Not too long ago, there were not many choices for an English Prayer Book for Orthodox Christians. But today there are 4 strong prayer books for Orthodox Christians who prefer to use English to pray. There are actually many Orthodox Christian prayer books today, but I can only strongly recommend these four:
I.) The (ROCOR - Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) Holy Trinity Monastery "Jordanville" Prayer Book in hardcover for $18.69, first published in English in 1960 and revised constantly, is considered the Russian style gold standard. When verses from Holy Scripture are used, they previously used the King James Version and now use A Psalter for Prayer which is a new blend of the KJV and the Cloverdale Edition of the Psalter. It has evening prayers before sleep rather than the service of the compline.
II.) The (OCA - Orthodox Church in America) Saint Tikhon Monastery Press' Orthodox Christian Prayers in imitation leather for $24.95, published in 2019 as spiritual successor to many other lesser-quality OCA prayer books of the past. This newest version improves everything from all the previous OCA versions of the prayer book, and had excellent formatting that means most prayers start at the the beginning of a new page, rather than somewhere in the middle or bottom of the page. It means they made interesting decisions on font sizes to make this work, but in the end, a job well done. When verses from Holy Scriptures are used, they use A Psalter for Prayer. rather than the Psalter of the Orthodox Study Bible like some previous OCA prayer books had. It has both the compline and prayers before sleep as it is made for Orthodox Christians of any jurisdiction. It also has 3 bookmarks sewn into the spine!
III.) The (HOCNA - Holy Orthodox Church in North America) Holy Transfiguration Monastery's Prayer Book for Orthodox Christians in hardcover for $24.99 first published in 1987, it is very similar to the ROCOR Prayer Book, but made for members of Greek parishes. When verses from Holy Scripture are used, they use The Psalter: According to the Seventy. It has the compline rather than evening prayers before sleep.
IV.) The (GOA - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America) Newrome Press' Orthodox Christian Prayer Book in hardcover for $29.99, published in 2016 is the first GOA prayer book to be considered as a good enough book to replace the earlier HTM prayer book. Newrome Press makes beautiful books inside and out. When verses from Holy Scripture are used, they use the Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible. It has the compline rather than evening prayers before sleep. It also has 2 bookmarks sewn into the spine!
Which one do you prefer, and why? I've used each of them at one time or another and all have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all do the same thing, help you to pray to God.
Just a small correction to your comments about the Holy Trinity prayerbook. The original translator, Archim Lazarus Moore, used his own translation of the Psalter for the prayerbook (not the KJV). Later in the '80's when it was first revised by Riassophore monk Laurence (in tonsure, Fr John), the Psalter According to the Seventy (Holy Transfiguration Monastery)was used. Currently Jordanville seems to be transitioning all their liturgical publications over to the Psalter for prayer (which by the way is based heavily on the Coverdale, not Cloverdale, Psalter of the Anglican Church).
ReplyDeleteThank you for the correction, Father!
Delete