The most extensive collection of Christian prayers available is now in paperback. Tracing two thousand years of Christian spirituality, it contains prayers from every era, every continent and every tradition. This extraordinary anthology provides a compelling and comprehensive portrait of the ways in which men and women have expressed their longing for God through the centuries.
Arranged chronologically, 2000 Years of Prayer covers every significant era of Christian experience: prayers from the early church in East and West, the Coptic Church, Celtic traditions, medieval and monastic spirituality, Italian spiritual writers, Teutonic mysticism, the Protestant Reformation, English Roman Catholics, the Puritans, Pietist, Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, and much more. A brief introduction to each chapter outlines the defining spiritual characteristics of the age and traces the development of our understanding of prayer. Biographies of authors whose prayers are included, as well as an index of authors, themes, and subjects.
The most extensive collection of Christian prayers available is now in paperback. Tracing two thousand years of Christian spirituality, it contains prayers from every era, every continent and every tradition. This extraordinary anthology provides a compelling and comprehensive portrait of the ways in which men and women have expressed their longing for God through the centuries.
Arranged chronologically, 2000 Years of Prayer covers every significant era of Christian experience: prayers from the early church in East and West, the Coptic Church, Celtic traditions, medieval and monastic spirituality, Italian spiritual writers, Teutonic mysticism, the Protestant Reformation, English Roman Catholics, the Puritans, Pietist, Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, and much more. A brief introduction to each chapter outlines the defining spiritual characteristics of the age and traces the development of our understanding of prayer. Biographies of authors whose prayers are included, as well as an index of authors, themes, and subjects.
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Overview
The most extensive collection of Christian prayers available is now in paperback. Tracing two thousand years of Christian spirituality, it contains prayers from every era, every continent and every tradition. This extraordinary anthology provides a compelling and comprehensive portrait of the ways in which men and women have expressed their longing for God through the centuries.
Arranged chronologically, 2000 Years of Prayer covers every significant era of Christian experience: prayers from the early church in East and West, the Coptic Church, Celtic traditions, medieval and monastic spirituality, Italian spiritual writers, Teutonic mysticism, the Protestant Reformation, English Roman Catholics, the Puritans, Pietist, Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, and much more. A brief introduction to each chapter outlines the defining spiritual characteristics of the age and traces the development of our understanding of prayer. Biographies of authors whose prayers are included, as well as an index of authors, themes, and subjects.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780819229762 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Morehouse Publishing |
| Publication date: | 08/01/2002 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 672 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
2000 YEARS OF PRAYER
By MICHAEL COUNSELL
Church Publishing Incorporated
Copyright © 1999 Michael CounsellAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8192-1921-3
CHAPTER 1
The First Four Christian Centuries
We can watch the development of the life of prayer in the writings of the Christians between the New Testament and the end of persecution by the Emperor Constantine, usually called the Early Christian Fathers. Although they were no more sinless and perfect than Christians at any other period, they were free of the temptations that come with power, and they continued the task which St Paul had begun of applying the Hebrew religion of Jesus to the Greek-speaking Roman Empire.
Clement of Rome (c. 100)
At the end of the first Christian century the Bishop of Rome wrote a letter to the church in Corinth, where some of the leaders had been deposed as a result of a dispute. He refers to the leaders as overseers fepiskopoi, usually translated as 'bishops') or eiders (presbyteroij, and they are assisted by servants (diakonoi or 'deacons'). One of their duties is to 'offer the gifts' of bread and wine at the Eucharist.
God, the origin of creation, open our eyes to know you and place our hope in you, the highest and the holiest. You put down the insolence of the proud, and scatter the plotting of the nations; you lift up the humble and lay low the mighty; you make some rich and make others poor, kill some and bring others to life; the God of the spiritual and the material worlds; you see everything that happens; you are the helper of those who are in trouble and the Saviour of those in despair; creator and overseer of every spirit; you cause nations to grow, and you have chosen from all the world those who love you through Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom you taught us, made us holy and honoured us. Lord and Master, help us and rescue all those who are in trouble; have mercy on the lowly; lift up those who have fallen; reveal yourself to the needy; heal the ungodly; convert those of your people who have gone astray; feed the hungry; release those of our number who are in prison; give power to the weak; encourage the faint-hearted. Let all the nations know that you are God alone, and Jesus Christ is your Son, and we are your people and the sheep of your pasture.
1 Clement 59
You, Lord God, made the eternal fabric of the world appear, and you created the earth. You are always trustworthy, you judge fairly, excellent and marvellous in your power; wise in creating and careful to make firm what you have made, blessing us with the visible creation and dependable for those who trust in you, merciful and compassionate. Forgive us our sins and our shortcomings, our breaking of your laws and our lack of righteousness. We are your servants; do not blame us for all that we have done wrong, but make us clean with your truth, and guide our steps to walk in holiness and righteousness and singleness of heart, that we may do those good things which will please you and win the favour of our rulers. Lord, make your face to shine upon us in peace, for our good, that we may be sheltered by your mighty hand and set free from the consequences of sin by the power of your arm. Protect us against those who unjustly hate us. Give peace and harmony to us and to all who dwell on earth, while we obey your almighty and most excellent name, and while we obey our earthly rulers and governors, as you did to our ancestors, when they prayed to you in faith and truth with holiness.
1 Clement 60
The Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians (second century)
Less likely to be by St Clement, but obviously a very early Christian sermon, is the so-called Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians:
To the invisible and only God, the true Father, who sent to us the Saviour and immortal Prince, through whom he revealed to us the truth and the life of heaven, to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 30-107)
Soon after the beginning of the second century Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, was arrested and taken to Rome to be thrown to the lions. In the letters which he wrote to different churches during his journey we see the calm, prayerful way in which the early Christians accepted martyrdom.
I am writing letters to all the churches, to assure them that I am dying for God of my own free will - that is, if you don't interfere. Please, please don't make a misguided attempt to do me a kindness. Let me be fodder for the wild beasts - that's how I can come to God. I am God's wheat, and the teeth of the beasts are grinding me to flour, to be made into a pure loaf for Christ. Please encourage the animals to become my tomb; don't let them leave any scraps of my body behind. That way, when I have fallen asleep I shall be a nuisance to nobody. Then I shall be a real disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world can no longer see my body. Pray to Christ for me, that in this way I may become a sacrifice to God.
Letter to the Romans 4
The Didache (first or second century)
Soon after (or even, according to some scholars, during) the time when the New Testament was written, there appeared another document known as The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. It contains one of the most beautiful prayers for Christian unity at the breaking of bread.
As the grain from which the bread we break was made were once scattered over the fields, and then gathered together and made one, so may your Church be gathered from all over the earth into your kingdom.
From The Didache 9
You created everything, sovereign Lord, for your glory. You gave to everyone food and drink that they might enjoy it and thank you for it. Now to us you have given the blessing of spiritual nourishment to prepare us for eternal life, through Jesus your Son and your servant.
From The Didache 10
The Letter of Barnabas (first century)
Another early work about whose author little is known is the so-called Letter of Barnabas.
And may God, who rules over all the world, give to you wisdom, l intelligence, understanding, knowledge of his judgements, with patience. Farewell, children of love and peace. The Lord of glory and of all grace be with your spirit. Amen.
The Letter of Barnabas 21
Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69-c. 155)
Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna (now Izmir in Turkey) and a leading figure in the church in Asia Minor. He knew the apostle John, the martyr Ignatius of Antioch, and also mid-second-century teachers such as Irenaeus. He negotiated the independence of his own church from the Bishop of Rome during a visit there. Soon after his return home he was arrested. He asked permission to pray before he was led away, and spent two hours praying for every Christian he had ever met, the great and the humble. Those who had come for him were sorry that they had to arrest such a wonderful old man.
Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may Jesus Christ himself also, the eternal high-priest and Son of God, build you up in faith and truth, and in gentleness, avoidance of anger, forbearance, long-suffering, patient endurance and purity; and may he grant you to inherit a place among his saints; may he grant this to us also so that we can be with you, and to everyone under heaven who will believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead.
From The Letter to the Philippians 12
In the stadium the magistrate tried to persuade him: 'Swear by Caesar as a God and I will release you, curse this Christ. Polycarp replied, CI have been his servant for eighty-six years and he has never mistreated me. Then how can I blaspheme the King who saved me?' ... When he was tied to the stake, before they lit the fire, Polycarp looked up to heaven and said, 'O Lord God almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have our knowledge of you, the God of the angels and all the heavenly powers and of all creation and of all those righteous people who live in your presence; I bless you for giving me this day and this hour, so that I might inherit a place among the martyrs who have shared Christ's cup of suffering to bring them resurrection to imperishable and eternal life of soul and body in the Holy Spirit. Receive me into your presence today, as a valuable and acceptable sacrifice, as you have already told me I would be, dependable and true God. For this and everything I praise you, I thank you, I glorify you, through the eternal heavenly high-priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through him and with him and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and ever and for the ages to come. Amen.'
From The Letter from the Church in Smyrna on the Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp 7-8, 14
Justin Martyr (c. 100-c. 165)
Justin Martyr was the first Christian we know of to write a systematic philosophical defence of his faith, in his First and Second Apologies and his Dialogue with Trypho. He also includes a full account of the Lord's Supper, by then known as the 'Eucharist' (from the Greek word for 'thanksgiving'). St Paul asked for everything to be done decently and in order; by Justin's time the service had a regular shape. He and some of his pupils were beheaded when they were reported to the authorities and refused to sacrifice to the Emperor as a god.
On Sundays there is an assembly of all who live in towns or in the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read for as long as time allows. Then the reading is brought to an end, and the president delivers an address in which he admonishes and encourages us to imitate in our own lives the beautiful lessons we have heard read. Then we all stand up together and pray; when we have finished the prayer, as I have said, bread and wine and water are brought up; the president offers prayers and thanksgiving as best he can, and the people say 'Amen' as an expression of their agreement. Then follows the distribution of the food over which the prayer of thanksgiving has been recited; all present receive some of it, and the deacons carry some to those who are absent.
From The First Apology of Justin Martyr in Defence of the Christians
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-200)
Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp and therefore two generations from the apostles, wrote a long and systematic refutation of the heresies (mostly Gnostic) which were current in the Church of his time and which denied that Jesus was truly human. He taught that through prayer, Christians might participate in the nature of God: 'The Word is made human so that human beings may become gods.'
I appeal to you, Lord, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob and Israel, you the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Infinitely merciful as you are, it is your will that we should learn to know you. You made heaven and earth, you rule supreme over all that is. You are the true, the only God; there is no other god above you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, grant that all who read what I have written here may know you, because you alone are God; let them draw strength from you; keep them from all teaching that is heretical, irreligious or godless.
Against Heresies 3.6.4
O Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, look upon us and have mercy on us; you who are yourself both victim and priest, yourself both reward and redeemer. Keep safe from all evils those whom you have redeemed, O Saviour of the world. Amen.
The Old Gallican Sacramentary may contain words of Irenaeus:
Give perfection to beginners, O Father; give intelligence to the little ones; give aid to those who are running their course. Give sorrow to the negligent; give fervour of spirit to the lukewarm. Give to the perfect a good consummation; for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Hippolytus (c. 170-236)
In the Apostolic Tradition of St Hippolytus we have a complete eucharistic prayer which would have been used with little variation each time the service was said. He also gives a detailed rule for life within the Church, which marks the beginning of the Christian custom of having prayer at regular hours throughout the day, and he teaches about making the sign of the cross. The first two extracts are taken from his eucharistic prayer and the third is an evening prayer.
We give you thanks, O God, through your beloved Servant, Jesus Christ. It is he whom you have sent in these last times to save us and redeem us, and be the messenger of your will. He is your Word, inseparable from you, through whom you made all things and in whom you take delight. You sent him from heaven into the Virgin's womb, where he was conceived, and took flesh. Born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin, he was revealed as your Son. In fulfilment of your will he stretched out his hands in suffering, to release from suffering those who place their hope in you, and so he won for you a holy people. Of his own free choice he was handed over to his passion in order to make an end of death and to shatter the chains of the evil one; to trample underfoot the powers of hell and to lead the righteous into light; to establish the boundaries of death and to manifest the resurrection.
Eternal God, to whom the hidden is as clearly known as the visible: before you your people bow their heads, to you they submit their hard hearts and unruly bodies. Send down blessing from your glorious dwelling on these men and women, lend them a ready ear and answer their prayers. Set them up firmly with your strong hand and protect them against all evil passions. Preserve their bodies and souls, increase their faith and fear and increase ours, through your only Son. Through him and with him and with the Spirit may glory and power be yours, now and always and for ever. Amen.
We thank you, O God, through your Child, Jesus Christ our Lord, because you have enlightened us and revealed to us the light that is incorruptible. The day's allotted span is over; we have reached the beginning of the night. We have had our fill of that daylight which you created for our pleasure. And now that evening has come and again we have no lack of light, we praise your holiness and glory, through your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him the glory and power that are his and the honour that is the Holy Spirit's are also yours, as they will be throughout the unending succession of ages. Amen.
Phos Hilaron (possibly second century)
St Basil the Great writes in the fourth century: 'Our ancestors did not think it right to accept the blessing of the lamplight in the evening in silence. The moment it appeared, they would thank God for it. Who the author of this hymn of thanksgiving was we cannot say, hut it is very old and the people still sing it.'
Now, as the sun sets in the west,
soft lamplight glows as evening starts;
thus, light from light, God's Son all blest
comes from the immortal Father's heart;
We therefore sing our joyful songs
to Father, Holy Spirit, Son,
to whom in every age belongs
by right all praise from every tongue.
Lord Jesus, Son of God, from you
all life, all joy come forth this night;
the world, and each soft glowing hue,
reflect the glory of your light.
Acts of the martyrs
Many accounts survive of those who died bravely for their faith during the persecutions of the first few Christian centuries. Here are some examples of the prayers which were on their lips when they died:
Afra of Augsburg (martyred c. 302)
She died in the persecution during Diocletian s reign.
Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ, you did not come to call the just; you came to call sinners to repentance. Your promise is clear; it admits of no doubt. You were so good as to say that as soon as a sinner turned away from his evil deeds, you would say no more about his sins. Accept, then, as a sign of my repentance, the sufferings I am now undergoing, and by this fire that is waiting to burn my body for a time, deliver me from the eternal fire that burns body and soul alike ... Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus Christ: in your mercy you have chosen me to be a victim for the glory of your name - you who offered yourself on the cross as a victim for the salvation of the whole world, you the innocent for us the guilty, you the good for us the wicked, you the blessed for us the cursed, you the sinless for all us sinners. To you I offer my sacrifice, to you who are one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, as you always will, age after age. Amen.
Simeon bar Sabba'e (martyred between 339 and 344)
Simeon was Bishop of Seleucia in Persia. He died with several others in the persecution by the Persian King Sapor.
Simeon began to pray. He said: 'Give me this crown, Lord; you know how I long for it, for I have loved you with all my heart and all my being. When I see you, I shall be filled with joy and you will give me rest. I shall no longer have to live in this world and see my people suffering, your churches destroyed, your altars overthrown, your devoted clergy everywhere persecuted, the weak defiled, the lukewarm turned from the truth, and my flock that was so large reduced at the time of testing to a handful. I shall not see the many that seemed to be my friends undergo an inward change, become hostile and seek my death; or find those that were my friends for a while taken from me by persecution, at the very time when the killers are snapping their fingers at our people and lording it over them. Yet I mean to persevere in my vocation like a hero and to walk bravely along the path marked out for me, so that I shall still be an example to all your people in the east. I have had the first place at table, I will have the first place too when it comes to dying; I will be the first to give my blood. Then with my brethren I shall enter on that life in which there are no cares, no anxiety, no solicitude, a life where there is neither persecutor nor persecuted, neither oppressor nor oppressed, neither tyrant nor victim of tyranny. No threatening kings, no blustering prefects shall I see there. No one there will cite me before his tribunal or upset me with repeated menaces; there will be no one to do me violence or bully me. I shall stumble no more, when once I have gained a firm footing in you, the Way we all must walk in. My weary limbs will find their rest in you, for you, Anointed, are the Oil that is to anoint us. The grief in my heart will be forgotten when I drink of you, the Chalice of our salvation. The tears in my eyes you will wipe away, O Joy, O Consolation.'
(Continues...)
Excerpted from 2000 YEARS OF PRAYER by MICHAEL COUNSELL. Copyright © 1999 Michael Counsell. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface, xxvi,The Background, 1,
The First Four Christian Centuries, 7,
Hilary of Poitiers (310/320-67), 27,
The Eastern Church, 37,
The Greek Church, 37,
Armenia, 50,
Russia, 51,
The Syrian Orthodox Churches, 56,
China, 61,
The Indian Syrian Churches, 62,
The Coptic Orthodox Church, 63,
Papyri, 65,
Inscriptions, 66,
The Uniat Churches, 69,
Celtic Christianity, 71,
Anglo-Saxon Christianity, 86,
The Medieval West, 95,
Monastic Spirituality, 115,
The Mendicant Orders or Friars, 136,
Italian Spiritual Writers, 151,
Teutonic Mysticism, 154,
English Christianity before the Reformation, 161,
The Humanists, 172,
The Protestant Reformation, 177,
The English Reformation, 190,
The Counter-Reformation, 203,
English Christianity after the Reformation, 220,
Pietism, 259,
Scots Protestants, 263,
The Seventeenth Century, 267,
Methodism, 312,
Early American Christianity, 320,
The Eighteenth Century, 323,
The Evangelical and Missionary Revival, 346,
Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-72), 358,
The Anglo-Catholic Revival, 387,
Nineteenth-Century Roman Catholicism, 401,
Nineteenth-Century Scots Protestants, 415,
American Christianity in the Nineteenth Century, 419,
The Early Twentieth Century, 431,
War Prayers (1914-18), 468,
Black Worship, 471,
The Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements and the Healing Ministry, 478,
Twentieth-Century Liturgies, 488,
Feminist Spirituality, 514,
The Twentieth-Century Celtic Revival, 518,
Prayers by Indigenous Peoples, 525,
Twentieth-Century Roman Catholic Spirituality, 531,
Ecumenical Spirituality Today, 545,
More Contemporary Prayers, 553,
Notes and Acknowledgements, 591,
Index of Authors and Sources, 619,
Index of Themes/First Lines, 626,