Second Instruction for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee: On Prayer and Repentance

In the Gospel passage we have just heard, the prayer of the tax-collector is depicted, a prayer which drew down the mercy of God upon him. This prayer consisted of the following few words: “God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Lk. 18:13). It is worthy of attention both that such a brief prayer was heard by God, and that it was spoken in the temple during the time of common worship, during the reading and singing of psalms and other prayers. This prayer is approved by the Gospel, it is set forth as an example of prayer: a devout examination of it becomes our sacred duty.

Why did the tax-collector not choose for the pouring forth of his heart before God some magnificent and touching psalm, but instead turned to such a brief prayer, and repeated that one prayer alone throughout the entire service? We answer, drawing the answer from the holy Fathers: “When true repentance springs up in the soul, when humility and contriteness of spirit appear in it because of the sinfulness that has been revealed to its eyes, then wordiness becomes unseemly for it, impossible.” Concentrating in itself, directing all attention to its sorrowful condition, it begins to cry out to God in some very brief prayer.

Vast is the vision of sinfulness when it is given to man by God: it cannot be expressed in eloquence and wordiness; rather, the groaning and lamentation of the soul expresses it, clothing itself in the briefest and simplest words. The one who wishes to awaken in himself the deep feeling of repentance employs a brief prayer as the instrument to achieve such a state, pronouncing it with all possible attentiveness and reverence. The abandonment of many words, though they be holy, helps the mind to free itself completely from distraction and to direct all its strength to self-examination. “In your prayer do not permit yourself to be wordy”, said the holy John of the Ladder, “lest your mind turn to considering the words. One word of the tax-collector appeased God, and one true saying saved the robber. Wordiness in prayer often leads the mind into distraction and fantasy, while brevity customarily gathers it.”

Because of the greatest benefit afforded by brief, attentive, concentrated prayer, the holy Church enjoins her children to learn in good time some brief prayer. The one who has learned such a prayer has ready prayers at any place and at any time. And while travelling, and sitting at table, and occupied with handiwork, and in the company of others, he can cry out to God. When it is impossible to pray with the lips, it is possible to pray with the mind. In this respect the usefulness of brief prayer is evident: during occupations it is very easy to lose the sense and sequence of a lengthy prayer; but a brief prayer always remains intact. Having left it for some time, one can again return to it without any difficulty. Even during church services it is beneficial to repeat a brief prayer in the heart’s chamber: it not only does not hinder attention to the prayers read and sung in God’s temple, but also assists especially careful attention to them, keeping the mind from distraction. If the mind is not held in self-examination by a brief prayer that fills the soul with the feeling of repentance, then it easily gives way to distraction; during the divine service, neglecting the church’s reading and singing, it turns to empty thoughts and fantasies. This happened with the aforementioned Pharisee, who paid superficial attention to the service and was carried away by sinful thoughts. These sinful thoughts not only deprived his prayer of all worth—it was weak anyway—but even made it an occasion for condemning the one who prayed. The prayer of the Pharisee was rejected by God: the Pharisee left the temple sealed with the seal of God’s wrath, not understanding and not feeling his spiritual destitution because his heart, being dead to repentance, was filled with self-satisfaction and self-delusion. When brief prayer, from frequent and constant use, becomes a habit, then it becomes as it were natural to man. When listening attentively to something that especially interests us, we make various exclamations, which not only do not hinder attention but intensify it: in the same way, having acquired the habit of brief prayer, we express by it our sympathy and attention to the prayer and psalmody we hear.

Throughout the entire season of the Great Fast, during all the services, the prayer is frequently repeated aloud to all present in the temple: “O God, cleanse me a sinner.” For what reason is this one and the same prayer repeated so frequently? So that we might accustom ourselves to repeating it often. With the same purpose another brief prayer is also repeated frequently: “Lord, have mercy.”

The Saviour of the world, having approved the prayer of the tax-collector, subsequently allowed and granted to us to pray in His most holy name. Prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus, according to His name, and as He has established it, is called the Jesus Prayer. Under the dominion of the Old Testament, man turned to God, whom he did not yet know with certainty; with the coming of a new dominion in the New Testament, man, in abundant addition to the former turning, is granted to turn to the God-man as a mediator between God and men, as such a mediator in whom divinity is united with humanity, as such a mediator who has explained God to men with all the detail and fullness possible for human comprehension, who has revealed God (Jn. 1:18). To the Old Testament prayer “God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Lk. 18:13) the New Testament prayer corresponds: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” The Old Testament servants of God used the first prayer; the New Testament servants, using also the first, more commonly use the second, because the God-man was pleased to unite with His human name a special miraculous spiritual power. For constant prayer, the prayer “Lord, have mercy” is also used. It is an abbreviated Jesus Prayer and takes its place in those instances when pronouncing the full Jesus Prayer becomes difficult in some way: in times of fright, unexpected joy, grave illness, or spiritual vision. In the latter case, the exclamation “Lord, have mercy” serves as an echo in the mind of those revelations of grace which appear to it as it is purified, which surpass its comprehension and cannot be expressed in words.

What is the meaning of the verb “have mercy” or “be merciful” in all these prayers? It is man’s awareness of his perdition; it is the sense of that mercy, that compassion toward himself, which the Lord has commanded us to feel toward ourselves, and which is felt by very few; it is the rejection of one’s own worthiness; it is the petition for God’s mercy, without which there is no hope for the lost to be saved. “God’s mercy is nothing other than the grace of the All-holy Spirit; we sinners must unceasingly, persistently ask for it from God. Have mercy, O my Lord, upon my wretched condition, into which I have fallen, having lost Your grace, and restore Your grace in me again. With Your sovereign Spirit (Ps. 50:14), the Spirit of Your power, strengthen me, that I might be able to resist the temptations brought by the devil and the temptations arising from my fallen nature. Send me the Spirit of temperance, that I might arise from the state of mental derangement in which I find myself and correct the moral steps of my life (Ps. 9:14). Grant me the Spirit of Your fear, that I might fear You as is fitting for the weakest of Your creatures to fear the great God, my Creator, that I might, by reason of my reverence for You, keep holy Your commandments. Plant in my heart love for You, that I might no longer depart from You, no longer be drawn by the irresistible inclination toward abominable sin. Grant me Your peace, that it might guard my soul in unshakable tranquility, not suffer my thoughts to wander throughout the universe needlessly to my harm and confusion, that it might concentrate them in self-examination and from thence raise them to Your throne. Grant me the Spirit of meekness, that I might refrain from anger and malice, be constantly filled with kindness toward my brethren. Grant me the Spirit of humble-mindedness, that I might not become high-minded, might not dream of myself, might not seek human praise and glory, but might remember that I am dust and ashes, a fallen being, thrust down to the earth because of my unworthiness, destined to be brought forth from the body and from this world by death, destined to be presented at Your dreadful and impartial judgment.” “God, be merciful to me a sinner! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me! Lord, have mercy!”

Many people pronounce these brief prayers with the greatest haste, concerned only with fulfilling the established number of them. Thus they do not permit prayer to penetrate into the heart and produce the effect proper to it, which consists in compunction. It is justly observed by the holy Fathers that those who pray thus pray into the air, not to God. Why do we become bored in God’s temple? Because we have not experienced the action of prayer. Why do we hurry to the well-laden table? Because we know experientially the value of material food. Why do we not hurry to God’s temple, but try to come late, when a considerable portion of the service has already been completed? Because we do not know experientially the value of prayer, which is food for the soul, which imparts spiritual strength to the soul. We do not know experientially the value of prayer because we pray hastily, superficially, without attention. The action on the soul of prolonged but inattentive prayer is like the action of abundant rain on an iron roof, from which all the water runs off, no matter how much falls, producing no effect on the roof. On the contrary, attentive prayer can be compared to beneficial rain watering a sown field, nourishing the growth, and preparing a rich harvest. Correcting a grave fault which deprives the ascetic of all the fruit of his prayer, the holy Fathers, workers of holy prayer, command that the words of both brief prayers and all prayers in general be pronounced with special slowness, with the observance of most careful attention to the words of the prayer. With slow reading of prayers such attention is possible; with hasty reading there is no place for attention. Prayer bereft of attention is bereft of its essence, bereft of life. Then it is like a body abandoned by the soul: it does not smell of humility, it does not ascend to God; struck and slain by distraction, it crawls in earthly decay and stench, imparting them to the one praying negligently and coldly. The attention of the mind at prayer is reflected in the heart as blessed sorrow for sins, which is the repentance commanded by God. When the heart is filled with the feeling of repentance, then in turn it draws the mind to redoubled attention. Following attention and compunction, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit enter the soul, making it a temple of God.

Let us impart to our prayer two qualities: attention and repentance. By these, as by two wings, let it fly up to heaven, let it stand before the face of God, let it obtain for us mercy. The prayer of the blessed tax-collector possessed these two qualities. Penetrated by awareness of his sinfulness, he found in his deeds no hope for obtaining salvation, saw this hope in the sole mercy of God, calling all sinners to repentance and granting salvation for repentance alone. As a sinner possessing no good of his own, the tax-collector took the last place in the temple; as a sinner unworthy of heaven, he did not dare to lift his eyes to heaven. He directed them to the earth, and, striking his breast with repentance, from the depths of his heart, with all his soul, he pronounced the prayer, united with confession: “God, be merciful to me a sinner”.

The prayer was so effective and powerful that the sinner left God’s temple justified. The Lord, the Knower of hearts, the Saviour of men, testified to this, and the prophecy of the Prophet was fulfilled over the repenting sinner: “The Lord will build up Zion” (the human soul, destroyed by the fall), “and appear” in “his his glory. He has regarded the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their supplication. Let this be recorded for a generation to come”, let it be recorded for the knowledge of all mankind, let it be recorded for the knowledge of all Christian people and posterity! “And a people yet to be created” (created by repentance and attentive prayer), having felt their renewal by divine grace, “will praise the Lord” (Ps. 101:17-19), who was pleased to take up humanity and save mankind by His wondrous providence and wondrous teaching. Amen.

Saint Tikhon of Voronezh. Volume 14, letter 4.

The Ladder, Homily 28.

Saint Peter of Damascus. Concerning the seven spiritual visions, section: “The distribution of prayer to all intellects.” Book 1, Philokalia, part 3.

Taken from the commentary on the prayer “Lord, have mercy” by Elder Paisius of Neamț. The writings of Elder Paisius. Published by the Optina Monastery, 1847.

Venerable Nil of Sora. Preface to the Tradition.

“Sit still for a while (in silence), until all the senses are calmed. Then make a beginning, not hastily, without laziness, with compunction and a contrite heart, recite this: Blessed is the man, and so forth, quietly and understandingly, with attention, and not hastily: so that the mind may also understand what is being said.” Instructions before reading the Psalter. Psalter published as a separate book.