PRAYER IN HELLENISMOS
 What is the Meaning of Prayer in the Hellenic Polytheistic Tradition?
HellenicGods.org
Praying to Gods is a revered act in Hellenismos, the ancient Greek religion. There are both personal and impersonal deities; the personal Gods can hear and respond to one's prayers. One can pray whenever one wishes; it is an act of freedom. On the other hand, in formal Orphic ritual, prayers are made in the offering section before the final hymns to Hera and Zeus. Prayer is speaking to Gods, therefore it is sacred. We can express our love and awe of the God, or we can beseech, asking for assistance in our lives, for whatever we feel we need. Without Eros towards the Gods, prayers are meaningless and ineffectual. In general, when we pray to an Olympian God, we are praying to the natural law over which they have dominion. These laws are deities, but impersonal. The Olympian Gods, however, are personal deities who can hear our prayers and respond, as they have power over the natural laws. For example, when we pray to Apollo, we pray to Freedom; when we pray to Aphrodite, we pray to Harmony; and so forth. (Of course one can pray to any God for whatever reason you wish) The myriad other Gods are sons and daughters of the Olympians and they also hear our prayers. While they have dominion over them, the Olympian Gods never violate the natural laws. Consequently, a prayer request that would violate the natural laws cannot be granted. And miracles, as something that would be beyond the laws of nature, are not a logical expectation. Yes, there is a type of miracle, but such a miracle is always within the laws of nature.
The Gods will help you; they support you; they have an interest in your well-being and in your progress. Our tradition is a little different in its approach to prayer: if we are willing to exert effort and try, and if we are pious and ask for their help, the Gods will work by our side and assist us. There is a story from Aisohpos (Aesop; Gr. Αἴσωπος, ΑἼΣΩΡΟΣ) about a man whose cart was stuck in the mud (Herakles and the Waggoner). He prayed to Herakles to help him. The God appeared and said, "Get up, man, and put your shoulder to the wheel." In other words, the approach in Hellenismos is not passive: we do not simply receive, but our action is a major constituent in the the fruition of a prayer. Perhaps we are unwilling to take the action required to improve our situation. In such a case, the assistance of the Gods is limited by our own inertia, making one's progress much slower than desired. The cursory view of prayer is a major source of atheism, no doubt. Traditionally, it is said that the Gods are "a million times wiser" than us. What this really means is that their understanding and ability is vastly superior to ours and, because of that fact, their actions are understandably beyond our full comprehension; we cannot fathom the minds of the Gods. Our view of a solution to a problem may be incorrect or incomplete. The Gods wish to help us, to truly help us. They are not simply vending machines. The Gods are concerned about our development of aræti (arete; Gr. The appropriateness of a prayer-request, as well as one's attitude to the God, are issues. "Apollo, help me in my difficulty," is an appropriate prayer, leaving the details to the God. Be prepared to do everything in your ability to improve your situation, expecting nothing; that is...be humble in your expectations. Of course, you can pray as you wish, however you wish, and whenever you desire to; it is a highly personal matter and we are free. Nonetheless, the Delphic Maxims recommend: "Pray for things possible." If we assume that the Gods will answer our prayers to our exact specifications, we may be very disappointed. The Gods have far greater expertise than ourselves and do not simply give us everything we wish for, as a parent, knowing what is best for the child, they will always act in their best interest. At times a child may think his parents do not care for him at all when, in reality, their refusal to grant a request is a deep and wise love possibly yielding benefits over a lifetime.
Pythagoras suggested not to pray for ourselves at all:
Socrates proposes that we be modest in our prayer-requests, leaving such wisdom to the Gods:
Epictetus the Stoic philosopher (54-68 CE), in the beginning statements of the Ængkhirithion (Encheiridion, Gr. ΕΓΧΕΙΡΙΔΙΟΝ), lays the foundation for ease of mind, a foundation which gives us clues as to how to pray:
In the prayer of Epictetus, the philosopher prays only for the will of the Gods:
At the end of the Ængkhirithion, Epictetus gives us another brief prayer:
Philostratus, in his book about Apollonios of Tyana: [6] IX. "Now it is well that I should not pass over what happened in the Temple (ed. where Apollonios of Tyana was living as a young man), while relating the life of a man who was held in esteem even by the Gods. For an Assyrian stripling came to Asclepius, and though he was sick, yet he lived the life of luxury, and being continually drunk, I will not say he lived, rather he was ever dying. He suffered then from dropsy, and finding his pleasure in drunkenness took no care to dry up his malady. On this account then Asclepius took no care of him, and did not visit him even in a dream. The youth grumbled at this, and thereupon the God, standing over him, said, 'If you were to consult Apollonius you would be easier.' He therefore went to Apollonius, and said: 'What is there in your wisdom that I can profit by? for Asclepius bids me consult you.' And he replied: 'I can advise you of what, under the circumstances, will be most valuable to you; for I suppose you want to get well.' 'Yes, by Zeus,' answered the other, 'I want the health which Asclepius promises, but never gives.' 'Hush,' said the other, 'for he gives to those who desire it, but you do things that irritate and aggravate your disease, for you give yourself up to luxury, and you accumulate delicate viands upon your water-logged and worn-out stomach, and as it were, choke water with a flood of mud.' This was a clearer response, in my opinion, than Heraclitus, in his wisdom gave. For he said when he was visited by this affection that what he needed was some one to substitute a drought for his rainy weather, a very unintelligible remark, it appears to me, and by no means clear; but the sage restore the youth to health by a clear interpretation of the wise saw. X. "One day he saw a flood of blood upon the altar, and there were victims laid out upon it, Egyptian bulls that had been sacrificed and great hogs, and some of them were being flayed and others were being cut up; and two gold vases had been dedicated set with jewels, the rarest and most beautiful that India can provide. So he went up to the priest and said: 'What is all this; for some one is making a very handsome gift to the God?' and the priest replied: 'You may rather be surprised at a man's offering all this without having first put up a prayer in our fane (ed. temple), and without having stayed with us as long as other people do, and without having gained his health from the God, and without obtaining all the things he came to ask for here. For he appears to have come only yesterday, and yet he is sacrificing on this lavish scale. And he declares that he will sacrifice more victims, and dedicate more gifts, if Asclepius will hearken to him. And he is one of the richest men in existence: at any rate he owns in Cilicia an estate bigger than all the Cilicians together possess. And he is supplicating the God to restore to him one of his eyes that has fallen out.' But Apollonius fixed his eyes upon the ground, as he was accustomed to do in later life, and asked: 'What is his name?' And when he heard it, he said: 'It seems to me, O Priest, that we ought not to welcome this fellow in the Temple: for he is some ruffian who has come here, and that he is afflicted in this way is due to some sinister reason: nay, his very conduct in sacrificing on such a magnificent scale before he has gained anything from the God is not that of a genuine votary, but rather of a man who is begging himself off from the penalty of some horrible and cruel deeds.' This was what Apollonius said: and Asclepius appeared to the priest by night, and said: 'Send away so and so at once with all his possessions, and let him keep them, for he deserves to lose the other eye as well.' The priest accordingly made inquiries about the Cilician and learned that his wife had by a former marriage borne a daughter, and he had fallen in love with the maiden and had seduced her, and was living with her in open sin. For the mother had surprised the two in bed, and had put out both her eyes and one of his by stabbing them with her brooch-pin. XI. "Again he inculcated the wise rule, that in our sacrifices or dedications we should not go beyond the just mean, in the following way. On one occasion several people had flocked to the Temple, not long after the expulsion of the Cilician, and he took the occasion to ask the priest the following questions. 'Are then,' he said, 'the Gods just?' 'Why, of course, most just,' answered the priest. 'Well, and are they wise?' 'And what,' said the other, 'can be wiser than the Godhead?' 'But do they know the affairs of men, or are they without experience of them?' 'Why,' said the other, 'this is just the point in which the Gods excel mankind, for the latter, because of their frailty, do not understand their own concerns, whereas the Gods have the privilege of understanding the affairs both of men and of themselves.' 'All your answers,' said Apollonius, 'are excellent, O Priest, and very true. Since then, they know everything, it appears to me that a person who comes to the house of God and has a good conscience, should put up the following prayer: '"O ye Gods, grant unto me that which I deserve." 'For,' he went on, 'the holy, O Priest, surely deserve to receive blessings, and the wicked the contrary. Therefore the Gods, as they are beneficent, if they find anyone who is healthy and whole and unscarred by vice, will send him on his way, surely, after crowning him, not with golden crowns, but with all sorts of blessings; but if they find a man branded with sin and utterly corrupt, they will hand him over and leave him to justice, after inflicting their wrath upon him all the more, because he dared to invade their Temples without being pure.' And at the same moment he looked towards Asclepius, and said: 'O Asclepius, the philosophy you teach is secret and congenial to yourself, in that you suffer not the wicked to come hither, not even if they pour into your lap all the wealth of India and Sardis. For it is not out of reverence for the divinity that they sacrifice these victims and suspend these offerings, but in order to purchase a verdict, which you will not concede to them in your perfect justice.' And much similar wisdom he delivered himself of in this Temple, while he was still a youth. Dictionary entry: euchesthai, ευχεσθαι, Offer prayer (to Gods). [7]
Lexicon entry: euchai, εὐχἠ, prayer or vow. [8] Lexicon entry: litai, λῐτἠ, prayer, entreaty. II. Litai, Λιτἰ, personified, Prayers of sorrow and repentance. [9] NOTES: (A list of abbreviations can be found here: GLOSSARY HOME PAGE) [1] Diogenes Laërtius The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book VIII, Life of Pythagoras VI.; trans. C. D. Yonge, 1853, Henry G. Bohn; p.31. [2] Xenophon's Memorabilia, Book I, Chapter 3.2, translated by Amy L. Bonnette, 1994, Cornell University Press, p.18. [3] Epictetus Ængkhirithion 1; trans. W. A. Oldfather 1928, Epictetus: Discourses Books II-IV, The Encheiridion; Loeb, Harvard Univ. Press, 2000 edition, p.483. [4] Epictetus by Schenkle, p.158. [5] Epictetus Ængkhirithion 53.1; Ibid. Oldfather [6] Philostratus Life of Apollonios of Tyana Book I:IX-XI, trans. F. C. Conybeare, 1912; found here in the 1948 Harvard/Heinemann/Loeb edition (Cambridge MA and London England), Vol. 1, pp. 21-29 [7] English-Greek Dictionary, S.C. Woodhouse, 1910; found in the 1987 Routledge & Kegan edition on p.632 under the heading: Pray. [8] L&S p.739, left column. [9] L&S p.1054. Appropriate Quotations:
Prier Dieu c'est se flatter qu'avec des paroles on changera toute la nature. "To pray to God is to flatter oneself that with words one can alter nature." Voltaire "Man, born to die, can no more be exempt from pain than from death. To prevent an organized substance endowed with feeling from ever experiencing pain, it would be necessary that all the laws of nature should be changed; that matter should no longer be divisible; that it should neither have weight, action, nor force; that a rock might fall on an animal without crushing it; and that water should have no power to suffocate, or fire to burn it." Voltaire "Such are the distributions of God. He is on high; he sees us all and he knows what he does in the midst of his great stars." (The words of Jean Valjean to Cosette and Marius, as he was about to die. From Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Jean Valjean, Book Ninth, Chapter 5, just before the very end of the book. Translated by Charles E. Wilbour in 1862. As can be found in the 1998 Everyman's Library edition, Alfred A. Knopf, on p.1431) "God knows better than we do what we need." (Victor Hugo Les Misérables, Ibid. p.1427) 
PLEASE NOTE: Throughout the pages of this website, you will find fascinating stories about our Gods. These narratives are known as mythology, the traditional stories of the Gods and Heroes. While these tales are great mystical vehicles containing transcendent truth, they are symbolic and should not be taken literally. A literal reading will frequently yield an erroneous result. The meaning of the myths is concealed in code. To understand them requires a key. For instance, when a God kills someone, this usually means a transformation of the soul to a higher level. Similarly, sexual union with a God is a transformation. PHOTO COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: The many pages of this website incorporate images, some created by the author, but many obtained from outside sources. To find out more information about these images and why this website can use them, visit this link: Photo Copyright Information DISCLAIMER: The inclusion of images, quotations, and links from outside sources does not in any way imply agreement (or disagreement), approval (or disapproval) with the views of HellenicGods.org by the external sources from which they were obtained. Further, the inclusion of images, quotations, and links from outside sources does not in any way imply agreement (or disagreement), approval (or disapproval) by HellenicGods.org of the contents or views of any external sources from which they were obtained.
For more information: Inquire.hellenicgods@gmail.com © 2010 by HellenicGods.org. All Rights Reserved. |
Prayer In Hellenismos |