A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are termed "service books" or "liturgical books", and are thus not prayer-books in the strictest sense, but the term is often used very loosely. A religion's scriptures might also be considered prayer books as well.
Throughout the year, and especially during certain seasons of the Christian liturgical kalendar such as Advent and Lent, many Christians pray a daily devotional, which contains a prayer for each day along with a reflection on a passage from the Christian Bible.
Use in Christian pilgrimages
As a popular place of Evangelical-Lutheran pilgrimage, Christians reach Vadstena Abbey Church through the Saint Birgitta Ways, using The Pilgrim's Prayer Book (Pilgrimens tidegärd) throughout the day; the first of the three prayers in The Pilgrim's Prayer Book are the same prayers said daily at 8 am, 12 pm and 4 pm at Vadstena Abbey Church. During their journey to Vadstena Abbey Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Christian pilgrims pause along the Saint Birgitta Ways trails to pray from this prayer book (which functions as a small breviary to pray the canonical hours). Upon arrival to Vadstena Abbey Church, Evangelical-Lutheran pilgrims attend the celebration of Mass and receive the Eucharist there.[5]
Notable prayer books
The following are among the many books to which the term may loosely refer in various churches, although in strict usage a prayer book is likely to mean a miscellaneous book of prayers as opposed to the standard service books as listed in the last group below:
↑Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney (1906). A Sketch of Egyptian History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Methuen. p.399. Prayers 7 times a day are enjoined, and the most strict among the Copts recite one of more of the Psalms of David each time they pray. They always wash their hands and faces before devotions, and turn to the East.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
