The Rosary

Question: 

I was Roman Catholic before converting to Orthodoxy 3 years ago.  Prior to becoming Orthodox the rosary was a very important devotion in my life.  Some time after my conversion I got rid of my rosary beads. 

Since the rosary contains prayers such as the Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be (all which are Orthodox prayers) is there any reason why an Orthodox couldn't integrate it into his or her prayer life (in addition of course to the Jesus Prayer)?  By the way I drop the Fatima prayer as well as the Hail Holy Queen, supplanting it with "It is truly proper to call you blessed..."

I am told Western rite Orthodox pray the rosary.  I would appreciate your viewpoint.

Dr. Alexander Roman alex@unicorne.org

There are a number of devotions that are shared by both East and West and have been for centuries before the two parted ways after 1054 AD.  Among these is the Psalter of the Mother of God or "rosary" as it has come to be known in the West.

In fact, Western saints like Alan des Roches, Louis de Montfort and Dominic preferred to call the recitation of 150 "Hail Mary's" together with meditations the "Psalter of Our Lady."

St Seraphim of Sarov, whose 250th anniversary of birth is being celebrated in Kursk and elsewhere in Ukraine and Russia right now, was very devoted to the Psalter or Rule of Prayer of the Mother of God.  He recited it daily and expected his spiritual children to recite it daily as well.

At Diveyevo monastery in Russia, there is a ditch or canal that runs around the perimeter of the monastery where the nuns walk daily, reciting that rule of prayer and they sing it on important feast-days.  St Seraphim taught them that the Mother of God herself revealed to him that she walks that canal daily.  The great and holy Elder kept a book in which he wrote various miracles that occurred by the daily fulfillment of this rule of prayer.

St Seraphim taught that this prayer was revealed to a monk of the Thebaid in the 8th century during a vision of the Mother of God and that all Christians used to recite it daily ever since.  He also taught that the daily praying of this rule was more important than any other prayer to the Mother of God such as canons or akathists in procuring her blessing and protection on our lives.

There were some Orthodox saints that used the "Hail Mary" or "Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos" prayer in place of the Jesus prayer, in other words they recited it continually.  One Elder who did this was named, the "Elder of the Theotokos."

This prayer is a summation of the New Testament and a hymn of praise of the Divine Incarnation of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  It begins by praising the Mother of God and then moves to the praise of the Fruit of her womb, the Lord Jesus.  To pray this prayer often, and especially in the rule of prayer known in the West as the "rosary" is to enter into special union with Christ, God the Word-made-Flesh, and through Him, with the Holy Trinity.

The Eastern Orthodox Church developed prayer ropes that were divided into decades and St Seraphim of Sarov himself used a Lestovka, still used today by the Old Believers of Russia and Ukraine, that had 150 small "steps" divided every ten with a larger "step" or "babotchka."

But one may use the more readily available rosary beads and Roman Catholics still make the "cord rosary" which is the Western prayer rope made of Celtic knots.  Western rite Orthodox use rosary beads and Orthodox Christians in the Carpathians, in Greece and elsewhere use wooden beads as well.  It really matters not!

The "Hail Holy Queen" is used by Western rite Orthodox and there are those who use the Fatima prayer which is but a version of the Jesus Prayer.  There is no reason why you should not continue to use those prayers!

The Holy Fool-for-Christ's sake, St Procopius of Ustiug in Russia was a German convert to Orthodoxy.  After his repose in the Lord, the church authorities found his psalter that he always recited.  They discovered that it was his old Latin Psalter, arranged in accordance with Roman tradition!

In addition, many Eastern Orthodox saints adopted Western forms of prayer such as St Dmitri of Rostov.  He, and others of the "Kyivan Baroque" period of Orthodox church history, not only prayed the "rosarium" or Rule of Prayer of the Mother of God daily.  He also prayed the Hail Mary at the turn of every hour, and even at night he got up out of bed every hour as the clock chimed to recite this prayer!  He had a great devotion to the "Joys and Sorrows" of the Most Holy Virgin Mary and his devotion continues in the "Tale of the Five Prayers" that is even found in the Jordanville prayerbook that is online. 

As a matter of fact, I've found Slavonic Orthodox translations of the Western rosary, the Little Office of the Virgin Mary (also used by Western Orthodox), the Psalter of Our Lady by St Bonaventure and the "Fifteen Prayers of St Brigitte."  The western Scapular of Mt Carmel was also popular among the Orthodox of that time period and, to this day, there is a miraculous Orthodox icon of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, as noted in the book on icons by Prof. Poselianin ("Bogomater"), that is venerated in the Ukrainian town of Horodyschenske called the Mother of God of the Scapular or "Shkaplirna Bozha Maty!"

n fact, the original icon of Our Lady of Mt Carmel that is in the Cathedral of Naples (also called "Our Lady of Naples" or the "Brown Madonna" or "La Bruna") is a  beautiful Byzantine icon and I have a poster-size copy of this icon

So please do get yourself another pair of beads or a prayer rope divided into decades and also a small decade "tenner" that you can carry with you throughout the day to ensure that you get through the full 15 decades daily that is the Orthodox tradition. 

I like the practice of adding some words to every decade's "Hail Mary's" that reflect the mystery that is being considered.  If you go to this website -www.montfortmissionaries.com and click on "Share your Thoughts," scroll down to my letter of September 24, 2003 where I've indicated an Orthodox set of mysteries and a method of reciting them.  One may use the same outline to meditate on the mysteries as accepted in the West and also on the "Stations of the Cross" that Orthodox Christians in western Ukraine and elsewhere also practice devotion to.  (The Ukrainian Orthodox Saint Tikhon Zadonsky had a life-size representation of a form of the Way of the Cross in his cell!).

And may the Most Holy Mother of God bless you in your endeavour!

Ukrainian Orthodoxy