What is this?
Calling a priest to consecrate an apartment means inviting a priest into a home for the purpose of conducting a ceremony to expel evil spirits and invoke God’s grace.
Calling a minister may be required in the following cases:
- When a family changes their place of residence, I would like to receive a blessing to live in a new place.
- After the death of one of the residents of the house (especially if the death was violent, suicide occurred).
- We need to strengthen our mental strength.
- There is a seriously ill person in the family.
- I want to find happiness and prosperity in my home.
- Check-in to a new building (a new house, according to church canons, requires a blessing).
- Strange things are happening in the room.
Consecration is a rite of Orthodox Christianity, during which any objects and places are cleansed from the negative influence of the otherworldly demonic world. In order to consecrate the apartment, they turn to the temple servants.
If there is a need to consecrate a house, you need to do a number of the following actions:
- Visit the nearest temple.
- Approach the priest and ask him to bless the apartment, agree on the day and time of arrival.
- Purchase and prepare the necessary paraphernalia (candles, icons, holy water).
- Wait for the priest to arrive or pick him up in your own transport.
- Attend the ritual.
- Pay for the work done.
- Thank the priest.
The process of consecrating an apartment is as follows:
- Reading the prayer “Our Father”, Psalm 90. The celebrant prays for those living in the room and for specific people.
- Blessing with olive oil.
- Sprinkling the room with holy water.
The ritual lasts from 20 to 30 minutes .
Sometimes the priest is asked to come again.
Is it possible to consecrate yourself?
Contrary to the widespread belief in the need to invite a priest for this rite, the church is not forbidden to carry it out on its own. The answer of the clergy to the question of whether it is possible to consecrate the house themselves will be in the affirmative.
Of course, it is not always possible to carry out the consecration ceremony yourself. Moreover, not everyone. People often confuse the rites of consecration of a home with rituals for its cleansing. There are no obstacles or conditions for cleaning your home on your own. But the possibility of consecrating a home on your own still has limitations.
What does the price depend on?
The cost of consecrating an apartment by a priest varies and depends on the following factors:
- Family financial situation.
- The generosity of the man who called the priest.
- Method of calling a priest.
- Features of the temple.
- Room type.
- The purpose of calling a priest.
- Number of rooms in the house.
- Region where the church is located.
- Distance from the temple to the apartment.
- The need and price of church paraphernalia.
As a rule, the priest does not name the specific cost of his work. If a family has financial difficulties, the priest will not refuse free help.
When buying an old house, is it better to consecrate or cleanse?
Before consecrating a purchased house, either on your own or by inviting a clergyman, you need to find out whether this ritual has already been performed. Of course, if the house is new, then there can be no doubt that it is not forbidden to carry out the consecration. But when purchasing an old house, this issue becomes important. This is exactly what any priest will ask a parishioner who comes to him for approval, support and blessing.
Church canons strictly prohibit re-consecration. It is generally accepted that such an action is blasphemy. After all, since the dwelling has already been consecrated, it means that it is under the jurisdiction of the Lord and under his protection. Repeated sanctification is nothing more than a manifestation of distrust in the Lord, an expression of doubt in Himself.
If the property being purchased had a single owner, it will not be particularly difficult to find out whether the house was consecrated. But if you buy an old home that has changed many generations of owners, for example, a village house built at the beginning of the last century, then it is almost impossible to find out whether it was consecrated. Even if the owners of the house were generations of convinced atheists, political workers or social activists of the local collective farm, one cannot miss the possibility that one of the owners could conduct a secret rite of consecration. Therefore, it is better to cleanse such houses from filth and evil, and not to sanctify them.
Types of service
You can call a priest to bless the room in one of the following ways:
- Through an intermediary (website).
- Directly upon visiting the temple.
- By phone (if you have priest’s contact numbers).
The last two options are the cheapest. When using the first method, you will have to pay the site owner for selecting and calling a clergyman.
You can bring the priest to the apartment using your own transport or arrange for him to arrive on your own.
In what cases is it necessary to consecrate?
When thinking about how to consecrate a house, people involuntarily wonder whether it is necessary to do this. In our country, the church did not participate in human life for many decades. Accordingly, houses were not consecrated and children were not baptized, but people lived quite well. Many new property owners think something like this, not quite sure who to turn to for consecration and believing that this process is complex and troublesome.
Indeed, it is not always necessary to consecrate a house, but only in certain situations. Consecration should be resorted to if in the purchased house:
- a crime has occurred;
- people lived poorly, went bankrupt, families broke up or children died;
- there were many seriously ill people among the previous owners;
- sinful, godless or satanic deeds were happening;
- there were fires, basement flooding, and regular roof subsidence.
Of course, no one will tell buyers about all this. Therefore, you need to pay attention and listen to your intuition. The main reason for consecrating a home is a deep conviction in the necessity of this, an irrational, inexplicable desire to consecrate the premises. Such sensations cannot be ignored, and if they arise, they must be sanctified.
Approximate prices
Temples do not post a price list for the consecration of an apartment by a priest. Therefore, you can call a clergyman absolutely free. To consecrate a house, time, money for travel and the purchase of attributes are spent. It is advisable to pay the priest so much that these costs are at least recouped. The temple exists through donations, and payment for the service is the salary of the worshiper.
Ordering a priest’s visit through the website will cost from 5,000 rubles for the consecration of apartments and about 10,000 for offices. When calling a priest when visiting a church or by telephone, the service can cost up to 3,000 rubles . In Moscow, people usually give from 1,000 to 3,000 , in small towns - 500-1,000 rubles .
What does sanctification require?
Every human action in this world has its consequences. Such an important act as the consecration of one’s home is no exception. This act obliges the people who committed it to live in piety and purity, both moral and everyday. After all, when they consecrate their home, they enthusiastically entrust their home to the Lord. They must take care of it accordingly, that is, as if it were a house that belongs to God, into which he can look at any moment.
You cannot sin in such a home. We must not forget about maintaining cleanliness and order. You cannot indulge in idleness and blasphemy. In other words, the consecration of housing is not only important from an energy point of view, it also serves as a powerful incentive for people. It is a core that does not allow them to indulge in idle laziness and wallow in the dirt, not only spiritual or moral, but also the most ordinary. After all, in a house entrusted to the Lord, one cannot ignore a layer of dust or unwashed window panes, a pile of unwashed laundry, a dirty stove and abandoned garbage.
Thus, consecrating a home disciplines a person. It prevents it from “spreading” over the sofa, which means it is a blessing not only for the soul, but also for simple everyday worldly life.
When taking holy water:
consecrated in church
The church distributes water to all parishioners throughout the year. It is consecrated in a small rite at every service. The rite of great consecration takes place only on the feast of Epiphany. All water brought from the Holy Abode of God is consecrated and has the same power.
holy water for baptism
On Epiphany there is a great rite of consecration. They begin to rule on the 18th, after the service you can get some Jordanian water. But after the night and early 19th, the entire Orthodox world brings home Epiphany.
How to bless a car with holy water
A car today has long ceased to be a luxury. It is an integral part of our lives; we spend a lot of time in it. It is also worth understanding that riding it is quite dangerous. You can protect yourself with icons, prayer and a special rite of consecration of vehicles. Transport includes everything you can ride on, except a bicycle.
For consecration, the transport must be driven to the church. The priest does not travel for such events. A series of prayers are read, the vehicle is blessed inside, outside, and under the hood. An icon, maybe a cross, is attached to the interior.
The priest will tell you some rules that must be strictly followed after the rite of consecration:
- There is no smoking inside the car;
- Adhere to traffic rules;
- Being irresponsible on the road, breaking rules, risking your own and others’ lives is a mortal sin. If all this begins to happen in a consecrated car, the driver has no forgiveness;
First of all, we protect not the car, but our own soul. The rite of consecration implies a general prayer, in which, in addition to the priest, the driver himself and people close to him participate.
If it is not possible to bring the car to the priest, you can carry out the rite of consecration yourself. It will not be possible to replace those strong prayers that are read by the priest. But for the time being, until you have the opportunity to come to the church, this method is a lifeline. A strongly religious person can perform such a ritual.
For the ceremony you need to have a candle purchased in the church. It must be set on fire with matches, and the car goes around in a circle (clockwise) three times.
At this time the following prayers are read:
Text of prayers:
It wouldn’t hurt at all if, before leaving home or going on a long journey, you read prayers that protect the driver himself, for example:
The meaning of the ritual
The basis of Orthodox church rituals is the desire to spiritualize human activity. Throughout his life, a believer must ask the Lord for his help and blessing. It is also good when the actions of the person asking are aimed at benefiting others.
The Orthodox call sanctification the rituals introduced by the church to fill life with divine grace. When a person sanctifies a house and the things belonging to it, he testifies to his trust in the Lord and confirms the belief that everything happens according to the will of the Almighty. With the help of prayer, any action becomes a sacred act. With its help, the church sanctifies everything necessary for the life of the person asking.
