Lord, look mercifully on Your servant (name), seduced by the flattery of the womb and carnal merriment. Grant him to know the sweetness of abstinence in fasting and the fruits of the Spirit flowing from it. Amen.
* * *
Sweetest Jesus! Drunkenness got the better of me! My soul was exhausted, it was all exhausted from my unfortunate weakness! I can’t get along with myself—that’s my inconsolable sorrow and misfortune. Fear and fear attack me - I wouldn’t die from drunkenness without repentance! I am afraid that the enemy - the devil - will completely destroy me and bring me to hell.
I know that I cannot cope with myself on my own. “I am poor and needy, but the Lord cares for me. You are my help and my deliverer, my God! Do not delay” (Ps. 39:18). Lord Jesus Christ! You Yourself said: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), but “ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).
You, Lord Jesus Christ, healed the paralytic, cleansed the lepers, had mercy on the harlot, and said to the thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Touch my weakened and prodigal heart with Your omnipotent grace, O Merciful One, pour into it strength and good spirits to fight the passion of drunkenness, drive away the tempter devil and send me Your Guardian Angel, and “in the midst of destinies” save me, sinful and sad, Lord!
You Yourself said: “I do not want the death of the sinner, but that the sinner should turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11) and therefore “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). You Yourself, with Your Divine lips, said: “Him that comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). And so I came to You, my hope and refuge! I cry at Your Most Pure feet, Who was crucified for me.
“Do not hide Your face from me, do not reject me and do not forsake me, O God, my Savior!” (Ps. 26:9), grant me strength and strength of will, so that I may drive out the passion that nests within me and may I live in sobriety, piety and firm faith in You, the One True God of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
* * *
Oh, long-suffering and all-praised martyr Boniface! We now resort to your intercession. Do not reject our prayers, but graciously hear us. Heal our brothers and sisters (names), who are overcome by the serious illness of drunkenness, and for the sake of their mother, the Church of Christ, and the eternal salvation that is falling away.
Oh, holy martyr of Christ, touch their hearts with this grace given from God, quickly raise them from the falls of sin and bring them to saving abstinence.
Pray to the Lord God, for whose sake you also suffered, that having forgiven us our sins, may He not turn away His mercy from His people, but may He strengthen us in sobriety and chastity, may He help With your right hand, keep your sober vow of salvation to the end, and be vigilant about Him day and night and give a good answer about Him at the Last Judgment.
Accept, O saint of God, the prayers of mothers who shed tears for their children; honest wives, weeping for husbands; children of the orphaned and wretched, abandoned by drunkards; all of us who fall to your icon, may this cry come through your prayers to the Throne of the Most High. Cover and keep us from the evil deception and all the snares of the enemy.
In the terrible hour of our exodus, help us to pass through the airy ordeals without stumbling, with your prayers deliver us from eternal condemnation, and may the mercy of God cover us, forever and ever. Amen.
* * *
Oh, all-holy Boniface, merciful servant of the Merciful Master! Hear those who come running to you, obsessed with the addiction to drinking wine, and, just as in your earthly life you never refused to help those who asked you, so now deliver these unfortunates (names). Amen.
* * *
Oh, reverend, you have achieved wonderful virtues from grave sins, help the servants of God (names) praying to you, who are drawn to destruction because they indulge in immeasurable things harmful to the soul and body drinking wine. Bow your merciful gaze on them, do not turn away or despise them, but listen to them as they come running to you.
Pray, holy Moses, the Lord Christ, that He, the Merciful, may not reject them, and may the devil not rejoice at their destruction, but may the Lord have mercy on these powerless and unfortunate ones whom he has taken possession of the destructive passion of drunkenness, because we are all God’s creatures and have been redeemed by the Most Pure Blood of His Son.
Hear, O Reverend Moses, their prayer, drive away the devil from them, give them the strength to overcome passion, help them, extend your hand, lead them to the path of good, free them from the slavery of passions and deliver them from drinking wine, so that they, renewed, in sobriety and a bright mind, would love abstinence and piety, and eternally glorify the All-Good God, who always saves His creatures. Amen.
* * *
Oh, most merciful Lady! We now resort to Your intercession, do not despise our prayers, but graciously hear us - wives, children, mothers and those who are addicted to the serious illness of drunkenness and for that sake from their mother - Heal the Church of Christ and the salvation of those who fall away, brothers and sisters and our relatives.
Oh, merciful Mother of God, touch their hearts and quickly raise them from the falls of sin, bring them to saving abstinence. Pray to Your Son, Christ our God, that He may forgive us our sins and not turn His mercy away from His people, but may He strengthen us in sobriety and chastity.
Accept, O Most Holy Theotokos, the prayers of mothers who shed tears for their children; wives weeping for their husbands; children, the orphan and the needy, those left astray, and all of us who fall before Your icon. And may this cry of ours, through Your prayers, come to the throne of the Most High.
Cover and keep us from the evil deception and all the snares of the enemy, in the terrible hour of our exodus, help us to pass through the airy ordeals without stumbling, with Your prayers deliver us eternally condemnation, may God’s mercy cover us forever and ever. Amen.
* * *
O Most Gracious Mother of our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ! Hear our prayer today and deliver us from all mental and physical ailments, especially; Free Your servants (names) who suffer from the disease of drunkenness, so that they may not perish in evil, but may those saved by You cry out to God: Alleluia.
Reverend Father Ambrose, you, having boldness before the Lord, begged the Greatly Gifted Master to give me quick help in the fight against unclean passion.
God! Through the prayers of Your saint, the Venerable Ambrose, cleanse my lips, purify my heart and fill it with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit, may the evil tobacco passion run far away from me, back to where it came from, into the belly of hell. Amen.
1 Rare prayers of great Russian saints and devotees of piety.
2 From the akathist before the icon “Inexhaustible Chalice”
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