The successful American psychiatrist J. T. Fisher, at the end of his life, wrote:

“If you add up all, without exception, authoritative articles on mental hygiene by the most prominent psychologists and psychiatrists, they will be thoroughly shortened and cleaned of verbal husks, i.e. if we take only the essence, and if the most talented poet in the world can succinctly express these purest grains of scientific knowledge, then the result will be just a primitive and incomplete retelling of the Sermon on the Mount, which cannot bear any comparison with it.

For two thousand years, the Christian world has been holding in its hands a text that contains all the answers without exception to the confused and fruitless questions of mankind. It is the universal blueprint for a fruitful human life of optimism, mental health, and contentment.”

REFERENCE:“According to the WHO (World Health Organization), every fourth or fifth inhabitant of the Earth suffers from mental disorders, and by 2020 mental disorders, including depression, will come out on top in terms of incidence,” Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Health and Social Development, said, RIA reports. "News".

According to her, the number of people seeking medical help with symptoms of somatic disorders has recently increased significantly, but in fact they need psychological and psycho-therapeutic help. According to the minister, mental health and rehabilitation after illnesses are becoming a critical factor.

“Prayer is not the idle entertainment of old women. When properly understood and applied, it is a powerful instrument of action.” Mahatma Gandhi

The positive effect of prayers is known all over the world today. Various scientific studies of this method of self-improvement, presented in the scriptures, confirm it as the deepest and safest means for the human psyche, and astonish even optimists, not to mention skeptics of introducing the methods of the ancient treasury of wisdom into the life of modern man.

Famous scientists, such as Pavlov, proved with their experiments that this method is not some kind of incomprehensible miracle or superstition, but is a scientifically based process. All you need is sincerity and open-mindedness. Only the stubborn and proud do not perceive the revelations of the holy fathers and scriptures and live in a way that is convenient for their false ego, so they do not “get out” of problems.

And yet, a deeper study of this pearl of ancient wisdom illuminates more and more facets of this phenomenal phenomenon. Studies were conducted in many countries of the world on representatives of various ages and professions, and in all cases the results were stunning ...

First of all, it should be noted that during prayer, a person's oxygen consumption noticeably decreases (by about 20%, while during sleep - by only 8%). This suggests that prayer leads to a better normalization of the functioning and restoration of the body than even sleep.

The possibility of the influence of self-hypnosis was excluded by an experiment in which a person unfamiliar with prayers was asked to repeat a different phrase (a combination of certain sound vibrations is used, repeated in a strictly defined order). In this case, the above phenomenon was not observed.

Another remarkable result of the practice of prayer is the elimination of the prevalence of one hemisphere of the brain over the other. As you know, usually one of the hemispheres of the brain prevails over the other. What determines a person's propensity for figurative or logical thinking. As a result of prayer practice for some time (from 2-4 weeks to several months), the weak hemisphere is tightened and reaches the level of the strong one, and the electrical rhythms of both hemispheres are synchronized. This makes a person more intellectually healthy, energetic, protected from stress, able to show talent and intuition.

It should also be noted the influence of prayer on the biological field of man. Within two to three months, there is an intensive increase in the biofield with a change in color towards light tones (dirty shades in the biofield usually indicate significant changes in the human psyche, metabolic disorders), and the disharmony of the biofield is also eliminated.

Interesting results have been obtained in the field of sociological research. Two cities were compared, equally located, with approximately the same number of inhabitants, standard of living, etc., but in one of them the number of people practicing the prayer life was significantly greater than in the other. The results, also confirmed in further in-depth studies, were stunning: crime in its various aspects in the first city decreased by 5 to 7%, while in the second city it increased.

This suggests that people who lead a prayerful lifestyle not only improve themselves, but they also improve those around them. And this improvement and harmonization also extends to the whole nature around us, spiritualizes matter. In fact, this is due to the fact that the biofield of each person is not isolated from other living beings, from nature as a whole. We are all interconnected and have a huge responsibility to each other, as well as to all that exists.

At a recent world conference held at the University of Arizona in the USA under the title "Recent Achievements in the Science of Consciousness", the abstracts of a St. Petersburg scientist, Doctor of Biology and Candidate of Medical Sciences, President of the St. V.M. Bekhterev Professor V.B. Slezin and Candidate of Medical Sciences I.Ya. Rybina. These theses, which aroused considerable interest among scientists from many countries and scientific fields, speak of the discovery of an unusual (unique) phenomenon - a special state of a person during prayer. We asked one of the authors of this study, V.B., to tell our correspondent more about this scientific discovery. Tear.

– Valery Borisovich, what prompted you to discover this phenomenon?

– For many years, in the practice of treating functional neurotic disorders, that is, neuroses, the method of self-hypnosis, or, as we also call it, meditation, has been used. This method, according to experts, gives good results. We decided in our laboratory to investigate what processes take place in this case in the cerebral cortex. They took an electroencephalogram and found that during meditation, excitation mechanisms are activated in the cerebral cortex. And at one fine moment we asked ourselves: what happens to the brain when a person prays?..

– Some followers of various yoga schools claim that meditation is the same prayer, the same communion with God.

– This is far from being the case, as we found out in our research. For the purity of the experiment, we invited the abbot of one of the monasteries and recorded his electroencephalogram during prayer. The result stunned us. We found that in full consciousness in the prayerful state of an Orthodox clergyman, the electroencephalogram showed a complete shutdown of the cerebral cortex ... The man sat and prayed, but he completely lacked an electrical impulse, indicating the work of the cerebral cortex. That is, we observed a state of complete brain shutdown with clear consciousness. We have called this phenomenon the fourth state of man. Before our discovery, science knew three states of human consciousness: wakefulness, slow and fast sleep, which differ from each other in the nature of electrical impulses in the cortex. Now we have become aware of another state - the complete shutdown of the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex with full consciousness.

– Valery Borisovich, I happened to meet one amazing woman, a parishioner of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, who told an amazing story from her life. She was dying of cancer in the hospital, the doctors put an end to her, but she was haunted by the thought of the fate of her children ... And she began to cry out to God day and night and ask to heal her for the sake of her children ... And a miracle happened - she recovered, recovered, raised his children and, of course, constantly thanks the Lord... What do you think is the secret of the healing properties of prayer? For a believer - God heard and healed - this is clear. And for a materialist scientist?

– Studies show that the electroencephalograms of wakefulness and REM sleep are identical. Now we have found that there is a complete shutdown of the cortex, both during slow sleep and during prayer. It turns out that the prayer state is just as characteristic and necessary for the human body as the three previously known to us. Indeed, in a person's life, transitions from one state of consciousness to another are observed, there are systems of inhibition, shutdowns .... When the fourth physiological state of the brain, necessary for him, is missing in a person's life, apparently, some negative processes occur. After all, note that a characteristic feature for the ascetics of the church, the elder monks, is a peaceful state of mind ...

– Yes, during the service, the priest repeatedly proclaims: “Peace be with you!” That is, he wishes us a peaceful state of mind ...

– Apparently, it is difficult for us to achieve this peaceful state in the soul without putting into practice the state of prayer. Hence the healing properties of prayer.

– Is every prayer accompanied by just such a state of the cerebral cortex? Did you have the opportunity to study the activity of the brain during the prayer of representatives of other faiths, religions?

“We recorded the electroencephalogram of a Catholic priest. Here, we did not observe such a complete shutdown of the crust, although the trend persisted. He himself admitted that Orthodox Christians are stronger prayer books, that only here the practice of the (continuous) Jesus Prayer among monastics has been preserved. We invited a Muslim clergyman, a representative of the Protestant church, but they did not respond to our proposals.

During real prayer, there is a departure from reality, which leads to the destruction of pathological ties. Departing from the world, from the images of pathology, a person contributes to his recovery. The fourth state is the path to harmony.

Our research has given us the opportunity to make some more discoveries. So, we found out that despondency, rock music lead a person away from the state of harmony, also causing electrical impulses in the cerebral cortex that are close to an epileptic seizure.

– It can be said that the fourth state opposes the destructive power of modern mass culture?

- Since we live on planet Earth, where, as we found out, there are four physiological states of a person, then they all should alternate in a person's life. The absence of one of them violates the harmonious development of a person, leads him to degradation, illness. Therefore, I dare say that the fourth state allows or helps a person to remain a person!

Valentina KAZAK, St. Petersburg. The article was published in the Russian House magazine No. 7, 1999.

Scientists of the Psychoneurological Research Institute. V.M. Bekhterev confirmed the beneficial effects of prayer

Seven pupils of the Theological Academy and Seminary came to the Psychoneurological Research Institute. V.M. Bekhterev to participate in research. Employees of the neuro and psychophysiology laboratory recorded their electroencephalograms (EEG) as the guests prayed.

We were shocked by what we saw! - says the head. Laboratory Professor Valery SLEZIN. - We saw a gradual decrease in the rhythm of the brain biocurrents - finally, only slow delta rhythms remained ((with a frequency of 2-3 Hz). Such a state of consciousness in an adult occurs only during the so-called "slow" sleep, and during wakefulness - only in babies up to two months.Probably, the words of Christ: "Be like babies, and you will be saved..." can also be attributed to the state of the brain.The EEG picture of the most fervently praying pupil of the Theological Academy showed a complete shutdown of the cerebral cortex, although he was conscious! calmly: “Well, okay, that's enough ...” - and the rhythm of the electrical impulses of his cerebral cortex returned to the usual alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta rhythms (13-30 Hz).

Having studied the state of a person during prayer, the scientists of the Bekhterev Institute made a scientific discovery. They called this phenomenon “the fourth functional state of the brain.” Before that, only three states of the body were known to science: wakefulness, REM and non-REM sleep. And now one more thing - "slow", or prayerful wakefulness.

— The most important conclusion that we made: the fourth state of the brain is as necessary for a person as all the others. The absence of one of them disrupts the harmonious development of a person, leads to illness and degradation,” explained Professor Slezin. - When a person’s life does not have the fourth physiological state of the brain necessary for him, there is no prayer, some processes occur ... And I, who have been an atheist all my life (my father was a commissar in the revolution and the Civil War), having made such a discovery, came to the temple and baptized. And then my wife and I got married, having lived together for more than 30 years.

— Valery Borisovich, have you studied representatives of other confessions?

- Yes, we recorded the EEG of a Catholic priest during prayer - there was no complete immersion, although there was a tendency to slow down the rhythm. The priest admitted that the Orthodox are stronger prayer books, that only here the practice of uninterrupted Jesus prayer among the monks was preserved ... We studied a Muslim from North Yemen (though not a mullah, but a layman) during prayer - no visible EEG changes were found, but spectral analysis showed that the power of his alpha rhythm has clearly decreased. With the Zen Buddhist, the picture was more complicated: first, the rise of the rhythm, and then its significant decrease. The Hindu during meditation, on the contrary, was observed excitement.

I also had our Russian guru, he also meditated. I ask him: “Why did you turn to someone else’s faith?” He replied that he remained Orthodox. Well, read, I say, "Our Father." He began to pray - and on the EEG picture, convulsive discharges began, as before an epileptic seizure! I had to immediately stop the experiment .... Then he told me that he went to the temple, stood on his knees in front of the icons all day, repented, and completely abandoned his “imported” faith.

- You said: the absence of the fourth state of the brain leads to illness. How does prayer heal?

- During deep prayer, a person escapes from reality, which leads to the destruction of pathological connections in the brain and in the body. Moving away from the images of pathology, a person contributes to his recovery. He feels that the world is mortal, temporary, accepts true values, comes to harmony with God. Through prayer, even cancer patients in an inoperable stage recover (such facts are known to science).

Evgeny GOLUBEV (AiF St. Petersburg, No. 1 (386), 2000)

Scientists are trying to understand: why do prayers help?

Neurophysiologists from St. Petersburg have discovered a fourth state of consciousness - "prayer wakefulness", which has a healing effect.

Death can be dealt with

What do the weak most often ask God for when they put candles in front of the images? Live longer. And it turned out that the Almighty responded. Even the terminally ill, if they sincerely pray and believe, can postpone their death until some specific, important date for them. This was proven by research by Dr. Donn Young from Ohio University.

The scientist turned to the database on mortality in his state, analyzed the medical records of 300,000 people who died of cancer between 1989 and 2000. Jung took three specific dates as a basis—Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the patient's birthday—and looked to see if the number of deaths was decreasing at that time. The result, of course, was not stunning, but impressive: almost 4,000 dying - that's more than one percent - somehow managed to postpone death until the next day immediately after the festivities. So death still has days off.

"Our Father" against staphylococcus aureus

Prayers are good for the human body, according to American scientists. According to researchers, litanies (and not only - let's make a reservation right away, we are talking not only about Catholics) provide invaluable help to people with high blood pressure and diabetics: in a few minutes, the level of cholesterol in the blood decreases, and metabolic processes normalize.

According to scientists, prayer is especially useful for those (and for those) who at times fall into a deep depression - of course, this method of treatment is also recommended for the mentally ill with a progressive manic-depressive syndrome.

The research was carried out jointly with the cardiology department of one of the city hospitals: scientists invited several monks, sisters and priests to pray for patients suffering from various heart ailments. Note that there were more than seven hundred “passive participants” in the experiment: for several days, doctors made notes in special journals about the condition of these patients, and when the experiment was completed, they collected all the data and handed them over to scientists.

Professor Mitchell Krushoff, a cardiologist at Duke University in Durham, reported the amazing results of the experience: "Thanks to prayer, the recovery rate of many patients has almost doubled - by about 93%." Of course, these are average data, but all the “cores”, without exception, went on the mend much more confidently than before.

“I don’t know why this is happening,” the professor admits. “But I can assume that concentration on the divine words of both priests and the patients themselves has a beneficial effect on the work of the heart. After all, the person for whom they pray or who prays himself is completely focused on communicating with the Almighty, and this probably leads to the normalization of many processes in the body that we have yet to study.

It should also be noted that representatives of various religions participated in the research.

Many Christian associations have their own views on this matter. The chairman of the Bavarian Adolf Kolping Society considers the "miracles of cardiology" a normal phenomenon - moreover, it is quite natural: "People of faith who visit church services at least twice a week, live an average of 14 years longer than those who have never crossed the threshold of the church in their entire lives, or did it extremely rarely.

Later it turned out that prayer kills harmful bacteria not only in the human body, but also in water. Angelina Malakhovskaya, a member of the Union of Orthodox Scientists of Russia, has been studying properties of seemingly unscientific phenomena: the power of the sign of the cross, the words of God and the healing properties of holy water. Here is what she says:

- I tested the effect of the prayer "Our Father" and the Orthodox sign of the cross on pathogenic bacteria. For the study, water samples were taken from various reservoirs: wells, rivers, lakes, which contained Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. It turned out that if you read the prayer "Our Father" and overshadow the culture with the sign of the cross, then the number of harmful bacteria decreases by almost a hundred times.

Be like children and be saved

But the real discovery, proving the power of prayer, was made by the head of the laboratory of neuro- and psychophysiology of the St. Petersburg Psychoneurological Research Institute. V. M. Bekhtereva, Professor Valery Slezin.

“Many psychiatrists and neurologists are aware of a phenomenon that is difficult to explain from a rational point of view, when mental disorders are relieved after prayer, and patients who were considered incurable sometimes recover,” says Dr. Slezin. - Even the great Russian psychiatrist Vladimir Bekhterev said about his patients: "Let this one take medicine, but this one is better to go to the priest." Experiments have shown what exactly happens to the brain during prayer.

We invited Orthodox priests and seminarians, Catholic priests and followers of Islam, Zen Buddhists and Indian meditation masters. And asked them to pray fervently. While the subjects were whispering their prayers, we took an electroencephalogram from them in order to use the device to track the processes occurring in the brain. And, to their surprise, registered a phenomenon.

Until now, it has been customary to distinguish three main phases of the working brain: REM sleep, non-REM sleep and wakefulness. Each of these phases has its own rhythm of biocurrents. And as it turned out during the experiment, during prayer the rhythm of the biocurrents of the brain slows down so much that it becomes possible to talk about the existence of a fourth state of consciousness - “prayer wakefulness”. In this state, the brain actually turns off: active mental activity stops, and it seems to me - although I can not yet prove this - that consciousness begins to exist outside the body.

“On an electroencephalograph,” the scientist continues, “the phenomenon looks like this. At the moments of wakefulness, the cerebral cortex of an adult generates alpha and beta rhythms of biocurrents with a frequency of 8 to 30 hertz. When our subjects immersed themselves in prayer, the rhythm of the biocurrents slowed down to a frequency of only 3 hertz. These slow rhythms are called "delta rhythms" and are observed only in infants up to 2 to 3 months.

In some subjects, the encephalograph showed a complete absence of alpha and beta rhythms, only delta rhythms. From the point of view of neurophysiology, praying people, as it were, fall into childhood. Moreover, this unusual neurophysiological phenomenon was observed regardless of what kind of prayer the subjects read - Orthodox, Catholic or Muslim. It is probably not for nothing that the Gospel says: be like children and you will be saved.

“We believe that during prayer, pathological connections between brain neurons are destroyed, because a person stops thinking about illness,” says Dr. Slezin. - Sometimes this leads to a complete recovery of terminally ill people. Science knows cases of curing oncology, but they require more careful study. You just need to believe and pray truly, earnestly, from the heart, otherwise there will be no healing effect.

Psychologist's opinion

Psychotherapist Georgy Pogodin: All ailments come from fears.

- The famous researcher Alain Bombard proved that a person who finds himself at sea after a shipwreck dies not from the fact that there is nothing to eat or drink, not from a storm, but from fear. The bomber did an experiment on himself: he lived for a month in the ocean on a raft without water and food - and survived thanks to the fact that he overcame fear. For the same reason, according to statistics, believers - among patients with inoperable cancer - live five years longer than atheists. By prayer, they relieve fears, feel that the world is mortal, temporary, understand true values, finally calm down and thereby increase their immunity.

Candidate of Medical Sciences Igor Bragin: Divine singing will calm even a psycho.

“My colleagues, both here and abroad, have empirically established that saying prayers helps people with high blood pressure and diabetics: in a few minutes, the level of cholesterol in the blood decreases and metabolic processes normalize. Prayer is especially useful for those and for those who at times fall into deep depression and suffer from manic-depressive psychosis. In general, the more severe the disease, the more often a person turns to God for help. So, for example, scientists from the Pasadena Theological Seminary and the University of California interviewed more than 400 patients with schizophrenia, severe depression and some other mental illnesses. And they found that 80 percent of those surveyed resorted to the help of religion to cope with despair, bouts of aggressiveness or tearfulness, which medicine could not help get rid of.

Having studied the state of a person during prayer, the scientists of the Bekhterev Institute made a scientific discovery. They called this phenomenon “the fourth functional state of the brain.” According to the Medical Encyclopedia of Diseases, only three states of the body are known: wakefulness, REM sleep, and non-REM sleep. And now one more thing - "slow", or prayerful wakefulness.

The main conclusion of such studies is that the fourth state of the brain is as necessary for a person as all others. The absence of one of them disrupts the harmonious development of a person, leads to illness and degradation.

During deep prayer, a person escapes reality, which leads to the destruction of pathological connections in the brain and in the body. Moving away from the images of pathology, a person contributes to his recovery. He feels that the world is mortal, temporary, accepts true values, comes to harmony with God. Through prayer, even cancer patients in an inoperable stage recover (such facts are known to science).

In the Research Psychoneurological Institute named after V.M. Bekhterev, in the laboratory of neuropsychophysiology, neurophysiological mechanisms of human emotions, behavior and consciousness have been studied over the past forty years.

The result of these studies were practical recommendations for people suffering from mental and psycho-neurological diseases, i.e. people with disorders of consciousness and emotional behavior.

By praying, a cancer patient loses the fear of death, overcomes despondency, and this leads to a completely objective increase in immunity, resistance to the disease increases, life is prolonged, and self-healing is possible.

Experiments have shown that the condition of patients improved when reading a prayer.

As subjects - Orthodox and Catholic priests, representatives of Indian religious teachings (meditation). The duration of the experiment is approximately half an hour. Its participants were asked to read a poem and a prayer “to themselves”. As a result, it turned out that when reading a poem, the rhythms of the brain became more frequent, while when praying, they became less frequent, almost disappeared.

At Orthodox prayer there is a complete disappearance of cortical rhythms. A person moves away from the psychotraumatic reality and, returning to it, evaluates it more adequately.

The need for prayer is embedded in the human mind. Consciousness, that is, shared knowledge, has 3 levels:

• the first - prayer - is observed at low-frequency biocurrents (delta waves);
• the second - communication with loved ones - at a higher frequency (theta - rhythm - 7 Hz);
• finally, the third is social communication (alpha rhythm).

The need for consciousness at all these levels is primordial, so a person needs to pray, have a family, and actively live in society.

Prayer turns off the cerebral cortex, frees a person for a while from earthly worries, neurotic situations. In addition, the normal functioning of all three levels of consciousness determines the mental health of a person. However, in modern society the emphasis is on the development of the social level of consciousness to the detriment of the rest.

Regular reading of prayers can have a beneficial effect on human health. This conclusion was reached by scientists from the University of Pavia (Pavia), Italy, who tested these techniques on volunteers.

The study involved 23 people who were asked to repeat either prayers or yoga mantras. Their actions were led by an instructor who was not associated with the researchers. Participants were not told how long to recite prayers or mantras.

It was found that during the experiments, the participants established deep rare breathing. For the cardiovascular system, rhythms of 10 seconds are characteristic. The same breathing rhythm was established when reading prayers, that is, the systems were synchronized. In addition, with deep and rare breathing, the blood is better enriched with oxygen.

When using this technique - reading prayers and mantras - in patients with heart failure, the heart rhythm returned to normal, they became calmer. It was noted that long-term reading of mantras and prayers normalized the frequency of breathing, that is, this technique can have a long-term effect on health.

Prayers are good for the human body, according to American scientists. According to researchers, saying prayers provides invaluable help to people with high blood pressure and diabetics: in a few minutes, the level of cholesterol in the blood decreases, and metabolic processes normalize.

The research was carried out jointly with the cardiology department of one of the city hospitals: scientists invited several monks, sisters and priests to pray for patients suffering from various heart ailments. Note that there were more than seven hundred passive participants in the experiment: for several days, doctors made notes in special journals about the condition of these patients, and when the experiment was completed, they collected all the data and handed them over to scientists.

As a result of the experiments, thanks to prayers, the recovery rate of many patients has almost doubled - by about 93%. All the cores, without exception, went on the mend much more confidently than before. A person who says a prayer is completely focused on communicating with God, which probably leads to the normalization of many processes in the body. It should also be noted that representatives of various religions participated in the research.

A group of researchers from the University of North Carolina concluded that patients with heart disease suffer fewer complications if they are prayed for after they followed the course of postoperative recovery of patients who underwent angioplasty. Those who were prayed for had 20-30% fewer complications.

The experiment had a complex scenario: 150 people after the operation were treated with so-called alternative methods: relaxation, massage, guided imagery and prayer. This last therapy consisted of seven groups of representatives of different religions praying for people who did not even know about it, like their doctors.

During prayer, the pulse, blood pressure, blood composition and other parameters of the body are normalized.

Evening prayer neutralizes stress, daytime experiences, calms the nervous system, promotes good and sound sleep.

Discovery of scientists: prayer has amazing properties

A recent study by scientists from Ohio University (USA) showed that praying for others helps to cope with negative emotions - anger, longing, and feelings of loneliness.

If prayer is directed at those who are worse than you, then anger subsides, the soul becomes better, the researchers note. Their experiments showed that praying for the sick and suffering helps to forget about the insult. At the same time, experts emphasize, it does not matter what religion you belong to and whether you are a religious person at all.

Perhaps, praying, scientists believe, people rethink the events that triggered the mechanism of negative emotions in them. What happened is perceived easier, not so close to the heart. The source of suffering becomes abstract, distant, consciousness switches to distant objects, one's own pain is forgotten.

Scientists have named the best way to overcome stress and anger. These are not pills or massage, but ... a prayer

And it doesn't matter how religious you are. As Stephen King wrote in The Civil War, "It doesn't matter if you believe in God, it matters if he believes in you!"

So, American psychophysiologists from Ohio University conducted a large-scale experiment with students, playing with a variety of stressful situations and recording people's reactions. The subjects were asked to cope with anger, fear and rage with the help of various psychotherapeutic techniques, auto-training and prayer reading.

The result was unexpected: the greatest restraint, calmness and prudence were shown by those who, in an acute situation, read a prayer to themselves. The same participants succumbed to provocations less often than others and responded with aggression to aggression.

Moreover, not all of those who found themselves in the group of “prayers” were religious, many would not even call themselves believers.

People often turn to prayer in difficult emotional situations. This applies to outbursts of anger, and anger, and confusion. Prayer really does help. Perhaps she changes the person's view of what happened in such a way that he does not take everything too close to his heart.

And our expert, family psychotherapist Anatoly GERMAN, calls prayer an excellent psychotherapeutic method:

What is prayer, in essence? This is a set of clearly structured phrases and intonations that are designed to calm a person, instill in him the confidence that he will not be left without help. For people of deep faith, this is a conversation with God or saints, giving strength. And for most of us, this is a kind of auto-training, and, by the way, it is really very effective.

For example, I often recommend to my patients who do not know how to control their emotions, who are prone to panic or aggression, to read the Lord's Prayer. This is a short, easy to remember and very energetic prayer. And, you know, it often works much better than the most famous "secular" auto-training "I am calm ...".

Prayer helps...

Prayer helps people cope with a fit of rage and anger, despite the degree of their religiosity - experts from the University of Michigan came to this conclusion.

They claim to have conducted the first evidence-based study on the effect of prayer on anger and aggression.

The study involved student volunteers who, in the process of work, filled out special questionnaires designed to determine their emotional state, including anger and depression. Young people were asked to write an essay, which they promised to give to a specialist for review. In fact, each essay was given an extremely negative rating, which made the students very angry.

In such an aggressive state, they were asked to read about a student named Maureen, who was seriously ill with a rare form of cancer. Young people were offered a choice: either just think or pray for her.

And then the scientists again measured the level of aggression of the volunteers. The results showed that for those who preferred prayer, it was much lower than for those who simply thought about the sick girl.

“When people face their anger, they should remember the old advice to pray for their enemies. Perhaps the enemies will not get better from this, but it will help them to cope with negative emotions themselves, ”says one of the researchers Ryan Bremner. Scientists believe that prayer may change a person's view of what happened in such a way that he does not take everything too close to his heart.

Dag Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, former Secretary General of the United Nations, once said, “God will not die if we stop believing in him; but on the day when the unfading radiance of eternal wonder, the origins of which defy explanation, disappears from our lives, on that day we ourselves will die.

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One wealthy farmer, whose granaries were bursting with grain stocks, in anticipation of rising prices, often uttered his customary prayer “for the poor and the needy.” When praying, he always added this request: “God, remember about ...

I want you to spend 15 minutes every day in prayer for a pagan mission,” one preacher said to several young people in his congregation. - But watch how you pray, because - I warn you - this prayer is for you ...

Dr. Wilson was the pastor of a large church. He learned that a member of the church, a poor widow with small children, lived in great need. He visited her and saw that the children were freezing from the cold, and there was no food in the house. The widow asked to pray with her, but...

Prayer is a means of communication between us and God. God sees each person as an individual. In the same way, a person should consider Him as a person. Prayer is the communication of two personalities, in which we get to know God more, understand how much He participates in all stages of our life.

Don't leave home without praying and telling the Lord that He is your strength, your protection, your source, and your hope.

In biblical times, many people raised their hands to the sky, which meant that he turned to God in prayer

And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in front of all the congregation of Israel, and lifted up his hands to heaven,
(1 Kings 8:22)

Ritual-observant Jews pray 3 times a day (Shacharit, Mincha and Arvit), while Muslims pray 5 times a day. Adherents of other religions pray quite spontaneously when the mood arises or a certain occasion arises (for parents, before meals, and so on).

People assume different postures during prayer: sitting, kneeling, lying on the floor, folding, crossing, raising their arms high, holding hands with other people, with their heads bowed, dancing, prostrating, circling, swaying, and so on.

Many people pray when they are experiencing intense emotions, such as when they are sad, scared, or happy.

In many American families, it is customary to say a prayer before meals - grace. Not all families and people have this custom.

If you are invited to a dinner where it is customary to pray, it is considered polite to simply sit silently until they have finished, and then eat with everyone else.

The apostles and early Christians always prayed to the Father (Abba Father) in the name of Jesus Christ. They did not have prayers to holy people, to Mary and the Holy Spirit.

Modern Jews pray with their heads covered. In the morning, tefillin are put on the left hand and on the head. Prayers are usually read by men in Hebrew and Aramaic.

Daniel used to pray three times a day. He knelt in his upper room, the windows that overlooked Jerusalem.

Almost all Jewish prayers are written in Hebrew. However, the sages decreed some important prayers (for example, Kaddish) to be read in Aramaic, the spoken language of the time, so that even illiterate commoners could understand them.

In biblical times there were no obligatory regular prayers. If any of the heroes of Scripture wanted to turn to God, he did it at any time in his own words. It was only in the era of the Second Temple that the sages introduced daily prayers with more or less standard text.

Prayers can vary in content: they can be laudatory, thankful, pleading and intercessory.

There is a quiet little room at the top of the Washington Capitol that is rarely shown to visitors. This is the chapel for members of Congress. Each member of Congress has the opportunity to retire there for prayer, to ask the Lord to point out the correct solution to a particular problem.

The chapel was opened in 1955. Another question: how often do members of Congress drop in there?

At the end of the evening prayer on the ships of the Russian Imperial Fleet, the officer on duty commanded “Cover up!”, which meant putting on headgear, and at the same time the prayer end signal was given. Such a prayer usually lasted 15 minutes.

In ancient times, believers gathered for prayer 8 times a day (monasteries).

Popular all over the world prayer " Our Father who art in heaven".

Some people end or close the prayer with a special word, phrase, or gesture, the usual silence for a minute or two, or by saying "Amen."

Prayer is a means of communication between us and God.

After the creation of the State of Israel, the Jews also had a prayer "Our Father, who art in heaven." This is a patriotic prayer that begins with the words: "Our Heavenly Father, the Fortress of Israel and its Redeemer, bless the State of Israel - the beginning of the growth of our deliverance."

There are many beautiful prayers in the Bible. The very first prayer in Scripture is said by Abraham for the king of Gerar Abimelech, for his healing of health
Genesis 20:7 and 20:17

Prayer "Lord, have mercy!" in Greek it is pronounced as "Kyrie Eleison". When Christianity appeared in Rus' from Byzantium, all divine services were held in Greek, which was incomprehensible to ordinary people. The frequently repeated phrase "Kyrie Eleison" was transformed by the people into the word "playing tricks" in the sense of "doing something meaningless and mysterious." Later, the meaning of this word changed, and now it means "to play pranks, play pranks."

Apart from the prayer “Our Father”, the Lord, through His Word, nowhere gives examples of prayers, but says: “And whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22); “Be persistent in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2); “Pray for one another” (James 5:16); “Pray with every prayer and supplication…” (Ephesians 6:18).

Always be grateful for the result of your prayer. In the end, prayer is based on faith, the Lord God will hear you, so be grateful to the higher powers.

Very important, when there is a prayer book in the house, a person who prays. Prayer calls the grace of God to the house - everyone at home feels this, even those whose hearts have grown cold. Pray without ceasing.

FRIENDLY PUPPY

Why do people shake hands when they meet? It now has tanks, guns and bombs. And before people fought with stones and sticks. And if peace-loving people met, then one of them showed his palm to the other: look, I have nothing in my hand. The other unclenched his fingers in response - and so did I. They rejoiced that the threat had passed and shook hands.

Vitya and Yura lived in the same yard and always played together. But one day they quarreled and began to pretend at a meeting that they did not see each other. The boys couldn’t even remember what caused the quarrel, but put up first? Never!

The weather was magnificent, the sun was calling to the street to frolic. But don't play alone. So the former friends sat at home, like prisoners. Pride bound them like a chain, especially Vitya. It seemed to him that if he was the first to come up to put up, then his crown would fly off his head. True, he did not have a real crown, but he was always afraid to seem the same as other children, so he turned up his nose higher. Let everyone think that he is an overseas prince. Of course, Vitya regretted the broken friendship, but the crown was more expensive.

And Yura was very worried and at every chance meeting with Vitya he kept his hand ready for a handshake. But when he saw the upturned nose, he also turned away and pretended to be fastening a button.

The vacation days passed bleakly, with a stone of pride in his bosom. Soon the sky was overcast with clouds, it started to rain and the cold set in. It was cold in the hearts of the guys. Once Yura even tried to pray, but nothing happened. Yes, and it could not work: God does not accept the prayer of those who do not have peace in their souls.

Vitya's parents were alarmed that their son was not on the street, and they got a dog. They decided that walking with her, the boy would not only breathe fresh air, but also get to know someone, since they had a quarrel with Yura. But the dog turned out to be angry - he did not let anyone near Vita.

Yurina's parents saw that Vitya was walking the dog, and they also bought a puppy for their son. He turned out to be affectionate and wagged his whole tail, wanted to make friends.

And then one day Vitya with his angry dog met Yura with a happy puppy. No matter how the guys pulled the dogs in different directions, they did not succeed: the hefty dog ​​Vitin decided to get acquainted with Yuri's puppy. And he is only happy about this - he squeals with pleasure. They began to play. The leashes of the dogs were intertwined, and the boys were close by. At this point, Vita also had to notice his former friend, especially since he was the first to say to him:

Hello!

At that moment, Vitya felt that the crown had fallen from his majestic head, and he said in a barely audible voice:

Hello to you too.

After a pause, the guys started talking about their favorites. The world was slowly recovering. And the dogs instantly became friends and did not want to leave. So the boys agreed to take them for a walk at the same time. And when they said goodbye, they even shook hands. My heart was light and joyful.

Yura came home, began to pray and felt that God was listening to him.

THE LIGHT OF FAITH

Grandmother taught Lenochka to pray, even when her granddaughter was very small. She pointed to a burning candle and said:

So you stand up straight, straight, sunk into your heart the flame of faith, raise your thoughts to God and pray.

Lenochka watched the light tremble, and froze, as if contemplating some secret. And time stopped, resentment left, sorrows were forgotten, everyone became family, everyone wanted to be warmed by their spark.

And her grandmother used to read fairy tales to her. One of them told how on Christmas night a freezing girl found herself on a cold street. The little one lit matches one by one to keep warm. When all the matches burned out, the girl froze.

But my grandmother said that the flame of faith can warm even without the usual fire.

Once, in the terrible Stalinist times, in a prison camp, the bandits lost Elder Sampson at cards. They took him out of the barracks into the cold, undressed him and left him all night. How shocked the villains were when they saw in the morning that the elder was still alive. All night he warmed himself with prayer, and this flame of faith turned out to be stronger than the cold and blizzard.

Years passed... My grandmother passed away. Lena grew up, got married and gave birth to a son. When the war began, her husband went to the front, and she had to deal with little Vanya alone. In difficult moments, out of a habit laid down in her by her grandmother, she said:

God help me!

Once, shortly before the capture of Stavropol by the Nazis, she needed to go to the market for shopping. Lena wrapped the baby in a blanket, instructed her pet dog Trezor to guard him, crossed herself and said her usual:

God save us.

The market was not far away, and Lena hoped to return while her Vanya was sleeping. But before she had time to make purchases, there was a roar of planes. Another fascist raid began. Almost hitting the roofs with their wings, the attack aircraft shot unarmed people. Everyone rushed in all directions, and Lena ran to the house.

Even from afar, she saw that the bomb had hit the bakery. But he's very close! And the poor woman cried out:

God save Vanechka! Lord save!

All the glass in their house was knocked out by the blast, and yet Vanya is sleeping at the very window! Hurriedly opening the door, Lena ran into the room and froze... There was a large fragment from the bomb on the crib. But where is her son? His gaze darted to a far corner. And there... A boy wrapped in a blanket was sleeping peacefully on the floor, and a big shaggy dog ​​covered him with himself.

Lena rushed to kiss them. Then, recovering herself, she went up to the icon of the Savior, fell to her knees and whispered from the bottom of her heart:
- Glory to You, Lord! Glory to Thee!

WHAT TO PRAY FOR?

Grisha studied well, but the trouble is - he wanted to be the best student in the class. And then they got a new one, and, as luck would have it, an excellent student. When he answered, Grisha could not find a place for himself - he so wanted him to make a mistake.

Somehow they called Grisha to prove a theorem in mathematics. He answered “excellent” and calmed down: he knew that he had a lot of fives, and the next day they wouldn’t ask him. And therefore he didn’t even begin to prepare a lesson.

This time a newcomer was called. He began to respond brusquely. Grisha looked at him and whispered to himself:

Well, wrong, wrong. But the newcomer spoke without hesitation. Then Grisha began to cry out to God:

Lord, make this one wrong. Lord, You are the Almighty. Let him slap a three, and even better - a deuce.

At this point, the newcomer really stumbled, got agitated, and finally fell silent. The teacher turned to Grisha:

Come on, help him.

Our hero is even speechless.

Well, what are you, an excellent student? Go to the blackboard! Grisha blushed and did not move.

What happened to you? Didn't learn? The boy hung his head.

Come on diary!

And a second later Grisha saw a fat two in his diary.

He walked home and said reproachfully:

Why did it happen, Lord? I asked you to give the newcomer a deuce, and they put it on me. And now what i can do? You can’t see fives in a quarter, mom will worry, dad will scold. After all, He Himself said: "Ask, and it will be given to you" ...

I did not understand what you can ask the Savior, and what you can’t, and one peasant in the last century. Then in the Vyatka province there was a crop failure, and the price of bread skyrocketed. Greedy people, not sparing the starving, used this to enrich themselves. So this peasant, who had large stocks of grain, waited until prices became very high, and took him to Vyatka to sell. Having received a huge profit, he went to the cathedral to celebrate and ordered a thanksgiving service to St. Nicholas for successful trading. In addition, he began to pray to the Lord that the famine would continue and prices would rise even more.

Returning home, the peasant learned that at the moment when he was saying a prayer for the misfortune of the people, a fire broke out in his household. Having spread to the barns with grain, the fire turned the evil dream into ashes.