While on the subject I'm curious -
What is the significance of the prayer rope?
Why is the Jesus prayer (I've always heard it "Oh Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner") affiliated with the prayer rope?
Are other prayers appropriate to say on the prayer rope? (Such as first knot "our father", Second knot a psalm, third knot a hymn sung silently, etc.)
What purpose does a prayer rope serve for either the person using it, or significance to God?
I used one when I was a child, but I never understood it.
TMI to write, try a google search.
But basically it was started so that the monks (obedience given to them) can keep good count of the number of prayers they had to say. they wernt educated back then and some them did not even know how to count. try saying 100x the Jesus prayer and not be worried if you did it 100x. very difficult to do. so they used various methods a bag of stones, making knots on a rope, notches on a stick...none were as convenient as the prayer rope, for portability and accuracy. and the story goes the devil would come and un-knot the prayer knot rope as the monk was doing his prayers to confuse him. note I'm referring to a piece of rope you would make knots in as u said a prayer. and that's why the prayer rope was made with the special knots that contain crosses in it so the demons cant touch it and mess with the monk.
do a search there is more to the history.
Thanks for the info. Will do some googling too.
