Why doesn't God answer our prayers? God hears and answers prayers

You say that for a believer there are no coincidences in life. Are they there for the non-believer? And what is there in life if there is no chance?

O. Georgy Kochetkov. Yes, this is so: for a believer there are no accidents - after all, he is under the care of God's providence, God's plan, God's guidance. In the life of an unbeliever, accidents happen, because he is not under this cover of grace. There are so many forces that shape a person's destiny; and for an unbeliever it may be subject to the influence of sometimes a happy, sometimes an unfortunate event. The evil of this world is aggressive, and it can affect any person with its senselessness.

Sometimes believers talk about their lives as fate, but they mean something else - the uniqueness of the path that has actually developed, and this is not the same as the concept of fate in describing the life of an unbeliever.

When Christ came to the Jews, they rejected Him and did not recognize Him. And if Christ came to us now, would our priests, our church accept Him?

O. Georgy. This is a difficult question. Attempts to imagine this in the 19th and 20th centuries were made more than once; they are described in literature, starting with the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor. It directly states that the Grand Inquisitor not only does not accept Christ, but directly rejects him and takes the side of the Antichrist. There are also films that show how far the real life of Christians, even in so-called Christian countries, has moved away from true Christianity. To illustrate this, exactly this plot is often used - Christ comes, but no one recognizes or recognizes Him, because people have forgotten what it means to live in the spirit of Christ’s love and the spirit of Christ’s life. Nominal Christianity is too strongly dissonant with apostolic Christianity, with the faith and life of Christ Himself. This is a really big problem. But it should rather be understood in spiritual and moral terms. There are always people in the church who know Christ, and therefore recognize Him. And, unfortunately, there are always people who do not know Him and will not recognize Him. Both apply to all aspects of church life, to all members of the church, and not just to the church structure and hierarchy.

How do we know if God hears our prayers and if they reach Him?

O. Georgy. There is internal evidence and external evidence. Inner testimony is, first of all, the testimony of conscience, heart, mind, and the testimony of life. External evidence is evidence of deeds, events occurring, how circumstances turn out. All this is very significant. It is important for us to be sure that the Lord hears our prayers - otherwise why bring them? We do not confuse Christian prayer with some kind of auto-training or psychotherapeutic influence on ourselves or others. Therefore, we understand that the main thing, of course, is not simply to receive as a result of prayer some feeling of spiritual tenderness, satisfaction, even spiritual joy, or purification, catharsis. It is important for us to know that it is the Lord who bestows grace on the one who prays, corrects the path of his life and creates such circumstances that allow him to reveal his Christian calling, to fulfill his Christian mission in this world.

The Bible says that after killing Abel, Cain took a wife. Where did he get it? So, besides Adam and Eve, there were other people on earth?

O. Georgy Kochetkov: The Bible is not a chronicle. And therefore there is no need to treat her messages as messages from the registry office. As you know, Adam lived for a long time; more than one generation could have changed during this time. And his children lived long. Therefore, by default it is assumed that a new era has arrived, a new page is opening: when the children of Adam and Eve continue the race.

Why are godparents needed if an adult is being baptized? He himself decided to be baptized.

O. Georgy: Initially, godparents were with adults. They had to testify that baptism was accepted sincerely, that those who come to baptism would not be a traitor to the community, a traitor to their brothers and sisters, their spiritual fathers. And such a guarantee was very important.

In addition, the godfather is always a prayer book for his godson. This matters for both children and adults. And if the educational function from the point of view of an adult is perhaps not so important, then the function of mutual assistance, support, and friendship is always important. After all, any person at any age wants to have real friends, and it is especially precious to have a friend who is not only smaller or equal to you, but older in experience, in his inner state or position. So the institution of guarantee, the institution of godparents can and should be of great importance.

Another thing is how godparents are chosen and who actually becomes them. This is already a separate problem. This process should become more churchly, more responsible, more traditional, which is what I have already dreamed of and written about. Alexander Schmemann in his book “By Water and Spirit.” We have to continue to think about this in our time.

Why are people now taken as godparents who themselves know nothing about church life, as long as the person is baptized? They cannot teach godchildren anything.

O. Georgy: This is a continuation of the previous question. Indeed, nominal execution of the rule cannot lead to a good result. Therefore, often both godparents and baptism itself become formal and do not lead to the rebirth of a person, to his spiritualization, spiritual renewal.

Over the centuries, many problems with baptism have accumulated. They need to be resolved somehow, and, of course, first of all, demand greater preparation of those being baptized themselves, their full catechesis. Some kind of system for checking this in each specific case is necessary if such catechesis was not carried out by the baptizing priest or bishop himself. There are many new problems behind this. But these are other problems.

Why do churches need priests? Do they only hold services?

O. Georgy: Elders are always needed in the church (by the way, every congregation has its own elder). A priest in a more correct, canonical language is called presbyter1 or bishop2. And in a normal case, these are people who are not just professionally knowledgeable about worship and know how to conduct it, they are precisely the elders in the congregation, in the community, who are capable of spiritually helping the younger ones, growing them “to the fullness of the stature of Christ.” It is very important. And the church must, of course, take care that every ordained presbyter or bishop is truly a priest, making spiritual sacrifices together with all the people of God whom he cares for, i.e. directs towards Christ's life in its fullness, holiness and perfection.

What happens when we consecrate an apartment or car?

O. Georgy: Exactly the same as when consecrating any thing. What difference does it make what we consecrate - an icon, an apartment, a car, a factory, a store or something else?

Sanctification always means one thing: the fulfillment of God's calling. People are sanctified through baptism, through the sacraments, through reading the word of God, and through prayer. Things are also sanctified by the word of God and prayer, but sometimes using other means, holy water, for example. What happens then? Sanctification is always the transfer into the hands of God of that which is sanctified - so that God is the supreme leader of the sanctified thing. God must be Lord and Master of all. And it is important to remember that those who dispose of a consecrated thing are entrusted with O greater responsibility in comparison with those who manage unconsecrated things, and the consequences of a more honest or less honest attitude towards these responsibilities in both cases will be different.

I read in one Orthodox book that you need a confessor, but how to find him?

O. Georgy: This is a whole complex of problems that cannot be solved quickly. Finding a confessor is not easy. This is not just a person who helps in confession. A priest who regularly confesses can become a confessor if he becomes close to the person, understands him and really helps him follow Christ, if he does not impose his individual will, as if standing between the believer and God. This is very important to understand for everyone who is looking for a confessor. A confessor in our time is, first of all, a spiritually senior person, sometimes a spiritual friend, sometimes a spiritual father, sometimes a spiritual brother. And there is no need to rush to call someone a confessor, even if there are very good, very close, kind personal relationships with this or that priest. Spirituality in its pure form is almost impossible in our time. It was born in a monastic context, in a monastic environment, and initially meant the possibility of a person confessing his thoughts at any moment of his life. When a person lives in a community, he should be able to come to an elder, to his spiritual leader, to his spiritual father for advice or for prayerful help in the sacrament of repentance at any time of the day or night. Such relationships cannot be formal and cannot be only official ones. So it requires reasoning, restraint, sobriety and experience.

I read your answer to my question about Baba Yaga. Unfortunately, the answers of all priests are the same. A lot of words, but essentially nothing. How do you know what animals think, and what makes you think that humans are something special? Practice shows precisely that man is the worst of animals. If we discard all the verbiage, then a person lives only to have fun and arrange his life. No belief in any god changes human essence and instincts. Look at the priests. These are the grabbers of the grabbers. They talk eloquently, and they themselves drive around in foreign cars. And try to tell them something. Where is your god? It's nowhere to be found. There is only a dull animal struggle for survival. And if there was a God, then why is he needed? Possessing unlimited possibilities, one cannot create anything better than this miserable evil world. And even punish the already persecuted people with eternal torment. This is a tyrant and murderer god.

O. Georgy: Well, your remark is quite natural. You are truly a hunted, unhappy person. And your god is indeed, apparently, a killer god, i.e. Satan. This is the whole trouble, that in this case a person sees nothing but himself. And the question here is no longer about God, but about man: the whole point is whether he is capable of being a man in the difficult circumstances of his life, what he strives for, what he feels as his main calling. Each person speaks from the depths of his heart, his experience. One can only feel sorry for someone whose experience is exactly this; one can only pray for him as for the most unfortunate person, for whom nothing good, kind, joyful, happy on earth awaits him yet. God grant that you wake up, see clearly and see that this world is not reduced only to the things you write about, that there are completely different things and completely different people in it. May God grant you to see how grace and love change people. Apparently, you have never loved or are completely disappointed in love, in freedom and in truth. May God grant you to discover the abyss of divine Wisdom and reason, the power of the humble Spirit of God, the power of sacrificial Love revealed by Christ, and through Christ to come by the grace of the Holy Spirit to God and to the Church.

Notes

1. It is this word, meaning “elder” in Greek, that is heard during ordination - ed.

If the deceased was not baptized, is it possible to pray for the repose of his soul and light candles?

Priest Georgy Kochetkov: In the church there is a certain order for remembering the dead: historically, the church has always offered its prayer first of all for the members of the church, for those who, according to church tradition, are called faithful. This is due to the fact that most often commemoration in a church meeting took place at the liturgy - both prayer and kutia, or grain offering. And since only the faithful participate in the sacrament of the Eucharist, in the liturgy of the faithful - only believing Orthodox Christians, those who are called full members of the church - then it is customary to remember only them in church. Although, of course, one must understand that this limitation is not absolute. The Church, most likely, had certain pedagogical tasks in mind when it did not allow, say, prayer for suicides or people equivalent to them - for example, those who died from alcoholism or drug overdose, in general, in obvious sin, grave, mortal. It was precisely in order to educate the people in resistance to these sins that the church said that only those deceased who remained faithful to God and remained full members of the church could be commemorated. But in personal prayer, no one has ever forbidden anyone to pray for someone for whom the heart of a believer wants to pray. This can be any deceased person; no exceptions are made here for the unbaptized or those of other faiths, heretics, etc., including suicides. We turn to the mercy of God, to our Lord, who sends rain to the righteous and the unjust, and the sun to the good and the evil. And we hope for God’s mercy, realizing that there is no person who would live and not sin. Of course, the Eucharistic prayer also knew its exceptions; there is a prayer “for everyone and for everything.” In the Eucharistic prayer there is actually a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, a sacrifice according to the power of Christ's love, and therefore this prayer is universal. It is not personal, not individual, but in general it involves the memory of everyone who is present in our memory, no matter who it is. If our heart wants to pray for someone, then - even without mentioning individual names - such prayer is possible. At the Eucharist there is a place for prayer for the unbaptized catechumens, there is a place for prayer for the authorities, including pagan or non-Christian, or non-Orthodox ones, and therefore there can be prayer for the unbaptized deceased. But, I repeat, usually, if a person wants to pray for a deceased unbaptized person who was not even a catechumen, i.e. I didn’t even prepare for baptism, I didn’t consciously want this baptism, this is best done in personal prayer anywhere, at any time.

If a person is a Catholic or Protestant, or has not been baptized, then is it possible to pray for him in the Orthodox Church and light candles for health?

O. Georgy: Actually, I have already started talking about this. Just as there is a place for prayer for the unbaptized or non-Orthodox deceased, so there is a place for prayer for living non-Orthodox and non-baptized people. Of course, prayer for catechumens of any level is one thing, i.e. for people, although unbaptized, but who have faith in the true God or even in Christ and the Church, and another thing is prayer simply for unbelievers or non-Orthodox people. During the liturgy, this is possible not personally, but as a whole, because the Eucharistic prayer is a prayer “for everyone and for everything,” for all brothers and sisters, for everyone whom our heart is able to remember and remember. And in personal prayer there can also be prayer for a specific person.

A candle is a donation, and such a sacrifice associated with prayer can always be offered to God. So light a candle for the health and peace of any person, if this is at the level of personal prayer.

To my last question, you answered that the Lord forgives sins, and therefore one should not be afraid and prepare for confession. But how can I repent if I know that I will continue to sin? And I know that I cannot help but sin. Where can I get the strength to stop sinning? So that my repentance is honest?

O. Georgy: Great question. The fact is that every repentant person knows that after repentance he will not immediately turn into a pure angel. If he is a reasonable and spiritually wise, experienced person, he understands well that repentance is accepted by God not because we immediately turn into sinless people, but because we regret the sin we have committed, and want not to sin, and show that or another degree of determination not to repeat our sins, because we ask God for forgiveness and want to accept the gift of forgiveness and correction. We know that there are sins that can and should be corrected immediately, but there are things that cannot be corrected immediately - they are corrected throughout a person’s entire life. Of course, if we are talking about ethical sins, about specific facts, it is especially important to understand that sins are different from sins. There are sins that immediately remove a person from the ranks of the Church, from God’s people. These are mortal sins - murder, adultery, blasphemy, etc. But there are sins, especially of the ascetic, mystical nature, which are very difficult to define within their boundaries and which are very difficult to overcome until the very end. Therefore, you need to have humility, you need to accept God’s help, you need to try not to sin, have the determination not to repeat your sins, but at the same time remember the words of Scripture and the Holy Fathers “if you fall, rise up”: if you fall under the blow of one temptation or another, get up immediately, don't lie in the dirt. And move on, be sure to follow Christ, follow God with all humility, with all patience and obedience to God and His holy will.

How to celebrate a birthday, especially if it falls during Lent? The number 40 is a special date, a time for summing up results, but what is the right way for a believer to celebrate his fortieth birthday?

O. Georgy: This is, of course, a very personal question. The Church does not regulate how to celebrate your birthday, even if it falls on a round date (although it must be said that according to a strictly church, biblical understanding, only a fiftieth anniversary can be considered an anniversary). But forty years is a truly wonderful age, it is a period of complete maturity of a person, the full flowering of his powers. And when meeting him, first of all, you need to not just think about how to please your friends, acquaintances or colleagues, or even more so relatives, or yourself, but how to worthily thank God for the years you have lived, for all those good gifts that have manifested themselves in a person’s life. So it’s really important to take stock, draw conclusions from your life, and correct it in accordance with the will of God; it is important to see how authentic and holistic this spiritual life is, how high quality it is, how real it is, how capable it is of spreading to the people around you. If you are able, out of the abundance of your heart, to speak about God, about faith, about the happiness of Christian life to people in such a way that they will listen and obey you, then it means that you have truly reached maturity and are ready to enter the next decade of your life, i.e. move on to the next level.

If your birthday falls on Lent, then you can simply celebrate it more modestly. Of course, the fast in this case is weakened, but not completely removed, except for those cases when, say, non-believers come to visit you. The post may not be clear to them. And you can offer them anything. And you yourself can eat from the holiday table what you deem necessary - only lean or something else, making some exceptions for the sake of the holiday, for the sake of love for your unbelieving neighbors and loved ones. Here there is sometimes the possibility of certain compromises and concessions, but you just need, of course, to know in moderation in everything. It is necessary not only not to get drunk on wine, not only not to walk around, not to wander and not to wander in gaze or deed, but still remember that the main thing is your kind word, a word of gratitude to God and loved ones, as well as neighbors, those who play or played a significant role in your life. So fasting is just the best time to, after celebrating such an anniversary or your birthday, direct people who came to you out of love and respect for you to the good path of faith.

I never ask God for anything specific - for example, if I lost an important paper, I don’t ask to find it, I look for it myself. I just pray in the morning, for example: Lord, help Your poor servant in all my affairs. I know that often, especially Protestants, they pray about specific matters down to the smallest detail. Can we say that such a petty approach, so to speak, is not characteristic of Orthodoxy?

O. Georgy: I think it's possible. In fact, it is important that we are with God, and God is with us. And prayer about this is the most important thing. If this is so, then the pieces of paper will not be lost, and in general, nothing important in life will ever be destroyed, lost, or disappear. Another thing is that the church does not prohibit praying with your own prayer, in your own simple words about any little thing. If for some reason you suddenly have such a thought in your heart, then it is not harmful, it is not evil. Just do everything for the glory of God. When you pray that God will help you in all your affairs, please add these words: “done for Your glory, Lord. Amen".

Nowhere in the Holy Scriptures have I read about the streaming of myrrh into icons or the veneration of relics. Where did these phenomena come from in Orthodoxy?

O. Georgy: There are many different small and large miracles in the life of a Christian. The Lord gives us signs of His presence all the time, He always makes our heart glad. If this is connected in one way or another with icons, it may also be myrrh streaming. It is only important that people do not look for a miracle for the sake of a miracle, so that they understand that if God does something, He gives signs of the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, if a person approaches the Kingdom of Heaven, approaches God, if someone repents as a result of the occurrence of one or another miracle, then this is a real miracle. If not, then this is either a trick, or simply an incomprehensible natural phenomenon, or a figment of our imagination. And even if it is a miracle, then it is a miracle within the framework of this world, a world that lies in evil, a sinful world. So the point is not whether the icon streams myrrh or does not stream myrrh. Christians have always revered a certain fragrance as a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God's grace. Read at least the wonderful, very simple and accessible description of the conversation between St. Seraphim of Sarov and Motovilov, where “extraordinary fragrance” is called just one of the signs of the gift of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit descends, then some people feel it as a special holiday, as a special joy and as a special fragrance. Indeed, the world becomes different, it becomes beautiful, and therefore fragrant. Maybe this needs to be understood more spiritually than physically, judge for yourself, see for yourself. But this is still true.

Almost everything that I said about myrrh-streaming icons can also be applied to relics - the only difference is that the relics stream myrrh or don’t stream myrrh, they smell fragrant, they heal or not, it’s all connected with our faith, it’s all connected with the manifestation of God’s grace , this is all connected with the aspiration of a person’s heart towards God and His Kingdom, towards strengthening in love for God and neighbor, i.e. with the most important values ​​of our life. If this is not so, I repeat, then it can turn into something dubious and non-Orthodox, even superstitious or pagan, if this is taken to the limit, to the point of absurdity.

Should there be a sermon at every liturgy? As I got older, my hearing became much worse and that’s why I go to church only on weekdays so that I can go up to the altar itself - then I can hear everything. But there are no sermons these days, which I regret. Should there be one?

O. Georgy: Thanks for the great question. In fact, according to church canons, every time there is a reading of Scripture, there must be a sermon explaining the word of God. And now we hear many calls from the church hierarchy, from reasonable and educated church people, demanding the restoration of the liturgical norm of our church life. And such a norm is precisely the sermon - and immediately after reading Scripture, and not at the end of the service. Unfortunately, this has not yet become a generally accepted and generally accepted matter, and even church canons do not admonish people to act as church tradition requires. But let us hope that during our lifetime this sermon will resound and delight the heart of every person who comes to church prayer.

The first Christians were slaves. The slave mentality has become ingrained in Christianity: “servant of God,” “all power is from God,” “God endured and commanded us,” etc. Christianity is strong where the spirit of slavery is strong: Medieval Europe, Russia (slaves, serfs, temporary slaves), etc. Is the spirit of freedom hostile to Christianity?

Priest Georgy Kochetkov: Thank you for a very important question. It is, of course, rather based on a misunderstanding, but a very widespread misunderstanding and, in a sense, imposed on people by the ideology that dominated our country before - perhaps deliberately distorting Christianity and, in any case, not knowing it. This is easy to prove based on your question itself. So you say that Christianity is where “the servant of God”, “God suffered and commanded us”, “all power comes from God”, etc. and so on. And you claim that Christianity is strong where the spirit of slavery is strong. In this regard, I must give you a little historical information. Firstly, “God endured and commanded us” is not a Christian expression, it is not found either in the Holy Fathers or in the Holy Scriptures - nowhere. This is what was attributed to Christians by the detractors of Christianity. It seemed to them that Christianity was like this, although they initially knew that they were simply mocking Christianity by saying such things. True, sometimes the common people took it at face value. And therefore, some Christians could, say, in later times, in the 19th century, repeat these words, despite their fundamental dissonance with the Christian faith, Christian teaching and Christian spirit.

Something similar must be said about the expression “servant of God.” Maybe you don’t know that even in such an important place as the formula for the sacrament of baptism, the words “servant of God” are a late insertion of the 12th-13th centuries. At that time, precisely this somewhat divided and to some extent slavish consciousness really began to strengthen - partly under the influence of Islam, partly under the influence of the crisis in which Christianity itself found itself at that time. In ancient times, for many centuries, the formula for baptism sounded like this: “So-and-so is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.” And, I repeat, only since the 12th century have the words “servant of God” been inserted in many places in church rites. So this is already a foreign insertion, which arose, rather, under the influence of social circumstances that were completely unfavorable for Christianity. In any case b O For most of its history, Christianity existed without it. Another thing is that the Gospel says: if you have done all the good that Christ expects from you, then do not be proud, say: I, like a worthless slave, did what I had to do. But this is said in the context of the fight against arrogance, against pride, and this is completely different.

Although the literal expression “all authority is from God” belongs to the Apostle Paul, it has also been interpreted very differently in history. Only in the 20th century, during Soviet times, did they begin to abuse this expression so much that even KGB officers began to say to church people during their interrogations: “Well, you know that all power is from God, which means you must cooperate with us.” And, unfortunately, there have been cases when people who are believers, who are basically good, honest, devoted to faith, the foundations of love, the foundations of the freedom of the Christian spirit, really could not answer and fell for this bait. And still O Most Christians did not fall for it. They understood that the Apostle Paul spoke these words not in the sense of “be slaves, voiceless in the face of power,” but in the sense of “do not be anarchists, do not be a self-sufficient principle, remember that you live in society and that power is needed to establish order among all people, and for this she deserves respect.” This motif was still in the Old Testament, and it was in this very good context that it was preserved in the New Testament.

Therefore, one cannot associate the spirit of Christianity with the spirit of slavery. Any desire to turn Christians into slaves is a worthless desire, if only because one of the central places of the New Testament says: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” And it also says: “You, brothers, are called to freedom.” These are too serious things to be ignored. The Christian faith affirms everywhere and always that Christ released us from slavery to decay, lifelessness, lies, ugliness - from slavery to everything that, unfortunately, is taking over modern people more and more. It is precisely the departure from Christianity that leads them into real slavery. Remember the state of the Soviet people from the very beginning to the end of their existence: many were forced, but the majority voluntarily surrendered into slavery to a completely inhumane, anti-human ideology and its punitive organs. This completely destroyed the human personality and led our entire people to an anthropological catastrophe.

So the spirit of freedom is not only not hostile to Christianity, on the contrary, without this spirit there is no Spirit of the Lord, and without the Spirit of the Lord there can be no serious talk of any Christianity.

Do you think that having your own opinion on any matter and boldly expressing it is an advantage or a disadvantage? And should we strive to always have our own opinion?

Priest Georgy Kochetkov: It is interesting that the most misunderstandings are associated with such important, central concepts in Christianity as the spirit of love and freedom. Of course, if a person is free, he can have his own opinion. But it can, but that doesn’t mean it should. He can (although he is also not obligated) to express it when he considers it fundamentally important and internally justified, when he sees that it will not lead to enmity, quarrels, hatred, anger. But if you see that your free opinion is actually just a reason to please yourself, in order to assert yourself, then it is better to remain silent, even if you have your own free, independently developed opinion. Because the spirit of love and the spirit of freedom, the spirit of brotherly love, the spirit of faith, the spirit of unity are above private opinions, which are often very superficial, very one-sided, or even simply false. You must first work hard to check the quality of your opinion. A very pathetic impression is made by people who everywhere express their opinions, and even worse, insist on them, without checking their position, without checking it with the will of God, with the revelation of Truth and Love. Such people sow strife, discord, division - something that leads to the most terrible sins. God forbid we follow the example of these people!

The Nikeya publishing house published a book by Abbot Nektary (Morozov) “What prevents us from being with God.” It arose from parish conversations that the priest, being the rector of the Saratov church in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows,” conducted for several years. We present to your attention a chapter from the book.

We all ask God for something in one way or another. We ask in different ways and on different occasions. We ask when we find ourselves in some difficult life situations and circumstances, when we especially need God’s help; sometimes we ask God for something when we find ourselves in a situation where, apart from Him, no one can help us; sometimes we ask Him for something when we should do something ourselves, but we don’t want to do it.

And of course, every day, if we read morning and evening prayers, if we go to church, we ask for the most important thing - we ask the Lord to have mercy on us, to save us, we ask to give us everything we need for our earthly life and for our eternal well-being.

When a person expects something from God, then, firstly, the fulfillment of this request is very important in itself, and secondly, it is very significant for us, as a response to our prayers, as evidence that God really it is that He hears us, that He is merciful and, out of His mercy and love, fulfills our requests. And at the same time, one almost constantly hears the question: why do I pray, but the Lord does not fulfill my requests? Why do I pray and the Lord doesn’t seem to hear me? This is what I would like to talk a little about.

Firstly, probably, before judging whether the Lord hears us or does not hear us and whether He is merciful or unmerciful because He does not fulfill our requests, we need to figure out: are we really asking for what we need? useful, what do we need, what will serve us well and will not cause harm? It often happens that we “beg” God for something out of passion, out of foolishness - and at the same time we want the Lord to fulfill our prayer at all costs.

Of course, a church person who has some experience of Christian life most likely will not ask for something that is directly sinful and harmful. He will not demand that the Lord take revenge on anyone for him, he will not seek the Lord to help him satisfy some shameful passion; will not pray for anything that is a manifestation of greed, love of money, or vanity. And yet, even if sometimes we ask God for some things that, at first glance, are pleasing to God, we must always think about: is this really useful to us at the moment?

Sometimes we ask that the Lord give us the opportunity to live calmly, painlessly and indulge in the exploits of Christian piety without interference - so that neither our loved ones, nor our neighbors, nor any circumstances of our life, nor work interfere with us in this. And the Lord does not give this to us, and if we try to understand why, we will understand that it is precisely everything that is an obstacle that reveals a certain intention, the aspiration of our heart: do we really want what it “interferes with”? And if we want, then all these obstacles can be overcome.

And besides, the property of obstacles is such that by overcoming we gain experience, acquire Christian courage and become skilled in spiritual life.

If the Lord Himself eliminated the obstacles that are in our path, then what would we have to do? Receive “ready-made salvation”? But it doesn’t happen like that, because we have to prove with our whole life that we are really looking for it, thirsting for it. This salvation should become for us, as it were, “native”, “ours”. And for some it really becomes family, but for others it remains something alien.

And of course, what we sometimes perceive as interference is often something that the Lord would not want us to pass by. For example, we very often consider people “interferences” - people who ask for something, people who talk about something, people who demand attention to themselves, but in fact our salvation is accomplished through these people. Here is just one common example of why the Lord may not respond to our prayers.

And there are actually a lot of such things, things that we expect from God and which we currently do not really need or are even contraindicated. And therefore, it may be necessary to ask, but at the same time we must trust God and hope that His wisdom and love will help us choose what is truly useful to us and not give us what is harmful.

It happens differently. It happens that we ask for what we really need - for that vital thing that we cannot do without. And again, for some reason the Lord “does not hear” us and for some reason does not give us this. In this case, it is always necessary to check the disposition of the heart with which we offer prayer to God.

For example, the Monk Isaac the Syrian says that the prayer of a vindictive person is like sowing on a stone. And indeed, if a person is vindictive, if he holds a grudge against someone, not to mention the fact that he wishes harm to someone, then no matter how much he prays - even if he prays for hours, days, nights, days on end - this prayer will not bring any benefit, and a person will only, as they say, succeed in the worst way: staying in such prayer and not understanding that between him and God stands his desire for evil to another person, he will become embittered and come into an even worse state.

But not only rancor, but also every other passion that a Christian does not want to fight, which he loves, which he accepts, which he does not reject and does not tear away from his heart, also stands between him and God, like a wall, when he begins prayer. It’s one thing when we pray with awareness of our passionate state, when one of us says: “Lord, I understand that I am sinful in this and that, and I ask You to help me cope with these sins, but “Besides this, I also ask for what my heart requires at this moment.”

It’s another matter when we leave everything that God Himself considers paramount, that is, the struggle with passions, and ask for something that bothers us, forgetting about what, let’s say, worries God in our lives. In this case, our prayer also very often remains unanswered.

There is another reason why the Lord does not fulfill our requests. But here, probably, we need to talk specifically about those cases when we pray for something, although necessary, but nevertheless everyday. We ask the Lord to heal the disease and help us in some family or work circumstances.

Sometimes it happens that some believers ask for this as something taken for granted, while other people, who also live church life, say: is it necessary to ask God for this? After all, this is not something necessary for our salvation and, probably, we just need to try to acquire what we need, cope with what we need to cope with, get rid of what we need to get rid of, if we are talking about some then everyday issues. And don’t bother God about this. How to judge correctly here?

St. Isaac the Syrian says that our prayer should be consistent with our life. If something bothers us, then this something that worries us must necessarily turn into a reason for prayer. If we don’t have to worry about something - for example, if we are sick and don’t worry about it at all - we probably don’t need to pray about it, but simply thank God for sending us this illness. If we live in poverty and also don’t worry about it at all, we probably don’t need to pray for the Lord to send us a job or someone to help us. But more often it happens differently. We are faced with some kind of everyday test and come into confusion and into a state of grief and sadness. And if so, then it means that you definitely need to pray to God.

And so it happens that a person prays fervently, but help does not come and nothing in life changes. And again he asks the question: “Lord, where are you and why don’t you answer my prayer? Or am I worse than all people? From such a thought, a Christian sometimes comes into a state not of humility, but of despondency. And sometimes some other, worse thoughts creep into a person’s heart.

And the reason for non-fulfillment of a request here is often the same: the Lord does not give what we asked, so that we do not become like those same lepers who, having been cleansed, immediately joyfully went about their business and did not return to give thanks. The Lord knows in advance our ingratitude, our frivolity and knows that, having received what we ask, we will immediately step aside from Him, or, at least, we will no longer pray as fervently.

And for this potential ingratitude of ours, the Lord leaves us to remain in a state of petition, because this prayer itself - the prayer of petition - already brings certain benefits to our soul. And at the same time, ungrateful abandonment of prayer after fulfilling what we asked could cause us terrible harm.

The same Reverend Isaac the Syrian says that there is no gift that the Lord would give to a person and which would then remain unmultiplied, except for that gift for which a person is ungrateful. The Lord is ready not only to give, but also to give much more than he once gave, but if we do not thank Him for what He has given, then God’s hand, as it were, closes and we no longer receive anything, so that what we receive does not turn into condemnation .

And therefore, when we ask for something, for which we feel the need in everyday life, we must definitely test our hearts and ask ourselves: will I be grateful to God when He gives me what I now so need? And if we cannot give ourselves an unambiguous answer, then perhaps we can also test ourselves this way: am I grateful to people in such cases?

After all, a person who knows how to be grateful to people will most likely be grateful to God. And vice versa, a person who is ungrateful towards those people who do something good for him will be just as ungrateful to God.

If we talk about those morning and evening prayers that we read every day, and about the petitions with which we turn to God in them, then in fact, you probably need to be surprised at this. We ask, while reading the daily rule, about the most important, the greatest things - about what St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Macarius of Egypt and other great saints asked God, because we pray in their words. It is clear that they could not ask for something empty or vain and prayed for salvation and for those virtues that a person needs for salvation.

And the question arises: why do we ask for this every day, but what we ask for never appears? After all, it is quite obvious that the saints to whom these prayers belong ultimately received what they asked from God - they acquired these virtues not only through their labors, but also through the grace and mercy of God.

The holy righteous John of Kronstadt spoke very well about this in his teachings. He asked: if you pray to God, but at the same time you don’t hear yourself, then do you have the right to hope that the Lord will hear you? In another way, we could say that our “unheardness” in prayer has its reasons in the fact that we ourselves do not understand and do not take the trouble to understand how much we really need those spiritual gifts that God has in morning and evening prayers we ask.

Well, it’s probably very important to talk about the main rule that we need to keep in mind when we generally begin to pray to God. The Monk Mios of Cilicia said that obedience is given for obedience: God listens to those who obey Him. This is, in essence, the most important answer. Our life, far from not only the spirit of the Gospel, but even from the desire to follow the Gospel commandments in practice, is the greatest obstacle to God fulfilling our prayers.

And vice versa, if a person’s life is entirely devoted to fulfilling God’s commandments here on earth, then the Lord simply turns the whole life of such a person into a miracle, because he fulfills everything he asks. You know, parents who see that their child does everything to please them - he studies great, cleans the house, and takes care of himself - as a rule, they cannot be overjoyed with their child and are ready to give him any gift, oh which he will ask, and maybe he won’t even ask, but they themselves will guess that he needs it. Why? Because they are not afraid to spoil him and want to at least somehow reward his diligence. This happens to us too: the Lord does not reward either because there is nothing to reward, or because it will serve to our harm and not to our benefit.

Well, we probably also need to remind ourselves and others of this simple truth over and over again. When we ask God for something, we should never try to beg for something. Except, perhaps, for one situation: when we ask for forgiveness and salvation for us and our neighbors. In this prayer you can wear out your knees and break your heart, and nothing will be superfluous.

In all other cases, when we ask for something, we must add those words that the Lord Himself added in His prayer: however, not as I want, but as You want. This should be so connected with the spirit of our prayer that sometimes we may not even utter these words, but they seem to be implied by themselves. And, oddly enough, it is precisely this leaving the fulfillment of our prayer at the discretion of God—our refusal to insist on what we would like to ask for ourselves—that is often the guarantee that the Lord will fulfill our prayer. However, it will perform, perhaps, not at all as we expected.

We ask, to paraphrase the words of the Gospel, not a fish, but a snake - the Lord gives us a fish, we ask for a stone - He gives us bread. But in fact, we constantly ask for a snake, and stones, and something else more harmful to ourselves, but if we say at the same time: “Lord, not as I want, but as You want,” then the Lord gives us what what we really need.

Questions after the conversation

– I’ve already come across the following advice in two spiritual books: when you pray on your own, you need to give God the opportunity to say something to you, that is, as I understand it, not only speak in one direction, but somehow hear an answer from Him. How can this be achieved practically? Pray more slowly or what to do?

– I think that here, most likely, we are talking about the advice that Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh gave to one old nun and which was then quoted by many authors. But the fact is that this advice, misunderstood, brings significant spiritual harm to many people, because a person, following it, sometimes not only tries to let God act and speak in his soul, but begins to impatiently wait for some answer. And when a person is really expecting something like this, then, as a rule, the enemy comes and gives him what he is waiting for, or rather, what the person takes as expected. And thus it is not difficult to be deceived.

There is no need to wait for this answer; there should simply be as little of the human “I” in prayer as possible. The Lord fills everything with Himself, except for the place that man occupies: nothing in the world - neither plants, nor animals, nor inanimate nature - can “push” God out of itself, but man can. Only in man does the Lord constantly encounter resistance. At every all-night vigil we hear the cry: “For you are holy, our God, and you rest among the saints.” What do these words mean: “you rest in the saints”? That the Lord can, as it were, rest in the hearts of the saints, because the saints do not fight with Him. And we constantly fight with God. And when a proud and passionate person gets up to pray and asks God for something, then he has so much of himself in all this that this mass of demands and conditions leaves no place for God in his life and in his prayer. If we leave room for God to act in us, if we really want to act as the Lord wishes, then the answer will follow - not at this moment something will be said or openly, but the whole subsequent life will be an answer to this prayer.

If we talk about the advice of Metropolitan Anthony, then he gave this advice to an elderly nun who tried not to constantly pray the Jesus Prayer, but to repeat it. And he realized that she relied so much on the frequency of repetition of this prayer, on her zeal in it, and put so much effort into repeating it non-stop that, apparently, the prayer as such had completely gone away. It was no longer the act of repentance that it essentially should be. And he said something like: stop and let God act somehow, and not just do something yourself all the time. And when she left this circle, in which she was spinning like a squirrel in a wheel, for a moment, her zeal and jealousy, which certainly took place, became the basis for the Lord to truly calm her heart. And if you now take a “man from the street” who doesn’t even think about God, and give him the advice that Metropolitan Anthony gave to this woman - sit in a chair, don’t think about anything, and you will hear an answer from God in your heart , – I don’t know what the person will hear. That's why she heard it because she was looking for Him all the time, but did not know that for this she needed to get rid of herself at least for a moment.

– If you are praying and suddenly the phone rings, what should you do?

– It is best, as experience shows, in most cases to turn off the phone when starting to pray, that is, to make sure that this choice simply does not confront us. There are exceptions: for example, if we know that we have one of our relatives and friends who is seriously ill and can call us at any moment and ask for help. Yes, you probably can’t turn off your phone then.

If we are busy with some kind of work - out of church obedience, at work, out of duty - and we have time to pray, but we know that at any moment we may be asked to return to work, then yes, we also need to be ready to interrupt prayer and answer the phone because we are praying, taking advantage of this free time. If we are at home and nothing connects us, then we need to turn off the phone and pray without looking at it.

– What if it’s not the phone ringing, but someone close to you calling at that moment?

– As for loved ones... If something happened to a loved one in this apartment, then, of course, you need to leave prayer and go help him. But you need to teach your loved ones that at this time there is simply no need to disturb you unless there is a real need, that you need to respect what your soul needs, especially since the time of prayer is not so long: not three, not four or five Unfortunately, it takes us hours, but much less.

– And if during prayer you begin to remember your sins, then what should you do?

– Continue prayer, praying, among other things, for the forgiveness of these sins. There is no need to rush and immediately write them down and then confess them. It’s okay: if the Lord reminds us of these sins, He will remind us after prayer, that is, He will not let us forget about them.

– Is it possible to listen to prayers in audio recordings? Now there are various discs with the morning and evening rules, the procedure for Communion...

– Who are these audio recordings primarily intended for? First of all, for people who are blind and visually impaired; also for people who are illiterate (there are, however, few of them, but this option is also suitable for them); for a person who lies in a state of serious illness and is unable to rise and pray; Well, and, probably, for those people who are so relaxed that for them prayer is something impossible, and listening to prayers in the potential can gradually lead them to prayer in practice, in reality.

I have repeatedly seen people who came to church for the first time for service after watching the Easter service on TV - and this, of course, happens. But in principle, if we are not blind, not sick and not completely relaxed, then, of course, we must pray ourselves. And listening to prayers in this case does not replace one’s own prayer. Probably, a person who wants to know the psalms better can listen to a recording of the psalms - this will be quite appropriate. But precisely for informational purposes, and not instead of reading the Psalter. Therefore, it is better for yourself to choose the traditional way of prayer.

– Please tell me, if you don’t know a person, but they ask you to pray for him, how to do it correctly? It’s difficult when you have almost no idea who you’re praying for...

– The Monk Barsanuphius the Great, when he was asked similar questions, said that there is no need to take on a certain feat of prayer for a stranger, unknown to us, but it is enough to turn to God at least once with a request that the Lord have mercy on this person. If our life is such that we often pray for different people - both acquaintances and strangers, and this is already some kind of activity akin to our life, then, probably, we can pray more constantly, but then the question is not will arise. In essence, you will fulfill the request for prayer if you pray at least once.

– I also have this question: how to pray? Someone asks you to pray for a mutual friend, and you know that this friend is, say, an alcoholic, a drug addict, a psychic. Do I need to take a blessing in order to pray for such a person or can I not ask?

– I apologize, these are completely different things – an alcoholic, a drug addict and a psychic. As for a drug addict or alcoholic, if there is an opportunity to ask a question about this to the priest to whom you are confessing, and to take a blessing for such a prayerful feat, for the sake of this person, it is better to do it.

The only thing that must always be kept in mind is that when we pray for a person in such an abyss, the Lord may somehow demand that we answer for this prayer in our lives, because when we simply pray, it has one strength, and when we are ready to pray for this person, regardless of certain sorrows that befall us, then, of course, our prayer has a completely different force.

As for praying for psychics, I think you shouldn’t take it upon yourself, and you shouldn’t even ask the priest’s blessing for this, because, as a rule, nothing good comes of it. You can simply say: “Lord, save this person and lead him away from this error, and have mercy on me, a sinner.” But there is no point in taking on regular prayer for him.

Does God hear a sinner's prayer? Does God often answer the prayers of unbelievers? I have several friends who may not be saved. It says that God hears the prayers of the righteous, that is, in my understanding, those who are saved (James 5:16, 1 Peter 3:12, Psalm 33:18, Proverbs 15:29, etc.) d.).

So confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. the righteous has great power. (James 5:16)

For the eye of the Lord is upon those who are righteous, and His ear is open to their prayers. But the Lord turns His face away from those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12)

His name is the righteous, and the Lord delivers from all failures. (Psalm 33:18)

The Lord is far from evil people, but He always hears the prayers of the good. (Proverbs 15:29)

But an unbeliever, according to the Bible, can also pray for things that are in accordance with God's will. For example:

• the example of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28, where she asked Jesus to heal her daughter;
• the example of the centurion in Matthew 8:5-13 when he answered his request;
• The people of Nineveh prayed and God answered them.

Additionally, God is independent, compassionate, and cares for people. Is it possible that He can answer the prayer of anyone who sincerely turns to Him, regardless of whether the person is a true Christian or not?

I believe that you have already answered the question for yourself regarding whether God hears the prayers of sinners. Let me add a couple of thoughts.

It is obvious that a saved person has a closer relationship with God than a person who is not yet saved, but it is also obvious that God can hear the prayers of sinners. In John 9:31, the statement that “God does not listen to sinners” was used by the author to make his point, but he does not speak with authority.

In response, the one who received his sight said to them: “It is strange that you do not know where He comes from, but He gave me sight. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but only to those who are devoted to Him and do His will. It has never been heard of anyone giving sight to a person who was born blind. If This Man had not been sent by God, He could not have done any of this.” (John 9:30-33)

Isaiah 59:2 uses the following phrase: “The Lord sees your sins and turns away from you,” but this turn is relative, as I understand it, also based on what you indicated.

Again, God listens more carefully to the prayers of saved people with whom He has a close relationship and in whom the Holy Spirit lives. But we can also point out dozens of examples in the Bible when God heard the prayers of sinners - those who were not Christians in , and those who did not belong to the people of God (Jews) - in the Old.

My favorite example is Acts 10:1-6, where Cornelius is told in no uncertain terms that his prayers and gifts to the poor received the attention of God.

In Caesarea there lived a man named Cornelius. He was a centurion of the Italian regiment. He himself, like all his household, was God-fearing and devoted to God. He gave generously to help the poor and constantly prayed to God. One day, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, he had a vision, and he clearly saw an angel of God who appeared to him and said: “Cornelius!” He looked at him in fear and said: “What, Lord?” The angel answered him: “God remembers your prayers and gifts to the poor. Now people went to Joppa for a certain Simon, called Peter, who was staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is near the sea.” (Acts 10:1-6)

Take it if you want to test your knowledge of the Bible and the basics of Christianity.

He will call to Me, and I will hear him.

(Ps. 90:15).

Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.

(John 16, 23).

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

(Matt. 7, 7-8).

These people draw near to Me with their lips, and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

(Matt. 15:8).

And this is the boldness we have towards Him, that when we ask according to His will, He listens to us.

(1 John 5:14).

Etc O you sit and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, but in order to use it for your lusts.

(James 4:3).

God is not like his brother, but rather helps.

Russian proverb.

The Good Giver looks at both the request and the time. Just as fruit taken before its time is harmful, so a gift given at the wrong time causes harm, but later it is useful. If the request is untimely, then the Giver hesitates to fulfill it.

Listen, beloved: even if you are denied what you ask for, do not stop crying out to God, do not become disheartened that you will not be heard. Remember the Canaanite woman and be jealous of her patience; remember how she was denied what she asked for. Why do the disciples come to Christ and speak for her: let her go because she is screaming after us(Matt. 15:23). Rejected her completely? He refused her quite a bit, but gave her what she asked for, for our learning, so that we, having received a refusal, would know how to stand in our request.

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian (IV century).

How will God be humane if He fulfills a request that is harmful to me?

Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria (c. 1107).

Do not try to immediately receive what you ask for, as if acquiring it by force. God wants, if you remain in prayer, to show you greater benefits. And what is higher than this: talking with God and being drawn into communication with Him?

Venerable Nile of Sinai (IV-V centuries).

When we pray, and God is slow to hear, he does so for our benefit, in order to teach us long-suffering; and therefore there is no need to lose heart, saying: we prayed and were not heard. God knows what is good for a person.

Venerable Barsanuphius the Great (VI century).

God does not despise prayers, but sometimes He does not fulfill their desires solely in order to arrange everything better according to His Divine intention. What would happen if God - the Omniscient - completely fulfilled our desires? I think, although I do not claim, that all earthly creatures perished.

Venerable Leo of Optina (+1841).

Whoever sins and does not give up on sin, his prayer is not accepted.

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-1783).

Every person wants to help and pay attention to those whom he sees not sleeping, not lazy, but ready, disposed and willing to do what they need to do. How can you, who are soundly asleep and not caring about your salvation, ask for irresistible help for yourself and are upset when you do not receive it? Let what is in your power precede, then what depends on this help will follow.

Venerable Isidore Pelusiot (5th century).

The Lord hears everyone's prayers. Only the proud are not accepted. And he always accepts those who are humble and self-reproaching. The Lord helps you, but you cannot see it. He cannot leave you because he loves you.

Rev. Anatoly Optinsky (Zertsalov) (1824-1894).

Have you ever seen a good-natured and attentive person? How attentive he is, he will not utter a single word, he will enter into the power or essence of your every request, every word. And God is incomparably more attentive: He is attentive to every movement of the soul, to every movement of the heart, to every sigh; not a single drop of tear, not a single particle of a drop will be hidden from Him.

That is why you do not receive from God what you ask for, because you do not abandon the abomination of idolatry: serving the belly. You ask the true God, but you work for God the womb.

Gather your thoughts from the scattering of the world and turn them entirely to God; make peace with everyone; let peace and silence reign in your heart - let all passions, all attachments of the heart to earthly things be silent, sigh deeply and sincerely, shed warm and unfeigned tears for your sins, look at your sins, condemn yourself mercilessly and sincerely: and you will see that the Lord does not will make you wait for Him; Still saying you say: lo and behold, I'm dead(Wed: Dan. 9, 21, 23).

Righteous John of Kronstadt (1829-1908).

Whoever does not consider himself a sinner, his prayer is not accepted by God.

If you pray to God for something and He is slow to hear you, do not grieve about it. You are no smarter than God. This is done to you either because you are not worthy to receive what you ask, or because the ways of your heart are not consistent, but contrary to what you ask, or because you have not yet reached the measure that is necessary in order to accept the gift, what you ask.

Venerable Isaac the Syrian (VII century).

God doesn't hear? God hears and sees everything. Only your desire to fulfill does not find it useful for you. He plunged you into the fire of temptation in order to burn out everything wrong from you, and will not extinguish this fire until you are completely cleansed. You now look like bread planted in an oven. The housewife will not take the bread out of the oven until she is sure that it is baked; and the Lord will not bring you out of the furnace of your sorrow until He sees that you are firmly established in good dispositions.

If what is asked sometimes slows down, it depends on the unwillingness of the person asking to accept what is asked.

You crossed yourself once or twice, and you expect that the whole sky is about to move to your aid; Meanwhile, you yourself are not moving even a hair's breadth towards what God requires of you in your present circumstances. How can I hear you? Repent, confess your sins, commit to correcting your heart’s dispositions, and wait to see how God is pleased to arrange for you, without predetermining it. Then even if the thought comes to you that God does not hear, you will still have at least some reason for it. But I think that such a thought will no longer come. For then your conscience will assure you that you have still suffered little compared to your sins, and will force you to pray: add more, Lord, so that you may be completely cleansed.

God's help is always ready and always close, but it is given only to those who seek and work, and, moreover, when those who seek have tried all their means and begin to cry out with their full hearts: “Lord, help!” And as long as there remains, even a small, expectation of something from one’s own ways, the Lord does not interfere here.

Prayer will never be in vain, whether the Lord fulfills the request or not. Out of ignorance, we often ask for unhelpful and harmful things. Without doing this, God will give us something else for our prayer work, unbeknownst to us.

If we want, we can do anything. For if we want, we will seek it; having sought, let us pray; Having prayed, we will receive help, and with this help we can do everything. This is what the apostle says: I can do all things through Christ the Lord who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13). But, of course, you don’t need to ask weakly and not somehow hope, but both strongly, deeply and diligently.

Saint Theophan, Recluse of Vyshensky (1815-1894).

God does not listen to the prayer of such a person who himself disobeys God.

All Scripture testifies that a person is not heard by God if he prays to God not in labor and fatigue of the body, not from an environment of deprivation, not from a contrite and humble heart. Let us all begin with earnest prayer to the goodness of God in tears, in the dejection of the body through exploits and hardships, showing humility before every person, humbling ourselves before our brethren as before those who are superior to us in all respects, not repaying evil for evil to anyone, not harboring evil thoughts about anyone in heart, having one heart and one soul with everyone.

Venerable Isaiah (IV century).

God, out of boundless goodness and mercy, is always ready to give everything to man, but man is not always ready to accept anything from Him.

Prayer without love cannot be heard.

Our prayers are fruitless because these are not diligent and persistent requests that would come from the depths of the soul and in which the whole soul would be poured out, but only weak desires that we utter without exciting the spirit and think that they should be fulfilled by themselves; or because our requests are unclean and evil, that we ask for what is harmful and not useful for our soul, or we ask not for the glory of God, but to satisfy our carnal and selfish desires.

There is no person whose prayer could not become strong if he firmly and sincerely desires it, with faith and trust in God; and there is no thing in which prayer cannot become effective, unless the object of prayer is contrary to the wisdom and goodness of God and the good of the one praying.

Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow (1783-1867).

At a time when the Lord does not send us what we ask for, He seems to be preparing, as if determining how best to reward us. Our persistent request is as pleasing to God as it is disgusting to people: from it God sees that we earnestly desire what we ask for and that we do not want to receive these benefits from anyone other than God.

Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) (XX-XXI centuries).

If our prayers are not immediately heard, it means that He does not want what we want to happen to us, but that. What does He want? In this case, He desires and prepares for us something greater and better than what we ask Him for in prayer. Therefore, every prayer must be ended with contrition: Father, Thy will be done, not mine.!

Through Isaiah the Lord spoke to the disobedient people: “When you multiply your prayers, I don’t hear.” And a little further: “If you are submissive and obedient, you will taste the good things of the earth.” So, this means that God listens to us when we listen, and does not listen when we do not listen. He also doesn’t listen to us when we ask for something harmful and unreasonable...
Something else. Why do you pray to God only in adversity? By doing this you belittle yourself and insult your God. Our Creator wants us to constantly feel his presence and to constantly communicate with him in prayer. "Pray without ceasing"(1 Thess. 5:17).

Saint Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirović) (1881-1956).

When we want mercy from God, we must first show ourselves worthy of this mercy.

Saint John Chrysostom (407).

Previously, I thought that the Lord worked miracles only through the prayers of saints, but now I learned that the Lord will create a miracle for a sinner as soon as his soul humbles himself, for when a person learns humility, then the Lord listens to his prayers.

Venerable Silouan of Athos (1866-1938).

Everyone who asks God for something and does not receive it, without a doubt, does not receive it for any of these reasons: either because they ask ahead of time; or because they ask not out of merit, but out of vanity; or because, having received what they asked, they would become proud or fall into negligence.

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?

God gives more than we ask. The publican asked for absolution, but received an acquittal. The robber asked the Lord to remember him in the Kingdom, but the first inherited paradise.

Venerable John Climacus (649).

It often happens that we foolishly ask ourselves not for bread, but for a stone, not for a fish, but for a scorpion, because we often do not know what to pray for as we should.

If someone, having long prayed to God for the fulfillment of any of his requests, does not receive what he asked, then let him know that the Merciful Heavenly Father is in no hurry to fulfill his request, either because what he asked will not serve the petitioner’s benefit, or he postpones the fulfillment of the request in order to , to force the petitioner to pray more often and accustom him to patience for greater reward.
And it often happens that unheard prayer brings peace of mind and heart, from which we can know the will of God, that it is not in fulfilling what we ask, but in completely surrendering ourselves to the will of God regarding the requested subject, that God’s favor is revealed.

Saint John, Metropolitan of Tobolsk (1715).

If He does not give us something, either in order to test us, or in order to protect us, then we will not only accept it with joy, but also reflect on it in order to benefit from it. He knows when and how to help His creation, He helps in the way known to Him at the right time. However, His weak creation often lacks patience; it wants to receive what it asks for right away, like a small child who asks its mother for a half-baked bagel and cannot wait until it is ready.

You can have faith not only the size of a mustard seed, but also the size of a kilogram of mustard, but if there is no humility corresponding to faith, then God will not act, because it will not benefit a person. If there is pride, then faith does not work.

Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets (1924-1994).

Maria, Irkutsk

Does the Lord hear the prayers of people of other religions?

I have a question. Does the Lord and Christian saints hear the prayers of people of other religions, for example, Muslims, if the prayer is addressed not to the Lord, but to Allah? After all, it happens that, for example, a childless Muslim couple asks Allah for a child, and after some time they become parents. How should we feel about this? Thanks in advance for your answers! God bless you!

One should not perceive God and his saints as some kind of machines for dispensing good deeds! Converted - received a good deed, did not convert - did not receive a good deed. Everything in our world is arranged and exists only according to the will of God, and not according to the will of man. Whatever, whenever, to whomever happens, it happens because God willed it. And those requests that a person turns to God and which are fulfilled happen only because they coincide with the will of God, and not because the person asked someone.

All people are God's creations. Everyone's life depends on Him. Regardless of whether a person believes in God or not. The birth or non-birth of children is the will of God. Therefore, the fact that God sends children to whomever He wants is the will of God. And this is not always connected even with turning to God. Therefore, establishing a connection between the prayer of Muslims and the birth of their children is not entirely correct.

On the other hand, God helps everyone, regardless of the person’s attitude towards God. Therefore, everyone living on earth receives God's mercy. Including through the saints of God. There is a well-known example of how Saint Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow, healed the wife of the Tatar khan. Even though she was not a Christian. Such cases occur quite often in our time. And here it is important to understand the essential point. If a non-Christian turns to Christian saints for help, he thereby indirectly professes his faith in the Christian God. Therefore, it seems to me that the appeals of non-Christians to the Christian God and His saints are especially pleasing to the Creator. And He pays special attention to these petitions.