Editing Christianity (section)

=== Prayer ===
{{Main|Christian prayer}}
{{See also|Christian meditation|Canonical hours}}
{{quote box
| width = 30%
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| quote="... 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil'".
| source = — The [[Lord's Prayer]], Matthew 6:9–13, [[Evangelical Heritage Version|EHV]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Matthew 6:9–13 Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV) |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A9-13&version=EHV |access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref>
}}

In the [[Gospel of Saint Matthew]], Jesus taught the [[Lord's Prayer]], which has been seen as a model for Christian prayer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jordan |first1=Anne |title=Christianity |year=2000 |publisher=Nelson Thornes |isbn=978-0-7487-5320-8 |quote=When he was standing on a hillside, Jesus explained to his followers how they were to behave as God would wish. The talk has become known as the Sermon on the Mount, and is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, 6 and 7. During the talk Jesus taught his followers how to pray and he gave them an example of suitable prayer. Christians call the prayer the Lord's Prayer, because it was taught by the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is also known as the Pattern Prayer as it provides a pattern for Christians to follow in prayer, to ensure that they pray in the way God and Jesus would want.}}</ref> The injunction for Christians to pray the Lord's prayer thrice daily was given in the ''[[Didache]]'' and came to be recited by Christians at 9 am, 12 pm, and 3 pm.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Milavec |first1=Aaron |title=The Didache: Faith, Hope, & Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50–70 C.E. |year=2003 |publisher=Paulist |isbn=978-0-8091-0537-3 |quote=Given the placement of the Lord's Prayer in the Didache, it was to be expected that the new member of the community would come to learn and to pray the Lord's Prayer at the appointed hours three times each day only after baptism (8:2f.).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Roger T.|author-link1=Roger T. Beckwith |title=Calendar, Chronology And Worship: Studies in Ancient Judaism And Early Christianity |year=2005 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-14603-7 |quote=So three minor hours of prayer were developed, at the third, sixth and ninth hours, which, as Dugmore points out, were ordinary divisions of the day for worldly affairs, and the Lord's Prayer was transferred to those hours.}}</ref>

In the second century ''[[Apostolic Tradition]]'', [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]] instructed Christians to pray at [[fixed prayer times|seven fixed prayer times]]: "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion".<ref>{{cite book |first1=Henry |last1=Chadwick |author1-link=Henry Chadwick (theologian) |title=The Early Church |year=1993 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-16042-8 |quote=Hippolytus in the ''Apostolic Tradition'' directed that Christians should pray seven times a day – on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight, and also, if at home, at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion. Prayers at the third, sixth, and ninth hours are similarly mentioned by Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and must have been very widely practised. These prayers were commonly associated with private Bible reading in the family.}}</ref> Prayer positions, including kneeling, standing, and [[prostration]]s have been used for these seven fixed prayer times since the days of the early Church.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lössl |first1=Josef |title=The Early Church: History and Memory |year=2010 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-567-16561-9 |page=135 |quote=Not only the content of early Christian prayer was rooted in Jewish tradition; its daily structure too initially followed a Jewish pattern, with prayer times in the early morning, at noon and in the evening. Later (in the course of the second century), this pattern combined with another one; namely prayer times in the evening, at midnight and in the morning. As a result seven 'hours of prayer' emerged, which later became the monastic 'hours' and are still treated as 'standard' prayer times in many churches today. They are roughly equivalent to midnight, 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Prayer positions included prostration, kneeling and standing. ... Crosses made of wood or stone, or painted on walls or laid out as mosaics, were also in use, at first not directly as objections of veneration but in order to 'orientate' the direction of prayer (i.e. towards the east, Latin ''oriens'').}}</ref> [[Breviary|Breviaries]] such as the [[Shehimo]] and [[Agpeya]] are used by [[Oriental Orthodox Christians]] to pray these [[canonical hours]] while facing in the [[direction of prayer|eastward direction of prayer]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kurian |first1=Jake |title="Seven Times a Day I Praise You" – The Shehimo Prayers |url=https://www.ds-wa.org/seven-times-a-day-i-praise-you-the-sheema-prayers.html |publisher=[[Malankara Orthodox Diocese of Southwest America|Diocese of South-West America of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]]|access-date=2 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=[[Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney]] |title=A Sketch of Egyptian History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day |year=1906 |publisher=Methuen |page=399 |quote=Prayers 7 times a day are enjoined, and the most strict among the Copts recite one of more of the Psalms of David each time they pray. They always wash their hands and faces before devotions, and turn to the East.}}</ref>

The ''Apostolic Tradition'' directed that the [[sign of the cross]] be used by Christians during the [[Minor exorcism in Christianity|minor exorcism]] of [[baptism]], during [[ablution in Christianity|ablutions]] before praying at fixed prayer times, and in times of temptation.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Hippolytus |author1-link=Hippolytus of Rome |title=Apostolic Tradition |url=https://www.stjohnsarlingtonva.org/Customer-Content/saintjohnsarlington/CMS/files/EFM/Apostolic_Tradition_by_Hippolytus.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.stjohnsarlingtonva.org/Customer-Content/saintjohnsarlington/CMS/files/EFM/Apostolic_Tradition_by_Hippolytus.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=St. John's Episcopal Church |access-date=5 September 2020 |pages=8, 16, 17}}</ref>

''Intercessory prayer'' is prayer offered for the benefit of other people. There are many intercessory prayers recorded in the Bible, including prayers of the [[Apostle Peter]] on behalf of sick persons<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|9:40}}</ref> and by [[prophet]]s of the Old Testament in favor of other people.<ref>{{bibleverse|1Kings|17:19–22}}</ref> In the [[Epistle of James]], no distinction is made between the intercessory prayer offered by ordinary believers and the prominent Old Testament prophet [[Elijah]].<ref>{{bibleverse|James|5:16–18}}</ref> The effectiveness of prayer in Christianity derives from the power of God rather than the status of the one praying.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Alexander |editor-first=T. D. |editor-last2=Rosner |editor-first2=B. S. |year=2001 |title=Prayer |encyclopedia=New Dictionary of Biblical Theology|publisher=Intervarsity |location=Downers Grove, IL}}</ref>

The ancient church, in both [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern]] and [[Western Christianity]], developed a tradition of asking for the [[intercession of saints|intercession of (deceased) saints]], and this remains the practice of most [[Eastern Orthodox]], [[Oriental Orthodox]], [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], and some [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] and [[Anglican]] churches.<ref>{{cite web |title=What We Believe |url=http://www.orgsites.com/pa/rac/index.html |publisher=[[Evangelical Community Church-Lutheran]] |access-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518100544/http://www.orgsites.com/pa/rac/index.html |archive-date=18 May 2007}}</ref> Apart from certain sectors within the latter two denominations, other Churches of the Protestant Reformation, however, rejected prayer to the saints, largely on the basis of the sole mediatorship of Christ.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Ferguson |first1=S. B. |last2=Packer |first2=J. |name-list-style=amp |year=1988 |title=Saints |encyclopedia= New Dictionary of Theology |publisher=Intervarsity |location=Downers Grove, IL}}</ref> The reformer [[Huldrych Zwingli]] admitted that he had offered prayers to the saints until his reading of the Bible convinced him that this was [[idolatry in Christianity|idolatrous]].<ref>Madeleine Gray, ''The Protestant Reformation'', (Sussex Academic Press, 2003), p. 140.</ref>

According to the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'': "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God".<ref>{{Cite CCC|2.1|2559}}</ref> The ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' in the Anglican tradition is a guide which provides a set order for services, containing set prayers, scripture readings, and hymns or sung Psalms.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Book of Common Prayer |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer |publisher=[[Church of England]] |access-date=24 June 2020}}</ref> Frequently in Western Christianity, when praying, the hands are placed palms together and forward as in the feudal [[commendation ceremony]]. At other times the older [[orans]] posture may be used, with palms up and elbows in.