Genuine 100% leather, hand made

Total length: 53 cm

Band width: 1.5 cm

(The book shown in the photos is not included)

The Lestovka or ‘Ladder’ is a type of prayer rope that was widely used in Old Russia, and has been lovingly preserved by the Old Believers or Old Ritualists. This kind of prayer rope was used by the ancient saints of Russia and by such modern Orthodox saints as Serafim of Sarov. Like other Prayer Ropes in the Orthodox Christian tradition, the Lestovka is most commonly used for the recitation of the Jesus Prayer (‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’), although other repetitive prayers can also be used. 

The Lestovka has a developed symbolism: 

The Lestovka has four Lapostki (leaves or flaps), symbolising the four Evangelists. The stitching around the leaves symbolises the teaching of the Gospel, the Good News of Christ. Between the leaves are seven moveable pieces, taken to represent what some identify as the seven Great Mysteries or ‘sacraments’ of the Church. These can also be used to keep count of how may prayer ropes one has said over the day.

Where the Lestovka is joined together there are three steps at each end, and on the Lestovka itself, dividing it into sections of different lengths, there are three more steps, making a total of nine, representing the nine orders of angels, and the nine months during which the most pure Mother of God carried The Infant Christ in her womb.

The empty space after the first three steps or rungs (bábochki) represents the earth, after which there are twelve steps signifying the twelve Apostles. Then there are thirty-nine counters symbolising the thirty-nine weeks and two days in which the Mother of God bore Christ in her womb. The next thirty-three counters represent the thirty-three years of the Lord’s earthly life, and the final seventeen counters represent the seventeen prophets who prophesied the Christ.