A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers

Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to Orthodox prayer, esp for inquirers
Review: As other reviewers have noted, this book has many prayers used by Orthodox Christians in personal devotions. It also has some materials used for public worship, such as scripture lessons for the Twelve Great Feasts and for the Sundays of Great Lent, as well as certain Sunday and weekday troparia (theme-hymns).

Originally published in 1945, its language does predate today's interest in "Modern English for worship". Also, having first been published by an Anglican-Orthodox fellowship, rather than by an Orthodox jurisdiction, the book itself might not necessarily be used by large numbers of Orthodox Christians in English-speaking lands (they might use other collections of these prayers prepared by their own Churches).

However, those other collections might be less accessible to people outside Orthodoxy than this one, which can be ordered so easily through Amazon. It can therefore introduce inquirers to a portion of the rich treasury of Orthodox prayer.

Rating:
Summary: Best Compilation of Orthodox Prayers
Review: This little book includes most of the prayers that Orthodox laity would be apt to use in their daily life, along with the liturgy and preparation for confession.

Clergy of other denominations interested in Orthodox ritual will probably find this book of use as well, since it points out differences in Russian and Greek usage and also gives the most complete church calendar I have ever seen in English. Anglican readers will find a perhaps unpleasant surprise - Lancelot Andrewes' "preces privatae", rather than being his own inventions, are in fact prayers from the Orthodox preparation for communion, as you will find if you compare them with the versions in this book.

Rating:
Summary: I hold this treasure close to heart.
Review: This little book of prayers has changed my life. Coming from a non-liturgical background, this book introduced a foriegn structure into my normally spontenous prayer life. Over the years, it has opened a new world of spiritual formation in my life. Along the way, these simple prayers have stirred me to a greater vision of the awesomeness of our Creator. "Holy God. Holy and Mighty. Holy Immortal. Have mercy on us."

Rating:
Summary: The Light from the East
Review: This small purple book (originally published in Great Britain in 1945) contains prayers of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, prayers from which any reader can derive joy and benefit and fitting words to praise the one God in three Persons, God who is Light and Life, Transcendence and Immanence, Majesty and Mercy.

There are morning prayers, evening prayers, prayers for different occasions, anthems and hymns for saints and holy feasts (troparia and kontakia), the Orders of Confession according to Greek and Slavonic uses (in English), prayers for use before and after the reception of Holy Communion, and a calendar of the saints who are honoured in holy Orthodoxy.

The "O Heavenly King" can be found on page 2, prayers to the Theotokos on page 8, a prayer of St John Chrysostom "according to the hours of the day and night" on pp. 14-15 (this prayer, or series of short prayers, quite lovely); Metropolian Philaret's prayer where he dares not ask for either cross or consolation, on p. 24; a lengthy and lovely prayer in verse by St Symeon the New Theologian, beginning on page 71, and a penitential pre-Communion prayer of surpassing beauty ("Thou hast smitten me, O Christ, with yearning; and with thy divine love hast thou changed me") on page 77.

The language is reminiscent of earlier days in the life of the Church (thees and thous), and when psalms are quoted, it is the 1662 Book of Common Prayer version that is used. This comparatively young, Western, Roman Catholic reader values this small purple book, A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers, for its loveliness of language, its acute awareness of -- and profound humility before -- Divine Beauty, and its recognition (often absent in the language of modern Western Christianity) that God is Majesty, and that as we approach him, a feeling of awe is not malapert.