…Να γονατίζουμε και να προσευχόμαστε με πολλή ταπείνωση. Σε κάθε μετανοημένη ψυχή δίδεται λόγος, της δίδεται φωτισμένη προσευχή. Αυτό το βλέπουμε στην πόρνη του Ευαγγελίου κατά τη Μεγάλη Τρίτη. Πού ήξερε αυτή, μια γυναίκα του δρόμου να κάνει προσευχή;
Αφ’ης στιγμής, όμως, αποφάσισε να μετανοήσει και άρχισε να κλίνει προς το φως και προς την αλήθεια, της δόθηκε πνεύμα προσευχής. Πόσο ωραία είναι τα λόγια της μπροστά στο Σωτήρα! Εξέφρασε με όλη την καρδιά την μετάνοιά της (…). Είδε ότι μόνο ο Ιησούς, ο Χριστός, είναι αυτός που θα της δώσει το φως, την ανακούφιση, την χαρά και την άφεση των πολλών της εγκλημάτων…
(απόσπασμα απ’το βιβλίο του γερ.Εφραίμ Φιλοθεΐτη, "Η τέχνη της σωτηρίας", εκδ. Ι.Μ.Φιλοθέου)
1) Be mindful, O Lord, for the peace of the world!
2) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our Church and our Orthodoxy.
3) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our Bishop and his clergy.
4) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on all Orthodox clergy and laity in every land.
5) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our spiritual father and his community.
6) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our country and on our armed forces.
7) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the civil authorities.
8) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who hate us, on those who love us, and those who pray for us.
9) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our parents, our sponsors, and our teachers.
10) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our brethren and relatives, according to the flesh and spiritual.
11) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the elderly and the monastics.
12) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on infants, the defenseless, and the powerless.
13) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the youth in schools.
14) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the adolescent and our youth.
15) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the drug-addicted, alcoholics, and smokers.
16) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the marriages of Orthodox families.
17) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our sisters who are pregnant.
18) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the widows and orphans.
19) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our brothers and sisters who are martially separated and tempted.
20) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the weak in soul and body.
21) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who do works of mercy and labor in the holy monasteries and parishes.
22) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the pious pilgrims of monasteries and churches.
23) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who journey by sea, by land, or by air, those who are imprisoned and the despairing.
24) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the poor and our brethren who are afflicted.
25) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our judges and elected representatives.
26) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who are deceived and blaspheme our Orthodoxy.
27) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and grant peaceful seasons.
28) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from sickness, wrath, and danger, and enlighten our physicians and nurses.
29) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from poverty, danger, and misfortune.
30) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from heat, fire, and earthquake.
31) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from flood, drowning, and frost.
32) O Lord Jesus Christ, grant rest also to the souls of our fathers, mothers, brethren, relatives, grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
33) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, the sinner!
Source
Illnesses, droughts, and infertility of the earth, even the most difficult circumstances in the life of each person, all these prevent evil from increasing and spreading. Hence, all these “bad” things that are permitted by God actually remove the cause of the generation of true evil. Both physical ailments and adversities beyond our control have been permitted to distance us from sin. Therefore, God destroys evil; evil does not come from God. Doctors cure diseases; they do not generate diseases within the body.
Sin is the primary and chief evil, and it is indeed worthy of being called an evil. Sin depends on our own free volition. It is up to us to either stay away from sinfulness or to be wicked. All other evils are permitted either to reveal a person’s courage and virtue, as in the case of Job, or to heal and rectify sins that have been committed in the past, such as with the prophet David, or to render more careful and prudent them who easily slide into sin, such as in the case of Dathan and Abiram (Num. 16:27), who served as a lesson and example for others.
Now that you have come to know the various forms of evil that God allows, now that you have understood well that sin is the only true evil, whereas things that seem evil on account of pain are in fact very beneficial and lead to the eternal salvation of the soul, cease being dissatisfied with God’s decisions and divine interventions. In general, never consider God to be the cause of the existence of evil. Do not even imagine that evil is an entity. Evil is not something that exists like some creature, nor can it be viewed as a living substance. Rather, it appears after the soul is crippled.
God created the soul, but not sin. But then, why is the soul generally capable of becoming evil? This is on account of the free will, which is especially befitting to rational beings. “But why don’t we have sinlessness embedded in our nature,” someone may ask, “so that even if we wanted to, we could not sin?” Because you also do not consider your slaves as friends when you hold them captive by force, but when you see them willingly serving you. Similarly, God is not pleased with things that take place out of necessity, but with what takes place on account of virtue. And virtue takes place through man’s free choice—not through force. Free choice depends on us, and we have our free will. Therefore, he who blames the Creator for not making us sinless by nature prefers to have irrational instead of rational souls, and motionless, inert beings instead of ones who can make voluntary decisions and take actions.
Let us therefore stop correcting the Wise God. Let us stop seeking something better than what He has made. If we are unaware of the reasons behind certain things God has planned, let us at least maintain one dogma in our soul with certainty: there is no evil that comes from the Good God.
St. Basil the Great
