“Praying,
they think, can just be at home, - thus it is settled. You deceive
yourself. Of course one can pray
at home, but to pray therein the same way as in church, where
there is such a multitude of fathers, where the hymns are sent up
to God in spiritual concord, is impossible. You will not be heard
so much,when praying to the Master at your home, as you would
be praying with your brethren, for there there is something
greater than all, that is spiritual unity, concord, the bond of love
and the prayer of the priests. It is for this that the priests are
present, so that the prayers of the people, being weak, might be
joined to their more powerful prayers and ascend together with
them into heaven… You may pray at home, but this prayer will
not possess such great strength as that which is made with
fellow members, when the whole body of the Church in spiritual
unity and concord raise up the petitions, in the presence of the
priests, who offer up the prayers of the whole people.” - St. John Chrysostom
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