Mar Thoma Syrian ChurchThe Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian Church and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, is an autonomous Reformed Oriental church based in Kerala, India. While continuing many of the Syriac high church practices, the church is reformed in its theology and doctrines. It employs a reformed variant of the West Syriac Rite Divine Liturgy of Saint James, translated to Malayalam.
AgpeyaThe Agpeya (Coptic: Ϯⲁⲅⲡⲓⲁ, أجبية) is the Coptic Christian "Prayer Book of the Hours" or breviary, and is equivalent to the Shehimo in the Syriac Orthodox Church (another Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination), as well as the Byzantine Horologion and Roman Liturgy of the Hours used by the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Roman Catholic Church, respectively.
Ad orientemAd orientem, meaning "to the east" in Ecclesiastical Latin, is a phrase used to describe the eastward orientation of Christian prayer and Christian worship, comprising the preposition ad (toward) and oriens (rising, sunrise, east), participle of orior (to rise). Ad orientem has been used to describe the eastward direction of prayer that the early Christians faced when praying, a practice that continues in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox churches, Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Assyrian Church of the East, as well as the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Lutheran churches.
Christian prayerChristian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice. Christian prayers are diverse: they can be completely spontaneous, or read entirely from a text, such as from a breviary, which contains the canonical hours that are said at fixed prayer times. While praying, certain gestures usually accompany the prayers, including folding one's hands, bowing one's head, kneeling (often in the kneeler of a pew in corporate worship or in the kneeler of a prie-dieu in private worship), and prostration.
Home altarA home altar or family altar is a shrine kept in the home of a Western Christian family used for Christian prayer and family worship. Home altars often contain a cross or crucifix, a copy of the Bible (especially a Family Bible), a breviary and/or other prayer book, a daily devotional, a headcovering (worn by many Christian women, especially during prayer and worship), icons of Jesus Christ and prayer beads, among other religious articles specific to the individual's Christian denomination, for example, the images of the saints for Catholics, the Small Catechism for Lutherans, and the Anglican prayer beads for Anglicans.
BreviaryA breviary (Latin: breviarium) is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviary, Belleville Breviary, Stowe Breviary and Isabella Breviary, although eventually the Roman Breviary became the standard within the Roman Catholic Church (though it was later supplanted with the Liturgy of the Hours); in other Christian denominations such as the Lutheran Churches, different breviaries continue to be used, such as The Brotherhood Prayer Book.
ShehimoShehimo (, ഷഹീമോ; English: Book of Common Prayer, also spelled Sh'himo) is the West Syriac Christian breviary of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the West Syriac Saint Thomas Christians of India (Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Marthoma Syrian Church and Thozhiyur Church) that contains the seven canonical hours of prayer. The Shehimo includes Bible readings, hymns and other prescribed prayers from the West Syriac Liturgical system.
Direction of prayerPrayer in a certain direction is characteristic of many world religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith. Mizrah Jews traditionally pray in the direction of Jerusalem, where the "presence of the transcendent God (shekinah) [resided] in the Holy of Holies of the Temple." Within the Holy of Holies lay the Ark of the Covenant that contained the Ten Commandments tablets given to the prophet Moses by God; this is the reason that the Temple of Solomon became the focal point for Jewish prayer.
ComplineCompline (ˈkɒmplɪn ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer liturgy (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English word is derived from the Latin completorium, as compline is the completion of the waking day. The word was first used in this sense about the beginning of the 6th century by St.
ProstrationProstration is the gesture of placing one's body in a reverentially or submissively prone position. Typically prostration is distinguished from the lesser acts of bowing or kneeling by involving a part of the body above the knee, especially the hands, touching the ground. Major world religions employ prostration as an act of submissiveness or worship to a supreme being or other worshiped entity (i.e. God), as in the metanoia in Christian prayer used in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches and the sajdah of the Islamic prayer, salat.
