Chapter 11
On the Jesus Prayer and the Formation of a Prayerful Habit
11.2.1 Certain particular movements in the body and spirit come from prayer, but they are not the same in all who pray – some experience one kind, others another; therefore, there is no need to dwell on them.
11.3.1 In some people there are no particular phenomena at all, and prayer proceeds quietly, even in full strength. And this is the best and safest lot! What is prayer? Noetic standing before God in the heart with doxology, thanksgiving, petition, and contrite repentance. Everything here is spiritual. The root of everything is reverent fear of God, from which comes faith about God and in God, surrender of oneself to God, hope, cleaving to God in the feeling of love with forgetfulness of all created things... When prayer is in strength, all these feelings and spiritual movements are present in the heart in corresponding strength. Read the prayers of the saints that have come down to us, pay attention – and you will see that all of this in them is the outpouring of their full prayerful disposition. Again I repeat: here everything is spiritual, it proceeds from God and ascends to God...
11.4.1 How does this happen? A holy father enters into the heart, goes deep into contemplation of the sacraments of the faith – either all of them in general or one particular rapture – sets in motion the feelings mentioned above, and pours them out in prayer... We read these prayers, come into a disposition like them, either partially or fully, and find ourselves in the proper disposition. Through frequent repetition of this, constant spiritual prayer is cultivated in us and a constant prayerful disposition is established, which is unceasing prayer.
11.5.1 Everything here is spiritual, noetic, and descends from above downward.
11.6.1 How then does the Jesus Prayer relate to this, which is a vocal prayer?
11.7.1 And what about the warmth that develops inside and around the heart from the action of this prayer...
11.8.1 The habit of prayer is not formed all at once... but requires long labor and exertion.
11.9.1 Now in this very labor of forming the habit of prayer, the Jesus Prayer and the warmth that accompanies it help best of all.
11.10.1 Notice, father, that they are means, not the thing itself.
11.11.1 It’s possible that the Jesus Prayer is there, and the warmth is there, but real prayer is not. Strange as it may seem, it does happen!...
11.12.1 When we pray, we must stand before God with our intellect and think of Him alone. Yet all the while, various thoughts crowd into the head and pull the intellect away from God. To teach the intellect to stand fixed on one thing, the Holy Fathers used little prayers and grew accustomed to reciting them unceasingly...
11.13.1 This unceasing repetition of the little prayer kept the intellect in thought of God and drove away all extraneous thoughts. These short little prayers were various.[1] Saint Cassian said that in Egypt everyone used this one: ‘O God, attend to my help; O Lord, make haste to help me.’ Saint Ioannikios unceasingly said: ‘My hope is the Father, my refuge the Son, my shelter the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Glory to You.’ And another: ‘I as a man have sinned, but You as God are merciful—have mercy on me.’ No doubt others used other little prayers too... but among us the Jesus Prayer has especially become established and entered into common practice: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
11.14.1 So that’s what the Jesus Prayer is. It is one of the short vocal prayers, just like all the other little prayers. Its purpose is to keep the intellect fixed on a single thought of God.
11.15.1 One who has grown accustomed to this prayer and practices it as it should be practiced is indeed in remembrance of God unceasingly.
11.16.1 Since remembrance of God in a sincerely believing heart is naturally accompanied by religious feelings of reverence, hope, thanksgiving, submission to the will of God, and others—all of which are spiritual—we call the Jesus Prayer, which produces and sustains remembrance of God, a spiritual prayer. And this is correct when it is accompanied by those spiritual feelings. But when it is not accompanied by such feelings, it remains vocal prayer, like any other of the same kind.
11.17.1 This is how you should understand the Jesus Prayer. Now, what does the warmth mean that accompanies the use of this prayer?
11.18.1 In order for the intellect to remain focused on one thing when using the short prayer, you must bring it down by attention into the heart; for if it remains in the head, where there is a jostling of thoughts, it won’t manage to concentrate on one thing...
11.19.1 When attention descends into the heart, it draws all the powers of soul and body there into one point... This concentration of the whole human life in one place immediately makes itself felt there by a special sensation; this sensation is the beginning of the future warmth...
11.20.1 This sensation, at first slight, keeps growing stronger, firmer, deeper, and from being cold, as it is in the beginning, it passes into a warm feeling and holds the attention on itself. And so it happens that at first attention is held in the heart by an effort of will, and by its own strength attention generates warmth of the heart. And this warmth of the heart then holds attention without any special effort on its part. They then support each other and must remain inseparable, for distraction of attention cools the warmth of the heart, and a diminishing of warmth weakens attention.
11.21.1 From this comes the law of spiritual life: keep your heart in feeling toward God, and you will always be in remembrance of God. Saint John Climacus expressed this somewhere.
11.22.1 Now the question is—is this warmth of the heart spiritual? No—not spiritual! But ordinary, carnal warmth. Yet because it holds the intellect’s attention in the heart and thereby fosters the development there of the spiritual movements I mentioned earlier, it is called spiritual—provided, however, that it is not accompanied by lustful pleasure, however slight, but keeps the soul and body in a state of sobriety.[2]
11.23.1 From this it follows: whenever the warmth that accompanies the Jesus Prayer is not accompanied by spiritual feelings, it should not be called spiritual, but simply carnal warmth; and such warmth is not bad, provided it is not bound up with lustful pleasure, however slight; but if it is bound up with it, then it is bad and must be cast out.
11.24.1 This irregularity occurs when the warmth moves below the heart. The second irregularity is when, having grown fond of this warmth, one limits everything to it alone, not caring about spiritual feelings or even about remembrance of God, but only that this warmth be present; this irregularity is possible, though not in everyone and not always, but at times. One must notice this and correct it, for in such a case only a blood warmth remains, an animal warmth... One should not regard this warmth as spiritual or grace-filled... This warmth can be called spiritual only when it is accompanied by spiritual, prayerful movements... Whoever calls it spiritual without them admits an irregularity. Whoever calls it grace-filled is even more mistaken...
11.25.1 Grace-filled warmth is something distinct, and it is properly spiritual... It is detached from the flesh, and produces no noticeable changes in the body, and is witnessed by a subtle, sweet feeling.
11.26.1 From these feelings anyone can easily determine and distinguish warmth… Everyone should do this for themselves; an outsider has no business or place here.
11.27.1 If sometimes there are bodily movements or sensations of any kind during prayer and warmth, don’t pay attention to them; they don’t relate to the essence of the matter and vary from person to person.
11.28.1 Turn all your attention instead to spiritual actions and feelings. They will pass through soul and body like a pleasant morning coolness.
11.29.1 Bishop Theophan of Vysha.