On Prayer: Article 2 (Part 1)
The ascetic struggle of prayer is holy, great, and saving for the soul. It is the chief and foremost among all monastic ascetic struggles. All other struggles are subsidiary to this one; they are undertaken so that the struggle of prayer may proceed more successfully and that the fruits of prayer may be more abundant. “The head of all devout living,” said Venerable Macarius the Great, “and the summit of all good works is constant perseverance in prayer.”60[1]
What human condition can be higher—can even be compared to the condition of one who is admitted through prayer to converse with the King of kings, the God of gods, the Creator and sovereign Lord of all visible and invisible, material and spiritual creatures?
By reason of the importance of the practice of prayer, this practice requires considerable prior preparation.61[2]
From those who desire to approach the King of kings, He requires a manner of thinking and a disposition of heart that are pleasing to Him—that very manner of thinking and disposition of heart by means of which all the righteous of the Old and New Testaments drew near to Him and were well-pleasing to Him (Lk. 1:17). Without this manner of thinking and disposition of heart, access is impossible; attempts and efforts toward access are in vain.
You who desire to approach God and to become united to Him through constant perseverance in prayer—take heed! Examine carefully your manner of thinking: are you infected by any false teaching? Do you follow, exactly and without exception, the teaching of the Eastern Church, the one true, holy, and apostolic Church?62 “If anyone ‘will not listen to the Church,’” said the Lord to His disciple, “let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector” (Mt. 18:17[3])—strangers to God, enemies of God. What significance, then, can the prayer of one who is in a state of enmity toward God, in a state of estrangement from God, possibly have?
The awareness of one’s sinfulness, the awareness of one’s weakness and utter insignificance—this is the necessary condition for prayer to be mercifully received and heard by God. All the saints placed as the foundation of prayer the awareness and confession of their own sinfulness and of the sinfulness of all humanity. The holiness of man depends upon the awareness and confession of this sinfulness. He who grants holiness to men through their repentance said: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mt. 9:13).
You who desire to take up the ascetic struggle of prayer! Before you approach this struggle, endeavor to forgive everyone who has grieved you, slandered you, humiliated you, or done you any harm whatsoever. He before Whom you intend to stand in prayer commands you: “If you bring your gift” of prayer “to” the heavenly “altar” of the King of kings, “and there remember that your brother has something against you: leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt. 5:23–24).
Prepare yourself for prayer through detachment and freedom from care. From attachments come cares. Held back by attachments and distracted by cares, your mind will not be able to press steadily toward God in prayer. “You cannot serve God and mammon: for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Do not be anxious, saying: what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? Seek” with earnest, constant, compunction-filled prayers “… the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mt. 6:24, 21, 31, 33). Tear your mind and heart away from the earth and from all that is earthly, and it will not be difficult for you to begin the unseen journey to heaven in prayer.
If you endure poverty, or are oppressed by sorrowful circumstances, or if an enemy is plotting against you and persecuting you—leave it unheeded. So that your attention in prayer may not be assailed by any distraction or disturbance, leave unheeded the memories and thoughts that come to you concerning your poverty, your circumstances, and your enemy. He in Whose full power you are, together with your circumstances and your enemy, says to His beloved: “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, and believe also in Me” (Jn. 14:1).
“When you pray,” the Lord enjoins, “go into your inner chamber, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father Who is in secret” (Mt. 6:6). Whether you are in society or alone, strive constantly to withdraw into your inner chamber of the soul, to shut the doors of the senses and of the tongue, and to pray secretly with mind and heart.
Having come to love the ascetic struggle of prayer, love also the solitude of the material cell. Shut its door both for yourself and for others. Bear patiently the tedium of enclosure: it will not be long before it gives way to a far sweeter feeling. “Remain in your cell,” the holy Fathers said, “and it will teach you everything”63—that is, the monastic way of life, which is wholly concentrated in prayer.[4]
Having come to love the ascetic struggle of prayer, love also silence: it preserves the powers of the soul undivided and capable of constant prayer in the inner chamber. The habit of silence makes possible a soundless prayer of the heart even amid a noisy throng.64[5]
As a sacrifice to your love of prayer, offer up the pleasures of the senses and the pleasures of the intellect—curiosity and the desire to know. Guard your soul from all outward impressions, so that God may be imprinted upon it through prayer. His all-holy, invisible, spiritual Image cannot abide in a soul cluttered with images of the vain, material, and transient world.
Do not delight in visible nature, do not occupy yourself with contemplating its beauties; do not spend precious time and the powers of the soul in acquiring the knowledge furnished by human sciences.65 Employ both your powers and your time in the acquisition of prayer, which performs its sacred work in the inner chamber.[6] There, within yourself, prayer will reveal a spectacle that will draw all your attention to itself; it will furnish you with knowledge that the world cannot contain—knowledge of whose very existence the world has not the slightest conception.
There, in the depths of the heart, you will see the fall of humanity;[7] you will see your soul, slain by sin; you will see a tomb; you will see hades; you will see demons; you will see chains and fetters; you will see the flaming sword of the Cherub who guards the way to the tree of life and bars mankind from entering the dwellings of paradise—you will see many other mysteries, hidden from the world and from the children of the world.66 When this spectacle opens before you, your gaze will be riveted to it; you will grow cold toward all that is temporal and corruptible, with which you have hitherto been in sympathy.
“Today or tomorrow we shall die,” said St.[8] Andrew to a monk,67 drawing him away from attachment to material things and explaining the senselessness of such attachment. Very true words! A very accurate depiction of the indefinite term of our earthly life! Today or tomorrow—we shall die. Nothing is easier than to die. The longest life, when we come to its end, proves to have been the briefest moment. Why, then, occupy oneself with what one must of necessity leave forever—and leave very soon? It is better to study oneself through prayer, to study the life and the world that await us, in which we shall remain for eternity.
Solitude and the desert are the dwelling-place of prayer. “One who has tasted of prayer,” said St. John of the Ladder, “will flee from crowds;[9] for who but prayer makes its lover free from the need of society, like the wild ass that loves the desert?”68 If you wish to dedicate your soul to the work of prayer, withdraw from beholding the world, renounce human society, conversations, and the customary receiving of friends in your cell—even under the pretext of love. Remove from yourself all that interrupts and disturbs your mysterious converse with God.69 Abide on earth and in human society as a stranger. You are a stranger.[10] The earth is a inn. Unknown is the hour in which you shall be called. The call is inevitable and inescapable; to refuse or to resist is impossible. Prepare yourself through holy prayer for a joyful departure from the inn.
Prayer unites a person to God. The fallen angels, who through their fall passed from union with God to a terrible, senseless enmity toward Him, behold its working with inexpressible envy and hatred. By various temptations they strive to shake the one who prays, to turn him away from this most saving of struggles, and to deprive him of the progress and blessedness that the struggle will without doubt bring. Therefore, one who desires to devote himself to the practice of prayer must prepare himself in good time for sorrows, so as not to be bewildered and confused when they overtake him, and so as to resist them manfully with the strength of faith and patience.70[11]
Demons afflict the monk who perseveres in prayer with bodily ailments and oppress him with poverty and lack of human attention and help, just as they afflicted and oppressed the long-suffering Job by God’s permission. But we, like that righteous man, will bless and give thanks to God for what He has permitted, which the demons have carried out;71 by glorifying and giving thanks to God, we shall fulfill the all-holy will of God, declared to us by the Holy Spirit of God:[12] “in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thes. 5:18).
Demons incite people to take up arms against the practitioner of prayer—to condemn him for the strangeness of his behavior and the meagerness of his useful activity; to accuse him of idleness, hypocrisy, and sanctimony; to impute to him evil and cunning intentions and vicious acts; to disturb and agitate his stillness; and to compel him to occupations contrary to his manner of life, involving distraction, dissipation, and the disruption of his inward peace. Knowing the ultimate cause of these temptations, let us pray, according to the commandment of the Gospel and the injunction of the holy Fathers, for our neighbors, who sin in ignorance and by being swept away; and God will bring to nothing the wiles of the demons.
Tempting us from without, demons do their evil work within us as well. When we withdraw into solitude and begin to occupy ourselves with prayer, they stir up within us various sinful desires such as we had not previously felt; they agitate our heart with countless sinful thoughts and fantasies that had never previously presented themselves to our mind. They do this with the purpose of bringing us to bewilderment and despondency, so that, seeing no benefit whatsoever from the prayerful struggle and solitude, we might abandon them.72 To monks who are new to the struggle, this action of the demons appears to be the soul’s own activity:[13] our unseen, crafty enemies, while committing their evil deeds, also wish to remain concealed, so that escape from the nets spread for man might be impossible, and ruin and destruction inevitable.73[14]
Just as the demons consider it very important to conceal themselves from man, so for man it is very important to understand that they are the primary agents of sin, the source of our temptations—not our neighbors, not we ourselves when we lead a life in the service of God, not some accident of circumstance. Having discerned the enemy, we shall gradually learn, under the guidance of the Word of God, to watch over them and over ourselves with vigilance, and to resist them with firmness. “Humble yourselves,” the chief Apostle instructs us, “under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be watchful, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith” (1 Pet. 5:6–9).
This struggle, these attacks of demons upon those who are being saved and who pray, are permitted by God Himself—they are consequences of our voluntary fall, through which we subjected ourselves to the power of demons. Let us submit to God’s just decree concerning us and bow our heads beneath all the blows of sorrows and afflictions with which it pleases God to chastise our sinfulness and our transgressions in this temporal life, in order to deliver us from the eternal sorrows and afflictions that we have deserved. God, in permitting us temptations and delivering us to the devil, does not cease to provide for us; in chastising us, He does not cease to do us good. “God is faithful,” says the Apostle, “Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13). And the devil, being a servant and creature of God, tempts not as much as he would wish, but only as much as a nod from God permits him;[15] he tempts not when he wishes, but when he is given permission to do so.74 Let us cast upon God, according to the Apostle’s counsel, all our care for ourselves, all our anxieties, all our hope; and to this end let us multiply and intensify our prayer to Him.
The permission given to demons to tempt us is necessary for our growth: by opposing our prayer, they compel us to learn especially skillful use of this sword. By the sword of prayer, the fiery sword of the Cherub guarding the way to the tree of life is shattered, and the victor becomes a partaker of eternal life.75 By God’s inexpressible wisdom, “evil cooperates with good through no good intention.”76 When in our solitude and in the exercise of prayer there suddenly surge up within us passionate feelings and impulses, when fierce thoughts assail us, when sinful fantasies present themselves to us with seductive vividness—this is a sign of the coming of enemies.[16] Then is not the time for despondency, not the time for weakness:[17] it is the time for struggle. Let us resist the enemies with intensified prayer to God, and He will scatter and drive away our enemies.77[18]
In the unseen warfare we do not always or quickly become victors: victory is a gift of God, granted to the ascetic by God in His own time—a time known to God alone and determined by God alone. Even the defeats we suffer are sometimes necessary for us. Here we speak of defeats arising from our weakness and sinfulness, not from a changed resolve. Defeats are permitted us for our humility, so that we might discern and comprehend the fallen state of our nature, acknowledge the necessity of a Redeemer, believe in Him, and confess Him.78[13]
In the wake of such defeats, our unseen enemies instill in us shame on account of the defeat, and on account of the shame a weakening in the prayerful struggle—distrust of it, the thought of abandoning it and turning to virtuous activity in the midst of human society. Let us not be deceived! With self-denial and shamelessness let us lay bare our wound before our all-good and all-powerful Physician, Who has commanded this saving shamelessness and promised to crown it with vengeance upon our adversaries (Lk. 18). Let us make a covenant in our soul: not to abandon the prayerful struggle until the end of our life, but to pass from its midst into eternity.
Our shame over defeats is devoid of reason: it is a cruel mockery of us by our enemies. Can this fig leaf—shame with all its contrivances—conceal a man’s sin from the all-seeing God? God sees sin even without a confession of sin. He seeks confession for one reason only—in order to heal. If He enjoined His Apostle to forgive a sinning and repentant brother “seven times” in a day, how much more will He Himself fulfill this toward us, who unceasingly bring Him prayer and repentance (Lk. 17:4).
Let us give careful attention to the following: is it not our double-mindedness that strengthens our enemies in the battle against us? Is it not the cause of our frequent defeats? Do we not ourselves establish the power and influence of our enemies over us by fulfilling their will through fulfilling our carnal desires, inclinations, and attachments? Do we not thereby provoke God to anger and drive Him away from us? Does there not act within us a love of the world that preserves our outward appearance as servants of God, while robbing us of the essential dignity of God’s bondservants and making us in substance enemies of God (Jas. 4:4–5)?
“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” of virtue (Jas. 1:8), and still more so will he waver on the path of the highest and foremost virtue—prayer. He is rejected by God as neither hot nor cold (Rev. 3:16). He will not be able to become a disciple of true prayer—which brings its disciples before the face of God for supernatural instruction and leads them in the footsteps of Jesus—unless he “renounces all that he has” (Lk. 14:33): the painful inclinations of the fallen human will toward the world. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24): only those who belong entirely to Christ can acquire true prayer.
An attachment that seems trivial, a love that seems innocent toward some animate or inanimate object, drags the mind and heart down from heaven and casts them upon the earth among the countless reptiles and creeping things of the vast sea of worldly life (Ps. 103:25). The holy Fathers liken the ascetic who has made progress in prayer to an eagle, and a petty attachment to the snare of a trap;[19] if in this snare one talon of the eagle’s mighty claw becomes entangled, the eagle becomes incapable of soaring aloft and becomes the easy and certain prey of the trapper79—then the strength and courage of the royal bird avail nothing. “Go,” the holy Fathers counsel us, drawing their counsel from the holy Gospel, “sell” your material “possessions and give to the poor, and taking up your cross,” deny yourself by opposing your attachments and your fallen will (Mt. 19:21, 16:24[20]; Mk. 10:21), that you may be able to pray without disturbance and without distraction.80 So long as attachments live in you, disturbance and distraction will assail your prayer.
It is necessary first to detach oneself from material possessions, to part with the world, and to renounce it: only after this renunciation is accomplished can a Christian discern his inner captivity, his dungeon, his chains, his wounds, and the death of his soul.81 The battle against the death living in the heart, carried on through prayer under the guidance of the Word of God, is a crucifixion—it is the losing of the soul for the saving of the soul (Mk. 8:35[21]).82[22]
Unite prayer with prudent fasting: the joining of these two spiritual weapons was commanded to us by the Lord Himself for the casting out of demons from ourselves (Mk. 9:29). “When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face” (Mt. 6:17[23]), the Saviour commanded. According to the explanation of the holy Fathers,83 the oil with which people of that time customarily anointed the head signifies the mercy that ought to abide in our spiritual judgment, just as the Apostle also said: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humble-mindedness, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another: just as Christ has forgiven you, so also must you” (Col. 3:12–13). The face of body and soul must be washed with tears: they will then appear in the eyes of one who prays and fasts when his heart overflows with mercy toward his neighbors and with compassion for all of humanity without exception.
Do you wish to be united to God through prayer? Implant mercy in your heart—the mercy by which we are commanded to become like our heavenly Father (Lk. 6:36) and to attain to gracious perfection (Mt. 5:48[24]). Compel your heart to mercy and goodness; immerse and clothe your whole spirit in these qualities, until you feel within yourself a love for mankind like that which shines as the sun equally “on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Mt. 5:45).84
When from your soul you have forgiven all your neighbors their transgressions, your own transgressions will be revealed to you. You will see how much you stand in need of God’s mercy, how much all humanity stands in need of it: and you will weep before God—for yourself and for all humanity.
The holy Fathers comprehend all the practices of a monk, his entire life, in the word “weeping.” What does a monk’s “weeping” signify? It is his “prayer.”85[25]
The holy “Spirit,” when He dwells in a man, “makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). The divine and all-heavenly Spirit, having become as it were the soul of a man, prays and weeps for him; He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Rom. 8:27), because to Him alone the will of God is perfectly known. “The things of God no one knows except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). The Lord, promising His disciples the greatest gift—the gift of the Holy Spirit—said: “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things” (Jn. 14:26[26]); if all things, then also weeping and prayer. He will weep for us; He will pray for us; while we “do not know what we should pray for as we ought” (Rom. 8:26). Such is our weakness, our limitation, our darkening and corruption by sin!86
If the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, weeps for us, how much more ought we ourselves, before receiving within us this all-holy Stranger, to weep for ourselves. If our condition, after our renewal by the Holy Spirit, is worthy of weeping—worthy of weeping by the testimony of the Spirit Himself—how much more is it worthy of weeping in its oldness, in its fallen state, left to itself. Weeping must be an inseparable quality of our prayer, its constant, inseparable companion and helper, its very soul.
One who joins weeping to prayer labors according to God’s own direction; he labors rightly and lawfully. In due time he will reap an abundant fruit: the joy of certain salvation. One who has removed weeping from prayer labors contrary to God’s ordinance; he will reap no fruit whatsoever. More than that—he will reap the thorns of self-conceit, self-delusion, and destruction.
Brothers! Let us not allow ourselves to be deceived by a thought that is false, absurd, senseless, and ruinous: let us not rush to seek pleasures in our prayer! Gracious enjoyment is not proper to sinners; weeping is proper to them. Let us seek it with all our hearts—let us seek this treasure, the key to all spiritual treasures.
One who does not have weeping is in a false position: he has been deceived by his own pride.
The holy Fathers call weeping the leader in the spiritual struggle. It must lead all our devout thoughts and direct them toward their true goal. A thought not permeated by weeping and not guided by it is a thought gone astray.87[27]
Venerable Pimen the Great said: “The entire life of a monk must be weeping. This is the path of repentance handed down to us by Scripture and the Fathers, who said: weep! There is no other path but weeping.”88[28]
Another great Father said: “If you wish to please God, go out from the world, separate yourself from the earth, leave the creature, draw near to the Creator, and be united with God through prayer and weeping.”89[29]
Monks living in populous monasteries who desire to acquire the weeping of prayer must pay particular attention to the mortification of their own will. If they cut it off and do not pay attention to the sins and behavior of their neighbors in general, they will acquire both prayer and weeping. Thoughts, as they gather in the heart, stir up within it prayer and sorrow according to God, and this sorrow gives rise to tears.90[30]
Given the terrible scarcity of true guides in prayer in our time, let us choose weeping as our guide and instructor. It will both teach us prayer and guard us from self-delusion. All those who have rejected weeping, who have separated it from their prayer, have fallen into self-delusion. So the holy Fathers affirm.91[31]