Lent Week 1: Submitting Our Devotions
back to the main page

How to make a chotki :

You will need 56 beads of one size (size E or larger will work), 3 divider beads, a cross, and about 18" of hemp or other fine string.

Place beads on the hemp in this order:

14 beads
1 divider bead
14 beads
1 divider bead
14 beads
1 divider bead
14 beads
Tie off the string and attach cross to excess line.

How to pray using your chotki:

Pray the Jesus Prayer for each of the 14 beads in one section:
<inhale> Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
<exhale> Have mercy on me a sinner.

Pray The Lord's Prayer when you get to a divider bead.

Repeat this cycle of Jesus Prayer for 14 beads followed by The Lord's Prayer for a divider bead until you reach the cross, then....

Finish your prayer time by praying The Apostles' Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting.  Amen.

*catholic with a little "c" means "universal"