Prayer

The Value of Liturgical Prayer

"The value of liturgical prayer is that it is read or chanted aloud in an intentional manner. To be sure, there are times while we are reading that the words merely flow in the background like a babbling brook. But then, suddenly, a verse or phrase flashes out at us like a white-hot light and touches our heart. This is when God speaks to us. Liturgical prayer is not one-way. It is bi-directional and asynchronous. God prays with us and responds to us; sometimes with comfort, sometimes with chastisement and sometimes with wisdom. 'O Lord, hear my prayer, lend your ear to my supplication in your truth, and in your justice hear me.'" Wcrowe (talk) 21:58, 27 March 2017 (EDT)

St. John Chrysostom on Prayer

"Prayer is a great weapon, a rich treasure, a wealth that is never exhausted, an undisturbed refuge, a cause of tranquility, the root of a multitude of blessings, and their source." -- St. John Chrysostom

From the Book, When You Pray: A Practical Guide to an Orthodox Life of Prayer, by L. Joseph Letendre

• "The litmus test of faith is not what we do in church, but what we do after church. The list we are given is exhaustive and exhausting. In part we are: To acquire the mind of Christ (Phil. 2: 5) To move from knowing about God to knowing God.(1 Cor 13:2). To love our enemies (Matt. 5: 44) To forgive from the heart (Matt. 18: 35) To resist having our lives shaped by the world around us (Rom. 12: 2) To know joy in the midst of suffering (Phil. 4: 4) To follow the commandments of the Gospel (John 14: 15). In turn, we are promised we will Be transformed by the renewing of our minds.(Rom. 12: 2) Become participants in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1: 4) Know the love of Christ and be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3: 19) Cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5: 22–23) Become holy as God is holy (Lev. 11: 44, et al.; 1 Pet. 1: 16)."

• "...pray as you can; pray attentively; pray the Lord’s Prayer; pray the Psalms; pray the Gospels; pray for others; pray frequently; pray faithfully."

• "The endorsement, by exhortation and example, of the Psalms as the text and teacher of prayer can be found in all the Christian centuries, in both East and West."

• "We should pray as many -- or as few -- psalms we can in the time we have."

• "The decision to do what one can, however seemingly small or inadequate, recurs throughout the Bible: a young shepherd hurls stones at a giant warrior; out of a crowd of famished thousands, a boy graciously offers what few loaves he has; Peter tells a lame beggar, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you” (Acts 3: 6). The giant falls, the thousands are fed, and the beggar leaps to his feet. In prayer all we need do is what we can."

Why We Pray

"Prayer unites one with God, being a divine conversation and spiritual communion with the Being that is most beautiful and highest. Prayer is forgetting earthly things, an ascent to heaven. Through prayer we flee to God." -- St. Nectarios of Aegina

Prayer promotes purity of heart

"Prayer for others is very beneficial to the man himself who prays; it purifies the heart, strengthens faith and hope in God, and arouses love for God and our neighbor." -- St. John of Kronstadt

Pray as God Pleases

"Do not always want everything to turn out as you think it should, but rather as God pleases, then you will be undisturbed and thankful in your prayer." -- Abba Nilus

All of Creation is in the Lord's Prayer

Jonathan Pageau [1]

Christ Prays

"Not by words alone, but also by deeds has God taught us to pray. He Himself prayed frequently and demonstrated what we ought to do by the testimony of His own example. As it is written: "But He Himself was in retirement in the desert, and in prayer," and again, "He went out into the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God." But if He who was without sin prayed, how much more ought sinners to pray, and if He prayed continually, watching through the whole night with uninterrupted petitions, how much more ought we to lie awake at night in continuing prayer!" -- St. Cyprian, The Lord's Prayer 29

Pray Continually, Wordlessly

Pray without ceasing. - 1 Thess 5:17

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will. - Romans 8:26,27

"Snow can never emit flame. Water can never issue fire. A thorn bush can never produce a fig. And just so, your heart can never be free from oppressive thoughts and words and actions until it has purified itself internally. So, be eager to walk this path. Watch your heart always, and constantly say the prayer 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.' Be humble. Set your soul in quietness." - Abba Hezekias

Pray in Silence

"Our Lord instructed us to pray in secret - this means, in our heart - and also to 'shut the door'. What is this door he says we must shut, if not the mouth? For we are the temple in which Christ dwells, for so the Apostle said, 'You are temples of the Lord' (1 Cor 3.16). The Lord enters into your inner self, into this house, to cleanse it from everything that is unclean; but only when the door, that is your mouth, is closed shut." -- Aphrahat the Persian

Prayer Transforms

Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph, the elder, and said to him, "Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray, I meditate, I live in peace as far as I can, I purify my thoughts -- what more can I do?" The old man stood up and stretched out his hands towards heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire, and he said to young Lot, "If you would, my child, you can become all flame." - Sayings of the Desert Fathers

In other words, true prayer can wholly transform a person.

Prayers Answered

The only thing Jesus promised us in response to prayer was the Holy Spirit. God gives us what is spiritually profitable for us. See the section God is with us in the Tribulations article.

See Phil 4:6,7 - "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Prayer is like Begging

"You are God's beggar. I mean, we are all God's beggars when we pray. We stand in front of the great householder's gate. In fact we go so far as to prostrate ourselves, we whine and implore, wanting to receive something, and that something is God himself. What does the beggar ask from you? Bread. And you, what do you ask from God, if not Christ, who says, 'I am the living bread who came down from heaven?'" -- St. Augustine, Sermon 83.2

Pray With a Contrite Spirit

"Prayer is a bond of love for God, developing in us the habit of conversing with Him and encouraging the pursuit of Wisdom.... We are, however, not as aware as we should be of the benefit of prayer, for the reason that we neither apply ourselves to it with attention nor have remedy to it in accord with God's laws. Typically, when we converse with people of a class above us, we make sure that our appearance and gait and attire are as they should be and dialogue with them accordingly. When we approach God, by contrast, we yawn, scratch ourselves, look this way and that, pay little attention, and loll on the ground. If on the contrary we were to approach Him with due reverence and prepare ourselves to converse with Him as God, then we would know even before receiving what we asked for how much benefit we gain.... In receiving prayer, God, after all, looks not for beauty of utterance or turn of phrase but for freshness of spirit; even if we say what just comes into our mind, we go away with our entreaties successful.... Often we do not even need a voice. I mean, even if you speak in your heart and call on Him as you should, He will readily incline toward you even then. In this way was Moses also heard, in this way also Hannah. No soldier stands by to scare people away, no bodyguard to cut short the proper moment; He is not the one to say, "Now is not a good time to make your approach, come back later." Rather, when you come, He stands listening, even if it is lunchtime, even if dinnertime, even if the worst of times, even if in the marketplace, even if on a journey, even if at sea, even if inside the courtroom before a judge, and you call on Him, there is no obstacle to His yielding to your request as long as you call on Him as you should ... being of sober mind and contrite spirit, approaching Him in a flood of tears, seeking nothing of this life, longing for things to come, making petition for spiritual goods, not calling down curses on enemies, bearing no grudges, banishing all anxiety from the soul, making our approach with heart broken, being humble, practicing great meekness, directing our tongues to good report, abstaining from wicked enterprise, having nothing in common with the common enemy of the world, I mean the devil, of course.... This is the way you are righteous; and being righteous you will be heard, since you have such an advocate." -- St. John Chrysostom COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 4.2-3.

Intercessory Prayer

"If we think that [the Saints and our departed loved ones] are in peril, we can continue to pray 'God be merciful to them. God forgive their sins. God give them rest'. Why not? Because first of all, God has heard the prayer before he even created the world. And the whole providence of the world, and even the salvation of Christ is in function of my prayer. God doesn't sit around wondering if Hopko is going to pray for his father, you know, and then decide what to do with Johnny. I mean, it's ridiculous. What kind of idea of God is that? But we believe that God takes all of our prayers from before the foundation of the world and arranges the whole symphony of the providence in view of our prayer. So it's never too late for a timeless God. And God doesn't apply the prayer to the dead guy now. He applies the prayer to the total life of the dead person, and to the whole of divine providence. So, if I pray for my dad now, who is dead, that prayer is applied to my father's whole life. And it's an element of my relationship with my father, even when I was four year's old, when I didn't even know I was going to pray for him, and didn't even know what it meant. God's bigger than all that. We make our prayers in time, but God answers the prayers out of eternity. And therefore, if I'm praying for mercy for my father, that's a mercy for his whole life and his ultimate salvation." - Fr. Thomas Hopko, On The Apocalypse.

In Jesus' Name

What does it mean if I act in your name or ask for something in your name? If I go to a court and ask the Judge for an ajudication "in Shamus' name", what does that mean? It means that I am asking for something as though "Shamus" were asking for that thing. Would you want me to ask the Judge for something in your name which you didn't actually want? For instance, would you be upset if I asked the Judge in your name to not pardon your offences, but to give you a lengthy prison sentence? To act in your name means that I have Power of Attorney for you. If I act in your name or ask for something in your name, your expectaion is that how I act or what I ask for is exactly how you would act or what you would ask for.

The same goes for Our Lord Jesus Christ. To "ask the Father in His Name" means to pray for those things which Christ Himself prayed for. It means that, if what we pray for is in accordance with the Divine Will, it will be done for us. -- Unknown, possibly Wcrowe (talk) 11:47, 19 January 2017 (EST)

Prayer for the Departed

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her."

Jesus said to them, "Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong." - Mark 12:18-27 (NRSV)

Commentators expositing on these verses rightly see what Christ is saying here, i.e., that the dead must be raised because God claims that he is their God (present tense), not was their God (past tense). But the implications of this passage are even more important than they would appear to be on the surface. It means that all God's people, whether living or dead in this world, are alive in Him for eternity. Our patriarchs, saints and loved ones are still alive in Christ. They are still part of the Church. We may still pray for them, and ask them to pray for us, just as we might when they were in this world with us. They are not gone, but only their state of being has changed. This is not necromancy. We are not performing divination or attempting to conjure those who have departed. But rather, we are recognizing that the barrier between life and death has been broken by Christ, through his resurrection. The prayers we pray for the deceased now, are received by God in eternity, and are applied to them when they were alive. -- Wcrowe, July 2009

"Holy Theotokos Save Us"

• This does not occur in the Divine Liturgy.
• It is only said during the dismissal for Vespers and Orthros
  • During this time, a prayer is said:

Deacon: "Wisdom!"

People: "Father bless."

Priest: "Christ our true God, He who is, is blessed always, now and forever and unto ages of ages, Amen"

People: "Preserve, O God, the Holy Orthodox faith, and the Orthodox Christians, unto ages of ages, Amen"

• Originally that last line did not say Orthodox Christians, it said, the Holy Orthodox Emperor, as against the Barbarians, Muslims, or whoever. It was a prayer for earthly preservation, and not a prayer for divine redemption.
• Then the next line reads, Most Holy Theotokos, save us. This is the same type of prayer for earthly protection. It has nothing to do with divine redemption. It is a prayer to be saved from hardship, danger, disease, etc. We are asking the All Holy Mother, the greatest Saint, to intercede on our behalf and save us from every possible evil and harm. And to also save us from ourselves, when we do sinful things, and from our failures, weaknesses, and prejudices.

When to Pray

"The idea [of praying the hours] is to keep praying throughout the day; to withdraw from the world and pray during the course of the day. I give counsel to my folks, in the confessional especially... to pray what I call the 'seams' of the day. Those places where one thing, becomes another. To slide prayer into those points of transition. An obvious one: I'm getting into the car to take the kids to school. Never start the engine of a car without prayer... Anytime a bell rings, such as a phone... You're coming home from work, about to go into the house. Pause. Stop. Don't go into that house until you've prayed. You don't know what you're going to find there. There may be a crisis that you haven't seen that day. Or somebody might not be in a good mood. Or you might not be in a good mood. Stop and pray... Anytime there are 'seams' in life, make those points of opportunity to invoke the mercy of God. And sometimes it might be no more than 'Lord have mercy'."- Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon, "Building A Habit Of Prayer", Lecture delivered at North Texas Orthodox Missions, Feb, 2006 (ntom.org)

Relationship of Prayer to the Cross

Early Christians concentrated their attention in prayer on the cross, facing East. This is because our only access to God is through the passion of Christ. The early Christians prayed in hours tied to the cross of Christ. St. Hippolytus of Rome wrote about year 210 concerning the significance of the prescribed hours of prayer. The prayer hours evolved over the first two centuries into a pattern of praying seven times per day, the scriptural basis of which can be found in the psalter, i.e., the Church's prayer book:

Seven times a day I praise you because of your just regulations. - Psalm 119:164 (NET)

The monastic prayer schedule

• Matins (6am)
• Third Hour (9am)
• Sixth Hour (Noon)
• Ninth Hour (3pm)
• Vespers (6pm)
• First Hour (9pm)
• Midnight Hour (Midnight)

• St. Hippolytus claims that this tradition of prayer came from the Apostles themselves. He further describes the prayer hours thusly:
  • Matins - Upon awaking one is to pray, then read from the Bible.
  • Third Hour - At this hour the lamb was slain in the morning sacrifice in the temple. Also, the shew bread was put out at the third hour. We inherited praying at this hour from the Jews. Christians pray at this hour, because the true Pascal lamb was nailed to the cross, who is to be identified with the living shew bread that came down from Heaven.
  • Sixth Hour - At this hour the sun was at it's zenith, but the world was cloaked in darkness as Jesus died. Darkness precedes the death of Christ. The ninth plague of Egypt was darkness, which preceded the slaying of the first born.
  • Ninth Hour - At this hour, Jesus died. Hippolytus reminds us that at this time Jesus' side was pierced with a spear, and blood and water flowed out; that is, the sacramental life of the Church.
  • Vespers - This is the time of the burial of Christ.

Notes On The Hours

• Sixth Hour - The hour of darkness. The hour of temptation.
  • "This is the hour that Jesus meets the woman at Jacob's well... St. Paul was converted at the sixth hour. This hour was a time when the Jew also prayed. St. Paul was converted while he was praying. He stopped along the road to Damascus, faced Jerusalem, and prayed. And in his prayer, a voice came to him and said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads"... In the very next chapter, chapter 10 of Acts, Peter is on the roof at Joppa. He's praying while lunch is being prepared downstairs... And Jesus speaks to Peter. Peter has a vision... This is the hour dedicated to the Church's mission. It's the hour of high noon, where the light of the Son's righteousness shines over the whole Earth... But because it is also in the Church the hour of darkness and of temptation, the psalm most associated with this hour is Psalm 91... That is the psalm that Satan used to temp Christ." - Fr. Patrick Reardon, "Building A Habit of Prayer", Lecture delivered at North Texas Orthodox Missions, Feb, 2006 (ntom.org)

• Ninth Hour -- The hour that Jesus died. Here we remember the passion of the Lord.

At the ninth hour, the Lord spoke to Cornelius the Centurion, and Peter gets the call to go see Cornelius (a gentile) at that hour. So always pray for the mission of the Church at that hour.

Psalm 69 is appropriate at this hour. This psalm contains many verses quoted in the Gospel of Matthew with respect to the passion of Christ.

See Also

Tribulations

Faith