-minded gaze and answered with an evasiveness unlike himself that surprised the commissar:
- But you never know who knew who! Let's pick up the pace before we stop!
Shmakov, who did not like to intrude, fell silent, and they both, quickening their pace, walked side by side until the halt, without saying a word, each busy with their own thoughts.
Shmakov didn’t guess right. Although Baranov actually served with Serpilin at the academy, Serpilin not only did not have a high opinion of him, but, on the contrary, had the worst opinion. He considered Baranov to be a not incapable careerist, who was not interested in the benefit of the army, but only in his own career advancement. Teaching at the academy, Baranov was ready to support one doctrine today and another tomorrow, to call white black and black white. Cleverly applying himself to what he thought might be liked “at the top,” he did not disdain to support even direct misconceptions based on ignorance of facts that he himself knew perfectly well.
His specialty was reports and messages about the armies of supposed opponents; looking for real and imaginary weaknesses, he obsequiously kept silent about all the strong and dangerous sides of the future enemy. Serpilin, despite all the complexity of conversations on such topics at that time, scolded Baranov twice for this in private, and the third time publicly.
He later had to remember this under completely unexpected circumstances; and only God knows how hard it was for him now, during his conversation with Baranov, not to express everything that suddenly stirred in his soul.
He didn’t know whether he was right or wrong in thinking about Baranov what he thought about him, but he knew for sure that now was not the time or place for memories, good or bad - it doesn’t matter!
The most difficult moment in their conversation was the moment when Baranov suddenly looked questioningly and angrily into his eyes. But, it seems, he withstood this look, and Baranov left reassured, at least judging by his farewell insolent phrase.
Well, so be it! He, Serpilin, does not want and cannot have any personal accounts with the fighter Baranov, who is under his command. If he fights bravely, Serpilin will thank him in front of the line; if he honestly lays down his head, Serpilin will report this; if he becomes cowardly and runs away, Serpilin will order to shoot him, just as he would order to shoot anyone else. Everything is correct. But how hard it is on my soul!
We made a halt near human habitation, which was found in the forest for the first time that day. On the edge of the wasteland plowed for a vegetable garden stood an old forester’s hut. There was also a well nearby, which brought joy to the people exhausted by the heat.
Sintsov, having taken Baranov to Khoryshev, went into the hut. It consisted of two rooms; the door to the second was closed; From there a long, aching female cry could be heard. The first room was papered over the logs with old newspapers. In the right corner hung a shrine with poor, without vestments, icons. On a wide bench next to two commanders who entered the hut before Sintsov, a stern eighty-year-old man, dressed in everything clean - a white shirt and white ports, sat motionless and silent. His whole face was carved with wrinkles, deep as cracks, and on his thin neck a pectoral cross hung on a worn copper chain.
A small, nimble woman, probably the same age as the old man in years, but who seemed much younger than him because of her quick movements, greeted Sintsov with a bow, took another cut glass from the towel-hung wall shelf and placed it in front of Sintsov on the table, where there were already two glasses. and a bucket. Before Sintsov arrived, the grandmother treated the commanders who came into the hut with milk.
Sintsov asked her if it was possible to collect something to eat for the division commander and commissar, adding that they had their own bread.
- What can I treat you with now, just milk. - The grandmother threw up her hands sadly. - Just light the stove and cook some potatoes, if you have time.
Sintsov didn’t know if there was enough time, but he asked to boil some potatoes just in case.
“There are still some old potatoes left, last year’s ones...” said the grandmother and began to bustle around by the stove.
Sintsov drank a glass of milk; he wanted to drink more, but, looking into the bucket, which had less than half left, he was embarrassed. Both commanders, who probably also wanted to drink another glass, said goodbye and left. Sintsov stayed with the grandmother and the old man. After fussing around the stove and placing a splinter under the firewood, the grandmother went to next room and a minute later she returned with matches. Both times she opened and closed the door, a loud, whining cry came out in bursts.
- What is it about you who is crying? - asked Sintsov.
- Dunka is crying, my granddaughter. Her boyfriend was killed. He is withered, they didn’t take him to the war. They drove a collective farm herd out of Nelidovo, he went with the herd, and as they crossed the highway, bombs were dropped on them and they were killed. It’s been howling for the second day,” the grandmother sighed.
She lit a torch, put a cast iron on the fire with some potatoes that had already been washed, probably for herself, then sat down next to her old man on the bench and, leaning her elbows on the table, became sad.
- We are all at war. Sons at war, grandchildren at war. Will the German come here soon, eh?
- Don't know.
- They came from Nelidov and said that the German was already in Chausy.
- Don't know. - Sintsov really didn’t know what to answer.
“It should be soon,” said the grandmother. “They’ve been driving the herds for five days already, they wouldn’t have done it in vain.” And here we are,” she pointed to the bucket with a dry hand, “drinking the last milk.” They also gave away a cow. Let them drive, God willing, when they will drive back. The neighbor said that there are few people left in Nelidovo, everyone is leaving...
She said all this, and the old man sat and was silent; During the entire time that Sintsov was in the hut, he never said a single word. He was very old and seemed to want to die now, without waiting for the Germans to follow these people in Red Army uniforms into his hut. And such sadness overwhelmed me when I looked at him, such melancholy was heard in the aching women’s sobs behind the wall, that Sintsov could not stand it and left, saying that he would be right back.

The All-Night Vigil consists of three parts: Vespers and the first hour. Vespers- the first service of the daytime church circle. The circle begins with Vespers because in ancient times the day was counted from the evening: “ and it will be evening and it will be morning"(Gen. 1:5). Vespers can be compared to the early morning of human history - this beginning of human history was joyful and bright, but not for long: soon man sinned and made his life a dark, sad night. Vespers depicts these events.

The priest and deacon walk around the temple with. The burning of incense depicts the breath of the Spirit of God, which, according to the word of the Bible, “ rushed around"over the primeval world, giving birth to life by His Divine power: " and the Spirit of God rushing on top of the water"(Gen. 1:2). The doors of the altar are open at this time. depicts, on the one hand, heaven, the dwelling of God, on the other, paradise, the dwelling of Adam and Eve in the past and the dwelling of the righteous in the present and future. Thus, the doors open at this time depict the heavenly bliss of the first parents Adam and Eve in paradise.

Then the Royal Doors are closed, this action recalls the sad event when “ the gates of heaven were closed by Adam's sin" The ancestors were expelled from the place of bliss " to work and sorrow" Depicting a mourner crying before the gates of the lost paradise of Adam, the priest, standing before the altar, in the evening prayers prays to the Lord that He, generous and merciful, will hear our prayer, “ He did not rebuke us with rage, nor did He punish us with anger, but He would deal with us according to His mercy." Christians, through the deacon and clergy in the great litany, ask for mercy of the soul and, remembering the sin of Adam and the loss of paradise, with the words of the first psalm, they mourn the sad fate of those who walk the path of sin, and rejoice in the joyful fate of the righteous who fulfill the law of the Lord.

Singing psalms and stichera

« Blessed is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked"(psalm 1:1). Happy is the man who does not go to the assembly of the wicked, and does not walk in the ways of the unrighteous, and does not sit in the assembly of the corrupt; his will is in the “law of the Lord”; he meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. Following the first psalm, the second and third are read. They reveal the same idea as in the first: the Lord does not forsake the righteous. In vain do enemies plot evil against the righteous: the Lord is his protection (Psalm 2), He protects the righteous during the day and in his sleep at night, and the righteous are not afraid of attacks from enemies (Psalm 3). “Adam’s lament” at the closed doors of paradise is expressed even more powerfully and vividly further, in verses 140, 141 and 129 of the psalms. They contain prayers to the Lord to accept our evening prayer as an evening sacrifice, like fragrant incense.

Old Testament verses are combined with New Testament ones, in which a person’s joy about the Lord’s work of salvation completed is expressed, a holiday or a saint is glorified. These chants are called stichera “I cried to the Lord.” As a transition to " morning of salvation» dogmatic inspired songs are sung, called by dogmatists - Theotokos. Dogmatics - a complete presentation of the teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, about the Divine and human nature. This teaching is revealed in the third article of the Creed and in the works of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Ecumenical Councils. The Most Holy Theotokos, sung in dogmatism, “ heaven's door“For those who have sinned, there is also a staircase to heaven, along which the Son of God descended to earth, and people ascend to heaven.

Evening entrance and paremias

The altar doors are open. The priest, preceded by the deacon, exits through the side doors, not the Royal doors, depicting the Lord, Who came to earth not in royal glory, but in the form of a servant, like the quiet light of the evening, hiding His solar Divine glory. And he enters the altar through the Royal Doors, signifying that through the Lord Christ and His death “ royal gate of heaven"raised" their princes"and opened up to all those who follow the Lord. The deacon exclaims: “ Wisdom forgive me». « Quiet light“- so, having lived until sunset and seeing the evening light, we sing praises to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

History tells us about the origin of the church song “Silent Light”. Once upon a time, a wise old man, Patriarch Sophronius, was sitting on one of the Jerusalem mountains. His thoughtful gaze stretched for a long time along the vast horizon stretched before him and finally stopped at the fading rays of the Palestinian sun. There was deep silence all around. The invigorating evening air was filled with pleasant coolness and the strong scent of mountain flowers. Picture after picture passed before the patriarch's mental gaze. He imagined how here, on the same mountain, before his suffering, the Savior looked at Jerusalem. Then, just as now, the quiet light of the setting sun fell on the walls and streets of the glorious city. And the material sun, inclined to the west, inclined the patriarch’s mind to imagine the immaterial Sun - the Son of God, Who descended to dark humanity to enlighten it. The heart of the wise old man was filled with joy, and an inspired song flowed from his enthusiastic lips. Since then, this sacred song has been resounding in our churches for many centuries, and it will never lose its beauty and touchingness.

On holidays, after the prokeme, proverbs are read. These are the names of selected places from Holy Scripture Old Testament, containing in prophecies or prototypes an indication of the event of the holiday being remembered. On the feasts of the Mother of God, for example, it is read Jacob's vision of the ladder, former prototype Our Lady, our stairway to heaven. On the Exaltation - about the tree thrown by Moses to sweeten the bitter waters of Marah. This tree transformed the Cross of the Lord.

After the proverbs it is pronounced special litany: “Rtsem all.” During the special litany, after the prayer that the Lord will help us end the day sinlessly, “Grant, O Lord, that we may be preserved without sin this evening,” is said litany of petition. In it, as in the previous prayer, we ask the Lord to help us spend the whole evening in perfection, holy, in peace and without sin.

Litia and stichera on poems

Next is done lithium. A lithium arose from the custom of performing repentant prayers in the middle of the city or even outside its walls during public disasters. We find an indication of this from the blessed Simeon of Thessalonica. « Lithium, he writes, happens in the vestibule on Saturdays and holidays, and during some plague or other disaster occurs in the middle of the city, or outside, near the walls, with a gathering of people" This origin of litia is also indicated by the content of its prayers. The meaning of the lithium is this: standing “afar off,” like a publican, we, like a publican, pray: Lord, we are unworthy of Your temple, unworthy to look at the heights of heaven, but You accept us, lead us into Heavenly Eden, the palaces of heaven, which are opened to us by blood the Son of God and which we again close ourselves off with a life of impurity and sin.

According to the general meaning of lithium and prayer "Lord have mercy"- prayer of the penitents - repeated here 40, 30 And 50 times. At the litany, we pray that the Lord will save his people and bless them as his children. We pray for the country, for the bishop and for the entire sacred order; about every Christian soul that is grieving and embittered and requires God’s help; about deceased fathers and brothers. All these prayers are offered by the Church, calling upon the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and all the saints. Then, in a supreme prayer, the priest prays that the Lord, through the prayers of the saints, will grant us forgiveness of sins, deliver us from every enemy and have mercy and save us all, as good and philanthropic.

Having completed the litia, the priest enters the temple; before the priest they carry lamps, which, as in every other entrance, depict the divine light of the saints. The father, as if entering heaven, is followed by others, accompanying the abbot, as if Jesus Christ , showing the way to everyone. Then follows the usual continuation of Vespers, beginning with the singing of verse stichera, which are sung by two faces united together in the middle of the temple. These verses are called verse because they are accompanied by verses from the psalms. On Sunday, Sunday verses are sung: “The Lord reigns”; if there is another holiday, then other verses selected from the psalms are prescribed; if the memory of a saint is celebrated, then verses from the psalms are sung according to the order, corresponding to the person being remembered, that is, in honor of the saint, martyr or saint.

Meeting the Lord who saves us, we pray with the words of the righteous One, full of joy and hope. Simeon the God-Receiver: « Now you are releasing Your servant, O Master, according to Your word, in peace; For mine eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all nations, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel».

IN everyday worship“Now you let us go” has not only the meaning of confessing our joy in the Lord who has come: this prayer, at the same time, - parting words for those coming to bed, a reminder of the last dream, the dream of death, so that we go to sleep with the thought of the Lord and His judgment.

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Blessing of the Loaves

At the end of the singing of the poetic stichera, the priest approaches the table standing in the middle of the temple, on which he sits dish with five loaves and vessels with wheat, wine and oil. While singing three times The troparion is censed around the table, and at the end of the singing the deacon proclaims : “Let us pray to the Lord,” to which the singers answer: “Lord have mercy.” The priest then says a special prayer, ending with a cross-shaped enclosure of one of the loaves above the other loaves. In this prayer, the priest asks the Lord, who blessed the five loaves and fed the five thousand people, bless offered bread, wheat, wine and oil, multiply them all over the world and sanctify the faithful who eat from them.

The custom of blessing bread is an echo of the ancient " agape", the meal of the faithful, after the completion of " vigils" The all-night vigil in the first centuries, when the Church was still hidden in the darkness of the catacombs, and partly during the time of St. John Chrysostom, lasted from evening to morning, all night (Cass., book III, chapters 8 and 9). Therefore, to strengthen the believers who intended to stay in the Church all night, after singing vespers, bread, wheat, wine and oil were usually broken up and distributed. The priest, at the conclusion of Vespers, asked blessing of the Lord on those present in the church, with the deacon leaving the altar , they sat down in their place with everyone present in the temple, and everyone ate the blessed food with oil.

Order of Vespers

Priest:"Blessed be our God."

Reader:"Amen"; "To the King of Heaven"; Trisagion and “Our Father”, “Lord have mercy” 12 times; Glory even now; “Come, let us worship” (three times); Psalm 103 “Bless the Lord, my soul”; Great Litany; ordinary kathisma; small litany. After the small litany, “I cried to the Lord” and stichers for 6: three from Oktai and three from Minea. Glory even now; Theotokos (if Wednesday or Friday - theotokos, from the Menaion along with). If in the Menaion on “Glory” there is a stichera to the saint, then on “And Now” the Theotokos is sung according to the voice of this stichera. After the Mother of God it is read: “Quiet Light”; prokeimenon for the day; “Vouchsafe, Lord.”

Then litany of petition: “Let’s perform evening prayers.” After this litany, stichera are sung “on stikhovne” - from Oktai. After the stichera, the reader reads: “Now you let go”; Trisagion and Our Father. After the “Our Father,” the troparion to the saint from the Menaion; Glory even now; Theotokos, according to the voice of the troparion and according to the day. Then a special litany: “Have mercy on us, O God.”

After the litany it happens vacation:

Deacon or priest: "Wisdom"

Priest:“Most Holy Lady Theotokos, save us”;

Singers:“The most honorable cherub”;

Priest:“Glory to Thee, our God”;

Singers: Glory even now; “Lord have mercy,” twice; "Lord bless";

Priest:“Christ our true God” and so on;

Singers:"Amen"; “Lord have mercy,” three times.

Order of Great Vespers

Great or polyeleous vespers differs from everyday Vespers in the following ways:

1) the stichera “I cried out to the Lord” and the stichera “on the verse” are sung only from the Menaion: the Oktai is not used, but the Theotokos after the stichera and troparion are sung on Sunday;

2) instead of an ordinary kathisma, the following is sung: “Blessed is the man” (1st antiphon of the first kathisma);

3) after the stichera “I cried out to the Lord,” during the singing of the Theotokos, there is a small exit with a censer, and after the prokemene three paremias are read;

4) after the proverbs, this is the order of Vespers: litany: “Rtsem all”; reads: “Vouchsafe, Lord”; Litany: “Let us fulfill our evening prayers”; stichera “on verse”; “Now you let go”; Trisagion; "Our Father"; troparion; Glory even now; Theotokos. Then dismissal, as at daily vespers.

Order of Little Vespers

Small Vespers from everyday differs as follows:

1) there is no: great litany, ordinary kathisma, small litany, and also petitionary;

2) instead of the full, special litany, a shortened version of three petitions is pronounced: 1) Have mercy on us, O God; 2) about the country and 3) for all the brethren and for all Christians;

3) the stichera “I cried to the Lord” are sung only on 4.

Sparkling, light, head-turning and motivating, cinematic champagne will revive your memories of the craziest acts done for the sake of love.

A chance meeting may turn out to be the highlight of several recent years even for the most sophisticated connoisseurs of life. Elsa is a divorced writer, raising three children alone, dating a young guy, loving to have fun with her friends and not averse to having an affair. Pierre is a lawyer, happily married, has long given up going outside, rides around on a motor scooter and occasionally indulges in weed. The meeting of these two dissimilar people awakens a volcano of passion, the fury of which is difficult to contain by rules and moral principles.

“Don’t talk about love, everything has been said about it,” it was once said in famous song. Indeed, it is incredibly difficult to say anything new on the topic of love. However, there is always room for interpretation of certain events associated with the feeling of falling in love, which is what musicians, artists and, of course, filmmakers take advantage of. WITH to varying degrees Many people take on this to involve viewers, but not everyone has such trump cards up their sleeves as “One Encounter” - Paris, Sophie Marceau and François Cluzet.

Lisa Azuelos not only acted as the producer, screenwriter and director of the film, but also played the most thankless role in it - the role of the wife of the main character who decided to commit adultery

However, let's put aside the story about the actors for now; the main thing in this film is the screenwriter and director Lisa Azuelos. Yes, yes, someone might have thought that Lisa’s not-so-successful experience in Hollywood (the Americans didn’t dare stage a remake of the French romantic comedy “LOL” themselves and invited the author of the original source, Madame Azuelos, to direct) forever discouraged the woman from wanting to command on film set. But it seems that Summer is a failure. Odnoklassniki. “Love” only spurred Azuelos on, she pulled herself together and wrote a truly beautiful, dynamic, bright and incredibly romantic script. Furthermore, she personally transferred the story from paper pages to the screen and did it with extraordinary energy, humor and enthusiasm, not always characteristic of respectable adults.

From the very beginning of working on the script, Azuelos saw François Cluzet in the leading role, despite the fact that he had so far rarely appeared in romantic roles. The director explained her choice by saying that she sees the French Hugh Grant in Cluse

“One Meeting” is addressed primarily to the “over 35” generation. It is believed that at this age it is too late to rush into adventures and amorous adventures. This may be true, but love, if it is a real sincere feeling, cannot be kept within limits and shackles. In one of his SMS in the film, the hero tells his passion: “I’m fifteen again,” and you can believe this, because such feelings really inspire. But Lisa Azuelos’s picture is not only about how beautiful falling in love is, but also about the fact that at any age, under any circumstances, a person does not belong only to himself. The older we get, the great connections growing up. With such a root system deeply penetrated into the family, career, business, it is increasingly difficult to take off. Willy-nilly you will think - is it necessary?

Azuelos approaches the issue with humor. Until the very end of the film, it is not clear how the story will end - after all, many of its scenes turn out to be the heroes’ dreams, daydreams and imagination. However, all these “tricks” are made with grace, respect for the viewer and do not let you get bored (we are sure that you will also fall for the joke with buffering and the elegant connection of the picture with Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet”). This lightness and special level of trust make "The Encounter" one of the most attractive French films released this year.

Returning to the actors, I just want to say that Marceau and Cluzet made a really hot couple. Moreover, it arouses interest not with some erotic scenes (although this is present, thank you, Sophie), not with sparkling humor or acting techniques. On the contrary, there seems to be some kind of chill between the characters, they do not kiss too eagerly, they are often more restrained in their feelings than seems necessary, but this is exactly what makes the characters alive.

“Une recontre”, in Russian box office “One Meeting”, a film that left me with a pleasant memory.

This film shows the topic of adultery from an unusual perspective. The main characters are already well over forty, each has a family, successful career, principles developed over the years The main catch is that He is married and happy in his own way, She is lonely, she is raising your children herself and, like any woman, she is looking for someone with whom she can share her life. The heroine Sophie Marceau, Elsa, creative person, writer without Serious relationships, who on principle does not date married people. Hero François Cluzet, Pierre, an exemplary family man, it was for the sake of his wife that he radically changed his lifestyle and left his love affairs in the past.

Both intersect at relaxed atmosphere, strike up a pleasant conversation and have a nice time. However, it is precisely this acquaintance that ignites mutual interest, both are waiting for the opportunity to see each other again. This is really happening; only the second time they no longer hide their sympathy.

What are we expecting? Most likely, an exciting story that proves that all ages are submissive to love. Well, yes and no. The director deliberately allows us throughout the film to evaluate the newly-made lovers, condemn their actions, approve, empathize, hope In my opinion humble opinion, she deliberately does not delve into the description of the images of the main characters and their Everyday life, thereby creating a template in which we can see ourselves. Throughout the entire film, the same question is asked: “What will happen if?..”, which Pierre’s hero alone tries to answer. Why alone? Most likely because Elsa has fewer obligations and is ready to let a new man into her life almost here and now, new love. Pierre, on the contrary, weighs his every step and evaluates each possible scenario developments, trying to save the family and, at the same time, feel young and loved. And here he acts like most men: he does not commit himself to promises, tries not to give away his secret at home, teases Elsa with frank confessions that lead nowhere. Pierre puts everything he has achieved in life on one side of the scale, his new dreams on the other, and calculates how much he will lose and what he will gain in return.

Should we condemn him? Oddly enough, not for a second did I have the desire to reproach him for indecisiveness and cowardice. Perhaps this is true, and all ages are submissive to love, but is there an opportunity for a revolution at every age? Can anyone leave their family for a new passion? Moreover, Pierre is happy in his own way with his wife and she does not deserve to be unhappy at all; love is not canned food with an expiration date on the package. Is it possible to sacrifice everything for the sake of fleeting happiness, or rather, your desires and fantasies? Will it last? Will our fantasies come true or will they prove fruitless?

Pierre finds a rather ambiguous solution, answering all questions with only one thing: “So that the story never ends, it is better not to begin it.”

A wonderful French movie, seasoned with an excellent soundtrack and memorable dialogues. I wish you pleasant viewing!

At different times in the Church there were various shapes morning, afternoon, evening prayers. Our time is characterized by the tradition of reading a certain relatively small number of morning prayers, as well as prayers for the future, which constitute the minimum prayer rule of a believer. Despite its apparent simplicity, this is one of the topics that regularly gives rise to questions for people living church life. How to overcome yourself and establish regular prayer? How to turn a rule from some text into an integral part of your life? Hegumen Nektary (Morozov) shares his pastoral and personal Christian experience in these matters.

Resisting Chaos

Before talking about the prayer rule, it is necessary to say, at least briefly, in principle about the place of prayer in a person’s life. We know that the purpose of man, unlike all other earthly creatures created by God, is constant communication with God. And prayer is, of course, that natural and perfect way of communicating with God that is available to us.

Prayer can be general, performed in church, or it can be private, but nevertheless its purpose is always the same: to direct the mind and heart of a person to God and give a person the opportunity to turn to Him and at the same time, at least in part - as much as in our in a state it is possible to hear God’s answer. But in order to cultivate this ability to turn to God in oneself, a person must learn to pray. If a person prays, then prayer gradually changes his state. And it is no coincidence that the morning and evening prayers that we perform daily are called the word “rule”: we can say that the prayer rule really rules our soul - it straightens its position in relation to God. We have many different aspirations, sometimes coinciding with one another, sometimes opposing each other, and our inner life is constantly in a disordered state, in some kind of chaos, which we sometimes struggle with, and sometimes - and most often - we reconcile, reassuring ourselves that this is the norm of existence. And prayer builds a person’s life properly, so when a person does not neglect prayer, everything in his life gradually falls into place.

Why is this happening? Because when a person turns to God, then in prayer he finds first of all himself - the way he is, the way he often doesn’t even see himself among the bustle, affairs, many conversations and worries. Having stood before God in prayer, each of us begins to understand what is truly important in his life, what is in second or third place, what is not important at all... If a person neglects prayer, then he certainly does not have this inner clarity. the system of priorities that should be in the life of a Christian does not arise, and the system of priorities that should be in the life of a Christian is not built - in which nothing is more important than God and what is connected with the fulfillment of the commandments of the Gospel.

No regularity - no basis

Reading the prayer rule, on the one hand, takes very little time - it is a negligible portion of our day. On the other hand, for a person who is not used to praying, but is accustomed to spending his morning and evening time For anything else, doing this work regularly is not easy. So, acquiring the skill of getting up in the morning and praying before all other things, overcoming fatigue in the evening, turning off the TV, perhaps, and reading the necessary prayers, is essentially the simplest and very first feat for a person just beginning the Christian life.

What to do if you can’t establish a daily prayer rule? Sometimes, when talking with a person, you have to give him the following advice: “If it is so difficult for you to fully read your prayers every morning and every evening, assign yourself at least some part of your morning prayers, some part of your bedtime prayers, which you will read regularly in any case, because only regularity is in in this case the key to moving forward." If there is no regularity, there will be no basis on which a person can rely in the future.

It sometimes happens that a person comes home, he has had an incredibly hard day, he has spent all his strength and can only fall and fall asleep. In this case, you should pray at least briefly, for two or three minutes, and then go to bed. Elder Simeon the Reverent told his disciple, the Venerable Simeon the New Theologian, that it was enough then to read the prayers from the Trisagion to the “Our Father” and cross his bed. But you need to understand: we're talking about about an exceptional situation, and not about a recurring one from time to time. Moreover, you need to keep in mind that the enemy sometimes puts a person to sleep just before reading the rule, but as soon as you finish praying or change your mind about praying, you are cheerful, feel good, and can at least live the day again. This happens when we begin spiritual reading or come to a service. You don't have to give in to this. The simplest advice is to make a few prostrations and then continue the prayer. Such an action, firstly, accelerates the blood and drives away sleep, and secondly, when the enemy sees that a person, in response to his efforts, only intensifies his prayer, he, as a rule, retreats.

“By gaining time,” we lose everything

But it is not only through drowsiness that the enemy can tempt a person during prayer. Sometimes you just have to take the prayer book and open the first page, and some things immediately pop up in your memory that need to be done right now, so you want to finish reading the prayers as soon as possible. And in this case, it makes sense, on the contrary, to deliberately slow down the reading of prayers - and after a few minutes this internal bustle, this haste stops, and the enemy again retreats. It is useful in such cases to remind ourselves that those five or fifteen minutes that we get as a result of haste or skipping some prayers will not actually make any difference in our lives, and this “gain of time” will not at all compensate for the harm. which we will cause to ourselves by making our prayer careless and inattentive. In general, when we stand in prayer and some very important and serious thoughts begin to come to our minds, we must at that moment very clearly realize that we are now standing before the One in whose hands absolutely everything is - all our circumstances, all our affairs, our life itself - and therefore there is nothing more important than this upcoming one. We all know very well that sometimes you can work as much as you like, perform completely reasonable and effective actions, but there will be no result, because there is no God’s blessing for this. And vice versa, sometimes we just have to start doing something, both difficult and incomprehensible, and everything somehow works out, and we accomplish this task with God’s help.

If a person is usually prevented from starting the evening rule by fatigue, then with morning prayers another problem arises much more often. Day after day, a person cannot get up when the alarm clock rings; he jumps out of bed just before leaving the house, and the rule remains unread. Or perhaps the time in the morning hours is simply distributed in such a way that prayer does not fit in there. In this case, the fight with yourself, with your negligence, should probably begin by starting the morning rule anyway and reading it anyway, even if it’s not morning anymore. I remember how someone in front of me asked a similar question to Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) - about the fact that he does not have time to read the morning prayers before all other things, and does not have time to read them afterwards. Father Kirill asked: “Can you do it in the evening? Well then, read it in the evening.” It is clear that, according to their meaning, morning prayers should not be read in the evening, but if a person understands that there is no escape from them, he will still have to read them, then he will most likely find both the time and the opportunity to read them in the morning.

By the way, evening prayers, if day after day you can’t read them before bed, you can start reading them a few hours before bedtime - for example, when we come home after work. More precisely, in this case they are read before the prayer “Vladyka Lover of Mankind, will this coffin really be my bed,” and then “It is worthy to eat” and those short prayers with which the morning and evening rule usually ends, and with “Vladyka Lover of Mankind” the prayers are already read just before going to bed. It is much easier to pray this way, because then we are no longer afraid of the fact that we will need to undertake significant prayer work for us, for which we may not have enough strength.

There is also a trick that St. Nicodemus the Svyatogorets talks about: when it becomes difficult to pray, say to yourself: “Okay, I’ll pray for at least five more minutes.” You pray for five minutes, then you say to yourself: “Well, now another five minutes.” And strangely enough, so in a simple way You can deceive both the enemy and your own flesh.

And it’s also very good to try to at least learn the morning prayers by heart. They learn quite easily, since we repeat them every day, and if we use at least the same efforts that we used at school when we learned poetry, then most likely this task will be feasible for us. And then we make our life easier: we couldn’t read the rule, we didn’t have enough time - you prayed at home at least briefly, went out the door and continued to pray. Of course, this is not entirely correct, and it’s not very convenient to read prayers to yourself somewhere on the go, in transport, but here you need to be guided by this rule: if you have fresh bread, you eat fresh bread, and if you only have crackers, then , you will have to eat crackers, just not to starve.

There is another question: “It’s very difficult for me to read the rule, I read it and don’t understand.” When you don't understand something, it's really difficult to do it, especially day after day. But what prevents you from understanding? With regard to prayers, in this case you just need to undertake a small but very important work, which St. Theophan the Recluse often speaks about: find a little time, sit down and analyze the prayers that are included in the rule, highlighting in the text those words whose meaning is not clear. And then - use the Internet, a dictionary Church Slavonic language, come to the parish library and ask for relevant literature, contact the priest, at the end after all, in a word, find out what these strange words mean. Moreover, there are actually few words and expressions that can really be an obstacle to understanding the meaning of a particular phrase in a prayer; otherwise, you just need to set yourself the task of carefully reading the text and making some efforts to understand its meaning.

A little less than we can

Sometimes the opposite situation arises: a person reads the rule regularly, understands everything, but this volume of prayer work is no longer enough for him, and he wants to add something to it. This seems completely natural to me, and for many people living church life, sooner or later this question arises. What makes sense to prayer rule add? Probably, here you need to look at what is more consonant with a person, at his state of mind. Some people prefer to read the Psalter, others prefer akathists and canons, others prefer to pray the Jesus Prayer. And here it is quite possible to follow your preferences, but you need to remember that akathists - unlike psalms, where every word is inspired by God - were compiled by people and therefore come in different theological and literary level. Among them - especially among those that were written in the 19th and 20th centuries - there are many that are not particularly beneficial to read. Therefore, probably, everyone who is thinking about what to compose their prayer rule from should consult with the priest with whom he is confessing and show him the prayer books that have been chosen to complement the rule.

An important point: if we have determined for ourselves a certain amount of prayer work, it must be constant. And it happens that a person adds to the rule, say, a kathisma, an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus, a certain number of Jesus prayers, but then he omits one, then another, then a third, then all together, then begins to read it all again. Inconsistency shakes the very foundation of our prayer life, so it is better to take on a little less than we can commit, but stick to it relentlessly. A little less - because when we work regularly, we begin to get tired, and if we take the maximum volume, we will not have enough strength for it. Another thing is that sometimes we just want to pray more than we usually pray, our soul demands it - and in this we, of course, have complete freedom.

Is it possible to replace morning and evening prayers with something? No, it is advisable not to replace them with anything. In our impermanent life there must be some constants, like some kind of columns to which our life is tied during the day. And if a person abandons the traditional prayer rule and decides to pray at his own discretion, then, as experience shows, this leads to the fact that today he read kathisma instead of morning prayers, tomorrow - an akathist to the Mother of God instead of evening prayers, and the day after tomorrow he read nothing. I’m not saying that this is how it objectively should be, but for some reason it mostly turns out this way. Therefore, I advise you to read morning and evening prayers in any case, and add something to them.

Is it possible to pray without distraction?

If possible, you need to prepare to perform the prayer rule. Don’t start praying suddenly, but stand a little and wait, “until the feelings calm down,” as it is said in the prayer book. In addition to this, it is advisable to remind yourself of several very important and, moreover, completely natural things. Remember, firstly, to whom we are addressing. Believe me, a person is such a creature that he can sometimes get up, light a lamp, open a prayer book, start reading prayers and at the same time be completely unaware of what he is doing. If you then ask him: “What were you doing just now?”, he will answer: “I read the rule,” and will be completely honest. But we should strive not for reading, but for prayer. At least short time- let it be two or five minutes out of the twenty that it takes us as a rule - we must feel that we are praying, and not just saying words. And in order to support this desire to pray in oneself, as a rule, preparation is needed.

In addition to remembering that we turn to God, we also need to remind ourselves who we are. It is precisely for this reason that the publican’s prayer is placed at the beginning of the morning prayer rule: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Sometimes they ask: “How can I learn to pray with a repentant mood?” You know, if a person was told that he was convicted of some crime and would be shot tomorrow, he does not need to explain in what mood, in what words to ask for mercy - he himself will beg for at least his life to be spared. And when a person has this feeling, he prays properly; if he is extreme vital necessity does not realize God’s mercy for himself, then he will fulfill the rule simply out of duty. And before reading the rule, you definitely need to try to awaken your heart: remember the danger of the situation in which we find ourselves; remember how far away we are from God because of our sins and the inner impurity that is present in each of us. And at the same time, remember that, despite our distance from God, the Lord Himself is close to us, and therefore He hears every word we utter in prayer, He is ready to respond to every word, but only if these words before our heart responded.

At the same time, the Lord requires from each person only what a person can give. And it happens that a person begins his prayer work in good faith, but out of a sense of duty, and not out of a heartfelt need. He knows that he needs to pray in order for his life to gradually change, and he prays. And the Lord gives such a person grace. But as soon as a person can do more, the Lord expects more from him.

Sometimes a person says: “But I can’t pray without distraction, no matter what I do.” It is necessary to understand that praying undistractedly, completely indulging in prayer, is the destiny of the Angels, and a person will still be distracted to one degree or another. And our task is not to demand that we remain completely absent-minded, but to return it to its place when we come to our senses and realize that our mind has wandered off to the side. But in no case should we allow ourselves to say a prayer with our lips, and at the same time think about something.

Some believers, if they get distracted in prayer, return to the place where their mind wandered and then re-read it again. In my opinion, this should not be done, because, from the experience of communicating with such people, then the usual prayer rule can take an hour or an hour and a half, and this is completely not normal. Some of the Optina elders have a warning not to do this - not to re-read the same prayer ten times, because the enemy will deliberately knock us down over and over again, and our rule will turn into absurdity. Therefore, reading must still be consistent and continuous.

If possible, it is very advisable to supplement the morning and evening rules at least very short rule daytime. Within a day without prayer, a person’s soul manages to cool down - just as a stove cools down if no firewood is added to it all day. And therefore, if during the day we find five to ten minutes to turn to God with the Jesus Prayer or read, for example, one of the psalms, then we will greatly help ourselves to establish ourselves in prayer. The famous ascetic of the 20th century, Abbot Nikon (Vorobyov), advised us to set aside one minute at the beginning of each hour to turn mentally to God and ask for an intercession for our pardon and salvation from the Most Holy Theotokos, the Guardian Angel, and the saints. This rule, if the nature of our employment allows, can also be guided by. In addition, a Christian’s prayer rule usually includes reading the Holy Scripture, and this is also that part of the rule that can be done during the day.

Photos from open Internet sources

Newspaper " Orthodox faith» No. 18 (566)

Hegumen Nektary (Morozov)
Prepared by Elena Sapaeva