ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN PRAYER SHIELD
no comments
The book “The Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian,” which is essentially a collection of prayers for every need, has gone through several reprints and is one of the fastest-selling Orthodox books. What is the reason for this popularity of this publication? First, let's take a closer look at the book. Its appearance may differ, but, in any case, it is a fairly thick book with a tight cover, on which the name, which has already become the talk of the town: The Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian, is often embossed in gold letters. Under the inscription there is an Orthodox cross, and around it there is a frame of floral ornaments. We open it and see that, in addition to the daily prayers obligatory for every believer: morning prayers, before going to bed, before and after meals, before and at the end of any task, before holy communion, the Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian also contains a huge number of petitions. Here you will find prayers for the fertility of livestock, a prayer for the bees to give more honey, and prayers for a good harvest (in particular, for the harvest of cucumbers). The first thoughts about “something is wrong here” appear when the eye stops at the names of prayers for healing.
The prayer shield of an Orthodox Christian offers believers to be healed from: muteness, paralysis, malignant tumors, and - you won’t even believe it - from insanity.
The book Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian - a fake prayer book
Unfortunately, the Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian is a “fake” prayer book. Many years ago, almost all Orthodox websites wrote about this book and warned: this masterpiece has nothing in common with Orthodoxy. Despite the fact that the title page of the book bears the inscription “Published with the blessing of Bishop Nikon of Zadonsk,” the bishop himself has repeatedly stated that he did not give any blessings to the publishing house of the NPO Modek. Most prayers for every need, printed in the Prayer Board of the Orthodox Christian, upon closer examination turn out to be banal occult conspiracies, that is, to put it bluntly, an appeal to Satan under the guise of Orthodox prayer. Just look at the prayer for the gift of clairvoyance - only by it can one judge the canonicity of this sensational book.
Some of the prayers published in the Prayer Shield of the Orthodox Christian are generally taken from the priestly missal: for example, prayers for the consecration of water and all things; and everyone who reads them takes upon himself the sin of self-sanctification, since it is categorically forbidden for the laity to read the prayers of priests.
Prayer of prohibition in the Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian
The prayer for exorcism and the prayer of prohibition require special attention. These two conspiracies, placed in the Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian, are supposedly aimed at a good cause: to drive out evil spirits and forbid evil to approach the believer. Needless to say that these prayers are the most popular, and that it is for them that this book is mainly bought? This speaks of how deeply the sin of pride sits in us: instead of cleansing our own soul from sin, we strive to immediately, following the example of the holy fathers, engage in casting out demons. We are too lazy to read the morning and evening rules, but we already imagine ourselves capable of such miracles.
The Orthodox Church has repeatedly warned: reading these prayers from the book The Prayer Shield of an Orthodox Christian is fraught with very serious spiritual consequences. The same applies to the book Supplement to the Prayer Shield of the Orthodox Christian, published a few years later. It is much better and more useful to buy an ordinary Orthodox prayer book and pray a little, but regularly, asking God for forgiveness of sins, but not constant miracles.
A powerful prayer shield for all occasions. Prayers, amulets, conspiracies
Angels and Archangels
Angel – in Greek and Hebrew means messenger.
Angels represent the lowest rank of the hierarchy, which communicates directly with people.
Angels are incorporeal (therefore invisible) and immortal spirits, like our souls, but God endowed them with higher powers and abilities than humans. Their mind is more perfect than ours. They always fulfill the will of God, they are sinless and occupy the highest level in the ranks of creation.
According to the definition of St. Athanasius the Great, “Angels are living, intelligent, incorporeal beings, capable of singing, immortal.”
Many times angels appeared visibly, taking on bodily form, when God sent them to people to say or proclaim His will.
At baptism, God gives every Christian a guardian angel who invisibly protects a person throughout his entire earthly life from troubles and misfortunes, warns against sins, protects him in the terrible hour of death, and does not leave him after death.
Angels appeared in Christian art at the end of the 8th century. Seraphim and cherubim are often depicted with six wings, which may have eyes. Angels usually have halos and a pair of wings and may hold scrolls, crucifixion-related objects, or musical instruments.
In Jewish, Christian and Muslim mythologies, these are ethereal beings who serve the one God, fight his enemies, give Him praise, and convey the will of the Divine to the elements and people. Those angels who fell away from God turned into demons. God created countless numbers of them.
As for the appearance of angels, it is impossible to describe it with any certainty, for the true angelic appearance is inaccessible to human perception.
Saint Demetrius of Rostov points out that “Angels were created in the image and likeness of God, just as man was subsequently created.” According to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, the image of God in angels, as in man, lies in the mind from which thought is born and in which thought is contained, and from which comes the spirit that promotes thought and animates it. This image, like the Prototype, is invisible, just as it is invisible in people. He controls the whole being in the angel as well as in man. Angels are beings limited by time and space and, therefore, having their own external appearance.
Angels most often appear to people in the form of fiery symbols, and, as Pseudo-Dionysius says, theology “represents fiery wheels... and fiery animals, and lightning-like men,” sometimes they take the form of people, animals and plants.
Guardian angel
As soon as we emerged from the holy font of baptism, as soon as we were born into spiritual life, each of us is presented with a spiritual guardian, one of those holy blessed Spirits who “behold the face of the Heavenly Father.” This guardian is our guardian angel. He is inseparable from us all our lives, protects us from all dangers, warns us from all troubles, inspires good intentions, holy thoughts, helps us in good, distracts us from evil, rejoices with us when we do some good, and grieves and cries when we fall in sin, when we darken our soul with some kind of evil. He constantly prays for us, he will be with us when the angel of death appears for our soul, he will accompany us after death through the terrible transitions (ordeals of the soul) to the throne of the Most High, he will be with us at the Last Judgment of Christ, when the book of our life will be opened, our behavior, will be ready to defend us, to pray for us to the Lord.
The early Christian theologian Origen believed that every person had one good angel who guided him, and one evil one who tempted him throughout his life. In the Middle Ages, the belief in guardian angels became widespread.
We must admire God's mercy towards us sinful creatures, since the Lord has appointed His holy angels to guard us from evil spirits who always seek to harm our bodies and souls. As it says in Psalm 90: “For He will give His angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways. They will carry you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
And now that you have become a little familiar with the concept of angels, I want to bring to your attention the interpretation of the ancient saints about angels. Read them carefully and think about them. There's really a lot to think about here.
About angels
So, an angel is an entity endowed with intelligence, always moving, possessing free will, incorporeal, serving God, and by grace receiving immortality for its nature. What kind of essence and definition only the Creator knows. It is called incorporeal, and also immaterial in comparison with us, for everything that is compared with God, who alone cannot be compared with anything, turns out to be both gross and material, because only the Divinity in truth is immaterial and incorporeal.
So, an angel is a rational nature, endowed with intelligence, and possessing free will, changeable at will, that is, voluntarily changeable. For everything that is created is changeable, but the only thing that is unchangeable is that which is not created. And everything rational is endowed with free will.
He is incapable of repentance because he is incorporeal. For man received repentance because of the weakness of the body.
He is immortal, not by nature, but by grace. For everything that begins also ends because of its nature. But God alone is eternally existing, or rather, He is even higher than eternity. For the Creator of times is not dependent on time, but He is above time.
Angels are the second, comprehended only by the mind, retinues who have light from the first and beginningless Light: having no need for language and hearing, but without a spoken word communicating their own thoughts and decisions to each other.
Further, all angels were created through the Word and were completed by the Holy Spirit through sanctification, according to their dignity and rank, having a share in light and grace.
They are describable, for when they are in heaven, they are not on earth, and sent by God to earth, they do not remain in heaven, but they are not limited by walls, and doors, and door locks, and seals, for they are not limited . For by nature, and in the proper sense, only that which is not created is not limited. For every creation is limited by God who created it. They have sanctification from the Spirit, they prophesy with the assistance of Divine grace, and have no need for marriage, since they are not mortal.
And since they are minds, they are also in places that are comprehended only by the mind, not being described in a bodily way, for, as for their nature, they do not take on a form like bodies, and do not have a threefold dimension, they are spiritually present and act , wherever they were ordered, and cannot be here and there at the same time and act.
Whether they are essentially equal or different from each other, we do not know. Only God, who created them, knows, and He knows everything. They differ from each other in light and position, or have a position according to the light, or participate in the light according to the position, and illuminate each other due to the superiority of rank or nature. But it is clear that those angels who stand above impart both light and knowledge to those below.
They are strong and ready to fulfill the Divine will, and due to the speed inherent in their nature, they immediately find themselves everywhere, wherever the Divine signal commands, and protect the regions of the earth: and govern peoples and countries, depending on how the Creator commanded them, and manage our affairs and help us. In general, both by Divine will and by Divine command, they are above us and are always near God.
They are hardly inclined to evil and are unshakable not by nature, but by grace and attachment to the good alone. They see God as far as it is possible for them, and they have this as food.
Being above us, as incorporeal and free from all passion, they, however, are not dispassionate, for only the Divine is dispassionate.
They are transformed into whatever the Lord God commands and thus appear to people and reveal to them Divine secrets. They reside in heaven and have one occupation: to sing the praises of God and serve His Divine will.
Angels differ among themselves in the degree of perfection and in the type of their service and are divided into several ranks.
Initially, the angels were united, but later, in the Kabbalistic tradition, a division into nine angelic ranks appeared. These nine ranks are divided into three triads. According to this hierarchy, the angels themselves, together with the archangels and principles, belong to the third triad, which is characterized by close proximity to the world and man.
And as the most holy, and most sacred, and most excellent in theology, Dionysius the Areopagite, says, all theology, that is, Divine Scripture, named nine heavenly entities, the Divine Hierarch distinguishes them into three threefold classes. And he says that the first class is that which is always near God and which is allowed to be united with Him most closely and directly: the class of the six-winged seraphim, and the many-eyed cherubim, and the most holy thrones.
The second: the class of Dominions, and Powers, and Powers, and the third and last: the class of principles, and archangels, and angels.
The rank of archangels “communicates with the first by turning through the authorities to the premium Principle, conforming to it as much as possible, and maintaining unity among the angels in accordance with the leadership. It is communicated with the latter by the fact that he, as a rank designated for teaching, receives Divine insights through the first Powers according to the property of the hierarchy, transmits them with love to the angels, and through the angels informs us to the extent that one is capable of Divine insights.”
Some, of course, say that angels came into existence before all creation, just as Gregory the Theologian says: “First of all, He invents angelic and heavenly powers, and this thought became deed.” Others say that they occurred after the appearance of the first heaven. And everyone agrees that they occurred before the formation of man. I agree with the theologian. For it was necessary that first of all an essence comprehended only by the mind should be created, and in such circumstances an essence perceived by the senses, and then this very person, consisting of both.
Those who say that angels are the creators of any essence are mistaken. For being creatures, angels are not creators. The Creator of everything, and the Provider, and the Preserver is God, Who alone is uncreated, and is sung and glorified in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thus, all this can be represented in the form of a diagram, which is mentioned in the works of Pseudo-Dionysius (in the 15th century AD) and in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul (Col. 16; Eph. 21):
