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Surprisingly, some people do not attach any importance to this, considering this phenomenon absolutely normal. Despite this, many people still consider this an abnormal phenomenon and associate it with something negative. At the same time, there are even people who, after visiting church with such emotions, begin to seriously think about their behavior in life. What does it mean to cry in church and how priests explain it - we will consider below.
Should you pay attention to the desire to cry in church?
To the question of why you want to cry in church, you can find a huge number of answers, but it cannot be said that any of them is correct. Therefore, each person must understand for himself whether it is worth paying attention to the fact that he has a desire to shed tears, and also find out why this happens.
It must be said that most people believe that this phenomenon should not be paid attention to, since often a person programs himself for some thoughts and actions, so this desire depends only on the person’s own thoughts and his attitude to what is happening.
Orthodox Life
website of the Gorlovka and Slavic diocese
I came to work, and someone was crying next to me. What's happening? How to react? Should you offer help? Answered by Archpriest Mikhail Fomenko, rector of the Church of St. Vmch. Panteleimon at City Council No. 2 of Gorlovka.
First of all, we need to understand the reasons why people cry in churches. The first of them is a feeling of repentance for one’s sins. The priest needs to treat such a situation correctly, even support the person in this. Say that this is good and normal. In the Gospel, a harlot came to Christ and began to cry bitterly, washing His feet with her tears. He noticed this and did not reject her. Tears of repentance are good tears. With them a Christian softens and washes his soul.
It happens that a person comes to church and cries for a reason unknown to him - then tears well up in his eyes, and that’s it, he can’t help himself. In such a situation it is more difficult to understand. When we cut onions, we also cry, this happens reflexively: something irritates the eyes - tears begin to flow. The same thing happens to some people in the temple: something bothers the soul and they cry. Apparently, in the temple there are some irritants to which the soul of such a person responds, and this is expressed in crying.
Perhaps he is burned by the grace present in the church during services. This happens quite often: people who rarely go to church complain that they feel bad there: they feel dizzy, it becomes stuffy - although the temple may be large, with a lot of air. Something is tormenting them, some tears are welling up - they cannot understand what is wrong with them. This is a signal that you need to look from the outside at yourself, your life, your attitude towards God and the Church. Very often these are tears of grace, which mean that a person’s soul is hungry.
Tears are joyful when a believer is filled with joy about the Resurrection of Christ, hope for salvation and the mercy of the Lord. It happens that a person is touched by grace, and he cannot hold back tears of tenderness and delight. There are two opinions of church teachers regarding tears of joy. Some say that there is no need to show them, because it could tempt someone: not everyone was affected. For this reason, it is better to hold back such tears. Others believe that if you have been touched by the grace of God, you should not hide anything. Let everything that is inside you be on the outside: joy means joy, tears mean tears. I think in such a situation it is better to follow the golden mean: if a person is overwhelmed with feelings, let him express them, but without being too demonstrative.
As I already mentioned, tears of repentance are the most valuable tears. The saints say that you should soak your prayers in them every day. However, these tears sometimes hide a great temptation: a person can squeeze them out of himself to pretend that he is a great man of prayer, a faster or a mourner. This misleads both the person crying and those around him. In fact, these are the tears of the Pharisees, not real. It’s just that people are used to behaving this way in church.
I can say that in confession it also often happens when people come and seem to cry, but they don’t cry. They have tears in their eyes, but these are not tears of repentance, shame, or overcoming. They cannot be called sincere. Here we need to turn to psychology. There are such neuroses when a person demonstratively shows his mental pain so that they pay attention to him, feel sorry for him, say a comforting word, in order to feel significant in a certain situation. Very often, Orthodox Christians who come to church and pray have tears just like this: so that someone will pay attention, so that someone will come up and ask what happened.
Tears of sentimentality are also bad: they do not change a person. If he deliberately drives himself into such a state, then such tears become a habit, this is not good. Some people feed emotionally from this, but this state should not be encouraged.
How to react?
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh was asked what to do if children interfere with prayer in church. He replied: “If you really prayed, the children would not bother you.” When a person's heart is turned to God, he will not pay attention to what is happening around him. If you feel great empathy for the crying person, it is permissible to offer your help. The Apostle James says: “Faith without works is dead” (2 James 2:26), and helping your neighbor is a necessary thing. In any case, here you need to have delicacy and attentiveness. A person in a temple can experience catharsis—purification, and his tears are tears of relief and happiness. There is no need to disturb him, just as when he prays and tearfully asks God or the saints for something. It’s a completely different matter when some old woman is crying in the corner because she has nothing to eat. In this case, help is necessary.
Recorded by Ekaterina Shcherbakova
The reason for wanting to cry in church is a strong belief in God
It is worth saying that one of the most common reasons why you want to cry in church is a strong belief in God. Most people who experience this desire truly believe in God, and that is why they have such strong emotions. They cannot resist the words of the sermon and the church choir. Such people are very sensitive, so they simply cannot contain their emotions.
This phenomenon cannot be called any “bad” or “wrong”, since a person cannot be to blame for his sensitivity and sincerity. This is not to say that the desire to cry in church is strange, since everyone experiences going to this place differently. For some, this is a tradition that must be followed, and for others, it is a place where you can be alone with yourself and God.
What do priests think about why their parishioners cry in church?
Many priests say that a person begins to cry in church because he suddenly acutely senses how imperfect the world in which he lives is. Coming to a temple, a person (a believer, a doubter, or even an atheist) does not fully realize that it is in this place, like nowhere else on Earth, that he is given the opportunity to be alone with himself and escape from everything worldly.
It becomes obvious to any person in the temple that outside these walls the world is different - noisy and restless, evil and unfriendly. This, according to the priests, is what causes tears. Subconsciously, the truth of the Kingdom of Heaven is revealed to a person.
There are some priests who have a different opinion regarding the sudden flow of tears in the temple. They associate them with a devilish manifestation. In the sense that a person cries, that is, he feels bad, which means going to church is bad. The clergy say that in reality it is not so easy to pass such a devilish test and maintain emotional balance. But whoever succeeds in this will definitely be 100% able to get closer to God.
If you suddenly want to cry in church, everyone has the right to decide for themselves what to do: either rush to run away from it, or open their souls before the Lord and tell Him about everything that has been troubling them lately, repent of their sins and sincerely pray. Believers say that this brings great relief to their souls.
Curses, evil eyes and damage as reasons for the desire to cry in church
The answers to the question of why you feel like crying when you enter church can be completely different from person to person. It is worth saying that a lot depends on a person’s faith. If a person believes that this desire is caused by the good and kind emotions that he experienced while in church, then most likely it is so. However, there are many people who, when faced with this desire, are looking for some kind of catch. Perhaps not in vain, because there is another reason why when you come to church, you want to cry. To believe or not to believe in its veracity is up to you to decide.
There is one common and well-known assumption why, when entering a church, you want to cry.
Many people believe that a person who feels the urge to shed tears has been jinxed or cursed. This is explained by the fact that it is in the temple of God that a person feels that something is wrong with him. For some believers, this becomes a reason to confess and start going to church more often. Perhaps this version is true, but this cannot be confirmed. There are people who do not believe in damage, curses and the evil eye at all, so they believe that this is not the reason why they want to cry in church.
Why do you cry when you read a prayer?
This can occur both from penetration by prayer words, and because subconsciously a person may either not accept the words of prayer, or they may somehow offend him and remind him of sin.
In some cases, this happens if you resist prayer or read prayer words under duress.
This can happen if a person overdoes the prayer rule and tries to pray beyond his strength. God does not need such feats, so stop praying beyond measure.
The imperfection of the real world as a reason for the desire to cry in the temple of God
However, if you think that none of the above versions is the reason that caused this desire in you, there is another assumption that may help you figure out why you want to cry after church.
Some priests say that one may want to shed tears because of the feeling of imperfection of the real world in which we live. When a person is in church, he communicates with God, he has the opportunity to be with himself and take a mental break from the bustle of the world. That is why tears may well up in his eyes, because the believer understands that the world outside God’s house is not so calm, kind and sincere. A person may cry because he imagines how good it would be if the kingdom of God came.
How do priests explain the desire to cry in church?
A person who has encountered this phenomenon is interested in knowing why one feels like crying in church. The priest's answer is the most important for them. In their opinion, it is the priest who can give the correct answer and advise how to get rid of this desire.
Priests say that the desire to cry in church is caused by the Devil. He allegedly specifically brings this state down on the believer so that he no longer goes to church and turns away from God. In such situations, priests advise not to succumb to these feelings and bad condition, since only after going through all the trials will a believer become closer to God.
Tears of Peace
Photo: Orthodoxmoscow.ru
True believers who regularly attend churches and pray at home often admit that they are capable of literally bursting into tears during ordinary home prayer or worship. At these moments they experience an amazing feeling of reverence in the face of the Almighty. Priests know well that such crying can give a person peace and tranquility. This is a sign of a person’s feeling of God’s grace descending on him after the touch of the Holy Spirit.
Sincerely believing people are able to be imbued with a special feeling of joy while reading the Bible, since the Word in the Holy Scripture affects not only the mind, but also the heart of a person.
What to do if you want to cry in church?
The correct answer cannot be imposed on anyone, because each person lives by his own principles and decides for himself whether to believe what others say or not. Therefore, it is impossible to find one correct answer to the question: “Why do you want to cry in church?” Father's answer may seem incorrect to some. This is because some people do not believe that the Devil can have a negative influence on people.
It is possible that someone will not find a single “correct” answer to the question “why do you cry in church,” and this is not at all surprising. Religion and faith in God is something intimate and hidden for everyone. Someone is very sensitive to it, and such a phenomenon as the desire to cry in a temple can cause a lot of worries and negative emotions in him.
When do people in church start crying?
Photo: Pravoslavie.ru
In most cases, tears appear in believers at funerals, when they mourn the deceased, and at the Sacraments of Baptism and Wedding, when tears of joy arise. In such situations, people are overwhelmed with emotions, both negative and positive, so the appearance of tears is not surprising. But often tears appear on the face of a believer during the reading of a prayer, divine liturgy or confession. Explaining their origin is much more difficult.
Parishioners often wonder how normal it is, by whose will tears appear on the cheeks - the Almighty or the devil. It is worth noting that the reasons for the appearance of tears in the temple are individual, each case requires careful consideration. Often tears can appear when a person feels the condescension of God’s grace upon him; others cry when they receive a clear answer to their prayer, an appeal to the Almighty. It is extremely difficult to control your emotions in such a situation.
It is important not to focus your attention on the need to definitely cry in church. However, when sincere tears appear, you should not be ashamed of them. By opening his soul to the Lord, a person once again demonstrates sincerity and willingness to do anything to serve the Almighty.
Tears in the temple in most cases become a manifestation of one of the following feelings:
- cleansing;
- grace;
- repentance;
- peace;
- joy;
- gratitude.
Is turning to priests, fortune tellers, psychics the solution?
If you are really worried about this and think that this phenomenon is not normal, then it is best to seek advice from a priest. Perhaps he can clarify the situation and give valuable advice. It is possible that you will be able to get rid of the desire to cry in church, or you will simply stop attaching importance to it. In any case, you must act according to your heart!
It is worth saying that many people crying in church assume that they have been damaged, jinxed, etc. In this regard, they have a desire to turn to fortune tellers, psychics, etc. However, if you are a believer, then This is not recommended. The Church does not accept fortune telling, psychic abilities, etc. But every person has the right to make his own choice and do as he sees fit. Therefore, if you think that turning to people with the gift of clairvoyance is the only way out, follow your heart.
