The Practices of Monastic Prayer: Origins, Evolution, and Tensions

Authors

Columba Stewart, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's UniversityFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2003

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Christianity | History of Christianity | Liturgy and Worship | Religion

Abstract

What can we know of how Egyptian monks prayed? This overview of Egyptian monastic prayer suggests that their “contemplation” was primarily reflection upon biblical texts, expressed in verbal response and accompanying gestures. Visual meditation upon the Cross provided another dimension of reflection, and the use of gesture and special places for prayer shaped a physical environment that reinforced intention and practice. The emphasis upon repetition of brief, monologistic, prayer formulae laid the foundations for later monastic prayer traditions such as the Jesus Prayer and is the background for analogous forms of devotion in Latin Christianity such as the Hail Mary and Rosary.

Comments

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Recommended Citation

Stewart, Columba. “The Practices of Monastic Prayer: Origins, Evolution, and Tensions.” In Living for Eternity: The White Monastery and its Neighborhood. Proceedings of a Symposium at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, March 6-9, 2003, edited by Philip Sellew, 97-108. 2003.