To whom do we pray?

[Ender Wiggin]

Hi, I'm new to this board, I have visited it a few times before in the last 6 months, but now I decided to register, and to post for the first time. I'm a 20 year old Christian living in America. I'm an immigrant, me and my family came to America a few years ago. My Grandmother was very religious, and I guess that religion had influence on me in my childhood. We originally come from former Yugoslavia, and I'm a Serbian Orthodox Christian (whatever that means). I began taking my religion seriously just about 7 to 8 months ago, and I must say that it really made a positive difference in my life.

However as the Subject of this posts indicates, this thread is not about me and my History but about Prayers. I must admit that the question 'To whom do we pray?' sounds pretty stupid ... we pray to God. But I guess that I really, even though I have read the Bible don't understand, to whom we are supposed to send our prayers. Is it the Father or the Son? Does it make any difference when formulating our prayers, should we pray to 'Our Heavenly Father' or something similar in the same format, or should we pray to 'Jesus Christ'? I find this issue confusing, and anyone who is willing do explain this fundamental issue to me ... I would be very thankful.

[Fr Averky]

Dear Ender,

Before the learned "students" of Christianity flood you with long educated answers, might I suggest that you look at many of excellent books written in Serbian by the Serbian Orthodox Church. I will do some research, and will find where these books can be obtained.

I will get off now, and let our esteemed professors of theology let you know all about Chrisitanity.

I will contact you soon, but privately.

Father Averky

[Chuck S.]

Greetings in the name of the Lord.

Ender, I too am brand new on this forum. But I'll try to help answer your questions to some extent!

First, this is terrific that you are indeed an Orthodox Christian. The "Serbian" part before the Orthodox part simply means the area of the world that particular Church has jurisdiction over. of course local ethnic customs will play a part too, and there is of course nothing wrong with that. But just know that Orthodoxy is Orthodoxy, whether its the Greeks, the Russians, the Antiochians, etc...

Its also awesome you're wanting to learn about your faith more. And prayer is the best first step.

As to who to pray to, basically, you can pray any hypostasis of the Holy Trinity.

If you're just really starting out in prayer, it would be best to start your prayers like this, "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen"

Or perhaps saying, "Lord God, all Holy Trinity"...

Of course you can pray simply to the Father, yet even then we would end the prayer by saying something like, "who is glorified with the Son and the Holy Spirit"

The important thing to remember is the Trinity is God. And is ONE! He is not three gods, so when you pray to one you're praying to the entire essence of God.

I would suggest starting out by praying simply to the Holy Trinity. It will help you focus in the union and oneness of God, and you won't have to worry about who to pray to. Eventually you'll get a feel for how each hypostasis of the Trinity works in our lives, and will gradually learn to pray seperately. But again, even if I pray to the Holy Spirit to give me understanding of something, I still end the by saying "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

I think what you need is a prayer book with the basic evening and morning prayers to start off with. When learning to pray its much easier to use written prayers. They not only give us a rule for praying, a goal to keep, they also TEACH us how to pray.

Also one last thing, don't let all this I've typed be a burden. Just pray! The Lord hears us no matter what. Just talk to the Lord as if He is right there before you (because He really is) and just talk to Him. You needn't follow specific "rules" to pray to God...but the rules DO indeed help us and make it easier to pray!

I hope this helps a little, and isn't too much info in one post.

In Christ, Thomas

[Chuck S.]

Hi again Ender,

Here is a website to a set of very simple prayers. These are the prayers I first started using when I was becoming Orthodox. They're in english, so maybe they wont be useful to you, but they are very simple, yet are the basic prayers used by all Orthodox Christians.

They're not extremely long either so they are great for beginners. But they taught me alot about praying the Orthodox way in a short time.


http://www.greece.org/gopatalex/prayers.html

Again they're in english, so maybe they wont be useful but I pray they will be.

In Christ, Thomas


PS: forgive me if my first post wasn't practical enough. Fr. Averky's words made me realize some of my post may have been to "technical" for that I apologize. (even though I know Father's words were not directed at me directly I've taken his words to heart.)

[Priest David Moser]

Dear "Ender",

How goes the game? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.) Really though, I would be interested in who you actually are. (For those of you who are now lost, "Ender's Game" is the first in a science fiction trilogy by Orson Scott Card in which the title character, Ender Wiggin, is recruited as an unwitting military genius as a child. Once he realizes that his "games" have actually killed living beings, he spends the remainder of his life trying to make up for it.)

Now on to your questions. I am not a "learned student of Orthodoxy" but rather just a simple parish priest. If you want to learn to pray, then get a prayerbook and start saying the prayers in it as though they were your own. By using these prayers as models, and by internalizing those models, then you will indeed learn to pray by imitation - the same process in fact by which an infant learns to talk, or that elementary students learn to read.

Priest David Moser

[Richard McBride]

Blessed of the Lord, Ender

What a wonder-filled problem you have. I may only wish I had allowed the Lord to lead me to this same question years ago.

I marvel that young people hear this quiet voice at all; but to respond to it, as you are doing Ender, is simply -- wonderful.

I pray for you, that you will grow in power of will to keep thwarting the enemy, who never ceases his attempts to intrude into our lives. I pray that you discover a prayer regimen which will allow you to sandwich secular chores around a stable bastion of prayer -- not the other way around. But the first thing is simply to pray -- as Father Averky and others have said.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful problem with us.

richard mcb

[Ender Wiggin]

WOW ... what can I say. Thank you all so much for taking the time and helping me with this question. I'm overwhelmed, thank you so much ... to all of you. Thanks for the link Chuck, don't worry about the language ... its no problem. Thank you Father Averky in advance for your efforts in trying to help me answer the question, I will be visiting Serbia this summer, so simply giving me some Names of some of the Authors would be enough, I probably wont have any problems finding some books there.

I knew that 'Ender Wiggin' would not last long ... but again I didn't think that it wouldn't last through the first post.
I'm sorry about the name, but I have never felt comfortable putting my name on the Internet. I always use Character names or something similar. But as I see this board is very different from any other I have attended, so I will say that my real name is Davor. Thank you Priest David for giving me the little push.
Again, I want to thank all of you very much for all of your answers which were really helpful.

Davor.K

[Fr Averky]

Dear Ender,

Father David's and Thomas' posts are very helpful in that they both urge you to start your spiritual life in a simple manner. I would think that it would be important for you to read The New Testaament, for the Holy Gospels are the narrative of our Saviour's earthly life -His teachings, His miracles, His death and resurrection from the dead and His ascent into Heaven. The Acts of the Apostles is the history of the very early days of the Chrisitan Church, and gives us an idea of the excitement of the miraculous events of the period after Pentecost. The Epistles are the writings of the Apostles of Christ, which formulate early Christian thought showing the importance of the resurrection of Christ, Christian moral values and so on. Read the Holy Gospels prayerfully and thoughtfully, for the message found in them is simple, but very spiritually profound. In the Gospels you will see that the Christian is in the "World," but is not part of it. Christ, who is God, became Man in order that we might share in His divinity. Thus the aim of the Christian life is not to embrace the values of this world, but those of the heavenly realm. The so-called values of "standing up for our rights," the foolish notion of being "empowered," being "proud of ourselves," always being a "winner," - none of these fit into the scheme of the life of a humble Christian person. Thus we are told to love our enemies; to turn turn from evil and do good; if some one slaps us on the face, turn the other cheek to him; if someone makes you walk a mile with them go two; loan willingly without the hope of being repaid; if someone has insulted or hurt you, before you make any offering to God, go and ask his forgiveness, and so on. Christ is the Good Shepherd, and we are His rational sheep, and in one parable He speaks of how the shepherd will leave the entire flock to seek out the one sheep who is lost, and we in our sinfulness become and lost, and our loving Saviour seeks us out, wanting us to return to the safety of His fold.

As the Christian Church progressed and spread thoughout the Roman empire, many did not understand this new religion, and over the years many thousands of people gave up their life rather than to deny Christ. These are particular saints called Martyrs, who were witnessses for Christ. Since Jesus Christ did not leave a church structure, many questions arose, and saintly men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote books and articles which clearly defined the teachings of the Church. These men are called the Holy Fathers of the Church. In the fourth century, men who wanted to live a life of prayer moved into the Egyptian desert and lived a strict life of prayer and fasting, and they too worked many miracles. These are the Monastic Fathers of the Church. The Orthodox Church honors all of these bold champions of Christ, revering them as saints, and asks them to interceed on behalf of we poor sinners. Many of these saints are known for the many miracles they worked during their earthly lives, and now from heaven. Each Orthodox Christian is given a saint's name as his heavenly patron. The Serbian Orthodox people have the tradition of the "Slava," which is the patron of the head of the family, either a saint or a Feast of the Church.

The Mother of Jesus Christ, the Most pure Virign Mary, is the highest of all creatures, for even though she was born a person like ourselves, she remained pure and sinless all her life, never having sinned in thought, word or deed. She gave birth to Jeus Christ in a miraculous manner, and remained a virgin before, during, and after the birth of her Divine Son. She is the Mother of the Church, the Mother of Orthodox Christians, and she interceeds before the throne of her Son for all of us. She is called "Theotokos," which roughly translated means, "God-Man Birthgiver." We pray to her as Christ's mother, asking her for her aid. Over the centuries, Christian peoples have turned to her in prayer at the most desperate moments, and she came to their aid.

To begin to pray, first, you miust believe that there is a God, and second, that that God loves you and desires that you be with Him in heaven forever. Jesus Christ tells us that we must love God with our whole heart, with our whole mind, with our whole soul and our neighbor as ourself. This is no easy task, but it is the way to heaven. When we sin, when we fall away from the love that is the Christian life, destroying the image of God within us, then we must humbly ask His forgiveness.

As Thomas mentioned, God is a Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is God the Father, then there is God the Son who is Jesus Christ was born of the Father before all ages, and God the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father. It is not possible to understand this, for it is a Mystery: God the Father is not God the Son, and God the Son is not God the Holy Spirit and God the Holy Spirit is not God the Father, yet the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God

God the Father is the creator of all things visible and invisible. And because He loved the world which had fallen into sin, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who became man, to redeem the world. After He had ascended into Heaven, the Holy Spirit, who is the Giver of Life descended upon the Apostles, who before His coming was a group of frightened simple men of Galilee. At Pentecost, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to witness for Jesus Christ and began to proclaim to the world that He is God and Saviour.

Each Person of the Holy Trinity has His place in our Christian Life. In His earthly life, Jesus did the will of the Father and offered His life up for the sins of mankind. The Holy Spirit is He who completes the Divine actions of all the Sacraments. For example, during the Divine Liturgy, the priest prays over the bread and wine, asking God the Father, who sent down the Holy Spirit at the third hour upon the Apostles to make the bread the Body of Christ, and the wine the Blood of Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit. At that most holy moment, the Holy Spirit descends by the will of God the Father, and mere bread and wine become the precious Body and Blood of Christ. Thus all three Persons of the Holy Trinity have been manifested, showing the utmost love and condescension to sinful mankind. This too is a great Mystery, but we poor, weak and sinful people have been granted this great mercy by God for our salvation.

Ender, get an Orthodox prayerbook. At St. Nicholas Russian Cathedral in the city where you live, I am sure you can buy a Jordanville Prayer book in English. The priest, Fr. Alexis, is a most kind man with whom you can easily speak. As Father David wisely suggests, start with the morning and evening prayers. Try to say them faithfully, and you will gain much Grace, and in them you will learn much if you read them carefully and with attention.

As questions arise, you of course may ask them on this message board, and several good Orthodx Chrsitians will be happy to help you. If you are not attending Divne Services, I suggest that you do as soon as you can. I do not know of a Serbian church in your area, but the Russian Church has similar services. There is also a very active Greek Orthodox Church, and a church of what is called the OCA, the Orthodox Church in America.

As you progress, you will want to do spiritual reading, but for now, humbly and quietly read some prayers, and the New Testament. May God help you!

Father Averky

[cale]

Ender! you are so cool for calling yourself that, but Father david! youve wrecked the ending!

and Father Averky, you are funny and really good.

everybody is good.

Ender, DONT LOOK BACK.

[Fr Averky]

Cale.

What are you on?

Fr. A.

[cale.]

Forgive me Father, I had a lonley and difficult day yesterday. I was really having a battle inside, it brought me to tears, but I cant cry at work, my heart was burning up. Then when I got home something was waiting for me that really shook me up and made me angry and sad. But I knew I could have kept my peace, I allowed these passions to get a grip because of my pride and pathetic self-pity. Then I prayed before my icons, asking Jesus to forgive me for this. I have the Sinai Icon of Christ next to my lamp. I was looking at this icon and, I dont want to sound stupid, but I felt that Christ smiled at me in the Icon. A loving and knowing smile. This was a fruitful trial. I was peaceful and joyous when I logged onto the board and I was so happy to see everyone here, I didnt realise how connected I felt to you all. I was happy and I knew that you were all good and that God loves us without stopping.

I had to bring myself back into line then, its easy to get emotional and spill the Grace.