Chapter 1
On the Jesus Prayer and Interior Prayer
1.2.1 You ask about the Jesus Prayer? Read about it in books. Everything has been written. My thought about it is this:
1.3.1 – The prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me’ is vocal prayer, like any other. In itself it has nothing special, but draws all its power from the disposition with which people say the prayer.
1.4.1 All the techniques that are written about (sitting down, bending over)... or the technical practice of this prayer is not suitable for everyone, and is dangerous without an instructor present.[1] It’s better not to take on any of that. There is one method that is universally binding: to stand in the heart with attention. Everything else is extraneous addition that leads nowhere.
1.5.1 As for the fruits of this prayer, people speak of them in such a way that nothing higher exists in all the world. That’s unlawful. They’ve found a talisman! None of the fruit comes from the verbal structure of the prayer or from speaking it. All the fruits can be obtained even without this prayer, and even without any vocal prayer at all – through the striving of the intellect and heart toward God alone.
1.6.1 The essence of the matter is to become established in the remembrance of God, or to walk in the presence of God. You can say to anyone: do it however you like, only attain this... Whether you say the Jesus Prayer... or make prostrations, or go to church... do whatever you like, only attain being always in the remembrance of God. I remember, in Kiev I met a man who said: I used no techniques, and I didn’t know the Jesus Prayer, yet everything that is written about here was and is present. But how, I myself don’t know. God gave it!
1.7.1 What God has given or will give – that’s what you must keep as your goal, so you don’t confuse self-made efforts with the gift of grace.
1.8.1 The technical practice of the Jesus Prayer... saying it simply with attention in the heart or walking in remembrance of God – these are our labor, and by themselves they have their own natural – not grace-filled – fruit. This fruit is: the gathering of thoughts, reverence and fear of God, remembrance of death, the stilling of thoughts, and a certain warmth of the heart. All these are natural fruits of interior prayer. You must fix this firmly in your mind, so you don’t trumpet before yourself or exalt yourself before others.
1.9.1 As long as we have only natural fruits, we’re not worth a penny – both in the essence of the matter and by God’s judgement. We have value when grace comes. For when it comes, that will mean that God has looked upon us with a merciful eye. But until it comes, no matter what we do, no matter what ascesis we undertake, it means we’re worthless people whom God doesn’t even want to look at. I can’t tell you exactly how this action of grace manifests itself; but it’s certain that it cannot come before all the fruits of interior prayer mentioned above appear.
1.10.1 The phrase ‘interior prayer’ came to me by chance... But it expresses the matter very well. And it must be placed where people have begun to say ‘Jesus Prayer’. They say: acquire the Jesus Prayer, that is, interior prayer. The Jesus Prayer is a good means to interior prayer, but in itself it is not interior prayer but external prayer. Those who become skilled in it do very well. But if they stop at it alone and go no further, then they stop halfway.
1.11.1 I read in the rules of Saint Antony and in many others: learn the psalms by heart... and whether you’re going somewhere or sitting at work, recite them. This means that in those days they read psalms, reflected on them, and cultivated interior prayer within themselves. Nowadays people say: whatever you’re doing, say the Jesus Prayer—and you’ll achieve the same result. With the Jesus Prayer, meditation on God is still necessary; otherwise it’s dry food. It’s good when someone has the name of Jesus fixed on their tongue. But one can do this while forgetting the Lord entirely and even holding thoughts contrary to Him. Therefore, everything depends on conscious and free turning toward God and the labor of keeping oneself in this with discernment.
1.12.1 Here are my thoughts!.. You may read them to the Sh...vs,[2] so they may know where the power lies.
1.13.1 Save yourselves, and pray to God for us.
1.14.1 Your intercessor, Bishop Theophan.
1.15.1 .