CELTIC ORTHODOX PATER NOSTER PSALTER
CELTIC ORTHODOX BENEDICTINE FATHERS
(419) 206.2190
E-Mail amdg@bex.net
The Pater Noster Psalter dates back to the first Century
and made popular in 5th Century Germany.
Making Pater Noster
Beads became a cottage industry in Germany due to the
popularity
of the prayer. The
Marian Rosary was developed from the
format of the Pater Noster Psalter. Including the Station of the Cross for the
“mysteries” was
not part of the original Pater Noster Psalter, being a
unique contribution from Celtic Orthodoxy from the Celtic
Orthodox Monastery in Bobbio, Italy in around the 13th
Century.
The Monastery of Bobbio was a Monastery of Celtic
Orthodox
Monks and established by St. Columbanus in 614.
The Celtic Orthodox Monastery at Bobbio, Italy was
forced to close in 1809 by French occupying forces.
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The Pater Noster Psalter begins
with an act of contrition for sin:
O my God, I
am heartily sorry for ever having offended you, and I detest all my sins
because they have offended you my God who are all good and deserving of my love.
I resolve with the help of your grace to sin no more and avoid all occasions of
sin.
The Pater
Noster Psalter comprises 15 Decades of 10 Our Father’s, for a total of 150
Our
Father’s. Before each Decade is prayed:
Eternal Father,
almighty and ever living God; God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; God and Father
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we offer to you Father of mercy the Body,
Blood, Soul and Divinity of your divine Son present in this mystery as a prayer
of praise and thanksgiving, adoration and reparation and for my special
petition which by faith I have already received, by the working and power of
your Holy Spirit, from your bounty through Christ our Lord. United with the
intercession and ministry, gifts and graces, faith and merits of your Divine
Son I pray in the words our Savior taught us.
This prayer
is repeated before each set of 10 Our Fathers for all 15 Decades. The Mysteries (Stations) for each Decade are
as follows:
1.
Jesus is condemned to
death.
2. Jesus is made to bear His Cross.
3. Jesus falls the first time.
4. Jesus meets
His afflicted Mother.
5. Simon Cyrene
helps Jesus to carry His Cross.
6. Veronica
wipes the face of Jesus.
7. Jesus falls
the second time.
8. Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem.
9. Jesus falls the third time.
10.
Jesus is stripped of His garments.
11.
Jesus is nailed to the Cross.
12.
Jesus dies on the Cross.
13.
Jesus is taken down from the Cross.
14.
Jesus is buried in the sepulcher.
15.
The Resurrection.
At the end of each
decade is prayed Glory be to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
(Holy Ghost), now
and always unto ages
of ages. One is Holy, one is the Lord,
Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father.
The Stations
of the Cross (Mysteries) were codified by Francis of Assisi while he was in
residence at the Celtic Orthodox Monastery at Bobbio, Italy. Feel free to substitute any
other mysteries that speak to your faith.
The use of the Stations of the Cross is most common, but not mandated.
This dates back to the early church and
was as big in the middle ages as the Marian Rosary is today among
Catholics. The Marian Rosary was modeled
after the Pater Noster Psalter. Today
the Marian Rosary Beads
are used for the praying of the Pater
Noster Psalter because the format is the same.
The Marian Rosary developed
from the use of the Pater Noster
Psalter and what today we call the Marian prayer beads or Rosary actually were
called the Pater Noster Beads.
The Pater Noster Psalter dates back to
at least the first Century and had become popular by the 5th
Century, especially in Germany. In
Germany a cottage industry was developed to manufacture “Pater Noster
Beads”.
These beads were often of precious
stones but today it is mainly wood.
The Pater Noster Psalter is designed to
be prayed in three intervals of 50 Our Father’s each.
Most commonly it is prayed 5 decades in
the morning, 5 decades at noon and 5 decades in the evening.
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The Pater Noster Beads, aka Chotki, originated in
the monastic world as a tool that could be used in the prayer rule of male and
female monks. It was simply a method to keep track of the number of prayers
asking for the Lord’s Mercy that the spiritual elder had given to his or her
spiritual child as an obedience to perform each day. The purpose of this monastic exercise was to
train the spiritual child’s mind to pray without ceasing in response to the
commandment given by the Apostle Paul
which is further supported in the New Testament (Orthodox Study Bible):
Matthew 9:27, Matthew 15:22, Matthew 17:15, Matthew 20:30, Matthew 20:31, Mark
10:47, Mark 10:48, Luke 16:24, Luke 17:13, Luke 18:38, Luke 18:39, Romans 9:15,
Romans 11:30, Romans 11:32, 1Corinthians 7:25, Philippians 2:27, 1Peter 2:10.
The New Testament writings, as a fulfillment of the Old Testament, have their
foundation in the Old Testament scripture where petitioning the Lord to have
mercy on a person or group of people occurs repeatedly through scripture.
In
Celtic Orthodoxy the training of the mind was the important reason for the
Pater Noster Beads. The daily prayer would resonate in their mind and heart,
even when asleep so as to pray without ceasing.
From
the earliest days of the church the common practice was to pray the “Our
Father” repeatedly. Many could not read and so could not pray the Psalms as did
many of the Monks.
Guided
by the Holy Spirit, eventually the practice of “praying the beads” as it was
called found favor with the laity as well. People would pray the Our Father 150
times a day using the Pater Noster Beads, aka Chotki, to guide them and help
keep track of the prayers. The lay people who wanted to lead a life that would
bring them closer to God in the hope of salvation for their souls prayed what
became known as the Pater Noster Psalter.
The
Pater Noster Psalter is the precursor to the modern day Marian Rosary that
became popular in the Roman Catholic Church as a prayer rule for their Roman
Catholic faithful after the Great Schism between the Church of the East and the
Church of the West in 1054 AD., when the Roman Catholic Church disrupted the
peace and unity of the church.
PATER NOSTER BEADS (CHOTKI)
http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/chotki.jpg
Home page
http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com
Holy
Trinity Celtic Orthodox Church
1703
Macomber Street,
Toledo,
Ohio 43606
Phone:
419.206.2190
Pastor: Bishop Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B.