16.10.2019

How to ask for blessings from the priest so that the higher powers hear you? How to ask for a blessing from the priest

There are days in the life of every believer when he attends church and comes to spiritual cleansing. Orthodox people quite often have conversations with God through their thoughts or through the priest. It is the priest who is the guide to God and to the truth for every believer. But have you thought about whether you need ask the father for blessings for any requirement.

Imagine for a moment, if the priest is a guide to God, and you want to ask God for approval to do a special deed, then accordingly you need to turn to the priest in order for him to give you this approval - God's grace on behalf of the priest. Then, of course, you will think about the question of how and under what circumstances this should be done. This article will be useful for everyone Orthodox and believers who came early or late to this question.

What is a blessing and how to ask for a blessing from a priest

- these are the actions of the priest aimed at wishing good to the person who came to him with a request for blessing. In other words, this is a special prayer, the words of which depend on the person's conversion. And also it is considered the approval of God, any business in the person of the priest.

Many church members meeting the father on his way want to ask him for blessings. But often they do it wrong. Of course, there are no obligatory canons on how to ask for a blessing from a priest, but still, in order to answer the question of how to receive a blessing from a priest, you need to know certain rules. First of all, all who ask must know that they must ask for things that really exist. Asking for God's grace to marry, for example, is not possible if you do not yet have a bride or groom. Consider the example of getting approval from a priest to get married:

Before you get approval, you need to get a groom (bride), agree on everything, and then come to the priest and ask for parting words so that everything goes well in this matter.
You will be asked whether your chosen one belongs to another faith and whether this is done with the consent of both.
After that, he will approve and say: "God bless."

The rite itself also takes place in a certain way. In order to receive a blessing, you need to approach the priest, put right hand on the left, while the palms should be directed to the sky. Then say: “Bless, father!” Then the sign of the cross will follow.

The clergyman conducts this ceremony with his hand, folding his fingers so that they depict IC XC - Jesus Christ. Thus, the Lord himself blesses us, through the priest. After that, it is necessary to kiss the hand of the priest, this will mean that we are, as it were, kissing the invisible hand of God.

When to ask for a blessing from the priest

Before, none the believer did not go far and did not perform any important deeds without the blessing of the clergyman. It was believed that it was prayer and God's grace that protect a person from troubles and sins. Now they don't take it so seriously. So, when to take a blessing from a priest? IN Lately believers seek blessings:

On the road.
To do well in exams.
To do the job.
For the right upbringing of children.
To make a purchase and so on.

If you are traveling or planning to travel to long way, then it is best to get parting words from the priest. All this is done for to keep the road calm, without incident and brought only joy.

When preparing for exams or doing work, you can take approval so that everything you plan succeeds and nothing gets in your way.

In order not to doubt the correctness of your methods of raising children, a priest will also help you. Prompt, show and bless. After that, there is only a small chance that you can do something wrong.

God's grace can and should be asked with or without reason. For those who are a regular visitor to the temple, instead of the words "Hello" and "Goodbye", the priest blesses you. By the way, it is also impossible to greet the priest with a handshake, only individuals have the right to do this.

In order for your purchase to benefit you and no problems arise with it, you also turn to the church. There are no restrictions on exactly what issues and deeds to ask for God's grace. It is important to remember that it is not necessary to be baptized before and after the ceremony.

A priest has the right to bless being not only in the Temple and the sacred cassock, but also being outside the church in civilian clothes, but only in specific cases. Ask and you will be heard and your words and actions will be blessed. Don't forget about responsibility. As the saying goes: "Trust in God, but don't make a mistake yourself."

Is it necessary to receive a blessing for fasting

Fasting in Orthodoxy is a time of abstinence. If possible, permission or blessing for fasting must be taken. But if for some reason you do not have the opportunity to go to church and do this, then, of course, you can fast on your own. blessing on great post, for example, is the day of Forgiveness Sunday. On this day, all Orthodox gather in the temple and ask for forgiveness both from each other and from the priesthood for voluntary and involuntary offenses. Fasting is our sacrifice to God. And the Great One carries the meaning of the forty-day fast of Jesus in the wilderness.

Although church posts it is not necessary for all believers to keep, but it is important to ask for a blessing in order to refuse fasting for one reason or another, for example, due to illness.

How to ask for blessings from the priest for childbirth or surgery

In order for you to be calmer during childbirth or during an emergency operation, contact the priest. Order a prayer service before childbirth, let the priest bless you and your child for an easy birth. There is no set time to take the blessing for a future birth or surgery. You can apply to the church with these at any time in a week or a few days.

Do not forget that you should also take communion. Of course, the priesthood will ask you when your event will take place, as well as other details. Do not be afraid that you will not be blessed, the priest will find time for you, listen and help you figure out your plans. You will not be left without God's grace. The rite of blessing itself will follow the same pattern as in the example described above with the blessing of marriage. However, in general, all blessings are given in this way.

Church Hierarchy

Clergy- a concept that unites clergy of all degrees. It is divided into white clergy, consisting of married people, and black - from persons who have accepted monasticism.
The Church initially has a sacred hierarchy with its three degrees: deacon, presbyter and episcopal. These degrees are of apostolic origin, and they will endure until the end of the age. The Church has no power to abolish any of them; nor can it multiply the number of sacred degrees.

Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church is His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and all Rus'. He governs the Church together with the Holy Synod. In addition to the Patriarch, the Synod constantly includes Metropolitans: Kiev, St. Petersburg, Krutitsy, Minsk.

Bishop is the highest degree of the Holy Order. Each region (Diocese) has its own Bishop. Any clergyman who is at this stage (Patriarch, Metropolitan, Archbishop and Bishop) can be called a bishop. A step below are Priests (Presbyters). They are entrusted with leading the church life in Parishes, urban and rural.

Priests divided into Priests and Archpriests. The senior priest in the parish is called the Rector.

Deacons- The lowest degree of the Priesthood. They help Bishops and Priests perform the sacraments, but do not perform them themselves. Senior Deacons are called Protodeacons.

monks("hermits" - in translation) in Orthodoxy are called "black" clergy, as those who have taken a vow of celibacy (as opposed to "white", married).
There are three degrees of monasticism: cassock, mantle (or small schema) and schema (or great schema). The lowest degree, the cassock, means "wearing a cassock" (cassock is the daily long-brimmed attire of monks, with wide sleeves). Small and great schema ("form", "image") - higher degrees. They differ in more strict vows.

All bishops are monks. Their names in Greek mean:
Patriarch – ancestor,
Metropolitan — a person from the main family,
Bishop — guardian,
Archbishop — Senior Shepherd.

Patriarchs or Metropolitans are the main (primates) of all Church organizations in Orthodox countries.

How to address parishioners

Since we are one in Christ, "brother or sister" This is the best way for believers to communicate with one another. This is how the believers address the whole congregation: "Brothers and sisters" .

In the church environment, it is not customary even to call older people by their patronymics, they only address them by their first names (that is, the way we approach Communion, to Christ).

These beautiful words express the deep unity of the believers, which is said in the prayer: "But unite all of us from the one Bread and Chalice of those who partake to each other in the One Holy Spirit Communion." In the broadest sense of the word, both the bishop and the priest for the layman are also brothers.

When laymen meet, men usually kiss each other on the cheek at the same time as shaking hands, while women do without shaking hands. Ascetic rules impose restrictions on greeting a man and a woman through kissing: it is enough to greet each other with a word and a tilt of the head (even on Easter, reasonableness and sobriety are recommended so as not to bring passion into the Easter kiss).

Relations between believers should be filled with simplicity and sincerity, humble readiness to immediately ask for forgiveness when wrong. The church environment is characterized by small dialogues: “ I'm sorry, brother (sister)." - "God forgive me, forgive me" . When parting, believers do not say to each other (as is customary in the world): “ All the best!”, but: “God bless”, “I ask for prayers”, “With God”, “God's Help”, “Guardian Angel” and so on.

If confusion often arises in the world: how to refuse something without offending the interlocutor, then in the Church this issue is resolved in the simplest and best way: "I'm sorry, I can't agree to this because it's a sin" or “Sorry, but this is not the blessing of my confessor”. And in this way, tension is quickly relieved; in the world for this would have to make a lot of effort.

How to contact a priest

"Father" or "father" - this is how priests are called as performers of the sacraments through which people are born into spiritual life. Usually after words "father" add a name, for example, "Father Vladimir". You can contact the deacon "Father Deacon" , to the rector of the temple (monastery) "priest father".

In church practice, it is not customary to greet a priest with the words: "Hello", "Good afternoon". When they meet, they say "Bless." If you know the priest's name, then say: "Bless, father (name)", if you don't know the priest's name, just say: "Bless, father."

At parting, as at a meeting, the layman again asks for blessings from the priest: "Forgive me, father, and bless."
In the conversations of Orthodox people, the word is often heard "father" . It must be remembered that this word is used only when directly addressing a priest. It is impossible, for example, to say “Father Andrei blessed me”, this is illiterate.
Contact the clergy "Holy father" as is customary in Catholic countries, not worth it. The holiness of a person is known by his death. They say: "honest father" (For example: "Pray for me, honest father").
The wives of Priests, Nuns and workers in the Temple of Older Women we call kind word "Mother".

TO Bishops, Bishops, Metropolitans, Patriarchs- need to apply "Lord" as to those invested with ecclesiastical authority.

When writing to:

— Patriarch – "Your Holiness";
— Archbishop or Metropolitan – "Your Eminence";
— Bishop — "Your Eminence";
— Archpriest, Abbot, Archimandrite – "Your Reverence";
— Priest, Hieromonk, Monk (Nun) – "Your Reverence";
— Deacon and Hierodeacon – "Your Good News".

How to ask for a blessing from a priest

Every believer considers it indispensable when meeting with the Father to ask him Pastoral Blessing, but many do it wrong. Of course, there are no strict canons on this issue, but the traditions of the Church and simple common sense tell you how to behave. The blessing has many meanings. The first of these is a greeting (or farewell). To greet the priest by the hand has the right only equal in rank, all the rest, even deacons, upon meeting with the priest, are blessed by him.

Blessing is taken for the accomplishment of any good deed. Why is the essence of the issue briefly stated to the priest, and then a blessing is asked for the completion of this deed. Priestly blessing is permission, permission, parting words. Before starting any responsible business, before traveling, and also in any difficult circumstances, we can ask the priest for advice and blessings. In order to ask for a blessing, you need to put your palms together, right over the left at chest level, in order to receive the blessing hand of the priest in them. After that, the person receiving the blessing kisses the blessing hand of the priest, as the hand of Christ Himself, who gives grace-filled power blessing. The addition of palms has no mysterious meaning, grace does not “fall” into them, as some old women teach.

Orthodox priest blesses not by his own power and his own name, but by the Power of God and the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a priest or bishop blesses us with his hand, he folds his fingers so that they represent the letters IC XC, that is, Jesus Christ. This means that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself blesses us through the priest.

Therefore, we must accept the blessing of the clergyman with reverence. The Christian receives a blessing from the Lord Himself and God protects him in his deeds and his ways.

If you find yourself in a society where there are several priests, then the blessing is taken, first of all, from senior priests, that is, first from the archpriests, then from the priests. If not all of them are familiar to you, and this is difficult for you, say: "Bless, honest fathers" and bow down.

If several people are suitable to receive the blessing, then men come first - by seniority (if there are clergy among the audience, then they come first). Then fit - women (also in seniority).
If a family is suitable for blessing, then first the husband, wife, and then the children (in order of seniority) come up. If they want to introduce someone to the priest, they say, for example: “Father Alexy, this is my wife, Nadezhda. Please bless her."
If you met a priest on the street, in transport, in public place(in a store, on the street, etc.) you can approach him for a blessing, even if the priest is wearing lay clothes. But only if you are sure that you will not interfere with his personal affairs, and do not put him in an awkward position with your appeal.
If it is impossible to take a blessing, you can confine yourself to a greeting in the form of a slight bow.

Liturgical colors. Symbolism of flowers

The color scheme of liturgical vestments consists of the following primary colors: white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black. All of them symbolize the spiritual meanings of the celebrated saints and sacred events.

On holidays dedicated to Lord Jesus Christ, as well as in the days of memory of the prophets, apostles and saints, the color of the royal vestments - gold or yellow of all shades.
On the feasts of the Mother of God(as well as the Candlemas) the color of the vestments - blue or light blue and in the days of remembrance of the disembodied angelic forces - white.
In the days of remembrance Cross of the Lord – purple or dark red , signifying the strength of the spirit and the feat of the cross of the Savior.
Holidays saints and holy fools – green . In green vestments of all shades, symbolizing the color eternal life are also celebrated days of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit and Palm Sunday.
In ordinary days of Lent serve Vh black vestments , on Saturdays and Sundays, Maundy Thursday, the First and Second Finding of the head of John the Baptist and the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste - purple , V parent Saturdays, Lazarev and Great Saturday - whites , Palm Sunday - green, Saturday Akathist(and the Annunciation, if it falls on Great Lent) - blue . As for the rest of the fasts, the color of the vestments at this time does not change compared to the rest of the days of the church year.
Burials, as a rule, are performed in white vestments, for for Christians, death is only a transition into better world. White color It is also defined on the feasts of the Nativity of Christ, Theophany, the Ascension of the Lord and the Transfiguration of the Lord, because it marks the Divine light that illuminates and transforms God's creation.
The Feast of the Resurrection of Christ begins in white vestments as a sign of the Light that shone from the Tomb of the Risen Savior, but the main Easter color is red with gold. The red color of the vestments is also adopted on the days of the memory of the martyrs, and purple on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist.

White color, which combines all the colors of the rainbow, is a symbol of the Divine uncreated light. In white vestments they serve on the great holidays of the Nativity of Christ, Theophany, Ascension, Transfiguration; they begin Easter matins. White robes are relied upon for baptisms and burials.

Red color, following the white one, continues the Divine Liturgy of Easter and remains unchanged until the feast of the Ascension. This is a symbol of the inexpressible, fiery love of God for the human race. But it is also the color of blood, and therefore services in honor of the martyrs are held in red or purple vestments.

Yellow (gold) and orange colors are the colors of glory, majesty and dignity. They are assimilated to Sundays as the days of the Lord the King of Glory; in addition, in golden robes, the Church celebrates the days of His special anointed ones - prophets, apostles and saints.

Green color- a fusion of yellow and blue. It was adopted on the days of remembrance of the saints and testifies that their monastic feat revives a person by union with Christ (yellow color) and elevates him to heaven (blue). In green colors of all shades ancient tradition serve on the day of the Holy Trinity, Palm Sunday, Monday of the Holy Spirit.

Cyan or blue - the color of the holidays Holy Mother of God. This is the color of the sky, and it corresponds to the doctrine of Mother of God, containing the Celestial in His Most Pure womb.

Purple adopted on the days of the remembrance of the Cross of the Lord. It combines red - the color of the blood of Christ and the Resurrection, and blue, indicating that the Cross opened the way to heaven for us.

Black or dark brown the color is closest in spirit to the days of Great Lent. This is a symbol of renunciation of worldly fuss, the color of weeping and repentance.

Why do they take reverence from the priest and kiss his hand?

When a believer comes to a priest to take a blessing, the Lord first of all blesses the priest, and the priest already blesses the child of God. That is, the priest is the conductor of the grace of God. Therefore, they kiss, kiss, not to the hand of the priest, but to the Hand of the Lord. Let's say we want to receive God's blessing, but how do we know if He has blessed or not? The Lord left a priest on earth, gave him special power and the grace of God descends upon the believers through the priest.

How to take a blessing? I took a blessing from the priest to get a job, but nothing happens. I'm confused about these blessings... How far does the blessing work?

How to take a blessing? When we get a job, first we need to find it. Or if we want to get married, we find a groom, come to the priest and say: "Father, I want to get married." Or: "I want to get a job. Bless?"

The priest must find out whether this work will be harmful. Maybe a person will have abortions or cook women for fornication in a hairdresser? There are many ungodly works. And who wants to get married, you need to find out what kind of groom, whether he is an atheist, or a different faith. If the priest understands that the work is good, the groom is respectable, he will approve the choice, say: "God bless."

And if there is no groom, no work, but they ask: “Father, bless you to arrange your life,” these are empty words, there is nothing definite in them.

Does the blessing reach far? When a man gets behind the wheel and goes to some city, he overshadows the road with the words: "In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." How far is this blessing effective? If I go from Ivanovo to Moscow and bless the road, then this blessing is valid until the end of my journey, i.e. to Moscow. But, of course, during the journey it is necessary to read the Jesus Prayer, and if there are believing passengers, let them read the canons, akathists, "Virgin Mother of God, rejoice." Even if something happens on the road, the main thing is to be in prayer, because the Lord said: "In what I find, in that I will judge."

Who blesses on the path of eldership, confessorship, or does the formation occur naturally?

The Lord Himself blesses. There are many monks who confess, but they do not have such talents. There is no diligence to confess people like that, to accept, to instruct, even if they know the holy fathers well. They can know a lot, but there is no return.

What is the correct attitude to the blessing given by the elder? Is it obligatory to fulfill it when circumstances change, or should it be said that it removes the blessing?

If the priest gave penance for sins, then the blessing must be fulfilled. For example, do fifty prostrations every day for a whole month. And the blessing must be fulfilled exactly: not fifty-one and not forty-nine, but exactly fifty prostrations. And then come to the priest and say: "You gave me penance. I fulfilled it."

It is the same when the priest gave a blessing for something. For example:

Father, bless me, I want to change my apartment.

Father says:

God bless.

And suddenly something didn't work. You must then come and inform him of this or say:

Father, I changed my mind about changing the apartment. Remove God's blessing from me.

This is how it should be. Blessings are to be treasured. You know, some people get so used to the blessing that they keep it for some simple business. They approach the priest, but in their head it’s completely different: not to take a blessing, but just like that, for decency:

Batiushka, bless... Listen, Ivan, unload the car with coal there! Father, bless, bless me...

And the priest is waiting for the person to reorganize, figure out what's what. Of course, you can't behave like that. When we approach the priest to take a blessing, we must set ourselves up like this: "Now the Lord through the priest visibly will bless me." At this time, the Lord sends His mercy and grace and will keep us.

We took a blessing from the priest, from the bishop, we kiss the hand not of the priest, but kiss the hand of the Lord Himself. Through the hand of the priest, the Lord sent us His blessing. And if we are used to taking a blessing for decency, and at that time all sorts of sales, cars, rags, money, household chores are in our heads, then with such an attitude we will not receive grace. It is not allowed to take a blessing with such an attitude.

Nearby are two priests, one rank higher. From whom to take a blessing?

If you want to take a blessing and see that there are several priests, you should first take a blessing from the priest who is higher in rank. If a hieromonk and a bishop are nearby, then the blessing is taken only from the bishop. The bishop is given a great fullness of grace, the hieromonk does not have this fullness. Episcopal grace is equated with apostolic grace, he has the right to perform all the sacraments, and the hieromonk everything except ordination. If a priest and an archpriest are standing nearby, then the blessing should first be taken from the archpriest. If the hieromonk and abbot, then first with the abbot.

Not only in extreme cases, but also in any vital situations, we ask the blessing of the priest. What is the meaning of this and what is its effect? What are the reasons for applying for it? Let's try to figure it out.

Not only obedience

The first thing to know is that blessings are different. You need to learn to distinguish between them.

Firstly, it may be part of church etiquette, greeting form . In the church, it is not customary for the laity to shake hands with the clergyman or in any other way. We say: “Bless, father!”, and he overshadows us with the sign of the cross. This is our Hello! The same type includes the one that we take after confession.
Secondly, there are times when we need to ask the priest advice or permissions . We ask him to bless us for something we have planned. In this case, we, of course, make the decision ourselves, as well as bear full responsibility for it. Of course, the confessor can “correct” us a little, advise us on how best to act, but only we ourselves can make the final decision.
Thirdly, you can take a blessing in the form obedience for some business with the old man. This obedience has the meaning of unquestioning fulfillment of what was said without reasoning, in fact - an order. His goal is to completely replace his will with the will of God through submission spiritual father. We will only say that the latter type is not available to us today, since there are almost no such spirit-bearing elders left. Not to mention worthy novices.

In addition, with a blessing gesture, the shepherd overshadows all those present several times during the service. But it has a general meaning, so we will not talk about it. And we can only be interested in the second kind, the one that is associated with advice and reasoning.

Why turn to a priest for a blessing?

The first question that naturally arises in our minds is: why? That is, why do you need to take a blessing at all? Is it really impossible to do without it? Sometimes you can get by. But at the same time, there is no certainty that even if the situation is successfully resolved, its favorable outcome will serve us well. Why is that?

The fact is that the spiritual laws by which we live often do not coincide with the laws of "this world." Often what we think is best for us turns out to be the worst of evils. Because we live according to our desires and our will, guided by the principles of the “old man”.

The Lord, meanwhile, is waiting for us best choice. Remember the words from the Gospel: For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it (Matt. 16:25). How should this be understood? In other words: whoever wants to do the Lord's will will be saved, and whoever always seeks his own will perish.

The priest's blessing serves precisely this purpose - to give a person the opportunity to act as God pleases, and not us. What does it consist of God's will We don't always know, and most of the time we don't. Having received permission from the priest, we can be sure that now the Lord Himself will intervene in our plans, and through people endowed with such power will send us the strengthening grace and help of God.

Another interesting question: is this a guarantee that the case will have a favorable outcome? No is not. If it is not saving for our soul, then the Lord is free to destroy the planned plans. Thus, too, His great mercy is manifested to us, sinners and short-sighted.

That's why not always be sure to fulfill the blessing that was received. The fact that after this our plan suddenly turns out to be impossible may simply mean that the Lord has something better in mind for us.

What can be blessed?

You need to apply for a blessing only at some especially important moments in life, in cases of insoluble situations. Ask for it about buying a new one mobile phone or hair coloring is not worth it. This only humiliates the meaning of invoking the grace of God.

Of course, there is an opinion that the Lord must be present in every work, regardless of its scale. This is right and fair. But in everyday affairs and unimportant situations, you can limit yourself to a simple personal prayer asking for God's help.

You can not ask the priest's blessing for a deliberately bad enterprise that is contrary to the gospel commandments. For example, not a single priest will ever bless you for an abortion, since this is murder, and purposeful. And in many similar cases the answer will be the same. Remember that grace and sin never live together.

As for other harmless plans and undertakings, such as, for example, a safe trip or any good undertaking, some of them even have special prayers, which are served in the form of prayers. This is also a good thing, if possible, believers try to order such a prayer service and pray not only personally, but also together with the Church.

How to do it right?

If you need to get lengthy advice on some important matter, then, of course, it is better to ask the confessor in advance to give you some time for this. In the case when detailed explanations, as you think, are not needed, you can do this, for example, after confession or approaching the cross after the service.

First you need to say what you want to take the blessing for (this is mandatory), bow your head and stretch out your hands, folding them palms up one on top of the other, right to left. The priest blesses you either with a cross that he holds in his hands, or by crossing and putting his hand on his head, or - most often - he makes the sign of the cross with his hand and puts it on your palms (for which you folded them).

All these actions are equivalent, there is no difference in them. In the latter case, the priest folds his fingers in a special way, so that they depict the initial letters of the name of Jesus Christ. This suggests that although the visible action is performed by the clergyman, the Lord Himself blesses. At the same time, the priest says: "God bless." And we also kiss the hand of the priest after this as the invisible right hand of Christ.

"Trust in God, don't make a mistake yourself"

Another important point: the blessing of the priest does not mean at all that we do not need to do anything further, "The Lord Himself will manage everything." This is fundamentally wrong. Now what we asked to bless us for, we must try to fulfill. If we asked for a job, then we should at least try to find it. It is impossible to move to a new apartment only with the help of God, it is impossible to repair a car only by the action of the Holy Spirit, without the participation of human hands.

We have already said that the person himself always bears responsibility for his decision. Neither the priest nor the Lord can do anything for us, live our lives. They can only help if the cause leads to good. And we will be responsible for our actions, their commission.

How many priests - so many opinions?

And finally, the most important thing! A blessing on one specific occasion can only be taken from one priest. Moreover, it is desirable that the priest knew you personally. If you have not received permission from one confessor, you should not run around in search of another, “more experienced”, who will definitely bless. Otherwise there is a profanation of this action.

The blessing of the priest is not an exam that can be retaken by another teacher. If we are really looking for advice, then we should not insist on our opinion and “terrorize” the shepherds with our willfulness. We just come to church after another. We are not interested in the answer that suits us, but the one that ultimately turns out to be the only correct one.

It is better, having sincerely prayed, to ask the Lord to reveal His will to us through the confessor. The same thing must be done when we do not know at all what to do. And then surely the help of God will not be slow to come.

Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov talks about how church action cannot be turned into a sport:

Take it, tell your friends!