The performance of prayer singing by a layman on the example of a prayer for the fatherland of St. Afanasiy the Confessor, bishop of Kovrov

In the article, on the basis of archival and published materials, prayer singing about the Fatherland is considered. It was compiled in 1941 in the Onega camps by St. Afanasiy, bishop of Kovrov, confessor. And it was written in two variants: for performing by a priest and for performing by a layman. The realities of those difficult years for Soviet Russia are reflected in the text. The litany is an appeal to the Lord, the Virgin Mary and all Russian saints. In its structure, the prayer service is complete, with choruses instead of each canon song. Similarly to many other texts composed by him, bishop Afanasiy made corrections to the text of this prayer service in order to bring it closer to the norms of the literary Russian language. The author examines in detail the composition of this rite, gives an assessment to it and tries to answer the question of how justified is the liturgical practice proposed by St. Afanasiy. The article also provides some recommendations for the conduct of worship by a layman.