Through both Old and New Testament times, standing for prayer seemed to be the norm for public prayer.  Such positions as sitting and kneeling were almost never practiced in public prayer, but were more often practiced in private prayers.

Shortly after the advent of Christ, however, kneeling began to be practiced more often, especially in public worship.  In fact, according to an article written by a Markus Bochmuel, the first entire half of the service was practiced while kneeling, followed by the rest of the service in which the congregation stood.  I presume that this new movement of kneeling in the service (during which a liturgy was said) began by the insistent teaching of the church fathers that kneeling was “a necessary expression of humility and submission.”  No doubt, all these holy minded church fathers had a clear and lasting picture of what they knew and heard about Jesus and…