Praying
for
the
Victims
of
Terrorism
The tragedy
which
struck
our
nation
on
September
11
has
occasioned
an
overwhelming
response
of
support
and
prayer
from
people
all
over
our
country
and
the
world
to
the
victims
and
families
of
the
victims
who
suffered
so
terribly
in
 that
disaster.
We
have
sought
to
add
our
prayers
and
efforts
to
others
and
to
remember
faithfully
our
duties
as
Orthodox
Christians.
The
Orthodox
Church
in
America
asked
for
a
special
disaster
relief
offering
to
be
taken
during
the
month
of
September.
Your
generosity
during
that
time
has
been
very
gratifying.
On
Saturday,
October
20,
the
40th
day
after
the
attack,
we
will
make
special
remembrance
of
the
victims
at
the
Divine
Liturgy
for
Soul
Saturday.
There
will
also
be
a
Pannikhida
for
the
victims
on
the
evening
before
following
Vespers.
May
Almighty
God
grant
them
rest
and
may
their
memory
be
eternal!
Let us
Learn
to
pray
Advice given
by
St.
Theofan
the
Recluse
– continued
from
last
month
Translated from
Russian
by
Irina
Nabatova-Barrett
Further progress
in
praying
After
your mind
and heart
get accustomed
to turn
to God
through
prayer
books, you
should try
to do
it in
your own
way. Your
aim is
to make
your soul
capable of
entering, so
to say,
a conversation
with |
the
Lord, lifting
up your
mind and
heart and
opening up
inconfession
to
Him,
telling
what
there
is
in
your
soul
and
what
it
needs.
We
must
teach
our
souls
to
do
so.
So what
can
we
do
to
succeed
in
that
mastering
this
knowledge?
The
first
way
is
to
pray
by
the
book
with
awe,
attention
and
deep
emotion.
For
it
is
from
the
heart
filled
with
devout
feelings
and
prayers
that
your
own
prayer
will
begin
to
emanate
and
be
addressed
to
God.
But
there
are
also
other
ways
leading
to
the
desired
result
in
prayers.
The first
way
to
teach
your
soul
to
recourse
frequently
to
God
is
meditation,
or
devout
contemplation
over
divine
ways
and
deeds:
thinking
about
God’s
mercy,
justice,
wisdom,
creation
and
Providence,
about
granting
us
salvation
through
Christ,
about
the
Grace
and
the
Word
of
God,
about
sacred
mysteries
and
Heavens.
Those
thoughts
will
unfailingly
fill
your
soul
with
devout
awe
towards
God,
which
directly
turns
the
whole
of
the
being
of
a
man
to
God
and
is
hence
the
direct
way
to
teach
your
soul
to
be
lifted
up
to
God.
Having
finished
your
praying,
especially
in
the
morning,
sit
down
and
begin
thinking
about
that
or
this
God’s
way
or
deed
and
trying
to
tune
your
soul
respectively.
Join
Holy
Saint
Dimity
of
Rostov
saying,
"Visit
me,
sacred
Godly
thinking,
and
we
will
be
absorbed
in
contemplating
great
acts
of
God,"
- this
will
touch
your
heart
and
your
soul
will
start
pouring
itself
in
a
prayer.
With
little
effort
you
will
be
able
to
achieve
a
lot.
You
must
just
have
a
will
and
persistence
to
do
it.
For
example,
beginning
to
think
of
God’s
Grace
will
show
you
that
both
your
spiritual
andbodily
being
is
endowed
with
God’s
mercies,
and
you
will
fall
down
before
Him
overwhelmed
with
gratitude.
Start
thinking
about
God’s
omnipresence
and
you
will
understand
that
wherever
you
are,
you
are
facing
God
and
God
is
|
facing
you.
Then
you
will
be
filled
with
devout
awe.
Think
of
the
Truth
of
God
and
you
will
get
convinced
that
no
bad
deed
goes
without
punishment.
Then
you
will
certainly
decide
to
cleanse
out
all
your
sins
through
your
hearty
repentance
and
humbleness.
Begin
thinking
of
God’s
all-knowing
and
you
will
understand
that
everything
in
you
is
open
to
God’s
eye.
Then
you
will
definitely
become
strict
to
yourself
in
everything,
so
that
you
would
not
in
any
way
offend
God
who
sees
everything.
The second
way
to
teach
your
soul
to
turn
to
God
is
based
on
devoting
every
deed,
big
or
small,
to
the
glory
of
God.
For,
if
according
to
the
commandment
of
the
Apostle
(1
Cor.
10:31),
we
make
it
a
rule
for
ourselves
to
do
everything,
even
eat
and
drink,
to
the
glory
of
God,
then
no
matter
what
we
are
doing
we
will
certainly
remember
God,
and
not
just
remember,
but
fear
to
do
something
that
could
anger
God.
That
would
make
us
turn
to
God
with
fear
and
ask
Him
prayerfully
to
grant
us
help
and
enlightenment.
And
since
we
are
always
doing
something,
we
will
constantly
turn
to
Him
in
prayer
and
thus
almost
always
we
will
learn
the
skill
of
addressing
God
in
prayer.
This
way
we
will
learn
in
practice
to
turn
to
God
more
often
during
the
day.
The third
way
to
teach
our
souls
to
pray
is
to
appeal
frequently
to
God
from
our
hearts
during
the
day
saying
short
petitions
concerning
the
needs
of
our
souls
and
the
things
we
are
doing
at
the
moment.
When
beginning
to
do
something,
say:
"Bless
me,
O
Lord!"
Finishing
the
work,
say:
"Glory
to
Thee,
|
The
Mission