Chapter 182

Should You Pray the Jesus Prayer in the Church?

You ask: “Should one compel the mind to pray the Jesus Prayer in the church, when the soul is at peace, serene, and the mind in that quiet attends to what is being read and sung?” You should stand in God’s presence and in a feeling toward God, whatever you are doing. The same is true in the church. In another letter you wrote: “In the church, listening to prayers, the Jesus Prayer goes better for me.” This prayer awakens and sustains attention to God with the corresponding feelings.

(Letter 530. Volume 3, p. 227)