Prayer, Meditation and Contemplation in Christianity

Prayer has been an essential part of Christianity since its earliest days. Prayer is an integral element of the Christian faith and permeates all forms of Christian worship. Prayer in Christianity is the tradition of communicating with God, either in God's fullness or as one of the persons of the Trinity.

In the early Church worship was inseparable from doctrine as reflected in the statement: lex orandi, lex credendi, i.e. the law of belief is the law of prayer. The Lord's Prayer was an essential element of the meetings of early Christians, and over time a variety of Christian prayer emerged.

Christian prayers are diverse and may vary among Christian denominations. They may be public prayers (e.g. as part of liturgy) or private prayers by an individual. Prayers may be performed as petition (or intercession), thanksgiving, blessing (or benediction), praise or confession.

A broad, three stage hierarchical characterization of prayer begins with vocal prayer, then moves on to a more structured form in terms of Christian meditation, and finally reaches the multiple layers of contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer follows Christian meditation and is the highest form of prayer which aims to achieve a close spiritual union with God. Both Eastern and Western Christian teachings have emphasized the use of meditative prayers as an element in increasing one's knowledge of Christ.