Morning and evening prayers (prayer rule) are a set of prayers that each Orthodox Christian should read every day in the morning, immediately after sleep, and, accordingly, before going to bed. Read about the history of their writing on the website of the Foma magazine.
Why is this necessary?
1. To constantly remember God, His love, and the need to keep His commandments. Turning to him in prayer, we remember all this.
2. The prayers included in the morning and evening prayers were written by saints who had enormous spiritual experience. Therefore, the prayers they composed are examples of how to communicate with God. By praying independently, in our own words and about our needs, we focus on the prayers of the saints.
3. Daily morning and evening prayers train our will. By forcing ourselves to pray (and sometimes we have to force ourselves), we become spiritually stronger.
When did the rule come into being?
Our modern prayer rule (morning and evening prayers) became widespread in the 18th-19th centuries and gradually established itself as the norm for the laity.
What is important to know?
3. The prayers included in the prayer rule can be read not only in the morning and evening. These are “universal purpose” prayers.
4. A prayer rule is a model designed not to abolish or replace one’s own prayer, but to teach and guide it.
Time of appearance and authors of the texts of the morning and evening rules
Psalm 50
10th century BC. Israeli King David
as a sign of repentance for fornication and murder.
Our Father
1st century Given to us by Jesus Christ Himself. (see Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6)
Creed
End of the 4th century. Was adopted at the first two Ecumenical Councils Orthodox Church in 381 A.D.
The first four prayers after the Creed
End of the 4th century. Venerable Macarius the Great, the closest disciple of the founder of monasticism, Anthony the Great.
Fifth prayer of the morning rule
End of the 4th century. Saint Basil the Great, the greatest saint and teacher. He wrote many dogmatic works and compiled the liturgy.
Second prayer of the evening rule
Beginning of the 7th century. Antiochus, abbot of the Lavra of Sava the Sanctified, author of the biographies of many martyrs of the Byzantine-Persian war.
Closing prayers of the evening rule
The end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century.
St. John Chrysostom, author of many theological and doctrinal works, compiler of the liturgy, for his beautiful sermons and nicknamed Chrysostom; 9th century Monk Peter of Studium, a student of the creator of the monastic charter, Ven. Theodora Studite.
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Text and prayers
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) in his “Teaching on the Prayer Rule” wrote: “Rule! What an accurate name, borrowed from the very effect produced on a person by prayers called the rule! The prayer rule guides the soul correctly and holy, teaches it to worship God in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23), while the soul, left to itself, could not follow the correct path of prayer. Due to her damage and darkening by sin, she would constantly be seduced to the sides, often into the abyss, now into absent-mindedness, now into daydreaming, now into various empty and deceptive ghosts of high prayerful states, created by her vanity and voluptuousness.
Prayer rules keep the person praying in a saving disposition, humility and repentance, teaching him constant self-condemnation, feeding him with tenderness, strengthening him with hope in the All-Good and All-Merciful God, delighting him with the peace of Christ, love for God and for his neighbors.”
From these words of the saint it is clear that it is very saving to read the morning and evening prayer rules. It spiritually takes a person out of the confusion of night dreams or daytime worries and puts him before God. And the human soul enters into communication with its Creator. The grace of the Holy Spirit descends on a person, brings him into the necessary repentant mood, gives him inner world and harmony, drives away demons from him (“This race is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21), sends down God’s blessing and strength to live. Moreover, the prayers were written by holy people: Saints Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom, Rev. Macarius the Great and others. That is, the very structure of the rule is very useful for the human soul.
Therefore, of course, reading the morning and evening prayer rules every day, so to speak, is the necessary minimum for an Orthodox Christian. Moreover, it does not take much time. For someone who has gotten into the habit of reading, it takes about twenty minutes in the morning and the same in the evening.
If you don’t have time to read the morning rule all at once, then break it into several parts. “Little Cap” from the beginning to “Lord have mercy” (12 times), inclusive, can, for example, be read at home; The following prayers are during pauses in work or during your daily activities. This, of course, needs to be confessed, but it’s better than not reading it at all. We are all human, and it is clear that we are very sinful and busy. You also regulate the end of your morning prayers yourself. This concerns the commemoration. You can read the extended commemoration or the shortened one. At your discretion, depending on the time available.
A fairly common mistake of new Orthodox Christians is reading the evening prayer rule immediately before going to bed. You sway, stagger, mutter words of prayer, and you yourself think about how to lie down in bed under a warm blanket and fall asleep. So it turns out – not prayer, but torment. Mandatory hard labor before bed.
In fact, the evening prayer rule is read somewhat differently. Hegumen Nikon (Vorobiev) wrote that after evening prayers you can leave time to talk and drink tea.
That is, in fact, you can read the evening prayer rule from the beginning to the prayer of St. John of Damascus “O Lord, Lover of Mankind...” If you, dear brothers and sisters, have noticed, then before this prayer there is a prayer of dismissal: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son God... have mercy on us. Amen". It really is a vacation. You can read the evening prayers up to and including it long before bedtime: at six, seven, eight o’clock in the evening. Then go about your daily evening routine. You can still eat and drink tea, as Father Nikon said, and communicate with loved ones.
And starting with the prayer “Lord, Lover of Mankind...” and until the end, the rule is read immediately before going to bed. During the prayer “May God rise again,” you need to cross yourself and you can cross your bed and house to the four cardinal directions (starting from Orthodox tradition from the east), protecting yourself, your loved ones and your home sign of the cross from all evil.
After reading the second half of the evening prayers, nothing is eaten or drunk. In the prayer “In Thy hands, O Lord...” you ask God for a blessing for a good sleep and surrender your soul to Him. After this you should go to bed.
I would also like to draw your attention, dear brothers and sisters, to the rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Many understand it as reading three times a day (morning, lunch, evening) certain prayers “Our Father” (three times), “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice...” (three times) and the Creed (once). But this is not entirely true. In addition to reading the rule three times, the Monk Seraphim said that in the first half of the day a person should read the Jesus Prayer almost all the time, or, if people are around, in his mind “Lord, have mercy,” and after lunch, instead of the Jesus Prayer, “Most Holy Theotokos, save me, a sinner."
That is, Saint Seraphim offers a person spiritual exercise in continuous prayer, and not just a relief from the evening and morning prayer rules. You can, of course, read the prayer according to the rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov, but only then you need to follow all the instructions of the great elder.
Therefore, I repeat once again, the morning and evening prayer rule is the necessary minimum for an Orthodox Christian.
I would also like to draw your attention, dear brothers and sisters, to a fairly common mistake that we often make.
Saint Ignatius warns us about it in the above-mentioned work: “When performing the rule and bows, one must not rush; It is necessary to perform both the rules and bows with as much leisure and attention as possible. It is better to say fewer prayers and bow down less, but with attention, than a lot and without attention.
Choose for yourself a rule that corresponds to your strengths. What the Lord said about the Sabbath, that it is for man, and not man for it (Mark 2:27), can and should be applied to all pious deeds, as well as to the prayer rule. The prayer rule is for the person, and not the person for the rule: it should contribute to a person’s achievement of spiritual success, and not serve as an inconvenient burden (onerous duty), crushing bodily strength and confusing the soul. Moreover, it should not serve as a reason for proud and harmful conceit, for harmful condemnation of loved ones and humiliation of others.”
Venerable Nikodim Svyatogorets in the book “ Invisible abuse" wrote: "... There are many clergy who deprive themselves of the saving fruit of the world from their spiritual works by prolonging them, believing that they will suffer damage if they do not complete them, in a false confidence, of course, that this is what spiritual perfection. Following their will in this way, they work hard and torment themselves, but do not receive true peace and inner peace, in which God truly finds and rests.”
That is, we need to count our strength in prayer. You should sit down and think about the time that everyone has. If you, for example, are a freight forwarder in a trading company and are on the road from morning to night, or you are married, work and still need to devote time to your husband, children, and organize family life, then perhaps the morning and evening prayer rule is enough for you and reading two chapters of "The Apostle", a chapter of the Gospel per day. Because if you also take upon yourself to read various akathists, several kathismas, then you will have no time left to live. And if you are a pensioner or work somewhere as a security guard or at another job, with free time, then why not read akathists and kathismas.
Explore yourself, your time, your capabilities, your strengths. Balance your prayer rule with your life so that it is not a burden, but a joy. Because it is better to read fewer prayers, but with heartfelt attention, than to read a lot, but thoughtlessly, mechanically. Prayer has power when you listen and read it with your whole being. Then a life-giving spring of communication with God will flow into our hearts.
Priest Andrey Chizhenko
Prayer Rule
How to Prepare for Prayer
How to force yourself to pray
How to pray and what mistakes to avoid
To express to God our reverence for Him and our veneration for Him, we stand during prayer and do not sit: only the sick and the very old are allowed to pray while sitting.
Realizing our sinfulness and unworthiness before God, we, as a sign of our humility, accompany our prayer with bows. They are waist, when we bend down to the waist, and earthly, when, bowing and kneeling, we touch the ground with our heads *.
God's law
[*] On Sundays, as well as from St. Day. Easter until the evening of St. Trinity, as well as from the day of the Nativity of Christ to the day of Epiphany, also on the day of the Transfiguration and Exaltation (on this day it is necessary to make only three bows to the ground before the cross), St. the apostles completely forbade bending the knees and making prostrations to the ground... for Sundays and other Lord's holidays contain memories of reconciliation with God, according to the word of the apostle: “Become a servant, but a son” (Gal. 4:7); It is not appropriate for sons to perform slavish worship.
The sign of the cross, according to the teachings of the holy fathers, should be performed like this: folding the right hand into three fingers, place it on the forehead, on the belly, on the right shoulder and on the left, and then, having placed the sign of the cross on oneself, bend down. About those who signify themselves with all fives, or bow before finishing the cross, or wave in the air or across their chest, it is said in Chrysostom: “the demons rejoice at that frantic waving.” On the contrary, the sign of the cross, performed earnestly with faith and reverence, frightens demons, calms sinful passions and attracts Divine grace. Orthodox prayer book
The first three fingers folded together (thumb, index and middle) express our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as the Consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, and two fingers bent to the palm mean that the Son of God upon His descent to earth , being God, became man, that is, His two natures mean – Divine and human.
Making the sign of the cross, we place our folded fingers on our forehead - to sanctify our mind, on our womb (stomach) - to sanctify our inner feelings, then on our right and left shoulders - to sanctify our bodily strength.
You need to sign yourself with the sign of the cross, or be baptized: at the beginning of prayer, during prayer and at the end of prayer, as well as when approaching everything holy: when we enter a temple, when we venerate the cross, to icons, and in all important cases of our life : in danger, in grief, in joy, etc.
God's law
When starting to pray, you must always sober up your thoughts, distract them from earthly affairs and interests, and to do this, calmly stand, sit, or walk around the room. Then think about Whom you intend to stand before and Whom you want to turn to, so that a feeling of humility and self-abasement appears. After this, you should make several bows and begin prayers, slowly, delving into the meaning of each word and bringing them to the heart. When you read, the holy fathers teach: cleanse us from all defilement - feel your defilement; you read: forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors - forgive everyone in your soul, and in your heart ask the Lord for forgiveness, etc. The ability to pray is, first of all, necessary for cultivating a prayerful spirit in oneself, and it consists in a certain order of thoughts in prayer. This order was once revealed by an angel to a holy monk (Lev. 28:7). The beginning of prayer should consist of praise to God, thanksgiving for His countless benefits; then we must bring to God a sincere confession of our sins in contrition of heart and, in conclusion, we can express with great humility our petitions for mental and physical needs, reverently leaving the fulfillment and non-fulfillment of these petitions to His will. Each such prayer will leave a trace of prayer in the soul; daily continuation of it will instill prayer, and patience, without which nothing can be achieved in life, will undoubtedly instill a prayerful spirit. Sschmch. Metropolitan Seraphim Chichagov
Man sees on the face, but God sees on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7); but in a person the location of the heart is most consistent with the position of his face, his appearance. And therefore, when praying, give the most reverent position to the body. Stand like a condemned man, with your head bowed, not daring to look at the sky, with your hands hanging down... Let the sound of your voice be the pitiful sound of crying, the groan of someone wounded by a deadly weapon or tormented by a cruel disease. St. Ignatiy Brianchaninov
When praying, do everything wisely. When you add oil to the lamp, then imagine that the Giver of Life every day and hour, every minute of your life, supports your life with His Spirit, and, as if daily through sleep in the physical sense, and through prayer and the word of God in the spiritual sense, pours the oil of life into you , with which your soul and body burn. When you place a candle in front of an icon, remember that your life is like a burning candle: it will burn out and go out; or that others make her burn faster than she should through passions, overeating, wine and other pleasures. St. rights John of Kronstadt
Standing before the icon of the Savior, stand as if before the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, omnipresent in Divinity, and present with His icon in the place where it is located. Standing before the icon of the Mother of God, stand as if before the Most Holy Virgin Herself; but keep your mind formless: the greatest difference is to be in the presence of the Lord and stand before the Lord, or imagine the Lord.
The elders said: do not wish to see Christ or an angel sensually, lest you go completely mad by accepting a wolf instead of a shepherd and worshiping your enemies, the demons.
Only holy saints of God, renewed by the Holy Spirit, ascend to a supernatural state. A person, until he is renewed by the Holy Spirit, is incapable of communicating with holy spirits. He, as still in the realm of the fallen spirits, in captivity and slavery to them, is able to see only them, and they often, having noticed in him a high opinion of himself and self-delusion, appear to him in the form of bright angels, in the form of Christ Himself, for the destruction of his soul.
St. Ignatiy Brianchaninov
When you pray, pay attention to yourself so that your inner person prays, and not just the outer one. Although I am sinful beyond measure, still pray. Do not look at the devil’s incitement, deceit and despair, but overcome and defeat his wiles. Remember the abyss of Spasov’s philanthropy and mercy. The devil will present to you the face of the Lord as menacing and unmerciful, rejecting your prayer and your repentance, and you remember the words of the Savior, filled with all hope and boldness for us: He who comes to Me I will not cast out (John 6:37), and - come to Me you who labor and are burdened with sins and iniquities, and the wiles of the devil and slander, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). St. rights John of Kronstadt
Read the prayers slowly, listen to every word - bring the thought of every word to your heart, otherwise: understand what you read, and feel what you understand. This is the whole point of pleasing to God and fruitful reading of prayer. St. Feofan the Recluse
Ask for what is worthy of God, don’t stop asking until you receive it. Although a month will pass, and a year, and a three-year anniversary, and larger number years until you receive, do not give up, but ask in faith, constantly doing good. St. Basil the Great
Do not be reckless in your requests, so as not to anger God with your foolishness: he who asks the King of kings for something insignificant humiliates Him. The Israelites, ignoring the miracles of God performed for them in the desert, asked for the fulfillment of the desires of the womb - and the food that is in their mouths, the wrath of God arose against them (Ps. 77: 30-31). He who seeks in his prayer perishable earthly goods arouses the indignation of the Heavenly King against himself. Angels and archangels - these nobles of Him - look at you during your prayer, looking at what you ask from God. They are surprised and rejoice when they see an earthly person leaving his earth and making a petition to receive something heavenly; They grieve, on the contrary, for those who have ignored heavenly things and ask for their earth and corruption. St. Ignatiy Brianchaninov
When praying to the Lord, the Mother of God or the saints, always remember that the Lord gives according to your heart (the Lord will give you according to your heart - Ps. 19:5), as is the heart, such is the gift; if you pray with faith, sincerely, with all your heart, unfeignedly, then in accordance with your faith, the degree of fervor of your heart, you will be given a gift from the Lord. And vice versa, the colder your heart, the more unfaithful and hypocritical it is, the more useless your prayer is, moreover, the more it angers the Lord... Therefore, whether you call on the Lord, the Mother of God, angels or saints, call with all your heart; whether you pray for anyone living or dead, pray for them with all your heart, pronouncing their names with warmth of heart; whether you are praying for the granting of some spiritual good to yourself or another, or for deliverance of yourself or your neighbor from some calamity or from sins and passions, bad habits - pray about this with all your heart, wishing with all your heart for yourself or another the requested good, having a firm intention to lag behind, or wanting others to be freed from sins, passions and sinful habits, and the Lord will give you a gift according to your heart. St. rights John of Kronstadt
The beginning of prayer is to drive away incoming thoughts at their very appearance; the middle of it is that the mind should be contained in the words that we pronounce or think; and the perfection of prayer is admiration to the Lord. St. John Climacus
Why is prolonged prayer necessary? In order to warm up our cold hearts, hardened by prolonged bustle, through the duration of fervent prayer. For it is strange to think, much less to demand, that a heart matured in the vanity of life could soon be imbued with the warmth of faith and love for God during prayer. No, this requires work and work, time and time. St. rights John of Kronstadt
Staying in prayer for a long time and not seeing fruit, do not say: I have not gained anything. For the very stay in prayer is already an acquisition; and what good is greater than this, to cleave to the Lord and remain unceasingly in union with Him? St. John Climacus
At the end of your home morning and evening prayers, call on the saints: patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, confessors, saints, abstinents or ascetics, unmercenaries - so that, seeing in them the implementation of every virtue, you yourself become an imitator in every virtue. Learn from the patriarchs childlike faith and obedience to the Lord; among the prophets and apostles - zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of human souls; among the saints - zeal to preach the word of God and, in general, through the scriptures to contribute to the possible glorification of the name of God, to the establishment of faith, hope and love in Christians; among martyrs and confessors - firmness for faith and piety before unbelieving and wicked people; among ascetics - the schedule of the flesh with passions and lusts, prayer and contemplation of God; among those without money - non-covetousness and free help to those in need.
When we call upon saints in prayer, to say their name from the heart means to bring them closer to our very heart. Then undoubtedly ask for their prayers and intercession for yourself - they will hear you and present your prayer to the Lord soon, in the blink of an eye, as the Omnipresent and All-Knowing One. St. rights John of Kronstadt
One day the brethren asked Abba Agathon: which virtue is the most difficult? He replied: “Forgive me, I think the hardest thing is to pray to God. When a person wants to pray, his enemies try to distract him, because they know that nothing opposes them as much as prayer to God. In every feat, no matter what a person undertakes, after intense labor he receives peace, but prayer until the last minute of life requires struggle.” St. Abba Agathon
Prayer Rule
What is a prayer rule? These are prayers that a person reads regularly, daily. Everyone's prayer rules are different. For some, the morning or evening rule takes several hours, for others - a few minutes. Everything depends on a person’s spiritual make-up, the degree to which he is rooted in prayer and the time he has at his disposal.
It is very important that a person follows the prayer rule, even the shortest one, so that there is regularity and constancy in prayer. But the rule should not turn into a formality. The experience of many believers shows that when constantly reading the same prayers, their words become discolored, lose their freshness, and a person, getting used to them, stops focusing on them. This danger must be avoided at all costs.
I remember when I took monastic vows (I was twenty years old at the time), I turned to an experienced confessor for advice and asked him what prayer rule I should have. He said: “You must read the morning and evening prayers, three canons and one akathist every day. No matter what happens, even if you are very tired, you must read them. And even if you read them hastily and inattentively, it doesn’t matter, the main thing is so that the rule is read." I tried it. Things didn't work out. Daily reading of the same prayers led to the fact that these texts quickly became boring. In addition, every day I spent many hours in church at services that spiritually nourished me, nourished me, and inspired me. And reading the three canons and the akathist turned into some kind of unnecessary “appendage”. I started looking for other advice that was more suitable for me. And I found it in the works of St. Theophan the Recluse, a remarkable ascetic of the 19th century. He advised the prayer rule to be calculated not by the number of prayers, but by the time that we are ready to devote to God. For example, we can make it a rule to pray in the morning and evening for half an hour, but this half hour must be completely given to God. And it is not so important whether during these minutes we read all the prayers or just one, or perhaps we devote one evening entirely to reading the Psalter, the Gospel or prayer in our own words. The main thing is that we are focused on God, so that our attention does not slip away and that every word reaches our heart. This advice worked for me. However, I do not rule out that the advice I received from my confessor would be more suitable for others. Here a lot depends on the individual person.
It seems to me that for a person living in the world, not only fifteen, but even five minutes of morning and evening prayer, if, of course, it is said with attention and feeling, is enough to be a real Christian. It is only important that the thought always corresponds to the words, the heart responds to the words of prayer, and the whole life corresponds to the prayer.
Try, following the advice of St. Theophan the Recluse, to set aside some time for prayer during the day and for daily fulfillment of the prayer rule. And you will see that it will bear fruit very soon.
What prayers should a layperson’s prayer rule consist of?
The prayer rule of a layman consists of morning and evening prayers, which are performed daily. This rhythm is necessary, because otherwise the soul easily falls out of the prayer life, as if waking up only from time to time. In prayer, as in any big and difficult matter, inspiration, mood and improvisation are not enough.
There are three basic prayer rules:
1) a complete prayer rule, designed for monks and spiritually experienced laity, which is printed in the Orthodox Prayer Book;
2) a short prayer rule designed for all believers; in the morning: “Heavenly King”, Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Virgin Mother of God”, “Rising from sleep”, “Have mercy on me, O God”, “I Believe”, “God, cleanse”, “To You, Master”, “ Holy Angel”, “Most Holy Lady”, invocation of saints, prayer for the living and the dead; in the evening: “Heavenly King”, Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Have mercy on us, Lord”, “Eternal God”, “Good King”, “Angel of Christ”, from “The Chosen Governor” to “It is worthy to eat”; these prayers are contained in any prayer book;
3) a short prayer rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov: “Our Father” three times, “Virgin Mother of God” three times and “I Believe” once - for those days and circumstances when a person is extremely tired or very limited in time.
The duration of prayers and their number are determined by spiritual fathers and priests, taking into account everyone’s lifestyle and spiritual experience.
You cannot completely omit the prayer rule. Even if the prayer rule is read without due attention, the words of the prayers, penetrating the soul, have a cleansing effect.
Saint Theophan writes to one family person: “In case of emergency, one must be able to shorten the rule. You never know how many coincidences there are in family life. When things do not allow you to complete a complete prayer rule, then perform it abbreviated.
But one should never rush... The rule is not an essential part of prayer, but is only its external side. The main thing is the prayer of the mind and heart to God, offered with praise, thanksgiving and petition... and finally with complete devotion to the Lord. When there are such movements in the heart, there is prayer there, and when not, there is no prayer, even if you stood on the rule for whole days.”
A special prayer rule is performed during preparation for the Sacraments of Confession and Communion. On these days (they are called fasting and last for at least three days), it is customary to fulfill your prayer rule more diligently: whoever usually does not read all morning and evening prayers, let him read everything in full; whoever does not read the canons, let him read at least on these days. one canon. On the eve of communion, you must be at the evening service and read at home, in addition to the usual prayers for going to bed, the canon of repentance, the canon to the Mother of God and the canon to the Guardian Angel. The canon for communion is also read and, for those who wish, an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus. In the morning, morning prayers are read and all the prayers for holy communion are read.
During fasting, prayers are especially long, in order, as the holy righteous John of Kronstadt writes, “in order to disperse our cold hearts, hardened in prolonged vanity, by the duration of fervent prayer. For it is strange to think, much less to demand, that a heart matured in the vanity of life could soon be imbued with the warmth of faith and love for God during prayer. No, this requires work and time. The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away (Matthew 11:12). The Kingdom of God does not come to the heart soon when people run so diligently from it. The Lord God Himself expressed His will that we pray not briefly when He presents as an example a widow who went to the judge for a long time and bothered him for a long time (for a long time) with her requests (Luke 18:2-6).”
When to do your prayer rule
In the conditions of modern life, given the workload and accelerated pace, it is not easy for the laity to set aside a certain time for prayer. We must develop strict rules of prayer discipline and strictly adhere to our prayer rules.
Morning prayers are best read before starting any task. As a last resort, they are pronounced on the way from home. The evening prayer rule is recommended by prayer teachers to be read in free minutes before dinner or even earlier - late in the evening it is often difficult to concentrate due to fatigue.
How to Prepare for Prayer
The basic prayers that make up the morning and evening rules should be known by heart so that they penetrate deeper into the heart and so that they can be repeated in any circumstances. First of all, in your free time, it is advisable to read the prayers included in your rule, translate the text of the prayers for yourself from Church Slavonic into Russian in order to understand the meaning of each word and not pronounce a single word meaninglessly or without precise understanding. This is what the Church Fathers advise. “Take the trouble,” writes the Monk Nicodemus the Svyatogorets, “not during the hour of prayer, but at another, free time, to think and feel the prescribed prayers. Having done this, even during prayer you will not encounter any difficulty in reproducing the content of the prayer being read.”
It is very important that those who begin to pray should expel resentment, irritation, and bitterness from their hearts. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk teaches: “Before prayers, you need not to be angry with anyone, not to be angry, but to leave behind any offense, so that God yourself will forgive your sins.”
“When approaching the Benefactor, be beneficent yourself; when approaching the Good, be good yourself; approaching the Righteous One, be righteous yourself; when approaching the Patient One, be patient yourself; when approaching the Humane, be humane; and also be everything else, approaching the Kind-hearted, the Benevolent, the Sociable in good things, the Merciful to everyone, and if anything else is seen of the Divine, being likened in all this by will, thereby acquire for yourself the boldness to pray,” writes St. Gregory of Nyssa .
How to make your own prayer rule at home
During prayer, it is recommended to retire, light a lamp or candle and stand in front of the icon. Depending on the nature of family relationships, we can recommend reading the prayer rule together, with the whole family, or for each family member separately. General prayer is recommended primarily on special days, before a festive meal and on other similar occasions. Family prayer is a type of church, public prayer (the family is a kind of home church) and therefore does not replace individual prayer, but only complements it.
Before starting prayer, you should sign yourself with the sign of the cross and make several bows, either from the waist or to the ground, and try to tune in to an internal conversation with God. “Stay silently until your feelings calm down, place yourself in the presence of God to the consciousness and feeling of Him with reverent Fear and restore in your heart a living faith that God hears and sees you,” says the beginning of the prayer book. Saying prayers out loud or in a low voice helps many people focus.
“When starting to pray,” advises Saint Theophan the Recluse, “in the morning or evening, stand a little, or sit, or walk, and try at this time to sober up your thoughts, distracting it from all earthly affairs and objects. Then think about who is the One to whom you will turn in prayer, and who you are who now have to begin this prayerful appeal to Him - and arouse in your soul the corresponding mood of self-abasement and reverent fear of standing before God in your heart. This is all the preparation - to stand reverently before God - small, but not insignificant. This is where prayer begins, and a good beginning is half the battle.
Having thus established yourself internally, then stand in front of the icon and, having made several bows, begin the usual prayer: “Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee,” “To the Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Soul of Truth,” and so on. Read slowly, delve into every word, and bring the thought of every word to your heart, accompanying it with bows. This is the whole point of reading a prayer that is pleasing and fruitful to God. Delve into every word and bring the thought of the word to your heart, otherwise, understand what you read and feel what is understandable. No other rules are required. These two - understand and feel - when performed properly, adorn every prayer with full dignity and impart to it all its fruitful effect. You read: “cleanse us from all filth” - feel your filthiness, desire purity and seek it with hope from the Lord. You read: “forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors” - and forgive everyone in your soul, and With a heart that has forgiven everyone, ask the Lord for forgiveness. You read: “Thy will be done” - and in your heart completely commit your fate to the Lord and express unquestioning readiness to graciously meet everything that the Lord will be pleased to send you.
If you act like this with every verse of your prayer, then you will have a proper prayer.”
In another of his instructions, Saint Theophan so briefly systematizes advice on reading the prayer rule:
a) never read hastily, but read as if in a chant... In ancient times, everything recited prayers taken from the psalms... But nowhere do I find the word “read”, but everywhere “sing”...
b) delve into every word and not only reproduce the thought of what you read in your mind, but also arouse the corresponding feeling...
c) in order to trigger the urge to hastily read, do not read this and that, but stand for a reading prayer for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour... how long you usually stand... and then don’t worry... how many prayers you read, and when the time has come, if you don’t want to stand any longer, stop reading...
d) having put this down, however, do not look at the clock, but stand in such a way that you can stand endlessly: your thoughts will not run ahead...
e) to promote the movement of prayerful feelings in your free time, re-read and rethink all the prayers that are included in your rule - and re-feel them, so that when you begin to read them according to the rule, you know in advance what feeling should be aroused in the heart.. .
f) never read prayers without interruption, but always break them up with personal prayer, with bows, whether in the middle of prayers or at the end. As soon as something comes to your heart, immediately stop reading and bow. This last rule is the most necessary and most necessary for cultivating the spirit of prayer... If some other feeling takes up too much, you should be with it and bow down, but leave reading... so until the very end of the allotted time.
What to do when distracted during prayer
For a long time, it was recommended to read the prayer slowly, evenly, in order to “contain attention in the words.” Only when the prayer you want to offer to God is meaningful enough and means a lot to you, will you be able to “reach out” to the Lord. If you are inattentive to the words you say, if your own heart does not respond to the words of prayer, your requests will not reach God.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh said that when his father began to pray, he hung a sign on the door: “I’m home. But don’t try to knock, I won’t open it.” Bishop Anthony himself advised his parishioners, before starting prayer, to think about how much time they have, set an alarm clock and pray quietly until it rings. “It doesn’t matter,” he wrote, “how many prayers you manage to read during this time; It is important that you read them without being distracted or thinking about time.”
Praying is very difficult. Prayer is primarily a spiritual work, therefore one should not expect immediate spiritual pleasure from it. “Do not look for pleasures in prayer,” writes Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov), “they are by no means characteristic of a sinner. The desire of a sinner to feel pleasure is already self-delusion... Do not prematurely seek high spiritual states and prayerful delights.”
As a rule, it is possible to maintain attention on the words and prayer for a few minutes, and then thoughts begin to wander, the eye glides over the words of the prayer - and our heart and mind are far away.
If someone prays to the Lord, but thinks about something else, then the Lord will not listen to such a prayer,” writes the Monk Silouan of Athos.
At these moments, the Fathers of the Church advise to be especially attentive. Saint Theophan the Recluse writes that we must prepare in advance for the fact that when reading prayers we are distracted, often mechanically reading the words of the prayer. “When a thought runs away during prayer, return it. If he runs away again, come back again. It's like that every time. Every time you read something while your thoughts are running away and, therefore, without attention or feeling, do not forget to re-read. And even if your thought wanders off in one place several times, read it several times until you read it with concept and feeling. Once you overcome this difficulty, another time, perhaps, it will not happen again, or it will not happen again with such force.
If, while reading the rule, a prayer breaks through in your own words, then, as St. Nicodemus says, “do not let this opportunity pass by, but dwell on it.”
We find the same thought in St. Theophan: “Another word will have such a strong effect on the soul that the soul will not want to extend further in prayer, and although the tongue reads prayers, the thought keeps running back to the place that had such an effect on her. In this case, stop, do not read further, but stand with attention and feeling in that place, nourish your soul with them, or with the thoughts that it will produce. And don’t rush to tear yourself away from this state, so if time is pressing, it’s better to leave the unfinished rule, and don’t ruin this state. It will overshadow you, perhaps all day, like a Guardian Angel! This kind of beneficial influence on the soul during prayer means that the spirit of prayer begins to take root and that, therefore, maintaining this state is the most reliable means of nurturing and strengthening the spirit of prayer in us.”
How to end your prayer rule
It is good to end the prayer with thanksgiving to God for the gift of communication and contrition for one’s inattention.
“When you finish your prayer, do not immediately move on to any of your other activities, but also, at least for a little while, wait and think about what you have done and what it obliges you to, trying, if you are given something to feel during prayer, to preserve it after prayers,” writes Saint Theophan the Recluse. “Do not immediately rush into everyday affairs,” teaches St. Nicodemus, “and never think that, having completed your prayer rule, you have finished everything in relation to God.”
When getting down to business, you must first think about what you have to say, do, see during the day, and ask God for blessings and strength to follow His will.
How to learn to spend your day in prayer
Having finished our morning prayers, we should not think that everything is complete in relation to God, and only in the evening, during the evening rule, should we return to prayer again.
The good feelings that arise during morning prayers will be drowned out in the bustle and busyness of the day. Because of this, there is no desire to attend evening prayer.
We must try to make sure that the soul turns to God not only when we stand in prayer, but throughout the whole day.
Here is how Saint Theophan the Recluse advises learning this:
“First, it is necessary throughout the day to more often call on God from the heart in short words, judging by the need of the soul and current affairs. You start by saying, for example: “Bless, Lord!” When you finish the job, say: “Glory to you, Lord!”, and not only with your tongue, but also with the feeling of your heart. Any passion that arises, say: “Save me, Lord, I am perishing!” The darkness of disturbing thoughts finds itself, cry out: “Bring my soul out of prison!” Wrong deeds are coming and sin leads to them, pray: “Guide me, Lord, on the path” or “Do not let my feet become confused.” Sins suppress and lead to despair, cry out in the publican’s voice: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” So anyway. Or simply say often: “Lord, have mercy; Lady Mother of God, have mercy on me. Angel of God, my holy guardian, protect me,” or cry out in some other word. Just make these appeals as often as possible, trying in every possible way so that they come from the heart, as if squeezed out of it. When you do this, we will often make intelligent ascents to God from the heart, frequent appeals to God, frequent prayer, and this frequency will impart the skill of intelligent conversation with God.
But for the soul to begin to cry out like this, it must first be forced to turn everything into the glory of God, every one of its deeds, big and small. And this is the second way to teach the soul to turn to God more often during the day. For if we make it a law for ourselves to fulfill this apostolic commandment, to do everything for the glory of God, even whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, you do everything for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), then in every deed we will certainly remember God, and let us remember not simply, but with caution, lest in any case we act wrongly and offend God in some way. This will make you turn to God with fear and prayerfully ask for help and admonition. Just as we almost constantly do something, we will almost constantly turn to God in prayer, and, therefore, almost continuously go through the science of lifting up prayer in our souls to God.
But in order for the soul to perform this, that is, doing everything for the glory of God, as it should, it must be set up for this from early morning - from the very beginning of the day, before a person goes out to do his work and to do his work until the evening. This mood is produced by the thought of God. And this is the third way of training the soul to frequently turn to God. Thought on God is a reverent reflection on the Divine properties and actions and on what knowledge of them and their relationship to us obliges us, this is a reflection on the goodness of God, justice, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, on creation and providence, on the dispensation of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, about the goodness and word of God, about the holy sacraments, about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Whichever of these subjects you don’t think about, this reflection will certainly fill your soul with a reverent feeling for God. Start thinking, for example, about the goodness of God - you will see that you are surrounded by God’s mercies both physically and spiritually, and you will only be a stone so as not to fall before God in the outpouring of humiliated feelings of gratitude. Start thinking about the omnipresence of God, and you will understand that you are everywhere before God and God is before you, and you cannot help but be filled with reverent fear. Begin to reflect on the omniscience of God - you will realize that nothing in you is hidden from the eye of God, and you will certainly decide to be strictly attentive to the movements of your heart and mind, so as not to offend the all-seeing God in any way. Begin to reason about the truth of God, and you will be convinced that not a single bad deed will go unpunished, and you will certainly intend to cleanse all your sins with heartfelt contrition and repentance before God. So, no matter what property and action of God you begin to reason about, every such reflection will fill the soul with reverent feelings and dispositions towards God. It directs the whole being of a person directly to God and is therefore the most direct means to accustom the soul to ascend to God.
The most decent, convenient time for this is the morning, when the soul is not yet burdened with many impressions and business concerns, and precisely after morning prayer. When you finish your prayer, sit down and, with your thoughts sanctified in prayer, begin to reflect today on one thing, tomorrow on another of God’s properties and actions, and create a disposition in your soul according to this. “Go,” said Saint Demetrius of Rostov, “go, holy thought of God, and let us immerse ourselves in meditation on the great deeds of God,” and his thoughts passed through either the works of creation and providence, or the miracles of the Lord the Savior, or His suffering, or something else, thereby touching the heart his own and began to pour out his soul in prayer. Anyone can do this. There is little work, all you need is desire and determination; and there is a lot of fruit.
So here are three ways, in addition to the prayer rule, to teach the soul to ascend in prayer to God, namely: devote some time in the morning to contemplation of God, turn every matter to the glory of God, and often turn to God with short appeals.
When the thought of God is well accomplished in the morning, it will leave a deep mood for thinking about God. Thinking about God will force the soul to carefully carry out every action, both internal and external, and turn it into the glory of God. And both will put the soul in such a position that prayerful appeals to God will often be expelled from it.
These three—thought of God, all creation for the glory of God, and frequent invocations—are the most effective tools of mental and heartfelt prayer. Each of them lifts the soul to God. Whoever sets out to practice them will soon acquire in his heart the skill of ascent to God. This work is like climbing a mountain. The higher someone climbs the mountain, the freer and easier he breathes. So here, the more one gets used to the exercises shown, the higher the soul will rise, and the higher the soul rises, the more freely prayer will act in it. Our soul by nature is an inhabitant of the heavenly world of the Divine. There she should have been undiminished in both thought and heart; but the burden of earthly thoughts and passions drags and weighs her down. The methods shown tear it off the ground little by little, and then completely tear it off. When they are completely torn away, then the soul will enter its own region and grief will sweetly dwell - here heartily and mentally, and then with its very being it will be honored before the face of God to dwell in the faces of Angels and Saints. May the Lord vouchsafe all of you with His grace. Amen".
How to force yourself to pray
Sometimes prayer doesn’t come to mind at all. In this case, Saint Theophan advises doing this:
“If this is prayer at home, then you can put it off a little, for a few minutes... If it doesn’t happen after that... force yourself to fulfill the prayer rule forcibly, straining, and understand what is being said, and feel... just like when a child doesn’t want to to bend over, they take him by the forelock and bend him over... Otherwise, this is what can happen... now you don’t feel like it, tomorrow you don’t feel like it, and then the prayer is completely over. Beware of this... and force yourself to willingly pray. The work of self-compulsion overcomes everything.”
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, also advising to force yourself in prayer when it does not work, warns:
“Forced prayer develops hypocrisy, makes one incapable of any activity that requires reflection, and makes a person sluggish in everything, even in fulfilling his duties. This should convince everyone praying in this way to correct their prayer. One must pray willingly, with energy, from the heart. Neither out of sorrow, nor out of need (forcibly) pray to God - Each give according to the disposition of his heart, not with grief and not with compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7).”
What you need for successful prayer
“When you desire and seek success in your prayer work, adapt everything else to this, so as not to destroy with one hand what the other creates.
1. Maintain your body strictly in food, in sleep, and in rest: do not give it anything just because it wants it, as the Apostle commands: Do not turn care for the flesh into lust (Rom. 13:14). Give no rest to the flesh.
2. Reduce your external relations to the most inevitable. This is for the time of teaching yourself to pray. Afterwards, the prayer, acting in you, will indicate what can be added without prejudice to it. Take special care of your senses, and most of all, your eyes, your ears, and your tongue. Without observing this, you will not take a step forward in the matter of prayer. Just as a candle cannot burn in the wind and rain, so prayer cannot be warmed by the influx of impressions from the outside.
3. Use all your free time after prayer for reading and meditation. For reading, choose primarily books that write about prayer and, in general, about inner spiritual life. Think exclusively about God and Divine things, about the Incarnate Economy of our salvation, and in it especially about the suffering and death of the Lord Savior. By doing this, you will plunge into the sea of Divine light. Add to this going to church as soon as you have the opportunity. One presence in the temple will overshadow you with a prayer cloud. What will you get if you spend the entire service in a truly prayerful mood!
4. Know that you cannot succeed in prayer without succeeding in general in the Christian life. It is necessary that there should not be a single sin on the soul that has not been cleansed by repentance; and if during your prayerful work you do something that troubles your conscience, hasten to be cleansed by repentance, so that you can boldly look to the Lord. Always keep humble contrition in your heart. Do not miss a single upcoming opportunity to do some good or to demonstrate any good disposition, especially humility, obedience and renunciation of your will. But it goes without saying that zeal for salvation should burn unquenchably and, filling the entire soul, in everything, from small to great, should be the main driving force, with the fear of God and unshakable hope.
5. Having thus tuned in, bother yourself in the work of prayer, praying: now with ready-made prayers, now with your own, now with short invocations to the Lord, now with the Jesus Prayer, but without missing out on anything that can help in this work, and you will receive what you are looking for. Let me remind you what Saint Macarius of Egypt says: “God will see your prayer work and that you sincerely desire success in prayer - and will give you prayer. For know that although prayer done and achieved through one’s own efforts is pleasing to God, real prayer is the one that settles in the heart and becomes persistent. She is a gift of God, a work of God's grace. Therefore, when you pray about everything, do not forget to pray about prayer” (Reverend Nicodemus the Holy Mountain).
So, prayer for an Orthodox Christian is a conversation, communication with God. Turning to the Lord in prayer is a need of the soul of a believer; it is not for nothing that the holy fathers called prayer breath of the soul.
When following your daily prayer rule, you need to remember two things.
First . That's why it's called daily prayer rule, which is mandatory. Every Orthodox Christian prays in the morning And before bed; he prays and before meals, A after eating thanks God. Christians pray before starting any business(work, study, etc.) and upon completion. Before starting work, read the prayer “To the Heavenly King...” or special prayers for the beginning of any task. At the end of the task, the prayer to the Mother of God “It is worthy to eat” is usually read. All these prayers are contained in the Orthodox Prayer Book.
So, in the prayer life there should be regularity and discipline. You cannot skip the daily prayer rule and pray only when you feel like it and when you are in the mood. A Christian is a warrior of Christ; in baptism he takes an oath of allegiance to the Lord. The life of every warrior, soldier is called service. It is built according to a special schedule and charter. And an Orthodox person also performs his service by performing the prayer rule. This service to God takes place according to the statutes of the Church.
Second , what should be remembered when fulfilling the rule: you cannot turn daily prayer into a formal reading of the prescribed prayers. It happens that during confession a priest hears: “I began to read the morning prayers and only halfway through I realized that I was reading the evening rule.” This means that the reading was purely formal, mechanical. It does not produce spiritual fruit. To prevent the implementation of the rule from turning into a formal proofreading, you need to read it slowly, preferably out loud or in a low voice, pondering the meaning of the prayer, standing reverently - after all, we are standing before God Himself and talking with Him. When going to pray, you need to collect yourself, calm down, and drive away all worldly thoughts and worries. If, while reading prayers, inattention and extraneous thoughts came and we stopped paying attention to what we were reading, we need to stop and start reading the prayer again, this time with due attention.
It can be difficult for a new Christian to immediately read the complete prayer rule. Then, with the blessing of his spiritual father or parish priest, he can choose at least a few morning and evening prayers from the Prayer Book. For example, three or four, and pray according to this abbreviated rule, gradually adding one prayer at a time from the Prayer Book - as if ascending “from strength to strength.”
Of course, it is not easy for a person taking his first steps in spiritual life to follow the complete rule. There is still a lot he doesn't understand. The Church Slavonic text is still difficult for him to understand. You should purchase a small dictionary of Church Slavonic words to better understand the meaning readable texts. Understanding and skill in prayer will definitely come with time if a person sincerely wants to understand what he read and does not stand still in his prayer life.
In their morning prayers, Christians ask God for a blessing for the coming day and thank Him for the night that has passed. Evening prayers prepare us for bed, and are also a confession of the sins of the past day. In addition to the morning and evening rules, an Orthodox person must preserve the memory of God and mentally turn to Him throughout the day. Without Me you cannot do anything - says the Lord (John 15:5). Every task, even the simplest one, must begin with at least a short prayer for God’s help in our labors.
Many mothers of infants complain that they have no time left for their daily routine. Indeed, when a child grows and needs to be taken care of day and night, it is very difficult to fulfill the complete prayer rule. Here we can advise you to constantly perform internal prayer throughout the day and ask God for help in all matters and concerns. This applies not only to the mother of small children, but also to any Orthodox Christian. So our life will pass with constant memory of God and we will not forget Him in the vanity of the world.
Prayers are conventionally divided into petitionary, repentant, grateful And doxological. Of course, we must not only turn to the Lord with requests, but we must constantly thank Him for His countless benefits. And, most importantly, they must be able to see the gifts of God in their lives and appreciate them. You need to make it a rule: at the end of the day, remember all the good things that were sent from God on the previous day, and read prayers of gratitude. They are in any complete Prayer Book.
In addition to the mandatory prayer rule, every Orthodox person can take upon himself a strict rule. For example, read canons and akathists throughout the day. The peculiarity of the construction of the akathist is the word “rejoice” repeated many times. Therefore, he has a special joyful mood. In ancient times, the daily reading of psalms occupied a special place in the spiritual life of a Christian.
Reading canons, akathists, psalms helps in mournful or difficult periods of life. For example, the prayer canon for the Mother of God (it is in the Prayer Book) is read in every mental affliction and situation, as stated in its very name. If a Christian wants to take upon himself a special prayer rule (read the canons or, for example, say the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” according to the rosary), he must take the blessing of his spiritual father or parish priest for this.
In addition to the constant prayer rule, a Christian must regularly read the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament.
You can hear the following opinion: why turn to God so often with your requests and prayers? The Lord already knows what we need. They say that you need to turn to God only in special cases when it is really necessary.
This opinion is just an excuse for one’s own laziness. God is our Heavenly Father, and like any Father, He wants His children to communicate with Him and turn to Him. Both God's grace and mercy towards us can never become scarce, no matter how much we turn to God.
This parable comes to mind:
In the houses of rich people they stopped praying before meals. One day a priest came to visit them. The table was exquisite and the best dishes were served. We sat down at the table. Everyone looked at the priest and thought that now he would pray before eating. But the priest said: “The owner must pray at the table, he is the first prayer book in the family.”
There was an awkward silence: no one in this family prayed. The father cleared his throat and said: “You know, dear father, we don’t pray, because in prayer before meals the same thing is always repeated. Why do the same thing every day, every year? No, we don’t pray.” The priest looked at everyone in surprise, but then the seven-year-old girl said: “Dad, don’t I really need to come to you every morning and say “good morning” anymore?”
The priests say that an Orthodox Christian must pray morning and evening. Church shops sell prayer books that contain morning and evening rules - large and not always clear. What prayers should you actually read in the morning and evening? Is it possible to pray in the morning or before going to bed in your own words?
Morning and evening prayers
Is it possible to read Lesser Compline instead of evening prayers?
The priests give their blessing to read Little Compline during periods when prayers for those coming to bed from the prayer book do not leave any response in the soul. After all, the texts of prayers are not a rule for the sake of a rule, but an assistant and support for a person. Perhaps the same can be done with the Midnight Office.
But in any case, it is better to do this with the blessing of the confessor, because no rules or foundations in the Church arose just like that. A person does not have to be a monk or a saint to renounce some traditions, but it is important to at least have the appropriate internal structure. Most often, a person cannot evaluate it on his own. But a priest (or better a priest-confessor) - quite.
Is it possible to pray morning and evening in your own words?
Saints and priests welcome prayers in their own words - because this shows that spiritual life in a person is alive, and not just “bookish”. However, they speak very unequivocally about morning and evening prayers - replacing them completely with “your own words” is wrong. The maximum is to supplement.
For two interrelated reasons.
The first is the importance of having a rule. The presence of established rules is one of the most important aspects that are present in a person’s spiritual life. A rule “rules” and corrects a person.
Secondly, the duration of the prayer. Practice shows that when they talk about “prayer in your own words,” it most often comes down to short one-and-a-half, two-minute appeals to God. No one says that you need to pray for an hour a day, but two or even five minutes cannot be called a “rule”...
And then: all the prayers that are collected in prayer books are not just dry texts, but living prayers that the saints themselves once said “in their own words.” And their words are very often much deeper and “correct” for the soul than our most sincere words.
When should you pray in the morning and when should you pray in the evening?
Ideally, a person reads morning prayers immediately after sleep, and evening prayers right before bed. This would be a direct personification of the idea: “the first thought of the day is about God, and the last one too.”
But we have families where not everyone is a believer and there is no privacy; we have circumstances. Therefore, sometimes, for example, you can see people saying prayers in transport on the way to or from work. Some confessors generally recommend that their children do not put off prayer until just before bedtime: it is better to pray early, when you have strength and a fresh mind, and not after all the family worries and half an hour of sitting on your smartphone and watching TV, which leaves no spiritual strength in your head at all. .
Ultimately, what time exactly the morning and evening rules are read is not a critical question. It is important that there be a rule, and it is desirable that the very thought of a person before going to bed, and immediately after it, would not be about the little things of life, but about Eternity - before which we all stand, and before which sooner or later we will find ourselves. And this very thought of Eternity, deeply experienced by a person, is capable of transforming his mind and opening the way to a deep, unceasing and healing prayer - “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!”
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