Prayer Rope

[ConstantineTG]

Thank you so much! Can it be said without a prayer rope, as I may be to impatient to wait?
Cool Icon of St Pachomius, Coptic Style

Hey, wait a second! Why is the Filioque in this!?
Constantine (or Philip or any EC), Check out the Nicene Creed in the Rule (above) posted!

Nobody’s perfect

It must be a copy from not too long ago when many ECs in North America used the Latin version of the Creed. Most of our books in our parish have the obvious white-out on the Filioque, suggesting that not too long ago, we used it in our Liturgy as well. Since both versions are acceptable and this is a private prayer, feel free to use whichever version of the Creed you want.

 

[TimothyH]

Here is the text in full, with the filioque. Again, no offense is meant. I don’t know what the Eastern Creed should say. The version both here and in the downloadable document is not even consistent with the Western Creed in new translation of the Roman Missal which we use in the Latin Rite now. Psalm 51 is taken from the New American Bible, IIRC.

Again, no offense is meant. Please feel free to copy/paste/edit as you see fit. Correnctions in charity are warmly welcomed.

**Note: **(+) = make sign of the cross

===========
O God be merciful to me a sinner. (x3)

Heavenly King, Comforter, spirit of truth, Who are everywhere present and fill all things, treasury of blessings, and give of life, come and dwell within us, cleanse us of all stain, and save our souls, O gracious One.

Holy God, (+) holy and mighty, holy and immortal have mercy on us. (x3)

Glory be to the Father, (+) and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen

Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse us of our sins; Master, forgive our transgressions; come to us, Holy One, and heal our infirmities for Your Name’s sake.

Lord have mercy. (x3)

Glory be to the Father, (+) and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.

Our Father…

(+) Come, let us adore our King and God.
(+) Come, let us adore Christ, our King and our God.
(+) Come, let us adore and bow down to Christ our King and our God.

Psalm 50, Prayer of Repentance
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.
My offenses truly I know them; my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done.
That you may be justified when you give sentence and be without reproach when you judge.
O see, in guilt I was born, a sinner was I conceived.
Indeed you love truth in the heart; then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean; O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear rejoicing and gladness, that the bones you have crushed may thrill.
From my sins turn away your face and blot out all my guilt.
A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervor sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you.
O rescue me, God, my helper, and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.
For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse,
My sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
In your goodness, show favor to Zion: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice, burnt offerings wholly consumed,
then you will be offered young bulls on your altar.

**Nicene Creed: **
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
Maker of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

**Jesus Prayer: **
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. (x100)
If prayer rope has divider beads say, “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” at each divider bead.

It is truly proper to glorify you, O Theotokos, the Ever-blessed, Immaculate, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, who, a virgin, gave birth to God the Word, you, truly the Mother of God, we magnify.

Glory be to the Father, (+) and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.

Lord, have mercy. (x3)

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Amen.​

-Tim-

 

[John_of_Patmos]

The link which ConstantineTG provided is for a PDF version which does contains the filioque. I’m Roman Catholic and made the document for my own personal use with one of my “Rolfes Ropes”. No offense is meant. I pray the western dominican style rosary regularly but sometimes pray the Rule of St. Pachomius when certain temptations seem to be stronger or more prolonged than usual.

If you prefer, an editable MS Word version is here which you can edit to better suit your own needs.

PAX

-Tim-

Im not offended at all! Infact, I appreciate the use of the truth!

 

[Alexander_Roman]

The Rule of St Pachomios came about as a result of an angelic apparition to the Holy Father.

The angel prescribed all sorts of monastic rules, including monastic dress code.

What is a mystery to me is that there seems to be two types of prayer rule prescribed by the Angel, one involving the Jesus Prayer and the other involving the psalms

The first one involves reciting 100 Jesus Prayers at the turn of every hour, night and day (with 300 at 3:00 pm in the afternoon, if my understanding of Slavonic is correct). (in practice the full prayers of the Rule of St Pachomius are only said at six in the morning and then at six in the evening.

The second one involves reciting 12 psalms at the turn of every hour, night and day, again using as a liturgical framework the rule of St Pachomius. The latter rule was widely practiced throughout the middle east and by the Celtic peoples. in the 17th century, the Anglican Nicholas Ferrar and his monastic family at Little Gidding practiced this form of praying the psalms. At nine at night, they would recite the book of Psalms again, but as a vigil with members taking turns saying them (until one in the morning).

There are all kinds of ways of using the prayer rope. 6,000 Jesus Prayers can replace the Book of Psalms. The 87th chapter of the Nomocanon of St Basil prescribes 6,000 Jesus Prayers as a substitute for the Daily Office. (Today, half that amount is prescribed for the Divine Office).

One may say 600 simple invocations to any Saint on the prayer rope (e.g. “Holy Apostle Phillip, pray unto God for me a sinner/us”) and this would be the equivalent of a Supplicatory Service (“moleben”).

There is also a rule of a week-long preparation for Holy Communion which involves the daily recitation of 700 Jesus Prayers, followed by 100 invocations to one’s Guardian Angel (Angel of Christ, my holy Guardian, save me your sinful servant!). Then there are 100 invocations to John the Baptist (Holy and Glorious Prophet John, Forerunner and Baptizer of Christ, pray unto God for me a sinner!) Then 100 to the Mother of God (Most Holy Sovereign Mother of God, save me your sinful servant!) These particular invocations are of the Old Believer tradition.

The full Jesus Prayer with “sinner” at the end is now the “canonical” form recommended in the Byzantine-Slav tradition, but there can be others, shortened or lengthened.

One version is “Lord Jesus Christ, by the Theotokos, have mercy on me a sinner”

As prescribed in the catechism of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, every 100 group of Jesus Prayers ought to be introduced by the prayer "Come let us fall down . . . " and should end with the prayer "It is truly meet . . .|

Alex

 

[John_of_Patmos]

Alex, thank you. I especially appreciate the week long old believer Communion Preporation.

I hear their DLs are eight hours.
For reference, my avatar is met. Korniliy of the Old Believers.

 

[John_of_Patmos]

I prayed the Jesus prayer some today I am scared that I have wandered into Palamism. Can someone help?

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

First, what do you mean by “Palamism?” Second, if you simply mean that you are accepting/embracing the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas, why are you afraid? St. Gregory Palamas is venerated by Eastern Catholics as one of the greatest theologians and mystics of our tradition.

 

[John_of_Patmos]

i fear the i somehow worshipped God’s Grace

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

i fear the i somehow worshipped God’s Grace

This would be a matter to take up with a competent spiritual director/father. All that I could possibly say is what the Church Fathers have all said (incidentally this includes some of the Latin mystics), when you pray, focus on the person of Christ and praying attentively with the mind in the heart. If you get feelings, visions, locutions, whatever, ignore them. If they are from God they will have the effect God intends, if they are not from God, then ignoring them has just done you a great service.

But seriously, this would be a matter for a spiritual father. Whether he is Eastern or Roman doesn’t matter, so long as he is experienced.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

If you were invoking the Name (and therefore the Person) of Jesus Christ, you were worshipping our Lord - don’t worry about it.

Doing some prostrations with the Jesus Prayer is a good thing and helps keep our focus on the Prayer.

If you could somehow find a priest or a monk who could serve as your spiritual guide - that would be good!

Alex

 

[TrueLight]

If you want your prayer rope blessed, you could take it to your local Roman parish and simply have the priest bless it. Or, since the EC parish is in a bad neighborhood, you could take it to the closest Orthodox parish and have him place it on the altar during the Divine Liturgy.

Really the Eastern mentality is that an item is blessed through use. So just start praying with it.

Too bad you didn’t order a prayer rope from me.

Phillip, I want you to know that today my 14 year old found the 100-knot prayer rope you made for me, put it around her neck and said, “This is nice.”.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

Phillip, I want you to know that today my 14 year old found the 100-knot prayer rope you made for me, put it around her neck and said, “This is nice.”.

Good for her! Now she needs to learn the Jesus Prayer.

 

[John_of_Patmos]

If you were invoking the Name (and therefore the Person) of Jesus Christ, you were worshipping our Lord - don’t worry about it.

Doing some prostrations with the Jesus Prayer is a good thing and helps keep our focus on the Prayer.

If you could somehow find a priest or a monk who could serve as your spiritual guide - that would be good!

Alex

If I did something wrong, I didn’t realise it at the time. I’ve prayed more and focus on Jesus, and it goes better. Thank you again, Alex. This is what happens when you combine scruples with starting a new form of prayer. I am getting counsoling from a very wise ex jesuit who doubles as my spiritual adviser. So does it sound like Im ok? And yes I invoked His Name, im just worried thats not what I was focused on. Is it possible to worship the Name and not Him?

 

[Splagchnizomai]

Here is the text in full, with the filioque. Again, no offense is meant. I don’t know what the Eastern Creed should say. The version both here and in the downloadable document is not even consistent with the Western Creed in new translation of the Roman Missal which we use in the Latin Rite now. Psalm 51 is taken from the New American Bible, IIRC.

Again, no offense is meant. Please feel free to copy/paste/edit as you see fit. Correnctions in charity are warmly welcomed.

**Note: **(+) = make sign of the cross

===========
O God be merciful to me a sinner. (x3)

Heavenly King, Comforter, spirit of truth, Who are everywhere present and fill all things, treasury of blessings, and give of life, come and dwell within us, cleanse us of all stain, and save our souls, O gracious One.

Holy God, (+) holy and mighty, holy and immortal have mercy on us. (x3)

Glory be to the Father, (+) and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen

Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse us of our sins; Master, forgive our transgressions; come to us, Holy One, and heal our infirmities for Your Name’s sake.

Lord have mercy. (x3)

Glory be to the Father, (+) and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.

Our Father…

(+) Come, let us adore our King and God.
(+) Come, let us adore Christ, our King and our God.
(+) Come, let us adore and bow down to Christ our King and our God.

Psalm 50, Prayer of Repentance
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.
My offenses truly I know them; my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done.
That you may be justified when you give sentence and be without reproach when you judge.
O see, in guilt I was born, a sinner was I conceived.
Indeed you love truth in the heart; then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean; O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear rejoicing and gladness, that the bones you have crushed may thrill.
From my sins turn away your face and blot out all my guilt.
A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervor sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you.
O rescue me, God, my helper, and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.
For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse,
My sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
In your goodness, show favor to Zion: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice, burnt offerings wholly consumed,
then you will be offered young bulls on your altar.

**Nicene Creed: **
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
Maker of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

**Jesus Prayer: **
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. (x100)
If prayer rope has divider beads say, “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” at each divider bead.

It is truly proper to glorify you, O Theotokos, the Ever-blessed, Immaculate, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, who, a virgin, gave birth to God the Word, you, truly the Mother of God, we magnify.

Glory be to the Father, (+) and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.

Lord, have mercy. (x3)

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Amen.​

-Tim-

Tim, this looks like the prayer rule I’ve seen over at byzcath.org – with a few variations. In particular, there are some changes for Great Lent and Easter. Do you make any seasonal changes when you do yours?

 

[TimothyH]

Tim, this looks like the prayer rule I’ve seen over at byzcath.org – with a few variations. In particular, there are some changes for Great Lent and Easter. Do you make any seasonal changes when you do yours?

No, I’m Roman Catholic and stumbled upon the Jesus prayer and found that when under temptation, simply reciting it three times brought a great sense of calmness and peace.

I again stumbled upon such a thing as prayer ropes and found that Phillip here made them by hand, works of art and labors of love actually, and acquired one. Asking how it was used here on the thread resulted in someone posting the rule quoted.

So no, the short answer is, I know slightly more than a Southern Baptist about such things, and probably should use the rope and prayers more often than I do.

Maybe one of the more experienced men of the East can chime in.

-Tim-

 

[Alexander_Roman]

In fact, John Wesley himself used a form of a prayer rope during his lifetime. He simply tied knots with a larger knot at one end, ten smaller ones, ending in another larger one.

He used this to pray portions of the psalms etc. I’ve also found this type of prayer rope recommended in Methodist books of devotion.

The Roman Catholic Devotion to the Most Holy Name of Jesus is a very edifying body of prayers that can enrich us all. There is the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus and the Jesus Psalter. There is simply the recitation of “Jesus” or “My Jesus, Mercy!” as St Leonard of Port-Maurice recommended (“100 or 1000 times a day”).

Alex

 

[Alexander_Roman]

If I did something wrong, I didn’t realise it at the time. I’ve prayed more and focus on Jesus, and it goes better. Thank you again, Alex. This is what happens when you combine scruples with starting a new form of prayer. I am getting counsoling from a very wise ex jesuit who doubles as my spiritual adviser. So does it sound like Im ok? And yes I invoked His Name, im just worried thats not what I was focused on. Is it possible to worship the Name and not Him?

The Orthodox Church actually condemned a group of Athonite monks for the “heresy of Name-worshipping.” But we’re not there!

And your Jesuit friend (once a Jesuit . . . ) would be a great source given the Jesuits’ historic devotion to the Most Holy Name.

You are OK, Big Guy!

Alex

 

[Splagchnizomai]

No, I’m Roman Catholic and stumbled upon the Jesus prayer and found that when under temptation, simply reciting it three times brought a great sense of calmness and peace.

I again stumbled upon such a thing as prayer ropes and found that Phillip here made them by hand, works of art and labors of love actually, and acquired one. Asking how it was used here on the thread resulted in someone posting the rule quoted.

So no, the short answer is, I know slightly more than a Southern Baptist about such things, and probably should use the rope and prayers more often than I do.

Maybe one of the more experienced men of the East can chime in.

-Tim-

Thanks, Tim. It is a great prayer, isn’t it?

 

[John_of_Patmos]

The Orthodox Church actually condemned a group of Athonite monks for the “heresy of Name-worshipping.” But we’re not there!

And your Jesuit friend (once a Jesuit . . . ) would be a great source given the Jesuits’ historic devotion to the Most Holy Name.

You are OK, Big Guy!

Alex

Alex, I must thank you for all your help.

 

[TimothyH]

Thanks, Tim. It is a great prayer, isn’t it?

I’m reading Diadochus of Photike right now…

-Tim-