My New Prayer Rope!

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@George720 They aren’t common, but I’ve certainly seen Orthodox-made prayer ropes with skull beads.

I wish I could find a good source for the cross-shaped beads. I’ve been looking for some time, but to no avail. So if you know of a source, I’m all ears.

The thing I’ve found over the years with prayer ropes (I’ve been making and researching them for well over a decade now) is that everyone has their own take or unique twist on the prayer rope. It truly is like a form of art, and the final product varies from country to country, monastery to monastery, even prayer rope maker to prayer rope maker. It’s not really a Catholic or Orthodox thing.
 
I looked a long time for mine - The big hard knots are good, but end up closely spaced, with no space between them, and the smaller soft knots stretch out with too much space between them… I was looking for very firm round knots with a little space between - And it was a God-send when I walked into the monastery bookstore at St. Anthony’s in Arizona and picked this one up… I have handed it to friends - to “pray a rope” as is sometimes said - and it always is handed back in solemn astonishment… When it is time for me to pass from this world, it will be the one thing I will be able to pass on to someone that is worth anything at all…

I think it is wool, and know nothing of its making - Simple black wool…

geo
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
I’ve certainly seen Orthodox-made prayer ropes with skull beads.
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I would have thought that one might be attached to the foot of the knotted cross maybe… For He was crucified at the “Place of the Skull” (Adam’s??)… I asked around a little, but no one here has seen one on a prayer rope - But we are only a bunch of converts mostly… A Greek would be a good one to ask…

geo
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I personally have never had an aversion to skulls and memento mori meditations. I actually find them fascinating. In fact, I specifically requested these beads on my prayer rope from Phillip when he mentioned he did them. Now when I am using it, I stop at this bead and in addition to the prayer to the Theotokos, I also say a short prayer for our departed. This has been particularly helpful lately when praying the 10pm Jesus Prayers that were requested by Mount Athos during the pandemic. I stop at the skulls and offer a short prayer for all those who have died from this pandemic (and in keeping with Syriac tradition, I pray especially for those who are forgotten and have no one else to pray for them).

The whole idea of the use of skulls in the memento mori is to jar one into really meditating on death. The scriptures and many saints tell us to be ever-ready since we do not know the moment we will be called before our Lord. It’s one thing to meditate on death in the abstract, it’s another when you are looking at a visible sign of mortality, or are actually facing death yourself. I can tell you from being in EMS for almost a decade that there is nothing like seeing someone unexpectedly die, and in many cases also dealing with their loved ones, that jolts you into the proper perspective in life.

I recall a photo of a headstone I saw when I was in high school (I’m now 46) that to this day I have never forgotten:

“Stranger stopped when passing by,
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now, so you shall be,
So be prepared to follow me.”

But I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to derail the thread.

In any case, @Phillip_Rolfes does beautiful, quality work, and he will customize your prayer rope - with or without skulls - as you like.
 
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Yes!! This!! All of this. Thank you for putting words to what I was over here, struggling to express.
 
XXI_4 said:
In any case, @Phillip_Rolfes does beautiful, quality work, and he will customize your prayer rope - with or without skulls - as you like.
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They sure look wonderful to me…

Meditating on our death is a good thing…

Although coffin coffee tables are not exactly a “thing” these days… 🙂

geo
 
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George720 said:
Although coffin coffee tables are not exactly a “thing” these days… 🙂
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Now that is an interesting idea 😁

But it reminds me, when I travel to Tennessee to visit family, in Kentucky it’s quite common to see family cemeteries on private property (literally in the front yard). Those seem to have vanished in many other places.

It would certainly be a reminder of our mortality to look out the window each morning and see that!
 
That reminds me - I need to make a coffin…

Never can be too prepared…

And a “coffin corner”…

A Cross on the coffin lid…

Three Bar…

geo
 
I’ve thought of that. The movie “The island” (Ostrov) comes to mind.

There’s a monastery that I saw an ad for that makes them.

My cross would be Three Bar, but the budded Patriarchal one of the Maronites.
 
The Maronite tradition uses the prayer rope? I don’t think any other Syriac tradition does so. I am a “Charsimatic” Catholic (I was brought up like that and still am because I am less then 18) and in the Charismatic Renewal a variation of the Jesus Prayer is used: “Jesus master, have pity on us”
 
Elvis_George said:
The Maronite tradition uses the prayer rope? I don’t think any other Syriac tradition does so.
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No, it is foreign to the Syriac churches including the Maronites. The Syriacs did not develop a tradition on their own of either the prayer rope or the rosary.

But, like many other things, some of us have adopted them as personal devotions. Which I think is fine, as long as they aren’t supplanting traditional liturgical devotions (like Ramsho in church, etc.).

In keeping with tradition I try to say the shhimo every day, but I also always have both a prayer rope and a rosary in my pocket.
 
The prayer rope is as foreign to the Syriac traditions as is the Rosary. I started making prayer ropes years ago when I was attending Ruthenian and Melkite parishes (Byzantine). The habit has never left me.

That being said, I’ve seen a video of a Maronite monk in the Holy Valley using a prayer rope. So, perhaps there is precedence for a Maronite prayer rope after all (j/k).
 
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This is the prayer rope I just finished last night for @Margaret_Ann.
 
Elvis_George said:
Shimo? What is that? (Sorry fo stupidity 😦 )
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The Syriac term for the office. I use the Maronite Prayer of the Faithful for Evening, compline and Morning prayer, and the Malankara Syriac Book of Common prayer for the other hours (9am, Noon, 3pm, etc. which are not included in the Prayer of the Faithful).
Phillip_Rolfes said:
Both a prayer rope and a rosary! You must have some deep pockets. 😂
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It’s much easier in the cooler months when you have jacket/hoodie pockets 🤣
 
I have a Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Shimo! I thought it was just called Liturgy of the Hours
 
I am so excited for you! Your prayer rope is beautiful :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:
 
I’m so glad you asked, because I didn’t know what it was either 😂
 
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