The Jesus Prayer Part 18 - The Use of Prayer Ropes and Beads

Repetitions of the Jesus Prayer are commonly counted on knots or beads. Other prayers have also been counted in a similar manner throughout the centuries in eastern and western Christian traditions. It is because of this ancient prayer tradition that the word "bead" receives its etymology from the old english word for "prayer" and shares a common root with the english word "bid" (to ask) and the german word "bitte" (please). I'm going to briefly discuss the historical development of tools for counting prayers in this post.

It starts with the ancient Jewish practice of having specific hours set aside during the day for prayers. Christianity as early as the apostles themselves and their immediate disciples continued  this schedule of prayer as they carried it over into their own worship and it can be found to this day within the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, and some Reformed traditions. By the second century, rules of prayer were given as replacements for these prayer services for those who were unable to make it to church and were unable to pray the prayers on their own. These would normally be a number of repetitions of the Lord's Prayer. At the same time, Christian monasticism was forming and the monks would repeat and meditate on the Lord's Prayer, verses from the Psalms, other short prayers, or even just the name of Jesus as they would complete their daily tasks and during time set aside just for prayer.

It was within this early monastic tradition that tools were first used to keep track of the large numbers of prayers that the monks would commit themselves to. The earliest mention of this is of a monk named Paul of Thebes who would keep three hundred pebbles and drop them into a bag to keep count of his prayers. This practice developed into tieing knots in a piece of rope or carving notches into walking sticks that were easier to travel with. The use of ropes and beads grew in popularity and became the normal method for counting prayers.

In eastern Christian traditions, the Jesus Prayer became the normative prayer for contemplation. Ropes made of knotted wool are most common but strands of beads are also used. Prayer ropes can commonly be found with 33, 50, or 100 knots or beads. In the western Christian tradition, the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary became normative for contemplative prayer. The most common devotion that can be found in western Christianity today is the Rosary, even though a number of other devotions and chaplets have grown in the west out of this prayer tradition.

MAKE HASTE, O GOD, TO DELIVER ME; MAKE HASTE TO HELP ME, O LORD.