Chapter 91

Without Feelings of Repentance—prayer is Not Prayer

That you have feelings of repentance in prayer and tears—this is the real work. Without feelings of repentance—prayer is not prayer. So write it off as if it never happened. Prayer without these feelings is the same as a stillborn child. This is how the holy fathers say it. And tears—kindle them... Get used to wailing over yourself as over a dead person—and with funeral chants... For the chief thought, or the place where you should keep yourself mentally, is the hour of Judgment, or that moment when God is ready to pronounce: ‘Come’ or ‘Depart!’ O Lord, save me! And how can one not weep, unable to say with certainty that He will not say: ‘Depart’?! (7, 94)