THE “SECRETS” OF THE MONASTERY FOR EFFECTIVE PRAYER
Author: Bishop Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B.
In Celtic Orthodoxy the word Theology is defined as the study of the experience of God. In other Orthodox groups and in the RCC the word Theology means the study of God, which is totally different from the study of the experience of God. Celtic Orthodoxy views an attempt by a finite creature to understand the infinite God to be a bit presumptuous. It is impossible to study the experience of God and limit your study to books.
Men say to me that they pray and never get an answer to prayer. They gave up praying except for Mass on Sunday and even there they are more a spectator than anything else. Some have prayed the Jesus Prayer and others the Psalms. Nothing seems to make a difference they say. Sometimes people just stop praying too soon and others pray to get something and if they don’t get it in a timely fashion they think the prayers didn’t work. God is not a sugar daddy. People do not understand what it means to pray. Prayer is not rattling off words as a parrot repeats words or vain repetition without understanding.
The “Secrets of the Monastery” are the hidden secrets retained by the Monasteries and not known to the world. These secrets are unknown to the people and most other Non-Monastic clergy because they do not want to know. It is not a matter of the Monks hiding these things. People talk about wanting to know the old ways hidden in the Monasteries but when we share them the people scoff and walk away.
In part, some of the reasons the people walk away from this hidden knowledge is because they have been lied to all their lives by their Priests and churches about praying. The clergy of the last hundred years do not know how to pray as did their Fathers among the Saints so they can’t pass it on to others. They are not living in the life of the Holy Spirit and therefore they cannot themselves pray effectively.
IF WE READ THE PSALMS, THE HIDDEN SECRETS OF THE MONASTERY ABOUT PRAYER ARE CLEARLY VISIBLE TO ANY WHO WANT TO SEE.
In our Chapel there is a stand in the middle of the nave (main body) of the church and immediately in front of it is a candle. The stand is called the Little Entrance Table and the candle in front of it is called the Lucernarium Candle or Divine Office candle. The Divine Office candle is our call to prayer. The term Divine Office means divine duty. Prayer is the divine duty of all believers. The Mass, the most powerful prayer of the church always begins at the Little Entrance Table.
The Little Entrance Table stands in sharp contrast to the modern church lay out. It is a remnant lost to most other churches (not all) and its mere presence standing there, so dignified yet accusatory, is an ever constant witness to what went wrong in the church that brought the larger church to the present sad state.
Cluttering up the nave of the church are pews. Pews also stand in accusatory fashion as they serve as a witness to the loss in the church of the “art of prayer”. If we examine the church buildings of old that decorate the European landscape; the buildings that stand as a living witness to the ancient church, the ancient truth and the ancient faith we firstly notice that pews are conspicuous in their absence. They didn’t need pews because people knew how to pray.
Pews came from North American and eventually worked their way around the world but with the advent of pews the people lost the ability to pray as taught by God. With the advent of pews, the church catholic was thrown into a tempestuous sea and the fight for survival was begun.
The Scriptures and the Sacred Tradition of the Church has taught us to pray with our minds and with our hearts AND WITH OUR BODIES. God taught us to kneel, bow down and prostrate ourselves before Him. When men stopped praying in the manner demanded by God, men began to lose faith and lost respect for holy things and for the Sacred. When pews came in, faith was ejected from the church. Kneelers came in that were padded and pews now are often padded for the comfort of the “worshipers”. The people are not worshiping God. The faith as once delivered to the Saints left the building when the pews came in.
If the larger church hopes to survive and prosper it must return to the ancient art of praying with their minds, their hearts and with their bodies. We must worship as God ordered us to worship. We must learn to pray with our bodies, prostrate before the Lord.
Prostration means to kneel and bend forward until your forehead hits the floor. Bowing means to bend at the waist while making the Sign of the Cross.
_________________________________________________
CELTIC ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS REMOVE
THEIR SHOES DURING THE MASS AND WHEN
THE EUCHARIST IS RESERVED IN THE TABERNACLE
BECAUSE THEN THE GROUND UPON WHICH
YOU WALK IS HOLY GROUND. OUR CHURCHES
ARE CALLED “TEMPLES” BECAUSE OUR CHAPEL
IS THE HOUSE OF GOD AND GATE OF HEAVEN.
Jericho was strong and fortified with huge walls all around the city. Joshua had a promise from God that the land was theirs, but the people of Jericho were not going to just hand it over.
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’
Neither, he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
“The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.” (Josh. 5:13-15)
Joshua literally removed his shoes that day. He was barefoot. This said volumes about his understanding not only of who God is but also of who God was to him. By removing his shoes, Joshua was saying, If this battle is going to be won, it will be won by God’s power.
When Joshua saw this man with a sword in his hands, his heart must have been beating out of his chest. He immediately asked him to identify himself: “Are you for us or our enemies?”
The man replied, “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”
When Joshua heard that, he hit the deck. The Scripture says he fell down “in reverence” and immediately asked, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
There are several things about this event that indicate this man was not an angel. If he had been an angel, he would have told Joshua to get up and not to worship him because he was just an angel. Most Bible scholars believe this man was the pre-incarnate Logos which in time became man in the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches us that Jesus has always been: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2).
“The Word” is a name for Jesus. John 1:14 says that one day “the Word became flesh.” That’s the Jesus we know in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus, as God, has always been.
This man with the sword was the Incarnate Word of God before the Incarnation, Called the Pre-Incarnate Logos. This was the Word of God before taking flesh, through the Virgin Mary, in the person of Jesus, the Christ.
Take off your shoes and fall before Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar for the ground upon which you walk is holy ground.
God Himself first identified the area in which He met with Moses on Mount Horeb (Sinai) as holy ground. It was there that God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that he let the people go from bondage to Egypt. At the moment Moses came upon the burning bush out of which God spoke to him, God gave him two commands: don’t come near and take off your sandals. Both commands were to impress upon Moses that he was standing on holy ground
It was not that the actual ground on which Moses stood was holy; rather, it was the presence of the holy God that made it holy. No less is Jesus, true God and true man, present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar who makes our churches holy.
The holy ground was rendered sacred by the presence of God, who is the very essence of holiness. The lesson for us is that we should enter the sanctuary, the place set apart for divine worship, with reverence in our hearts. We remove our shoes in the presence of the Eucharist for wherever the Lord is constitutes holy ground.
REMOVING SHOES IN CHURCH
In the west, it is not the custom for Christians to remove their shoes in churches (though some Roman Catholics go barefoot at certain shrines and have historically gone barefoot as a penance). Some of the non-Chalcedonian Orthodox churches, the Ethiopians and Coptic Orthodox remove their shoes in their churches, as do we.
According to God’s Law, shoes should be removed when standing on Holy round. Therefore, since God is present in the Tabernacle, shoes must be removed, especially when receiving the Holy Eucharist.
Likewise, the clergy must remove shoes to enter the Altar area and standing at the Holy Table. Any Bishop, Priest, Deacon, or server ignoring this, God’s Law, should be removed from the area. For those that were unaware, it is customary in many US and Oriental Orthodox Temples (churches) to remove shoes on entering a Church.
In the Book of Exodus (3:1-6) – Moses’s encounter with God at the burning bush begins when he was told “Take off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” What many don’t know is that Joshua was also told likewise at his holy encounter: “Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said… ”What saith my lord unto his servant? And He replied unto Joshua, Loose thy shoes from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:14&15).
Orthodox Churches are also known as Temples. Our Temple is a place where we pray together in the very presence of God Himself – Holy Ground. To receive Holy Communion is to encounter God just as Moses encountered God at the burning bush so, yes, if you desire to receive God in the form of the Blessed Sacrament at our Monastery then “Loose thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is Holy Ground. There are Little or NO exceptions, save for age or infirmity.
According to the Canons of the Celtic Orthodox Church and Coptic Orthodox Churches it is still customary to remove shoes for prayers in Church.
Prostrations, prayers rugs and fixed times of prayer are all traits of traditional Orthodoxy. These practices
are most closely associated with the daily Divine Office prayed daily by traditional Orthodox clergy, both Eastern and Western Rite, and reflect the praxis of the ancient faith of our holy Fathers and Mothers from
the earliest days of the Orthodox Church.
FIXED TIMES OF PRAYER
Carrying over the praxis of Orthodox Judaism during the time of Christ and the Apostles, believers were required to pray three times each day, stopping whatever they are doing to pray. Historically, Jews prayed at fixed intervals throughout the day. King David, who is believed to have written the psalms, proclaims,
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint
and moan, and he will hear my voice. (Psalm 55:17)
Christians adopted this type of prayer schedule and it was further solidified in monastic communities. By the 6th century, monks were praying seven times a day: during the night, at dawn, mid-morning, midday, mid-afternoon, at sundown and before retiring for bed. St. Benedict of Nursia added the Office of Prime
to be prayed as the first Office of prayer after the daily Mass. This raised the times of prayer to 8 and that
is the number of the hours in the daily Divine Office to this day. Today the fixed hours of prayer are Matins
(midnight or early morning), Lauds (second morning prayer), Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.
The laity later joined the monks in prayer by praying the Angelus, stopping their work to pray at the sound of the nearby church bell.
PROSTRATIONS, PRAYER RUGS AND PRAYING IN CHURCH
Christians frequently kneel down and touch their heads on the ground in a type of prostration. It is repeated several times a day as part of the Rubrics of the Divine Office and a prayer rug was used and is
today used as a way of aligning with the local church and to ensure a clean area. Additionally, a man’s shoes are removed during prayer. The Priest prays a special blessing on the prayer rug, thus making the prayer rug part of the local church. It is not always easy to go to the church building (called a Temple in Holy Orthodoxy) but when he opens the prayer rug he is now kneeling on part of the church floor. The blessed rug is a portable part of the church.
Some Christians, especially in the Celtic Orthodox Church, Armenian Orthodox Church and the Coptic
Orthodox tradition, frequently made use of prostrations during prayer. The Celtic Orthodox Church, a member of Biblical Orthodoxy, and all the world churches identified as part of Biblical Orthodoxy make heavy usage of the prayer rugs. The method of prostration is the man kneels down on the rug, and then moves the head down to touch the ground, his hands made into a fist, and the knuckles and both thumbs touch the ground. This is done when one begins to pray … prostrating three times in the name of the Trinity; at the end of each Psalm … while saying the “One is Holy, One is the Lord Jesus Christ etc.” and multiple times during the multiple Kyrie eleison. (Lord have mercy etc.) The sign of the Cross is repeated three times and the prostration is repeated three times.
This tradition has its source in the Gospels, where Jesus is recorded as praying in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).
Additionally, it is an ancient tradition in the Celtic Orthodox Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and all of Biblical Orthodoxy to pray without shoes, leaving them at the door of the church.
DIRECTION OF PRAYER
When Orthodox Christians pray they always take care to face the Tabernacle if they are in the church building. If they are not in the Church they face toward the Orient. For 2,000 years Christians have prayed facing towards the Orient, the East. East is the direction of the sunrise and was naturally associated with various Christian imagery. East was first seen as a symbol of Christ, the “light of the world,” and the direction of his Second Coming. The sunrise was also associated with the Resurrection, as it is written in the Gospels that Christ rose from the dead at dawn. Christians for many centuries prayed facing east (ad orientem), both for the Eucharistic liturgy of the Mass and at daily prayers. Today, only Holy Orthodoxy perpetuates the practice of the Apostles in offering Mass and prayers “ad orientem”.
Celtic Orthodox Christians pray with their minds, souls and bodies. Prostrations are an important part of Celtic Orthodox Spirituality.
Re-printed with permission:
HOLY TRINITY CELTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH
A MONASTIC CHAPEL
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CELTIC ORTHODOX BENEDICTINE FATHERS
1703 Macomber St., Toledo, Ohio 43606
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