Why early Christians prayed the Our Father three times a day

[Michie]

In the very early Church, Christians would pray the Our Father as the Angelus is prayed currently by many Catholics.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the primary prayers of the early Church was the Our Father.


It was the prayer that Jesus taught them and so they held it in high regard and didn’t want to forget it.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, early Christians prayed the Our Father three times a day:

This indivisible gift of the Lord’s words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord’s Prayer three times a day, in place of the “Eighteen Benedictions” customary in Jewish piety.
CCC 2767

In this paragraph the Catechism cites the Didache, which is an ancient text that many scholars date to the 1st century. It is one of the earliest texts the Church has outside of the four Gospels:

Continued below.

Why early Christians prayed the Our Father three times a day

In the very early Church, Christians would pray the Our Father as the Angelus is prayed currently by many Catholics.

aleteia.org

 

[RileyG]

Thanks for posting! I also remember learning this years ago

 

[WarriorAngel]

 

[Lukaris]

I believe the Didache needs to be explained & utilized for the laity. It needs to be utilized alongside the creeds since it seems to have the Lord’s divinity as already understood.

 

[RileyG]

I believe the Didache needs to be explained & utilized for the laity. It needs to be utilized alongside the creeds since it seems to have the Lord’s divinity as already understood.

Amen!

 

[WarriorAngel]

I believe the Didache needs to be explained & utilized for the laity. It needs to be utilized alongside the creeds since it seems to have the Lord’s divinity as already understood.