Chapter 121

The Chief Condition for Success in the Jesus Prayer

...The Jesus Prayer can accord with all these (degrees of prayer), but its proper place is in unceasing prayer. The chief condition for success in prayer is the purification of the heart from passions and every attachment to anything sensible. Without this, prayer will always remain at the first degree, or the reading stage. As the heart is purified, the prayer of reading will transition into noetic-and-heartfelt prayer, and when it is wholly purified, then unceasing prayer will be established. (7, 61)