Health note won't replace personal prayer: expert opinion

Many Orthodox Christians come to the church with a certain “program”: to quickly submit notes, light candles and leave on business. But this approach to spiritual life contains a serious error, warns Mikhail Ivanov.

“People often think I’ll pay for a note, and that’s enough. But this is a deep misconception, Ivanov notes. The note is actually a request to the church to pray for the person. The priest and the parishioners offer prayers, and this has great power. However, the personal prayer of the individual remains necessary.

“No one can replace us in our personal standing before God. We must pray ourselves – with our heart, with our mind, the expert said.

Ivanov compares this behavior to a situation where a person visits a friend, leaves a gift on the doorstep and leaves without even talking. “If a believer only runs into the temple to submit a note and light a candle, he deprives himself of the main thing – participation in worship, hearing the Word of God, general prayer,” he says.

The temple is the house of God, where the Lord speaks to us through the gospel and the sacraments. Believers should not be guests, but participants in common prayer.

“Pay notes, but pray yourself. Put up candles, but also stand in the service. Don't rush out. Give God time to tell you something important, Ivanov said. Only then will prayer be complete, and the soul will be heard.