About prayer and prayers. The Special Litany: What is the Litany for the Dead?

What is a "Special (Substantial) Ektiniya"? When is this prayer service ordered and what does it serve? Thanks. Irina.

Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko answers:

Hello Irina!

First, let's define the meanings of the words "litany" and "prayer".

Litany (from the Greek “zeal”, “stretch”) is a series of prayer petitions pronounced by a deacon or priest on behalf of all those who pray during the service. The litany begins with a call to prayer, followed by various petitions, and ends with an exclamation praising God (pronounced by the priest). After each petition, depending on its content, the choir sings “Lord, have mercy,” “Give, Lord,” or “Thee, Lord.”
According to the content and number of petitions in Russian church practice, they distinguish between great, small, special and petitionary.

The Augmented Litany (from the Slavonic “sugubiti” - “strengthen, double”) - begins with the words “receive everything from the whole soul, and from all our thinking, rcem” (“rcem” means “we will speak”). The name of this litany refers to intense prayer (which is why it is called the "litany of diligent prayer"). It contains, in the main, petitions about persons: the Patriarch, the ruling bishop, the country (rulers and the army), about the deceased Christians (first of all, the creators of the temple), as well as about all those who perform divine services in it and perform various obediences, and also about the upcoming ones. For each petition made by a deacon or a priest, the choir responds with three “Lord, have mercy.”

Prayer is one of the types of private worship. It is short and has a pleading or grateful character. Prayers ask the Lord, the Mother of God or a saint to send down mercy, or give thanks for receiving blessings.
There are public and private prayers. The first ones are performed, as a rule, on the days of temple holidays, on the New Year, before the start of the school year, during natural disasters, epidemics, etc. Private prayers are performed at the request of individuals: for example, to bless the house, to consecrate and bless food, about the sending down of spiritual and bodily health. In different churches there are certain days for performing such prayers.

Thus, a special litany is not a prayer service, but may be included in the sequence of a prayer service. In some parishes, there is a tradition to insert petitions for the sick, for travelers, etc., into the following of a special litany.

Sincerely, Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko.

Priest Andrei Chizhenko explains.

The word "litany" in translation from the Greek language means "diligent prayer" or "zealous, drawn-out prayer." In the temple, you can hear how a priest or deacon proclaims certain short prayers, to which the choir answers either "Lord have mercy", or three times "Lord have mercy" or "Give me, Lord."

There are several types of litanies:

Great (peaceful) litany. It is called so because, firstly, it is the longest in time, and secondly, it expresses the fullness of the blessings that fallen humanity dares to ask God for. It is called peaceful because it begins with the words “Let us pray to the Lord in peace.”

Small Litany- This is an abbreviated version of the peace. It begins with the words “Let us pray to the Lord again and again in peace,” that is, “Let us pray again and again to the Lord in peace.”

Augmented (enhanced) litany. The choir responds to the petitions of the priests with an amplified threefold "Lord, have mercy."

Pleading Litany. To her petitions, the choir answers "Give me, Lord."

Funeral Litany pronounced at funeral services: burials, requiems, litias, in certain places of the Divine Liturgy.

Litany for the catechumens, i.e., about those people who have a desire to be baptized and take a course of Christian education (announcement in Church Slavonic). Litanies and prayers for the catechumens always follow at the end of the Liturgy of the catechumens, before the beginning of the Liturgy of the Faithful. An unbaptized person cannot be present at this part of the Divine Liturgy, therefore the Church offers prayers for the catechumens and before the Cherubic Hymn they are removed from the temple.

The scheme of any litany is the petition of a priest - a priest or a deacon as an intercessor before the Lord for the people, turned to God. This petition enhances the chorus with the words "Lord, have mercy" or "Give, Lord." This sound scheme is an echo of the fact that in ancient times all parishioners of the temple sang the aforementioned prayers “Lord, have mercy” or “Give, Lord” together, unanimously on behalf of all mankind, asking God for certain blessings.

So, the great (peaceful) litany.

It begins any divine service, such as Vespers, Matins, Liturgy. If you listen carefully to her prayers, you will hear that the petitions of the peaceful litany begin with a request for the most important spiritual blessings and end with requests for earthly prosperity. Therefore, her petitions are like a ladder leading from heaven to earth, where each prayer is a certain step.

The beginning of “Let us pray to the Lord in peace” is twofold. On the one hand, it symbolizes the world as the fullness of Orthodox humanity abiding in the Church, on the other hand, the peace of the soul as a special prayerful mood.

Each litany ends with a priestly exclamation in which, in one way or another, the priest thanks the Lord for his good deeds towards humanity. If the petitions of the litany can be pronounced by a deacon, then the exclamation can only be made by a priest or bishop.

And in this construction of the litany we see an image of the structure of the Church itself, an image of Her fullness and power.

Ideally, the deacon takes a blessing from the priest, who liturgically, in the liturgical sense, represents Christ. That is, God himself blesses the deacon, and with him the whole Orthodox people for prayer. The deacon goes to the pulpit and raises his right hand with the orarion up. Often a deacon is referred to as the "director" or "conductor" of a service because he sets people up to prayer like a tuning fork. So, the deacon, standing facing the altar, raises his hand with the orarion up. Why is the priest facing the altar? Because he aspires to God, and in this case he is an intercessor for the people before Him. Why is the hand up? Because the heart is erected to grief. And the deacon shows that we spiritually and mentally must leave the earth and direct our attention to heaven, in prayer to God. To each deacon's petition, the choir, on behalf of the whole people, answers "Lord, have mercy" or "Give me, Lord." This is a symbol of the fact that the entire human Christian universe is praying at this moment - the entire fullness of the earthly Church.

The litany ends with the exclamation of the priest, who, already purely before the Throne of God, intercedes for the people for all those spiritual and material blessings that people ask from their Creator. He raises the litany to an even higher level - the level of the angels, the level of thanksgiving and doxology of the Holy Trinity. It is this that is the core of every priestly cry. The choir, on behalf of all those praying, answers "Amen", which is translated from the Hebrew language "so be it", "truly so". This confirms the fact that all believers in this prayer are of one mind with the priest and, as it were, are a single soul aspiring to God - His Beloved Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Priest Andrei Chizhenko

Prayer is the very thread that connects a person with the Lord. Prayer is not needed by God; even without human requests, he knows what and who needs it. Prayer is necessary for the person himself, it gives him peace and confidence. It is prayer that gives strength and strengthens faith. This is the meaning of the phrase about what will be given to those who ask.

There are a lot of prayers, and for each of them there is a place and time. This does not mean at all that it is required to memorize any texts and pronounce them in front of a certain image at a specific hour. This means that for each life event or situation in the church there are their own types of prayers, for example, for health or for the dead.

What is this prayer?

Many have heard that there is a special prayer for health. What it is, when and why it is needed, not everyone understands. Meanwhile, pure prayer is a traditional variety of the components of the liturgy. It is pronounced at the personal request of the believer and can relate not only to health, but also to other aspects of life or problems.

Prayer is ordered from the clergy in any church, monastery or other parish. It will be read by the serving priest as part of the part of the liturgy specially assigned to the needs of the parishioners.

How is it different from other prayers?

The main difference is clear from the name, if you think about it, prayer is pure. This means that a person asks the Lord for something purely, that is, on purpose. As a rule, such prayers are devoted to asking God for help in resolving a specific problem in the life of a person or his loved ones.

Another difference of this prayer service is that it is read by the clergyman in accordance with the need of the believer. This means that the more terrible and serious the problem, the more time in the service will be allocated for reading the prayer.

What is such a prayer like?

In order to order a special prayer, it is not at all necessary to wait for the moment at which a tragedy occurs in life. It is enough to feel the inner need for such prayer.

As a rule, a special prayer is read in connection with the needs of the following:

• admonition of children or loved ones, guidance on the path of righteousness;
• assistance in family matters and in the preservation of marriage;
• the gift of heirs and the birth of strong children;
• ability to learn, revealing talents;
• protection from evil machinations and slander;
• healing from pernicious passions.

In our time, women most often order a special prayer, asking for peace of mind and forgiveness of the sin of infanticide. We are talking about abortions, because not every woman is able to mentally and emotionally endure this event.

Accordingly, such a prayer is a purely petition to the Lord about what is important for a person. There are no restrictions for her.

Many clergy are puzzled by the attitude of the flock to custom prayers. The priests are worried that, having ordered the reading of a prayer, many people consider their participation completed on this. That is, they do not consider it necessary to work on their own souls, pray on their own and even do something to correct the life situation, about which prayer was ordered.

This is a general trend that clergymen everywhere are worried about. People lose their spirituality and come to temples as if to shops. This attitude is not only wrong, but harmful. A prayer about which the person who ordered it does not care and does not rely on it will not bring any benefit.

How long should such prayers be read?

The Lord hears only requests filled with sincere faith and uttered with hope, a pure prayer is no exception.

Based on practice, the clergy advise reading during at least twelve liturgies. But sometimes it is required to read a prayer and thirty, and forty services. Its effectiveness depends on the spirituality of the person asking and, of course, on the sincerity of the faith of this person. Of course, there is also a dependence on the complexity of the life situation.

For example, if a prayer is ordered to get rid of a loved one from drug captivity, then not twelve services will be required, but much more. Although the Lord is omnipotent, demonic temptations are also not weak, and the soul of a drug addict is in the devil's captivity and often does not consider it necessary to leave it.

It is important to understand that not its effectiveness in the literal sense depends on the term for reading a prayer, but the spiritual strengthening of the prayer, firmness of intentions. That is, this is a kind of self-hypnosis, as psychologists call such actions. Of course, the stronger the faith of a person and the firmer his conviction, the faster and easier he will get the desired result. After all, as they say, it is given to the one who asks.

Does something need to be done?

The Lord Himself does not need any actions from a person, only faith is necessary for God. But the person himself often needs to do something, to undertake in his daily life.

It is easier for people to spiritually join the ordered prayer deed if they perform:

• consecration of your home;
• comprehend the commandments and their daily actions;
• commemorate the dead in the church;
• ask for the health of loved ones in the temple;
• attend services;
• repent of sins - both involuntary and intentional.

Deliberate transgression is the scourge of the soul of modern man. The point is that, knowing that the deed is bad and runs counter to God's commandments, a person does it anyway. And then, as the people say, "cats scratch at his soul."

Often, it is precisely such actions that lead to the fact that custom-made prayer is required, especially or otherwise.

Where to order such a prayer?

The place does not matter, in order for a special prayer to help in a difficult life situation. It will be a monastery or a temple standing next to the house - it is not so important. The main thing is faith and conviction in one's actions, as well as sincerity in intentions. If a person orders prayers, but at the same time continues to lead a sinful life, then such duplicity will not lead to anything good.

However, given that in our country most of the monasteries and temples were closed and, in principle, desecrated, the question of the place matters. Before ordering a prayer service, you need to go to the temple and stay in it for some time, stand and listen to yourself. If this church is not very comfortable spiritually, you want to get out of it, or even irritation comes, then in this church you do not need to order prayers, regardless of what kind of clergy work in it.

The temple, which has preserved the energy prayed for centuries, is felt immediately and unmistakably. In such a church, peace and tranquility come to the soul, and leaving the temple, a person seems to glow from the inside. He smiles and is open to everything good and bright. In such a temple, you need to order prayers.

How is it different from litany?

A special litany is a great common prayer. It is correct to call a litany not a prayer, but a section of the liturgy, which consists of petitions to the Lord from the parishioners of the temple.

Literally, "litany" is translated from Greek as "long prayer." But it is not prayer, but an integral element of the content of worship, its integral part, section.

The litany consists of prayers and, depending on their types, as well as the general nature of the service, can take various forms. Prayer is devoid of this, it is subject to one thought and purpose.

Is it possible to pray purely without an order?

Many believers are confused by completely commercial announcements that it is possible to transfer payment for prayer and order it in a monastery or church in which a person has never been. These are indeed a bit strange proposals on the part of the temples, as they run counter to the main tenets related to custom prayers. However, such proposals can be found in various sources of information.

Of course, there will be no benefit from such a prayer service. If it is not possible to personally come to the temple, then, understanding what a special prayer means and in what cases it is read, you can ask the Lord on your own.

The text of the prayer might look like this:

“Lord Almighty, have mercy on me, your servant (proper name). Send me wisdom and humility, teach me how to be, do not leave your great one without help. Judge the Lord with me (listing or a brief description of the life situation, the essence of the request). Show me the right path, enlighten me and guide me. Grant, Lord, health and patience. Help the sick and strengthen the healthy. Give bread to the hungry and fill the full with compassion. Do not leave your children in difficult times and me, your servant (proper name), among others. There is none higher than my faith, none higher than my humility, but there is much sorrow and suffering in the world. In the midst of great cares for the suffering, strengthen my spirit and grant me to wait for a glorious moment, the sight of help, amen.

A litany is a common prayer during a divine service. At this time, the priest usually utters prayer petitions, and the choir sings along with him, they say such words - “Lord, have mercy” or “Give, Lord.”

The litany usually ends with an exclamation from the priest himself. If there is a deacon in the temple, the church, then he leads the litany. If there is no deacon, then one of the priests conducts such a service.

Types of litany

This service comes in several forms. Let's talk in more detail about each of them. The great (as it is called) litany begins with the words "Let us pray to the Lord in peace." The strengthened litany (as the next type of this prayer to the Lord) begins with such words - "Rzem all, with all my heart ...". Moreover, the words "Lord, have mercy" are said three times after each petition.

Usually the Lord hears all prayers and helps people. The main thing is to believe in it. The last but not least type of litany is the small one. There are three total petitions in this service, which begin with the words - "Packs and packs ...". "Paki and paki ..." translates as "again and again."

Some churches serve litanies such as litanies for deceased relatives. They are called restful. Many church leaders say that the litany is a special service.

There are no preparations for it, but it is not aimed at calming the attention of a person, a servant of God, but at constant arousal of attention. Usually the litany is divided into several small petitions, but in each one they say the words - "Lord, have mercy", "Give, Lord."

The History of Prayer

Litany is a Greek word. Then, and even now, this prayer was considered deep, sensual. Believers serve diligently, very concentrated. Back in Ancient Times, only deacons were allowed to conduct litanies. There used to be more of them than now.

But at the present time, it is allowed for the litany to be conducted by an ordinary minister of the church, a priest. He must be of advanced age, in years. It is believed that it is adult, experienced priests who know how best to conduct this or that service than to help parishioners after it.

After all, some people do not go home at the end of the litany, but want to talk to the priest in person. It can be just talk: about the church, its influence on a person, modern society as a whole. And someone makes a specific request for help, advice.

Who is a deacon

As you know, a deacon cannot be fully called a clergyman. But since a litany is not exactly a prayer, but only a call to it, it is allowed for a deacon (this is even desirable) to conduct this event.

Different churches have different canons and foundations, each church itself determines and sets the rules. But what is common, known to all, important and necessary to all parishioners is the same everywhere.

Standing on the pulpit facing the altar. Stretching out his right hand, he holds an orarion in it, and after each petition he makes the sign of the cross. Sometimes, in the absence of a full-time deacon in the service, a priest may read the litany. In the Greek Church it was so historical, and only in the Russian Church it was always customary to also have a deacon in the service.

The litany is always read in dialogue with the choir. The response words of the choir are called acclamations. There are four different acclamations on the litany:

• "Lord have mercy"
• "Give, Lord"
• "You, Lord"
• "Amen" - final.

** In special cases after the 9th application ( About floating...) The charter indicates to insert additional petitions:

Prayer for the New Year

In the process of writing

Prayer singing at the beginning of the teaching of the youths

In the process of writing

The follow-up of prayer singing to the Lord our God about our God-protected country, its authorities and its army, sung during the battle against adversaries

In the process of writing

Prayer singing for the sick many or for the one

In the process of writing

The following prayer singing to the Lord our God Jesus Christ, sung in times of lack of water, when it rains a lot uselessly

In the process of writing

Chin of blessing on the journey

In the process of writing; other In the process of writing

Small Litany

The small litany is an extremely abbreviated version of the great litany (without losing the main meaning). The 1st, 2nd and 3rd petition of her coincide with the 1st (with the addition "Paki and paki"), 11th and 12th petition of the great litany, respectively. This is the second in importance and the first in frequency of appearance at the service of the litany.

The small litany is read after the kathismas while reading the Psalter; on polyeleos after censing; 3, 6, 9 canons of the canon of Matins; after the 1st and 2nd antiphon (more precisely, immediately after the "Only Begotten Son") at the liturgy.

Pleading Litany

This litany is called a petitionary litany, because in it the believers primarily pray to God for blessings, temporal and eternal. It is based on petitions ending with the words " we ask the Lord”, after which the choir sings “ Give me Lord". The first two petitions end with the kliros in the usual way: Lord have mercy", and the last words" You, Lord».

The petitionary litany is present in the following Orthodox services:

• At all types of vespers, except for small.
• For all types of matins.
• At all types of liturgy.
• At prayers; when performing certain sacraments, for example, weddings.

The set of petitions for the litany at Vespers and Matins differs in two words (literally). The voices are also different. The features of the petitionary litany in the liturgy are more complex and are discussed in the next section. Below is a table of petitions for Vespers. Corrections for the petitionary litany for Matins are contained in the tooltips of the highlighted words.

Litany at the Liturgy

Features of the petitionary litany at the liturgies of three types

Two petitionary litanies for the liturgy of John Chrysostom, two for the liturgy of Basil the Great, and one petitionary litany for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (consisting of modified petitions of the 1st and 2nd petitionary litanies of the ordinary liturgy) have additional petitions. The basis of the petitionary litany remains constant. In the following table, the standard petitions of the petitionary litany are shaded (grayed out) for ease of comparison. Also, for ease of understanding, the litany for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is divided into 2 logical parts, the column "Chorus" is omitted.

Litany for the catechumens

Proclaimed at every liturgy, at the end of the so-called liturgy of the catechumens(after reading the Gospel and the special litany).

Litany for those preparing for Baptism

It follows immediately after the Litany of the Presanctified Gifts announced at the Liturgy, beginning on Wednesday of the Adoration of the Cross (4th) Week of Great Lent.

Litany for the dead (for the dead)

It is performed on all days of the church year (except Sundays, twelve and temple holidays) after a special litany at the liturgy, with the royal doors open, usually with a censer in the hand of the proclaiming clergyman. It is also performed at separate funeral services.