Worshiping God: Prayers and Rites

Worship of God is very common in almost all religions known to us. Both modern and pagan, which today are almost forgotten. In order to properly perform worship, in each religion special rites and rituals are developed.

Christian worship

It is worth noting that worship of God is very common in our country, where most of the faithful inhabitants profess Christianity. The very word "worship" came to us from the Greek language. It is actively used in the Old Testament. Especially, in the sense of "falling down or bowing before someone or anything."

The worship of God, in the broad sense of this concept, is the expression by a person of his inner feelings, spiritual state. This is a purely individual action that a Christian can perform anywhere. He does not even need to go to the temple for this.

But at the same time there are also forms of worship of God that are compulsory for believers during church holidays. Then it is necessary to gather all together in the temple, pray and ask the Almighty for help.

But even during church holidays, individual praise and worship of God are at the forefront. In the end, everyone independently prays and appeals to God.

Qualities of Christian worship

Even in the New Testament, prophets noted that Christian worship must necessarily come from within man. And to have two obligatory important qualities.

First, worship is necessary in truth. This has nothing to do with your physical condition and position. And only with the inner essence. To perform worship, it is necessary to be born again, to believe that without the Holy Spirit in each person, praying has no meaning.

The second important quality lies in the fact that the mind of a believing person must be completely focused on God. It is necessary to forget about ordinary worldly things, completely to disconnect from them. Only then will the power of worship of God be sufficient.

Also, do not forget that you can worship only with a pure and repentant heart, that is, only after the confession and the remission of all sins. Glorification and worship of God originally comes from the heart, so there can not be no sin left in it.

Worship in truth means that a person must first determine for himself who God is for him. To do this, you need to carefully and carefully study the Bible. This is the only reliable source in which the Lord fully appears before the man.

External Behavior

It is worth noting that external behavior in matters of worship plays virtually no role. In Christianity, it does not matter in what position the person is, when he prays or turns in the Most High. He can sit, stand, lie. No strict order.

There are certain rules when visiting the temple. But they are easily doable. So, the girl at the entrance to the Christian sanctuary should cover her head with a handkerchief or any other headgear. The man, on the contrary, before the threshold of the cathedral is obliged to remove the cap.

At the same time, there is absolutely no requirement for a person who decided to pray and turn to God at home.

Prayer

One of the most common ways is prayer. The worship of God is made in the form of repeated repetition of the same sacred text. Prayer is a very important part of a believer's life. With its help, he can directly appeal to the Creator, Orthodox Christians believe.

Prayers are performed not only on holidays or when a person urgently needs help. Prayers are also public, which are regularly recited at the general meeting of the congregation or on religious holidays.

So, in the Orthodox tradition, regular prayers are often performed without universal worship. At the same time they are recognized as collective prayers.

Types of prayer

Prayers can be divided into several varieties, which are clearly visible even to a few-believing person.

Some of the most common prayers are eulogies. There are also gratitude (when something that a person asked in the church, came true), repentant, when the believer needs to receive absolution or beg for forgiveness for his deed. And also petitioners and intercessors. When a god is asked for health and longevity, or is asked for a specific request.

Praise Prayer

Perhaps the very first prayer that has come down to us is laudatory. It was well known to our ancestors since ancient times. Praise prayers are not always addressed directly to God. There are many texts in which praise of Jesus Christ or of the Mother of God rises.

Repentance Prayers

A classic example of penitential prayer is the 50th Psalm from the New Testament. Also to this variety include the tax collector's prayer (this is an ancient collector of taxes and taxes), prayers that are read after confession for the remission of sins, or the famous Great penitential canon of Andrew of Crete.

The pleading and intercessory prayers are fundamentally different from each other. If in the first case the believer asks directly for himself, then in the second he asks for another person. Usually, your relative or acquaintance.

The Order of Prayer

In order to properly perform a prayer, it is necessary to observe a number of simple rules.

The custom of praying standing came to us from the Jews, however, if you for some reason can not stand (for example, feel sick and feel bad), then you can sit during the church service.

From the same people, kneeling before the Almighty is borrowed.

In early Christianity, it was also customary to raise one's hands to heaven while praying, as Moses did. However, over time this custom disappeared. In modern Christian rituals, only the priest raises his hands to the top when he conducts the liturgy.

The custom of praying, and generally being in a temple with an uncovered head, came to Christianity from pagan practices. At the same time, it has somewhat changed. Women, on the contrary, were strictly forbidden to take off their headdress in the temple or during prayer.

Temple

The place of worship of the gods in antiquity was the temple. In the broad sense of the word, it is a pagan temple. This is a cult place for pagans, in which idols were worshiped.

In this case, if information about the western pagan temples is present, then there is no evidence that the pagan temples were in the eastern Slavs. It could be a sacred place, not a concrete structure.

Directly in the very center of the temple entrance was allowed only to the priest and his associates, associates, who help to hold the sacred rite. The place of worship of pagan gods was often sacred.

In modern Russia, most Orthodox Christians go to the temple to perform a ritual of worshiping God. The temple is a cult structure that is specifically designed to conduct religious rituals and worship services.

As a rule, in the architectural symbolism of the temple, as well as in the interior decoration, one can trace the representation of believers about how the world appeared. In former times, especially in the Middle Ages, the temple was also an important public place. This was often the only open-air platform on which a large number of people could gather to solve their pressing issues.

At the same time, temples were of a memorial nature, and in some countries were a refuge. Neither the police nor the military could enter the holy building without the special permission of the abbot. Therefore, within the walls of the temple, it was often possible to hide for a long time political opponents of the current government or people unfairly accused of crimes.

In the Orthodox tradition, the main sanctuary is the church. There is an altar in it, only a limited number of persons can enter it. This status of the building is available to both Catholics and Christians. The altar performs such a sacred activity as the Eucharist. This is the consecration of a special way of bread and wine. In the Catholic and Orthodox worldview in this way, believers are attached to the body of Christ (bread) and his blood (wine).

But in Protestantism there is no such tremulous attitude to this rite. Therefore, the temple they often act as a place for general meeting and prayer, but not sacramental action. Some modern Protestants at all refuse churches, preferring to rent small rooms for meetings and prayers, calling them prayer houses. According to their convictions, this is exactly how the first Christians behaved, from which it is worthwhile to take an example to the modern generations of believers.

The largest churches

For worshiping God in almost all religions at all times sought to build the most beautiful high and majestic religious buildings. Christianity in this sense was no exception.

Just a few buildings that appeared during the period of the existence of Orthodoxy and Catholicism, claim the title of the largest. But if we turn to the Guinness Book of Records, then we will meet the two most majestic ones. And it is interesting that both are in Africa, where missionaries actively implanted Christianity not so long ago. Now most of the inhabitants of this continent are Christians.

One of these is the Catholic Church of Notre-Dame de la Paix. It is considered the largest in the world in terms of area. Its territory covers 30 thousand square meters. The temple is located in Yamoussoukro. . It is the capital of the state of Côte d'Ivoire .

The second is the evangelical Pentecostal church, which is located in Nigeria's Lagos. It can simultaneously accommodate 50,000 people. And this is a record. Moreover, another similar church is being built in the neighboring Nigerian city. It, perhaps, will become even larger and more spacious and will add to the list of the most magnificent buildings for worshiping God.