Eastern Catholics: how to get my first prayer rope?

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Anna4

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Hello all,

I have been considering joining an eastern rite church. I’ve always been drawn to the prayer rope and say the Jesus Prayer by myself at some times. I don’t have a priest yet; I’m still looking for a church.

Do I have to have a priest bless the prayer rope first? Do I have to get it from the church? Does it have to be recommended by the priest to me?

Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!!
 
Hi Anna4!

I highly recommend our resident prayer rope maker @Phillip_Rolfes. He can make a prayer rope for you and also answer any questions you have about them.

You don’t have to have a priest bless your prayer rope to use it, but I think most people eventually do get theirs blessed. Any priest can bless it, regardless if they are Eastern or Roman Catholic. Some Eastern churches will place the prayer rope on the altar for a certain number of liturgies as well. And you can get a prayer rope from anywhere you like (and again, I recommend Phillip).

I would also highly recommend two books for you. The first is called “The Way of a Pilgrim, and a Pilgrim Continues his Way”. You can find it on Amazon or even free pdf’s of it on the web. It is a great resource for someone starting out with the Jesus Prayer (just don’t try to do many thousands of Jesus Prayers a day without the direction of a spiritual father).

The other book is by Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Prayer-Kallistos-Ware-ebook/dp/B0718YZT16/

Met. Ware also has some excellent talks on YouTube about the Jesus Prayer and the prayer rope.
 
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Hello @Anna4 Welcome to the Eastern Catholic subforum!

As @ziapueblo and @XXI_4 have mentioned, you don’t have to get your prayer rope blessed by a priest. The Eastern method for blessing a prayer rope is different from how your Roman rite priest would bless a rosary anyhow. Our method of “blessing” a prayer rope is through use, but the more official blessing is for the priest to place the item on the altar during the Divine Liturgy.

You also don’t have to buy your prayer rope from a parish church (if you did, I’d be in big trouble 😉), nor do you have to have your parish priest’s permission to pray the Jesus Prayer. There’s some debate over whether or not you need a spiritual father/mother to begin praying the Jesus Prayer, but I recommend going ahead and praying it, and if you happen upon a spiritual father/mother at some point, continue using it under his/her guidance.

The books that @XXI_4 recommended are a great starting place to learn more about the spirituality of the Jesus Prayer, especially The Way of the Pilgrim . I recommend you purchase a copy and read through it a couple of times as you continue your journey with the Jesus Prayer.

And of course, if you have any questions you’re always free to post them here. There are many very knowledgeable and holy people on this subforum!
 
Sometimes the parish will have a bookstore and they may sell prayer ropes. Sometimes other parishioners will make and give prayer ropes to people. I got mine from some nuns. As far as blessing goes, I don’t know if Eastern Rite priests bless them. I can tell you that Orthodox priests tend to have an aversion to blessing prayer ropes- instead telling people that using them by praying will make it blessed. A lot of priests will not want to specifically bless icons for the same reason- but you can often convince them to put your new icons in the altar during Divine Liturgy before taking them home with you.
 
Can one say the Jesus Prayer using Rosary beads, or does one need a prayer rope?
 
You can absolutely say the Jesus Prayer using rosary beads. The prayer rope is nothing more than a method for counting prayers (the Jesus Prayer is typically said a part of a prayer rule that consists of a certain number of repetitions depending on the recommendations of one’s spiritual father/mother).
 
Thank you all for your welcoming responses and loving advice. I’m very grateful to get all this good knowledge from all of you and excited to find my perfect prayer rope and eastern Catholic Church.

I will try to download or buy the 2 books recommended. I have had them recommended a lot.

I can’t wait to find a spiritual home and a spiritual mother or father. I have a rosary and will pray that for now. I’ve been intuitively drawn yo the Jesus prayer and how it’s healed me.

I went to my first orthodox Divine Liturgy last week and it blew me away with love and understanding of god. I am a catholic so I would like to seek out more knowledge on eastern Catholicism in hopes of finding more of God.

Thank you to you all
 
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Anna4 said:
I am a catholic so I would like to seek out more knowledge on eastern Catholicism in hopes of finding more of God.
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And there are many here, Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox, who would be happy to help 😊

ZP
 
There is a Byzantine Catholic Church semi close to me, and I plan to check it out! By the way, do you know more about the general rites you mentioned above?
 
Technically I’m Ukrainian Greek Catholic. My late father was Ukrainian Greek Catholic and my late mother was Byzantine Catholic so I’m familiar with both Byzantine and Ukrainian Greek Catholic practices.

@DeniseNY is Byzantine Catholic. She’s very helpful too.

It’s going for 1 a.m. so I’ll sign off now. Good night!
 
Anna4 said:
I’ve always been drawn to the prayer rope and say the Jesus Prayer by myself at some times.
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First of all, it is important to note that, unlike the Western Rosary, a prayer rope is just a piece of string with some knots in it to make counting easier. And really nothing more.

Being “drawn” to a piece of string with some knots in it is weird from an Eastern perspective, and an Orthodox or Easter Catholic priest may be skeptical of the motivation of someone who is “drawn” to prayer rope and places undue significance on it, and why they might cringe when a convert asks them to bless a prayer rope like a Western priest would bless a rosary. Too often, people are “drawn” to Eastern Christianity by the icing rather than the cake itself.

A prayer rope is never required. You could use your fingers, or a timer, or M&Ms, or beer caps, or passing cars, or dust bunnies. Before prayer ropes were invented, monks used pebbles or nuts to count their prayers. The point is to help you focus and act as a reminder to pray constantly.

Here’s a good article that explains the Eastern way of thinking about them. Very, very different from how Western Catholics think about the rosary:

http://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Articles_files/Prayer Rope- Monk of Athos.html
 
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Hahah coming from the new age I hear you on your suspicions of the word “drawn”. But what I meant to say is that one day I felt incredibly healed by the simple prayer of asking for mercy (in fact it was the kyrie Eleison) and when ever I pray a rosary I don’t really feel anything. I feel closer to god with the Jesus prayer is all, so I feel more drawn to the significance of the prayer rope for spiritual connection than a rosary — so the idea rather than the item itself. It just seems more logical to me.

And I’m new to Christianity so western Catholics and eastern Catholics are new to me. Just exploring . If they want to judge me fine. I’ll go to another place!

Thanks for the resources!
 
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How many knots of prayer rope are you planning to get? Usually, Jesus prayer is prayed 33x3 +1 for the 33 knots, 50x2 for the 50 knots. 100 for the typical 100 knots. Of course, there is no strict rule for that.
 
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I prayed the Jesus Prayer for years and years until I finally found a prayer rope I liked - Most were too short or too thick or too ornate or too soft or had knots too small… Finally, I walked into the Bookstore at St. Anthony’s, and there was the one I was looking for, and I have used it ever since…

Prayers infuse such ropes, and praying with a prayer rope used by, say, St. John Chrysostom, would be to me a big deal… They become personal artifacts of prayer, like one’s prayer book… If you had a pious reposed grandmother, her Rosary would probably be imbued with her prayers, which you might sense if you prayed that Rosary…

I have not yet held a 500 knot rope, but when a monk makes a prayer rope, each knot has 8 crosses making it the knot that it is, and each cross is prayed one Jesus Prayer by the monk (or nun) as it is tied… If you purchase a monastery prayer rope of 100 knots, then the monastic who made it has prayed 800 Jesus Prayers for the person praying that rope…

So do not believe the fiction that such a rope is nothing more than just a piece of dirty string with knots in it… It is a holy thing from God’s Church, just as is a Rosary… And it only gets better across time… Indeed, it can almost define your “alone time” with God…

May God Bless and Illumine your Walk…

geo
 
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George720 said:
And it only gets better across time… Indeed, it can almost define your “alone time” with God…
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My problem is that, the more I use my prayer rope and imbue it with my own prayers, the more attached to it I become. That’s about the time I force myself to part with it and make a new one. 😁
 
Do I have to sync it with my breath or can I just whisper it to myself without syncing
 
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