Prayer of the Optina Elders for every day. Morning and evening prayers

Optina desert can be called anything: a symbol of Orthodoxy, a namolennym place, holy land - everything will correspond to reality. Its very location: its proximity to Kozelsk, the city of Russian glory, which held the 7-week-old defense against the troops of the Golden Horde until the last inhabitant, presupposes the presence of a special spirit on this earth.

The emergence of the desert

The Zhizdra River, surrounded by the edge of the forest, made this place an ideal place for the followers of John the Baptist, who was also famous for being the first desolator, that is, a hermit. Neither the date nor the history of the appearance of the Optina desert is known. But its names (the second - Makarinskaya) testify in favor of the version about the dashing man of Opte, who was engaged in robbery in the XIV century. Hiding from his pursuers, he wanted simply to sit tight in a quiet place, but the grace that had come down upon him turned all his predatory life. He became the first hermit Macarius. It can be assumed that the prayer of the Optina Elders for each day is rooted at this time.

For a long time, Optina deserts were raided, seized, ravaged by the forces of Russia's external and internal enemies. And only in 1796, thanks to the efforts of Metropolitan Platon, Abraham's father became the rector of the monastery, at which the revival of the monastery began and the appearance of the first elders, people who reached certain peaks of spiritual perfection.

The heyday of the Optina desert

All-Russian glory, like the real flowering of the monastery, began in the 20s of the XIX century, when the post of abbot was occupied by Archimandrite Moses, a holy man and a wonderful business executive. With him, Leo's father officially founded the eldership in 1829. The Reverend Elders settled in a small skete, which was built in 1821. Companions of the founder of Optina Desert were the holy fathers of Cleopas and Theodore. Prayer was not yet complex, and the prayer of the Optina elders for every day was in their works of help. The meaning of Optina in the spiritual life of Russia is very great. Dostoevsky and Solovyov lived in it for a long time, gathering spiritual strength, visited it by Leo and Alexei Tolstoy. "Father Sergius" was written under the impression of Optina desert.

The cathedral of the Optina elders is a unique phenomenon, a special form of holiness that has flourished for 100 years in Optina Desert. Something like this takes place only on Mount Athos.

Cathedral of the Reverend of the Optina Elders

The first elders were only 6, who appeared here in 1829 as Hieroschemons (the title of the monk-convinite, who has a church order). Leo brought the skete to the all-Russian glory, which did not fade until 1917. In total, the Reverend elders were 14 people, each of them added the greatness of Optina desert. All of them, possessing a special spirit, had the gift of foresight, prophecy and miracles. Many of the predicted by them came true.

The legacy of the elders includes books, advice, letters, prayers. The prayer of the Optina Elders for every day is also part of this heritage. Isaak II (after him the elders were gone) and a number of his associates, inhabitants of Optina desert, were shot in 1937. The abbot of the monastery Nektariy died in 1928 in his cell, having warned his arrest for one day.

The hardest years of Orthodoxy in Russia

The fate of hundreds of representatives of the clergy in the 30s of the XX century was tragic. Therefore, the prayer of the last Optina elders contains only a plea for the Lord about humility, a calm and worthy acceptance of the challenges of reality, interpreting them as a manifestation of his will, a plea for sending down the spiritual strength, lack of doubt and the ability to overcome fatigue at the end of the day. Without such a prayer (it is now included in all Orthodox prayer books), it was difficult, probably, to keep the faith. One specialist called the prayer non-confessional and psychotherapeutic. Of course, repeating it all the time, like a spell, you could somehow wake up and fall asleep in the conditions of repression of the 37th year. (It's about those people who were doomed to this fate, specifically - about the clergy).

Unique prayers of the elders

Optina elders advised, when addressing the Lord, to avoid verbosity, to be concise and concrete, so their prayers are understandable and beloved by many Orthodox Christians. Thus, an example is the prayer of the Optian elder Leo. It is known as a prayer of prayer for suicides. Short and concise, she is facing the Lord with a single request - to accept and, if possible, forgive the soul of a suicide, and the person asking for it is not punished. After all, church canons were forbidden to commemorate in the church and bury in the cemetery of suicides who died in duel and robbery, drowned people. The wise old men understood that the intolerable circumstances of life could lead to suicide. They allowed the cell, without going through the official church, to pray for the tranquility of the soul of the person who laid hands on himself.

Morning Prayer as a Spell of Happiness

Two more prayers deserve special attention, one of them is the morning prayer of the Optina Elders. Having become acquainted with them for the first time, it is impossible not to note their dissimilarity with prayers in general. In them, both in the morning and in the evening, so much expression and passion is concluded that, indeed, they can fulfill the role of affirmation (a short phrase, with repeated repetition of which the necessary image or setting can strengthen in the person's subconscious). Installation for happiness, for joy, for life in harmony with all. This prayer reminds, rather, the hymn and the spell at the same time. Repeated confession to the Lord in love sounds like an unshakable belief in reciprocity. The person who creates this prayer sincerely believes that it is difficult not to respond to such a sincere request for help in matters only of the kind and kind, for recognition in love for everything and everyone. And the flow of hot gratitude, the repeated "amen" can lead to a state of joy and goodwill towards the whole world.

The originality of the prayers of the Optina Elders

Evening prayer of the Optina elders can also cause both a sense of surprise and a desire to read it again and again. The effect is reinforced by repeated, repeated treatment and enthusiasm, underlined by exclamation marks. It remains a feeling that these two prayers imply a friendly disposition of the Lord to the worshiper. Of course, they are appropriate in the mouth of a person who is cheerful, happy and successful, convinced that tomorrow will be as wonderful as today's. He reports to God in the evening about a happily lived day. Gladly thanks him for his help, forgives everyone and everyone (including himself) for the flaws committed, he does not doubt that the Lord will do the same.

Good prayers, clear, close - this is probably the great wisdom of the Reverend Elders.

Actually, the prayer of the Optina Elders for every day is any Prayer, taken from the prayer-book and suitable for a specific case. The role of the daily can perform both the morning, evening, and the akathist and the service of the icon of the Mother of God, called the "Sporite of loaves."