Eulogy

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Prayer is the German translation by Martin Luther and Johann Fischart of the Latin expression precatio iaculatoria or iaculatorium . It is a term from the Christian religions and describes a short, quickly uttered prayer .

Biblical starting point

The biblical starting point for the practice of prayer of short prayers is the 1st letter to the Thessalonians: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thes 5, 17).

The quick prayer in the old church

  • The word prayer is a translation of the Latin word iaculatorium . This goes back to Augustine , who spoke of prayers like arrows ( iaculatas ) in a letter to the noble Roman Proba . The widow Proba had asked him to explain what it meant to “keep praying”. Augustine replied to her that it was important to keep the longing for God awake even outside of the pure prayer times, which are not always possible, and mentions in this context the practice of the eccentric prayer of the Egyptian monks:

“It is said that the monks in Egypt pray almost continuously, but they are very short prayers, like arrows [ quadammodo iaculatas ]. In this way they want to avoid that the vigilance so necessary for the prayers could slacken and evaporate if the prayer lasts too long [...] It should not contain too many words, but be full of devotion; so it can remain alert [...] "

- Augustine 130, ad Probam

.

  • Chrysostom also speaks of short prayers in this matter :

“Christ, Peter and Paul commanded short and frequent prayer exercises with small intervals. If you continually undertake frequent prayers and fill them up with them very often all the time, you will easily be able to show humility and perform the prayers yourself with great skill "

- Chrysostom, homily 79

The quick prayer in Protestantism

The earliest evidence of the word prayer can be found in Martin Luther and Johann Fischart .

To say a quick prayer or to send it to heaven means, according to Lutz Röhrich , to say a short, fearful prayer or to pray with great fervor at the last moment before death.

So the (alleged) prayer of Martin Luther in the lightning experience "Help, you holy Anna, I want to become a monk!" Was a quick prayer in this sense.

But a quick prayer does not have to have anything to do with fear and terror or death and can have all dimensions of prayer (adoration, thanks, request ...) and should ultimately be an expression of devotion and piety.

It is reported from Melanchthon that the call "Our Lord God help us and be gracious to us" was typical for him.

Bach signed his works with Soli Deo Gloria , which can also be seen as a quick prayer.

The quick prayer was particularly popular in the circles of the religiously awakened. A song from the Brethren's hymn book from 1765 says:

Before
our lips are cold, no prayer should be
too simple and too old for us, That makes a pilgrimage
to Christ's blood
.

The phrase “ hardly find time for a quick prayer ” means that you will soon have to die.

In the “ Soldiers Catechism ” by the German poet Achim von Arnim it says:

A quick prayer in need increases the man's courage and stills the blood. "

In an allusion to Goethe's suffering of young Werther , a parody of the Lutheran litany entitled " Prayer " says:

Keep us from Werther's sufferings,
even more from his joys
, dear Lord God!

The quick prayer in Catholicism

In the Catholic Church, praying quick prayers is also recommended. For example from Jacques Maritain :

“You can pray on the train and in the subway and in the dentist's waiting room. One can also make do with those short prayers that are like a scream ... "

- Jacques Maritain

Related

The sigh

In connection with the word quick prayer, the word quick sigh , a short strong sigh , is also to be seen. An example of a shock sigh is the Ohaueha anchored in the Flensburg Petuh language , which, the more intense the sigh , can be extended to Ohauehaueha or Ohauehauehaueha .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.augustiner.de/files/augustiner/downloads/augustinus_06_01.pdf
  2. [1] : "Dicuntur fratres in Aegypto crebras quidem habere orationes, sed eas tamen brevissimas, et raptim quodammodo iaculatas, ne illa vigilanter erecta, quae oranti plurimum necessaria est, per productiores moras evanescat atque hebetetio."
  3. [2]
  4. Quoted from [3]
  5. Quoted from [4]
  6. ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Poems. In: Collection from the Gutenberg-DE 2017 project ( full text online in the Gutenberg project)
  7. Cf. for example [5]
  8. Jacques Maritain : The Farmer from the Garonne. An old layman worries. Kösel, Munich 1969 (Original: Le Paysan de la Garonne, 1966), p. 233
  9. Renate Delfs : Ohaueha was'n Aggewars . Or as one watches and speaks as the Flensburg Petuhtanten. Schleswiger Druck- und Verlagshaus, Schleswig 1979, ISBN 3-88242-048-0 , p. 41 .

Web links

Wiktionary: quick prayer  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations