Structural Identity of Two Prayers

Julio Cesar Assis

M.A. History of Ideas

University of San Paulo, Brazil
ideashistory@gmail.com

The name Jesus derives from the Hebrew Joshua or Yehoshua, being Yeho an
abbreviation of the unpronounceable divine name YHWH and shua a noun
meaning "cry for help". Even though sometimes the name of Jesus is
interpreted as "YHWH saves", Yehoshua literally means "a cry to God for help".

The Jesus Prayer

Beside the prayer that the Lord taught us (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4) and
the Psalms, the Orthodox Christian has also the Prayer of Jesus, also called the
Prayer of the Heart, being the heart the point of contact between creature and
Creator.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner".

It is based on passages from each one of the synoptic Gospels:

"Lord son of David, have mercy on me" (Matthew 15: 22)

"Jesus son of David, have mercy on me" (Mark 10: 47)
"God have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13)

In Western Christian tradition, the equivalent of this prayer for its importance is
the Hail Mary.
Hail Mary

The Hail Mary is composed of three parts, being the first two statements of two
saints that are essential in the narrative of the New Testament.

The angelic greeting of Saint Gabriel1:

Hail Mary, full of grace

The Lord is with you

The exclamation of Saint Elizabeth2:

Blessed are you among women and

Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus

Up to this point the phrasing of the Hail Mary is similar in the churches of the
East and the West. The concluding part of the Western version has no direct
scriptural basis.

Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners

Now and in the hour of our death.

The sinister tone of the last sentence may be an eco of the terror caused by the
Black Death, which has reached Western Europe in the mid of the XIV century.

1
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28).
2
“And she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women and blessed is
the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42).

2
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners

This sentence of the Western Hail Mary presents a complete structural identity
with the Prayer of Jesus.

Hail Mary Jesus Prayer

Title Holy Lord

Name Mary Jesus Christ

Relationship with God Mother of God Son of God

Petition pray for us have mercy on me

State of the prayerful sinners a sinner

Maybe this identity, of which we do not know any previous mention, comes from
the divine economy, which offers to the two traditions a salvifical structure that is
actualized by each one in its own way.