rosary question

[Rhamiel]

do any non-catholics pray the rosary?
i know of some who do, i was just wondering if this was part of any of your devotions, i would have asked in GT but that place can get so negative, so i asked here insted, I might ask in the liberal section too

 

[Tangible]

If you mean non-RCC, then sure. Old Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, etc.

It wouldn't surprise me if some high-church Lutherans prayed the rosary, as long as the prayers were filtered through scripture, i.e. not addressed to Mary or the Saints but directly to God, totally focused on a Sola Fide understanding. This is pure speculation, though. I've never heard anything about this before.

Lutherans would not pray the rosary for any reason other than personal devotions and private worship, though, with no understanding of penance or meritorious acts. Lutherans have historically used Catholic and pre-Catholic worship forms, not irrationally fearing all things remotely Roman like other Protestant groups, after they are adapted to reformation theology.

There is another form of 'Lutheran Rosary' I have heard of that is a way of reciting the Small Catechism of Martin Luther, the Lord's Prayer and the Apostle's Creed. It's not widely used.

 

[MrJim]

Hey dude
I do, not often but on occasion~~I have 7 of 'em btw...why are ya askin'?

 

[Blackknight]

For us the Jesus prayer is more popular but there's no rule against saying the rosary either.

 

[synger]

I'm Lutheran, and I use a Catholic-style rosary (five 10-bead decades), and use the Jesus prayer for the meditative prayer. It's extremely helpful for meditating on whatever Scripture I'm studying.

For example, I once led my daughter through a rosary prayer. We'd been studying Moses and the Exodus. So on the first decade, we meditated on what we'd read about Moses being God's messenger to Pharoah. On the second, we meditated on the plagues, and the Passover. On the third, we meditated on God's miraculous deliverance through the Red Sea. On the fourth, we meditated on the stone remembrances the Israelites took from the sea. And on the fifth, we meditated on how God led the Israelites in pillars of smoke and flame... and how He still leads us today.

 

[Albion]

do any non-catholics pray the rosary?
i know of some who do, i was just wondering if this was part of any of your devotions, i would have asked in GT but that place can get so negative, so i asked here insted, I might ask in the liberal section too

I don't, but a small percentage of Anglicans and Lutherans do. And, I presume that there are some members of other churches, too, although I have never met a one who does. Anglican Prayer Beads are popular with some Anglicans, by the way, and with members of many other reformed churches. The prayers used are, however, not directed towards any saint, so there is a difference. In addition, there are those (like Synger) who use the rosary but say prayers other than would be prayed by a Roman Catholic. (IMO, they ought to give Anglican Prayer Beads AKA Christian Prayer Beads a try. They have wonderful symbolism that is lacking in the rosary.)

 

[synger]

I have looked into Anglican prayer beads, and their four weeks of seven each (as apposed to five decades of ten each, on a Catholic rosary). I started praying it when I found my great-grandmother's rosary, so I began on a Catholic rosary. I also have a finger rosary (one decade), from the church at Ground Zero.

The history of the Catholic rosary is from monks praying the 150 Psalms during the day (three sets of the rosary). The Orthodox prayer rope, with its 50 or 100 knots, comes from the same history. The Anglican four-week rosary is newer, and has broken from that history with its own counting system.

I don't think it matters which rosary you use. It is merely a tool to assist in meditative prayer.

 

[Albion]

I have looked into Anglican prayer beads, and their four weeks of seven each (as apposed to five decades of ten each, on a Catholic rosary). I started praying it when I found my great-grandmother's rosary, so I began on a Catholic rosary. I also have a finger rosary (one decade), from the church at Ground Zero.

The history of the Catholic rosary is from monks praying the 150 Psalms during the day (three sets of the rosary). The Orthodox prayer rope, with its 50 or 100 knots, comes from the same history. The Anglican four-week rosary is newer, and has broken from that history with its own counting system.

I don't think it matters which rosary you use. It is merely a tool to assist in meditative prayer.

Uh, yes, but since your own system of using the rosary is newer than all of them, I don't see how the age of Anglican Prayer Beads can be considered a negative. However that may be, there is also this to consider--

The rosary is supposed to be used in a certain way. No one can do anything to you for using it in another way, with another set of prayers for instance. But the Anglican Prayer Beads are SUPPOSED to be used as the person chooses, so to pray as you do with the rosary is, by definition, to use it improperly while doing the same thing with the Anglican set is in the spirit intended. That seems worth a consideration IMO.

By the way also, you said that you use the Jesus Prayer, and this is the usual prayer prayed on the weeks beads when the Anglican set is utilized. On the other hand, I do appreciate the importance and meaning of using any religious object that has been handed down from a loved one and it is not uncommon for Lutherans and Anglicans to use the Catholic rosary just as you do. I don't do so because it know that it is believed by them to be a devotional to Mary, and I don't believe that praying to Mary is Biblical. IOW, to my mind it's like using a Buddhist Prayer Wheel to say the Lord's Prayer or bowing towards Mecca when saying Matins...not exactly wrong, but faintly inappropriate just the same. However, that's my own POV and I present it as nothing more than a personal reflection.

 

[MrJim]

heh I just got another rosary in the mail today..get on Catholic mailing lists and your box is never empty

 

[synger]

I do not agree that using a rosary without the Marian devotions is akin to using a Buddhist Prayer wheel to say the Lord's Prayer. Christians who pray on rosary beads pray historical Christian prayers (Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary (scriptural or extended), Jesus Prayer) based on Scripture. If they also contemplate scripture during their prayers, it is Christian scripture. The use of prayer beads or knots is found in many different cultures, of course, but the practice that developed into Orthodox prayer ropes and Catholic rosaries is firmly founded in Christian prayers from scripture.

Christian rosaries were around long before the codification of the extended Marian prayers and the various mysteries for contemplation. They began as ways to keep track of the Psalms, then Our Fathers (int the west, on beads) and the Jesus Prayer (in the east, on knotted ropes). By the 12th century, western bead-makers regularly made "paternosters", which makes me think the prayers used on it were the Lord's Prayer, though literature of the time shows a gradual move from primarily Lord's Prayer to primarily Hail Marys. The idea of meditating on scripture started among the Benedictines, and by the 16th century the "mysteries" were fairly well established.

I have no problem with the Anglican rosary. I was merely remarking that they have their beads structured differently than the others.

 

[Albion]

I do not agree that using a rosary without the Marian devotions is akin to using a Buddhist Prayer wheel to say the Lord's Prayer. Christians who pray on rosary beads pray historical Christian prayers (Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary (scriptural or extended), Jesus Prayer) based on Scripture. If they also contemplate scripture during their prayers, it is Christian scripture.

Well, for me, there's not much difference. After all, I stipulated in my example that the Lord's Prayer would be used with the Buddhist Prayer Wheel, not that Buddhist prayers be said.

The use of prayer beads or knots is found in many different cultures, of course, but the practice that developed into Orthodox prayer ropes and Catholic rosaries is firmly founded in Christian prayers from scripture.

Christian prayer beads were derived from Hindu usage, so they're not as uniquely Christian as you may have been thinking.

Christian rosaries were around long before the codification of the extended Marian prayers and the various mysteries for contemplation. They began as ways to keep track of the Psalms, then Our Fathers (int the west, on beads) and the Jesus Prayer (in the east, on knotted ropes). By the 12th century, western bead-makers regularly made "paternosters", which makes me think the prayers used on it were the Lord's Prayer, though literature of the time shows a gradual move from primarily Lord's Prayer to primarily Hail Marys. The idea of meditating on scripture started among the Benedictines, and by the 16th century the "mysteries" were fairly well established.

That's true, but irrelevant IMO since you're not advocating the Catholic usage or following it yourself.

I have no problem with the Anglican rosary. I was merely remarking that they have their beads structured differently than the others.

Ah, yes.

 

[Albion]

heh I just got another rosary in the mail today..get on Catholic mailing lists and your box is never empty

You're on a better mailing list that I am! All I get are scapulars and OFFERS to buy rosaries.

 

[Rhamiel]

Hey dude
I do, not often but on occasion~~I have 7 of 'em btw...why are ya askin'?

just wondering, I wanted to make a thread that was about catholic stuff but did not end in horrible debate, so i thought this one up

For us the Jesus prayer is more popular but there's no rule against saying the rosary either.

i pray the Jesus prayer a bit, i hear some people pray it with every breath but that practice is frowned upon by some EO bishops?

I have looked into Anglican prayer beads, and their four weeks of seven each (as apposed to five decades of ten each, on a Catholic rosary). I started praying it when I found my great-grandmother's rosary, so I began on a Catholic rosary. I also have a finger rosary (one decade), from the church at Ground Zero.

The history of the Catholic rosary is from monks praying the 150 Psalms during the day (three sets of the rosary). The Orthodox prayer rope, with its 50 or 100 knots, comes from the same history. The Anglican four-week rosary is newer, and has broken from that history with its own counting system.

I don't think it matters which rosary you use. It is merely a tool to assist in meditative prayer.

the history of the rosary is that St.Dominic had a vision of the Virgin Mary and she gave him the set of prayers and meditations in the rosary
in the 20th century our Lady gave a prayer at Fatima and that was added to the Rosary and also Pope John Paul II added an extra set of mysteries

 

[Rhamiel]

interesting, in both this thread and its sister thread in the liberal sub-forum, a lot of people have said that they pray the rosary but not the same set of prayers as the Catholics do, I am kind of surprised by this, I don't know why but I just guessed that either people would pray it the Catholic way or be so turned off by the idea that they would not even touch one

 

[Albion]

the history of the rosary is that St.Dominic had a vision of the Virgin Mary and she gave him the set of prayers and meditations in the rosary
in the 20th century our Lady gave a prayer at Fatima and that was added to the Rosary and also Pope John Paul II added an extra set of mysteries

That's the story or at least a brief overview of it, but Synger is actually correct. The origins of the rosary go back a half-dozen centuries before that to the time when laymen who wanted to be like the monks but weren't considered capable of doing the Daily Office were advised to participate in spirit by saying the psalms, then the Lord's Prayer, and counting them with a string of stones, pebbles, or knots. This style of counting prayers seems to have come from hindu usage. Then came St. Dominic and, after that, a whole series of modifications made by various popes over the centuries.

a lot of people have said that they pray the rosary but not the same set of prayers as the Catholics do, I am kind of surprised by this, I don't know why but I just guessed that either people would pray it the Catholic way or be so turned off by the idea that they would not even touch one

More are probably in the "not even touch one" category than those that pray the rosary with modifications, but there are a significant number of Anglo-Catholics and Lutherans who do use the rosary, often saying only the Biblical part of the Hail Mary (as Synger also noted).

 

[TheCatholic]

the history of the rosary is that St.Dominic had a vision of the Virgin Mary and she gave him the set of prayers and meditations in the rosary
in the 20th century our Lady gave a prayer at Fatima and that was added to the Rosary and also Pope John Paul II added an extra set of mysteries

I thought the history had to do with the fact that priests and monks used to chant the Psalms every night. And since the village peasants could not read and didn't have much scripture memorized, they fell into the habit of chanting the few prayers that they did know, sort of following the style of what the monks did.

 

[Aibrean]

There are "alternate" rosaries.

Something like these: Lutheran Rosary http://www.giftsofaith.com/Files/lutheranrosary.pdf

 

[CaliforniaJosiah]

do any non-catholics pray the rosary?

i know of some who do, i was just wondering if this was part of any of your devotions, i would have asked in GT but that place can get so negative, so i asked here insted, I might ask in the liberal section too

1. Check out this old thread of mine in GT. http://www.christianforums.com/t4642849/


2. I've prayed it many times, and own a very beautiful Rosary that was a gift to me from the parents of my best friend. I've even taught the Rosary (including to Catholics!).


3. I have no major "issues" with it except for the Trent added, "... Mary pray for us now and at the moment of our death." I'm not opposed to that change, but I regard it as questionable since we don't know that Mary prays for us for that she NEEDS to pray for us at the moment of our death. There are a FEW other customs associated with it that I'm just a TAD uncomfortable with. And then there is the issue of repetition. I'm not really terribly embracing of such no matter where it flows ("yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, yes, yes" in that Comtemporary Song sung 14.8 billion times kinda gets to me, too). But I don't know how any could be opposed to the Lord's Prayer, the Creed and remembering Scriptures.... This is an organized way to do that. Seems okay to me. And I KNOW it is a great spiritual blessing in the lives of millions. Kinda hard to knock that.



MY $0.01...


Pax


- Josiah




.

 

[CaliforniaJosiah]

There are "alternate" rosaries.

Something like these: Lutheran Rosary http://www.giftsofaith.com/Files/lutheranrosary.pdf

.

 

[Ave Maria]

Why would I pray the rosary? The rosary unBiblical.

(Matthew 6:7 KJV) But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Besides, we are not to pray or speak to the dead.

(Deuteronomy 18:10 ESV) There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer
(Deuteronomy 18:11 ESV) or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,
(Deuteronomy 18:12 ESV) for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.