Some wear a belt on their bodies, on which the 90th Psalm is written. Is it useful? Many examples show that reading the psalm "Living in Help" with faith protects the reader from many dangers, and if someone for the sake of forgetfulness with faith in God's help carries this psalm on himself, there is nothing contrary in this. One officer had an icon of St. Nicholas around his neck, with this psalm written on it: a bullet pierced his dress, reached a piece of paper, but did not damage either the icon or the paper.

How to distinguish an Orthodox cross from a Catholic one? On the Orthodox cross, the Savior is crucified with four nails, and on the Catholic cross with three nails (foot on foot, with one nail). The ascetic George the Recluse writes: "Confess with the Orthodox Church that Jesus Christ was crucified not with three, but with four nails"[16].

How to kiss icons correctly? When kissing the holy icon of the Savior, one should kiss the feet, the hand of the Mother of God and the saints, and the image of the Savior not made by hands and the head of John the Baptist should be kissed in hair. Is it important to sanctify one's food, drink, and lodging? The air is sanctified by sprinkling holy water and prayer, food by sprinkling and blessing, everything is sanctified by the cross. It is very important to sanctify food.

Food has a great impact on the state of both our body and spirit. Having brought provisions from the market, before washing them with water, the hostess must wash them with the sign of the cross - cleanse them of spiritual "microbes" and "bacilli". The sign of the cross can destroy even the power of poison[17]. It is also important to sanctify not only food, but also one's home, bed, and household.

Why do we need the sign of the cross at all and what does it mean? To express their faith in Jesus Christ, crucified on the Cross, Christians make the sign of the cross, or the sign of the cross, on themselves with their right hand during prayer. For the sign of the cross, we fold the fingers of the right hand as follows: the first three fingers (thumb, index and middle)

Put together the ends evenly, and bend the last two (ring and little finger) to the palm. The first three fingers put together express our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as the One-in-Essence and Indivisible Trinity, and the two fingers bent to the palm mean that the Son of God, after His descent to earth, being God, became man, i.e.

mean His two natures - Divine and human. Making the sign of the cross, we place our fingers folded in this way on our forehead for the sanctification of our mind, on our chest for the sanctification of our heart, then on our right and left shoulders for the sanctification of our bodily powers. When we make the sign of the cross, we must remember that the cross must be placed correctly and unhurriedly; by making the sign of the cross carelessly, we offend God, showing our disrespect for Him – we sin, and this sin is called blasphemy.

About prayer How to pray for those about whom it is not known whether they are alive? "You will not be mistaken if you pray as for the living, because with God everyone is alive. Everyone except heretics and apostates. These are the dead" (Elder Nektarios of Optina) [18]. Are laypeople allowed to read prayers from the Trebnik for clergy?

Prayers from the Trebnik are allowed to be read by laypeople, except for priests and deacons. For example, there are such remote places where there is no church; there the faithful themselves perform an incomplete funeral service, i.e. they sing stichera, read the canon, the Epistles, but do not read the Gospel, the prayer of absolution, do not say the exclamations and litanies of the priest and deacon. They even perform services in this way; For example, they serve not Mass, but Obednitsa.

Is it possible to eat at night after twelve o'clock for those who work the night shift? Do they need to read prayers "for the coming sleep"? If necessary, you can eat, and pray well, at least briefly. Prayer will never hurt, and it will also save you from temptations. After Communion, I was reading prayers of thanksgiving at home, when suddenly a neighbor came in, a conversation began, and I told her that I had just been to church, had taken Communion, and now I was reading prayers of thanksgiving, and immediately after she left, my soul felt unpleasant, as if grace had left me. Why could this happen?

This happened because you had to keep your good deed, your prayer secret, but you discovered it, and thereby destroyed it. Because, as it were, grace departed and a sorrowful, unpleasant feeling took over. The enemy of salvation often inspires from the church to go to someone, or sends a person with idle talk, in order to take away grace from the soul after attending church, and especially when a person takes communion.

If acquaintances come to me unexpectedly during prayer, should I leave the prayers or ask them to wait until I pray? One must abandon prayer (for love is higher than prayer), accept acquaintances, and having dismissed them, finish one's prayer. Is it good if the prayer rule is longer: in addition to the usual morning and evening prayers, there are akathists, canons?

The most important thing in the fulfillment of the prayer rule is its constant daily observance. If necessary, it is reduced. You must have such a rule that it does not exceed your strength and so that your conscience does not reproach you for laziness. Is it possible to imagine the Lord and the saints in prayer? Is it possible to arouse in oneself a desire to see angels or feel the suffering of Jesus Christ?

Many Holy Fathers forbid imagining the Lord, in particular St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Theophan the Recluse. St. Symeon the New Theologian speaks of three forms of prayer, and prayer with imagination is not resolved as a prayer of delusion[19]. But sometimes, from the invasion of blasphemous thoughts, you cannot look at the icon! How, then, should we pray?