Chapter 49

Prayer That Comes, and Contemplative Prayer

In this state [of unceasing prayer], prayer that comes is given, not created by the person themselves. The prayerful spirit comes and draws inward to the heart — it is all one, as if someone took another by the hand and by force drew him from one room to another. The soul here is bound by an outside power and stays willingly within it, while the finding spirit is over it. I know two degrees of this finding. In the first — the soul sees all, is conscious of itself and its outer position — and can reason and govern itself, can even destroy this state of itself, if it wishes. And this should be clear to you.

Among the holy fathers, especially in Saint Isaac the Syrian, another degree of given or finding prayer is indicated. Standing above what was shown is the prayer which he called ecstasy, or rapture. And here too the prayerful spirit comes; but the soul drawn by it enters such contemplations that it forgets its outer position, does not reason, but only contemplates, and is powerless to govern itself or to destroy its state. Remember, in the Sayings of the Fathers it is written that someone stood to pray before his evening meal, and came to himself only in the morning. This is prayer in rapture, or contemplative prayer. In some it was accompanied by the brightening of the face, light around them; in others by lifting from the earth. The holy Apostle Paul was seized in this state and caught up to paradise. And the holy prophets were in it when the Spirit took them up.

Marvel at what great mercy God shows us sinners. Few labor; and what do they receive? To all who labor we can boldly say: labor, there is something to labor for! (9, 240–241)