Chapter 17
On the Perfection of Noetic Prayer
17.2.1 May the mercy of God be with you!
17.3.1 I think you’ve now grown accustomed to the duties of your obedience... May the Lord grant that everything goes better and better. Wisdom is not a great thing! Don’t rush, endure, and little by little advance everything forward. The Lord desires this, and in these works He is always the all-powerful Helper. Only you must never allow yourself to say, ‘I want,’ but rather, ‘the order of things requires it; and I am your servant.’
17.4.1 You have wanted to learn noetic prayer. Good! But what kind of prayer were you engaged in before?![1] Prayer by its very nature is a noetic action, and if you were not praying noetically, then you were not truly praying at all. But I tell you, there is no one who does not pray noetically. Everyone prays noetically. Everyone, when they pray, mentally represents God as present and speaks their needs to him. Though they recite prayers, they all strive to lift their intellect to God in thought. If anything needs to be said, it’s that they don’t do this perfectly, not even continuously during the recitation of prayers, and above all, without feeling. So your desire will be: how to attain perfection in prayer, lifted noetically to God? The answer to this: seek, and you will find...
17.5.1 How did you learn to write? Through the labor of writing, with the desire to write correctly according to examples. Do this in prayer as well, and learn. It won’t come by itself—you have to learn.
17.6.1 1. Accustom yourself to walk (to live) in the presence of God, before the eyes of God, with the feelings that correspond to this.
17.7.1 2. Whenever you have the freedom, make prostrations with feelings of contrition and humility.
17.8.1 3. Read all the books about prayer and meditate on it.
17.9.1 4. Rather, strive with all your strength to conduct the church service in remembrance of God, and then your rule at home as well.
17.10.1 You must rub the soul, and it will grow warm.[2] When warmth comes, then thoughts will settle, and prayer will become pure. Yet all is from the grace of God. That is why you must pray to the Lord to grant you prayer.
17.11.1 May the Lord bless you!
17.12.1 Be saved!
17.13.1 Your intercessor, Bishop Theophan.