Prayers are part of the spiritual practices of almost all religions, however, the execution of prayer rules in different traditions is different. The texts differ, and the way of reading, and even the motives.
Christianity
Direct indications of the need for prayer are found repeatedly in the Gospel. In the Gospel of Matthew, instructing his disciples, Jesus Christ tells them: "Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
In the Gospel of Mark: "Look, stay awake, pray, for you do not know when that time will come", in the Gospel of Luke: "So, stay awake at all times and pray."
The apostles also called for prayer. The Apostle Paul in First Epistle to Thessalonians urges: "Pray incessantly."
In the Christian church, in addition to the liturgy, since ancient times there have been established 8 daily services: Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Matins, 1, 3, 6 and 9 hours with inter-hours. For the laity, morning and evening prayer rules are traditionally considered mandatory. They can be complete or concise.
The attitude to prayer in Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism is different.
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The ideal in Orthodox hesychasm is an ungraded prayer. The Monk Meletios the Confessor said: "Those who see nothing in their prayers, see God."
In Catholicism, and even more so in Protestantism, prayer is more "personal" and "object" in nature.
In the order of the Jesuits Ignatius Loyola, a Catholic saint, there was even a kind of meditation of a special nature: “Imagine mentally huge tongues of flame and souls as if enclosed in red-hot bodies. Hear reproaches, weeping and cries, the surrender of the curse of Jesus Christ and His saints."
In Orthodoxy, the attitude towards prayer is exactly the opposite. Theophan the Recluse wrote: “When you meditate on the Divine, then you can imagine the Lord as required. But no images should be kept during prayer. If you allow images, then there is a danger - to start praying to a dream."
The main Christian prayer is "Our Father", or the Lord's Prayer. It is found in the Gospels of Luke and in the Gospel of Mark.
Also one of the most used is the Jesus Prayer, which is fundamental in the practice of hesychasm. It is also called mind-heart doing, heart-making, mental prayer, secret prayer, sacred prayer, heartfelt prayer, closure of the mind and heart, sobriety, keeping the mind.
In Christianity (and in Orthodoxy, and in Catholicism, and in Protestantism), for the convenience of reading the prayer rules, it is allowed to use a rosary. In Catholicism, there are even types of prayers (rosary, whisk) intended for reading on a rosary.
In Orthodoxy, the rosary is rather an attribute of monks, laymen are advised to ask for blessings for their use. Historically, rosary beads in the Orthodox tradition have become an attribute of believers due to low literacy, when prayers were read from memory. The obligatory use of rosary beads is preserved by the Old Believers.
Catholic rosary (rosary) consists of 50 grains, divided into five decades. Prayer beads with 33 and 150 grains can also be used. The rosary symbolically means the "crown of faith" of roses.
Orthodox rosary beads can have a different number of beads, but most often a rosary with 33 beads is used, according to the number of earthly years of Christ's life, or in multiples of 10 or 12.
In the Old Believers of almost all consents, the lestovka is actively used - a rosary in the form of a ribbon with 109 "bobbles" ("steps"), divided into unequal groups. Ladder symbolically means a staircase from earth to heaven.
Judaism
Before the Second Kingdom era, there were no regular obligatory prayers in Judaism. A Jew could turn to the Lord at any time in any form. The main part of the divine service was made up of sacrifices.
The prayer rules of Judaism were regulated in the 6th century BC. after the Babylonian captivity.
The main prayer in Judaism is amida, which is also called "Shmon-Esré", which translates as "18" (the number of blessings included in it). In the second century, one more was added to these eighteen blessings - against heretics and informers, but the old name has been preserved.
Since the reading of Amida is a substitute for temple sacrifices, it is read three times a day - in the morning (shaharit), afternoon (mincha) and evening (ma'ariv) prayers.
The main Jewish prayer is often mistakenly called "Shema Yisrael" ("Hear, Israel"), but the Sefer Mitzvot (Book of Commandments) lists the duties to pray and read Shema as different commandments.
It is more correct to call Shema a declaration of the Jewish faith, it is a liturgical text consisting of 4 quotations from the Pentateuch. It declares the oneness of God, love for Him and loyalty to His commandments (“The Lord is your God, the Lord is one”).
In Judaism, the recitation of some prayers can only be performed in a minyan - a group of ten Jews over 13 years old. There is endless debate in halachic literature as to who can enter the minyan.
Thus, the debatable question is whether a sleeping person is considered a participant in the minyan, and also whether a person in a state of intoxication can enter the minyan.
As for the latter, an exception is made for a drunken drunkard, if the rest of the minyan can confirm that he "understands everything."
There have been many interesting moments in the history of Judaism related to the history of prayer services. For example, the state authorities of non-Jewish countries where Jews lived were suspicious of the prayer "Kol nidrei" ("All vows"), in which the Jews, on the eve of the Day of Judgment, renounce their vows, vows and oaths given during the year.
In the Russian Empire, in all prayer books, "Kol Nidrei" was printed with the obligatory explanation that we are talking exclusively about religious vows, and "God will save everyone to think that we are allowing to break the oaths and oaths given to the government or before a court and in general in relation to the interests of another face ".
With the rise of Hasidism, prayer took an even more important place in the religious life of the Jews.
Among the Hasidim, prayer has a meaning as a way of cognizing the Creator and familiarizing with the transcendental. In the book "Tania" (the fundamental book of Hasidism) it is directly indicated that in our time the main form of service to the Almighty is not the study of the Torah, but prayer.
Islam
In Islam, there are two types of prayers: namaz (obligatory prayers) and dua (arbitrary prayers).
Mandatory and most important in Islam are 5 daily ritual prayers: Fajr (pre-dawn prayer), Zuhr (midday prayer), Asr (afternoon prayer), Maghreb (sunset prayer) and Isha night prayer.
The importance of the prayer rule in Islam is very great. Prophet Muhammad said: "Know that the best of your deeds is prayer!"
One of the hadiths also says: "The first thing a person will be asked about on the day of Judgment is about the time of prayer."
If possible, then righteous Muslims should strive for prayer in the mosque, if this is not possible, then almost any place is suitable for prayer.
Before the obligatory prayer, the call to her sounds - Azan, which is a manifestation of piety.
To recite namaz, several rules must be followed. Firstly, before praying, an orthodox Muslim must perform ablution (full or partial), and secondly, prayer must be performed in an undefiled place, free from impurity - nadjas. The believer should be turned towards the Kaaba, a Muslim shrine.
The cleanliness of a Muslim's clothing is also important, as well as its proportionality: the attire should cover the awrah - places that, according to Sharia, should be closed (for a man - a part of the body from the navel to the knees, for a woman - the whole body, except for the face, hands and feet) …
When performing namaz, a Muslim believer must have a sincere pure intention, and also be in a sober mind, since alcohol and drugs in Islam are strictly prohibited. This is haram.
Dua (arbitrary prayers) in Islam are for all occasions. Righteous Muslims know that Allah hears any prayer, therefore, both oral and "silent" dua are allowed, which are pronounced aloud or "to oneself" in the language in which it is more convenient for the believer to express himself.
Also in Islam there is dhikr - a spiritual practice, which consists in the repeated repetition of prayer formulas glorifying Allah.
When performing dhikr, Muslim rosaries (except for Wahhabism) are usually used, which are called subha, misbaha or tasbih. Usually they consist of 99 beads, according to the number of names of Allah.
Buddhism and Hinduism
There is still no consensus among religious scholars as to whether the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Hare Krishna mantras can be considered prayers. It is also debatable whether the mechanical process of turning prayer wheels in Lamaism can be considered a prayer.
Mantras are sacred Sanskrit texts accepted in the above religions. As a rule, believers are required to accurately repeat its sounds.
Both the words of the mantra and every sound in them have a meaning. One of the most famous mantras is the sacred sound "Om".
Russian theologian Alexei Ilyich Osipov believes that mantras are different from Orthodox prayers. He writes: “Mantras, being something outwardly similar to prayer, more precisely to prayer spells, have a completely different character. They are associated with a belief in the efficacy of the spoken words themselves, often without regard to understanding their meaning. We find this in Hindu practice, for example, in mantra-japa, which calls on a person to pronounce the name of God as much as possible, more often, faster, which in itself purifies a person, brings him into a state of samadhi."
Mantra recitation is often done with a rosary. In Buddhism, the traditional number of beads in a rosary is 108. Each rosary bead is used twice: the first time, when a practitioner recites a full circle of mantras - 108, the second, when the number of mantras recited exceeds 1000, that is, 10 times 108.
Hindu rosary beads (rudraksha) usually contain 108, 54 or 50 (according to the number of letters in the Indian alphabet) grains.
In Hinduism, there is also the practice of rangoli, which is sometimes also conventionally associated with prayer. When it is done, a certain ornament is drawn on a plane with paints or sand. Tibetan monks use the practice of rangoli to create sand mandalas.