THE PRAYER ROPE AND THE JESUS PRAYER.

Chances are that you have never heard of a prayer rope or the Jesus Prayer.  They go back into history and were first used by monastic monks, nuns and brothers of the early Eastern Orthodox Church.  The prayer ropes helped the monastic flocks say their their prayers as many could not read the written prayers of the times.  They could memorize certain prayers and count them off with the fingers of the right hand  while  the "rope" was being held in the left hand. There were of 33 knots for the age of Jesus when he died.  They were also made with 50 knots to 100 knots.  They are still in use in many parts of the world and some historians think they were the precursor of the Rosary.

You can buy them by going to the Internet and doing a search for Prayer Ropes and or the Jesus Prayer.  You can pay a reasonable amount of money for one or quite a bit of cash for  the more elaborate of the Prayer Ropes.  Most of them are still made in monasteries of the Eastern Orthodox Churches here and abroad.

I made my own.  They are simple to make and a simple way to pray for a simple minded person such as me.  Basically all you need is a long cord and a little patience.  The hardest part of making your own Prayer Cord-Rope, is in trying to get the knots evenly spaced.  I used a simple knot so that if  I were not to get them evenly spaced I could easily untie the knot and redo it.  The next part is a little harder, but not so bad, and that is of tying off the ends and completing a loop.  You can add a cross or medal to the end of the loop  or just tie it off in some nice manner.  The prayer rope can also be used as a rosary if needed.  I do not use mine as a rosary.

The prayer rope would be an ideal way for people in suppressed countries to pray.  It doesn't look like a Christian implement for prayer if you don't add a cross or medal, although they generally are.  At the turn of the 20th century it(the prayer rope) was still a practice of prayer and used here in the states and continues to be used, but fell out of vogue in the early 1900's by most American Catholics.  It would be nice to see it make a comeback in the USA.

The main prayer that is said on each knot is "LORD JESUS CHRIST, HAVE MERCY ON ME."  It is not the only prayer or ejaculation(that is a religious term, by the way).  A prayerful penitent can use his own words if desired, or several short ejaculations.  The one above is the most common, but not the one I prefer to use...which of course...is private.

The picture of the Prayer Rope at the top is not the one I made.  I would like to afford one like it.  The reason you don't see mine is because the batteries in the camera are D-E-A-D.

If anyone would like a prayer rope I could make a simple one for them, but they would have to pay the postage.

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