How and to which saint to pray for protection from terrorism: a priest’s answer

Christianity has kept the fundamentals of its faith unshakable for centuries, but being an unchanging faith and a faith that lags behind life and cannot be modern are not the same thing. For example, in 1999, under Pope John Paul II, Isidore of Seville was proclaimed the patron saint of the Internet, and Theophan the Recluse was unofficially appointed as the heavenly patron of Russian IT specialists. Car enthusiasts also have their “saint,” but everyone understands that in the time of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, whose icon is most often placed in the car, there were only chariots and carts, and ordinary people most often moved on foot, or at most on horseback on a pack animal such as a donkey. And since international terrorism has become a real disaster for hundreds of thousands of people in the 21st century, queries on the Internet are quite popular about who to pray for protection from terrorists or when taking hostages. But really, who? We ask the writer and priest from the DPR Dimitry Tribushny.

— In the Orthodox tradition there is no special saint who would be considered a protector from terrorists. First of all, in a critical situation, it is important to turn directly to the Lord himself, who is always tuned in to communicate with us. And then we listen to our heart. We have the never-sleeping Mother of God in our prayers.

– Nicholas the Wonderworker once saved captives during his earthly life. Innocently sentenced to execution and hostages of militants are not the same thing, but perhaps turn to him?

– If your heart is disposed towards St. Nicholas, you can pray to him too.

“Hollywood films epically show people praying on the sinking Titanic and even during the alien invasion in Independence Day, but it’s one thing for a movie, and another when you yourself find yourself on the brink of life and death. What should you tell God then, especially if you don’t know prayers?

– First of all, I think we need to pray in our own words, our anxiety will find these words. You can simply repeat a short prayer, “Lord, have mercy,” or the prayer to Jesus, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” If you manage to concentrate, read the full text “May God rise again” or “Protect me, Lord, by the power of Your Honest and Life-giving Cross, and save me from all evil.”

— There is a church legend in Donetsk: there was a certain house, the inhabitants of which placed an icon in every window, and the building never came under fire from the Ukrainian army, although everything around was destroyed.

“I haven’t researched this issue, but I don’t rule out the possibility that it could happen.” At least, shells flew into the house of my regular parishioners and also fell nearby. The icon does not pretend to be a spiritual version of air defense. God’s providence is incomprehensible, and we do not know why a tragedy occurs, why someone suffers when others are spared grief. But every time our people ascend to the cross, we remember the two thieves crucified with Christ. One was further separated from God by suffering, while the other, thanks to suffering and compassion, found heaven.

— Was the tragedy at Crocus City Hall such an ascent?

– Without a doubt.

— Part of the worldview of Protestants in the USA and Europe is “prosperity theology,” which boils down to the fact that if you pray and give part of the profit to the pastor, then God will reward you financially and, in general, will not give you offense. Why is such thinking unacceptable for a Russian person?

— The theology of prosperity is not accepted by Orthodoxy, and not only because the Bible contains the book of Job: the story of how a righteous man, faithful to God, reached the final depths of suffering. All experience, all the practice of the Church shows that people who most deeply love God and are loved by Him follow the path of the cross. Through constant suffering, their souls are purified and come to know God even more deeply.

— But if “we are Russians/believers/Orthodox and God is with us,” as the well-known ideologeme says, why do such terrible misfortunes happen? I even found such an “exotic” explanation that the massacre on March 22 was a “punishment”, they say, it was impossible to have fun on Friday of the first week of Lent.

— I have already said that God’s Providence is incomprehensible and without special revelation we cannot talk about terrorist attacks as punishments for violating anything.

The consciousness of an Orthodox person is designed in such a way that he rejoices with those who rejoice and mourns with those who mourn. The fact that we fast and someone else does not does not make us gnashing our teeth and wanting those who do not fast to be punished. On the contrary, we believe that we are more worthy of punishment than those who have not yet known God, since we ourselves do not live up to the high name of “Christian.”

— Believing that God will “donate” us for candles in the temple and donations is a delusion, but how to properly build your relationship with him.

— A true relationship with God is built on trust. Love is impossible without trust. If the Lord deems it necessary, everything will be fine with you. If he thinks that such a state only relaxes you, he may allow grief. But the highest achievement of faith lies precisely in accepting both good and bad as from the hands of God. And our beloved righteous people showed us living examples of such an attitude towards God. The outstanding Orthodox theologian Father Dumitru Staniloe lost two children and was imprisoned for his faith, but was remembered as a man of light, faith and true optimism. And this is not the only example. I always remember how our class teacher at the seminary once asked us: “How are you doing?” We answered in unison: “Okay.” Then he said something that is understandable to a believer and not entirely clear to those who are just learning the faith: “This is bad, God has forgotten you.”