Prayers and Creed
PRAYER
-What is prayer?
Prayer is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God.
-Why do we pray?
We pray to:
1. Adore God, expressing to Him our love and loyalty.
2. Thank God for His benefits.
3.Askfor graces and blessings for others and ourselves.
-How should we pray?
We should pray with:
1. Attention.
2. The sense of our dependence on God.
3. Agreat desire for the graces we ask of Him.
4. Loving trust in His goodness.
5. Perseverance.
-For whom should we pray?
We should pray for
1. Ourselves.
2. Our parents and relatives.
3. Our friends and enemies.
4. The souls departed.
5. Our spiritual leaders, i.e. priests, bishops, and the Catholicos.
6. The officials of our country.
-Are our prayers always acceptable before God?
Yes, our prayers are always acceptable before God if we pray with faith, hope, and love.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PRAYER
-How many kinds of prayers are there?
There are two kinds of prayers: private and public.
-What is private prayer?
Private prayer is that which we say in privacy in the morning when we get up, and in the evening before we go to bed, and when we face a temptation, a danger or distress.
-What is public prayer?
Public prayer is the participation in the Church services, especially in the Divine Liturgy.
-How do we know that God always hears our prayers if we pray properly?
We know that God always hears our prayers if we pray properly because our Lord has promised: “Ask and you shall be given,” “If you ask the Father anything in My Name, Thy will give it to you.”
-Why do we not always obtain what we pray for?
We do not always obtain what we pray for either because we have not prayed properly, or because God sees that what we are asking would not be for our general good.
-What are the prayers that every Christian should know by heart?
They are:
1.Our Father.
2.Glory be to the Father.
3.Morning and evening prayers, and prayers at meals
DAILY PRAYERS
How to make the sign of the Cross We say our prayers always by first making he sign of the Cross. ‘We make the sign of the Cross in this way:
We join together the thumb, the index, and the middle fingers ofthe right hand. We bend down the other two fingers to the palm of our hand.
Holding our right hand we touch first our forehead saying: “In the name of The Father,” then our chest saving: ‘and of The Son,” then our left breast saying: “and of The Holy” then our right breast saying: ‘Spirit’ Then opening our hand we put it on our chest saying: “Amen”.
Lord’s Prayer Making the sign of tile Cross we say: ‘In the name of The Father and of The Son and ofThe holy Spirit Amen.”
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 us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. (Make the sign of the Cross while ending.)
A Morning Prayer
O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall sing Thy praise. I thank Thee, O Lord my God, for Thou hast awakened me from my sleep with Thy loving kindness; I beseech Thee that Thou also awaken my mind that I may be able to see Thy truths clearly and to have good thoughts, words, and deeds throughout the day. Amen.
Evening Prayer In the name of the Father, and the Son, and of The Holy Spirit. Amen.
Begin with the Lord’s Prayer, and then say:
Protector of all, O Christ, may Thy hand shelter me by day and bynight, at home and abroad, in sleeping and in waking, that I maynever fall Have mercy upon all Thy creatures and me. Amen.
Grace Before Meals In the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit Amen.
Let us partake of this food with thanksgiving, which the Lord has prepared for us. Blessed is the Lord in His gifts. Amen.
Thanks After Meals Letus give thanks and glory toAlmighty God, Who has fedandfilled us with Hisgood gifts. Glory to Him forever. Amen.
THE CREED
-What is a creed?
A creed is a summary of what we believe in.
-What does creed mean?
The word “creed” comes from the Latin “credo” which means “I believe,” The Armenian word for it is “Havadamk”, which means, “we believe”.
-The Creed We believe in one God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only-begotten, that is of the substance of the Father, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten and not made; himself of the nature of the Father, by whom all things came into being in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible;
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate, was made man, was born perfectly of the holy Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit;
By whom he took body, soul and mind and everything that is in man, truly and not it semblance.
He suffered and was crucified and was hurled and rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven with the same body and sat at the right hand of the Father.
He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father to judge the quick and the dead; of whose kingdom there is no end.
We believe also in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated and the perfect, who spoke in the law and in the prophets and in the Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached to the apostles and dwelt in the saints, We believe also in only one catholic and apostolic Church; In one baptism of repentance for the remission and forgiveness of sins; in the resurrection of the dead in the everlasting judgment of souls and bodies In the kingdom of heaven and in the life eternal.
