Chapter 5

Whoever Stops at the Jesus Prayer Alone Stops Halfway

They say: “Acquire the Jesus Prayer,” meaning inner prayer. The Jesus Prayer is an excellent means toward inner prayer, but in itself it is not inner—it is external prayer. Those who become practiced in it do very well. But if they stop at it alone and go no further, they stop halfway...

In the Jesus Prayer, contemplation of God is still necessary; otherwise it is dry food. It is good when the name of Jesus has become fixed on the tongue. But one can do this and not remember the Lord at all, and even harbor thoughts contrary to Him. Everything, therefore, depends on conscious and free turning toward God and the labor of keeping oneself in this with discernment. (6, 19)