They turn to the Mother of God with a prayer for increased intelligence

The history of the unusual icon of the Queen of Heaven

Now, looking from the heights of centuries at that near-Christian vanity, we can quite easily understand that this question was extremely difficult to resolve for the Russian mind of that time. The essence of it is as follows.

The devil, always at war with the Church, in the 8th century after the Nativity of Christ, changed his main religious weapon in this war from paganism to Judaism. A typical sign of this was the iconoclastic heresy, which clearly had Jewish roots. Shaking the Church for almost the entire eighth century and the beginning of the ninth.

Therefore, Rus', baptized by Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir already at the end of the tenth century, and accordingly the Russian Church fully faced precisely this main enemy, i.e. with Judaism.

Useful materials

Assessing the disputes surrounding Nikon's church reforms from these positions, we can easily notice that both Patriarch Nikon himself and his comrades-in-arms, as well as their opponents, were equally influenced by this very Judaism. According to the latter, giving an exorbitant, downright dogmatic meaning in the literal and figurative sense to the letter. At the same time, forgetting that “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3: 6).

Now for us (though not for everyone) this is more or less clear, but then it was very difficult for a simple Russian person, even an icon painter, to figure out where the truth is? Therefore, he turned with prayer to the Mother of God, asking Her to enlighten his mind or add intelligence to him so that he could understand all these equivocations.

And the Lady, as a Mother who loves us all, appeared to her child, who was lost in his mind. But she appeared in a special image, not previously depicted by icon painters. At the same time, She commanded him to paint an icon of this particular image, pray in front of it, and then he would be able to understand everything that he needed for salvation.

Icon of the Mother of God “Addition of Mind”

Tradition also tells that this icon painter was not immediately able to paint this image. And the Mother of God appeared to him more than once until he was able to paint the icon of Addition of Mind - an image truly extraordinary and new for that time. For in it the Mother of God is almost completely dressed in a dalmatic (sleeveless cloak). And above it we can only see the Head of the Most Pure One and the Infant God.

What types of icons with the Mother of God are there?

The Praying Mother of God, or Oranta, is one of the popular types of icons. Raising her hands in prayer, the Mother of God, as it were, turns to heaven for a blessing for people. This icon has been known since ancient times. The walls of the catacombs of the first Christians were painted with the image of the Mother of God with raised hands, and the interiors of Byzantine churches were decorated. The following icons belong to the image of Orant: Life-Giving Spring, Indestructible Wall, Sign, Inexhaustible Chalice, Kursk. The latter gained more respect.

Many legends are associated with the “Praying Mother of God”. One of them describes how in the fall of 1169 Novgorod was surrounded by the troops of Andrei Bogolyubsky. The inhabitants of the city were in despair, because slavery awaited them in the future. And at the last moment, the Novgorodians turned to higher powers for help, hanging the icon on the city wall. The image took the blow. The arrow pierced the Virgin Mary so hard that she began to cry. Her tears fell on the clothes of the Novgorod clergyman. He was very surprised by what he saw and considered it a sign of protection from above.

This miracle was also witnessed by the Novgorodians, who were inspired by the patronage of heavenly powers and defeated the Suzdal regiments. Since then, the face of the praying Mother of God has become a symbol of protection from troubles, haters and enemies.

The Guidebook, or Hodegetria, is the next type of icon depicting the Mother of God. On it, the Mother of God is depicted with the Baby Jesus sitting on Her hand. The meaning of the icon is to point out the path of Christ to every person. The category of such icons includes the Quick to Hear, Smolenskaya, Joy of All Who Sorrow, and Kazan.

According to history, the author of the first icon with the Mother of God the Guide was the holy Apostle Luke. She once had to change her location: instead of Jerusalem, Constantinople became her new home. There the icon was placed in the Blachernae Temple. Every Tuesday they made a crusade with this icon. Our Lady the Guide provides security to the traveler, confirms the weak believer in the truth when solving vital issues, and brings comfort to the heart in times of sadness.

On other icons, the Mother of God is presented as a tender, merciful Mother, She reverently embraces Her Child. It is not for nothing that such iconography was called Tenderness or Eleus. As for the Christ Child, He trustingly presses His cheek to Her cheek. The image of the Mother of God hugging the Infant Jesus is first found in the iconography of the Philotheus Monastery, located on Mount Athos. This icon was called Glycophilus. It is also known as Sweet Kiss.

Subsequently, similar religious motifs were often observed in icon painting. Among the works where the theme of Tenderness was traced, the Vladimir and Feodorov icons and the Unfading Light are distinguished. There are legends that the icon of Eleus contributed to rain during periods of drought, healed from ailments, and protected from epidemics of various diseases. Also, when praying in front of this icon, many orphans found a family.

Panachranta is another category of icons, on which the Mother of God sits on a throne with the Child Christ on her lap. The word “panahrantha” is translated from Greek as Most Pure or All-Immaculate. Other names for the icon are House-Builder, All-Tsaritsa, Sovereign, Economist. For the first time, the image of the Mother of God as the Most Pure One is found in the 11th-12th centuries of Byzantium.

There is a story that talks about its miraculous power to radically change a person’s life. One day, a young man appeared in front of the icon and began to mutter something incomprehensible. It turned out he was a sorcerer. Suddenly the face of the Mother of God flashed, and an unknown force pushed the young man to the ground, as a result of which he lost consciousness. And when he woke up, he immediately went to the priest to repent. Thus, the miracle of the Most Pure Mother of God convinced him to change and take a different path. It is no coincidence that this type of icon has many names.

Appeal to one of the names of the Mother of God depends on the need:

if healing from malignant tumors is needed, turn to the “Vsetsaritsa”;
for those in need of housing and household order, they call for help from the “House Builder”;
The “Sovereign Mother of God” strengthens the state, gives peace on earth, stops hostilities, and when attacked by enemies, gives victory.

Agiosoritissa - the icon received its name from the chapel of Agia Soros. This icon depicts only one Mother of God. It is called the Intercessor differently, because it involves prayers before her for the protection of all people. The face of the Mother of God is depicted half-turned with raised arms. Icons of this type received particular fame when defending against enemy troops. Although there were cases of receiving healing when praying in front of her, one of which talks about the young man Vincent. The Byzantine was seriously ill and saw no other way out but to pray intensely, on his knees. Thanks to his persistence, the young man was healed. They pray to the image of the Mother of God the Intercessor, wanting to be saved from enemies and for peace. Agiosoritissa also relieves infections, lameness, chills and cramps.

Spiritual enlightenment and admonition

According to all of the above, we can point to two main reasons to read a prayer for the addition of mind in front of this icon. The first reason is spiritual; the second is more utilitarian. What is it about?

Firstly, it should be especially noted that that unknown icon painter asked not just for an increase in intelligence. And that his mind should be enlightened by the action of the Holy Spirit, allowing him to understand the spiritual and church vicissitudes of his time and take the right place or the right position in them.

Now, when around us is full of a variety of opinions, delusions and heresies, exactly the same prayer for the enlightenment (adding) of the spiritual mind is extremely necessary for all of us. Especially Orthodox Christians who waver in their faith!

Prayers to the image of the icon of the Mother of God “Addition of mind”

You can offer a personal petition to the Most Holy Theotokos in your own words, sitting next to her image. However, not everyone manages to formulate their thoughts correctly. At such moments, the prayer put together by the holy fathers is very helpful. Its meaning is simple, understandable to everyone.

The essence of the prayer lines is the desire to receive help from above in everything related to memorizing new information. It is not surprising that they are often read before an exam, test, or other tests of knowledge and intellectual abilities.

In addition, the Virgin Mary is asked:

wisdom with which it is easy to find a way out of the most difficult situation;
indicate solutions to difficult everyday situations.

Prayer becomes effective in the mouth of a true believer. Placing the face of Our Lady “Addition of Mind” in front of you is desirable, but not necessary.

First prayer

The Mother of God will definitely give an answer to this prayer if it is sincere, comes from the heart, and the Christian’s thoughts are pure.

Second prayer

You can also appeal to the Queen of Heaven with the help of another text compiled by the holy fathers. It is considered no less effective than others.

Prayer three

Good memory, the ability to quickly make the right decisions, and carefully analyze information are just a few examples of what this prayer can give.

To help students and adults

Secondly, which is much more utilitarian, such prayer has always been necessary for the student youth. But now its necessity is extremely aggravated by the following civilizational circumstance.

To explain it, I’ll start from afar. When I was about ten years old, I read a very interesting thing in a popular science book. As you know, in order for any person to competently begin work in a particular branch of science or technology, he first needs to receive an appropriate education, i.e. a certain amount of knowledge and skills.

So, according to that book, due to the constant development of science, this required volume doubles every 30 years! Now I am over 70 years old. Consequently, now it has already increased 4 times!!! But even in my time, as schoolchildren, we were by no means idle.

I remember that when I graduated from school and did not enter university in my first year, I went to work in a factory, and after this school, such a pastime seemed to me like something like a resort. And at the same time, I had to go to preparatory courses at the same university three times a week, visit two tutors - and still a “resort”.

And why all? Let's do the math: 6-7 hours are lessons at school, but at home you also need to spend 2-3 hours on lessons: a total of 9-10 hours! And this is with an 8-hour working day for adults, and 9-10 hour hard labor for children. And I still think this on my own, but I was a capable boy, I did only written lessons at home, and learned oral ones directly in class at school. But what can we say about the less capable, but diligent?! How many hours do they have to spend now to study everything?!

Therefore, in my pastoral practice I had to deal with real, but very, very sad cases. When fairly wealthy parents naively pushed their children into “elite and prestigious” colleges. They tried to shove so much information into these offspring that they were forced to work 12-14 hours a day! Because of this, some of these “guinea pigs” of the current idiotic pedagogy, unable to withstand such a load, committed suicide!!!

Here, of course, the latter can be greatly helped by prayer for the addition of mind in all its senses: both in the spiritual; and can really help in more or less successfully mastering the required amount of knowledge.

So, let us present the troparion, kontakion, magnification, as well as a prayer for the addition of mind:

Feelings, mind, reason or consciousness - which of the “kings” is in your head?

Mind and intelligence are the same thing, what do you think? But according to the Vedas, there is this difference, and it lurks in the sphere of control. Let's figure it out, because I think this post may make you think and rethink a lot.

Physical body

If you take a person and “split him into pieces,” then his roughest component is the material part, namely the physical body.

Feelings

Above the body (higher in level) is a more “advanced part” of a person - these are the senses (vision, hearing, touch... - do not confuse with emotions), which controls the body. Sense organs, depending on the situation, force the body to produce certain hormones, speed up the heart rate, increase the “combat readiness” of the body, etc. Feelings are directly related to emotions.

Mind

Feelings are controlled by the mind, which directs the senses to different objects and events. Intelligence is a feature not only of humans, but also of animals.

In addition to controlling the senses, the mind is inherent in the activity of acceptance or rejection, which it constantly does.

By the way, the mind itself is not so “smart”, since regardless of the consequences, it only does what it seeks comfort and pleasure, and tries in every way to avoid pain and the unpleasant.

Conclusion - the mind through the senses seeks only pleasures, without thinking about the consequences.

Intelligence

If the mind were the “highest authority” for a modern person, then all our activities would be reduced only to eating deliciously, having sex and sleeping sweetly, but fortunately for us, there is a “smarter boss” over our mind - this is the mind.

The mind controls the mind, and therefore controls the entire body, with only one caveat - if the mind is really developed and strong.

The work of the mind is very similar to the work of the mind - to accept or reject, but the difference is that, unlike the mind, the mind tends to analyze and evaluate something like this: “Yes, this may be pleasant, but this is not the best decision, since the consequences of this action can be disastrous. I’d rather suffer now, but protect myself from harm later.”

As you can see, the mind is much more far-sighted than the mind, it does not follow feelings, it is a more reasonable boss.

Reason is how we differ from animals.

Soul

And a few words about the most subtle substance of our body - the soul. The soul is higher than the mind; in fact, this is the true you.

Living by soul means completely relying on the “Mind (WILL) of God”, always loving everyone (not as an emotion), having a connection with God...

Enlightened, holy people live by their souls, and small children live by their souls. The soul is not characterized by selfishness, anger and other negative emotions; the soul knows almost everything and looks at the world “without glasses and fog in the head.”

Living with your soul is the best option for life, but unfortunately, for us it is still very difficult, since for this we need to cleanse ourselves of all negativity and give up a lot of “earthly things”.

As you can see, we are all quite complex (in fact, much more complex) and we have everything to live correctly and happily. But why then do we all live differently?

And the whole point is that each of us lives according to the scenario of the one who is currently “the king in the head.”

The mind is in power

If the mind is stronger than the mind, then “you cannot escape from sin.” Such a person lives by emotions and seeks such pleasures as: tasty food, sex, more money, etc.

The mind lives by the motto: “Let me feel good now, and then whatever happens.” This is the path of alcoholism, drug addiction, AIDS and violence. Fortunately, the total power of the mind is a very rare phenomenon, since the mind, although to varying degrees, still also has its own power and intervenes in every situation.

Reason or “the right king in the head”

As I wrote above, “living with the soul” is the best of life options, but for most of us today, this is still very difficult, and the nearest, highest step of spiritual development will be living with the mind.

A strong mind is much better than a strong mind. Thanks to reason, many mistakes can be avoided, about such they say: “He has a king in his head.” If the mind is developed, a person does not follow the lead of feelings, does not allow the mind to follow the destructive path of seeking pleasure, but takes all this under control, trying to make the right decision.

Living with your soul means living with God

The mind is cool, but without a soul, it’s just a computer for making logical decisions. And although most of us are still far from enlightenment, this does not mean that the soul does not interfere in the choice of every action. No matter how developed the personality is, the voice of conscience (soul) is characteristic of every person, albeit to varying degrees.

People who are enlightened by their souls live, and we should strive for such a life. To live by soul is to live with God, in God, according to His commandments. This is a life without suffering, or to be more precise, I will say this: this is a life where physical suffering means practically nothing, because in this state you feel like an imperishable part of the World Ocean of Life.

Prayer

Most Pure Mother of God, the house which the Wisdom of God created for herself, the Giver of spiritual gifts, raising our minds from the world to the worldly and leading everyone to the knowledge of reason! Receive prayerful singing from us, Thy unworthy servants, who bow with faith and tenderness before Thy most pure image. Pray to Thy Son and our God to grant wisdom and strength to our rulers, truth and impartiality to judges, spiritual wisdom to shepherds, zeal and vigil for our souls, a mentor to the humble Dear children, obedience, to all of us the spirit of reason and piety, the spirit of humility and meekness, spirit of purity and truth. And now, our all-singing, all-loving Mother, give us an increase in intelligence, pacify, unite in the enmity and division of existence and lay down for them an insoluble bond of love, for all those who have gone astray from unreason to the light of truth X Convert Christ, teach the fear of God, self-control and hard work, the word of wisdom and Grant soul-helping knowledge to those who ask, to overshadow us with eternal joy, the brightest Cherubim and the most honest Seraphim. We, seeing the glorious deeds and manifold wisdom of God in the world and our life, will eliminate earthly vanities and unnecessary worldly worries, and we will raise our mind and heart to Heaven, I May Your intercession and help bring glory, praise, thanksgiving and worship to the glorified God in the Trinity and we send all to the Creator, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Troparion

voice 4:

Oh, Most Glorious Mother of Christ our God, the good Giver, by Your mercy preserve the entire universe, grant us, Your servants, wisdom and understanding, enlighten our souls with the light of Your Son, She is the All-Singing One, glorified from the Cherubim and Seraphim.

Kontakion

voice 2:

As you enlighten us with the mind of Christ, we praise You, the Most Pure Mother of the Lord, who holds the entire universe, the beauty of the world, visible and invisible, illuminating us with the rays of Life.