Chapter 160

The Technique is Dangerous

To pray the Jesus Prayer as we all learn to do is a good work. In monasteries it is given as a duty. Would it be given if it were dangerous?! What is dangerous is the technique which some have invented and adapted to this prayer. It has thrown some into fanciful spiritual delusion, and some, wonderfully to say, into a constant state of lust. For this reason it must be counseled against and forbidden. But the most sweet name of the Lord must be called upon in simplicity of heart by all, and all must be encouraged toward this.