The Prayer Rule of the Theotokos

The Prayer Rule of the Theotokos has come down to us through the notebook of the great 19th Century Russian Orthodox saint and mystic, Seraphim of Sarov. He prayed this beautiful prayer everyday. It is recorded in the writings of a spiritual son of St. Seraphim, Father Zosima, that this Rule was originally revealed by Our Blessed Lady in the 8th Century, but it came into disuse and was all but forgotten for hundreds of years before Seraphim made it known again. The practice of reciting...
More Description

The Prayer Rule of the Theotokos has come down to us through the notebook of the great 19th Century Russian Orthodox saint and mystic, Seraphim of Sarov. He prayed this beautiful prayer everyday. It is recorded in the writings of a spiritual son of St. Seraphim, Father Zosima, that this Rule was originally revealed by Our Blessed Lady in the 8th Century, but it came into disuse and was all but forgotten for hundreds of years before Seraphim made it known again. The practice of reciting the Angelic Salutation, "Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos..." 150 times, after the pattern of the Psalter, dates back to at least the 4th Century when the monks of the Egyptian Thebaid are said to have prayed in this way. The Prayer Rule of the Theotokos includes beautiful, full-color iconographic illustrations for each of the 15 mysteries of the Rule. A set of 15 meditations which embrace the whole life of the Theotokos was devised by Bishop Seraphim Zvezdinsky of Dmitrov. He prayed the complete fifteen-decade Rule daily and encouraged all Christians to do likewise. Murdered by the Communists in 1937, he is a Holy New Hieromartyr of the Russian Orthodox Church. The decade meditations given here are those offered by Saint Seraphim Zvezdinsky. The prayers which follow each decade were composed by a nun who was a disciple of St. Seraphim Zvezdinsky.