🙏PROSTRATIONS: Their Purpose & Symbolism☦️
Summary
TLDRThe video discusses the spiritual significance of prostrations and bows in Christian practice, particularly within Orthodox Christianity. Saints like St. Theos of Philadelphia and modern figures like St. Paisios and Elder Ephraim of Arizona emphasize that prostrations symbolize human sinfulness, humility, repentance, and the quest for God's grace. The act of rising after a prostration represents a commitment to leading a virtuous life. By physically demonstrating worship and humility through prostrations, believers invite divine grace and express their devotion to God, contrasting with the prideful nature of demons who refuse to bow.
Takeaways
- 🙏 Prostrations symbolize the acknowledgment of sin and the need for repentance.
- 🕊️ Getting back up after a prostration signifies a commitment to repentance and living a virtuous life.
- 💬 Saints encourage accompanying prostrations with the Jesus Prayer for greater spiritual benefit.
- ✨ Prostrations are a means of receiving God's grace, especially when combined with prayer.
- 🧎 Prostrations demonstrate humility, love, and respect for God, much like a servant before a king.
- 🔥 Prostrations help in humbling both the body and the soul, fostering spiritual growth.
- 🌞 Prostrations are likened to positioning oneself to receive the grace of God, much like sunbathing to absorb sunlight.
- 😇 Elder Ephraim of Arizona emphasizes that prostrations are an act of worship, which the devil refuses to do.
- 💼 Prostrations can be seen as spiritual deposits that accumulate in God's 'bank,' aiding in one's judgment.
- 👑 The act of prostration is a concrete expression of worship and devotion to God, contrasting the pride of demons who refuse to bow.
Q & A
What is the purpose of performing prostrations according to St. Theos of Philadelphia?
-St. Theos of Philadelphia explains that prostrations symbolize man's fall into sin and express the confession of our sinfulness. By getting down on the ground, a person admits they are a sinner, and by getting back up, they signify repentance and a promise to lead a life of virtue.
How should the Jesus Prayer be incorporated into prostrations?
-Each prostration should be accompanied by a noetic invocation of Christ, specifically the Jesus Prayer. As you perform a prostration, you should say, 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,' expressing both physical and spiritual humility before God.
What are the benefits of performing prostrations according to the script?
-Prostrations express our sinfulness and desire for repentance, help us receive the grace of God, make us more humble, show our love and respect for God, and act as tangible demonstrations of our worship and obedience to God.
How does St. Pidos of Kso Calivia describe the significance of prostrations?
-St. Pidos of Kso Calivia explains that prostrations display our love, respect, devotion, and worship of Christ in tangible ways. By humbling ourselves through prostrations, we make room for the grace of God, which brings penitence, joy, serenity, peace, and calmness.
Why does Elder Ephraim of Arizona emphasize the importance of prostrations?
-Elder Ephraim of Arizona highlights that prostrations are a form of worship that the devil refuses to do due to pride. By performing prostrations, we show that we worship God, and these acts are spiritually significant, being rewarded by God and assisting us during judgment.
How do prostrations help in receiving the grace of God?
-Prostrations help in receiving the grace of God by humbling both the body and soul, creating a state of openness and receptivity to God's grace. When accompanied by the Jesus Prayer, they allow us to gain the grace of the God of souls and bodies.
What analogy does Father Michael Shandor use to explain the role of good works like prostrations?
-Father Michael Shandor compares good works, including prostrations, to preparing oneself to receive a suntan. Just as one must position themselves under the sun to get a tan, good works position us to receive the grace of God, which is not forced upon us but given in synergy with our actions.
Why is humility an important aspect of performing prostrations?
-Humility is crucial in performing prostrations because it helps to humble the body and, in turn, the soul. This humility allows us to acknowledge our sinfulness, demonstrate our submission to God, and become more receptive to His grace.
How do prostrations act as a form of worship and sacrifice?
-Prostrations are a form of worship and sacrifice because they involve a physical act of lowering oneself before God, symbolizing our respect, devotion, and allegiance to Him. This act of sacrifice is a tangible way to express our love for Christ.
What spiritual benefits are associated with extra prostrations?
-Performing extra prostrations is considered an ascetical effort that will be rewarded by God. These prostrations contribute to our spiritual bank, helping us during the time of judgment by showing our dedication and humility before God.
Outlines
🙏 The Spiritual Significance of Prostrations
The first paragraph delves into the importance of prostrations in Christian spiritual practice. It explains that prostrations symbolize man's fall into sin and serve as a confession of our sinfulness. Saint Theos of Philadelphia emphasizes that the act of lowering oneself to the ground reflects acknowledgment of sin, while rising signifies repentance and a commitment to lead a virtuous life. The paragraph also discusses how prostrations, when combined with the Jesus Prayer, help in acquiring God's grace, which is a fundamental aspect of Christian life.
🙇♂️ Humility and Devotion Through Prostrations
This paragraph discusses how prostrations foster humility and express devotion to God. It compares the sacrifices made by parents for their children to the sacrifices Christians make through prostrations, showing love and respect for God. The act of prostrating helps humble the body and soul, making room for God's grace. The analogy of sunbathing is used to illustrate how good works, like prostrations, position believers to receive God's grace. The paragraph also touches on the concept of synergy between human effort and divine grace in the Christian life.
😇 Worship and Spiritual Rewards of Prostrations
The final paragraph highlights the role of prostrations as an act of worship and their spiritual significance. Elder Ephraim of Arizona explains that prostrations are a form of worship that the devil refuses to perform due to pride. Christians, by contrast, demonstrate their humility and devotion to God through prostrations. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing that these acts accumulate spiritual rewards in 'God's Bank' and will help believers during judgment, contributing to their worthiness to enter the kingdom of God.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Prostrations
💡Grace of God
💡Humility
💡Repentance
💡Jesus Prayer
💡Worship
💡Confession of Sinfulness
💡Spiritual Growth
💡Synergy with God's Grace
💡Sacrifice
Highlights
Prostrations symbolize man's fall into sin and express the confession of our sinfulness.
Getting up after a prostration signifies repentance and the promise to lead a life of virtue.
Each prostration should be accompanied by a noetic invocation of Christ, such as the Jesus prayer.
Prostrations are a way to receive the grace of God, especially when done with prayer.
St. Paisios describes prostrations as a tangible expression of love, respect, and devotion to Christ.
Prostrations help humble the body, which in turn humbles the soul.
Doing prostrations shows our love for Christ and our willingness to make sacrifices for Him.
Prostrations are an expression of our loyalty and allegiance to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.
Prostrations make room in our hearts for the grace of God to enter.
Good works, such as prostrations, position us to receive the grace of God.
Elder Ephraim of Arizona emphasizes that prostrations are a form of worship that the devil does not perform.
Prostrations are a tangible act of worship, contrasting with the pride of demons who refuse to humble themselves.
Prostrations are deposited into 'God's Bank' as spiritual rewards that will aid us during judgment.
The reward of prostrations is the grace of God, which has eternal significance.
Prostrations will be used in our defense during judgment and can help us enter the kingdom of God.
Transcripts
[Music]
let us begin with talking about
prostrations right prostrations and
Bows the Greek
term for this would be metas right metas
prostrations and
Bows so what do the Saints tell us about
prostrations and Bows what
do what do prostrations mean what's the
purpose what's the benefit what are we
expressing through our prostrations well
St Theos of Philadelphia tells us this
do not neglect
frustrations it provides an image of
man's fall into sin and expresses the
confession of our sinfulness so in other
words when you get down on the ground
and touch your forehead to the ground
you're by doing that action you are
expressing that you're a
sinner and you are admitting the fact
that you're a sinner and that you sin
and that and and that's very much
important because many times we don't
acknowledge our sinfulness we don't
acknowledge our passions right we don't
examine ourselves on a daily basis and
this is kind of problematic in the
spiritual life but we should be
examining ourselves and we should be
repenting of our sins right so it
expresses our how we fall into sin that
we're Sinners we're sinful and all the
rest but by getting up on the other hand
he continues signifies repentance and
the promise to lead a life of virtue so
when you get back up from doing the
prostration that uh motion of getting
back up shows us that you're basically
promising you're making a vow to God
that you're going to try again you're
going to try to repent you're going to
try to be more obedient going to try to
practice the virtues more so this is
what we're doing when we are making Pro
choices we are expressing that we are
sinners but that we are trying again
we're trying to grow closer to Christ
we're going to fight harder next time
when we're faced with the
Temptation Let each he continues Let
each prostration be accompanied by a
noetic invocation of Christ meaning when
you do a prostration you should say the
Jesus prayer accompanied by each
prostration so you get down and say Lord
Jesus Christ have mercy I me get back up
get go back down lord Jesus Christ have
mercy I me get back up so that by
falling down before the Lord in Soul and
body you may gain the grace of the god
of Souls and bodies so here's another
thing about frustrations and you're can
see this in some of the other Saints
we're going to look at in just a second
is that frustrations the point of doing
frustrations is not not just is to
express our obedience and our sinfulness
and our desire to be in communion with
God but it's also when we are doing
prostrations this is our way of actually
receiving the grace of God when you do
prostrations you receive the grace of
God you acquire God's grace when you do
prostrations especially when you
accompany them with the Jesus prayer
there's Grace and all that and this is
in great part of what it means to be
Christian is to be constantly seeking
the grace of God so this is another
reason for why we do frustrations the
Great Value as you can see the great
value of frustrations right another
Saint one of our modern day uh era St
pidos of kso calivia in Athens the
person of Faith he writes this in his
book wounded by love a beautiful
beautiful book you uh will hardly get
through those pages without shedding at
least one tear it's a phenomenal book
highly recommend wounded by love it's
called by St pitos he says the person of
Faith displays his love respect devotion
and worship of Christ in tangible ways
that's why we make
prostrations by the
prostrations by our prostrations let me
get rid of this little all right by our
prostrations we show we are humble
servants of God and we acknowledge our
loneliness with
prostrations we the Christian is humbled
and this helps for the grace of God to
come upon him when Grace comes it works
directly on the soul and brings
penitence Joy Serenity peace and
calmness then the heart is set on fire
the fire of love makes sacrifices thus
prostrations are a sacrifice an offering
of love and worship for God how
beautiful and how plain and simple he
speaks so many benefits there to why we
do PR we show our humility when we do
pations we also show that we are sinners
right we humble ourselves before God
when we do our
perss um doing prostrations themselves
helps to actually make us more
humble right we're humbling the body and
when we humble the body the soul is also
humbled
and when we do prostrations we're
showing that we love God right if you
love someone don't you make sacrifices
for them a father and a mother who have
a baby right they wake up at 2 3 in the
morning to feed their child don't they
right they make the sacrifice of their
sleep of their comfort of their rest to
go and make a sacrifice that sacrifice
is one of done out of love it's done out
of love for the child so when we do
prostrations we are showing our love for
Christ and we also show our respect
right God is our Master God is our King
God is our Lord and we are his servants
and we show just like an Earthly King
and an Earthly Soldier right the Soldier
shows his respect to the King by bowing
down right think of the knights right
and the king the knights bow down before
the king to show their respect right and
their loyalty to the to the king well
how much more when should we show our
respect our devotion and our loyalty our
allegiance to the King of Kings Jesus
Christ and this is how what we are
showing expressing by our
prostrations and another thing is that
just like St theolo says when you do
your prostrations you are receiving the
grace of God actually you're making room
within your heart for the grace of God
to come there's this beautiful analogy I
want to show my since I'm talking now
more so allow me to show my uh face here
so
um Father Michael shamor in his book
know the faith wonderful book highly
recommend know the faith he says um he
says he's talking about the uh the role
of good works in the Christian Life and
he says um basically the question posed
to him is are good works necessary for
salvation and the way he expresses or
explains the orox perspective on this is
that he uses the analogy of a sun of the
Sun so he says if you want to go get a
sun tan right you have to go you know
put on
your um your uh bathing suit right walk
outside open the door unlock the door
open the door step outside bring the
chair out side lay out in the in the on
the chair right and and lay out there
for the sun to penetrate your body so
that you can get a Sunan well basically
good works right good works such as
prostrations are basically our way of
putting ourselves in the position to
receive the capital s o n the Son of God
the grace of God right the Rays the
energies of God's grace
so prostrations again are another way of
us to put ourselves in a position to
receive the grace of God because God's
grace is not forced on us is not
pressured on us right God works in
Synergy and cooperation together with
our cooperation with our will with our
obedience and our um our Synergy our
cooperation with him right so it's a
it's um both God and man working
together right and we have a whole
lecture on that if you want to go see in
the playlist of Orthodox spiritual life
2024 on my YouTube channel you can go
check that out uh I think it was class
three or four uh titled something around
the lines of synergy with God's grace so
you can check that M more out uh we
actually look at the um actual uh text
from Father Michael shandor so enough
from me let's move on from another Saint
Elder a friend of Arizona what does he
say why do we do
prostrations he says what are
prostrations they are the worship of God
we worship God by doing prostrations we
worship God something that our enemy the
devil does not do the devil does not bow
down his head he does not kneel he does
not worship God by bowing down or
kneeling before god everyone who
worships God is an enemy of the devil
and hence is simultaneously a person of
God this is why prostrations have great
significance if we do extra prostrations
this is an aesthetical effort and will
be rewarded by God the few prostrations
we do are slowly deposited into God's
Bank in Heaven above he's SP he's
speaking you know uh spiritually not
literally God doesn't have a literal
Bank uh and he says we will discover
then when we make our way upper we will
discover that they have become become a
large sum this will help us when we give
an account during the frightful moment
we are
judged so again he says that another way
of understanding perses why we do PS is
that we show that we are worshiping God
right we show that we worship God that
he is our Lord and God and savior
through tangible means as St pido says
in concrete physical actions with her
body and this is what we're doing is
that we're showing we are worshiping God
through frustrations
and um and what's interesting is that
the demons do not bow down right they
don't bow down to God right they are
very prideful and fool of themselves and
they refuse to Humble themselves by
making prostrations and worshiping God
and so we should not be like the demons
and refuse to worship God by doing proes
but the opposite we should do
prostrations to show our worship of God
and another thing is this ver this l he
uses of being rewarded by God he's
talking about the grace of God that is
our reward our reward is communion with
God Oneness with God Union with God
right to acquire the grace of God to
have the grace of God in us and this
will have eternal significance in the
next life is that um these are good
deeds and these will be used in our
defense during our judgment and will
help us to make us more uh likely to be
worthy of the kingdom of God to enter
into the kingdom of God uh through that
so that is why another reason why we do
prostrations okay
[Music]
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