prayer

prayer¹

—prayerless, adj. —prayerlessly, adv. —prayerlessness, n.

/prair/, n.

1. a devout petition to God or an object of worship.

2. a spiritual communion with God or an object of worship, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession.

3. the act or practice of praying to God or an object of worship.

4. a formula or sequence of words used in or appointed for praying: the Lord's Prayer.

5. prayers, a religious observance, either public or private, consisting wholly or mainly of prayer.

6. that which is prayed for.

7. a petition; entreaty.

8. the section of a bill in equity, or of a petition, that sets forth the complaint or the action desired.

9. a negligible hope or chance: Do you think he has a prayer of getting that job?

[1250-1300; ME preiere < OF < ML precaria, n. use of fem. of precarius obtained by entreaty, equiv. to prec- (s. of prex) prayer + -arius -ARY; cf. PRECARIOUS]

prayer²

/pray"euhr/, n.

a person who prays.

[1400-50; late ME preyare. See PRAY, -ER¹]

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I

Silent or spoken petition made to God or a god.

Prayer has been practiced in all religions throughout history. Its characteristic postures (bowing the head, kneeling, prostration) and position of the hands (raised, outstretched, clasped) signify an attitude of submission and devotion. Prayer may involve confessions of sin, requests, thanks, praise, offerings of sacrifice, or promises of future acts of devotion. In addition to spontaneous private prayer, most religions have fixed formulas of prayer (e.g., the Lord's Prayer), often recited in group worship. The four prophetic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism) prescribe a daily set form of individual prayer, such as the Shema, to be recited twice a day by every male Jew, and the Islamic salat, performed five times a day.

II

(as used in expressions)

Book of Common Prayer

Lord's Prayer

prayer wheel

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Introduction

      an act of communication by humans with the sacred or holy—God, the gods, the transcendent realm, or supernatural powers. Found in all religions in all times, prayer may be a corporate or personal act utilizing various forms and techniques. Prayer has been described in its sublimity as “an intimate friendship, a frequent conversation held alone with the Beloved” by St. Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Spanish mystic.

Nature and significance

      Prayer is a significant and universal aspect of religion, whether of primitive peoples or of modern mystics (mysticism), that expresses the broad range of religious feelings and attitudes that command man's relations with the sacred or holy. Described by some scholars as religion's primary mode of expression, prayer is said to be to religion what rational thought is to philosophy; it is the very expression of living religion. Prayer distinguishes the phenomenon of religion from those phenomena that approach it or resemble it, such as religious and aesthetic feelings.

      Historians of religions, theologians, and believers of all faiths agree in recognizing the central position that prayer occupies in religion. According to the American philosopher William James, without prayer there can be no question of religion. An Islāmic (Islām) proverb states that to pray and to be Muslim are synonymous, and Sadhu Sundar Singh, a modern Christian (Christianity) mystic of India, stated that praying is as important as breathing.

      Of the various forms of religious literature, prayer is considered by many to be the purest in expressing the essential elements of a religion. The Islāmic Qurʾān is regarded as a book of prayers, and the book of Psalms of the Bible is viewed as a meditation on biblical history turned into prayer. The Confessions of the great Christian thinker St. Augustine (354–430) are, in the final analysis, a long prayer with the Creator. Thus, because religion is culturally and historically ubiquitous, if prayer were removed from the literary heritage of a culture, that culture would be deprived of a particularly rich and uplifting aspect.

      From its primitive to its mystical expression, prayer expresses a desire on the part of men to enter into contact with the sacred or holy. As a part of that desire, prayer is linked to a feeling of presence (of the sacred or holy), which is neither an abstract conviction nor an instinctive intuition but rather a volitional movement conscious of realizing its higher end. Thus, prayer is described not only as meditation about God but as a step, a “going out of one's self,” a pilgrimage of the spirit “in the presence of God.” It has, therefore, a personal and experiential character that goes beyond critical analysis.

      Prayer is also linked to sacrifice, which seems to support prayer as a cultic—as well as a personal—act and as a supplement to the bare word of man in his attempts to relate to the sacred or holy. In any case, the sacrificial act generally precedes the verbal act of prayer. Thus, the presentation of an offering often prolongs prayer and is viewed as a recognition of the sovereignty and beneficence of the deity or supernatual powers. The word of man (in prayer), however, apart from a concomitant sacrificial act, is itself viewed as the embodiment of sacred action and power.

      When prayer becomes dominating and manipulative in its intent, it becomes magic. With words and songs, man thus believes that he can ask, conjure, and threaten the sacred or supernatural powers. Imprecation and incantation become, in effect, “oral talismans” (charms). The effectiveness of such magical prayer is believed to depend on the recitation of a precise formula, or rhythm, or on the saying and repeating of the divine name. Manipulation by magic, however, is neither the explanation nor the essence of prayer but rather its deviation and exploitation, a tendency that is to be noticed whenever prayer departs from its basic and essential meaning—i.e., the expression of a desire to enter into contact with the sacred or holy.

Origin and development

      During the 19th century, when various evolutionary theories were in vogue, prayer was viewed as a stage in the development of religion from a magical to a “higher” stage. Such theories, which saw in prayer no more than a development of magic or incantation, failed to recognize the strictly personal characteristics of prayer. Even if a scholar could prove the chronological precedence of magical incantations to prayer—which has thus far not been done—he would be derelict in his scholarly duty if he saw in such a precedence the only explanation of prayer. The origin of prayer is to be found—essentially and existentially—in the recognition and invocation of the creator-god, the god of heaven.

      Though some scholars (social science), such as Costa Guimaraens, a French psychologist (social psychology) in the early 20th century, have attempted to trace prayer back to a biological need, the attempt, on the whole, has been unsuccessful. If sometimes—especially with exceptional subjects or subjects with fragile nervous systems—the act of prayer is accompanied by corporal phenomena (e.g., bleeding, shaking), such phenomena can accompany it without having provoked it and without explaining its deep inspiration. In order to analyze normal prayer psychologically it is especially important to choose normal subjects. Affective sources such as fear, joy, and sadness doubtless play a role in prayer. Such affectations are expressed in prayers recorded in various religions and particularly in the Psalms of the Bible; but they do not explain the recourse to prayer itself, which is explained by a motivation deeper than affective elements. The cause and occasion of prayer must not be confused.

      Moral sentiments also are integrating elements, but they are accidental to the development of prayer; virtue is not necessarily expressed in the act of praying because there exist atheists of incontestable morality. Morality is more a consequence than a cause of prayer; and it follows more than it prepares for the development of the religious man.

      William James (James, William) and psychologists such as Joseph Segond describe prayer as a “subconscious” and “emotional effusion,” an outburst of the mind that desires to enter into communication with the invisible. Experiences of prayer very often, in fact, do include “cries from the heart,” “inexpressible laments,” and “spiritual outbursts.” The psychological explanation has the advantage of probing the subconscious, of describing the various forces that act within men's psyches; but the emergence of the subconscious in the act of prayer is not the essence of prayer since it minimizes the role of intelligence and the will. Among what are called the higher religions (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, Islām, Hinduism, Buddhism), divine action, which is the object of the human action of prayer, violates neither man's consciousness nor his freedom.

      Sociologists (sociology) often explain prayer in terms of the religious environment, which plays an indubitable role in spiritual behaviour. Though prayer supposes a personal belief, that belief is, to a great extent, provided by society. Society creates and regulates social and religious rites and liturgies to express its beliefs, but to explain the origin of prayer solely in terms of an environmental context would be to neglect the inner, personal origins of prayer. That belief is transmitted by society is incontestable, but the channel is not to be viewed as the source. Society itself is, so to speak, a tributary of beliefs that are both received from and given to the collective whole and also from and to each of its members. The collective forms may influence personal prayer, but they do not explain it.

      The vertical (divine–human) as well as horizontal (social) dimension of prayer is also expressed in the alternation between speech and silence. Whereas magical formulas are used to coerce the supernatural, liturgical language, even when incomprehensible to the congregation, seeks to lead the participants into an apprehension of the mystery of the divine. In the presence of the mystery of the divine, man often discovers that he can only stammer or that his speech often falters. When this occurs, he frequently expresses his “fear and love” (Luther) or “tremendum et fascinans”—i.e., fear and attraction (according to Rudolf Otto, a modern German historian of religion), in apophatic (negative) formulas. Speech with the divine is, in such cases, followed by silence before men, as one apprehends the inexpressible (i.e., the sacred or holy). Religious language, like silence, thus expresses the distance and inadequacy of man in relation to the divine mystery.

Types of prayer

      Because the various types of prayer are connected and permit a flow from one type to another, it is difficult to conceive of them in terms of rigid classifications. They are enumerated here more on the basis of psychology than on history.

Petition

      The role of the request (providence) in religion has played such a central part that by metonymy (using a word for another expected word) it has given its name to prayer. However contestable this may sometimes be, it is impossible to refuse to recognize the importance of request, whether it be for a material or spiritual gift or accomplishment. The requests that occur most often are for preservation of or return to health, the healing of the sick, long life, material goods, prosperity, or success in one's undertakings. Request for such goals may be tied to a magical invocation; it may also be a deviation from prayer when it takes the form of a bargain or of a request for payment due: “In payment of our praise, give to the head of the family who is imploring you glory and riches” (from the Rigveda (Ṛgveda), a sacred scripture of Hinduism). Christianity has never condemned material requests but rather has integrated them into a single providential order while at the same time subordinating them to spiritual values. Thus, in essence though not always in practice, requests are only on the fringe of prayer. As a religion adopts more spiritual goals, the requests become more spiritual: in the Choephori, a play written by Aeschylus (a Greek tragic poet of the 6th–5th centuries BC), Electra, the daughter of King Agamemnon, prays, “Grant that I may be a more temperate and a more pious wife than was my mother.” Other examples of the transformation to spiritual goals may be seen in the prayers of the ancient Babylonian (Babylonia) and Assyrian (Assyria) kings (Near East) who asked for the fear of God, rather than material benefits, and that of a priest of the Ewe (a West African people) who even asks of his god “That I remain near you and that you remain near me.”

confession

      The term confession expresses at the same time an affirmation of faith and a recognition of the state of sin. In Mazdaism (Zoroastrianism and Parsiism), as in ancient Christianity, the confession of faith accompanies the renunciation of demons. The Confessions of St. Augustine also illustrate this dual theme. In a similar fashion, ancient and primitive men recognize that their sins unleash the anger of the gods. To counter the divine wrath, a Ewe, for example, throws a little bundle of twigs—which symbolizes the confessor's sins (sin)—into the air and he says words symbolizing the deity's response, “All your sins are forgiven you.”

      The admission of sin cannot be explained only by anguish or by the feeling of guilt; it is also related to what is deepest in man—i.e., to what constitutes his being and his action (as noted by Karl Jaspers, a 20th-century philosopher). The awareness of sin is one of the salient features of religion, as, for example, in Hinduism: “Varuṇa is merciful even to him who has committed sin” (Rigveda). Confession is viewed as the first step toward salvation in both Judaism and Christianity; in Buddhism, monks confess their sins publicly before the Buddha and the congregation two times every month.

      Situated at the most personal level of man, sin places him directly before God, who alone is able to grant pardon and salvation. The Miserere (“Lord, have mercy,” Psalm 51) of the ancient Israelite king David expresses repentance for sin with an intensity and depth that has a universal value. One of the results of such a dialogue with God is the discovery of the dark depths of sin.

Intercession

      Members of primitive societies have a clear sense of their solidarity in the framework of the family, the clan, and the tribe. This solidarity is often expressed in intercessory prayer, in which the needs of others are expressed. In such societies, the head of the family prays for the other members of the family, but his prayers also are extended to the whole tribe, especially to its chief; the primitive may pray even for those who are not members of his tribe (e.g., strangers or Europeans).

      Intercessory prayers are also significant in Eastern and ancient religions. In the hymns of the Rigveda the father implores the god Agni (god of fire) for all of those who “owe him their lives and are his family.” In the Greek play Alcestis by Euripides (5th century BC), the mother, on her death, entrusts the orphans she is about to leave to Hestia, the goddess of the home. Among the Babylonians and the Assyrians, a priesthood was established primarily to say prayers of intercession.

      Prayers of intercession to the divine are supported by mediatory minor gods or human protectors (alive or dead), marabouts (dervishes, or mystics, believed to have special powers) in Islām, or saints (saint) in Christianity, whose mediation ensures that the prayer will be efficacious.

      In biblical religion, intercession is spiritualized in view of a consciousness of the messianic (salvatory) mission. Moses views himself as one with his people even when they fail in their duty: “Pardon your people,” he prays, “or remove me from the Book of Life.” Such solidarity finds its supreme form in the prayer of Christ on the cross—“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”—which St. Stephen (the first recorded Christian martyr) and other martyrs repeated in the course of their sufferings.

Praise and thanksgiving

      Praise, in the prayer of primitive peoples, can be traced to salutations, such as in the prayer of the Hottentots (of South Africa) to the New Moon—“Welcome.” Praise among most of the ancient peoples was expressed in the hymn, which was primarily a prayer of praise (whether ritual or personal) for the gift of the created world. Israel praises its Creator for “his handiwork,” as does the Qurʾān. Contemplation of the majesty of the universe thus often gives rise to a prayer that is not always completely free from pantheism (the divine in all things) and that can be found all the way from the nature hymns of Oriental religions to the effusions of J.-J. Rousseau, the 18th-century French moralist, embracing the trees and contemplating the sunrise.

      Praise—in addition to concerns for the created world—plays an important role in the prayer of mystics, for whom it is a form of adoration. Praise in this instance constitutes an essential element of the mystic experience and celebrates God, no longer for his works, but for himself, his greatness, and his mystery.

      When the great deeds of God are the theme of praise, it becomes benediction and thanksgiving. Even when words denoting thanksgiving are not present, the substance of thanksgiving is manifest, even, for example, for the Pygmy of Central Africa, who says to his god, “Waka [meaning God], you gave me this buffalo, this honey, this wine.” Mealtime prayers, frequently enunciated in both ancient and modern religions, give thanks for the goods of the earth and are linked to the giving of an offering.

      In Christianity, Christ is discovered as the gift of God and in his mission the economy (or mode of operation) of salvation. Thus, the giving of thanks is viewed as man's response, as a spiritual reaction to the benefit received—i.e., the mediatory work of Christ. Because of the cultivation of this expected response, praise and thanksgiving occupy a central position in Christian prayer and in the liturgy, so much so that its name is given to the Eucharistic Prayer (i.e., the Prayer of Thanksgiving).

Adoration

      Adoration is generally considered the most noble form of prayer, a kind of prostration of the whole being before God. Even if the prayer of request is predominant among primitives, they are seized with the feeling of fear and trembling before the numen (spiritual power) of all that is mana (endowed with the power of the sacred or holy) or taboo (forbidden because of association with the sacred). Names given to the divinity in prayers of adoration express dependency and submission, as, for example, in the prayer of the Kekchí Indians of Central America: “O God, you are my lord, you are my mother, you are my father, the lord of the mountains and the valleys.” To express his adoration man often falls to the ground and prostrates himself. The feeling of submissive reverence also is expressed by body movements: raising the hands, touching or kissing a sacred object, deep bowing of the body, kneeling with the right hand on the mouth, prostration, or touching the forehead to the ground. The gesture often is accompanied by cries of fear, amazement, or joy; e.g., has (Hebrew), hū (Islām), or svāhā (Hindu).

      Adoration takes on its fullest meaning in the presence of the transcendental God who reveals himself to man in the religions of revelation (Judaism, Christianity, and Islām). In the Old Testament prophet Isaiah's vision of the holy (Isa. 6:3), the seraphim (winged creatures) chant to Yahweh: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” This hymn of adoration became a part of the Christian liturgy. The supreme form of adoration, however, is generally considered to be holy silence, which can be found in primitive religion and in ancient religions, as well as in the “higher” religions, and among mystics it expresses the most adequate attitude toward the immeasurable mystery of God: “I am in a dark sanctuary, I pray in silence; O silence full of reverence” (Gerhard Tersteegen, an 18th-century Protestant mystic). Silent adoration is often viewed as the introduction or the response to an encounter with the sacred or holy.

Unitative: mystical union or ecstasy

      Ecstasy is literally a departure from, a tearing away from, or a surpassing of human limitations and also a meeting with and embracing of the divine. It is a fusion of being with being, in which the mystic experiences a union that he characterizes as a nuptial union: “God is in me and I am in him.” The mystic experiences God himself in an inexpressible encounter because it is beyond the ordinary experiences of man. The mystical union may be a lucid and conscious progression of contemplative prayer, or it may take a more passive form of a “seizing” by God of the one who is praying.

      The mystic, by his goals and actions, is removed from both the world and himself. He discovers in the light and majesty of the divine his own poverty and nothingness and is thus torn between the contemplation of the greatness of God and his own meagreness. St. Francis of Assisi (Francis of Assisi, Saint) exemplified this dichotomy in his prayer: “Who are you, O God of sweetness, and who am I, worm of the earth and your lowly servant?” Ecstatic prayer goes beyond the frame of ordinary prayer and becomes an experience in which words fail. Mystics speak in turn of unity (e.g., the 3rd-century->AD Greek philosopher Plotinus), of great pleasure (Augustine), or of intoxication (Philo). It is found in the accounts of Hindu, Persian, Hellenistic, and Christian mystics. “You are me, supreme divinity, I am you,” says Nimbāditya. The Ṣūfī (mystic) of Islām Jalāl ad-Dīn ar-Rūmī sighs in the same words as a Christian mystic, Angela da Foligno: “I am you and you are me.” Mechthild von Magdeburg develops the same kind of reciprocity: “I am in you and you are me. We cannot be closer. We are two united, poured into a single form by an eternal fusion.” Such reciprocity that is so complete that it becomes identity is the supreme expression of ecstatic prayer. It is found in all of the mystic writings, from the Orient to the West.

Forms of prayer in the religions of the world

      The forms that prayer takes in the religions of the world, though varied, generally follow certain fixed patterns. These include: benedictions (blessings), litanies (alternate statements, titles of the deity or deities, or petitions and responses), ceremonial and ritualistic prayers, free prayers (in intent following no fixed form), repetition or formula prayers (e.g., the repetition of the name of Jesus in Eastern Christian Hesychasm, a quietistic monastic movement, or the repetition of the name of Amitābha Buddha in Japanese Buddhism), hymns, doxologies (statements of praise or glory), and other forms.

Religions of nonliterate peoples

      Prayer is one of the most ancient expressions of religion. Practically the only evidence of early forms left, however, is that to be noted among the most primitive peoples of today. Together with his dependency in relation to his tribe, the primitive man is aware of his dependency in relation to the Supreme Being. He often addresses his prayers, however, to various numina (spiritual powers): the dead, the divinities of nature, protective gods or actor gods, the Supreme Being localized somewhere in heaven, or a feminine divinity linked to the earth (i.e., the great mother). It is impossible to determine the historical precedence of one over the others, and it is difficult to describe the most primitive prayer because certain forms escape modern scholars, so much so that it has been assumed by some that prayer was absent in earliest religion. The first form may have been a cry, then brief formulas repeated as incantations, such as “Come . . . hear me . . . have pity.” (e.g., Algonkin Indians of North America).

      Internalized prayer is found among the Eskimos of North America, the Algonkin tribes, the Semangs (of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean), and the Aboriginals of Australia. Prayer in gestures is also found among the Semangs. Another form is spontaneous prayer, without any precise formulation, which is found, for example, among the Negritos of the Philippines and the Alacaluf (Halakwulups) of Tierra del Fuego. More developed liturgies and prayer vigils are found among the Negritos and the Pygmies of Gabon.

      The prayers of peoples of a nonliterate society generally are concerned with the self (egoistic) and concerned with well-being (eudaemonic) at the same time; they are clearly pragmatic, concerned above all with food, protection, and posterity. But the higher forms of adoration and recognition of obligations, of confidence, and self-abandonment are to be noted. Among the Australian Aboriginals (Australian Aborigine) are prayers on tombs for the dead, so they may be received in heaven, and prayers are also addressed to the spirits of ancestors. Request and pardon accompany sacrifices in the propitiatory rites of the Semangs. Of special interest is the fact that the Wiradjuri-Kamilaroi of Australia practice public prayer on only two occasions: the burial of a man and the consecration of puberty. They believe that excessive prayer serves no purpose.

Ancient civilizations

      From the 3rd millennium BC to the beginning of the Christian Era, forms of prayer changed little among the Assyrians and Babylonians and their descendants. The oldest forms are composed of hymns and litanies to the moon goddess Sin and to the god Tammuz. Though some songs of joy have been found, most are adjurations. Some hymns of thanksgiving tell of gratitude to the divinity for victory over an enemy. One such hymn, addressed to Marduk (the Babylonian sun god), apparently goes back to the 12th century BC. A number of hymns of later date celebrate the king, but their intent is to request divine protection first for him and his country. Preserved in the library of Ashurbanipal (7th-century-BC Assyrian king) at Nineveh is a rather long hymn to the goddess Nana (queen of the world and giver of life), the consort of the god Nabu, son of Marduk and a god of wisdom and science. There also is a long acrostic poem in praise of the god Marduk, creator of heaven and earth, and hymns that the Babylonians recited at the new year, at the beginning of spring, and at the celebration of Marduk.

      Other hymns accompany sacrifices, such as in the offering of a young gazelle in place of humans. A most important form of prayer, however, is found in the conjurations and exorcisms of a priest or believer and in lamentations, which are particularly numerous and which often end in a refrain similar to a litany.

      Ancient Egyptian (Egyptian religion) piety is preserved in numerous precepts engraved on the backs of scarabs. These engravings sometimes include praises of the divinity (“All good fates are in the hand of God”), statements of confidence, or requests for protection for the one praying and for his whole family (“God is the protector of my life; the house of one favoured by God fears nothing”). Hymns of thanksgiving, such as that of the artist Nebre, who obtained from the god Amon the healing of his son who had been struck with illness because of Nebre's fault, are numerous in ancient Egyptian religion. Protective magic, widely practiced, also utilized formulas of incantation, recited or written, and amulets (charms). Some of the incantation formulas (anonymously written) come from the earliest times, and others, more recent but no less efficient, were composed by magicians. In order to increase their authority and efficacy, several, such as those composed by pharaoh Ramses III (12th century BC) and preserved in Cairo (Near East), were attributed in origin to the gods themselves.

      Collections of formulas, such as the Egyptian (Egyptian religion) Pyramid Texts and the Book of the Dead, were compilations of magical prayers that allowed the dead (death rite) to forestall all the dangers and meet all the eventualities. In particular, they contain negative confessions in which the dead man justifies himself before the court of Osiris (god of the dead). The funeral liturgies of the ancient Egyptians have preserved lamentations that echo the family in mourning. Hymns written on papyrus that are compositions in honour of a divinity and that were recited during sacred ceremonies have also been preserved. Such are the hymns of the pharaoh Akhenaton (Amenophis IV, 14th century BC) to the god Aton and the hymns in honour of the god Amon-Re that boast of divine benefits and sometimes confess misery and sin.

      In Greece (Greek religion), poetic prayer can be distinguished from ceremonial prayer. The first, like all of the liturgical prayers, contains three essential parts: the invocation of the god, a justification for fulfillment (e.g., sacrifices offered, favours given and received), and a conclusion that formulates the request, such as in the prayer of Diomedes to the goddess Athena in the Iliad (written by the Greek poet Homer in the 8th century BC). Generally, the ceremonial prayer followed a ritual pattern: washing of the hands, the prayer proper, then sacrifice and libations. The prayer initiated the liturgical action; without it there could be no ceremony. Prayers often were transformed into hymns, a characteristic of Greek religion. One of the oldest known Greek hymns is that of women devotees of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. That such hymns were not always sublime in character is attested to by the comment of a 6th-century-BC Greek philosopher in regard to a Dionysiac (Bacchanalia) festival.

If they did not hold a procession and sing a hymn to the genitals, it would be an outrageous performance. Hades and Dionysus, in whose honour they rage and celebrate the Bacchus rites, are one and the same.

      Another ancient hymn is a morning hymn to Asclepius, the god of healing. All the hymns begin with invocations of the names of the gods to whom they are addressed. The invocation was believed to have an almost magic value. Though there are many individual Greek hymns in existence, the only official collection remaining contains the Orphic Hymns (addressed to the ancient hero Orpheus); it dates from the Greco-Roman (Roman religion) period (c. 3rd century BC–c. 4th century AD).

      Roman prayers begin with an invocation to the divinity. Addressing the god is of capital importance and one must be careful not to address the wrong god. In order to avoid this error, there were litanies of 15 gods and goddesses. The prayer itself generally takes two forms, depending on whether it implies a request or is simply limited to praise. The prayer of request has a juridical pattern in which the offering, as a contractual element, dominates. The offering is what jurists call bail bond, a guarantee. The prayer of request's effectiveness depends on a precise formulation, with parallelisms, solemn repetition, and accumulation of synonyms. The verb precor (“I pray”) is reinforced by many synonyms. Prayers of praise developed out of meditation or experiences of religious elevation and utilized various patterns in both public and private ceremonies. An example of collections of prayers of praise is preserved in the Verba pontificalia (“Priestly Words”).

      Another form of prayer is the votum (“vow”), in which a person undertakes to offer to the divinity, in exchange for divine favour, a sacrifice, the building of a temple, or other such offerings. It is a kind of bargain in which is still felt the prudence of the peasant who has experienced failure. These vota (“vows”) become more numerous than other prayers the farther one goes from the historical origins of Rome. The most solemn form of the vow is the devotio (“act of devotion”), by which a chief offers himself to the divinity in order to obtain victory.

Religions of the East

      Although the religion (Vedic religion) of the Vedas (Veda) contains private prayers, it gives importance and hieratic stature to liturgical prayer, which may or may not include sacrifice. There exists a whole series of hymns, such as the morning hymn addressed to Agni (the god of fire), who brings light, and to the two Aśvin (twin gods of light). There is also an evening prayer, the sāvitū, more precisely a prayer for dusk, which the disciple of the Brahmins (priestly teachers) says at nightfall until the stars appear, and a benediction formula. The gestures of adoration (upasthāna) in effect give more intensity to the prayer. The prayers that accompany sacrifices and the numerous hymns of the Rigveda (Ṛgveda; a collection of sacred ritualistic lyrics), which were composed by the members of the priestly caste according to a stereotyped and schematic form, are addressed to the greatness of the divinity in exaltation of his great deeds.

      In Hinduism there is an elementary form of prayer—i.e., an affirmation of homage and refuge with the divinity. More frequent is a more elaborate prayer in two forms: dhyāna (“meditation”) and the stotra (“praise”). The stotra occurs in a variety of subforms and generally opens with an invocation. It is often characterized by a sort of litany of the titles given, for example, to Vishnu (Viṣṇu; the preserver god) or Śiva (the destroyer god). The Śivasahasranaman (“The Thousand Names of Śiva”) lists 1,008 titles. In this hymn, each strophe ends with the same refrain. When recited with concentration and pure heart, these prayers are believed to achieve remission of sins.

      Hindu (Hinduism) mysticism gives great importance to spoken prayer, which, by progressive absorption, leads to ecstasy. The scale of the prayer of Hindu mystics is exemplified in the five stages of bhakti (“devotion”) as taught by the Hindu mystic Caitanya (15th–16th century AD), who uses the metaphor of love in social relationships: śānta (peaceful love), dāsya (servant of God love), sakhya (friendship with God), vātsalya (filial attitude toward God), and mādhurya (love of God as one's lover). “When I was no longer capable of recognizing, I said me and mine. I am you and you are mine” (Nalayiram).

      In Chinese Buddhism and Taoism (Daoism), in addition to prayer that accompanies sacrifice, there is the monastic prayer (mu-yu), which is practiced morning, noon, and night to the sound of a small bell. There is also a prayer for the dead, related to the transmigration of souls, which is recited at funerals, the 30th day, the anniversary of the death, and the celebration of the deceased's day of birth. Taoism gave increased importance to this latter form.

      Private prayer prepares the way for liberation and illumination. The tsai-fei is a prayer—to accompany abstinence—that monks will recite for a believer on payment of alms. Other prayers accompany vows and pilgrimages. Both Buddhist monks and laymen use a string with 108 beads, which monks always carry in their hands.

Religions of the West

      In Judaism is one of the best known collections of prayers, the 150 Psalms in the Bible. In these psalms, which always presuppose a collective witness, though they may be used by an individual privately, praise is descriptive (God is . . .) or narrative (God does . . .) in nature. Also included are hymns (hymn), exhortations to praise God, and supplications. The psalms of request include lamentations and songs of confidence or gratitude. Whether individual or collective, the psalms have a rather similar structure: a cry to God, a confession of sins, a protestation of innocence, and imprecations against one's enemies.

      To the prayers of the Bible, the rabbis (religious teachers and leaders) added the Shema (“Hear”), which is a confession composed of three quotes from the Bible (Deut. 6:4–9, 11:13–21, Num. 15:37–41) with attendant blessings and which the Israelite recites daily. At the time of Christ, there appears the prayer par excellence, the tefilla or ʿamida (standing prayer), also called shemone ʿesre (“18 Benedictions”), which every Israelite recites two or three times a day. To these must be added the benediction before eating that raises the meal to the level of the dignity of a religious act.

      Christianity preserves the doxologies and benedictions from its Jewish heritage. It adds to them the Lord's Prayer, psalms, hymns, and canticles, the first specimens of which are furnished by the New Testament (e.g., the Nunc dimittis, “Now let your servant depart”). Christian prayer, like that of other religions, includes liturgical prayer and personal prayer. Liturgical prayer frames and explains more especially the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist (Lord's Supper).

      The liturgical collection, for Sundays as well as other days, includes readings from the Bible, collects (brief prayers including an invocation, petition, and conclusion in which the name of Jesus is called upon), and a litany (general prayer) for the intentions of the universal church. During the Eucharist, there is a consecration of the bread and wine to be used in the sacred meal. This consecration prayer is called the Eucharistic (Thanksgiving) Prayer, a long prayer in which the element of thanksgiving is dominant. Addressed to the Father, through the mediation of the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, this prayer develops, like the Jewish liturgies, from praise, to thanksgiving, to the memorial (or anamnesis), and finally to an invocation of the Spirit (epiclesis). Originally improvised and spontaneous, this liturgical prayer became fixed in stereotyped forms, first in the West, then—though with more flexibility—in the East.

      The first Christians retained the custom of praying three times a day, reciting the “Our Father” (Lord's Prayer). Special times for prayer are morning and evening. Christ's custom of praying at meals (as a devout Jew) is also maintained. This framework can and does favour the life and spirit of prayer that make a Christian (Christianity) existence, according to the words of Clement of Alexandria, a 2nd–3rd-century theologian, “an uninterrupted celebration.” Bible readings, silent prayer (in the West especially), brief, fervent invocations, and the repetition of formulas like the Kyrie eleison (“Lord, have mercy”) in the East have enriched spiritual life and have led monks and laymen to contemplative prayer, as is shown by the growth of mysticism in both the West and East.

      From its beginning in the 7th century AD, the most important part of Islāmic (Islām) liturgy has been the ritual prayer called the ṣalāt (salat) (daily prayer), in which both Christian and Jewish influences can be seen. This minutely detailed prayer is recited while the suppliant turns toward Mecca (in Saudi Arabia) five times a day. On Friday, the ṣalāt al-jumʿah (Friday prayer) replaces the noon prayer. It is celebrated by the community in the principal mosque and includes preaching and a ṣalāt of two ritual bowings. Twice a year, at the end of Ramaḍān and the 10th month, a solemn ṣalāt is celebrated, similar to Friday's.

      Islāmic prayer is an act of adoration of Allāh (God) and thus it would not be suitable to add a request. Before adoring God the believer must purify himself by means of ablutions in pure water or, failing this, in sand. The prayer is accompanied by a meticulous ceremonial with prostration of the body (rakʿah). The sense of adoration and conversation with Allāh has led many spiritual Muslims to the heights of mysticism (Ṣūfism).

      In Mazdaism (Zoroastrianism), Avestan (Avesta) (scriptural) prayer, sacerdotal prayer, and the prayer common to priests and laymen alike can be distinguished. In the very first poem of the Avesta, Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) presents himself to Ahura Mazdā (the Good Lord) in a prayer that ends with these words: “I will sing for you again praises of great value.” What is characteristic of these hymns is that man proceeds almost exclusively by questions and answers. Only priests can understand the ceremony of the Yasna (the sacrifice), during which they recite verses from the Avesta, adding to it the Visp-rat (shorter liturgy), with or without the Vidēvdāt (“Law against the Demons”), which is concerned with ritual purity. Songs (involving light symbolism) accompany the five fire ceremonies that are celebrated daily. There are also ceremonies in which both priests and laymen participate. The great Bāj, a ritual offering of consecrated bread, grain, and butter, begins with a long preface: “In the name of God, Lord Ormazd, may your power and glory increase.” The Satum, in praise of the dead, is recited at the beginning of a meal prepared in their honour every month for the first year after a death and then on each anniversary. Other prayers accompany benedictions, especially those used at the consecration of fire, initiation, and marriage. To these must be added the prayers of great purification.

Conclusion

      Though historians of religion, psychologists, and anthropologists debate various theories concerned with the origin of prayer, the act of prayer itself is of great significance to the believers of all religions, whatever their inspiration, revealed or otherwise. Ludwig Feuerbach (Feuerbach, Ludwig), a 19th-century German philosopher, summed up the significance of prayer when he stated, “The most intimate essence of religion is revealed by the most simple religious act: prayer.”

      As a religious phenomenon, prayer—in terms of its evolution—appears to be neither universally progressive nor progressively regressive. Its great moments and the appearance of men of prayer at various times, whether simple men or men of genius, are found throughout its long history, which thus marks it as a significant and characteristic element of most, if not all, religions. Whether halting or mystical, ceremonial or personal, prayer expresses the experience of a mystery that envelopes and surpasses man. In the presence of that mystery, prayer seeks and establishes dialogue.

The Rev. Adalbert G. Hamman

Additional Reading

The classical work is still that of F. Heiler, Das Gebet, 5th ed. (1923), which includes a bibliography and defends the theory of religious syncretism. R. Boccassino (ed.), La preghiera, 3 vol. (1967), is a historical and psychological study of prayer and includes a useful bibliography. G. van der Leeuw, Phänomenologie der Religion (1933; Eng. trans., Religion in Essence and Manifestation, 1963), is an excellent overview and general introduction of the psychology of prayer. Also of a psychological bent are William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902); and H.U. von Balthasar, Das betrachtende Gebet (1955; Eng. trans., Prayer, 1961). For prayer in various religions, in addition to La preghiera, one should refer to M.P. Nilsson, Geschichte der griechischen Religion, 2 vol. (1941–50; Eng. trans., A History of Greek Religion, 2nd ed., 1963); A. Falkenstein and W. von Soden, Summerische und akkadische Hymnen und Gebete (1953); G.C. Lounsbery, La Méditation bouddhique (1935; Eng. trans., Buddhist Meditation in the Southern School, 1950); E. Conze, Buddhist Meditation (1956); and R.C. Zaehner, The Teachings of the Magi (1956) and The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism (1961). For a bibliography on biblical prayer, see “Prière,” Dictionnaire de la Bible, suppl. 8, pp. 604–606 (1968). I. Elbogen, Der jüdische Gottesdienst in seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung, 4th ed. (1962), is a classic on Jewish prayer. This can be supplemented by A.Z. Idelsohn, Jewish Liturgy and Its Development (1967). On the origins of Christian prayer, see A. Hamman, La Prière, 2 vol. (1959–63). Kenneth Leech, True Prayer (1980), is an Anglo-Catholic introduction to Christian spirituality.

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