Chapter 20

On the Essence of the Jesus Prayer

^20.2.1 May the mercy of God be with you!

^20.3.1 Labor on. Well, well! Labor on earnestly and with humility. And the Lord will not abandon your labor. Do not forget that you must not limit yourself to mere mechanical repetition of the words of the Jesus Prayer. This will lead to nothing but a mechanical habit of repeating this prayer with your tongue, without even thinking about it. And this, of course, is not a bad thing. But it constitutes only the outermost edge of this work.

^20.4.1 The heart of the matter is conscious standing in the presence of the Lord with fear of God, faith, and love. This state of mind is possible even without words. It is this state above all that you must restore in your heart. Words will come afterward, to hold your attention on this one thing and to deepen those feelings and dispositions.

^20.5.1 The fact that there was lustful arousal is very bad. This may be an accident; but you shouldn’t allow it; you must cut it off immediately... Otherwise the work, instead of being spiritual, will become sensual and will bring forth evil fruit instead of good. Read about this in the Philokalia, and especially about how to hold attention.

^20.6.1 May the Lord bless you!

^20.7.1 I congratulate you on your new rank. Do the work with humility and don’t spoil it with pride, or vainglory, or high-mindedness.

^20.8.1 Be saved!

^20.9.1 Your intercessor, Bishop Theophan.