Rosary

[Dempsey1919]

The Rosary is my favourite prayer and I would encourage every Catholic to become familiar with it. I think it is great that Eastern Catholics also choose to include the Rosary in their spiritual lives, but I think it is important for them to also preserve their own unique forms of prayer such as The Prayer of the Heart and the Akathist. These prayers should be used both privately and in the Divine Liturgy, wereas the Rosary should be a private devotion only. The reason I say this is because the Rosary is a distinctly Latin form of prayer and does not belong in the Ancient and Venerable Divine Liturgies of the East. Eastern Catholics have their own traditions that greatly enrich the whole Church, and these traditions must be preserved and protected. I encourage my Eastern bretheren to pray the Rosary, but only if this does not cause them to neglect the beautifully ancient spirituality of the East.

 

[Debora]

Do Easter Catholics pray the Rosary? If not, do they have another similar prayer to Our Blessed Mother similar to the Rosary?

Yes, Eastern Catholics may say the Western Rosary. However they have an ancient form of a Rosary of their own.

Typical the Byzantine “Rosary” is a circle of knotted cord (a “Prayer Rope") or of beads strung together. Usually it consists of one hundred knots or beads. It may also have 50 or 25 beads. The knotted prayer rope is called in Greek “Konvoskinion” and in Slavonic “Chotki.”

The Rosary is a means of meditating and counting prayers. In the Byzantine Church the prayer that is repeated on each knot or bead is: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner,” this prayer, called the “Jesus Prayer,” is drawn from the “Prayer of the Publican: O God be merciful to me a sinner!” Luke 18:10, which according to Our Lord Jesus Christ justified the sinner. One may also reflect on the Psalms as they pray the rosary.

 

[joshhackerspmdo]

i have to agree regarding the use of the rosary in a liturgical setting. Now is one were to wish to say the rosary in a groups settting probibly the best way to do this would be to set a side a time after the Divine Liturgy.

This is jsut my two cents as a latin rite catholic who is somewhat knowledgable about our easter brothers.

 

[johnnydigit]

looking at byzantines.net/liturgy/akathist.htm, it looks like the chants are similar to the mysteries of the Rosary we meditate on. for me, the Rosary is most powerful because before/during/after chanting the 10 Hail Mary’s, i can begin to mediate on the mysteries so deeply that a Rosary can last as long as 3 hours.

personally, and as told to me by clergy, the Rosary is actually more of a private prayer. as great as it is to pray in community, i find the most personal spiritual growth when done in private… but of course in God’s eyes it may be the opposite!

reading over those chants again it appears they are absolutely beautiful and welling my eyes up with joy. i think i will incorporate them into my Rosary.

“wow, where did you find those mysteries?”

“oh, these are from our Eastern Rite brothers. let me tell you more about them…”