Structural Identity Of Two Prayers

Structural Identity of Two Prayers Julio Cesar Assis M.A. History of Ideas University of San Paulo, Brazil [email protected]

The name Jesus derives from the Hebrew Joshua or Yehoshua, being Yeho an abbreviation of the unpronounceable divine name YHWH and shua a noun meaning "cry for help". Even though sometimes the name of Jesus is interpreted as "YHWH saves", Yehoshua literally means "a cry to God for help". The Jesus Prayer Beside the prayer that the Lord taught us (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4) and the Psalms, the Orthodox Christian has also the Prayer of Jesus, also called the Prayer of the Heart, being the heart the point of contact between creature and Creator. "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner". It is based on passages from each one of the synoptic Gospels: "Lord son of David, have mercy on me" (Matthew 15: 22) "Jesus son of David, have mercy on me" (Mark 10: 47) "God have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13) In Western Christian tradition, the equivalent of this prayer for its importance is the Hail Mary.

Hail Mary The Hail Mary is composed of three parts, being the first two statements of two saints that are essential in the narrative of the New Testament. The angelic greeting of Saint Gabriel1: Hail Mary, full of grace The Lord is with you The exclamation of Saint Elizabeth2: Blessed are you among women and Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus Up to this point the phrasing of the Hail Mary is similar in the churches of the East and the West. The concluding part of the Western version has no direct scriptural basis. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners Now and in the hour of our death. The sinister tone of the last sentence may be an eco of the terror caused by the Black Death, which has reached Western Europe in the mid of the XIV century.

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"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28). “And she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42). 2

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Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners This sentence of the Western Hail Mary presents a complete structural identity with the Prayer of Jesus.

Hail Mary

Jesus Prayer

Title

Holy

Lord

Name

Mary

Jesus Christ

Relationship with God

Mother of God

Son of God

Petition

pray for us

have mercy on me

State of the prayerful

sinners

a sinner

Maybe this identity, of which we do not know any previous mention, comes from the divine economy, which offers to the two traditions a salvifical structure that is actualized by each one in its own way.

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