Prayer advice

There can be a lot of pitfalls when it comes to prayer, and you really should have a spiritual father or priest let you know what you should do. Many times when people convert they are really excited and want to jump in quickly and do a lot of things, and then get very burned out. A spiritual father or priest can help you do the right amount of prayers to start... and when the times comes to do more and more, then he'll let you know. As far as kneeling, prostrations and so on, this should be talked over with your priest as well. Many people are different, and its always good to talk with a spiritual father. It teach us obedience and humilty which helps us in prayer. I remember reading something from a book on Elder Cleopa about doing things too quickly. (Excuse me for not writing it directly...but I don't have the book, so it will have to be in my own words.) He basically said, that a man who is going to cut wood on the mountain knows that he can not cut down the whole forest immediately and load up his wagon and go down the mountian. He would be killed! The wagon would overtake him, and crush him. He knows that instead he should work slowly, taking only what his wagon can hold, and slowly put surely he can work away at the forest. There is so many wonderful things to learn in Orthodoxy, I've been Orthodox 13 years and still learning! God bless!

Kneeling is for repentance so if you're praying why not kneel if you're able? I would suggest not doing it between Pascha and Pentecost as this is a time for celebration. I can't imagine not praying in front of Icons now(convert). They help keep my focus on God, and that's important right now as i take heavy painkillers; concentration is not my friend, and i'm often dazed and confused. There's a ton of sites where you can either d/l Icons to your PC, or order them on-line. You can never have too many Icons in my honest opinion! Prayer books rarely differ in Orthodox circles in my experience. My family has several including an Ethiopian set, and there isn't much change; a few added in theirs, and that's about it. We use a prayer book our parish made as a fundraiser; we were attending St. Herman of Alaska at the time. It has 2 akathists, one to our Lord, and one to our Theotokos, pre/post Communion prayers, and several others. Not sure if it's still available, but if you do purchase one try to get one made by a parish, or monastery, for fundraising; they need our help. I hope this helps, and God bless you on your life's journey. Your unworthy servant, Chuck

If I may piggyback a little on your question and ask what can be recommended as a daily Orthodox devotional, if there is one. I've asked my priest and he can't think of any. I do have a nice little book with prayers, but what I had in mind was one that followed the Church liturical year. For instance, specific OT and NT readings, chants, writings of the Fathers for each day of the years, depending on the time of the Church year.

My husband and I have a church calendar, which has the OT and NT readings for each day, as well as which saint is commemorated that day. Then we read the Scripture reading, and then read the saint of the day from the Orthodox Prolouge which you should be able to get from your church. If you can't you can get it let me know and I'll try and find it for you.

Check out the new Orthodox Study Bible from Nelson Publisher. It has prayers, daily readings, explanations from the early church fathers and mini lectures on various topics. Fr. G.