Orthodox prayer is prayed with the body: bows from the waist and full prostrations punctuate the daily rule and the services.
Tagged: Prayer Remembrance
How It Is Practiced
A bow is made by bending from the waist while making the sign of the cross, touching the floor with the fingers; a full prostration brings the forehead to the ground. They accompany the Jesus Prayer in the private rule — a set number after each cycle — and fill the Lenten services, above all the prayer of St. Ephraim, where each petition receives its prostration. Before icons and relics, the faithful bow and kiss what they venerate.
Purpose and Meaning
The body is not treated as prayer’s luggage but as part of the person praying: humility is enacted, not only thought. Rising again after each prostration rehearses the theology of the practice — the fall and the resurrection enacted dozens of times. The discipline also keeps wakefulness: it is difficult to daydream on one's knees.
References
- Prostration — Wikipedia Free / open access
Related Practices
- The Prayer Rule — A prayer rule is a fixed daily pattern of prayers, readings, and prostrations kept under a spiritual father's guidance.
- Fasting (Orthodox) — Orthodox fasting keeps set seasons and weekdays free of meat, dairy, and often oil and wine, joined to prayer and almsgiving.
- The Jesus Prayer — The Jesus Prayer repeats one sentence — 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner' — until it becomes continual.
Related Across the Site
- First Fridays Devotion Devotion — The First Fridays devotion joins Mass and Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays to the promises of the Sacred Heart.
- Novena Devotion — A novena is a prayer or set of prayers repeated on nine consecutive days for a particular intention.
- Pilgrimage (Catholic) Devotion — Catholic pilgrimage is a journey to a shrine undertaken as prayer, penance, thanksgiving, or petition.
- Stations of the Cross Devotion — The Stations of the Cross walk the worshipper through fourteen scenes of Christ's journey to the crucifixion.
- The Angelus Devotion — The Angelus is a short prayer on the Incarnation, prayed at morning, noon, and evening at the sound of a bell.
- The Jesus Prayer Devotion — The Jesus Prayer repeats one sentence — 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner' — until it becomes continual.
- Veneration of Icons Devotion — Before the icons at home and in church, the faithful light lamps and candles, bow, and kiss the images of Christ and the saints.
- Dhikr Prayer or Creed — The remembrance of God through repeated short formulas of glory, praise, and greatness.