26. For Soldiers Preparing to Enter Battle

When you, God-loving soldiers, prepare to enter battle with enemies, you naturally inspire yourselves with love for the Tsar and the fatherland, you call to mind the oath you swore upon entering service, and you also, perhaps, rely on your own courage and strength. All of this is so; but in order to have greater hope of coming out of the battle unharmed and of bringing the war with your enemies to a successful end, it is necessary to have yet something else in the soul—it is necessary also to have firm faith in God and to hold fast to fervent prayer. And this latter thing, it seems to us, you soldiers should keep foremost in mind, for examples show that faith and prayer have truly not only saved soldiers in battle but have even given them victory over enemies. To confirm our words and for your edification, today we will point you to two such examples as follows.

Once a military commander visited the venerable Seraphim to thank him for his prayers, by which, in his conviction, he had been saved during the war. At their meeting he told the holy elder that during one of the battles, left with only his regiment, he had been in the greatest danger—it was impossible either to fortify his position or to move anywhere, either backward or forward; in a word, there was no hope of salvation—and that at that time he kept repeating ceaselessly: “Lord, have mercy on me by the prayers of Elder Seraphim!” — and that the Lord had truly saved him and preserved him unharmed from his enemies. Having heard this, the venerable elder said to the commander: “Faith and especially ceaseless heartfelt prayer are a great means of salvation. Our example for this is the holy prophet Moses. Walking among the troops, he prayed silently with his heart, and the Lord said to him: ”Moses, Moses, why do you cry out to Me?“ When Moses raised his hands in prayer, he overcame Amalek… This is what prayer is: it is an unconquerable victory. And the holy prophet Daniel says: ”It would be better for me to die than to abandon prayer for even the blink of an eye.“ By prayer the prophet shut the mouths of the lions, and three youths quenched the fiery furnace” (Account of Schema-Abbot Seraphim, p. 208).

But here is yet another example of the victorious power of faith and prayer. Once Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked the Jews with a vast army. King Hezekiah and the soldiers, together with the prophet Isaiah, began to pray, and they cried out, it is said, to heaven. What came of it? And the Lord God sent an angel, who struck down every mighty warrior and commander and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria and sent him back in shame to his own land (2 Chr. 32:20–21). The examples cited seem sufficient to confirm the truth of our words—that faith and prayer have truly not only saved soldiers in battle but have even given them victory over enemies. But this is not all: the Apostle Paul assures us of the same truth. They, he says of the judges and prophets of the Old Testament, through faith conquered kingdoms… escaped the edge of the sword… were made strong in battle, put foreign armies to flight (Heb. 11:33–34). So it is beyond doubt that faith and prayer have great power in battle. And if that is so, hold fast to them. Believe firmly that the Lord alone is the Master of our life and death, and that therefore He alone can deliver us from the latter and preserve the former for us.

Believe firmly that the Lord has commanded His angels to guard us in all our ways (Ps. 90:11), and finally also that the angel of the Lord always encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them (Ps. 33:8). And believing thus, also pray. Pray first of all that the Lord would forgive you your sins, and then that He would shield you by His almighty power from fire and sword, crush the enemy’s strength, and put all your enemies under your feet. And praying thus, comfort yourselves with the thought that your prayer before battle, being a prayer of sorrow, will reach God more quickly and be heard by Him more quickly, as He Himself says: call upon Me in the day of your trouble and I will hear you. Pray, then, and you will be saved. Amen.