There are several prayers that all Orthodox Christians know. Many of them, only taking their first steps in the church, beginning their spiritual education, comprehend and understand the meaning of the common expression from Russian literature “To know like the Lord’s Prayer.” It is to such prayers, which everyone knows as “Our Father,” that the hymn “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” also applies.
This beautiful prayer, which was set to music by the best composers and sung by the best singers, is capable of softening even the hardest heart and cleansing the darkest soul, so strong and sincere are the words sung in it.
The meaning of the prayer “We worship Your Cross, Master”
The prayer is a troparion, which is sung aloud in church. He glorifies the Life-giving Cross, God, his earthly miracles and the accomplishments that he continues to create in heaven.
On this Cross, which is a wooden pillar, Jesus was crucified. In 326, he became the main symbol of Christianity; his worship is performed in the middle of Lent.
The prayer is a troparion glorifying the Life-Giving Cross
Prayer helps protect yourself and your loved ones from illness, evil, damage, dangerous deeds and grief.
In this case, worship is performed not only to the symbol of the wooden Cross, which is a means of execution, but also to the image of God on it. This is a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ, a weapon against the evil one.
The chant “We worship Thy Cross, O Master” is of great importance for every believer. It recalls the most important event in the life of Christianity - the Holy Resurrection, when God rose to heaven and revealed his nature to the world after prolonged suffering for sinners, and also emphasizes the importance of honoring this holiday and the importance of turning to the Savior.
Meaning
Everyone who sings a song in honor of the risen Christ understands its deep meaning: “We know that Christ has risen, we remember that for the sake of our salvation he endured suffering and humiliation. But thanks to his death, we were all saved, because he trampled death and gave us all eternal life. And everyone should thank and praise the Savior for this great sacrifice.”
But the words of the prayer are so beautiful and harmonious that I want to call them Divine. And no translation into a modern language will reflect their wonderful sound in the original.
First, in this prayer, people confirm that they know about the Resurrection, although, of course, they have not seen it with their own eyes, but they believe in the Gospel. Then they worship the Cross and know that only one God exists and they are his followers and believe only in him, like no one else.
But people cannot describe in simple words all their gratitude, which is why a beautiful chant was composed, which allows us on Easter and subsequent days not only to rejoice in the Resurrection and salvation, but also to glorify the risen God who lives in our souls.
If someone else does not remember the words of the prayer by heart, then it does not matter. When the choir begins to sing them, they seem to come from the depths of the soul and are already remembered forever. But to do this, you need to understand what exactly happens on Easter - that every year we experience our salvation anew. And as long as there is Resurrection, there is humanity.
How to read a prayer message
The prayer appeal is best said in church during the thanksgiving and solemn service of Lent.
It is also customary to read the prayer at home with a lit candle in combination with other troparia and chants.
During this, you should adhere to the following recommendations:
- try to learn the text and pronounce it out loud without reading;
- during prayer, do not think about anything other than the prayer itself;
- imagine the images of Christ and the Cross, pray to them and at the end kiss both shrines.
Thanksgiving and solemn service in Lent
Prayer ritual at home
During the prayer service you need to light a candle
A. On the twelfth holidays
Today we, dear fathers, brothers and sisters, together with the entire Holy Orthodox Russian Church, celebrate the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her elderly pious parents Joachim and Anna, who received a revelation from above that they would have a daughter in their declining years, made a sacred vow to dedicate Her to the Lord. And when the Most Blessed Virgin was three years old, her parents brought Her to God’s temple and handed Her over to the high priest.
According to the vow of her parents, the Blessed Virgin was only to be “sacredly brought up”
before the Lord” for several years, but She Herself decided to devote Her entire life to one God.
Having experienced the joy of spiritual communion and unity with the heavenly world in the temple of God, She could no longer belong to anyone other than God. According to the testimony of pious tradition, the Virgin Mary spent 11 years in the temple and during this time she received such perfect spiritual education that she was honored to be animated by the ark of God, to become the temple of the Most High God. Noting this great significance of the temple for the Blessed Virgin, St. The Church calls Her by various names related to the temple: “curtain”, “iron”, “meal”, “much-bright candlestick”, “pleasant censer”, “pure sacrifice”, “greater holy of holies”.
If the temple had such significance for She Who is glorified as more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim without comparison, then what important place should it occupy in the life of us - people from sinful childhood?!
For us, the temple is the house of our heavenly Father, the house of God, the place of our spiritual birth and growth for eternity, the refuge and peace of our hearts among the worries and adversities of the sea of life. “In the temple of God, good, simple, believing souls are like
in the house of the Heavenly Father: so it is free for them here and easy, easy.”
The temple is the most convenient and decent place for prayer. Here we are surrounded by a pure, holy, heavenly atmosphere. The faces of the holy Apostles, Martyrs, Reverends, Hierarchs of the Church look at us from St. icons and listen to our petitions. Here our ancestors, our relatives, loved ones, those who have already left this temporary life, but, we believe, in their spirit stand with us in prayer, offered their fervent prayers. Everything here is holy and prayed for. Here is heaven on earth. That is why the testimony of many biographies of saints becomes clear that nowhere have there been so many visions and revelations of Heaven as in churches during divine services. “Oh, holy temple!
- exclaims one of our domestic prayer-book pastors, -
how good and sweet it is to pray in you!
For where is fiery prayer if not within your walls, before the throne of God and before the face of Him who sits on it!”102 In the temple of God there is also something that is not even in heaven. In it, on the altar on the throne, the universal sacrifice that Christ the Savior once made on the cross for the entire human race is offered. He who stands in the temple during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy stands as if on Calvary at that very great hour when the lips of the Son of God said on the cross: “It is finished.”
- and heaven and earth were reconciled.
On the same throne one of the greatest and most saving mysteries takes place: the transfiguration of St. Gifts of the honest Blood and honest Body of Christ and our God. And the one who, with the fear of God and faith, with love and reverence, eats this holy. Brashna, in the words of the Savior Himself, “has an eternal life”
(John 6:57).
The temple is a spiritual hospital left for us by Christ the Savior Himself. Whether our conscience torments us, whether our spirit suffers from iniquities, whether there is peace in our bones from the face of our sins - the healing oil for all these sawing spiritual ulcers is always available in the temple. To the Shepherds of St. To the Church, the sanctified builders of the mysteries of God, the Savior Himself entrusted judgment over the sinful world, saying to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit, forgive their sins, they will be forgiven, and hold on to them.”
(John 20:22–23). All that is needed is sincere repentance with a firm determination not to sin again - and one who is dead in sins will become a living temple of God.
The temple is the main Orthodox school of faith and piety. It proclaims and through it spreads that Divine light that is necessary both for earthly life and for eternal life. In church, an Orthodox Christian learns faith in God, glorified in the Holy Trinity; experiences the effect of the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit and the affinity of its acquisition and storage. Here he learns to delve into his own heart, into his conscience and find there the gold of goodness and pure truth. The entire rite, the order of worship, was built by the divine Apostles and God-enlightened Fathers of the Church in such a way that everything necessary for true faith and Christian life is taught in it. In addition to spiritual prayers, St. Gospel, messages of St. Apostles, other holy books; a sermon is preached. You just need to come to the temple with a sincere desire for spiritual edification and stand in it with attention and reverence, so that everything that happens in it is deeply infused into our minds and hearts. We hear, for example, the commandment of our Savior: love your neighbor as you love yourself.
(Matthew 22:39), help him in word and deed, do not judge him, do not insult him, do not offend him... - you need to ask yourself: are we doing this in our lives, are we showing truly true Christian love for our neighbor? ! The Word of God must be listened to in church as if the Lord Himself was addressing us with His divine instruction.
In the temple of God our salvation begins, is accomplished and ends. Here we were washed from spiritual filth in the sacrament of Baptism, and sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Confirmation. Here we are mysteriously united with Christ, according to the word of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, we become “Christ-bearers”,
eating St.
Gifts. We come here to mourn our sins and pour out our sorrows and sorrows before the Lord - and we leave here reconciled, encouraged, and consoled. We come here on days of joy to thank the Lord for His great and generous mercies towards us. Our mortal remains will be brought here when our earthly journey ends. But even after this, a prayer will be offered in the temple, the Bloodless Sacrifice will be performed so that the Lord will accept our soul into His eternal settlements, “where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing.”
That is why both people weak in spirit and people strong in faith, saints who became carriers of the Spirit of God - living temples, tried to visit St. temple, they entered it with special love and considered the hours spent in it to be the best of their life. The history of the ancient Church has preserved facts indicating that the first Christians loved the temple so much that they were ready to give their lives, but not to skip the services. Even those of them who were imprisoned for confessing their faith tried to find an opportunity to visit God’s temple on holidays.
Anyone who rarely visits temple does not have sufficient love for God, who dwells in it as in His home. Therefore, the strict decision of St. The Fathers of the VI Ecumenical Council, who declared: “If... a layman, not having any urgent need or obstacle,..., on three Sundays... does not come to a church meeting..., let him be removed from communion.”
(Project 80).
Sometimes they justify their rare visits to the temple by the fact that it is difficult to stand in the temple, which, they say, is harmful to health. – It’s strange for a believer to hear this, because the temple is a spiritual hospital. From the shrines kept in it, from the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior, abundant gifts are given for physical health and spiritual salvation. If a person is truly weak, then let him stand in the temple less than the other, but let this standing be non-slothful, real combustion, flame, and not decay or smoking.
There are also people who avoid visiting the temple under the pretext that much of what happens in it is incomprehensible to them. It is necessary, first of all, to draw the attention of such people to the fact that most of the church prayers are understandable, and understandable not only to those who often visit the temple, but also to those who crossed its threshold for the first time. Can anyone not understand the frequent repetition of “Lord, have mercy,” “Give, Lord,” or
exclamations of the clergyman:
“Let us become kind, let us become fearful,” “Bow your heads to the Lord,” “Glory to Thee, Christ God, our hope, glory to Thee”?!
If something remains incomprehensible, then for clarification you can turn to a clergyman, who will willingly meet those who wish to better know the rich treasures of church services.
There is another category of people who go to church and outwardly look like pious people, but in their hearts they are far from God. This refers to those who come to the temple unreconciled with their neighbors, with an unkind feeling towards their brother, or even with malice. Such people hear little or do not hear church prayers - their thoughts are somewhere far from here, and maybe they are hatching some evil plans. To come and stand in such a mood in the temple of God - the place of the presence of the All-Good, Omniscient and Almighty God - is not only unnatural, but even criminal. Love and anger are as incompatible as light and darkness are incompatible. In church, during prayer, it is necessary, as proclaimed in the well-known church hymn, to put aside “all worldly cares”
and turn all your mind, all your heart to the heavenly place. And then peace will enter our soul, we will become able to perceive the grace and mercy of God. With these gifts of Heaven we will leave the temple, and with them we will return home, so that those whom we meet on our road will see and feel them.
Truly blessed is he who diligently visits God's temple, stands in it with reverence, repeats the words of prayers with his mind - in prayers he merges with heaven - and compiles in his heart the instructions he heard here.
Let us, dear fathers, brothers and sisters, ask in our prayers the Most Holy Virgin Mary, our zealous Intercessor, that She will help us to realize the beneficence and salvific nature of the temple of God, so that we, following Her example, may be worthy to be carriers of the Holy Spirit and glorify God in our bodies and souls (I Cor. 6:12–20).
Amen.
Prayer “We worship Your Cross, Master”
“We worship Your Cross, O Master, and we glorify Your holy resurrection.”
Prayer to the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord:
“Before the wondrous miraculous power, the Four-pointed and Tripartite Cross of Christ, spread out in the dust at your foot, I bow to you, the Honest Tree, which drives away all demonic shooting from me and frees me from all troubles, sorrows and misfortunes. You are the Tree of Life. You are the purification of the air, the illumination of the holy temple, the fencing of my home, the guarding of my bed, the enlightenment of my mind, heart and all my feelings. Your holy sign has protected me from the day of my birth, enlightened me from the day of my baptism; it is with me and on me all the days of my life: both on dry land and on the waters. It will accompany me to the grave, and will overshadow my ashes. It, the holy sign of the miraculous Cross of the Lord, will announce to the whole universe about the hour of the general resurrection of the dead and the last Terrible and Righteous Judgment of God. About the All-Honorable Cross! With your overshadowing, enlighten, teach and bless me, unworthy, always undoubtedly believing in Your invincible Power, protect me from every adversary and heal all my mental and physical ailments. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, by the power of Your Honest and Life-giving Cross, have mercy and save me, a sinner, from now and forever. Amen".
The prayer “We worship Your Cross, Master” is of great importance for every Christian, since it recalls the great feat of Christ for the salvation of all mankind. It is important to read it at a service to rid yourself of the Fall and prepare for the great holiday of Easter.
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Text of the prayer “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ”
Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We worship Your Cross, O Christ, and we sing and glorify Your holy Resurrection: for You are our God, do we know no other than You, we call Your name. Give the VSI of the Vernia, worshiped the holy Christ's risen: Ceys to the cross of the whole Mira, always blessed the Great, he was resurrected by his: the crucifixion of more, the laughter of death destroy.
Translation: Having seen Christ's resurrection, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless Christ! We worship Your Cross, sing and glorify Your holy Resurrection; for You are our God, besides You we know no other, and we call upon Your name. Come, all believers (Christians), let us worship the holy Resurrection of Christ, for through the cross (His) joy has come for the whole world. Always praising the Lord, we will glorify His resurrection, for, having endured the suffering of the cross, by death (His) He destroyed death (for people).
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Music:
S. V. Rachmaninov, from “All-Night Vigil”, performed by the chamber choir of the Ministry of Culture under the direction of Valery Polyansky:
The great Russian composer, Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943), among many instrumental works, gave the musical world two spiritual choral cycles: “All-Night Vigil” and “Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom."
The All-Night Vigil was written mainly to ancient chants, or it was entirely its own music with stylization of these melodies, as, for example, in the first number “Come, let us worship.” “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ” is an adaptation of the Znamenny chant; in certain sections the choir sings an ancient melody in unison, thereby creating a certain archaism in the music. The end is dramatic in nature (“Destroy death by death”), as a memory of the Sacrifice made by Christ for the human race.
P. G. Chesnokov. Choir of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra:
Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944), a peer of Rachmaninov, was close to him in relation to sacred music; their works have much in common in their rigor and bright, solemn testimony of faith (“Thou art our God”). His version of the chant is an adaptation of the Kyiv chant.
Orthodox Life
What is the word about the Cross for modern man - temptation, madness or the truth of God?
“If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and come after Me.”
Every person, regardless of his attitude to religion in general and to Christianity in particular, due to objective reasons independent of his worldview, walks the earth along the path of suffering, the path of the cross. The reason for this is quite clearly stated in the Book of Genesis - the Fall of man and his subsequent expulsion from paradise; and the indisputability of this argument has been experimentally proven throughout the many thousand years of human history, both on a universal and personal level.
All attempts by humanity to make a person completely happy ended in failure at best, and the desire to create a paradise on earth, common to humanity in general and each person in particular, led to the creation of completely hellish systems in which neither the earthly life of the person himself nor his right to freedom of thought and conscience were not valued at all...
We can ask ourselves the question: if Christianity claims that God is love, then how and why did He allow man to walk the earth exclusively by the way of the cross? The experience of public history and private life shows us quite clearly that the Fall of man is not abstract terminology, but a completely tangible corruption of a person in his mind, will, feelings, and only as a result of all this - private and public actions: “And how they did not care to have God in their minds, then God gave them over to a depraved mind—to do lewd things” (Rom. 1:28). Consequently, we can consider the fallen state of man as a state of severe and fatal illness of the soul, an illness in which all his vital forces are so paralyzed that his own efforts to recover only lead to a more serious condition.
But God does not want to leave His creation to destruction and eternal suffering, He is not only the Creator, King and Lawgiver, but also a loving Father, ready to run out to meet the prodigal son who is just returning to his father’s house, ready not only to return him to his father’s house, but also to restore his sonship by laying on a worthy robe and ring, not only to feed the hungry, but also to celebrate his return with his household with a feast of joy and love.
But the return to the father’s house must be preceded by a coming to oneself (Luke 15:17), that is, that sobering of the mind, will and feelings, in which a person sees the real picture of his condition (no matter how neat he may look outwardly!): he is only grazes pigs in a distant country, that is, serves his lust-idols, in a place of exile, and even pig horns are a desirable food for him! What can sober the human mind and human conscience if not shed a bitter tear? “Complaining is better than laughter; because with a sad face the heart becomes better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of joy” (Eccl. 7:3-4).
The cross is that bitter, but medicinal remedy that can heal a person from idolatry of his passions and lusts and return to a healthy state of true knowledge of God. “No one is looking for a doctor who would give sweeter medicine; but everyone is looking for a doctor who knows the right remedy, and does not attach importance to whether this medicine will be sweet, bitter or tasteless,” says St. Nicholas of Serbia in his homily on the Week of the Cross. But anyone who wants to be healed must use the medicine correctly. We can say with confidence that bearing the cross is common to all people, regardless of their age, gender, national or religious affiliation, social status or any other earthly differences. But if everyone is called to salvation, then why doesn’t everyone achieve it? Why does only one of the two crucified thieves enter heaven? Why is the Gospel quite categorical and harsh on this issue: “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14)?
The first thing we hear from the Savior’s lips is a call to deny ourselves. Amidst the market cry of various philosophical and religious systems and worldviews, calling us to self-affirmation and self-realization, we hear a simple and categorical call to renounce ourselves. Does the Creator really want his intelligent creation to erase all signs of personality from itself? No! But in the state of the Fall, what we attribute to ourselves as personal qualities, “in fact... the devil, and sin, and corruption, and deception, and death” (St. Nicholas of Serbia). We can even observe a completely opposite picture of such “self-realization”, when, under the influence of political or cultural fashion, almost all personality traits disappear in a person, and he becomes nothing more than a small point of the “Black Square”... Secondly, each of us must take up our cross. We should not seek false glory through an imaginary feat and carrying unbearable burdens not imposed on us by God, but out of vanity, which is inherent in the godless world of pagan and atheistic heroes. But we should take up the cross that is given to us by God Himself voluntarily and with gratitude as a formidable weapon against the idols of our passions, remembering the words of the prudent thief: “And we are justly condemned, because we have received what is worthy of our deeds” (Luke 23:41 ). St. Nicholas of Serbia also encourages us in bearing the cross, saying that the Lord requires “our crucifixion of the old man, that is, a man consisting of evil habits and service to sin. For by this crucifixion this old, bestial man is killed in us and the new, godlike, immortal man comes to life.” Wanting to confirm a person in the saving cross, the Lord Himself, being healthy, takes this bitter medicine and thereby shows the suffering person that taking this healing remedy, although bitter, is not impossible. In the bearing of the cross itself, it is important for a person to follow Christ - His commandments, His will. A person himself, without grace from above helping him, is not able to carry a cross, and often even the lightest one. “And for the strongest person, even the lightest cross is too heavy if you carry it without heavenly help. Look into what despair unbelievers fall into at the slightest blow! How they rebel against heaven and earth from one needle prick!” (St. Nicholas of Serbia). The ascent to Golgotha precedes the joy of Easter, when the fatigue of labor will be replaced by the joy of the celebration of life. But what the word about the Cross will be for each of us - foolishness or the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18) depends solely on ourselves. What is the word about the Cross for modern man - temptation, madness or the truth of God?
Archpriest Sergius Arakelov
