The Danger is Not the Jesus Prayer, but the Artistry

To practice the Jesus Prayer as we all learn to do is a good deed. In monasteries it is imposed as a duty. Would they impose it if it were dangerous?! It is the artistry joined with this prayer that is dangerous. It plunges some into fanciful delusion—and others, wonder to say, into a state of constant lustfulness. This is why it must be discouraged and forbidden. But all should be taught to invoke the sweetest name of the Lord in simplicity of heart, and all should be disposed toward this.

(Letter 1102. Vol. 7, p. 87)