The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father, is a central Christian prayer that Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and a shorter form in the Gospel of Luke when "one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples'". Regarding the presence of the two versions, some have suggested that both were original, the Matthean version spoken by Jesus early in his ministry in Galilee, and the Lucan version one year later, "very likely in Judea".
The Lord's Prayer (Le Pater Noster), by James Tissot
Lord's Prayer from the 1845 illuminated book of The Sermon on the Mount, designed by Owen Jones
The Lord's Prayer in Greek
18th-century painting of the Lord's Prayer, on the north side of the chancel of St Mary's Church, Mundon, Essex.
Christian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice.
A prie-dieu, which is used for private Christian prayer, situated in the room of a historic house.
Many devout Christians have a home altar at which they (and their family members) pray and read Christian devotional literature, sometimes while kneeling at a prie-dieu.
A page of Matthew, from Papyrus 1, c. 250
Priest reading from Holy Scripture in preparation for meditation and contemplative prayer
