www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Prayer Rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov

Dear Brethren, I hope that you don't mind me posting this, but it is so beautiful and simple, that I couldn't help but want to share it...
In Christ, Alice

The prayer rule of Venerable St. Seraphim of Sarov

St. Seraphim of Sarov taught everyone the following rule of prayer:

“Let any Christian, upon arising from sleep stand before the holy icons, and read the Lord's Prayer “Our Father” thrice, in honor of the Most-holy Trinity, then the hymn to the Theotokos “ O Theotokos and Virgin-Rejoice, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, for thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls... …” three times as well, and finally, the Symbol of Our Faith once. Having completed this rule, let each one attend to the tasks to which he was appointed or to which he is called.

“During work at home or while traveling somewhere, let him quietly read “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” If there are others in his vicinity while he is working, let him silently repeat “Lord have mercy,” until supper.

“After supper, upon completing his tasks, let him quietly read “Most Holy Theotokos, save me a sinner,” and let him repeat this until falling asleep.

“Going to bed, let any Christian again read the above-mentioned morning rule. Thereafter, let him go to sleep, having protected himself with the sign of the Cross.” Fr. Seraphim said “Keeping this rule, it is possible, to reach Christian perfection, for the three prayers indicated are the foundation of Christianity. The first, as the payer given [to us] by Christ Himself, is the model for all prayers. The second was brought from Heaven by the Archangel to greet the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Our Lord. The Symbol [of our faith] contains in brief all of the salvific dogmas of the Christian Faith.”

To those who for whatever reason could not complete this little rule, Venerable St. Seraphim recommended reading it under whatever circumstance: during lessons, while walking, and even in bed. He based this advise on the words of the Scriptures “whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved…”

Not only do I not mind, but am very thankful you did post it, Alice.

St. Seraphim had wonderful Rules for his nuns that he called his "little orphans". Some of them were completely illiterate and simply could not read a Horologion. For them, he gave a Rule they could follow.

St. Seraphim, pray to God for us.

Alice,

Thank you so much for imparting wisdom that God gives you. Your words and witness are always so precious.

Pani Rose

Alice thanks again!

It is weird to come onto the forum and see no new postings. I had trouble getting on today, so maybe others have too.

At the time I was the only regular one here from what I could tell and two visitors. Anyway at the time there had been four visitors in the last hour. Three of them had found this site according to the records at the bottom of the page.

You rock Alice! Thanks for sharing it.
Pani Rose