How to set up a prayer corner
A person who goes to church for the first time is often at a loss: they do not know where and how to set up a prayer corner. Even those who have been going to church for a long time often do not realise the mystical content and the symbolic meaning of all that they have been doing mechanically for years. Indeed, what does it mean that the family is a domestic church?
It means that the members of a Christian family must order their life according to the spirit of the Church. This spirit must guide their everyday relations and affairs, so that it may be clear to all that the members of the family are believers in Christ and true members of His Church. In other words, in the family there must reign, above all, the fear of God, mutual obedience and love.
By what principles, then, should a Christian family be ordered? Clearly, above all by those basic principles on which the Christian Church stands. Namely:
a) In the Church (both the heavenly and the earthly) there is a hierarchy, which rests on the principle of obedience. The head of the Church is Christ, and so the father, the head of the family, must be an exemplary keeper of God's commandments — that is, in everything he must obey God “directly.” The mother must obey her husband, and the children their father and mother. But the keeping of this hierarchy is possible only in those families where there is true fear of God. As soon as this fear weakens, the hierarchy is broken and it is very hard (in fact impossible) to carry on normal Christian relations.
b) The second basic mark of the Church is that the Church is above all a house of prayer. And one of the basic forces that guides a family is prayer — both common prayer and that of each member. Prayer is one of the chief virtues of a Christian and has the greatest uniting power; therefore, if it is possible, the morning and evening prayers and the prayers before eating should at least be read together. The prayer is read by the senior, the head of the family. If the head of the family is not there, the eldest son; if he is still small, the mother.
c) In order to turn our own home into a little church, the reading of divine books and church singing are very important. It will be very good if the members of the family read at least one reading from the Gospel and one from the Apostle each day (it may be separately, but better together). The reading of Orthodox books holds an immeasurably great and irreplaceable place in the spiritual growth of a Christian. Besides this, reading together draws the members of a family spiritually closer and lessens the possibility of conflict.
d) The church is the place where we constantly hear the instructions of our spiritual shepherd. It is the God-given duty of the head of a family to bring up the children in piety and in the fear of God. He must teach at once by deed (by his own example) and by word (relying on the Gospel and on the teaching of the holy fathers); he must teach them the outward signs of prayer — the sign of the cross, prostrations, the veneration of icons and so on — and explain their meaning.
e) The church is the place where the divine Liturgy and the other mysteries are celebrated. In order for a family to become part of the Church, its members must be brought into the rhythm of church life. The members of the family should be present at the church services every Saturday and Sunday and on feast days, should as far as possible receive the blood and body of Christ, and should also confess their sins often before a spiritual father, order molebens and panikhidas, have a priest bless the house, and so on. By this each believer becomes part of liturgical space and time and a living member of the mystical body of Christ, the Orthodox Church.
f) And finally, since a church is as a rule adorned with icons, the best adornment of a Christian's home is the icon too. The precious cross and holy images should be in every room; but it is good if one special place is set apart in the house (most often, probably, a corner) where the family will gather for prayer.
The prayer corner is a place in the home adorned with holy images, where the family gathers for prayer. Its purpose is to guard the family from evil spirits and to create in the believing members of the family a prayerful disposition while they perform the rule of prayer appointed for them by their spiritual father.
An icon, through its blessing, acquires the power of the one depicted on it. It is precisely for this reason that many miracles are worked through icons. They help a person in trial. Besides this, prayer before an icon is direct communion with the Lord and with His saints. Therefore having a prayer corner is of the greatest importance.
In the prayer corner we should also place various church holy things, such as: holy water, church candles (which must be bought at the church), a prosphora, artos, blessed oil (from various holy places).
The prosphora, that is, “sepe kveri” — “the chosen bread” — is a symbol of the unity of the Church. After the Liturgy the prosphora is divided and given out to the faithful as a sign of their unity and of their communion with one another in the bosom of the Church. The prosphora should be taken on an empty stomach, after prayer. We may take it both in church and at home. It is good if before eating we partake precisely of the prosphora and holy water.
It is known that by going down into the river Jordan and being baptised the Lord sanctified the nature of water itself. Therefore in the Orthodox Church water has taken on the greatest importance and purpose. Every Christian is baptised in water; icons and other church objects are blessed with water.
The taking of holy water is good both for the soul and for the body (for health). Therefore we should try to begin every day by taking the prosphora and holy water.
The artos is a prosphora which throughout Bright Week rests on the holy table and acquires the greatest blessing power. The artos is the greatest holy thing. It may be taken in time of illness or of great spiritual trial. Before taking it we should pray.
First of all we must choose the icons rightly. Not every image of the Lord, of the Mother of God or of the saints may be considered an icon. The Orthodox icon has its own canon, thanks to which it is freed from everything earthly and shows forth the spiritual portrait of the saint depicted on it. Therefore non-Orthodox (for example, Catholic) icons have no prayerful value, and they may not be placed in the prayer corner.
The icons should be arranged on the eastern wall. If that is not possible, on the northern or southern walls. Accordingly, a Christian too stands facing east at prayer.
This rule, together with many others, comes from the holy apostles. It was introduced because our Lord Jesus Christ, or, as He is often called, “the Sun of righteousness,” shone forth from the east. In the prophecies He is often called “the East.” It is significant too that the garden of Eden lay precisely in the east. And finally, we await the Saviour's second coming from the east, so that turning toward the east is a sign of constant expectation of the Saviour.
An icon is an image of God or of His saint, or of a deed performed by them, and finally of an event known from Holy Scripture and from the history of the Church. The veneration of icons was established by God Himself. The confirmation of this is the Image not made by hands. When the painter sent by King Abgar could not portray the Saviour, then the Lord put a cloth to His face and sent the king the image that had passed onto it. Thus the veneration of icons comes from the time of the apostles, and was finally confirmed at the Seventh Ecumenical Council. By the veneration of icons we render honour not to the wood and the paint, as many sects that have spread today “expose” us for doing, but to the one depicted on them, to the “prototype,” the “archetype” — to God and to His saints. And the mystery of blessing, as we noted, gives the icon the power of the “archetype.” Through icons we are “joined” to the heavenly Kingdom, to the heavenly Church.
We noted above that a non-Orthodox icon has no prayerful value. But how are we to tell icons apart — that is, what are the canonical marks by which an Orthodox icon is recognised?
On an icon the Saviour (and He alone) has a cross in His halo, as a sign of His divine nature. On the cross is written in Greek “He Who Is,” “the One who is.” The most holy Mother of God has the divine Child on her arm; rarely she is depicted alone. Her icon may also be told by the three stars that adorn the Queen (on the brow and on the shoulders), as a sign of her ever-virginity. Every rank of saints has its own particular mark: the apostles and the preachers of God's word hold a Gospel or a scroll in their hand; the martyrs a cross; the builders of churches and monasteries a church; healers a box of medicines, and so on. Besides this, every detail has its symbolic meaning: long fingers signify a holy and righteous life, large eyes spiritual vision, and so on. Icons have a particular inscription (mostly in abbreviations), by which we can learn whose icon it is.
Below the cross, on the right, the icon of the Saviour should be placed, on the left that of the Mother of God, and below them those of the saints. In general this is the common rule, taken from the example of the iconostasis. The rest depends on each person's taste. Only it is desirable to keep the hierarchy in general: the icon of a saint should not come above the icon of the Saviour. According to priestly blessings, after the icons of the Saviour and of the Mother of God the following hierarchy in the arranging of icons should be kept:
1) St John the Baptist; 2) the holy prophets; 3) St Peter, St Paul and the twelve apostles; 4) the holy hierarchs; 5) the other apostles and the holy martyrs; 6) the venerable and God-bearing fathers and mothers; 7) the holy unmercenary healers; 8) St Joachim and St Anna.
First of all we should have icons of the most holy Trinity, of the Saviour and of the Mother of God. In Georgian families there should also be icons of the enlightener of the Georgians, St Nino; of the great intercessor and protector of the Georgian people, St George; and of the protector of the Orthodox Church of Georgia, St Nicholas.
It is desirable to have icons of the saints whose names the members of the family bear, of St John the Baptist, of the host of angels, of the guardian angel, and icons of the feasts of the Lord. Also icons of those saints toward whom we feel a particular warmth and love.
It is known that this or that icon helps in this or that bodily or spiritual infirmity. Therefore in choosing icons this must certainly be taken into account. It is good if we have, for example, the icon of St Panteleimon as the healer of all; of Saints Gurias, Samonas and Abibus and of Saints Natalia and Adrian as protectors of the strength of the family; the icon of the most holy Mother of God “the Inexhaustible Chalice,” which is against the passion of drunkenness; or the “Pantanassa” as the healer of those with tumours. For children whose mind does not open — St John of Kronstadt or St Sergius of Radonezh; in time of material need, the icon of “Plenty”; in various family troubles, St Matrona and St Xenia of Petersburg, and so on. But we must not forget that the buying of an icon alone is not enough to resolve our spiritual or bodily troubles. Our deep faith and fervent prayer are necessary. It is desirable to read the particular prayers and “akathists” composed for these icons, to receive the holy mysteries often, and to be anointed with oil. If we do not succeed, let us always look for the reason in ourselves. Only then will the Lord help us.
The cross is the glory of Christians, the “song of songs,” the sign of our salvation, of our freeing from slavery to the devil, of Christ's humility; the “armour of peace,” the “invincible victory,” our weapon against the evil one, our protector and guardian. The cross adorns and crowns churches and the vestments of the clergy; by the sign of the cross the mysteries are performed; the cross adorns the breast of a Christian; a departed Christian holds a cross; a cross is raised on their grave. And the corner with the icons too is crowned with a cross.
A cross may be four- or eight-pointed (rarely six-pointed). If the Saviour is depicted on the cross, He must without fail have a halo, and in the halo a cross (the three upper arms of the cross) with a particular inscription (we shall speak of this in more detail below). On the image the Saviour's feet should be nailed separately. Even when these marks are kept there may be errors, so when a cross is made or bought it should be shown to someone who knows the canon. It is desirable to buy a cross in a proper church shop. Sometimes we come across crosses into which prayers have been placed, which strengthens the power of the cross still more.
It is not permissible to nail a horseshoe to the door, or to follow other pagan customs. Such objects cannot and will not protect our families. What is more, such objects attract evil powers all the more. For the protection of the family there has appeared in today's church shops the “Cross, the guardian of the family,” into which the following prayers have been placed: the 90th psalm, the prayer for plenty and abundance, the prayer to the guardian angel and the prayer against sorcery. Instead of horseshoes it is better to buy crosses of this kind and to place them at the entrance.
At the same time, however, we must not forget to say the prayers that have been placed in it. To avoid misunderstandings it is better to avoid buying church objects in chance places and to turn to proper shops.
It is good if we have a lamp, a candlestand, a censer, and spiritual books.
The light of the lamp is a symbol of the heavenly light. Since the saints who are in the Kingdom are clothed in heavenly light, their images here on earth too should always be lit by material light, as a symbol of the heavenly light. God's saints are in eternal light in heaven, and so their holy images should be lit as well. In the Old Testament there was a strict requirement that fire should always be burning in the temple of God. In the New Testament St John the Theologian in the “Revelation” sees 7 burning lampstands before the throne of God, and among the 7 lampstands he sees Jesus Christ.
The candle in general expresses the warmth and love of our heart toward God. The wax of the candle is an image of good deeds, of bodily and spiritual labours; the wick, of faith. Our conscious faith, rightly joined with deeds, will by the grace of God raise a person to heaven. But even this is not enough: it is necessary that the candle be lit in the holy Orthodox church (and at home, in the “domestic church” of a member of the Orthodox Church).
Censing before holy things is a symbol of our fervent prayer, which rises to God like the smoke of incense. It is also a visible sign of the fragrance of the Holy Spirit. The incense is a symbol of the inner prayer of a Christian and of their spiritual feelings; the coal, of our holy Orthodox confession; the censer, of mother Church. We Christians “lay” the thoughts of our heart (the incense) upon our grace-filled faith (the coal) and carry them to the Church (the censer), which raises the prayers of the faithful to the throne of God.
Censing in church has different meanings at different sacred actions.
These are necessary: a prayer book, the Psalter, the New Testament. The holy fathers teach us that a Christian must without fail read the psalms during the day (for example, one kathisma, or one “glory,” a third of a kathisma, at the least). St John Chrysostom says that it is better that the sun should not give light than that a Christian should not read a psalm that day. Also, as we have said, we should read at least one chapter from the Gospel and one from the Apostle (the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles). It is very profitable and desirable for the soul to read the akathist to the Mother of God and the canons to the Sweetest Jesus and to the guardian angel. It is good also to have other supplicatory canons and akathists. It is needless, we think, to say that a person who does not read the prayers in the morning and the evening, before and after eating, can hardly be called a Christian. The number of prayers and how often they are read should be chosen according to our strength and our time, and must certainly be agreed upon with our spiritual father.
This corner should not be in the spouses' bedroom (if there is no other way, a curtain should be made, which will be opened at the time of prayer). For the corner with the icons the best place should be chosen, such as befits holy images. We should not walk before the icons even partly undressed. We should not smoke, and we should always try not to offend the holy icons by any word or action.
We must not forget that with whatever diligence we take up any work connected with God, with the same good favour the Lord will answer us. And the other way round: for our carelessness and for a slighting attitude toward holy things we shall give a strict answer at the dread judgement — from which may God preserve us all, and have mercy on us and save us, amen.
