Asking for prayers from non-Orthodox priests...

 

Archimandrite [St.] Philaret (Voznesensky)

Is it permissible for an Orthodox Christian to ask for the prayers of non-Orthodox priests?

 

A question about whether an Orthodox Christian can seek spiritual and prayerful assistance from people who do not belong to the Orthodox Church but are ministers of heterodox confessions appears to be a question arising as a result of the new complications and confusions that undeniably distinguish our time from the conditions of earlier life. The main reason for this question undoubtedly lies in the fact that many Orthodox Russian people, scattered across the face of the earth, find themselves in places where there are neither Orthodox churches nor Orthodox priests. Therefore, we face the task of finding spiritual support and assistance amidst the difficulties, sorrows, and griefs that so abundantly fill our earthly life. An Orthodox person is accustomed to receiving such support and assistance from the Church—from the fullness of the grace-filled church life. And the spiritual communion of a person with the Church, in addition to his personal prayer and acts of piety, is accomplished through the services, sacraments, and, in general, through the activities of the Church ministers, appointed to this ministry by God Himself. It is natural that one who is accustomed to living a church life, in prayerful and spiritual unity with other people and with the church pastors, feels orphaned when they find themselves in a corner of the world where the Orthodox Church has neither its temples nor its ministers.

It can be said that in this situation one can see the reason why the question of turning to the ministers of heterodox religions for prayer has arisen among Orthodox people. But we think that here one can also seek the grounds for answering this question.

Indeed, why does an Orthodox Christian turn to priests, asking for their prayers? To receive divine grace, which strengthens and sanctifies them—the grace that pastors of the Church are bearers and conduits of. But they themselves receive it from the Church, in which the Spirit of grace dwells. And only in inseparable connection with the Church can any of its ministers, through their prayer and service, bring down this saving divine grace upon the faithful.

But it is not without reason that the ecclesiastical rules on the performance of church sacraments state: no one can give another what he himself does not have... If an Orthodox Christian seeks and asks the Holy Church for grace-filled help, it is natural and lawful that he receives it through its grace-filled pastors. But how can he receive divine grace from the Church through people who themselves do not belong to it and do not have spiritual, grace-filled unity and communion with it? Of course, the Spirit "blows where it wishes," as the Lord Jesus Christ said in the Gospel; and we do not know all the ways of His influence on the human soul. If it pleases Him to choose some special way of such influence, it is according to His sovereign will—good, holy, wise, and perfect. But we ourselves, as children of His Church, must always and only seek His graceful help in the Orthodox Church, in the treasury of its spiritual wealth and power. Therefore, if it is accessible to us, according to the conditions of our earthly life, to turn to its ministers for prayer and service, this is the way and path to the strengthening of our spiritual forces and the salvation of the soul, which is given and indicated by the Lord to all of us. If such an appeal to the pastors of our Church is impossible for us for one reason or another, we must humbly accept this as our earthly lot, as the will of God, and pray to the Lord, first of all, that He Himself, as the Shepherd and Visitor of our souls, may direct our earthly path for good. And also, if it is not contrary to His holy will and providence for us, to pray that we may find in this life the opportunity to turn to His ministers, the pastors of the Orthodox Church, for prayer, service, and spiritual guidance. But to turn to those people who do not belong to the Church and do not have spiritual and grace-filled communion with it, there is no reason for an Orthodox Christian to do so. And it should not be done.

 

Source: Translation from the original Russian text found in “МАТЕРИАЛЫ К БИОГРАФИЯМ МИТРОПОЛИТА ФИЛАРЕТА (ВОЗНЕСЕНСКОГО) И ЧЛЕНОВ ЕГО СЕМЬИ В АРХИВЕ БЮРО ПО ДЕЛАМ РОССИЙСКИХ ЭМИГРАНТОВ В МАНЬЧЖУРСКОЙ ИМПЕРИИ,” by Abbess Euphrosyne (E. V. Molchanova) and A. K. Klementyev.