Orthodox Faith

    In Christ’s teaching, alms-giving goes together with fasting and prayer. We have seen that this is also the teaching of Isaiah and of the Old Testament generally. When one prays and fasts, one must show love through active generosity to others.     Beware of practicing your piety before men, in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from

    Jesus Himself fasted and taught His disciples to fast.     And when you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men, but

    All Christian prayer must be prayer in the Spirit; and all genuine prayer most certainly is. Men pray to the Father, through Christ the Son and Word of God in the Holy Spirit. This is the case wherever men pray, whatever their method, whether they know it or not. For prayer is not man’s lonely cry across empty spaces to a far-off God. Prayer

    Meditation differs from prayer, even from silent prayer, in that meditation is thought about God and contemplation of His word and His works.     Meditation normally begins by reading from the holy Scriptures, the Word of God. This is called in the spiritual tradition lectio divina. It is the slow and attentive reading of the Bible, or perhaps the writings of the church fathers

    Liturgical prayer is not simply the prayers of individual Christians joined into one. It is not a corporate “prayer service” of many persons together. It is rather the official prayer of the Church formally assembled; the prayer of Christ in the Church offering His “body” and “bride” to the Father in the Spirit. It is the Church’s participation in Christ’s perpetual prayer in the

    The most normal form of unceasing prayer in the Orthodox tradition is the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer is the form of invocation used by those practicing mental prayer, also called the “prayer of the heart.” The words of the prayer most usually said are “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” The choice of this particular verse has

    In his letter to the Romans St. Paul instructs Christians to “be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) In his first letter to the Thessalonians he says simply, “pray without ceasing.” (I Thessalonians 5:17)     These two commands of the apostle have been interpreted in the Orthodox tradition in two different ways. The first way, mentioned by St. John Chrysostom and St. Dimitry of Rostov,

    In praying to His Father, Jesus prayed for His people, (cf John 17) He Himself is the only competent intercessor for men before God.     For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all. (I Timothy 2-3)     Jesus in His resurrected glory, prays eternally to His Father on

    When teaching men to pray, Christ said,     Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver