A map of the prayer traditions: Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant

Program / Course 20: Spiritual Theology / Lesson 1.3

What you will learn

• Name the main characteristic forms of prayer in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions.
• Distinguish liturgical prayer, private prayer, vocal prayer and silent or contemplative prayer.
• Describe what each tradition says about its own strengths and about the risks it must watch.
• Use the map to place the practices studied later in the course.

The big idea

Christians pray in many ways, and the three great branches of the church have developed recognizable habits. Catholics have a wide range of schools of prayer, from the Benedictine to the Ignatian to the Carmelite, set inside the sacramental life. Orthodox Christians pray within the liturgy and the cycle of the church year, with the Jesus Prayer and the icon as familiar companions. Protestants emphasize Scripture, preaching and direct address to God, with both written and spontaneous forms. Each describes its own strengths and risks, and each can learn from the others.

Key terms

Liturgy

The public, ordered worship of the church. The word comes from a Greek word meaning public work or service.

Vocal prayer

Prayer put into words, spoken aloud or silently, such as the Lord’s Prayer.

Meditation

In the Christian sense, thoughtful reflection on God’s word or works, using the mind and the imagination.

Contemplation

A simpler, quieter prayer in which the person rests in God’s presence with little speaking or reasoning. Traditions describe it differently.

Spirituality

A way of living out the Christian faith, often associated with a particular school, such as Benedictine or Ignatian spirituality.

Icon

In Orthodox practice, a painted image of Christ, Mary or a saint used in prayer and worship.

Extemporaneous prayer

Prayer spoken from the heart in the moment, without a written text.

Common prayer

Prayer shared by a whole congregation, often from a book, as in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

Background

Before the Reformation there was one visible Western church, and Eastern and Western Christians had been drifting apart for centuries. The break between them is usually dated to 1054, though historians describe a long process. In the sixteenth century the Western church divided again. The result is the three broad families this course speaks of: Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. Within each there are many local and historical variations, and a short map cannot capture them all. This lesson describes the characteristic emphasis of each, in terms its own members would accept.

A map is useful for orientation. It should not turn into a stereotype. Many Catholics pray extemporaneously, many Protestants use written prayers, and many Orthodox Christians pray alone in silence. Differences of emphasis are not exclusive differences.

Another preliminary point. The three families also differ on some doctrines that affect prayer, including the saints, the sacraments, the authority of tradition and the way grace works. Those differences are noted here and treated as real. The aim is to see how each tradition understands itself, not to rank them.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Liturgical prayer: the shared foundation

All three traditions place a form of public worship at the center. For Catholics it is the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. For Orthodox Christians it is the Divine Liturgy and the daily cycle of services. For Protestants it is the Sunday service, which in Lutheran and Anglican churches follows an ordered liturgy and in many Reformed, Baptist and free-church settings is built around preaching, hymns and prayer with more freedom of form.

The common claim is that Christian prayer is first the prayer of the church, and personal prayer grows from it.

Step 2: Catholic schools of prayer

Catholic life contains several recognized schools. The Benedictine tradition centers on the Divine Office and lectio divina. The Ignatian tradition, from Ignatius of Loyola, uses imaginative meditation on the Gospels and an examination of conscience. The Carmelite tradition, associated with Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, speaks of deep contemplative prayer. The Franciscan tradition stresses poverty and love of creation. Devotions such as the rosary and the stations of the cross are widely used.

The Catechism describes three expressions of prayer: vocal, meditation and contemplative prayer. Catholics usually say the strength of their tradition is its breadth and its integration of prayer with the sacraments. The risk they name is formalism: saying the words without the heart.

Step 3: Orthodox prayer

Orthodox prayer is centered on the Divine Liturgy, the daily services and the fasts and feasts of the church year. Believers keep a prayer corner at home with icons, say prayers from a prayer book morning and evening, and many use the Jesus Prayer. The monastic tradition, especially that of Mount Athos, is influential in the whole church.

Orthodox writers stress participation in the life of God, the unity of prayer and liturgy and the inseparability of prayer from the ascetic life. The risk they name is a view of prayer as an inner technique, cut off from the church’s life and from a spiritual guide.

Step 4: Protestant prayer

Protestantism covers a wide range. Its common emphasis is on the authority of Scripture, justification by faith and the priesthood of all believers, which is the teaching that every Christian has direct access to God through Christ. Prayer often arises from Scripture reading, sermons and small groups. Lutheran and Anglican churches keep written forms alongside personal prayer. Other traditions favor extemporaneous prayer.

Protestant writers say the strength of their approach is directness, a love of Scripture and a wide sense of lay responsibility. The risk they name is individualism and thinness: prayer cut off from the church’s history and sometimes reduced to requests.

Step 5: Using the map

The map helps locate the lessons ahead. Lectio divina and the Divine Office, covered in Module 3, are strongly Catholic and monastic in origin but are used widely. The Jesus Prayer, Module 4, is Eastern. The desert and early monastic sources, Module 2, are shared inheritance. Discernment, direction and fasting, Module 5, appear in all three, with different emphases.

A student does best to begin by learning the form closest to their own community, and then study the others with respect for what they are trying to do.

1. Which of the three families, if any, is closest to the way I pray now?
2. What do I find attractive about each of the other two?
3. Which strengths and risks named for my own tradition ring true?
4. How much of my prayer is shared with others and how much is private?
5. What do I assume, without checking, about how other Christians pray?
6. Where does my practice depend on a tradition I have never examined?

Examples

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholics see their tradition as a full inheritance, in which many schools of prayer coexist in one communion. The Catechism holds that prayer is a vital and personal relationship with God, nourished by the liturgy and by the word of God. Catholics also teach that private prayer should never be cut off from the sacramental life.

Orthodox

Orthodox Christians see their tradition as continuous with the early church. They hold that the faith has been preserved in worship, and they are cautious about adopting devotions that grew up outside it. Many Orthodox writers regard the Western separation of theology from prayer as a loss.

Protestant

Protestants hold that the church must be continually reformed by Scripture. They value the direct access of the believer to God and the place of preaching. Many are also rediscovering older sources, including liturgical prayer and the writings of the church fathers, and see this as consistent with their principles.

Scholarly view

Historians of spirituality note that the three families share a common inheritance from the first millennium, including the Psalms, the desert tradition and the Fathers, and that many of their later differences grew from political and cultural events as well as from doctrine.

Why it matters

Most students come to prayer through one tradition and meet the others secondhand, often through caricature. A fair map prevents two errors. One is to think that one’s own tradition invented prayer. The other is to think that all traditions are the same under their labels. Understanding the characteristic emphases lets a student learn from the others without losing their bearings.

Common misunderstandings

Knowledge check

Think it through

1. Which tradition’s strength would most help your prayer, and what would adopting it cost?
2. How do you respond when you meet a prayer practice that looks strange to you?
3. What risks of your own tradition have you seen up close?

Independent assignment

A personal map

In your notebook, write 300 to 400 words. List the ways you pray in a typical week, including worship, private prayer and anything else. Mark each as liturgical, vocal, meditative or contemplative. Then identify which tradition each practice comes from, if you know, and one practice from another tradition you would like to understand better. Do not share this with anyone.

Further study

• Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the opening of Part Four on the life of prayer, including the three expressions of prayer.
• Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read the chapters on worship for a clear Orthodox account.
• Martin Luther, The Small Catechism Read the sections on prayer and the morning and evening blessings.
• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Read the chapters on prayer in the third book.
• Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Read for historical background on how the three families emerged.
• Matthew 6:7 Jesus on empty phrases in prayer.
• Acts 2:42 The first believers devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers.