The Catholic prayer app Hallow has steadily expanded its offerings over the years. One of its more notable developments has been the inclusion of Eastern prayers, a move that quietly signals a wider horizon for digital praying apps.
While the app remains firmly rooted in the spirituality and prayer of the Roman Rite, it now includes a curated selection of song and prayer drawn from the Byzantine Catholic tradition. These prayers — shaped over centuries in the Christian East — are not new. But their inclusion on Hallow brings them to those who might have never prayed with them before.
Learn about the Eastern Catholic Churches here:
What is Hallow?
Among them is the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Simple and repetitive, it has long been central to Eastern Christian spirituality, often prayed in rhythm with the breath. Its inclusion introduces users to a tradition that emphasizes interior stillness and continual conversion of heart.
The app also features morning and evening prayers, along with texts attributed to figures such as St. Basil the Great. Many of these prayers focus on repentance, dependence on God, and the desire to align one’s will with His — themes deeply familiar across Christian traditions.
This content has been curated in part with guidance from voices within the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox world, including Mother Natalia, whose work has helped present these prayers in an accessible way for modern users.
More than content, a sign of unity
For centuries, Catholic and Orthodox Christians have shared the same early roots while living in separation since the Great Schism. Despite theological and ecclesial differences, both traditions preserve a common inheritance of prayer, Scripture, and sacramental life. Some Eastern Christians are united with Rome. Others exist within the various Churches of the Orthodox.
What Hallow offers, in a modest but tangible way, is access to that shared inheritance.
The prayers themselves do not erase differences. Some users have noted the need for discernment, particularly around explicitly Catholic elements elsewhere in the app. Yet the presence of Byzantine prayers highlights something deeper: unity is not only a future goal, but a present reality expressed through prayer.
In this sense, the app reflects a broader movement within Christianity — one that seeks to recover what is held in common without ignoring what remains unresolved.
For many users, encountering the Jesus Prayer or the Trisagion — “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us” — may be a first glimpse into the spiritual language of the Christian East. It is a small step, but a meaningful one. In a divided Christian landscape, even a shared prayer can point toward the unity Christ desired: not uniformity, but communion rooted in the same Lord.
Watch Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople pray the Nicene Creed together at the spot where it was created:
