Orans (/ˈoː.rans/), a loanword from

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used f ...

''ōrāns'' translated as ''one who is praying or pleading'', also orant or orante, as well as lifting up holy hands, is a posture or bodily attitude of

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deifi ...

, usually standing, with the elbows close to the sides of the body and with the hands outstretched sideways, palms up. The orans posture of prayer has a Scriptural basis in : "I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument" (NRSV). It was common in

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Je ...

and can frequently be seen in early Christian art, being advised by several early Church Fathers, who saw it as "the outline of the cross". In modern times, the orans position is still preserved in

Oriental Orthodoxy The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...

, as when Coptic Christian believers pray the seven canonical hours of the Agpeya at fixed prayer times; The orans also occurs within parts of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, and Anglican liturgies,

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

and charismatic worship, and the ascetical practices of some religious groups.

History

The orans posture was practiced by

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

before it was adopted by the early Christians. The lifting up of holy hands is referenced in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

in , , , , , , and . The biblical ordinance of lifting hands up in prayer was advised by many early Christian apologists, including Marcus Minucius Felix, Clement of Rome,

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen an ...

and

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of ...

. Christians saw the position as representing the posture of Christ on the Cross; therefore, it was the favorite of early Christians. Until the ninth century, the posture was sometimes adopted by entire congregations while celebrating the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

.Stephen Burns, ''SCM Studyguide to Liturgy'' (Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2006), 62. In

, Coptic Christian believers pray the seven canonical hours of the Agpeya at fixed prayer times in the orans position while standing. In Western Christianity, by the twelfth century, however, the joining of hands began to replace the orans posture as the preferred position for prayer. The orans posture has continued to be used at certain points in the liturgies of the Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican Churches. In the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

es in the Latin liturgical rites see the celebrating priest prays the orations, the canon, and the Lord's Prayer in the gesture of orant; in the

Maronite Church The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The current head of the Mar ...

's Holy Qurbana, the congregation together with the priest lift up their hands in the orans posture during various parts of the liturgy, such as the anaphora and Lord's Prayer."Liturgical Gestures." ''New Catholic Encyclopedia''. second edition, volume 8. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 646-650. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 February 2012. In the twentieth century, the orans posture experienced a revival as a result of its widespread use within

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movementCharismatic Christianity. Often associated with contemporary worship, the orans posture is once again becoming a common gesture of worship among many Christian groups.Paul Harvey and Philip Goff, ''The Columbia documentary history of religion in America since 1945'' (Columbia University Press, 2005), 347.Larry Witham, ''Who shall lead them?: the future of ministry in America'' (Oxford University Press, 1 July 2005), 134.

Depictions in art

Orans was common in early Sumerian cultures: "...it appears that Sumerian people might have a statue carved to represent themselves and do their worshipping for them - in their place, as a stand in. An inscription on one such statue translates, 'It offers prayers.' Another inscription says, 'Statue, say unto my king (god)..." The custom of praying in antiquity with outstretched, raised arms was common to both Jews and

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

s, and indeed the iconographic type of the Orans was itself strongly influenced by classic representations. But the meaning of the orans of Christian art is quite different from that of its prototypes. Numerous Biblical figures, for instance, depicted in the catacombs of Rome —

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the Covenant (biblical), special ...

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

in the lion's den — are pictured asking the Lord to deliver the soul of the person on whose tombs they are depicted as he once delivered the particular personage represented. But besides these Biblical orans figures there exist in the catacombs many ideal figures (153 in all) in the ancient attitude of prayer, representing the deceased's soul in heaven, praying for their friends on earth.Wilpert "Ein Cyklus christologischer Gemälde aus der Katakombe der Heiligen Petrus und Marcellinus" (Freiburg, 1891); One of the most convincing proofs that the orans was regarded as a symbol of the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

is an ancient lead medal in the

Vatican Museum The Vatican Museums ( it, Musei Vaticani; la, Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of ...

showing the martyr

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

, under torture, while his soul, in the form of a female orans, is just leaving the body. An arcosolium in the Ostrianum cemetery represents an orans with a petition for her intercession: ''Victoriæ Virgini'' … ''Pete'' … The Acts of

St. Cecilia Saint Cecilia ( la, Sancta Caecilia), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman virgin martyr and is venerated in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the patroness of music and musicians, i ...

speaks of souls leaving the body like virgins: ''Vidit egredientes animas eorum de corporibus, quasi virgines de thalamo'' ("He saw their souls coming out of their bodies, like virgins from the chamber"), and so also the Acts of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus. Very probably the medieval representations of a diminutive body, figure of the soul, issuing from the mouths of the dying were reminiscences of the orans as a symbol of the soul. The earlier orantes were depicted in the simplest garb, and without any striking individual traits, but in the fourth century the figures become richly adorned, and of marked individuality, an indication of the approach of historic art. One of the most remarkable figures of the orans cycle, dating from the early fourth century, is interpreted by Wilpert as the Blessed Virgin interceding for the friends of the deceased. Directly in front of Mary is a boy, not in the orans attitude and supposed to be the Divine Child, while to the right and left are monograms of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religi ...

. The ''Platytéra'', a hagiographic depiction on the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

as Our Lady of the Sign which is standing in the ''orans'' gesture, usually placed on the half-dome above the altar of Byzantine-style churches, and facing down the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

Some orans-type Eastern Orthodox icons of the Virgin Mary

File:VirgenNino.jpg, Orans (catacombs of Rome), first half of IV c. File:Oranta Kiev.jpg, Orans of Kyiv. Mosaic. XI c. File:Apsida Sofiyskogo Sobora Kiev.jpg, Orans in Kyiv Saint Sophia cathedral. File:Znamenie ikona Novgorod.jpg, Our Lady of the Sign icon.

Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ...

. First half of XII c. File:Neupivaemaya Chasha.jpg,

Inexhaustible Chalice Inexhaustible Chalice (Russian: Неупиваемая чаша; also known in English as ''Inexaustible Cup'' or ''Non-intoxicating Chalice'') is a wonderworking icon of the Mother of God (Θεοτόκος (Theotokos) or Богородица (Bogo ...

icon. Serpukhov. XIX c.

References

External links

Including an orans mural from Lullingstone Roman Villa, now in the British Museum

Why do we extend our arms when praying the Our Father and at other times during the Maronite anaphora?
{{Catholic, wstitle=Orans Christian prayer Christian iconography Eastern Orthodox icons Gestures of respect Christian terminology

History

Depictions in art

Some orans-type Eastern Orthodox icons of the Virgin Mary

See also

References

External links