Content
Preface
How to learn the Jesus prayer?
About the power of prayer
Short teachings about the Jesus prayer of the elders of the Optina Desert

Foreword

It is not superfluous to say that spiritual teaching in the course of its movement does not need to submit to scientific rules, because this would necessarily limit its unlimited freedom and put its spiritual fullness of life in the narrow framework of the literary law. The spirit cannot be bound. Bishop Theophanes the Saint expresses a similar opinion about this: “The doctrine of prayer should not be subject to any system, because the spiritual work, obeying the system, should endure truncation – shame, lose its boundless freedom inherent in the spirit of prayer, which is under the control of the Spirit of God, and not of man. As we began the task ahead, with the help of God, we received the intention to come to the aid of parents and brothers and generally those who want to take the shortest royal path to the kingdom of heaven with the help of humble and continuous action of the “Jesus Prayer”. The teachings we offer are not out of our thinness, but for the sake of brotherly love, collected from the works of the holy fathers and modern ascetics of piety. Although there are already collections about prayer, they are about prayer in general, and we have collected mainly about the Jesus prayer the most necessary elements of the teachings of the holy fathers, with the help of which anyone who wants to follow the path of self-devotion can learn how to constantly follow Jesus correctly with the mouth, mind and heart. There is a detailed teaching in Dobrotolyubiya, in the works of Yep. Ignatia Bryanchaninova, Yep. Theophanes and many others, but not everyone will have enough funds to purchase those precious books in which the teaching about prayer, like fragrant flowers, is scattered throughout the vast spiritual field, which we gathered in one place, so that it came out like a fragrant bouquet, ours was a small letter in terms of content. It has a lot of spirit, life and light for those who want to learn the Jesus prayer. Although, strictly speaking, one cannot learn prayer by reading books alone, because it requires many years of practical work and patience, as long as patience and work are diligent, and at the head of everything is the help of God, which is also requested by diligent humble prayer; however, book teaching is necessary, firstly: to test oneself in the exercise of the Jesus prayer, because an experienced mentor for this sacred work is not so easy to find, as it used to be in the old days, and secondly, to warm the prayer spirit.

We are convinced that the kind readers of our book will not get bored reading, where one meaning of prayer is mentioned many times, but in different verbal forms, because we have described prayer comprehensively. That is why we think that for a heart that loves the sweetest name of Jesus, the repeated repetition of His name should be sweeter than honey and honeycomb. If someone is God-loving, then it will not be boring or difficult to repeat day and night and all his life the name of the Most Sweet Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, in prayer, because this name is dear to the Christian’s pure heart and constitutes his joy, peace and incorruptible food.

I.M.

How to learn the Jesus prayer?

For a satisfactory answer, I cite the teachings of many teachers:

St. Fathers and modern ascetics of prayer, ahead of all

Eternal Teacher of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

The first teacher of the “Jesus Prayer” is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself; the second is our own experience; also diligence, diligence, diligence, then the question of the experienced (is it necessary to have a unanimous Brother – Counselor); St. Gregory the Sinaite calls prayer God. Therefore, the prayer itself will teach the one who prays, as St. Ladder: “Prayer is given to the one who prays – not lazily.” St. Macarius the Great says: “To pray somehow (but often) is in our will, and to pray truly is a gift of grace.” Saint Hesychius says that he often adopts a skill and turns to nature (habit), and without frequent invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, it is impossible to cleanse the heart of passions and sinful urges. St. Saints Callistus and Ignatius advise: “First of all feats and virtues, begin in the name of Jesus Christ often, continuously, because it often makes impure prayer clean.”

Blessed Diadochus claims that if a person called on the name of God as often as possible, he would not fall into sins. How wise are these experiments and how close to the heart are these practical instructions of St. Parents, especially for beginners to follow the path of prayer!

St. The leaflet writes: “when the soul is darkened by impure thoughts, in the name of Jesus, defeat opponents, often repeating the Divine verbs: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” You will not find a stronger and more successful weapon in heaven or on earth.” St. Gregory of Sinai teaches: “know that no one can control his mind alone, and therefore, when thoughts are impure, call on the name of Jesus Christ more often and many times, and the thoughts will subside by themselves.”

Having understood these experienced instructions of St. Fathers, – we come to such a true conclusion that the main, the only and the most convenient way of acquiring things of salvation and spiritual perfection is a part of continuous prayer, no matter how feeble it may be at the beginning. The almighty God Himself, by His grace, heals and impoverishes the weak, fills, corrects and confirms in this action.

Part of the prayer will certainly make a habit and will turn to nature, will eventually lead the mind and heart into proper guidance. Imagine at the same time: if a person unfailingly fulfilled this commandment of God about unceasing prayer, then in this alone he would fulfill all the commandments. Because if at any time, with all your affairs and occupations, you constantly prayed, secretly called on the Divine name of Jesus Christ, even if at first without mental warmth and diligence, even if only by forcing yourself, and then you would not have time for vain conversations, for which we judge), for the empty exhaustion of time in sensual sinful pleasures: every criminal thought and sinful deed was not considered b as businesslike, as in an empty mind not busy with prayer; every deed would immediately be purified by the grace-giving power of the name of Jesus Christ, which is often invoked; frequent exercises in prayer would distract the soul from sinful deeds and attract it to union with God. Now you see how important and necessary quantity is in prayer. Part of prayer is the only way to acquire pure and true unceasing prayer.

For further conviction of the necessity and fruitfulness of frequent prayer as firmly as possible, note: 1) that every excitement, every thought about prayer is the action of the Holy Spirit, and the voice of St. Your guardian angel. St. Leaflet says: “Whoever has earned the Lord, then the Holy Spirit prays for him, and in him sighs are not uttered” (Rom. 8:26). would be with difficulty, because when the body is tired, then the soul will be humbled, and the heart will come to sorrow and emotion.” 2) That the name of Jesus Christ invoked in prayer contains self-existent and self-acting beneficial power, so do not be embarrassed by the impurity or dryness of your prayer, and patiently wait for the fruit of frequent invocation of God’s name. Do not listen to the inexperienced, senseless suggestion of the busy world, as if one, although unrelenting, but cold cry, is a useless verbiage… No. The power of God’s name and its frequent calling show its fruit in its time.

Mnymoduhovnye-contemplative philosophers establish a kind of science from prayer, on shaky foundations of natural reason. Does it take a lot of teaching, intelligence or knowledge to sincerely say: “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”?..

Didn’t our Divine teacher Himself praise such frequent prayers? Wasn’t it through these brief but frequent prayers that miracles were demanded and created? Ah, Christian soul! Watch and do not be silent in the continuous cries of your prayer. Even if this cry of yours came from a heart still scattered and half filled with the world, there is no need. It is only necessary to continue it (this cry), not to silence it; and don’t worry, it will clear itself from frequent prayer. So, after these convictions that the part of prayer, despite all the weakness, is so powerful, definitely available to a person and lies in his complete will – dare to test, as much as possible for you at least one day for the first time, to spend observing yourself and the frequency of prayer so that much more is used for the prayer call of the name of Jesus Christ. has time at his disposal, and this preference of prayer over life’s affairs – in time will certainly prove to you that this day is not lost, but gained for salvation; that on the scales of God’s justice, frequent prayer drags the scales of your weaknesses and sins, and atones for the sins of that day in the memorial book of your conscience, puts you on the level of righteousness and gives you the hope of receiving sanctification and eternal life. Seclusion of people and distracting objects is the main condition for attentive unceasing prayer; however, in case of impossibility to use it; i.e. seclusion – speechlessness, should not apologize for the infrequency of prayer, because the number and frequency is available to everyone’s ability – both healthy and sick, and lies in his will. Proof examples of this are presented by those who, burdened with duties, entertaining positions, cares and work and troubles, always called on the Divine name of Jesus Christ, and through this learned and achieved the continuous inner prayer of the heart. St. Patriarch Photius learned this sacred prayer while on the Patriarchal throne. St. Callistus, passing through the arduous obedience of a cook, also learned the unceasing prayer of Jesus. Simple-hearted Lazarus, burdened with many works for the brothers, recited the Jesus prayer during all his activities and calmed down.

St. John Chrysostom says about prayer: “no one should present an answer that it is impossible to always pray when one is busy with life’s cares, or cannot be in the temple either because of illness or because of the distance from the temple. But wherever you are, you can build an altar to God in your mind through prayer. And you can pray like this at markets, and on a journey, and one who sits at a craft; you can pray everywhere and anywhere.” If you are more determined to work on the spiritual side of prayer, then you will learn by experience that the frequency of prayer is the only fastest way to salvation, from frequent oral prayer, it conveniently leads to mental prayer, and from this to heart prayer, which opens the kingdom of God in us. External, that is. oral exercise, as experience shows and practitioners of unceasing prayer assure, it happens like this: whoever dares to incessantly call on the sweetest name of Jesus Christ, or, what is the same, to repeat the Jesus prayer continuously, it is true, at the beginning he feels labor and fights laziness, but he fights laziness, but it is related to this occupation so that later his mouth and speech acquire such self-movement that without with the help of efforts, they move uncontrollably by themselves and say a prayer without a voice. Oral at first, but a frequent prayer cry, insensibly becomes a real cry of the heart, goes deep into the inside, becomes more pleasant, enjoying the name of Jesus and feeding on it, it leads its follower to union with God.

If a strong prayer! Prayer seems to regenerate a person: its action is so powerful that no power of passion can resist it. Ep. Ignatius Bryanchaninov says about prayer: “The Jesus prayer is divided into two types: oral and mental. The ascetic moves from oral prayer to intelligent prayer on his own, provided that the oral prayer is attentive. First, he should learn the oral Jesus prayer”.

When performing the Jesus prayer, attention is necessary – putting the mind into the words of the prayer, extreme slowness in pronouncing it, and sorrow of the spirit.

Although these conditions are necessary for any prayer, they are more conveniently maintained and more necessary during the Jesus prayer. The Jesus prayer is the most fruitful of all spiritual works. The power and dignity of this prayer lies in the most holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jesus prayer must be said very slowly. Take a short rest after each prayer, and thus help the mind to concentrate. Continually saying the prayer dissipates the mind. Transfer your breath carefully, breathe quietly and slowly, this protects against inattention. Leaning to sleep, say the Jesus prayer and fall asleep with it. Train yourself so that when you wake up from sleep, your first thought, first word and first deed is prayer. Try to get used to the Jesus prayer so much that it becomes your unceasing prayer, for which it is very convenient in its brevity. St. the fathers said: Every Christian, especially the monks, must, whether he eats and drinks, whether he is in a cell or in obedience, he must constantly cry: Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The newly appeared saint of God, Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, says: “A monk who does not have the Jesus prayer is a burnt head.” Therefore, according to his holy mind, he is not a monk at all who does not engage in the Jesus prayer, which really shone, according to the elder Paisius, in ancient monasticism, like the midday sun in its power. But now it is gone… Now, they say, there are no old men! But where can they start from, when nowadays there are very few good novices. St. Simeon the New Theologian says that in the monastery, those who practice the Jesus prayer should be compared to precious stones and beads. The elders of Athos said that such people attract God’s blessings to the abode, and for them they flourish with glory, wealth, peace, love and unanimity. And others, far from prayer, are called only a pile of simple stones. But even such people should not be upset, because even simple stones have their value and are needed in their places: whoever cannot be the blessed Mary who always sits at the feet of Jesus, let him be a prudent Martha, whose laborious work and love God did not neglect, like the widow two leps. Abbots and abbesses, if you notice in your monastery those who are engaged in the Jesus prayer, then rejoice in this and by all means contribute to their achievement of St. the goals are acts of prayer, defining them by living together with monks and nuns who are more reverent and attentive to their salvation. Abba St. Abodes must be inhabited by their brothers – they must be engaged in the prayer of Jesus, because for this we also have the commandment of God: “Watch and pray, do not let them lead you into trouble” and the Holy Spirit speaks through the Apostle: “Pray without ceasing.”

In the book of St. Hesychius the Presbyter, which contains teachings on purity of heart, mind and prayer, shows the entire path of inner spiritual self-education. This is attention, observance or preservation of the mind, penitent feeling, humility – in a word, purity of heart, in which only the Jesus prayer can settle; or rather, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If we do not engage in penitential exercise, we can never form our spiritual forces, and therefore we will not achieve purity, and we will never see the Lord God in us; (For it is said): blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8); this internal self-education of the forces cannot be replaced by any other thing: it requires personal work – precisely: in the given direction. Perhaps some will say that we demean and do not give any importance to the holy obedience by which all monasticism is saved. No, we do not humiliate, but only introduce God’s power, Christ himself, into it. Does obedience suffer any damage or diminishment when the Jesus prayer is recited during its production, especially physical labor? On the contrary, here the person himself will be resurrected, he will receive vigor and strength for his work, and the grace of God, inseparably inherent in the name of Christ, pouring out tangibly, will cover the entire society of people who work in the cause of obedience with streams of heavenly joy. Why should not, for example, those who have the most responsible duty of managing human souls, inspire their brothers or sisters, when they, in the matter of monastic obedience, go about their work, that during the work, no matter what they are, each of the workers secretly recites the Jesus prayer for himself?! After all, everyone can see that it is easy and possible and soul-saving.

They say: now prayer action is impossible; maybe it was in former times, when there were many saints!.. That is why, then, there were many saints who pleased God, that prayer exercise was the main, essential thing for them, as it can be seen in the works of elder Paisius Velichkovsky. Nowadays, it is overgrown with thorns, unsuitable grass, i.e. this sacred work is a vanity, and that is why the holy fathers also became impoverished. Ep. Ignatius says: unceasing prayer cannot be the property of a novice monk, but in order to become capable of unceasing prayer in time, he must learn to pray often. If you have the shortest free time, do not kill it in laziness, use it to practice prayer. Whoever does not get used to frequent prayer, delving into every word with his mind, will never receive unceasing prayer. Unceasing prayer is a gift of God, given by God to a faithful servant and servant of His. Anyone who wants to engage in the Jesus prayer is infallible, Eph. Ignatius advises to believe oneself by reading the writings of the Holy Fathers, the teachings of which are collected in Dobrotolyubiya, mainly in the 5th volume of the Russian edition of Yep. Feofan. And as for our view, it will be enough to limit ourselves to this small pamphlet of ours, in which, as we said in the preface, everything necessary to learn the Jesus prayer is collected from many works of the Holy Fathers and modern ascetics. There are good collections about prayer, but there it is said about common prayer, and we collected mainly about the Jesus prayer, which leads the humble creator by the shortest way to the holy mountain abodes, of which there are many, many with the Heavenly Father.

On the power of prayer

From the book “Stories of the Traveler”

1) Prayer is strong and powerful; pray and do what you want, and prayer will lead you to right and righteous action. Pray and think whatever you want, and your thoughts will be purified by prayer. Prayer will enlighten your mind, comfort and drive away all inappropriate thoughts. This is stated by St. Grigoriy Sinait: “if you want, he advises, to drive away thoughts and purify the mind, drive them away with prayer, because nothing can restrain thoughts except prayer.” This is also said by St. Ioan Ladder: “In the name of Jesus, defeat imaginary enemies, you will not find another weapon besides this.”

2) Pray and do what you want, and your deeds will be pleasing to God and useful and salvific. Frequent prayer, no matter what it is about, will not remain without fruit (says Mark the mobile), because in it is the power of grace. “Holy is His name, and everyone who calls on the Lord’s name will be saved.”

3) Pray and do not work hard to overcome passions. Prayer will destroy them in you. St. John of Carpathians teaches: “if you do not have the gift of moderation, do not be upset, God requires you to be diligent in prayer, and prayer will save you.”

4) Pray and do not be afraid of anything, do not be afraid of troubles, do not be afraid of calamities; prayer will protect, turn them away. Remember the drowned – faithless Peter; Paul, who prayed in prison; a monk freed from temptation by prayer, etc. cases this confirms the power, power and comprehensiveness of prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

5) Pray, no matter how, only always, and don’t be embarrassed by anything, be spiritually cheerful and calm; prayer will arrange everything and admonish you – remember what the saints – John Chrysostom and Mark the Hermit say about the power of prayer: the first claims that “prayer, even if it was offered from us, filled with sins, now cleanses us!”, and the second says about it like this: “There is some good in power. But the second cannot be achieved without the first. And so, what is in your power, sacrifice to God, although the amount is possible for you, and God’s power will pour into your heart, and the prayer is dry and scattered, but pure – eternal, finding a skill and turning to nature will become a pure, bright, fiery and worthy prayer. To please God, you need nothing more than to love – love and do whatever you want, says the blessed Augustine, and prayer is an outpouring and action of love, so we can truthfully say about it that nothing more is needed for salvation than ordinary prayer. Pray and do what you want: the saints worked in various monasteries and achieved their desired goal – prayer. Pray and do what you want, and you will achieve the goal of prayer: if you sincerely want to bear the yoke of Christ, then you will also gain sanctification. Now you see how many deep thoughts are concentrated in this wise saying: “Love and do what you want. Pray and do what you want”… How comforting and consoling is all that has been said to the sinner burdened with weaknesses, to one who stands under the burden of warring passions! Prayer – everything is given to her, as a comprehensive means for the salvation and improvement of the soul… Yes! But its condition is closely related to the name of the prayer here: “Pray without ceasing,” the word of God commands. Therefore, prayer will then show omnipotent power and fruit when it is produced often – non-stop, as one Solovetsky ascetic beautifully put it: “Melzi, that is. churn the milk well and there will be butter,” say the prayer longer, even with your lips, then the heart itself will speak. Because the frequency of prayer, that is. the continuity of speaking for a certain time certainly belongs to our will; while the purity, diligence, and perfection of prayer is a gift of grace. Therefore, my friends and relatives for Christ, let us pray as often as possible, let us devote our whole life to our prayer, even if it is entertaining at the beginning. Frequent practice will teach attention, quantity will certainly lead to quality. In order to learn to do something well, one must do it as often as possible, said one experienced prayer practitioner. Many spiritual creators offer various means to fight laziness and to arouse diligence in prayer. For example: 1) one must firmly convince oneself that God certainly requires prayer from us and His Word commands this everywhere. 2) It should be constantly remembered that due to laziness and neglect of prayer, one cannot keep up with matters of piety and acquire peace and salvation; and therefore must inevitably experience it both as a punishment on earth and as a torment in eternal life. 3) One should inspire one’s determination by the examples of God’s saints, who all achieved perfection, sanctification and salvation through unceasing prayer. And firmly remember that you should pray often and diligently, that God requires it; that we will be punished for laziness before prayer, because all those who blessed God prayed diligently and unceasingly. How to learn prayer? Work and pray: prayer will be born by itself, but only learn its necessary equipment, without which it is not useful, and can harm by spawning harmful pride; what is needed above all is wisdom that is always humble about oneself and sorrow for one’s sins, a heart that is in a lot of pain, crying, and seeking Christ’s consolations. Prayer should come from repentant feelings and a deep awareness of one’s sinfulness and one’s constant guilt before God.

These prayers are a fence and a soil where it can only grow, i.e. on humble feelings, self-abasement and self-reproach for our salvation; do not strive for high measures: because this desire is from pride (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will come themselves when your heart is pure, through unceasing, correctly – in humble and repentant feelings of prayer).

“The Jesus prayer is the very life of our soul – true, essential, which quenches its eternal thirst. Prayer embraces the heavenly world with its gracious presence in our heart; it benefits us with light, joy, bliss, gathers together our thoughts, sanctifies feelings, infuses cheerfulness into our soul and captures the path of Divine life. It is also necessary to show the way to acquire this highest gift – prayer. The very acquisition of prayer is already the greatest gift, and as you know, not everyone can receive gifts, but they are prepared for them, that is. whoever works diligently to purify his heart is worthy to contain this greatest gift, and therefore the acquisition depends on ourselves. Work without laziness in prayer until the end, and you will have light and eternal life. But above all, the most necessary is God’s help, without which, as we know, we cannot do anything good. But God’s help will not come if we do not look for it in the performance of the tasks that are subject to us; and so, in order to acquire what we want to have as our property – St. prayer, one must actually enter into the work of this action. You should read the Jesus prayer verbally, in every case, and in every place, trying to stir deep repentant feelings in yourself; to confess one’s sinful guilt before God, and to consider oneself worse among people, and to be sympathetic to everyone. The true dignity of a person consists in having a humble opinion of himself even in his great deeds, covering everyone with love, and especially with pity for the poor, beggars, and the oppressed.”

Let’s turn to heart prayer. She, with the consent of St. father’s teaching, is called the mother of all virtues. This is because it gives rise to every virtue from itself, or rather: it gives the strength to perform it. Because its essence is a connection with the Lord, who, being in our hearts, gives us His gracious power to do all good.

Question: What are the fruits of prayer?..

Answer: Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, mercy, faith, gentleness, temperance (Gal. 5:22–23).

When the prayer, with the blessing of God, makes the acquisition of grace in our heart and thereby connects us with the Lord, we immediately notice that it powerfully stops the current of impure thoughts. And this is, of course, according to the Gospel story, that when the bleeding wife touched the Lord Jesus, her blood flowed away (Mark 5:29). It is the same here: as soon as our mind touches the Lord Jesus in His most holy name, the fermentation of vain thoughts and the unstoppable rapidity of the mind immediately stops, which, as everyone knows from experience, is the most confusing thing for an ascetic of prayer. The Jesus Prayer unites in the heart an indescribable love for God and neighbors. Rather, it is a being of love, it is its strength, property and quality of prayer. For a person who prays, the greatest misfortune in life is if he willfully or unwillingly has to offend his neighbor, until he finds peace in his soul, until he calms down this brother of his with all the means that depend on him. Practicing the Jesus prayer rejects a person from everything earthly, and this is required by the very essence of prayer, which, according to the teachings of St. fathers, there is the alienation of the visible world, the rejection of care and all thought and clinging to God. In addition, the prayer of Jesus, opening in a person, pushes his mind to a deep, great and accurate understanding of the Scriptures, and this action comes from the union of our spirit with the spirit of Christ.

All those who are zealous about their salvation, no matter who they are, can start practicing the Jesus prayer. At first, the Lord gives everyone a taste of its spiritual pleasure, but then it also happens that spiritual comfort recedes; the heart becomes cruel, cold and even hostile to prayer, and the mind is filled with all kinds of thoughts. The condition is difficult and joyless. Here is a touchstone, and many of those who began the Jesus prayer do not endure it, but leave it and, as before, begin to be sons of this age, devoted to vanity and earthly cares. But the ascetic must survive this difficult state of mind. The stronger you resolve to endure this exercise, the sooner you can be victorious over the hostile spirit. With time, work and diligence, the spiritual treasure of prayer, which connects us with God, is gradually acquired. And without prayer, as the Divine Fathers write, it is impossible to connect with God. We had to hear a lot; they say: “Is a prayer that is scattered, inattentive and full of all kinds of thoughts pleasing to God?…” But we should all know and firmly remember that it is impossible to do anything at once. Everyone knows from experience – how much time, work and care it cost each of us to learn the work we do in our lives. And all the more to learn prayer, which is the highest science – heavenly Divine. It is necessary to first pass the first stages of training and skills to her in an extremely weak state, which does not correspond to her great dignity; but this should not be a reason for us to pray. Because gradualism is needed everywhere. And a baby cannot immediately be a perfect man, but it takes time, waiting and patience. The same sequence should go through the one who strongly wanted to learn the Jesus prayer. When we, with the help of God, are as diligent and diligent as it is possible for us in its first steps, then we will open the way to its further paths, which are preserved in its highest steps. But these high measures should not be desired and sought prematurely, because this would be an encroachment on God’s sanctuary and an illegal invasion of the treasury of spiritual goods, which are given by God at His discretion and righteous recompense for labor and purification of oneself from passions and for diligent exercise. A great evil happens to those when inexperienced prayer seekers, without establishing themselves in the feelings of repentance, without fully realizing their state corrupted by sin and the weakness of the forces of doing good, are directed without experienced guidance, independently and self-confidently into the spiritual realm. God’s wrath reaches them, and they fall into the so-called “devilish beauty” in monastic language, which is self-deception, i.e. that which is a lie is honored as truth. Do not need, and even despise the advice of elders. What’s worse than that? Such people are alienated from the life of God because of their arrogance. It is necessary for everyone to begin the work of prayer from the very first and initial stage, always observing the law of gradualness, which if necessary even in the affairs of this age, then even more so in the spiritual growth of a person. Here, leaps are impossible, and it is impossible to seize any gift from God by some trick, therefore it is necessary to bow your neck under the yoke of obedience and humility; to follow the path followed by our former reverend fathers, our guides and mentors, for our guidance, who left their precious writings. Therefore, with all reverence, joyfully and willingly say with your mouth, at every occupation, every day, day and night, these sacred verbs: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The name of God is holy and even a source of holiness, therefore from its pronunciation the air is sanctified, your mouth, tongue and body are sanctified; the demons, because of the terrible name of God for them, do not even dare to approach the place where you are, pronouncing the name of God. And here is the whole science of this sacred work. In addition to God’s help, first of all, diligent effort and diligence are needed. Do not be lazy in this exercise, as long as it depends on you, even if you spend your whole life until the end in the oral exercise of the Jesus prayer, then in this case you will have a great achievement, because your intention is holy and kind to God, your occupation is honest and worthy, and there is a lot of work. And blessed are you, and good will be with you. God will give you the fruits of your labors either at death or after death, when your soul is freed from the flesh and will rise to heaven among the wanderings of the air, then the prayer action, in which we are unforested, until the end of the soul, will surround it, and, like a fiery flame, it will be inaccessible by us.

On this measure, the prayer of Jesus is called labor, work, bodily, oral, as it is pronounced by bodily members – lips and tongue. We will call the next stage the second, because at this second stage the prayer of Jesus is called “intelligent” and is “soulful” in its action, because it works with the participation of soul power – mind or reason. The method of prayer is the same, that is. it is uttered by the mouth, but only the mind consists – it is included or included in the word of prayer. It is a conclusion because it keeps the mind from wandering. The mind cannot be kept from wandering in any other way, except by the almighty name of Jesus Christ. Pronouncing the sacred verbs of the Jesus prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner, and putting the mind to these words, it is not enough to be limited and satisfied with this one, although even this cannot be expressed in words; how useful, joyful and saving: but on this measure it is still impossible to feel the full power of the name of Jesus Christ. It is necessary that the mind, immersing itself in the name of Jesus Christ, matures in it Christ Himself. But how to mature?.. In all the writings of the holy fathers, it is strictly forbidden to make any image or drawing with the mind – form and figure.

The being of Jesus Christ is incredible and by no means invisible to us. No matter how we imagine, we will sin completely and completely, we will hold falsehood instead of truth. Therefore, it is necessary for the mind to stay in the words of the prayer, to be completely naked, i.e. strangers of every image and opinion. It is the name of God and the infinite grace contained in it that will bring about its proper action. It will sanctify the mind, keep it from wandering, enlighten its understanding – especially in the Divine scriptures, will drive away its natural darkness and blindness, simply to say, the mind shines with the light of Christ. These are two levels of Jesus’ prayer – verbal and intelligent, as souls produced by external forces cannot harm a person, unless he is proud and despises others. For pride is the root cause of all beauty, and humility is the attraction of the grace and power of God. Of course, prayer can be difficult, especially at the beginning of its production and skills. But be that as it may, it is absolutely necessary in the cause of our salvation, and it cannot be replaced by anything. We honor prayer as a feat, which should actually be our rest, peace, pleasure and joy. When we sit at the table and taste the food, we do not call it a feat, but a prayer, that is, the food of our soul, the breath of the spirit. But let prayer be a feat, but it is absolutely necessary for salvation, all success in this matter depends on prayer, and without prayer there is no salvation of the soul. Without it, our spiritual life aspires, and aspires, and dies, like a fish without water. And how can it be otherwise?… Our spiritual life is nourished and supported only by the Holy Spirit and is elevated by the purity of the soul, and we do not have the beginning of this life in ourselves, just as we do not have the beginning of physical life, but we borrow it from the outside through food. How is the life of the spirit drawn from the Holy Spirit? In the same way as bodily – from food: by the action of the hands, opening the mouth in prayer, “open the mouth and the attraction of the spirit”, with the sighing of the heart “from the depths I will call to You, Lord, Lord, hear the voice of my prayer.” If a person, according to his strength, uses the possible labor for this and begs the Lord to give him this priceless gift, then he is truly the owner of heavenly good. And the beginnings of this bliss lie here precisely in our prayerful service to God, which at the beginning of its skill towards him does not promise such incredibly high fruits, but as the prayer is implemented in the heart, the Divine light gradually begins to flare up in it, transforming its natural fatness into a spiritual quality. Prayer is a matter of ascending to God in our heart. Prayer is the key to the treasures of all heavenly blessings. There is no such thing that cannot be obtained by prayer, as long as we ask for good and ask as it should; all things are possible to him who prays in faith. History of St. The churches of the Old and New Testaments give us miracles of prayer. One thing can already be called a miracle, that a small creation man can always talk freely with the great almighty Creator of heaven and earth, the King of the Archangels, the Lord of the universe… What an honor for one who prays! This is an angelic honor, an angelic occupation! Having not taught himself prayer here on earth, such a person cannot enter heaven and live there, as he is completely unprepared and incapable of going there, because heavenly life, its very essence is prayer. All heavenly beings are perfected by prayer, i.e. glorifications of their Creator.

It is necessary for everyone to know that the Jesus prayer needs the guidance of experienced mentors and sufficient preparation at the first stages, which is its main strength. But since now there are almost no mentors, and although there may be some, but it is difficult to find them, the guidance of this God-like and saving work can be sought in the spiritual writings of the holy fathers. Even if this can be difficult for someone, because of his lack of understanding St. Scriptures and due to the underdevelopment of mental abilities, it is better and safer for such a person to read the Jesus prayer, only with his mouth, in simplicity of heart, not to accept and not believe in any phenomena, because Satan is also in the form of an angel of light. Read freely, do not hurry to chase one prayer after another, try to hear each word yourself, then God will hear you. It is necessary to have an unquestionable hope that the Lord, for the good deliverance of the heart, will eventually be able to get on the real paths of heart prayer. The holy fathers said: “Pray, as you can, with your impure prayer at the beginning, and in time the Lord will give you a clean prayer,” because it is written: “Give prayer to prayer” (psal. 93; 1 Tsar. 2: 9). The person who prays should also know what often happens, especially at the beginning, when studying the Jesus prayer: a person reads it without any attention and without any feeling of prayerful pleasantness, whole clouds of various thoughts, including stingy and blasphemous ones, break the mind like sea waves, and at the same time it is not true. “Is your prayer pleasing to God? You only waste your time in this empty occupation; look at the people around you, because no one is doing it, even though they are older than life and more experienced than you. And you are better than others, because you undertake unceasing prayer. There was a time when St. parents, but now it’s a difficult time and it’s impossible, give it up and live like everyone else lives”

And here it still happens, no matter where you come from, and the adviser is the same, who says exactly the same thing that is on our mind, for which we are already ready ourselves. And here is a touchstone and a crucible of temptation for everyone, which must pass to each of those called to this service of God to the number of the chosen.

God will grant that this sad time will pass and you will see the joyful morning of Christ’s Resurrection. Over time, the light of Christ will shine in your heart and illuminate your whole inner being with a never-ending ray of heavenly joy, and you will definitely see the dawn of eternal life in the feelings of your heart, only, having started this Divine work, do not leave it completely. It happens that classes are overwhelmed by commotion, so that if necessary it will be necessary to leave it for a day or two, but do not let this be an embarrassment to you, and as soon as you recover, immediately continue the work of prayer that you have begun, which rejoices the heart and nourishes the soul with heavenly bread. A truly great and glorious deed, pleasing to God and saving us, consists in pronouncing the Divine name of our Savior with only one mouth. It seems that we do not see any benefit from this, and meanwhile the verbal pronunciation of the name of Jesus Christ scares the demons, burns their fire of the Godhead, and they flee from the place where they hear it. The name of God, being holy in itself, sanctifies our mouth, tongue and air and everything that surrounds us. The Holy Fathers also noticed that when we practice the Jesus prayer, especially at the beginning of it, sometimes we have an intensified boiling of passions, so that a person sees himself incomparably worse than the time when he was not engaged in prayer, and from this the other, due to inexperience, comes to doubt about its sanctity; it is natural in the order of necessity, i.e. the light of the grace of prayer, emanating from the Divinity of Jesus Christ and penetrating into the darkness of the soul, scares and calmly chases away the evil power that resides there, and it, alarmed, sets in motion all the passions that were at rest. Bishop Ignatius Bryanchaninov says about it like this: “Let this be a sign that our prayer has begun to do its proper action, so let’s not be afraid, but be encouraged by the hope that our prayer is proceeding in the proper order and has entered into its legal rights, until the expulsion of the evil force.” Says the Divine Chrysostom: “I beg you, brothers, never to leave the rule of prayer, or to neglect it, because I heard some fathers who said: what kind of monk is he, if he neglects the rule of prayer!” He said: “Don’t stop being with the name of the Lord Jesus, let the heart of the Lord and the Lord absorb the heart and the two will be together. However, this matter is not a matter of one day or two, but of many years and a long time, because a great and long-term feat is needed, let the enemy be thrown out and Christ dwell. St. Listvychnik: – “We will not be surprised if we see that at the beginning of our monastic life we ​​struggle with passions more than when we lived in the world. First, all the causes of diseases must arise, and then healing should follow. It is necessary for this sea to be agitated, agitated and with waves toss out everything that was inside the old man. The enemy, not having patience for the name of Jesus Christ, comes out, but when he comes out, he causes rebellion and indignation, therefore one should not pay any attention, but read and recite the Jesus prayer, even if only verbally, in the absence of a better one, and try to fill the whole course of one’s life with it, in all the activities of the monastic life. Work, time, and especially God’s help will overcome sinful attributes, and later this labor prayer will shine like an intelligent sun in its power. The Jesus Prayer cleanses our mind from vain thoughts in advance, sanctifies the heart with holy grace, rejects it from passion for the world and directs it to the future age, to the original light of Christ, the Son of God, in whom is eternal life.”

There is no doubt that it is possible to pray to the Son of God in addition to the so-called Jesus prayer, even without words – with one desire of the mind and heart. But this, firstly, is a possession of those who have achieved success in spiritual life, by no means available to most people; secondly, and in such an imaginary, subtle and immaterial prayer, the name of Jesus Christ cannot be excluded. Otherwise, what will the prayer be based on?

Questions. Why does falling into beauty happen when practicing prayer?

Respond. They fall into beauty or madness not from prayer, but from pride and high self-esteem, disobedience to authority and disobedience to elders who seek spiritual guidance, self-righteousness and other sins. Whoever, in humility, submission, deep feelings of his sinful state, exercises himself in divine action, finds what he is looking for – the Kingdom of God, which is within us. It is wrong to not advise anyone to engage in the Jesus prayer, considering, for example, young age as an obstacle. But we admit that there is no such time in a person’s life when this sacred occupation would be uncomfortable, and the earlier in age, the better, because at this time our heart is not yet affected by earthly passions, the vanity of this age, and the passions of the flesh have not yet risen and taken possession of the soul: as long as the heart is pure, the word of God is whole 100.

The story from the book of the Traveler gives us an example of how one praying mantis taught a 12-year-old boy to the Jesus prayer. “The boy was so used to prayer that he almost always did it in every case without any coercion from me. I asked him about prayer, he answered that I had an irresistible desire to always pray.” And George, a young man from Constantinople, learned perfect prayer as a young man, therefore, at any age one can create and improve in prayer.

There are particularly important methods for inner prayer, and the holy fathers have three of them.

1st) Frequency of calling the name of Jesus Christ.

2nd) Attention to this call.

3rd) Entry into oneself, or, as the Fathers of the Holy Church express it, the entry of the mind into the heart.

“If quantity leads to quality, then the frequent, almost continuous calling of the name of Jesus Christ, although scattered at the beginning, can lead to attention and warmth of the heart; for human nature is capable of assimilating a known mood by frequent use and habit. To learn how to do something well, you need to do it more often.”

He who wishes to achieve inner prayer should decide to call on God’s name often, almost continuously, i.e. verbally pronounce the Jesus prayer: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”, without being embarrassed if at the beginning this calling is impure from thoughts and lazy. It should be pronounced loudly at first, so that your ear can hear it, in a touching tone, so that the soul is awakened, so that the heart softens and brings tears of destruction.

When the throat gets tired, then whisper and just think, as recommended by St. Dorofius. Speaks St. Grigoriy Sinait: “in order to move on to the continuous creation of prayer, the student should consider it a rule, looking in time, to call a certain number of times, i.e. so many hundreds or thousands of prayers for brushes”; for example, the old man appointed the traveler to start with three thousand, and then he could make 12 thousand per day and more; decide for yourself as much as you can – well, at least one thousand per day, and then add a thousand after a month. The mentioned traveler learned to do 12 thousand a day after 10 days, but this image will not be fulfilled for everyone, but for an illustrative example there is a lot of benefit here, because the traveler has been preparing for many years, or rather God’s grace itself prepared this God’s chosen one, on the path of true prayer. And so, an experienced elder pointed the right direction to the matter, which for a long time brought the rich fruit of Jesus’ prayer. The prayer should be read both day and night, whoever has spare time for this act outside of class, but as we said above, one should say the prayer during any class, and outside of class, devote time to it with greater attention and observation of the mind and heart, in which they manifest their action. In prayer, it is necessary to be extremely leisurely to pronounce words more strongly – more expressively, straining the mouth and tongue. After some time, the practitioner’s mouth and speech acquire such a skill as self-movement that without much effort they will move by themselves with the utterance of God’s name, even without a voice. Further, the mind will listen to this movement of speech and gradually be cleansed of distractions and come to the heart, where they will mutually beg the Lord for permission from foreign tribal ties, according to the words of the Savior Himself: “Wherever two or three turn in My Name, there. heart, then the body will obey them, and therefore then all three will begin to work for the one Creator – God.

A person who wishes to achieve inner prayer with the help of attention should keep to solitude as much as possible, avoid conversations with people, make a prayer slowly and not a lot suddenly, but with some arrangement, deepen the mind in prayer verbs in the same way as it happens when carefully reading a book, if possible drive away sometimes by creating one prayer, keep silent for a while, as if waiting for God’s answer, try to keep attention, and in case of distraction, always remember that you have decided for the Lord to be in unceasing attention, prayer, while cleaning your mind from thoughts.

We will create an oral prayer, although scattered at the beginning, giving hope of receiving a blessed prayer. And if we do not have oral prayer, how can we hope to receive a grace prayer? He who has not sown in his field, therefore cannot expect a harvest, because a properly made oral prayer is in feelings of repentance, the same as sowing on good ground; here there is an unquestionable hope for the gathering of fruits in due time, when it will be God’s will.

Prayer is a ray from the mountain, heavenly world that shines with its gracious light in the darkness of the soul, it fills us with great joy and rejoices us with the hope of eternal life, showing its spark in the glow of prayer light. The oral prayer of Jesus is dear to us because, due to its brevity, it can always be read, no matter what we are busy with (except sin) at any time and in any place; but despite its brevity, it contains the Divine, almighty power in the name of Jesus Christ. The spiritual power in the Jesus prayer can sometimes be felt by every creator of it, even if he is weak. Let those of us who experience dryness, heaviness, reluctance, laziness and other accumulations of the opposite, which throw us into hopelessness, hopelessness and despair, not be embarrassed. Any thing that is done in this world cannot be immediately good. How much work and time is needed to get used to a craft, an art, to achieve a high science, on which one works almost all one’s life, and all this care is only for temporary benefits; to achieve these goals, they do not even spare life itself. If earthly sciences are difficult to achieve, then heavenly science – inner prayer to the Lord – should be even more difficult. Anyone who has embarked on the feat of practicing the Jesus prayer, even if he has not seen any fruit, even for many years, should not be embarrassed and do not despair that his labor is hectic. Those blessed times of silence and comfort will come, when the sun of truth illuminates the mind of the creator of prayer with a never-evening ray of eternal light. Let someone patiently stay in the oral exercise of prayer, without getting bored or burdened, if only with his tongue and lips he could pronounce the Divine name of our Savior. There is no attention, no diligence, no heart here. Don’t be shy! It’s like that at first, but later it will be easier, just don’t give up, but be humble and patient, work and you will definitely reach a blissful state. The matter of practicing the Jesus prayer, no matter how a person engages in it, is soul-beneficial, saving and indescribably good, because it shows his good will to be with the aspiration of his soul in the highest work that gives him honor and praise. The will will be accepted, and weakness is our natural property, which is healed only by the Lord’s grace, so let’s not be embarrassed by the fact that we cannot pray with a pure mind and a burning heart, but how can we. Let’s read the Jesus prayer, even if the sea of ​​thoughts infuriates us and the heart boils with gloating passions. God will grant, everything will pass and disappear, innate evil will be driven out of our souls, and God’s sanctuary, peace and love will inhabit and we will see the light of eternal life. Those who teach first to continuously acquire various virtues, banish passions from oneself, purify the heart and then begin the Jesus prayer do not say exactly. You can’t do that. Because alone, we definitely cannot do anything good, as the Holy Scriptures teach us. Without Me you cannot create anything. And it is necessary to do all your affairs with the help of prayer, during its performance. And this is in accordance with the true situation of our earthly life, to ask for God’s help in every matter – by prayer, therefore, prayer should be ahead of all activities, as the Apostle says: “First of all, make prayers.” Therefore, with a prayer inside, we should go to any work that belongs to us, and, having created it, give thanks to the Generous God.

If, God forbid, we spend the time of our lives without prayer, great evil will befall us at the time of death. St. Yesuhiy the Presbyter says: “Without prayer, the soul cannot go through the wanderings of the air, but will be held and taken by demons, because it does not have the cover of the grace of prayer.” And here is our passionate word: to be obedient, to love God and your neighbors, to humble yourself in every way, keeping your heart clean, especially from stray thoughts, because it is said: “grace will not enter an evil-artistic soul”, not condemning anyone, forgiving everyone, may you receive forgiveness, and we will be saved. St. Listvychnik says: “even if we go through great feats, if we do not have a sad and painful heart, then they are vain and not useful.” We can say this without being offended: isn’t that why the spiritual prosperity of humanity is so cold and sluggish today that this most necessary and pleasing to God and saving knowledge of our poverty, sadness, when the lesser began to rule over the superior, has retreated from it, due to pride and our spiritual aspirations. Although each of us can observe ourselves and notice our weakness, but mostly we justify ourselves in our own eyes and in front of our consciousness, because of this we do not have truth, truth, sincerity and God’s action because of spiritual blindness – “because blind their malice.” A person does not see the need for God’s help, does not seek it, does not ask for it, and it does not come to him.

Let us point out the truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God. Philaret of Moscow says: “God is in Jesus”. They will say: Jesus is a human name, it is Joshua Navin, Jesus, the son of Sirach. Such reasoning should be recognized as heretical; such vanity is offensive to a truly orthodox Christian heart. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the 2nd person of St. The Trinity is the true God. We cannot allow a true Orthodox Christian to mix the name of Jesus – God with the names of Joshua and others. Those, as humans, were limited; this Jesus did not create any sin, and without sin there is only the One God – Jesus Christ the Hypostatic Face of St. Trinity When we pray, we read the akathist to the Sweetest Jesus: “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”, then who can understand or mentally turn to another Jesus, and not to the Divine Sweetest Jesus Christ?… To say: “Jesus and my Divine Name – Jesus? It is scary for us to think that someone would dare to belittle this great, terrible and glorious name, which even the saints themselves uttered with fear and awe. Look, look, you who doubt the Divinity of Jesus, what the preachers preach to you, St. The apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit and illuminated by Christ’s truth, announced to the whole world that “Jesus is truly the Christ, the Son of God, and everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but will see eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). All the prophets testify about him that the forgiveness of sins can be accepted in his name – Jesus Christ. And that he is God’s bridegroom, the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42–43). Do you see how God Himself magnified His Only Begotten Son Jesus, called Him Judge, and gave him the power to judge the living and the dead; but who can judge the living and the dead but the One God – Jesus Christ. Fear this Jesus, the righteous Judge, so that you do not fall under His righteous wrath for belittling His Divine name – Jesus. The names belonging to the Son of God are all equal, one name cannot be diminished and the other magnified, and it is also impossible to take or separate one name from another, just like taking the head from the body, and the name of Jesus from the Son of God, who is God.

Reverend Seraphim of Sarovsky says: “In the matter of prayer, one needs one’s own practice and the development of one’s own spiritual forces.” Books will not teach, they are only needed to warm up diligence and check and guide, and you need to go yourself and make your way to prayer without fail with your long, continuous and many years of work. It is necessary to make the acquisition of the Jesus prayer the main goal of one’s life, a fundamental and essential matter. A big mistake of modern monks is when they want to replace it with works of obedience… Obedience itself is valuable when it is accompanied by prayer. And, although it is useful for the sake of obedience and cutting off one’s will, it does not feed the soul with immortal food. That is why almost everywhere in monasteries, monks and nuns are sad, complaining, weak-hearted, neglected, falling into despondency and laziness. The soul is spiritually hungry, and nothing will satiate it except prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, as it contains an infinite fullness of spiritual blessings and connects us with the Son of God himself, who is the One of the Holy Trinity. Without prayer, one cannot connect with God, and without it, what salvation can there be?… How fervently St. App. Pavel! “I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may He grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be firmly established by His Spirit in the inner man. Let Christ dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:14, 16-17). The property of the Jesus prayer is such that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ itself can exist, live and move forward only through prayer and without it, i.e. without prayer, she, that is. faith is immovable. Faith without an engine – prayers are dead. A layman who distances himself from individual or public church prayer, distances himself from communication with God and, like a foreigner who did not know God, perishes, and such a person is not a Christian, but a pagan. Even more so, a monk who does not have a monk’s seal – prayers: he is not a monk, but a commoner.

In our time, it is not uncommon to hear the words of ancient wisdom, which specifically refer to monks. “Save to save your soul.” This means: don’t yawn yourself, but look in both eyes under your feet and don’t look around, but immerse yourself in doing the Jesus prayer and be in yourself, as if there is no one around you, only you and God. The time has come to be difficult, especially for the souls of the God-loving; they are cramped everywhere; from imaginary enemies continuous storming with all kinds of unnecessary suggestions of thoughts and movements, and from others – mockery, contempt and slander, and this is true according to what was said “and his enemies are his household.” Perhaps the end of the world is not far away, that is why it is necessary to hurry in prayer, which is irreplaceable for those who are looking for salvation. But writing about it will not be enough for a lifetime, read books where it is explained in more detail. If you are not satisfied with this small book, then look at Paisius (Velychkivskyi), Nilo Sorskyi, Yep. Ignatia Bryanchaninova, Yep. Feofana and others…

As a bee gathers honey from everywhere for food, so do you great works, because after rest, it is said, no one will ascend to heaven. Without the prayer of Jesus Christ, nothing good can happen to us, but it rests on a humble feeling and a heart sorrowful for its sins. We need to cry and cry about our depravity, in which we all find ourselves, but unfortunately, we do not want to realize it because of our pride. From this there is no success in spiritual life. And now, if you really want to acquire eternal salvation, then you must mainly try to acquire two objects: first, the unceasing action of the inner prayer of Jesus, and secondly, to win a heart that is sad, painful and crying for its sins. And from here humble thought and self-vision should naturally occur; it is only possible to plant the Jesus prayer on this soil. The Lord says: “Fire will come to earth” of our hearts. It comes from the Lord and is received by us through love for Jesus Christ and prayer secretly acting in the heart in His name. And in order to obtain the Jesus prayer, this requires personal work, and many books have been written to verify this work. All of us monks can really be condemned for the fact that, having such means, we neglect the acquisition of a priceless good, and therefore our whole life is not sanctified by the inner light of Christ, which usually pours out in the heart in the name of Jesus Christ, passes in the darkness and the shadows of death. Monks try to replace the Jesus prayer with something, not tolerating the difficulties of its action, which happens at the beginning, but in vain, it lies by an infallible law on every monk, and there is no means by which it can be replaced. They usually reassure themselves with the words: “obedience is better than fasting and prayer”, not understanding the meaning of these words. According to the mind of the Holy Fathers, true obedience must serve as the basis of the Jesus prayer, and we accept this as an unpleasant meaning. Saint Ignatius Bryanchaninov, the gracious worker of the Jesus Prayer, says the following about prayer: “it is proper for a beggar to ask, and it is proper for a person impoverished by the fall to pray.” The path to God is prayer, the measure of the completed path is different prayer states, into which prayer gradually enters correctly and constantly. Learn to pray to God correctly. Having learned to pray correctly, pray constantly and easily inherit salvation. Salvation is from God in his time. For the correctness of the prayer, it is necessary that it be uttered from a heart that is in a state of poverty of spirit, a sorrowful and humble heart. Prayer is the sacrament of life. Leaving her brings an invisible death to the soul. What air is for the life of the body, the Holy Spirit is for the life of the soul. Through prayer, the soul breathes this holy, mysterious spirit. Being busy with public duties, and if you are a monk, with monastic obedience and not having the opportunity to devote as much time to prayer as you would like, do not worry about this: legal and conscientious service prepares a person for diligent prayer. How about this and St. The Ladder says: “a brother, having spent the whole day in obedience and at the end of it standing up for the cell rule, immediately completes the whole thing with prayer” (Lest. 4 word about post.). “Quantity changes with quality. Nothing is more conducive to success in prayer than a conscience satisfied with God-pleasing activity. The soul of prayer is attention” (St. SP Theologian) As a body without a soul is dead, so prayer without attention is dead. “Attention is the primordial gift of Divine grace, which is sent to the laborer and patiently suffers in prayer” (Dobrotol. part 4, ch. 24). “If, during your prayer, an image of Christ, or an Angel, or some saint appeared to you sensuously or mentally imaged itself in you – in other words, whatever the image might be – do not accept this phenomenon as true and do not enter into a conversation with him” (St. Gregory, Sinaiite Dobrotol). deception and severe mental damage, which happened to many. “Delight in prayer is the exclusive destiny of the holy elect of God, renewed by the Holy Spirit. The feelings generated by prayer and repentance consist in easing the conscience, in the spiritual world, in reconciliation with one’s neighbor, in satisfaction with one’s life, in mercy and compassion for humanity, in abstinence from passions, obedience to God; be satisfied with these feelings. Hurry up with prayer, longing of the soul for salvation, hurry up in the footsteps of the Savior, magnanimously and humbly endure the sorrows and humiliations that He will allow you on the path of prayer. For success in prayer, help from temptations is necessary. Tempting us from the outside, the demons also abuse us inside with various thoughts; here every spiritual warrior should wage a fierce struggle, here the victory of one side or the other, here the good warrior acquires art, and for art victorious crowns. An insignificant, perhaps, passion, innocent, perhaps, love for some object, spiritual or inanimate, and this already lifts the mind and heart from heaven and throws them down to earth. Saint Ignatius offers the servant of God to choose a prudent daily short-term rule, which is constantly performed, according to the forces and type of life; it is of great help to him who is zealous for his salvation. He who has acquired this blessed skill always observes the rule at known hours, the time of prayer is scarcely approaching.’

St. Varsanofius V. says: “The constant invocation of the name of God is a cure that kills not only the passions, but also their very action” (answer 421). St. John of Lestwich. advises to put the mind into the word of prayer, and no matter how many times “it is removed from the words, insert it again” (word 28, ch. 17). This mechanism is especially useful and convenient in our time, with the impoverishment of real mentors. When the mind is attentive in this way, then the heart will accept the sympathy of the mind with emotion – the prayer will be performed jointly by the mind and the heart. The words of the prayer should be pronounced very slowly, even at length, so that the mind has the opportunity to dwell on the words. Consoling and instructing fellow monks engaged in monastic obedience, encouraging them to persevere in the prayer feat, the Ladder says: “From monks who obey, God does not require a prayer pure of entertainment. Do not be upset, being torn by distractions, do good and constantly force your mind to return to yourself, because perfect freedom from distractions belongs to the Angels” (word 4, ch. 93). “We, who are enslaved by passion, will pray to the Lord constantly, unyieldingly, because all passionate people have passed through such prayer to the state of dispassion. If you tirelessly train your mind so that it does not stray anywhere from the words of prayer, then it will be with you even during your meal. Caring more about the quality of prayer – about attention by putting the mind into words – we will pray a lot. Quantity is the cause of quality. The Lord gives a pure prayer to the one who prays freely, much and constantly, defiled by his pastime in prayer. Beginning monks need a long time to learn how to pray. It is impossible to attain this supreme virtue shortly after entering upon the feat of prayer. Both time and gradualness are needed in the feat so that the ascetic matures for prayer in all respects, as color and fruit grow on a stem or a tree. Elder Paisius (Velychkovsky) comforts diligent prayer workers who work for a long time and do not achieve spiritual prayer: – “Do not get tired, good workers!”

In the foreword of Philofeus of Sinai, it is said: – “And than the ancients, and not the present point, multiple endings, those who are not yet capable of visual prayer in the stomach should not doubt this: it is not true, because God has no place, but in every way for the labors of their prayer, He gives them effect at death, or after death, these visual prayers, with it, like a fiery flame, pass through the air wandering”. Paisius (Velichkivskyi) st. 95 explains it in a simplified speech as follows: – “In our weak time, spiritual creators should not be surprised and embarrassed that they do not see the fruits of their mental and heartfelt prayer. But the ancient fathers had a more exalted deed, the prayer of care, i.e. oral, which is done correctly in feelings of humility, poverty and repentance for the rest of his life, and many did not like the contemplative grace prayer during his life and did not doubt that he would receive God’s mercy for his work, although after death he would see salvation. And indeed, untruth has no place with God, but in every way he bestows his diligent humble workers with great gifts of grace, others at the end of this life and a few days or hours before death, manifests his divine presence, or the Mother of God, St. Angels and Saints, in these heavenly appearances, showing the conviction that the labors, humility and ultimate patience endured by them were not in vain, but have a part with the saints. And others the Righteous Payer endows already from the end of the soul from the body with such grace that, rising from the earth and passing through the air spaces, like fiery lightning, with its ascent this soul burns the aerial tormentors – demons, and does not linger on any wandering, because grace. Jesus’ prayer, or better to say, the Sweetest Jesus Christ Himself, elevates a pure soul; as the scriptures say, God is a bridge from earth to heaven. Seeing the faith and patience of the saints, we too will endure to the end, albeit in the oral, but correctly performed Jesus prayer, and the merciful Giver will not deprive these saints of a part.”

Brief teachings on the Jesus prayer of the elders of the Optina Desert

Old Lion answers to the student’s questions.

“When no holy thought acts on a heart that is irritated or given over to insensibility, what should it do to soften itself”?

– One should retire, force oneself to pray, to pour out one’s soul before God with the word of God, prayer, humility, grateful feelings of the heart to God in all changes, not only of the external state, but also of the internal.

“If I happen to obey something, I can’t have another time for the cell rule, at the latest, what should I do?”

– If you were absent, exhausted, then calm down, leave the rule, resigned, and do not worry about it. And when obedience is moderate, try to follow your rule.

“How to get rid of distracted thoughts in prayer?”

– When you pray with your mouth, pray with your mind, that is. settle the mind through the words of prayer.

Elder Hieroshimon Makariy writes: – “I understand from your letter that you are not looking for prayer rules from me, but for the all-time intelligent Jesus prayer. This matter is high and exceeds my dignity. The holy fathers wrote each according to their own system, as someone achieved. However, don’t just say the Jesus prayer and receive all the benefits; Many books have been written about this prayer, how to go through it and what are the traps of the enemy and how the unskillful are overthrown and destroyed by him.”

Elder Hieroshimon Amvrosy. “It is good to use the Jesus prayer, especially when fighting thoughts.”

Which is better, to follow the usual rule or to go through the Jesus prayer?

It is better to do both. While standing in the church, one should listen attentively to the readings and chants, but whoever can, it is good at the same time to humbly recite the Jesus prayer, especially when it is not clear to hear.

Regarding intelligent and heartfelt prayer, I will say that our spiritual enemy does not rebel against any virtue as much as against prayer; urges a person to anger and wickedness with all his might. Ilya Ekdik writes: “when you pray as you should, wait for those who don’t.” And Patriarch Callistus writes: “if you want to know how to pray, look at the end of the prayer. But its end, beloved, is constant emotion, disappointment of the heart, love for one’s neighbor.”

Elder Hieroshimon Anatoliy. “Until a person tastes, because the Lord is good, it is difficult to constantly have Jesus in the heart. But for now the prayer is holding, do not leave it. And most importantly, during prayer, reprimand yourself as unworthy to pronounce the name, glorified by angels. And collect sorrows like a treasure – because it greatly contributes to the Jesus prayer, that is why the enemy incites everyone he can to annoy us.”

“Hold more strengthened prayer; no one falls into beauty from intensified prayer, and it is dangerous to go through intelligent heart prayer without guidance. Such a prayer requires silence, silence and humility with self-reproach in any unpleasant situation. Therefore, it is safest to stick to oral prayer.”

Elder Hieroshimonach Joseph says: “The Jesus prayer seems to be simple, but unstoppable, he said it several times and forgot it, remembered it, said it a dozen more times and then became distracted again. You say a hundred and one a day, and you imagine that you are going through a prayer. Therefore, at the beginning, it is necessary to have a number at the prayer, i.e. keep going until you get the hang of it.” “With the inexorable fulfillment of the cell rule, even external at the beginning, later hunting will appear and, in addition to the rules, to engage in the creation of the Jesus prayer. The Jesus Prayer must be said at every lesson – obey continuously and take your time in pronouncing the words; pronounce each word separately and distinctly to the end, especially the words: have mercy on me, a sinner. This is what Fr. Ambrose: “perhaps every word will reach your ears, and when it will be, that is. if you listen attentively to your own prayer, then God will soon hear your prayer, and you will receive the desired thing that you ask for in prayer, of course, at the right time, pleasing to God. During prayer, whole clouds of various thoughts pass by, it is usually the devil’s incitement to divert attention from prayer. But here it is necessary to deepen the mind more diligently and longer into the words of prayer and thoughts, i.e. the devil himself, burning with the terrible name of Jesus, runs with all his claws. The old man also says in his instructive conversation, mostly with his close disciples and disciples, about prayer: “The Jesus prayer brings great benefit to those who pray it unceasingly, and it is absolutely necessary for everyone to get used to praying it, because it will comfort especially during times of sorrow and illness. while praying?” The old man answered: “Salvation: to ask for forgiveness, and not consolation.” In the church for the prayers of Jesus with an account, is it not possible to listen carefully to what is read and sung? The old man’s answer: “No, so you can, when you have time to have different thoughts. Of course, even in ancient times, the reverend fathers made a prayer by counting, for this they invented the rosary.” “If a person, being healthy, does not engage in prayer, then even when he gets sick, he will not be able to pray as he has no skill, and it will be difficult for him. And therefore, as long as you are healthy, you must learn and get used to prayer, make it continuously, even if it is impure from thoughts, you said, but still you will humbly say: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

“The unfailing fulfillment of the cell rule leads its follower to an incessant desire to pray even apart from a certain rule.”

Note: The Cell Rule in the Optina Desert is mandatory for everyone from the abbot on up.

The following rule is divided into three degrees: for the initial, middle and perfect: about the last degree, perhaps someone will object that a perfect man cannot be bound by any external rules, he must be guided not by the bonds of human law, but by free arbitrariness under the action of grace from above. This objection is fair, but they meant perfection not spiritual, external perfection – of a monk, that is. cut him into a mantle. In the 1st degree, the novice performs 1 pentecost1, and the one who has the zeal of the saints and follows him, such a person can add some prayer words to the pentecost, as well as from reading, or determine a known number of Jesus prayers, however, a large number at the beginning, not relying on himself, but everything. Let no one dare to impose any obligatory prayer rule on himself, but without fail with the advice and blessing of his elder or spiritual father. Each individual must be allocated his daily time, which depends on him, i.e. that time, which is free from monastic obedience, so that every hour of our earthly life would have its own meaning and power, which, albeit slowly, would gradually move forward on the path to salvation. All of us will visit the temple of the Lord without hesitation, we will not let anyone do it and free from the activities of St. obedience Divine service at St. The Church of Christ mysteriously renews the soul for us in an imperceptible way, perfects it and fulfills it with the blessed hope of salvation. As St. says King David: “Let’s go to the Lord’s house, because it is good for me to be in the house of my God.” However, let those who are temporarily distracted from frequent visits to the temple by holy obedience not be sad and ashamed. Because in obedience to St. the abode is God’s business. You just have to obey with the mind, that is. with the cutting off of his will, unquestioningly submitting his will to the will of the superior and the elder in his obedience, because this gives rise to humility, which is a solid foundation for the God-minded building of the Jesus prayer. And the cover of this building is immortal love. So, I repeat, we will use our time judiciously, mainly for church worship, the rest for physical strengthening and not much needlework, which according to the minds of the saints should serve only as entertainment from despair, also for reading St. scriptures and more for prayer, says St. Tikhin Zadon. Therefore, determine for yourself the order of the cell rule to help your salvation, and so that there is an unerring walk, but useful and holy, for this I repeat, for the fulfillment of every virtue, the mother of St. the blessing of the old man. And then, as if in obedience to the old man, decide to go forward on the chosen and blessed path.

In the second degree, the Ryasophor monk adds 2 more kafiz to the five-hundredth. and also defines a rule for himself according to the order mentioned above, if he prefers.

In the 3rd measure, the Mantein monk adds 2 goals to the shown rule. St. Apostoliv, 1 st. St. Gospel; if they find it difficult to read, due to poor eyesight, or some infirmity, or due to personal desire, they replace the reading with a new pentecostal, or determine the known number of Jesus’ prayers, but without fail with the advice and blessing of their elder. Some say: nowadays there are no elders, this opinion is wrong. The Lord bestows grace upon a rightly elected elder, and this power works according to the faith of the inquirer. This truth is confirmed by the Divine Teacher Himself: “According to your faith so be you.” “As I believed, so I spoke,” it is said elsewhere. If some do not get what they want, then they ask badly, i.e. little faith and duplicity; such, it is said, will be unruly in the kingdom of heaven. Someone who is interested will ask: what is the rule that the hierodeacon, hieromonk, etc. must fulfill? Aren’t they monks already, let’s answer them with a question? Having ears to hear, let him hear.

The moderate and unhurried rule of one five hundred should take about an hour, but as some have been heard to do in half an hour, such mechanical prayer can hardly propitiate the Righteous Judge to receive pardon for their sins. It is said: “work for the Lord with fear” – let’s avoid, brothers, the righteous anger of God, which is a curse for negligent execution of the Lord’s work; And those who are attentive to their salvation use more than an hour for 1 five-hundredth. Elder father Yosyp himself performed the prayer with a count, and it came out in total about 1 thousand per hour. He also taught this good deed in other words, by example, and by wise explanation in doubtful points on the prayer path.

One of the students of the elder Fr. Joseph, motivated by a feeling of brotherly love and trust, told us such a heart-wrenching story, which we give to the seal for science: “I read St. lines about the Jesus prayer, and my desire to always create the desired prayer was ignited. I go to the old man, explain my desire in detail, and after a lot of information and instructions, I receive a blessing from the old man to pray as much as possible, always and incessantly. I had a strong love for my sweetest Jesus Christ. Then I began to pray with such eagerness and tension that my whole body was on fire from the inner act of prayer, as if it were filled with burning coals inside me. Enraptured by such kindling, I contemplated heavenly visions, i.e. represented figuratively, as written on the icons of the Savior, the Mother of God and St. Angels, and I cried a lot from such a touching sight. For some time I did not tell the old man about my visions. Reading St. Simeon, Nov. Theologian, about the three forms of prayer, I saw that my action was wrong. I’m going to the old man, I’ll explain in detail. The old man assured me of my mistake with his wise and saintly explanations. Then I began to go to the old man more often, and to open everything inside, for which I always received satisfactory instructions. Reading St. my parents and the elder’s instructions changed my inner workings. The bloody heat cooled down, the visions disappeared, and the tears dried up. And now a lot of time has passed, as I was in the creation of a prayer, without struggling, quietly, slowly, with attention, that is. by placing the mind in the divine omnipresent presence contained in the words of prayer, I rise. At this time, foreign ideas have no place in the intelligent field; But from such attentive influence, the still infantile mind soon gets tired and runs uncontrollably into the Hellenic crevices. At this time, one should pause the prayer and give mental reinforcement, one should read min. 15, by reading, the mind is strengthened and with new strength is kept in prayer; the more you stay in prayer, with intervals in reading, the more the mind learns the power to continue paying attention in prayer. And what kind of spiritual fortunes there are, it is impossible to express this in human words. Only one who has experienced it himself can fully understand how it is impossible to describe the breath of the wind, the appearance of mental power, this can only be felt by everyone, as well as the state of mind from the action of prayer. In part, it is possible to describe how the mind can connect with the heart during attentive prayer: usually the head bows to the chest with closed eyes, due to the long stay of the mind in the words of the prayer, then the mind casually, freely descends into the heart by itself, with the help of a spherical light cloud. And there the mind and the heart collectively see their creator, Jesus Christ, crucified for our salvation, but this vision is not as it was described at the beginning. Here the vision of the soul of the Creator is spiritual, by faith and feeling of the soul of the omnipresent God. From this vision, the soul comes to great emotion, heartbreak and sweet weeping for sins, here is an indescribable world of the soul, here is a fiery love for everyone, so it would embrace everyone’s feet. Jesus Christ, being in the coffin with the pure flesh, together in hell with the soul, as God, in heaven with the thief and on the throne with the Father and the Holy Spirit, can also be on the throne of a pure human heart. Because He fulfills everything: heaven, earth, man and hell, as the church sings in the Easter song: “Now everything is filled with light, and heaven and earth and hell.” And the thirst, the need for prayer, this can be likened to the state of a person after tasting the most salty food, which has lost water. After that, imagine how thirsty this person can be. But a person who follows the path of humility and attentive prayer, an even greater need is quenched by the water that flows into eternal life. Yes, not everyone experiences it, but it is given to them by the will of God. And what temptations will befall these slaves on their way! Having ears to hear and hears, that is. only one who follows the path of prayer can experientially understand the actions of temptation and oppression of demons at the same time. Saint Ignatius Bryanchaninov advises reading the akathist to the Sweetest Jesus in order to more easily get used to praying the Jesus prayer: “I loved this with all my soul and began to read it as needed, but before reading, right there in front of the opened akathist I knelt down. the reading of the akathist was more careful and sometimes after a hundred prayers he started reading. But I stayed for a long time with prayer, because I enjoyed Jesus’ prayer more and I did not want to part with this heavenly act, and the akathist was already left unread. It is very desirable that the readers of these lines compare the implementation of the useful advice of His Holiness Ignatius. Yes, his whole teaching about the Jesus prayer and other virtues is very good and soul-saving. After a long time and practice in prayer, with the help of Christ and my strong compulsion, I had to master the skills in prayer, perform from 5 to 10 thousand Jesus prayers in a day, and during the monastic all-night vigils, 4 thousand or more. After the 5th hour of the vigil, the brothers usually go to their cells, and I would still like to continue the vigil. This is how the prayer of its humble follower delights.” This is where the brother’s story ends. For this reason, we have published this story, so that the fathers and brothers can draw a good example for themselves to follow in order to follow the path of prayerful action, dissolved humility, repentance not only with patience, but also with a lot of long-suffering of everything until the end, and only he who has endured to the end will receive eternal joy. We will repeat the above-mentioned word of the brother, that any good enterprise must necessarily begin with the advice and blessing of an elder. They will say: “now there are no old men.” I will answer this unfair conclusion of the imaginary such to be, as Rekosha, in the words of St. parents: “Search more diligently with prayer, humility and tears for your mentor.” St. Simeon, the New Theologian, says: God will show you a knowledgeable person in every way, according to your spiritual age and grace and according to your faith, he will show you the way to salvation. Secondly, the way to salvation is: a) God himself, as the word of God says: “I am the way, the truth and the life”, and b) his life-giving commandments: “and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 19). Without these divine qualities of meekness and humility, it is impossible to acquire salvation and unite with Christ by any good deed, because without humility, even the highest feat – the prayer of Jesus can turn out to be a barren fig tree, the end of which is visitation and burning.

Therefore, let us build the building of our salvation not on the sand of rising thought, but on the stone of God’s truth, peace, love and humility, and the most precious stone is Christ.

I.M.

* * *

Notes

Detailed rule of the five-hundred see printed sheets, edition of Optina Pustelya