Anglican Prayer Beads or Rosary Revisited

I’ve mentioned before that I love praying with beads. The Anglican rosary blends the Roman Catholic rosary and the Orthodox Jesus Prayer rope together to be used as a form of contemplative prayer.

The practice of praying with beads among Christians dates all the way back to the Desert Fathers in the third century though use faded with the Reformation and was even banned by some Reformers.

The rosary survived in the Church of England though use faded over time. In America, Roman Catholics and various Orthodox congregations kept the practice or praying the rosary alive. I grew up praying the rosary in the Roman Catholic Church and was overjoyed to find the practice alive and well in The Episcopal Church. I came to learn that Anglican prayer beads are fairly new to the church in the United States. During the 1980s, an Episcopal priest and his congregation renewed the practice using a simplified design with a cross rather than a crucifix and used prayers based heavily on scripture.

As a person called to a life of prayer, I find the rosary a very useful transition tool. It often isn’t easy for me to divorce myself form my daily busy-ness as a homeschooling mom to enter into the quiet presence of God in prayer. I write a little more about it here. I also use my beads as a vehicle to intercessory prayer.

On my busier days, I fall back to my routine memorized prayer (Celtic Prayer) using my beloved beads. On better days I’ve been trying to pray the Christian seasons using Praying With Beads, Daily Prayers for the Christian Year, by Nan L. Doerr and Virginia S. Owens.

While exploring Lent and Beyond this morning I was excited to find this new (to me) devotion to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit using Anglican prayer beads.

If interested in praying with the Anglican rosary, a wide variety of beads and prices are available on Esty. You can also easily make your own!

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