www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Help with daily practices

Hello everyone!

Up until now I have been praying the Liturgy of the Hours, evening and night prayers with the occasional morning prayer tossed in. Also have been trying to say the rosary daily.

I now what to try to do some eastern prayer and devotions daily. I have gotten a copy of Byzantine Daily Worship but the Divine Office in it seems a bit confusing, how does one practice it?

Any advice/guidance as to daily prayer and other things would be greatly appreciated.

Your little brother in Christ,
David

Dearest brother in Our Lord David,
Christ is Risen!

In regards to private prayer practices, I follow a rather strict rule under the guidance of my spiritual father. I use primarily two Orthodox prayerbooks: the "Old Orthodox Prayerbook" and the "Orthodox Prayers of Old England", with some material (special akathists, etc.)
taken from other various sources.
As I am a member of the Russian Greek Catholic Church (Russian Orthodox in Communion with Rome), my practice follows that of the Russian Orthodox Church. I use a mixture of Old Church Slavonic and English, with Greek used sometimes in the Trisagion (Holy God...). The Old Orthodox Prayerbook is published by a community of Russian Orthodox Old Believers in Erie, PA, and it is bilingual, with Slavonic and English on facing pages. This I use primarily, but I also use the "Orthodox Prayers of Old England" published by St. Hilarion Press in Austin, TX. This book is the product of an Orthodox monastery that has restored the ancient services and usages of England before the Great Schism (1054 a.d.). I use some of the daily prayers and prayers to the saints, along with a few litanies.
My daily rule of prayer is:
-Morning prayers (about 30-40 minutes)
-Evening prayers (about 35-45 minutes)
with the Jesus Prayer as a focus for meditation during the day (kind of like what you're trying to do with the Rosary) and blessings before/after meals, and other spontaneous prayers from memory. These prayers are easily learned (whether in Slavonic or English), and are quite short. For example, one of my favorite prayers is to the Theotokos (Mother of God), and goes as follows:
"All my hope I place in thee O Mother of God, do preserve me under thy shelter".
For a successful rule of prayer, one must be in constant discussion with his spiritual father regarding his progress, as the spiritual father is an invaluable asset to anyone who wants to learn to pray in a traditional but very meaningful way in our Byzantine tradition. If you don't have much time, as it sounds like you don't, pray at least the introductory prayers in the morning and evening, and try to pray as much as possible during the day while going about your labors. This is where the Jesus Prayer fits in, as it is short, easy to memorize, and can be said repeatedly quite easily. It is, in case you don't know, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner". This simple prayer sums up all we believe about Jesus, as one of the saints (I'm not sure which one offhand) said. It is, in a way, a profession of faith, like but not a substitute for the Nicene Creed.
You should already have an icon corner set up at home, with at least an icon of Jesus, an icon of Mary the Theotokos, a candle, and your Bible, prayerbooks, cross/crucifix, etc. I myself have much more than that, but you should do whatever is possible according to your means. If you do not already have one, buy a prayer rope, and try to find the book, "Writings from the Philokalia on the Prayer of the Heart", translated by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer. It has good instruction on the use of the Jesus Prayer, and how to make it the core of your personal spirituality.

I sincerely hope this helps, and please feel free to contact me privately at "wjtherman@webtv.net" (without the quotes, of course) if you would like more personal assistance or to ask questions, if you do not want to do so on this forum (although I don't mind if you do )

Also, make sure to go to the local Byzantine Catholic Church as much as possible, attending all the services you can, which will help you to learn liturgical prayer, on which private prayer is based. If you do not have a spiritual father (priest or monk who guides you in your spirituality, and hears your confessions), please speak to your parish priest or another priest with which you feel comfortable about becoming your spiritual father. Good luck, and may God be with you!

In Christ the Risen Saviour,
Feodosij, rab' Bozhij (Theodosius, servant of God)

David,

I am so glad that you have developed an interest in Eastern Christian spirituality. As regards morning prayers, I find the office in "Byzantine Daily Worship" to be exceedingly confusing. In truth, the Byzantine "Liturgy of the Hours" is very complicated, and is best used in a parish or monastic setting. Each office takes about an hour, and contains complicated rubrics which make it difficult to use alone. It is possible to pray it by oneself, but it takes some getting used to.

I would recommend praying the Akathist to Our Lady daily. That prayer can be found towards the back of Byzantine Daily Worship. It is, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful Marian prayer that you will ever find! You can read it silently to yourself, or try chanting it using a simple tone.

Theodosy gives very good advice regarding the icon corner. It is one of the greatest prayer aids that you can invest in. All you need is perhaps a table, an icon of Our Lord, and an Icon of Our Lady. Be certain to get these icons blessed after you purchase them. Place the icon of Our Lord (Jesus) to the right, and the Theotokos (Mary with child) to His left. You can also get some smaller icons of various saints and place them on the sides. You will also want a candle on the table, or perhaps even have an oil lamp hanging over the icons. A censer is also a great purchase, as burning incense while you pray adds a new dimension to the experience: "Let my prayer ascend to You like incense, and the lifting up of my hands like an evening sacrifice."

Of course the best experience that you can get in Eastern spirituality is regularly attending a Divine Liturgy at an Eastern parish.

Have you read Way of a Pilgrim? That is also a superb introduction to the Jesus Prayer, and it is fun reading.

Anthony

Let's be realistic. The average person simply does not have the time available for the full Liturgy of the Hours prescribed by the Byzantine Church. I recommend the following. If it works for you - great. If you have a desire to spend more time in prayer and have the available time, then add to it until the structure of the Divine Office takes on a monastic form:

Short Vespers - see https://www.byzcath.org/faith/worship/vespers-short-text.htm
Through the prayers�.
Trisagion Prayers
Psalm 103 (104)
The Prayer of Psalm 103
O Joyful Light
The Canticle of St. Simeon


Medium Vespers - use https://www.byzcath.org/faith/worship/vespers-saturday-evenings.html as a model substituting the propers for each day or feast.


Short Morning Prayer
Through the prayers�.
Trisagion Prayers
Psalm 50 [51]

Morning Prayer during Pascha - use https://www.byzcath.org/faith/worship/matins-pascha.html

The book he Way of the Pilgrim is a wonderful introduction to the Jesus Prayer.

David,

Christos Anesti!

I know there are a plethora of replies and recommendations already, so I hope my response is not superfluous.

Moose is correct. The entire Byzantine office is meant for monastic practice, and is really not pracitcable for most lay people to recite daily in its entirety. (The Latin office was streamlined following Vatican II, by comparison). Almost everyone who recites it does it in abbreviated form.

There are many alternatives here. The links offered by Moose are a good place to start. In addition to the other recommendations, however, I would like to offer the following low-cost alternative: the �Book of Prayer� published by an Orthodox Church in WV � this contains readers (i.e., manageable and easy to follow) versions of all of the hours, the Akathists to Jesus and Mary, as well as a fine selection of occasional and daily prayers, all in contemporary English in a handy paperback format for about $12 - -I have found this to be the best prayer book in terms of value for money, really. BDW is a great, great book, but it is QUITE hard to follow at times and the layout is less than extremely helpful at points; in fairness, it is trying to be as comprehensive as possible, which is a good thing and one of the book�s strengths. The �Book of Prayer� is trying to be more comprehensible and easy to follow for the average person, and therefore is a better choice for a daily prayer book than many others are, in my opinion.

Two other good ones are: �A Pocket Prayer Book for Orthodox Christians� (published by the AA and retailing at about $3.50, with a good set of basic morning and evening prayers, occasional prayers as well as the entire text of the Divine Liturgy) and �A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers� (a comprehenive set of prayers in older British English) � both are useful.

Finally, the Jesus Prayer is always available. I would recommend �The Art of Prayer� as a good guide as to how the Jesus Prayer can become a part of one�s life even though one is �living in the world�.

Good luck!

In Christ,


Brendan

Brenden,

Thanks for the book suggestions.

I recently placed an order at light-n-life.com for a couple of books and a few icons.

Here are the books.

Abbreviated Prayer Book for Orthodox Christians ABBR100
Provides a brief prayer rule that nearly every Orthodox family can use at the icon corner. An ideal icon corner companion.

Byzantine Book of Prayer BYZA112
Includes Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil, Molebens to Jesus and Mary, Akathists to Jesus and Mary, Parastas, Menaion, Paraclesis, Tropars/Kondaks for Sundays and Holy Days, Christian Burial, Private Prayers and Devotions, Sacrament of Reconciliation.

I also have a catalog from Icon and Book Service. They have this book;

A Manual of the Hours of the Orthodox Church compiled by Archimandrite Cherubim.
A pocket size, spiral bound manual containing all the prayers of the hours of the Orthodox Church.

What do you think?

Your little brother in Christ,
David

The Sisters of St Basil the Great (Uniontown, Pennsylvania 15401) Ruthenian Eparcy of Pittsburgh.
publish the following Liturgical Books. The Office of Vespers
The Office of Matins
The Festal Menaion
The Pentecostarion
THe Lenten Triodion

You might want to start with the Office of Vespers and the Office of Matins. The order of services are not always easy to follow, but you can use just portions from these offices. The texts are easy to read, but I do not appreciate the occasional "inclusive language" used in them, especially in the Lenten Triodion. This so-called inclusive language at times distorts the original meaning of the texts and at best sound awkward and ungraceful.

Eastern Christian Publications also publish the Divine Office in the first volume of Let Us Pray To The Lord Vol. I. Unfortunately, "inclusive" language is also used in this text.

David,

Christos anesti!

I too started with the Liturgy of the Hours and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer to set the framework of my daily prayer before my Eastward travel began. In spite of the language issue, if it is an issue for you, Let Us Pray to the Lord cited in Padova's post is the best single prayer volume I have found for my regimen. It is structured in a way that concentrates on the essential elements of each office that you would probably be looking for, with some of the elaborations in appendices as needed. Thus, you can begin with a straightforward format and build from there. It is well suited to short prayer or a full office, and it is comact enough for travel. I could not recommend it more.

Peter

I have gotten a copy of Daily Prayer for Orthodox Christians from Light & Life Publishing.

Here is the description from them;

"For nearly two thousand years, Orthodox Christians have greeted the sunset and the darkness, the morning and the noon with "Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs." The Orthodox Church has compiled offices of timeless beauty and depth for vespers, compline, matins and noon prayer. These offices are now available in an easy-to-use format perfect for today's busy Christian. In readable modern language. Suitable for private or communal prayer. Sanctioned by Archbishop Iakovos and Metropolitan Theodosius."

I know this is geared toward Orthodox but I find it easy to use and all that I think is necessary is some wording changes in the intercessions.

What do ya'll think?

Your little brother in Christ,
David

The only suggestions I offer are Keep praying !
This is the most important! Also a thought, you must see that Our Lady has called us and asked us to say the Rosary, this is probably why you pray the rosary, so you should continue to. She has asked us to and you know of her request (at Fatima) not enough do already. Just a thought!
I also highly recommend The Way of the Pilgrim, and any volume of the Philokalia.

I wanted to introduce myself and let all of you know that I am here. I am a Roman Catholic, converted 7 years ago, and have found myself attracted to Eastern spirituality ever since I first heard of it. I have recently moved from Tennessee to Indiana, and seem to be about 80 miles away from a Byzantine Catholic Church--- I will make the drive when the gas prices go back down :-)

I don't know if I would ever actually make the switch, but there are Eastern practices, such as the Jesus Prayer that I love-- and icons seem to touch my heart. I am also happy that I am no longer in an area where there are more Catholics in general! :-)

Anyway, I will be reading, and probably asking questions from time to time.


[This message has been edited by Catherine Kostyn (edited 05-28-2000).]