The previous articles (Part 1 and Part 2) discussed why we pray, what prayer is, when we pray and where we should pray, all important practical questions for living in an Orthodox Christian manner. This article deals with how we should pray, and goes very briefly into certain ways to make our prayer more effective.​

The previous article discussed what prayer is and why we pray. Now we turn to when and where we should pray, both important practical questions for living in an Orthodox Christian manner. Again, this article will draw heavily from the Church Fathers and Saints.

So much could be said about this topic. This article will start off by answering a couple of basic questions about prayer in order to get the ball rolling.
 
Just a short disclaimer here, this article doesn’t come from some great authority on prayer and the ascetic struggle. It comes from a struggling student. However, I will quote from real experts, saints who lived the words of St Paul to “pray unceasingly” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The topic of why we fast in the Orthodox Church was touched on in the previous article (see here) but was not completely explained. The reasons why Orthodox fast during certain periods such as Great Lent or on Wednesdays and Fridays were dealt with in Part 1. Here, we will examine why we fast at all.

The aim of this short article is to explain how we Orthodox Christians fast. It should be stated upfront that fasting is not mandatory for Orthodox Christians. Unlike Islam, it is not a sin if one does not fast. Having said that, fasting is one of the best weapons in our arsenal in dealing with the struggles and the temptations which we face.