Prayers that represent a person's appeal to God, the Mother of God, and the saints and are accompanied by the reading of certain texts are among the most important precedent phenomena for the Russian nation and therefore have the ability to be reflected in other more and more new texts. "In the cultures formed by the religion of Scripture," notes researcher N. B. Mechkovskaya, " secular literature, the school, and the entire book-writing culture come out of the bosom of the church's bookishness, and therefore they inherit some features inherent in confessional communication. Secular literature makes sense of the ideas, images, and conflicts that are presented in Scripture. It recognizes them as eternal questions of existence that require constant solution-overcoming, and seeks its own answers to them" (Mechkovskaya N. B. Language and Religion, Moscow, 1998).

Thus, over time, a literary genre of prayer emerged, which was created by A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, I. Kozlov, D. Venevitinov, E. Baratynsky, F. Tyutchev, A. Fet, A. Grigoriev, K. R., F. Glinka, I. Bunin, A. Akhmatova, M. Tsvetaeva, N. Gumilev, I. Brodsky and other Russian writers. poets. At the same time, the poem-prayer combines the appeal to God "You" inherent in real prayer with the communicative status of the lyrics (frequent use of pronouns and verbs of the 1st and 2nd persons, as well as exclamations and questions). There are so many poetic prayers in Russian literature that you can make an entire anthology out of them. One of the most striking was Pushkin's poem " Desert Fathers and immaculate wives..."(1836), which is a poetic translation of the Lenten Prayer of the Christian Orthodox Church.

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fourth-century writer St. Ephraim the Syrian: "O Lord and Master of my life, do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, love of love, and idle talk. But grant me, your servant, the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love. To her, O Lord the King, grant me to see my sins and not to condemn my brother, for blessed art thou unto the ages of ages. Amen to that."

This prayer, well known to all Orthodox Christians, "in the middle of the XVII century was associated with the beginning of a schism in the Russian church: Patriarch Nikon at the beginning of Great Lent in 1653 sent out a "Memory", prescribing to make the sign of the cross with three fingers instead of two, and to reduce the number of bows during the reading of the Lenten Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, bows from the waist down. Obviously, the text of this prayer, read twice by the priest during the Lenten service, "pierced", in Dostoevsky's words, the poet's heart and made an indelible impression on him. The prayer called for repentance, moral purification of the soul, its preparation for "eternal life" and called on God to grant the soul the spirit of humility, humility, patience and love" (V. V. Kuskov, The Prayer of A. S. Pushkin // Bulletin of Moscow State University. Univ. Ser. 9. Philology. 1999. N 2).

Desert fathers and immaculate wives,
To fly with your heart to all areas of correspondence,
To strengthen it in the midst of long storms and battles,
We composed many divine prayers;
But none of them touches me,
Like the one the priest repeats
During the sad days of Lent;
It comes to my lips more and more often
And the fallen one is strengthened by an unknown power:
Lord of my days! the spirit of dull idleness,
Lyubonachaliya, this hidden snake,
And don't let my soul be idle.
But let me see through my sins, O God,
So that my brother will not receive judgment from me,
And the spirit of humility, patience, and love
And quicken my chastity in my heart.
Pushkin prefaced the text of the prayer with a poetic introduction consisting of nine lines (the poetic arrangement of the prayer takes seven lines). In the introduction, Pushkin addressed not the creator of prayer, St. Ephraim the Syrian, but the " desert fathers and immaculate women "who created"many divine prayers." From this set, the lyrical hero singles out one prayer repeated by the priest "in the sad days of Great Lent."

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It touches the soul of the lyrical hero, most often comes to his lips.

In the supplicatory part of Ephraim the Syrian's prayer, Pushkin brought to the fore the request to give a person the opportunity to see their sins in order to overcome them later, and among the main sins he singled out the sin of judging one's neighbor ("Let my brother not accept condemnation from me"). The poet contrasted the slander of light with such Christian virtues as"the spirit of humility, patience, love and chastity."

"Thus, the text of the prayer of St. John the Baptist. Efrema was perceived by Pushkin in an unusually personal way, in accordance with the experiences of all the vicissitudes of the dramatic events of the poet's biography.

This prayer served Pushkin as a spiritual preparation for the meeting of the tragic outcome of life, the meeting of the penitent, Christian Orthodox... Thus two geniuses became one-the genius of ascetic poetry of Christianity, St. John the Baptist. Efrem Sirin and the genius of Russian national poetry of the XIX century A. S. Pushkin... " (Ibid.).

It is interesting to trace the evolution of the meaning of the word prayer in Pushkin's works. If in the early work of the poet, the addressees of prayer were ancient gods (Bacchus, Venus, Cupid, etc.), a person, most often a woman, a lover, then "in recent years, the frequency of using the words of the field "Prayer" in their direct meaning has significantly increased "(Petrova Z. Y. Semantic field "Prayer" in Russian poetry from Pushkin and the Poetic Language of the XX century: A collection of articles dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of A. S. Pushkin. Moscow, 1999). Creativity was perceived by Pushkin as a religious service, as evidenced by "The Prophet" (1826), the lines " By the command of God, O muse, be obedient..." from "Monument" (1836) and from the poem " The Poet and the Crowd "(1828): "Not for everyday excitement, Not for greed, not for We were born for inspiration, For sweet sounds and prayers."

The last words became a declaration of the high divine meaning of the existence of poetry, designed to " discover and show people the divine beauty, reveal its purpose, nurture the beautiful immortal soul of man, showing the place and role of prayer in its growth and upbringing. After all, prayer cleanses the soul from the filth of sin, it calls to great love, strengthens spiritual strength, promotes the triumph of good and peace over evil and discord" (V. V. Kuskov Decree. op.).

After Pushkin, other Russian poets also turned to prayer as a precedent text. Several poetic prayers were created by M. Y. Lermontov. The most famous of this "prayer cycle" is the poem "Prayer" (1839).:

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In a difficult moment of life
Is there sadness in the heart:
One wonderful prayer
I repeat it by heart.

There is a power of grace
In harmony with the words of the living,
And breathes incomprehensible,
The holy charm is in them.

From the soul as a burden will roll down,
Doubt is far away-
And it is believed, and it is crying,
And so easy, easy...
The poem does not say with what prayer the lyrical hero turns to God. This remains a mystery to readers. For the lyrical hero, the secret, in turn, is the power of prayer to affect the human soul: "And breathes an incomprehensible, Holy charm in them." The first stanza describes the state of mind of the lyrical hero, the second-the power and charm of living words of prayer, the third stanza tells about what the grace-filled power of prayer brings to a person: melancholy and longing go away, faith, hope, and tears of relief replace them.

In the poem "Prayer" (1837), the lyrical hero appeals to the Mother of God as "the warm intercessor of the cold world" with a plea for the happiness of the woman he loves, for her soul:

I, Mother of God, now with prayer
Before your image, bright radiance,
Not about saving, not before the battle,
Not with gratitude or repentance.

I pray not for my own desolate soul,
For the soul of a wanderer in the light of the rootless;
But I want to hand over the virgin innocent
Warm intercessor of the cold world.

Surround a worthy soul with happiness;
Give her companions full of attention,
Bright youth, late old age,
Peace of hope to the gentle heart.

Will the deadline approach the hour of farewell
In the morning whether noisy, in the night whether voiceless,
You perceive let's go to the sad bed
The best angel has a beautiful soul.
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The poem draws three images: the Mother of God, the lyrical hero and the one for whom he prays. At the same time, the inner drama of the lyrical hero, a lonely wanderer with a "desert soul", is relegated to the background, and the image of the heroine - her moral purity and defenselessness before the hostile forces of the "cold world" - comes to the fore, which is very important in the general context of Lermontov's lyrics. A plea for the woman you love (according to Lermontologists, the poem is about V. A. Lopukhina) highlights the image of the lyrical hero himself from a new angle: the tragedy of spiritual loneliness did not destroy his deep participation in the fate of another person. "Prayer" is imbued with an intonation of enlightened sadness, associated with a special refraction of religious motives in this poem: the existence of a "gentle heart", a native soul makes the hero think of another bright "world of hope", in which a "warm intercessor" guards the entire life path of a "worthy soul" and the best angel overshadows it on the threshold of death. The lyrical hero rejects the traditional form of addressing the Mother of God with a prayer for himself, as if knowing in advance that grace will not touch his "soul of a wanderer in the light of the rootless" (Lermontovskaya Encyclopedia, Moscow, 1999).

Faith became the spiritual foundation that helped" deprived of legs and abandoned vision " I. I. Kozlov not to succumb to a bodily ailment. "When the earthly world became a prison for Kozlov, the heavenly light was revealed to him. This explains the stability of religious motifs in Kozlov's lyrics" (Lebedev Yu. V. " With his heavenly singing, he lulled the earthly torments to sleep." O tvorchestve Ivan Ivanovich Kozlov [About the creative work of Ivan Ivanovich Kozlov]. 1998. N 1). The poet himself told about this in a message to his closest friend V. A. Zhukovsky, who was on a trip abroad when Kozlov became blind.:

Incomprehensible in His destinies,
Only He, the All-powerful One, helped me
Endure this unbearable blow!
My spirits were already sinking,
I was already desperate;
Although he did not dare to grumble, < ... >
But suddenly... Praise be to You, Creator!
You haven't forgotten Your creation!
You see the depth of hearts,
You hear a secret prayer.
Thank You, my fear is gone!
Like a peaceful, gracious angel,
As a messenger of heaven's mercy,
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Invisible, secret, but understandable,
Something was hovering over me,
The soul caught a pleasant voice-
And faith was a fiery stream
The sufferer's heart revived.
The poet K. R. (Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov), in his poem "Prayer" (1886), first appeals to God with a request to teach such love for Him that you can devote your whole soul and life to God, observe only His will and never grumble about your hard work:

Teach me, O God, to love
With all your mind, with all your thoughts,
To dedicate my soul to You
And all my life with every heartbeat.

Teach me to observe
Only Your merciful will,
Teach me never to grumble
For your hard work.
In the last stanza, the lyrical hero asks God to teach unselfish, deep love for one's neighbor, for all who live on earth:

All those you came to redeem
You are by Your Most Pure Blood,
With unselfish, deep love
Teach me, O God, to love!
Thus, the love of God helps us learn to love all the people whom Jesus "came to redeem with His Most Pure Blood." "The word of the one who wants to speak to people and does not speak to God, does not find its embodiment, and who wants to speak to God and does not speak to people, goes on the wrong path "(Buber M. Two Images of Faith, Moscow, 1995).

I. A. Bunin's lyrical hero offers up a prayer of thanksgiving to God. He thanks the Lord for the evening dawn, the expanse of the fields, the meekness of the blue distance, the lush flame of the sunset, and for the very opportunity to speak with God:

Thank you for everything, Lord!
You, after a day of anxiety and sadness,
Grant me the evening dawn,
The vastness of the fields and the gentleness of the blue distance.
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I am alone now, as always.
But then the sunset spread its magnificent flame,
And the Evening Star melts in it,
Shaking through and through like a gemstone.

And I am happy with a sad fate,
And there is a sweet joy in consciousness,
That I am alone in silent contemplation,
That I am a stranger to everyone and speak to You.
A. A. Akhmatova in her poem "Prayer" (1915) prays for Russia:

Give me the bitter years of sickness,
Shortness of breath, insomnia, fever,
Protect both your child and your friend,
And the mysterious gift of song -
So I pray at Your liturgy
After so many weary days,
To cloud over dark Russia
Became a cloud in the glory of the rays.
In a 1946 poem, she very accurately called the prayer " the most pure word.":

In every tree is the crucified Lord,
In every ear is the body of Christ,
And prayers the most pure word
Heals aching flesh.
But prayer doesn't just heal the body. Its main task is to educate and heal the human soul. In prayer, people find solace in grief and suffering.

Prayer - one of the manifestations of spiritual eloquence, an exceptional national precedent text in its significance-inspired many Russian poets to create prayer as a special poetic genre.

Lipetsk

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