How-To: The Orthodox Prayer Corner

[@sunriseschubert4391]

I'm new at learning about orthodox Christianity. I have a corner in my bedroom with the icons of Jesus Christ and virgin Mary.

[@fredfredburger6623]

Wonderful place to start!

[@radicalgreek99]

My mother's side of the family were marched out of Constantinople and did fight the ottoman empire at the time for Greek independence.

[@clarencebaldwin2424]

Hagia Sophia will be liberated one day.

[@alexandermarkus9587]

We stand before God and the Holy Icons. We venerate them with incence, candles, oil lamps, flowers, kissing, prostrations, kneeling, bowing, prayers, chanting

[@peterzinya1]

God says he wants us to make images and bow befor them. Ive got a life size Mary statue. Im gonna jump on her back and ride her all the way to heaven.

[@annalynn9325]

I decided to go ahead and use olive oil lamps with floating wicks instead of candles, because votive and pillar candles never seem to burn completely. I was pleasantly surprised how beautifully these oil lamps glow.

[@ianmackenzie686]

Would you please tell me where you buy the floating wicks? I can't find them anywhere, not even the local Catholic store.

[@annalynn9325]

@@ianmackenzie686 Legacy Icons

[@palikariatl]

@@ianmackenzie686, Google “Athonite cork float”

[@STMukr]

I remove all oil lamps due to cats. They are everywhere and already a many have overflow of oil. I buy wax candles from monastery. In my case.

[@THERAPEUTIC279]

All saints prayer for me, mercy and forgiveness… Blessings abundant. AMEN. 🙏🏾

[@MikhailKrilov]

The first Icon came to me from Romania, and remains in our family, it's over 300 years old. Don't forget to give these to your church for at least 40 days if you can! Many blessings, thanks for these virtual sermons 🙏

[@colmwhateveryoulike3240]

I live alone and have my prayer wall in my room at the east wall so I say all my prayers there except the Hours I am away and mealtime prayers. I didn't realise compline was communal but that makes sense as it has chanting in it. Unless I'm wrong about that. At the moment I'm struggling to fit all of them in everyday and don't always and I suppose that's a good struggle even though it makes me feel bad for being so astoundingly lazy and ungrateful.

[@colmwhateveryoulike3240]

I like what you said about losing ourselves watching tv or finding ourselves praying. I grew up without a tv and never want one based on my observations from that point of view but the mobile phone effectively plays the same role - sometimes and sometimes not, which is why it is difficult to just abandon - and that is exactly what I feel torn between: a desire to switch off versus a desire to switch on.

[@OrthodoxEthos]

It forces us to struggle, to concentrate, to focus, to become better stewards of our time, it is certainly a challenge but with God‘s grace we can navigate it and keep the Temptations at bay.

[@colmwhateveryoulike3240]

@@OrthodoxEthos Thank you Father, you have encouraged me. Now a new question arises - is it appropriate to say "God bless you" to a priest? I saw somebody say it wasn't.

[@marieegypt7091]

@@colmwhateveryoulike3240 That's a good question. As a former RC/papal Protestant we always said God bless you to people, especiallywhen leaving them or hanging up the phone. I don't hear Orthodox saying it but rather 'God be with you". Now I say 'Panagia mazimas'...which means may the Mother of God be with you.

[@colmwhateveryoulike3240]

@@marieegypt7091 Ah interesting, thank you. I was protestant once too.

[@ammazer1229]

Pointing your furniture to the icon corner makes such a difference. It becomes the natural state for your home thus making it easier to point yourself towards God.

[@CenterPorchNP]

I have two. One in my living room centered on the largest wall, and one in my bedroom where I do my personal prayers and devotions. I do have a TV, but it is only on the weather channel.

[@christinacatherine3]

I cant wait till we are out of this rental so we can hang up ALL our icons up again! 📿📿

[@mik569]

You can't in rental homes?

[@christinacatherine3]

@@mik569 depends on the landlord.

[@wayfaring_stranger1413]

​@@christinacatherine3eh, I would anyways

[@meangreenmememachine2890]

based ✋🏻

[@aaronwagner2514]

I am a Confessional Lutheran and have an icon of Jesus with three candles that is used for morning and evening prayers in my home. It does set up the environment to set one's eyes of Christ. Thank you for posting this video.

[@peterzinya1]

God loves images. Jesus spoke of little else.

[@gerardgrywacheski1418]

My icon corner is more of a wall facing east with prayer books, a Bible and a prayer rope. With a few icons dedicated to the Saints who I have grown close to as guides in my spiritual life.

[@jarrilaurila]

Same here.

[@ირაკლიმაისურაძე-ნ8დ]

we are also ortodox and we have a iconconer also at home

[@znovosad555]

Honestly my phone has been my biggest struggle, that I’ve started to take good control over. It’s very distracting. Instead of praying, or reading, or doing something productive I sit and watch mindless ness. Sometimes I watch spiritual content like right now, but a fair amount is distracting. That said my icon corner is in my bedroom and I use my nightstand as my area for my prayer book, I hang my cross necklace on the wall in the evening, and I place my prayer rope there. My current icons are now I have Theotokos, Christ the Savior and The Creation of the Stars. I use beeswax candles myself but I have considered doing oil lamps in addition. It’s simple but a great place to pray. And I like it because it’s there for my evening bedtime prayers as well. It’s a quiet place I can be alone with God and try to focus on prayer

[@ianmackenzie686]

Try starting by insisting that the phone be used primarily for religious then educational purposes. Condition yourself so that when you notice you're noodling and bs-ing on the phone, put it down and do something useful. Modern technology is an incredible blessing yet so so easy to misuse.

[@katiejo1095]

Thank you for this video.

[@oliveinsat566]

Am I allowed to make an icon corner if I'm not orthodox yet? I'm just trying to learn as much as I can but I want to be able to pray and feel closer to God. Hope I can get to orthodox church soon. I have A LOT to learn. So much to learn.

[@OrthodoxEthos]

Of course. Keep going step-by-step. Go and visit the local parish and meet the priest.

[@oliveinsat566]

@@OrthodoxEthos Thank you! I will. I have many questions.

[@chinupduck4849]

Thanks for asking Olive, i had the same question and am happy to read the answer you got.

[@Tarilenkic]

What is the best place to keep ikons in a studio apartment? Many write that the ikons should not be kept in a bedroom. A studio apartment is basically one room apartment: a bedroom, living room, kitchen, which is at the same time a room with TV, which unholy content you hear from it. Is it okay to keep ikons in a studio apartment?

[@grunerteedaughter3298]

A tragedy indeed! I lost so many years being lost in either fantasy fodder novels, tv shows, internet forums! I noticed I am mentally much more brittle that my grandparents who didn't have a tv but were farmers or even my parents, that grew up with maybe 1 hour of TV / week. This can ruin a child's attention span and his capacity for spirituality

[@ProtestantismLeftBehind]

Question: I converted to Orthodoxy from Protestantism. I brought my wife and kids to a Protestant faith. Now they see me as losing my way. With that in mind, I have one icon of Christ and a candle. I’d like to get more icons. But fear they will be thrown out when I’m not home. What do I do?

[@johnnyd2383]

Place their pictures in between icons and let them know it is a wall of the people you love the most.

[@iwannabeacatechumen7584]

Is there a good website we can buy a hand painted Icons?

[@Livingtabitha]

I wish icons were a little cheaper. It will take me 100 years to have a set like that lol.

[@mik569]

If you go to a local Orthodox Church they usually sell them for cheap. They just don't advertise it online. Going in person for the second time today was an amazing experience and my young son and I getting a blessing from the Father (instead of taking communion as we're not baptized). It was truly Holy.

[@jeremyfirth]

Where does one find hand-painted icons? How does one go about commissioning an icon, or purchasing one that has already been painted by an iconographer? I live in the US and I have no idea where to even begin looking. Thank you for your youtube ministry, Father.

[@vezalisaristidis1358]

On Instagram you can find many accounts run by people crating hand-painted icons !

[@vezalisaristidis1358]

*creating

[@vezalisaristidis1358]

@marina_iconography and many more !

[@jeremyfirth]

@@vezalisaristidis1358 Thank you, but I don't have instagram, nor facebook, nor twitter.

[@crosmanchallenger1]

Glory to Jesus Christ! You could email your hand painted icon request at: [e-mail] The icons for my company are hand-painted by iconographers at the Theological Academy here in Tbilisi, Georgia and cost roughly $200-$500 depending on the size. 10% of the proceeds will also go towards the pan-Orthodox charitable organization Orthodox Africa. Additional information can be found in the following link: www.ryassa.ge/custom-icons/

[@laurac5451]

I can't afford Icons but I will paint some

[@1bonatsos]

I have been using my kandilothiki/ oil lamp with olive oil. I have heard some say you can put half olive oil and half water with your floating Wick. Does it burn less black smoke with pure olive oil? rather than water and olive oil?

[@OrthodoxEthos]

The water is put as a protection against fire. So when the wick burns down to the water it goes out.

[@KyleNewsom-v8x]

What funny is since I have become Orthodox I find "iconography" in children's Bibles and There call Abraham "father" in a book I had for years I just couldn't see the hypocrisy (unintentional as it is)

[@jasonsworld333]

It astounds me that the Western World is "Christian" yet habe no knowledge of our actual heritage and by that i mean early church

[@calebmartinez1529]

I am slowly building an icon corner like the top middle one in my room, but I don’t know where to get nice big ones like that. And my mother won’t allow me to have incense nor candles in my room because of fire hazards

[@J0HN5AW]

Can Orthodox Christians write their own icons and get them blessed? Who in the Orthodox Church can bless icons?

[@mik569]

The Father! At an OCA Orthodox Church of America location 😊 or whichever Church is nearest honestly. ROCOR Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia or the Greek Orthodox Church of America. The Divine Liturgy is what is important. As soon as you go, you'll understand so much better. I had the same questions. Even worse, I downloaded, printed, framed "Icons" from a place that is owned by a Hindu Pagan. One of the most popular and well known mass producers. It's called "Holy Icons". There is nothing Holy about it. Burn them. Don't throw them out. They sell non Christian items, New Age, and apparently do Hindu & Christian prayers combined to "bless the orders". So stay away. Online legitimate places are St. Elizabeth Convent in Belarus, Legacy Icons is online, American owned. They are approved of and can work with any budget. There are items from Mount Athos like prayer ropes, handmade incense that is the same as 2000+ years ago, made the exact same way. Hand painted Icons can be expensive (local churches sometimes charge less than online) but the Holiness they bring to your house, is indescribable. I'm in Canada and attended the Divine Liturgy at a Romanian OCA church and it was life changing. Christ is risen ☦️ May the Most Holy Theotokos save us.

[@DKjellby]

If you have been trained and learned from another iconographer and received a blessing to paint icons, then yes.

[@maryshandmaid3084]

Is it okay to paint your own icon instead of buy it?

[@OrthodoxEthos]

Have you been trained and learned from another iconographer and received a blessing to paint icons? Then, yes.

[@maryshandmaid3084]

@@OrthodoxEthos Good to know. Thank you

[@kollectiononthetrak9342]

Not to be "that guy" but I believe icons are written not painted, because they're the inspired word of god. I'm not the biggest orthodox Christian but I know a little🤣 god bless ☦️ Edit: not that it REALLY matters OP get their point across fine I just thought it was a neat detail to add

[@Tarilenkic]

Talk to a Priest. All Ikons need to be blessed in church. ❤ ☦️

[@Ymirson999]

If you stated it in the video and I missed it, I apologize, but why is the patron saint in the center and not Jesus? Just seeking understanding.

[@JosephStrahan-z1r]

Could someone help me to find some nice incense burners, charcoal, oil lamps.

[@alexandermarkus9587]

Women have to cover their hair during prayer. Also at home. It is a sin to pray without.

[@LadyMaria]

I've never heard that we have to at home, only church.

[@alexandermarkus9587]

@@LadyMaria OF course! Usually a pious orthodox women always covers her hair. But especially during prayer. When she stands infront of God. A woman should never pray with hair uncovered.

[@alexandermarkus9587]

@@LadyMaria Look for serbian "hadji Theodora" she shows how to cover your head, how to pray, how to prostrate,

[@alexandermarkus9587]

@@LadyMaria At home is also a church, the house church. With Holy Icons, incence, candles, oil lamps,

[@maryshandmaid3084]

1 Corinthians 11:5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.

[@okiebasil]

Is it true that an icon featuring Christ should be at the highest position in an icon corner? I have the center icons of Christ and the Theotokos, but have icons of saints surrounding them.

[@johnnyd2383]

If you look at the frescoes arrangement inside the Orthodox building, at the highest point (i.e. dome) it is an icon of the Lord. However, his icons are found in many places where He is not on top position (i.e. iconostasis). You won't be wrong by placing His icon on the top position. If you can position extra one on top in your corner, you may get another one and affix it there w/o disturbing current arrangements.

[@TinaICXCNIKA]

Thank you #TheOrthodoxEthos I'm very new here and have been seeking (for lack of a better term) an Orthodoxy 101A kind of book but am having so much trouble with that. Might this be a real book? >"How to Orthodoxy: A Practical Guide". If so, where can I buy it (not seeing it in any of the links)?

[@0utc4st1985]

I've heard "The Law of God" is good, although I haven't read it myself. If your local Orthodox church has a bookstore you can see what catechism books they have and ask what's recommended.

[@malibudolphin3109]

Do you have a priest to ask? Call a solid monastery, they usually sell books. Art of Salvation By Elder Ephraim of Arizona is good. St. Anthony Monastery of Arizona was his home base in America, they have a bookstore. Some churches esp bigger ones have free booklets on numerous topics, good introductions. Practical Pray was good.

[@cornpop6969]

Is it okay to have an icon corner in the bedroom? I thought I read somewhere that past revered patriarchs of the Church did not condone that since it is a place of marital copulation? I’m an inquirer of the Church and would love to have an icon corner in my husband and my bedroom but wanted more information on it. Thank you and God bless!

[@OrthodoxEthos]

The main icon corner should be in the center of the house where the entire family prays. Should you have another icon corner in your room? Yes. For your private prayers. Your prayer rope. . . Etc.

[@cornpop6969]

@@OrthodoxEthos thank you so much for the information! If our center of the home doesn’t face East, is it acceptable to create the icon corner somewhere else?

[@geozaharia3715]

​@ornpop6969 Da, se poate, la sud sau nord, nu și la vest

[@chriseleuterius]

Is there any particular direction?

[@geozaharia3715]

Est

[@iCarryBoatsAndTheLogs]

Can somebody explain to me why we have pictures when it says in the Bible not to? I’m very new so I find this very confusing. Please explain, with love ☦️

[@ourdailybread1099]

In the bible they built icons, so the bible doesn't give a hard no. Also, what is so wrong about telling the gospel through images and art? Look at the early church fathers who were lead by the Holy Spirit, study the ancient church and its practices.

[@johnnyd2383]

Short but effective video providing an answer to your question: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3TMqZmogr5og6c

[@xixellonje]

Hello Father. I wanted to ask regarding a topic which I received different opinions from different fathers (monks and married priests). Is it acceptable to hold your prayer corner with the Holy Icons in the bedroom? You mentioned it a bit that you could. However, I hear lots of different opinions on this and I am a bit confused. I hold my corner prayer in the bedroom with a sleepless olive oil lamp and someone told me it's not acceptable since it shows a lack of respect. Respectfully!

[@Jeffrey_k96]

Any room is better than no room

[@violettaioannou8183]

N'a milate elinika pâtir d'en katalavenw englkia please thanks you

[@mariopiazza3379]

We must always understand that we living in this world are in a fallen state of being, we are seperate from God. That's why Paul said to die is gain The 2nd comment is "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them” I believe that this Commandment is there so that we can focus on the fact of the rebirth and that Christ lives in us. Because there's always the tendency for weakness in man to focus not on the power of Christ in us but on material objects. Jesus Christ is the great and powerful God the almighty creator of all the heaven and all the Earth who sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us God bless

[@flearhcp]

Sometimes the lack of objects and icons lead to idolatry. That is a false “idea” of God because the symbols of him are not present.

[@mariopiazza3379]

@@flearhcp Christianity is a relationship with the creator of the heaven and the Earth. He is our Father who is in heaven his name is absolutely hallowed and precious. He created a way for us to be reunited to him because we transgressed and disobeyed his perfect way of life. He sent us his son to die on a cross pay for our transgressions so that we may live. Then he gave us his holy spirit to guide us and be with us. What more do we need did the apostles never carry any icons or images or whatever to keep themselves in the faith. Nothing is needed only Jesus Christ in US which is the Hope of glory. If we carry any icons or images it is only to remind people that are not saved that this is what we believe in. Like early Christians used to draw images of fish to show that they were Fishers of Men. And now we use the cross tell people that we believe in the one who was crucified for our sins. God bless

[@flearhcp]

@@mariopiazza3379 I agree with all you said, it almost reads like a creed. Would you also agree that if Jesus is all you need for salvation, you don't need the bible? Or you don't need to pray or go to church? Icons are the color of what words are to the bible.

[@Razamaniac]

@@mariopiazza3379 If only you knew how much good the Icons did in ages when Christians were persecuted and even not allowed to have basic aducation, people were learning faith fom the icons, becaus they could not read.

[@laurelin3422]

Can you paint your own icons?

[@DKjellby]

If you have been trained and learned from another iconographer and received a blessing to paint icons, then yes.

[@mikerey864]

Is a Orthodox prayer corner the same as an alter?

[@johnnyd2383]

Nope. If you are looking for an analogue it would be more like iconostasis at the church building.

[@DKjellby]

No.

[@Golden_writes550]

Why are they so expensive?

[@johnnyd2383]

Not everywhere... do not rush, find a place where they are for sale at a reasonable price and have them shipped to you.

[@John-rw9vm]

Can it have a wall crucifix ?

[@fredfredburger6623]

Yes. Though generally the cross is used to blessing the bed during the evening prayers so I suggest making it easy to remove for that purpose

[@OrthodoxEthos]

Yes

[@colmwhateveryoulike3240]

​@@fredfredburger6623 My priest gave me a standing cross for my corner - should I be using that other than for kissing it?

[@fredfredburger6623]

@@colmwhateveryoulike3240 you can use the same cross for many purposes

[@colmwhateveryoulike3240]

@@fredfredburger6623 So in my evening prayers when it says the following, should I hold the cross in my hand while making the sign of the cross? "Then kiss thy Cross, and make the sign of the Cross from the head to the foot of the bed, and likewise from side to side, while saying: (The Prayer to the Cross)"

[@ValidityJ]

ST LAVRENITY. Not St Lazarus.

[@sanja5580]

Father, do we put kandilo in every room or the main one only?

[@marieegypt7091]

Yes. He said that. You can put one in front of the icons in each room.

[@sanja5580]

@@marieegypt7091 thanks

[@marieegypt7091]

@@sanja5580 You are welcome. God be with you and the Holy Spirit enlighten you on the path of salvation.

[@colmwhateveryoulike3240]

Is that a candle?

[@marieegypt7091]

@@colmwhateveryoulike3240... An oil lamp since it can burn continuously.

[@mireaman1]

Defeat the devil

[@jamesbaird1342]

Your audio is very bad.