Intercessory prayer

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An intercession is a prayer in which a person praying asks God for someone else. Intercessions can be made both in personal prayer and within the liturgy .

It is customary in the Catholic , Orthodox, and Anglican churches to ask saints for their intercession with God. The blessing prayer is practiced especially in charismatic circles: A person seeking help communicates his prayer request to one or more prayers, who then pray for him and bless him in his presence. In free churches there are widespread prayer meetings in which intercessions are held for specific causes.

The intercession in the liturgy of the Catholic Church

Holy Mass

The “prayer of the believers” (the baptized) was not part of Holy Mass for many centuries; it was only included again in the celebration of mass through the Second Vatican Council . Previously, intercessions were only given on Good Friday . In intercessory prayer, a form of the litany , the community exercises its priestly service. The intercessory prayer in the missal therefore also bears the title “Prayer of the Believers” ( Oratio fidelium ) or “General Prayer (of the Believers)”.

The intercessions are initiated by the main celebrant of Holy Mass through an invitation addressed to the congregation and concluded with his prayer and the “ amen ” of the congregation. Bringing prayer requests in the intercessions is the job of the deacon , lecturer, or other believer.

The requests are directed either to God the Father or to Jesus Christ the Lord . The concerns should be addressed in the following order:

  • for the church
  • for the rulers and for the salvation of the whole world,
  • for the needy
  • for the local church or community

However, it is possible to deviate from this basic scheme.

When the individual prayer requests are mentioned, the congregation answers with a sung or spoken call to prayer, usually “We ask you, answer us”.

Other liturgies

In the Good Friday liturgy , an ancient church solemn, three-part form of intercession is preserved in the Great Intercession : the priest sings an invitation to prayer with an indication of the matter; he or a deacon present asks you to bend your knees. To kneel the community a silent prayer follows. After the request “Rise up” the priest summarizes the prayer request with the oration , to which everyone answers with “Amen”.

The prayer of the hours of the Church also includes so-called preceses (requests for the day) in the lauds and intercessions in the Vespers . The last intercession of Vespers is always for the dying or deceased. The second part of the All Saints' Litany contains a series of intercessions that recall the great intercessions of the Good Friday liturgy . The prayer form of the novena can also be devoted to intercession for a specific cause.

In more modern divine service concepts, extended forms of intercession are also practiced. So worshipers can z. B. write down their requests; these are then added later in the service in individual prayer requests or read out beforehand. The priest can encourage the worship participants to silently formulate their own prayer request. In group services, the intercessions are occasionally made freely and spontaneously. In celebrations of the Word of God , incense can be placed in a bowl in front of the altar for the individual requests by the leader, the speakers of the intercessions or all those taking part in the celebration ( Ps 141.2  EU ).

The intercessory prayer in Protestant worship

Basics

The intercessory prayer, which used to be called the general church prayer, can appear at various points in the service; it usually concludes the second part of the service, proclamation and confession (cf. Agende ). When the sacrament is celebrated, it is sometimes combined with the thanksgiving prayer at the end of the sacrament portion.

According to its internal structure, the intercessory prayer traditionally follows the structure of the Our Father :

  • About the coming of the kingdom of God
  • About the spread of the gospel and the ministry of the church
  • For the state and the community, as well as home and work
  • For people on the fringes of society or those in need
  • For the assembled congregation.

It thus has essentially the same aspects as the intercessory prayer in the Roman Catholic mass.

Forms of intercessory prayer

Form 1: Call to prayer with calls to prayer from the community (ektenie)

Prayer requests are presented by a prayer leader, which the congregation receives with a call to prayer, e.g. B. "Have mercy, God". The prayer requests can be mentioned either as information or a call (variant 1) or as a prayer (variant 2). The old name of this form of prayer is Ektenie (Greek for "perseverance").

Form 2: Diaconal prayer

The deacon presents the prayer requests to the assembled congregation, the celebrant says the introductory and concluding prayer, which brings the requests to God and closes with praise to God. The congregation can confirm these individual requests through their “Amen”.

Form 3: Alternation prayer (Preces)

During the preces , individual prayers or groups alternate with calls to prayer or short calls to prayer.

Form 4: Without calls to prayer from the congregation (Prosphonese)

In the case of prosphonesis , the prayer requests are brought forward by a prayer without interruption by congregational calls.

The intercession prayer in the Byzantine liturgy

In the Byzantine liturgy, as it is celebrated above all in Orthodox Christianity, prayers of intercession occupy a large space; this applies both to the Divine Liturgy (i.e. the Byzantine Eucharistic celebration) and to all other forms of worship.

The intercessions are always presented by the deacon , only in exceptional cases by the headmaster himself singing; the community usually answers the individual concerns with "Kyrie eleison", dct. "Lord, have mercy". The process of intercessory prayers, called ectenia , follows its own scheme, comparable to the litany . The texts of the individual prayer requests have been established almost unchanged for many centuries. The priestly prayer that traditionally closes the intercessions has largely become a silent prayer that has not been noticed by the community.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy “Sacrosanctum Concilium” , no. 53
  2. ^ Institutum Liturgicum Salzburg, Liturgisches Institut Trier (ed.): General introduction to the Roman missal . Paulinus-Verlag, Trier 1970, No. 46.
  3. ↑ Eduard Nagel : Not just words. Movement elements in word of God celebrations. In: worship. Vol. 40 (2006), p. 30.