My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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HOW AND HOW MUCH TO PRAY
[Source: "Watchfulness and Prayer: Themes from the Philokalia No. 1."]
We know people who can walk in the midst of noise and the crowds of Athens, who can walk through Omonoia Square (center of Athens, Greece) and the most central streets of the capital with their mind undistracted, free, surrendered to unceasing prayer. This means that the prayer has brought about in their souls the Divine attraction of Christ, the sacred magnetism of Heaven and Heavenly life.
Nikitas Stithatos writes: "He who succeeds in attaining real prayer and floods his being with the love of Christ, does not become a prisoner to his emotions nor does he become attached to anything." [Saint Nikitas Stithatos was the disciple and biographer of Saint Symeon the New Theologian; he is far less well known to us than Saint Symeon the New Theologian himself.]
"My brother, pray with simplicity and peace, calmly and plainly, like the gentle breeze, like your breath." Only concentrate all your emotions all your will around the Holy Name of the Lord. Let His Holy Name penetrate your soul like a drop of oil saturates a cloth. Surrender all your being and lock it inside His Name.
Yet you will never soften your soul, you will not make it fruitful, fertile, "good soil" (Matthew 13:8), until you teach it to cry and mourn, and be contrite before the Cross of the Lord for its sinfulness and for the sins of the whole world, in which it feels it has a share.
Even today there are ascetics, who weep with a universal, life-long lament as they pray for the evil of the world. Once in a while, before you begin, or during prayer, during a break, and also after fatigue, open the Holy Scripture and take delight in its Divine meadows. You will find "green pastures to 'lie down' " (Psalm 23:2); you will discover the natural environment your soul seeks. Its hunger and thirst for Christ will e satisfied. Christ is the focal point of Holy Scripture. That is why the prayer of the heart will make you embrace Holy Scripture consuming you with longing for it, and Holy Scripture will again spontaneously return the Name of Christ to your lips and heart.
In order for every prayer to be acceptable to God and bring forth fruit, it must be said with concentration and the gathering of the mind. If you have a lot of concerns in your work, turn your mind to Christ and unceasing prayer, which will give you strength and will guard you so that the "thorns of the cares of the world" (Matthew 13:22) will not choke you.
At the appointed hour of the prayer rule "lay aside all worldly cares" (Cherubic Hymn) and lift up your mind and heart unto the Lord. In order to fly, every bird first rallies around and then centralizes its strength. The greatest success for the cultivation of the prayer of the heart ("The Jesus Prayer") is precisely that concentration of the prayer of the heart from every passion (pathos) that sucks it dry. We, beginners, need to curb our intellect and force it to stay within itself and occupy itself exclusively with the words of the prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.
Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite and many holy Fathers advise the beginners to bow the head and briefly hold the breath as a means of helping the intellect in its self-concentration: Lord Jesus Christ--inhale--have mercy on me--exhale. This can be done for a short time until our intellect is curbed. Later on, let the prayer roll lightly like a stream and, without interruption, water the interior depths of our being. All our attention should be given to the words of prayer.
Another proven way of saying the prayer is to take a deep breath while reciting it five, six, or seven times: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. In the beginning, as we said, let us force ourselves to say the prayer out loud or whispered with a fast cadence, so that the intellect will not have time to form any distracting thoughts. After a considerable time, our intellect will then get used to praying mentally and will become sweetened, as if it had tasted honey. We will want to say the Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me continually, and whenever we break off, the interruption will sadden us.
Our intellect is the purveyor of the soul. Its task is to take what it sees and hears to the heart, the center of man's spiritual and physical being. Therefore, when we say the prayer and do not think about anything else, but pay attention to its words, then while we breathe lightly, the intellect with its own effort and will takes the prayer down to the heart and keep it there, reciting it rhythmically. This goes on until the Grace of God overshadows our soul. His Grace is the moving force. It moves everything.
In the beginning, the Grace of the prayer is purifying; afterward, it becomes enlightening. Grace will come after much struggle and effort, tears and mourning, providing we pray wherever we are: walking, lying down, standing up, working, night and day. When the intellect tires, the prayer should be recited orally...
"...When at last you have prayed sufficiently, according to what you want, you can stop at one or two words of the prayer where your spirit finds rest, and your heart is sweetened. Saint Basil the Great notes: "An intellect undistracted by external things and not dispersed through the senses among worldly things, returns to itself, and from itself, it ascends to God by an unerring path."
The struggle to keep the prayer inside our intellect is not only due to its natural weakness and tendency to wander, it also results from the rabid and covert attack of the devil. However, in time our persistence will win. Our mind belongs to God and, little by little, it must become the mind of Christ.
Let your will with love adhere completely to the words of the prayer, so that the intellect, the indwelling Logos/Word and your will, these three aspects of your soul, may become one. Thus, it appears that man is an icon of the Holy Trinity, as Saint Gregory Palamas writes: "When the single mind is threefold, while yet remaining single, it is united with the divine threefold oneness, closes the door to delusion and rises above the domination of the flesh, the world, and the prince of this world."
The quantity of prayer depends entirely on our volition. The Holy Fathers of the Church write that one cannot practice perfect prayer of the heart without devoting a great deal of time to it.
How much should we pray, then? Unceasingly! Without interruption. Since the devil, the enemy of our soul, fights us without ceasing, we too should unceasingly make use of the fearful and omnipotent weapon of the Divine Name.
Since we are in danger of falling into sin every moment and of grieving the Lord, let us unceasingly repeat His saving Name. Let us also ask Him for His mercy. Saint Diadochos of Photiki says that when a man calls upon the Name of God as frequently as he can, he does not fall easily into sin.
As long as we desire to find Jesus incessantly within us, let us call Him unceasingly. Inasmuch as we want our heart to be ablaze with the incorporeal fire of divine love, let us nourish this fire with unceasing prayer. And, as long as we do not want our mind to be imprisoned by vain and cunning thoughts, let us give it the "loftier thought" of unceasing prayer. Let this become its "good change," its pleasure, its delight, its nourishment: the sweetest-than-honey Name of Jesus.
You cannot be called a Christian if you do not pray often. All the Saints prayed continually and with ardor. Therefore, become a practitioner of unceasing prayer. It will give enlightenment to your mind because it will always be found underneath and within the enlightening Name of Jesus Who is the Sun of Righteousness and the Light of the world.
"Truly blessed is the man (person) whose mind and heart are as closely attached to the Jesus Prayer...as air to the body or flame to the wax. The sun rising over the earth creates daylight and the venerable and Holy Name of the Lord Jesus; shining continually in the mind gives birth to countless intellections radiant as the sun" (Saint Hesychios the Priest, Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 197).
(Source: Orthodox Heritage)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" --- Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George