Protection of the Holy Virgin Mary Orthodox Church

The goal of the Christian's life on earth is salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ and, at the same time, communion with God. The means for this communion is prayer, and through his prayer the Christian is joined in one spirit with the Lord (I Cor. 6:17). Prayer is the focal point and foundation of spiritual life and the source of salvation. Without prayer, as St. John Chrysostom says, there is no life in the spirit. Without prayer man is deprived of communion with God and can be compared to a dry and barren tree, which is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matt. 7:19).

In prayer, the Christian concentrates together all his spiritual acts. Prayer draws down to him the grace of God and is an invaluable instrument of spiritual defense in the Christian's struggles against the sinful passions and vices. By prayer our thoughts, desires and deeds are sanctified, for he who prays receives the blessing of the Lord on his deeds, for, as Holy Scripture tells us, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain (Ps. 127:1). Nothing so helps us to grow in virtue as our pure and pious prayers to God. Thus it was the shared opinion of all the Holy Fathers that prayer is the mother of virtues. By repeated and fervent prayer, man is made more worthy of God's mercy and more capable of receiving the gifts of grace which God, by reason of His infinite goodness, is already to bestow on us out of His immeasurable bounties. Read More…

A Morning Prayer by St. John of Kronstadt

O God! Creator and Master of the world! Mercifully protect Your creature, adorned with Your godly image, in these morning hours: Let Your eyes, millions and millions of times brighter than the rays of the sun, vivify and enlighten my soul, darkened and slain by sin. Deliver me from despondency and slothfulness. Grant me joy and vigor of soul, so that with a glad heart I may praise Your mercy, Your holiness, Your boundless greatness, and Your infinite perfections, at every hour and in every place. For You, Lord, are my Creator and the Master of my life, and to You Your reasonable creatures every hour ascribe glory and praise, both now and forever and to ages of ages. Amen

An Evening Prayer by St. Basil the Great

Blessed are You, O Master Almighty, Who have illumined the day with the sunlight and gladdened the night with sparks of fire, Who have made us worthy to go through the length of day and reach the beginning of night. Hear the supplication of us and all Your people and after You forgive us all our voluntary and involuntary sins, accept our evening supplications. Send down upon Your inheritance the multitude of Your mercies and compassion. Encompass us with Your holy angels. Arm us with the weapons of Your righteousness. Surround us with Your truth. Guard us with Your power. Deliver us from every ambush and every plot of the adversary. Grant to us this evening, the upcoming night and all the days of our lives to be perfect, holy, sinless, without any fantasy or temptation of the flesh, through the intercessions of the holy Theotokos and all the saints who have pleased You from of old. Amen.