Praying Orthodoxy

Throughout the early Middle Ages, yearly penitential seasons like Rogationtide and Lent provided a context for basic doctrinal instruction—a replacement for the vanishing Patristic catechumenate. Not only was lay participation in such penitential seasons high, but the ritual structure of these holidays meant that verbal instruction and physical practice mirrored each other. Rogationtide developed a special connection with teaching on the Lord’s Prayer. During the early Middle Ages, knowledge of the Apostles’ Creed and Lord’s Prayer was the proof of someone’s Christianity. The Rogation procession—a ritual that all Christians had to join—mirrored the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer—a text that all Christians were expected to understand. The interdependence of these two popular practices shaped lay experience of their own Christianization. Christian instruction occurred through rituals. The rule of prayer upheld the doctrines of faith.