Chapter 117

What is the Jesus Prayer

When we pray, we must stand with the mind before God and think only of him. Meanwhile, various thoughts constantly jostle about in the head and distract the mind from God. For this reason, to teach the mind to stand on one thing, the holy fathers used little prayers and practiced pronouncing them constantly... This constant repetition of the prayer kept the mind focused on the thought of God and drove away all extraneous thoughts. These short prayers were various… Among us, the Jesus Prayer has been especially established and has entered into general custom: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

So this is what the Jesus Prayer is. It is one of the short prayers, verbal, like all other short prayers. It is intended to keep the mind on a single thought of God. (7, 63)

Do not forget that one should not limit oneself to mere mechanical repetition of the words of the Jesus Prayer... The essence of the matter is a conscious standing in the presence of the Lord with fear, faith, and love. (3, 194)

The chief thing is standing and walking before God with a cry to him from the heart. (10, 189)

The chief thing here: to stand with attention in the heart and cry out to the Lord, present everywhere. (10, 163)