Thank you for asking this dear mascot! There is really a lot to be said because praying with beads is a practice that has been around for centuries and exists in other religions besides Christianity. My brochure says this:
(SimplyPray is the name of my Etsy store)
About Prayer Beads from SimplyPray… What is prayer?
What is prayer? It’s something that should be as natural and simple as breathing. It is, simply put, speaking our heart to our Father God who loves to have us come to Him.
We most often pray alone, but we also pray in groups; and we ask others to pray on our behalf. We use words even though God already knows our hearts and our needs at all times. And words have their uses, focusing our attention, often changing the state of our hearts and helping us clarify our thoughts. If we don’t have words that seem just right, often we repeat what others have written and especially we pray the words that Jesus gave the disciples for us. I believe that our Loving Father accepts and cherishes every honest and seeking heart that comes to Him with whatever words they put together.
Prayer beads are a devotional tool and offer a pattern to follow for formal prayer. They are not magic. But they are used and appreciated by many and so I offer them to you. Often holding them helps focus the mind, keeping thoughts from wandering, and achieving a sense of solemnity. Even just seeing them laid by can be a reminder to pray.
Using beads during prayer is something that is really very ancient, having a rich history reaching back in time even past the Middle Ages. It is thought that the Hindus were the first to use them but many others followed and with many different beliefs and prayers. The elders of the Eastern and Greek Orthodox churches developed a prayer rope with knots to keep track of the repetitions of the Jesus Prayer; called a chotki or komboskini, they had fifty, thirty-three or one hundred knots. Bead versions developed from those. The Jesus Prayer is a short sentence, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner” (or something similar) is easy to remember and repeat. The church elders took to heart the admonishment of the apostle Paul, who advised us to pray without ceasing and found this prayer could become so ingrained and habitual that the believer’s heart could indeed pray all the time on its own. The words remind us to preserve a humble heart and keep us aware of God’s constant presence. The rhythmic repetition is comforting and quieting, readying us for deeper prayer.
I make the chotki usually as sets of one hundred beads with a cross or crucifix attached. Long ago, when I became a Christian, a kind friend gave me a set of prayer beads that he had gotten, I think, in California when he was with the Jesus People. It was a string of one hundred seed-like aqua colored beads that had a stamped leather cross attached. He told me they were ‘Jesus Beads’ and I’ve called them that ever since. Of all the bead configurations, I think this is my favorite and I have a special affection for The Jesus Prayer.
The Catholic Church has many forms of prayer bead devotions. The oldest may be the medieval Pater Noster, made for counting one hundred and fifty repetitions of the Lord’s Prayer. The Marian Rosary may be the most well-known form of prayer beads today and has five sets of ten beads, called decades. Smaller versions having only one decade are called chaplets and are often dedicated to a particular saint.
In the 1980s a group of Episcopalians developed Anglican prayer beads, now also known simply as Protestant prayer beads. These have four groups of seven beads, called ‘week’ beads, an invitatory bead and four cruciform beads which add up to thirty-three total, one for each year of the Savior’s life on earth. A cross or other inspirational pendant is attached. Many sets of Protestant beads include an extra between the invitatory and first cruciform and call it the Resurrection bead; it reminds us that our Savior is alive today. Smaller sets, also called chaplets, are made containing only one group of week beads to be prayed four times.
Protestant beads have suggested prayers for their use but allow for a lot of freedom; users are often encouraged to write their own. I’ve included some that you might follow to start with.
More recently, in 1995, an Evangelical Lutheran Bishop developed a set of beads for meditation that takes the form of a bracelet. I’m anxious to learn more about these.
The purpose of SimplyPray is to encourage people to pray and be aware of God’s infinite love. I invite special requests for beads made to your own design or in your preferred colors. I use semi-precious gemstone beads, as well as fine Czech glass and crystal; also sterling silver, brass, bronze and other quality metals. All strands are made with heavy stainless steel beading cable and stainless steel crimp beads for durability.
Copyright Schneider, 2017
Source material and further reading:
The Jesus Prayer by Frederica Mathewes-Green, 2009, ISBN 978-1-55725-659-1
Another Bead, Another Prayer: Devotions to Use With Protestant Prayer Beads by Kristen E. Vincent and Max O. Vincent, 2014,
ISBN 978-0-8358-1374-7
Bead One, Pray Too by Kimberly Winston, 2008, ISBN978-0-8192-2276-3
Praying With Beads: Daily Prayers for the Christian Year by Nan L. Doerr and Virginia S. Owens, 2007,
ISBN 978-0-8028-2727-2
