Chapter 108
On the Essence of Prayer and Its Forms
108.2.1 May the mercy of God be with you!
108.3.1 Well, that’s good! May the Lord bless you to be just as you have written. And forget entirely about the tip of your nose and your holy lips.[1] Rather, be a keeper of the rule spoken by Philotheos of Sinai: ‘In the morning, stand at your heart and strike the enemies with the name of Jesus.’[2] In prayer, why be so concerned about the words and how you pronounce them? Everything should be absorbed in feeling toward God—whether contrition, or thanksgiving, or doxology, or petition for what the soul and body need and for your outward circumstances, all with faith and hope. Let such feelings and feelings like them give rise to a cry to God, and that cry will be true prayer—indeed, the only true prayer. Before you begin your prayer rule, you must awaken these feelings through reflection, through inner effort directed toward them, and through prayer for them. And then remain with them throughout the whole day. And this will be unceasing prayer. Seeking from the Lord with faith, hope, and contrition draws forth every spiritual good from God’s hands and obtains prayer as it ought to be.[3] Keep Maximus of Kapsokalyvia in mind. He cried out with all his soul and with all his thought, and the Lord granted him... And this gift became for him a source of spiritual life. Seek this and cry out for this. Don’t seek spiritual sweetness, but rather to stand before the Lord with fear and trembling, offering Him divine worship. May this be yours according to the riches of the mercy of the Lord!
108.4.1 Speaking of the state of your prayer, in third place you put a bad state, which you describe this way: ‘It becomes so constricting that neither intellect nor heart can pronounce the words of prayer, but, as if exhausted and beaten down, they remain in motionless stillness within, in a feeling of their own nothingness and repentance.’ I don’t understand why you call such a state bad?
108.5.1 To stand inwardly still and, of course, before the Lord is a good state.
108.6.1 If along with this there is also a feeling of your own nothingness and repentance, then there is nothing better to wish for. A contrite spirit, a heart contrite and humble God will not despise.
108.7.1 A feeling of nothingness – the tax collector’s saving cry; a feeling of repentance – the door to the Kingdom. If your state is precisely such, then there is nothing for you to be burdened by; Rather, you must cultivate a sense of your own nothingness and repentance, and kindle it to a burning flame. Perhaps you haven’t described it accurately, but judging by what you’ve said, it shouldn’t be considered bad. In any case, you shouldn’t turn to the lips and the tip of the tongue for help in this matter.[4]
108.8.1 Nothing material or bodily can produce what is spiritual.
108.9.1 Rather, you should turn to meditation on God and reflect on the attributes of God, his works, and his sacraments. If that is difficult, read some prayers from memory, or some psalm, or compose your own prayer according to your state of heart: for as Scripture says, “The Lord is near.” And this will guide your condition more surely, if it is indeed not good.
108.10.1 You write further: “I had some doubt, thinking that noetic prayer is higher than vocal prayer before God,” but my previous letter assured you of the opposite. One cannot speak this way without some foundation. But I don’t remember what train of thought led me to say such a thing. I repeat to you the definition of prayer. Prayer is the lifting up of the intellect and heart to God, or a cry from the heart to God. This lifting up and this cry of prayer can take place in the soul and be drawn from the heart without words—that is, without being clothed in words—or, as is more common, they are clothed in words and expressed through them. In the first case, prayer is wordless; in the second, it is vocal. Such a word expressing prayer is either interior—formed within the heart—or not merely interior but also exterior, spoken by the tongue and throat. The first is noetic and mental; the second is vocal. Vocal prayer is either one’s own—spoken in one’s own words—or another’s, learned by heart or read from a prayer book. Every vocal prayer, whether expressed in interior or vocal words, one’s own or another’s, is of equal worth before God, so long as it expresses prayerful feelings and thoughts toward God or is accompanied by them. The interior word always proceeds from the heart and intellect, and so prayer through the interior word is always true prayer. But prayer in memorized words may not be accompanied by corresponding thoughts and feelings, and therefore may not be prayer at all, but only the sound of prayer. By these definitions, please distinguish when noetic prayer may be lower than vocal prayer.
108.11.1 First, this can happen only with vocal prayer—not one’s own words, but memorized words of another, pronounced mentally—and second, when the soul lacks the corresponding prayerful feelings.
108.12.1 I am sending you answers to your questions:
108.13.1 1. It’s enough to be present at the Liturgy in church once, and you can replace it, as well as the Vespers rule, with cell-rule prayer. About the latter, it seems, you should ask the abbot for absolution. And about the former too, if it’s established among you that people like you should be present at every church gathering.
108.14.1 2. Is it better to recite prayers quickly or slowly? You’ve already answered this question yourselves. You say: “I try to bring every prayerful word to feeling, and I experience great benefit from this.” Keep doing this always—and the question of whether it happens quickly or slowly will simply never arise.
108.15.1 3. “I love to read, but I hesitate to abandon prayer for the sake of reading.” Prayer is higher than reading; therefore it is unlawful to abandon prayer for the sake of reading. So that these spiritual practices don’t interfere with one another, you need to define your cell prayer rule precisely by measure and number, and always carry it out in a true spirit of prayer—never omitting it, shortening it, or rushing through it for any reason. Also: if the spirit of prayer comes upon you while you’re reading or doing some other task, you should leave everything and pray. You can do this sitting or walking, but it’s better to stand in your usual place and make prostrations until your soul is satisfied. Our main task is drawing near to God, which happens chiefly in prayer. Everything must therefore yield to prayer.
108.16.1 4. “What is wordless prayer?” It is an unmoving abiding in prayerful feelings toward God, without uttering any words either in the intellect or with the lips. This is the highest degree of prayer. Only such prayer can be unceasing prayer. What you called an unworthy state of prayer comes close to this.
108.17.1 Let the spirit be contrite, the heart contrite and humble... and prayer will be in the soul...
108.18.1 Fr. A-lu. It’s good that after the bustle of overseeing the building work, you turn to reading when your thoughts have scattered and your soul has emptied. Reading gathers them together and fills the soul with divine things. But then you must also pay your debt to prayer. Pray more fervently and with collectedness in church. Strengthened by that, remain in remembrance of God and of His presence with the corresponding feelings throughout the whole time you’re supervising the building work. In this way prayer won’t be suppressed, but only slightly interrupted at most... and all will be well... Set aside a time for cell-rule prayer and keep it without fail.[5] Arrange the rest of your cell-rule practices as you see fit, including reading in this schedule.
108.19.1 On the Selection of Abbots. Who, then, can confidently say that he is fit for the office of abbot? For this reason, it’s better not to look at the matter of selecting an abbot from that angle. Rather, one should regard it as an assignment of obedience—let them receive it as an assignment in the monastery for gate-keeping, water-carrying, bread-baking, and every other monastic obedience. And let them fulfill it with all diligence, with careful discernment and attention. To say that something is unsuitable and to ask to be relieved of it is not a sin. But you shouldn’t be stubborn about it. That is all that needed to be explained to you.
108.20.1 Please do me this humble favour: copy this letter and all the previous letters, and send me the copies so that I may know what has been written to you. My memory is weak.
108.21.1 May the Lord bless you!
108.22.1 Be saved!
108.23.1 Your well-wisher, Bishop Theophan.
108.24.1 .