Prostitution

[JamesR]

Are there any services, prayers, or Canons of Supplication available specifically for prostitutes? I'd like to do something for them. I've had very strong feelings about this for quite a while now, and I've often found myself crying in my prayers at night when I bring up the prostitutes.

[Maria]

Are there any services, prayers, or Canons of Supplication available specifically for prostitutes? I'd like to do something for them. I've had very strong feelings about this for quite a while now, and I've often found myself crying in my prayers at night when I bring up the prostitutes.

For the past month, my husband and I have been chanting the Paracleisis to the Theotokos.
It is also called the Small Supplicatory Canon to the Theotokos, which was composed by Theosterictus the Monk or Theophanes according to A Prayer Book for Orthodox Christians, HTM, 265.

• By many temptations am I distressed;
  In search of salvation, unto thee have I taken flight;
  O Mother of the Word, thou Ever-virgin,
  From all ordeals and afflictions deliver me.
  p. 271

Check YouTube for some beautiful chants. You can listen to these heavenly chants and join the chant to the Most Holy Theotokos.

[JamesR]

Thank you Maria; that's very helpful and beautiful. I hope that more and more people will pray for the Salvation and wellbeing of prostitutes. No one deserves a job as lousy as that. I just wish they knew that there are people in the world who truly love them and that there is a God who loves them; it must be hard to realize that when most people only view them as objects or trash. I wonder if they even understand love. One day I'm going to hire a prostitute just to hug and talk to for a few hours, maybe get through to her.

[Maria]

Thank you Maria; that's very helpful and beautiful. I hope that more and more people will pray for the Salvation and wellbeing of prostitutes. No one deserves a job as lousy as that. I just wish they knew that there are people in the world who truly love them and that there is a God who loves them; it must be hard to realize that when most people only view them as objects or trash. I wonder if they even understand love. One day I'm going to hire a prostitute just to hug and talk to for a few hours, maybe get through to her.

Please do not hire one as you might be arrested just for hiring her, or you could be killed.
Pimps do not like Christians messing with their slaves. I have heard of several outreaches and it is very dangerous work. Talk with your priest. Maybe a special mission can be formed, but please do not attempt something like this by yourself.

p.s. Read Proverbs.

[JamesR]

Thank you Maria; that's very helpful and beautiful. I hope that more and more people will pray for the Salvation and wellbeing of prostitutes. No one deserves a job as lousy as that. I just wish they knew that there are people in the world who truly love them and that there is a God who loves them; it must be hard to realize that when most people only view them as objects or trash. I wonder if they even understand love. One day I'm going to hire a prostitute just to hug and talk to for a few hours, maybe get through to her.

Please do not hire one as you might be arrested just for hiring her, or you could be killed.
Pimps do not like Christians messing with their slaves. I have heard of several outreaches and it is very dangerous work. Talk with your priest. Maybe a special mission can be formed, but please do not attempt something like this by yourself.

p.s. Read Proverbs.

I don't think pimping is as common anymore as television makes it out to be. I've researched this and statistics show that less then half of all "streetwalkers" have pimps. That's why they're so vulnerable to being killed, raped, or robbed or all three. In the city of Miami for example, only 7% of streetwalkers have pimps. However, you do got a point: it's still dangerous. All it takes is one bad encounter and I'm dead or arrested. I'll take your advice to heart I read about the New Hieromartyr John Karastamatis of Santa Cruz and how he reached out to so many people and "lowlives" like drug addicts, prostitutes, and the homeless, and it really inspires me. His martyrdom especially. I'll talk to my Priest and never do anything stupid on my own. Maybe joining an outreach group could work

Yeah I read Proverbs; there is a stern warning against marrying prostitutes. I don't think I'd ever marry one unless she fully left her life behind.

[Maria]

Thanks James.

I posted a link to the life of this saint.
http://www.euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/vi ... 14&t=10457