“We pray for Russia as well” – coordinator of CRS Prayer Shield

Marina Romenska, the coordinator of Prayer Shield within the Christian Rescue Service has explained the goals and basic principles of the ministry:

“Prayer Shield is a spiritual space where concerned Christians support the Lord’s plans, through prayer in intentions that cover contemporary issues of society and the body of Church itself. We are confident that all faithful are called to actively participate in spiritual warfare, following the message of Paul the Apostle: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Prayer Shield includes several directions of prayer ministries. Its foundation constitutes of ministers who systematically pray in our common intentions. There are no formal requirements or templates, no confessional or denominational limitations. Only openness to participate in spiritual body of Shield and preparedness for constant prayer in unity with its other subdivisions.

We can say that we have inter-confessional, international and multilingual ministry.

A few words about the structure of the Shield – so called Outer Circle of Prayer Shield includes both groups and individuals who pray in common intentions. For instance in Ukraine we have sisters from three Greek Catholic monastic orders, as well as laity who pray individually or in community groups.
Generally in Ukraine there are around eighty participants that belong to Outer Circle of Prayer Shield.

Meanwhile in Lithuania there are twelve monastic orders of women that participate in common prayer of Prayer Shield, as well as lay people from the communities of Vilnius, Kaunas, Kretinga and other cities. Yesterday we’ve got information that another prayer group from Vilnius Church of St. Philip and St. Jacob has joined the Lithuanian branch of ministry, about ten new ministers will pray in our intentions once a week. We can say that we have inter-confessional, international and multilingual ministry.

There are some participants from Hünfelden in Germany, and prayer groups in London. Shields network of prayer is also growing in Poland, including laity order for men of St. John Paul II. We expect first groups to form in Israel and Russia soon.

In each specific moment the Shield is praying in intentions that require immediate Heavenly intervention the most.

How does it work on practice? About ten days before the end of a month, each coordinator of prayer groups in the outer circle receives ten relevant intentions from the headquarters. These intentions are divided by topic – Society, Nation, Church, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Intermarium (territories between Baltic and Black seas), Europe, Russia and Israel. Specific prayer groups are able to form and contribute common intentions on behalf of their country.

People pray in a way that’s comfortable to them. For instance prayers can occur once a month, or maybe daily. It can be a Rosary prayer, proclamation of Psalms or spontaneous charismatic prayer. What really is important – those who pray should be motivated, faithful to their calling, so they would understand their mission and experience living prayer instead of doing it automatically and mechanically.

In each specific moment the Shield is praying in intentions that require immediate Heavenly intervention the most. For instance in December 2019 we were praying for Ukrainian Parliament to reject a Legislation 0931 that would heavily advance LGBT rights while stripping away rights of faithful, blocking religious choice and freedom of speech.

These faithful stand in prayer until the specific situation is resolved – be that a day, couple of days or longer.

Speaking of Lithuania, we were recently praying to overcome the consequences of national politics of paganism revival, as the government started to introduce pagan holidays under the disguise of supporting national traditions.

While praying for Poland, our intentions were directed to oppose public campaign of discrediting Catholic Church, with prayers for those who recently officially denounced their Catholic faith.

Currently we pray for repentance and liberation of Russia from the occult and actions of dark cultists who took power in the government and spread their doctrine in the format of so called “Russian World” ideology.

Intentions for Europe are often dedicated for resistance to gender ideology, while we also pray for preservation of foundations of Christian civilization on these lands, which experience heavy pressure of secularism and islamization of society. Major part is given to formation of spiritual union between the nations of Intermarium.

Returning to the structure of Prayer Shield, besides Outer Circle, there’s also Middle Circle – they are people specifically blessed into ministry within Christian Rescue Service. For instance there’s special intercessory group, that consists of around twenty faithful whose role is to fight for CRS itself, to fulfill the needs and solve the issues of a ministry. This group on average receives prayer intentions every ten days, and can be mobilized for the emergency prayer if there’s a special need (for instance we had situations where members of our ministry were under artillery fire on the frontline of Eastern Ukraine).

There are faithful ministers who are called to individually pray for CRS leaders and the rest of team, or for welfare of separate teams who require individual spiritual protection and help. These faithful stand in prayer until the specific situation is resolved – be that a day, couple of days or longer.

As well as Shield has special prayer group of intercessors, if there’s a need they will use intercessory prayers on individuals, as well as spiritual healing prayers.

The process of Shields formation and recognition is dynamic and constant, thus everyone can find personal place in it.

Right now we are forming the ministry of combat prayer that acts as a spiritual attack on evil. Instead of being directed at individual needs of people it’s aimed at recognition and following destruction of malicious spiritual foundations on specific territories and communities.
For instance, in the past we’ve been going in the middle of armed conflict on the East, in Avdiivka, and we’ve been praying on that land when the war was in its hottest state. The Lord has been answering our prayers every time, directly and obviously.

There’s also group of prophetic worship. This group has obvious purpose and calling, as well as it helps to organize periodic prayer meetings of CRS ministers.

In the very heart of Prayer Shield there are two groups – a group of leaders called “Umbon” and a group of prayer-prophetic nature.

So this is a rough explanation what Prayer Shield is made of. The process of Shields formation and recognition is dynamic and constant, thus everyone can find personal place in it. One only needs openness to the calling and readiness to commitment.

The Lord has sent me a vision once:
In a void of space, there’s our planet Earth, the planet is pitch black. Suddenly a light spot appears on one of the continents, then another, and another. Each of these light spots launch curved beams into dark areas of the land, and where the beam hits – a new bright spot appears. In the end entire Earth becomes lit with holiness of Heavenly Kingdom.
This is what Prayer Shield aims to achieve by uniting us in common prayer.

Contacts for those who’d like to join the ministry of CRS Prayer Shield:

Head coordinator of Prayer Shield – Marina Romenska,

tel .: +380 (67) 2421983,

e-mail .: m.romenska@gmail.com