Prayer Ropes

Date: 24 January 2006 08:21:48

The Prayer Rope, one might say the Orthodox counterpart of the Rosary, is something I have known about, but have not had much to do with at a personal level. Something within me, as odd as that may sound, is prompting me to look deeper into it at this time.

Many parishioners at my parish have prayer ropes around their wrist on a daily basis. On Friday night, at a dinner, I asked one of them a bit more about the prayer rope and how it came about and how it was used. I found it very fascinating.

According to Tradition, the Prayer Rope came about like this:

A monk wanted to make a woollen prayer rope in order to be able to count his prayers. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish it because the devil would come and untie the knots he had made. One day, an angel of God appeared to him with instructions on how to make the knots with seven crosses entwined in each knot. This is one of the most complicated knots, and the Devil was not able to untie them.

I do like that story.

Counting off prayers has a long tradition in Christianity. St Paul of Thebes had a bag full of 300 pebbles: as he prayed a prayer, he would transfer a pebble from that bag to another one. In Ethiopia, I believe, notches were made on sticks as prayers were said. In the "Western" churches, the rosary developed.

These were all to help the faithful, for this was not the preserve of monastics alone, to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). By carrying the Prayer Rope, the person is reminded of their task to pray constantly.

The person I spoke to said he uses the Prayer Rope -- which usually has 33 knots (one for each of Christ's years on earth), though there may be 50, 100 or more -- with the "Jesus Prayer", one of the most widely known and used prayers in the Orthodox church: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." As he moves his hand from one knot to another, he recites this. And when he reaches the end, he says the Lord's Prayer. Similar discussions with other people confirmed this was a favoured way, though other prayers can be said.

A new parishioner at our parish, from Macedonia, has been making prayer ropes while here. I saw some examples of his work on Sunday and they were very beautiful: but more than that, they are a blessing in that they do aid people to pray. I pray it may help me. I would dearly love to be "pray[ing] without ceasing", to have the thought of God and the thought of my neighbours foremost in my mind. Step by step.

A final word from St Theophan the Recluse:

Reading this, don't think that I am pushing you toward monasticism. I myself first learned of prayer with the prayer rope, not from a monk, but from a layman, for many lay people pray this way. And you too will profit by this. When prayers from the prayer book become tedious and uninspiring, you may use the prayer rope for a day or two, then return to your memorized prayers.

Again I repeat: The essence of prayer lies in lifting the mind and heart to God. Prayer rules are only aids to this end. We weak ones cannot do without them.