Intercessory Prayer

The importance of intercessory prayer in the life of a Christian

When we first become aware that someone we know is suffering, we must begin to pray for them. We must pray with much sincerity, and with tears, knowing that our brother is being tormented, and is filled with despondency. As Christians we must believe that intercessory pray, when spoken with love and complete attention, leads to the intervention of the Holy Spirit, Who will bring about healing of body, and peace of soul, to the person that is being tormented.

If you have a neighbor or coworker who despises you, and who is overcome with hatred even seeing you, start praying for them. Pray not that they like you, but that they find freedom from the anger and hatred that is ruling their life. If you have a relative who can never say anything nice about you, start praying for them, asking that God free them from the sin of gossip, and infuse their heart with the understanding that they are a worthy person in their own right, and need not remove the scrutinizing attention that would betray them, by gossiping about another.

If there is a person you dislike, pray all the more for them, knowing that true love for them will grow in your own heart, through the sincere act of remembering them before the Throne of God. Intercessory prayer is not just for monks, but is a necessary component for every Orthodox Christian, for it is a wonderful way of remembering we are all connected together as the children of the Most High.

Our Orthodox faith teaches that Jesus, in praying to his Father, prayed for his people. Jesus Christ is the only intercessor for mankind before God, for in His resurrected glory, He prays eternally to His Father on behalf of all. It is only in and through Christ, that Orthodox Christians become competent to intercede before God. All prayer is to God the Father, through his Son, in his Holy Spirit. It is in the name of Jesus, that we Christians are authorized to pray for each other and for all creation.

God eternally hears the prayers of his people, and knows what is asked even prior to it being asked, for he knows all of life in one divine act of all-embracing vision and knowledge. Prayers, even for those who are dead, are heard and considered by God before they are said. Failure to pray is also known to God from eternity, and takes its effect in God’s plan of salvation. When you are asked to pray for someone, know that your prayers are heard by God. When you are in need of intercessory prayers yourself, do not hesitate to ask other Christians to pray for you, for failure to ask for their prayers deprives them of their chance to fulfill their obligation as a fellow Christian, and suggests you dismiss their prayers as ineffective, as though God would dismiss their prayers as well.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photo: Walking with my friend, Archbishop Abuna Lukas, of Seattle’s Ethiopian cathedral.

Tuesday March 24, 2015 / March 11, 2015

Fifth Week of the Great Lent. Tone eight.
Great Lent. By Monastic Charter: Food without Oil

St. Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem (638).
St. Euthymius, Bishop of Novgorod, wonderwoker (1458).
Venerable Alexis of Goloseyevsky Skete, Kiev Caves (1917).
Venarable Patrikius confessor (1933).
New Hieromartyr Basil, priest (1937).
Venerable Sophronius, recluse of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
Hieromartyr Pionius of Smyrna and those with him: Asclepiades, Macedonia, Linus and Sabina (250).
Translation of the relics of Martyr Epimachus of Pelusium to Constantinople (250).
St. Sophronius of Vratsa (1815) (Bulgaria).
Venerable George, abbot of Sinai, brother of St. John Climacus (7th c.).
Venerable John Moskhos (622).
Venerable Oengus the Culdee, compiler of first Irish martyrology (824) (Celtic & British).
Venerable George the New, wonderworker of Constantinople (970) (Greek).
St. Theodora, queen of Arta, wife of Despot Michael II of Epirus (1275) (Greek).
Hieromartyr Eulogius, metropolitan of Cordova (859).
Martyrs Trophimus and Thalus of Laodicea (300) (Greek).
Hieromartyr Constantine, in Kintyre.

Scripture Readings

Isaiah 40:18-31

18 To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19 The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

21 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

24 Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

25 “To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Genesis 15:1-15

God’s Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

8 And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.

Proverbs 15:7-19

7 The lips of the wise disperse knowledge,
But the heart of the fool does not do so.

8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But He loves him who follows righteousness.

10 Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way,
And he who hates correction will die.

11 Hell and Destruction are before the Lord;
So how much more the hearts of the sons of men.

12 A scoffer does not love one who corrects him,
Nor will he go to the wise.

13 A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance,
But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.

15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,
But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.

16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord,
Than great treasure with trouble.
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,
Than a fatted calf with hatred.

18 A wrathful man stirs up strife,
But he who is slow to anger allays contention.

19 The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns,
But the way of the upright is a highway.