Besides icons, your prayer corner needs a few simple things: a candle or oil lamp, a cross, and your prayer book. That’s really it.
But let’s talk about why these matter and what else you might include.
Light Before the Icons
Most Orthodox homes keep a vigil lamp burning in the icon corner. Traditionally that’s an olive oil lamp, the kind you’ll see hanging in church before the iconostasis. The light represents Christ, who called himself the Light of the World. It’s also a sign of watchfulness. When you leave for your shift at the refinery or head out to run errands, that flame stays lit, a visible reminder that prayer continues even when you’re not standing there saying your morning prayers.
Candles work too. Beeswax if you can get them, but honestly any candle is fine when you’re starting out. Some people light a candle for morning prayers and let it burn for a while, then light it again in the evening. Others keep a lamp going all the time. Talk to your priest about what makes sense for your household.
The lamp isn’t decorative. It’s functional. You light it, you pray by its light, you remember that God is present.
A Cross
The cross usually goes in the center of your icon corner, often above or between your icons. Some people use a standing cross on the shelf itself. Others hang one on the wall. The cross focuses everything. Icons show us the saints and the Theotokos and Christ himself, but the cross shows us why we have hope at all. It’s the instrument of our salvation, the place where death died.
You don’t need anything fancy. A simple wooden cross does the job.
Prayer Books and Texts
Keep your prayer book right there in the corner. You’re going to use it every day, so don’t shelve it across the room. Many families keep a Psalter there too, or a small Gospel book. If you’ve got printed copies of the morning and evening prayers (your priest can give you these, or you can find them on the Antiochian Archdiocese website), keep those visible where you can reach them easily.
The idea is that everything you need for prayer is in one place. You’re not hunting for your prayer book while your coffee gets cold.
Icons Themselves: Which Ones?
You asked what else goes in the corner, but let’s make sure the icons themselves are right. You need Christ and the Theotokos at minimum. Christ goes on the right as you face the corner, the Theotokos on the left. After that, add your patron saint, the saint you’re named after or whose name you took at chrismation. If you’re married, include your spouse’s patron too. Family patron saints, saints you’re devoted to, saints connected to your parish (St. Michael, in your case), these all have a place.
Don’t go overboard at first. Three or four icons and room to grow is better than a cluttered wall.
Optional but Common
Some families keep a small bottle of holy water in the icon corner, or a vial of blessed oil from church. You’re not required to have these, but they’re part of the rhythm of Orthodox life. You might cross yourself with the oil when you’re sick, or bless your kids’ foreheads with holy water before they leave for school.
Incense is another option. A small censer and some incense let you fill your home with that same scent you smell at Liturgy. It’s not necessary for daily prayers, but some people use it on Sundays or feast days.
What You Don’t Need
You don’t need to spend a lot of money. You don’t need everything matching or looking like a museum display. The icon corner isn’t about impressing visitors. It’s about creating a space where you and your family turn toward God every day.
Start simple. Christ, the Theotokos, a candle, a cross, your prayer book. You can add to it over time as you grow in the faith. Ask your priest to bless your icon corner once you’ve set it up. He might come to your house to do it, or he might bless the items at church and you can take them home.
The goal is a place that pulls you into prayer, not a project that never gets finished because you’re waiting to find the perfect lamp or the right shelf. Set it up this week. Use it tomorrow morning. Let it become part of the fabric of your home, the place where your family stands together and says “Our Father” before the day scatters you all in different directions.
