It is enough to admit to a loved one that you have committed an unseemly act, and your soul will feel lighter. Prayer to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins helps to cleanse yourself before God and all people, to realize your wrong behavior. The Almighty sacrificed his son so that the laity would be freed from the burden of their bad deeds, could come closer to God and gain the Kingdom of Heaven after death. Christians can ask for forgiveness of sins not only for themselves, but also pray for the entire family.
Many lay people have repeatedly heard words about prayer for their family up to the seventh generation. For a deeply religious person, they are of great importance. Every Christian knows how important it is to take care of their loved ones and cleanse them of sins and repent for several generations. Vedas, the burden of sinfulness is inherited and weighs on children and grandchildren.
When to Pray for the Forgiveness of Sins
The sins listed in the commandments, which are crimes in the world, such as “thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife,” are usually given great importance. A person who has violated the rules of community life turns to the Lord for forgiveness of sins.
But even a believer who lives righteously commits offenses that are, to a lesser extent, sinful. This is insufficient care for parents, envy, money-grubbing, lies and much more that tempts a Christian every day. A prayer for forgiveness to the Lord is read if you want to cleanse your soul, remove the burden of small and major sins from it.
A person must go to communion completely cleansed of bad deeds and thoughts. To do this, a prayer for the forgiveness of sins to the Lord is added to the morning rule in advance and read daily. The evening rule ends with a daily prayer of repentance and forgiveness. In it, an Orthodox Christian turns to the Lord God with a request to forgive him the sins that he has committed over the past 24 hours.
Periodically, a Christian comes to confession to a priest. In a conversation with him, he remembers all his indecent actions, realizes their sinfulness, what consequences they can lead to. The clergyman not only listens to the layman. He gives him advice on how to correct the current situation, suggests ways to get rid of bad habits.
When for some reason a Christian cannot go through the confession procedure, for example, it is physically difficult to get to church. For some people, embarrassment does not allow them to reveal their soul to anyone, and they cannot even tell the priest about their actions. They simply need a prayer to the Lord for forgiveness of sins committed voluntarily or involuntarily, of their own free will or coercion.
INTERESTING: Prayers of thanksgiving.
Repentance prayer: meaning and importance
Man is sinful by nature. As you know, Adam and Eve, who are the progenitors of all humanity, committed a mortal sin. They violated the Lord's prohibition and ate the fruit from the tree of life. Of course, the Bible mentions that the Fall occurred due to temptations sent by the devil himself. However, it is extremely important to understand that the inhabitants of paradise committed this sin of their own free will, no one forced them to do it. That is why such a cruel but fair punishment was chosen for them.
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The mention of this is not accidental. Indeed, today many people not only rarely attend church. They rarely offer prayers to the Almighty. But the clergy believe that the biggest problem is that Christians have completely forgotten about prayers of repentance.
The prayer of repentance is offered specifically to Jesus Christ. This choice is not random. If we remember those times when the son of God walked this sinful earth, it becomes clear why such prayers are offered to him. After all, his first sermon was a call to repentance.
It is believed that by offering a prayer of repentance, a person gets rid of his sin. It is for this reason that some somewhat abuse this, believing that all sins will simply be erased after reading the prayer service. Of course, this is not so, since a person needs not only to realize his sin, talk about it, but also try to atone in word and deed. Only in this way can a sinner wash away the stigma from his soul.
The clergy note another important circumstance. For some reason, it is believed that only sinners should repent of their sins. Righteous Christians prefer not to offer such prayers, considering themselves a model of reverence for the Lord and purity of soul. However, this can be argued.
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There are notes in the Bible that say that the son of the Most High paid more attention to harlots and tax collectors. At the same time, he preferred to have virtually no dealings with those who called themselves righteous. In those years, all Christians considered themselves to be such, who strictly followed the law of Moses and walked the streets with books, the Pharisees.
Indeed, something similar happened. But, according to the righteous themselves, the Lord ignored them, saving the souls of those who were not at all worthy of it. However, there is another explanation for this. The righteous, who considered themselves pious and categorically refused to repent, were dominated by pride. And, as you know, it is one of the sins most hated by God. That is why His son preferred to save the souls of people who were able to realize in time that they were sinners and asked for mercy from heaven.
How to pray correctly
The most important thing in turning to God is sincerity and constant gratitude for what he has given to man. Then the prayer of repentance will be heard and the Lord will grant forgiveness of all sins.
Every day, before going to bed, the believer, after finishing reading all the texts included in the prayer rule, reads a prayer of repentance. In it, he recalls his involuntary sins committed during the day and asks the Lord to forgive them. To do this, one must sincerely repent, regardless of whether the Orthodox himself committed an unseemly act or was seduced by the unclean with flattery and cunning speeches.
Then the Christian asks me to forgive my children and relatives. When caring for a family, a person does not forget about loved ones and prays for them.
When there is a heaviness in the soul, there is no firmness in faith and it is necessary to remove the burden of sins, an additional ritual of reading prayer texts should be carried out. The best option is to visit the temple. You should listen to the morning service, then confess your sins to the priest.
At home, you can perform a ritual of repentance yourself. God hears us everywhere. For this, a very strong prayer for forgiveness addressed to Jesus Christ is used. You need to read it calmly, disconnected from earthly problems and affairs. To tune in, you should first retire to a quiet place where you can’t hear noise from the street or your family.
Prayer of repentance requires a special attitude. To do this, first read the Our Father three times. If a Christian has not reached the required state, one can pray to the Cross or the Mother of God. Then make a deep bow and begin to read a prayer of repentance to the Lord God or Jesus Christ.
The prayer text is composed in such a way that, while listing sins, a person can remember his forgotten sin, which he committed automatically, in connection with the prevailing circumstances. The main thing is to pronounce the words thoughtfully and sincerely repent, strive not to commit bad deeds in the future, and not pay attention to temptations and flattery.
Texts of prayers
Lord God
In the hand of Your great mercy, O my God, I entrust my soul and body, my feelings and words, my deeds and all my movements of body and soul. My entry and exit, my faith and life, the course and end of my life, the day and hour of my breathing, my repose, the repose of my soul and body.
But You, O Most Merciful God, invincible to the sins of the whole world, Goodness, Gentle Lord, accept me, more than all sinners, in the hand of Your protection and deliver me from all evil, cleanse my many iniquities, grant correction to my evil and cursed life and from those to come. Always delight me in the fall of cruel sins, and in no way, when I anger Your love for mankind, cover my weakness from demons, passions and evil people.
Forbid the enemy, visible and invisible, guiding me along the saved path, bring me to You, my refuge and my desire. Grant me a Christian death, unashamed, peaceful, keep me from the airy spirits of malice, at Your Last Judgment be merciful to Your servant and number me at the right hand of Your blessed sheep, and with them I will glorify You, my Creator forever. Amen.
Jesus Christ
Lord, Merciful and Righteous Judge, punishing children for the unrepentant sins of their parents up to the third and fourth generation!
Have mercy and forgive me, my family, my living and already deceased relatives and my entire deceased family for the great and grave sins of apostasy, for the crime and trampling of the Council oath and the kiss of the cross of the Russian people for allegiance to God's chosen Royal Family, for treason and betrayal to the death of the Anointed of God – Holy Tsar Nicholas Alexandrovich and his entire Holy Family, for the renunciation of God and the Orthodox Faith, for the persecution of the Holy Faith and the Church, for the destruction and desecration of the Temples of God, shrines and their Orthodox Fatherland, for idolatry and veneration of godless holidays, rituals, idols , symbols and ideals of the satanic religion of the atheists, for all suicides, murders, witchcraft, fornication, debauchery, swearing, blasphemy and all abortions committed in my family, and for all other grave sins, blasphemy, blasphemy, defilement and iniquity of my family committed since the beginning , about them you weigh all, Lord.
Do not leave us to perish in our sins until the end, but weaken, leave, have mercy and forgive me, my family, my parents, my living and deceased relatives, my entire deceased family. Resolve the bonds of sin and untruth, tear apart the oath by which we are bound for our iniquities, remove the curse for these terrible sins from me and from all my family. Amen.
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No one knows how long God has given him to live on earth and when his soul will go to heaven. Therefore, we must constantly take care of gaining the Kingdom of Heaven, so that nothing interferes with this. This can only be achieved by a righteous life, faith in the Almighty and constant cleansing of negativity - repentance for sins. In order for the Lord to forgive, one must pray to him every day, visit the temple if possible, and give alms to those in need. And then God will guide you on the true path, forgive your sins and protect you from committing new ones.
Repentance and confession: what is the difference?
Surely even people far from the church and faith are well aware of what confession is. In this case, it is rather the merit of the cinema. In many films you can see a scene when a man comes to church, he is taken into a booth divided in two, and he begins to tell the clergyman about the sins that he had committed earlier. In general, the description of the process is correct, but very superficial.
The film, of course, will not talk about the fact that you cannot just come to church and confess. You must first fast and read certain prayers. And only after this can you safely go to church and ask your spiritual mentor to perform the sacrament.
Until now, the enlightenment of the masses remains too small, so some people do not even know the difference between repentance and confession. Although there are still differences between them, and they are significant:
- repentance represents awareness of sin - in other words, in order to receive the Lord's mercy and forgiveness, a person must first clearly realize that he has committed a sin. After this, the Christian must sincerely repent of his act, which is not righteous;
- You can repent without any preparation - this ritual is very personal. To repent of sins before the Lord, a person simply needs to offer a prayer;
- Confession can only be conducted by a priest - while a person is quite capable of repenting on his own, then there is no way to confess. This is allowed to be done within the walls of the church and subject to certain preparation.
Pay attention to the last item on the list. It says that you can only confess in church. However, in some cases exceptions are still possible. For example, if health does not allow a person to come to the temple of God. Everyone is well aware of the long-standing tradition, which is now almost forgotten. In more ancient times, when people's faith was stronger, when on their deathbed, a Christian always called a clergyman to perform the sacrament of confession.
Such a desire for repentance before death was explained quite simply. The fact is that a person who sinned during life and did not have time to repent before death could go to hell. Of course, everything depended on the severity of the sins committed. However, the clergy diligently convinced the flock that confession before death was sacred.
How to read the prayer of repentance correctly?
As was written above, confession is a sacred sacrament. Therefore, it is not difficult to guess that it is performed according to certain rules. And since repentance is a “simple procedure,” the church does not make any special demands on this process. It is enough that the person is in solitude. Before offering a prayer, you need to get rid of unnecessary thoughts and try to tune in to the right mood. In this case, it is better to be in the room in which there is a red corner. In this corner, believers usually place icons depicting saints. But if there is no such room in the house, it doesn’t matter.
When reading a prayer, you should try to understand its meaning and feel every word. This will be easier if the reading pace is not too fast. There is no need to shout out the words of prayer either. Recommends reading it in a whisper or even to yourself. After all, this is a conversation with the Lord that only He should hear.
Please note that there is no need to chant the words of the prayer either. The canons do not require this. Because such prayers must be simply read. Singing is completely inappropriate here.
Praying to God for help
Without the support of the Lord, it is difficult for us to solve difficult and simple everyday matters. Prayer texts for the help of the Almighty can be universal or carry a specific request (for work, child success, health, marriage, protection from enemies). The most effective prayer for every need is presented in Church Slavonic and Russian.
It is necessary to turn to Higher powers for support in difficult times. You should not refuse this opportunity, citing the insignificance of the request, or set “conditions” for the immediate fulfillment of the desire. We must remember that people come to the Almighty Jesus Christ not for instant benefits, but so that he can console, give strength and guide them to the right decisions.
