The Transformative Power of Prayer: Uniting with the Divine

Prayer is not merely a ritual or a duty; it is the very means by which the faithful may achieve union with God. Saint John of the Ladder eloquently describes prayer as "the converse and union of man with God," highlighting its profound and personal nature. This article explores how prayer facilitates this mystical union, the necessary conditions for its efficacy, and its role in the spiritual transformation of the believer.

The Experience of Divine Presence in Prayer

During prayer, especially when the believer invokes the name of the Lord Jesus with faith, he enters into a living, dynamic presence of God. This presence is not passive but "active and luminous," overwhelming the person with its "irresistible strength and indescribable sweetness." As the energy of God's presence intensifies within the heart, the soul expands, striving to embrace and absorb the divine, which by its nature is "Uncontainable." This profound encounter illustrates how prayer is not a mere speaking into the void but an intimate interaction with the Divine, who responds and makes Himself known.

The Nature of Spiritual Union in Prayer

The experience of prayer, as described by the Elder, is one of profound love and attraction that draws the spirit wholly towards God. In this state, there is no self-centeredness; the spirit is entirely absorbed in the divine, striving to grasp what cannot be physically grasped and to reach what is beyond reach. This mystical union transcends ordinary experience and understanding—it is about being in God alone, where nothing else matters or even enters awareness.

The Conditions for Efficacious Prayer

For prayer to reach such depths and have such transformative power, it must be accompanied by genuine obedience to Christ's commandments. Echoing the words of Jesus, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven" (Matthew 7:21), it is clear that verbal profession alone is insufficient. True prayer is deeply intertwined with the practical observance of the commandments, which Jesus set as the criterion for genuine love for Him: "If a man love me, he will keep my words" (John 14:23).

The Trinitarian Embrace through Prayer

Those who live in this way—loving Christ and keeping His commandments—find themselves enveloped by the love of the Holy Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each come to dwell as divine light within such individuals, transforming their hearts into their dwelling place and perfecting them as temples of Divinity. This indwelling is not merely symbolic but an actualization of divine grace that perfects the believer, fulfilling the purpose and potential of human existence.

Conclusion: Prayer as the Path to Divine Transformation

Prayer, when combined with the observance of Christ's commandments, holds infinite value in our spiritual life. It is the gateway to experiencing the divine presence, leading to a transformative union with God. Through such prayer, believers are drawn into an intimate relationship with the Divine, marked by a profound love that transcends earthly concerns and aligns them with the divine will. This union is not an abstract theological concept but a lived reality that deeply influences how one exists in the world, manifesting as a life fully aligned with God's will and radiant with His presence.

Reference: Alive From the Dead: Homilies on Great Lent, Archemandrite Zacharias Zacharou

Embracing the Fullness of God's Love and the Jesus Prayer

Reflecting on the depth of loving God with all our heart and mind, we must ask ourselves: do our thoughts during prayer truly reflect this love? When worldly distractions permeate our prayers, it might reveal our shortfall in living up to His commandment to love God with our whole being.

Saint Silouan articulates this challenge with profound clarity. He teaches that when our thoughts drift away from God, even during prayer, our attention is divided. At such moments, we are not fully living the commandment to love God "with all thy mind and all thy heart." True adherence to this commandment, according to Saint Silouan, is achieved when our consciousness is so fully immersed in God that no extraneous thought can find room. This state represents an earnest attempt to fulfill the greatest commandment, though we must humbly acknowledge our imperfections in its execution. (Reference: Saint Silouan the Athonite, p. 438)

The intrusion of distractions into our prayer life signals a disconnect, suggesting that our minds are not wholly attuned to God. This mirrors the Apostolic teaching of Saint Paul, who encourages us to adopt the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), a call to wholly align our thoughts and being with Christ's example and teachings.

Engaging in the practice of the Jesus Prayer is a transformative exercise that brings our minds under the dominion of our soul, empowering us to dismiss or overlook irrelevant thoughts. This prayer practice fosters a spiritual discipline that aligns us more closely with the commandment to love God with every facet of our being.

To deepen your understanding and commitment to this form of prayer, it's beneficial to explore further the practice of the Jesus Prayer. This exploration can lead to a more profound and distraction-free engagement in prayer, drawing us closer to fulfilling the commandment to love God with our entire heart and mind.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27B-YUrTXeg Excerpt from a recent talk on the teaching of Saint Symeon the New Theologian on prayer.

More: https://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Jesus%20Prayer.html

Tri-fold Pamphlet: https://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Articles_files/Jesus%20Prayer%20Brochure.pdf

Articles and books: https://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Jesus%20Prayer-Articles%20and%20Books.html

Is the Jesus Prayer "Vane Repetition"?

The Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner," is a profound expression of faith among many Orthodox Christians. Far from being vain repetition, the prayer becomes deeply meaningful when one prays with a sincere heart, recognizing oneself as a sinner in need of God's mercy—much like the tax collector in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9114), or the blind man who sought Jesus's healing (Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43). This prayer is a call from the depths of one's being, in recognition of God as both Creator and Savior, and expresses a longing to be purified of sin, to become united with God, and to attain eternal life in His kingdom. It reflects the humility and repentance of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32), acknowledging one's sinfulness and separation from God and seeking His great mercy.

Contrasting this with mantra practice in Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, where mantras are sacred utterances for meditation, concentration, and spiritual development, it's important to recognize the distinct theological and philosophical frameworks. While both the Jesus Prayer and mantras involve repetition, their purposes and contexts differ markedly. The Jesus Prayer seeks God’s mercy, aims for theosis, or union with God, a concept foreign to the goals of Eastern mantra practices, which might focus on concentration, peaceful mind, enlightenment or spiritual qualities.

Addressing concerns of vain repetition, especially from a perspective that prioritizes Scripture, it's helpful to examine Matthew 6:7, where the term “βατταλογήσητε” often translated as "vain repetitions" (in older translations) is better understood as "babbling." Many contemporary translations and the Orthodox Study Bible offer insights that clarify Jesus's teaching is against mindless repetition, not against repetition itself. Jesus's admonition in Matthew 6:7 against babbling—empty, meaningless prayer—underscores the importance of the heart's intention in prayer, not the quantity of words.

This perspective is supported by Orthodox teachings which emphasize prayer as an intimate communion with God, leading to the vision of His glory. Prayer, to be genuine, should be humble, personal, and sincere, avoiding hypocrisy and the pretense of piety. The repeated use of the Jesus Prayer, when done with the awareness of one's need for God's mercy, is not vain but a deep spiritual practice encouraging continuous communion with God.

In essence, if the Jesus Prayer is approached with a sincere heart, recognizing one's sinfulness and seeking God's mercy and transformation, it transcends mere repetition and becomes a vital spiritual discipline. It aligns with Paul's exhortation to pray without ceasing, inviting believers into a deeper relationship with God through constant, heartfelt prayer.

Jesus Prayer - Elder Aimilianos

What is Jesus Prayer

It is so short! It is a repetition of these words: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

What happens when we repeat it


We acquire a spiritual dynamism that does not come from us, but from God Himself.

It is comprehensive

It comprises the divinity. It includes Christ Himself, Who immediately enters into communion with our hearts.

It’s habit forming

This invocation helps us to acquire a habit, so that the remembrance of Christ within us becomes unceasing. So everything around us and inside our hearts becomes filled with God.

Not magical formula or mechanical work or psycho-somatic exercise

…about which one might think that it has access to a kind of gnostic or syncretic knowledge… or that this exercise would bring spiritual results… or that through this formula, man can tend towards infinity or to a faceless god. The repetition is just an intensification, and a focusing, and a rooting of the Name of Christ and thus of Christ Himself, in our daily lives. 

What does it do?

It creates within man the power to unceasingly invoke God, and therefore, the human participation, offers him a state of joy and spiritual happiness, and other charisms. 
And then, when man reaches this primary stage, well, he understands that Holy Spirit mediates between his personality and the Personal God!

It is, I would say, the only prayer which, clearly creates our preconditions to be able to find God daily, and also, easily, to find Him and rejoice in God. 
Through this prayer, the One Who is unseen becomes visible in our lives.

What is its purpose?

It is what is being worked by God in you.
What God works in our inner being… What He works is an experience. But it is not only the experience of God! It is also a revelation of the way He comes, of how the coming of God happens. The Personal God within the human personality… And of course, He comes in Light!
 And one still feels and understands at the end of his or her ascent, the union which is performed…
And with this union, the purification comes, the spiritual advancement comes, the growth of the little baby which is being born into man.

The purpose of Prayer, in a word, we could say, is a perfect mystery of the unseen God, the One now felt, and the visible person… a mystery performed by God. This mystery has been revealed to us by the Fathers of the Church. We also know from experience, always, how to become a recipient of God. Not through reasoning and meditation, but in a way that God penetrates the human person, and transforms it entirely. And so, he or she becomes a person who can taste, understand and comprehend this mystery.

It is a continuous climb

It is an ever-rising communion, perfect, unchanging. I mean, no person changes, neither one, nor the other. There is a divine vision and a communion with the unseen. 

Is the Jesus prayer one for the whole world? - Saint Sophrony

How Saint Sophrony learned about the Jesus Prayer

I remember a wonderful moment that is forever imprinted in my mind. It was at the very beginning of my monastic life, in 1925 or 1926. I was walking on the seashore, and there I saw an old man with a long prayer rope of 300 knots. I approached him with the fear of a beginner and I stood silently, watching him pray. And he was sitting on a large stone, moving from knot to knot [with his thumb]. 

Is the Jesus Prayer a prayer for the whole world?

 I dared to ask him, “Father, pray for me!” I asked for it because when I left France in 1925, I was overwhelmed by the spirit of “despair,” although in a less heavy form than now. And so, crushed by that despair, I asked him, “Father, pray for me!” He looked at me and said, “Do you see this prayer rope? I say it for the whole world. I pray for the whole world. And you are there, in my prayer.” It is hard to explain why, and how much time we need for a certain reaction, yet I did not leave after the first word. And after a while, living in myself the despair of those days, I said to him again: “Father, pray for me!” He says, “I have already told you that I am praying for the whole world. And you are here, in this prayer.” After a few moments, I repeated my request again, because my grief was deep, and again, the third time, I said timidly, “Father, pray for me!” 

He was told again and again, it's a prayer for the whole world.

He looked at me kindly and said, “But I told you that you are here,” pointing to the prayer rope,  “what do you need more? You are here in this prayer of mine for the whole world.” I departed, struck by the state of mind of this elder. “I pray for the whole world; you are there so that we do not ‘split’ into pieces for insignificant things.” 

On Mount Athos further questions about what this means

Having just reached Athos, and encountering such a form of prayer, of course I was impressed. I kept thinking, “What does this elder think when he prays for the whole world — does he think in time, in space, about the whole mankind from Adam to the present day? Or was his thought even deeper and more comprehensive?

Link to Audio recording- https://otelders.org/theology-and-spirituality/the-power-of-jesus-prayer-saint-sophrony-july-11-meeting-a-hermit-on-the-seashore/

Jesus prayer - Elder Aimilianos

The following is the teaching of Elder Aimilianos of Simeopetra

What is the Jesus Prayer?

It is a repetition of these words: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

What happpens when we repeat it?

We acquire a spiritual dynamism that does not come from us, but from God Himself.

It is comprehensive

It comprises the divinity. It includes Christ Himself, Who immediately enters into communion with our hearts.

It’s habit forming

This invocation helps us to acquire a habit, so that the remembrance of Christ within us becomes unceasing. So everything around us and inside our hearts becomes filled with God.

Not magical formula or mechanical work or psycho-somatic exercise

…about which one might think that it has access to a kind of gnostic or syncretic knowledge… or that this exercise would bring spiritual results… Or that through this formula, man can tend towards infinity or to a faceless god.

The repetition is just an intensification, and a focusing, and a rooting of the Name of Christ and thus of Christ Himself, in our daily lives. 

What does it do?

It creates within man the power to unceasingly invoke God, and therefore, the human participation, offers him a state of joy and spiritual happiness, and other charisms.
And then, when man reaches this primary stage, well, he understands that Holy Spirit mediates between his personality and the Personal God!

it is, I would say, the only prayer which, clearly creates our preconditions to be able to find God daily, and also, easily, to find Him and rejoice in God.
Through this prayer, the One Who is unseen becomes visible in our lives.

Leads us to union with God

It is what is being worked by God in you.
What God works in our inner being… What He works is an experience. But it is not only the experience of God! It is also a revelation of the way He comes, of how the coming of God happens. The Personal God within the human personality… And of course, He comes in Light!
And one still feels and understands at the end of his or her ascent, the union which is performed…
And with this union, the purification comes, the spiritual advancement comes, the growth of the little baby which is being born into man.

A perfect mystery of the unseen God

The purpose of Prayer, in a word, we could say, is a perfect mystery of the unseen God, the One now felt, and the visible person… a mystery performed by God. This mystery has been revealed to us by the Fathers of the Church. We also know from experience, always, how to become a recipient of God. Not through reasoning and meditation, but in a way that God penetrates the human person, and transforms it entirely. And so, he or she becomes a person who can taste, understand and comprehend this mystery.

It is a continuous climb

It is an ever-rising communion, perfect, unchanging. I mean, no person changes, neither one, nor the other. There is a divine vision and a communion with the unseen. 

Reference: Orthodox Teaching of Elder blog

Seeking a Spiritual Union with God? — Basics of Orthodox Christian Prayer

How you pray affects the reality of your relationship with God. In the attached presentation is a summary of the principles of Orthodox Christian prayer that aid you in an ascent to a spiritual union with Christ. It is the 7th session in our series, Path to Salvation.

For more on prayer go to www.orthodox prayer.org

In Prayer, the Foretate of the Heavenly Kingdom

After attaining silence in prayer and the intense desire for the Holy Spirit we realize that He is very close. We want even more to draw Him inside us so we can be renewed and cleansed of every stain our soul may have. We witness a mystical expectation. This is when we Elder Aimilianos says we will we receive the delight of the silent foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Elder Aimilianos says,

Why?... Because God is in the heavens, I’m here, and so this delight which I will have, this prelude, must, let’s say, be a kind of prior introduction for me into the bosom of the Kingdom of Heaven. It must be my first, distant intelligence of the sounds and angelic voices which are heard up there. And it follows that I become aware, more or less, of what Paradise is, what the Kingdom of Heaven is. ...I have to find out where He is and know what it is that He is in.

At this stage we begin to have some ideas about the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven. We begin to gain glimpses into the answers to our questions about the heavenly realm. What is heaven? What is it like there? Are their dwellings? What are the saints and where are they? What is Christ like there? What is the Holy Trinity? Receiving these insights we still know we are far away, but now we can begin to see beyond the most distant star this distant Kingdom that awaits us.

The Elder says,

I begin to understand and my soul starts to be warmed by these mysteries which, to some extent, are beginning to be revealed to me. And then, my beloved brethren, there begins - let me put it like this - a new period in my spiritual life: luxuriating in silence or silence in luxuriating. In other words, something different.

He describes this as a different silence, silence of our spirit, of the eyes of our soul. Previously it was a silence of our faculties. Now we find ourselves in the silence of our spiritual world. We lose ourself in this world and find ourselves before the gates of Heaven.

The Elder describes like this,

Since I find myself before the gates of Heaven, I luxuriate, I enjoy a warmth, a coziness and I keep silent, in order to be able to hear His voice. Now, however, as we said, my spirit is silent, the spirit which will cry, “Abba, Father!”. Now it’s silent, I’m happy. I have a warmth inside me, even bodily. I’m at rest. I’m relaxed. I’m in the mood to pray. I don’t want to pray though, I want to wait for God.

Next the Holy Spirit comes and it’s me with God.

In Prayer: When the Holy Spirit Enters

Continuing with the teaching on Prayer by Elder Aimilianos: He has lead us from a dry struggle to silence, to a desire for the Holy Spirit and the awareness of the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven, waiting in anticipation of the Holy Spirit which seems to be nearby. Now he tells us about the entrance of the Holy Spirit into our prayer.

He writes,

The Holy Spirit begins to blow. It is the Holy Spirit who unites me to God, Who brings me into contact as regards His energies and I begin to have an inkling of what is happening. Then the Holy Spirit, Who is light, when He enters into me, reveals to me the depths of my heart.

We are unaware of what lingers in the depths of our hearts. So much of who we are lies hidden from us until the Holy Spirit enters.

He says,

When the Spirit comes close, He reveals to me, my beloved brethren, the blackness inside me, my sins, and I begin to have knowledge of myself. In physical silence, in spiritual silence, God begins to communicate with me by revealing what lingers in the depth of my soul.

 The Elder says it is “like a spotlight and illumines my heart.” ...I come to understand two things. God shows me through the entrance of the Holy Spirit that it is in the center of my soul, my heart, where I will be united with God. And second this is where the obstacles are that separate me from God. These are “ignorance and heedlessness”.

He says,

I neither remember Him nor know Him. Why? Because He is hidden by my passions...My heart is closed by my own passions; that’s what it means. What happens now is that I begin to learn what passion is and how I am controlled them. My ignorance is exposed and I now know why I have been repeating the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.” I now know what it means in the Psalm that says “cleanse and make me whiter that snow.” I now can see what is the extent of the cleansing needed to be united with God in prayer. Now I really know I need His mercy. Now what is necessary for life in the Kingdom of Heaven is clear. I now know what passions are and all of them that are in me. I understand the needed battle that needs to take place to cleanse my heart. I now know how much I need His help.

The Elder says that now is the time “for us to see if we’ll accept or reject Him.” He also reminds us that up to this time we have only been playing a game with God.  Now the real struggle begins and if we accept Him we have the Holy Spirit to help us.

What do we have to do? He says we must be wary of our egotism that we have been hiding behind, we must accept this sinfulness that has been revealed.

I have to shatter my being...just as you use a nut-cracker to smash a nut and it makes a “crack” and splits open and you pick up the pieces, that’s what I have to do to my heart! So I can get out the rubbish and throw it away, so I can discover that what I am, what I have loved, what I have desired, what I have asked for in my prayer so far, all that is what Saint Paul calls refuse and I am called on to deny it. To understand that it is refuse, so I can be filled with God. 

He says that if feel that I really need to know God and need to clean out all the “rubbish,”  and that I will not deny God for the sake of myself and accept the challenge to clean up the mess, then I will find the first tears flowing from my eyes.

He says,

In my pain, I begin to cry out again: “My God, my God”. Now I’m saying “Come, Holy Spirit and cleanse me of my sin. Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, come and teach me in my ignorance, come abide in me, who am so bad, so full, and cleanse me of every stain. Take out whatever is inside me, so that you can come and dwell there”. Not I can say the prayer of the Spirit.

What comes after Silence in Prayer?

Silence comes gradually in prayer. This is our first stage in seeking a union with God. It is this silence where you are able to hear more than your heart beat. It is in silence that God can speak to us. In silence we come to know our soul and the life giving spirit that dwells within.

Elder Aimilianos says,

 I have to learn to be silent, that is, I have to learn to listen, I have to learn to wait, to await the voice of God. Within this silence, I’ll then be able to hear the beat of my heart, not the beat of my bodily heart, but I’ll feel my life-giving-Spirit, my hypostasis, which is none other than the Holy Spirit.

It is in silence that we can come to know and experience the Holy Spirit, the uncreated energies of God. It is in this silence of prayer that we begin to desire to acquire the Holy Spirit. We want to know what is the real meaning of the Holy Spirit. What we need is a revelation, Elder Aimilianos tells us, so we can understand the true meaning of the Holy Trinity revealed to us in Scripture. This is an experience that he says comes gradually.

He says,

The experience comes gradually, progress within our soul and God takes up His place within our being. And His steps and His voice mingle with our steps and our voice and then we become one with God.

This is all part of a long process that comes from our love of God, Our humbleness, our patience seeking and endurance in prayer. Eventually we develop this true desire for the Holy Spirit.

The Elder says,

We begin to desire the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, so that at some stage we can say:”Come and abide in us, Holy Spirit, and cleanse us from all stain” because our souls are full of stains, they fill our souls and there is nothing we ourselves can do about it

We want to be pure in heart so we can see God as Jesus promised us. Not in some future life but in our life right now. It is only in this way that we can do with certainty the will of God. With a soul cleansed of all stain we know His will for us and can begin to act as a loyal servant.

This stage of desiring the Holy Spirit is only a temporary stage. Once we realize that is is the acquiring of the Holy Spirit that is essential for us we still have not acquired it.

The Elder tells us,

We feel this anxious expectation, then we’ll progress and we’ll have that silent delight which we call the foretaste of the coming of the Spirit and awareness of the presence of God.

To be in communion with God we need to call for Him, we need to seek, we need to knock on His door as Scripture says. Then in silence with great anticipation we, in our complete humility, we realize that without the Holy Spirit we cannot understand, we cannot be cured of our blindness or the satins that block us from God. The Elder tells we must say, “Spirit, where are you for goodness’ sake. You teach me!”

Now we must wait in anticipation feeling that He is nearby.

Seeking His Mercy

"Have mercy on us.”

This is most common prayer in the Orthodox Church. Most of us have come to know it as the Jesus Prayer, ”Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” In Orthodox teaching God is not looking to punish us for our sins but He wants to help us overcome our sinful tendencies. He sent His Son because of His love for Mankind so we could be healed and learn to love God as He loves us. This love is best expressed in this prayer, He is all merciful. He will forgive us our sinfulness as He knows our condition and wants us to be perfected so that we can have eternal life in His kingdom forever. This is His plan for all of us.

Many people in the Church will practice this prayer daily by repeating it over and over in quiet in the morning and evening. It is a powerful discipline when we engage in it prayerfully and with love of our merciful God. We are not always aware of how sinful we are but any action that is not taken to glorify God is an error and misses the mark for what we are intended. If we engage in this regular practice of saying the Jesus prayer daily over and over we will eventually have it in our mind all the time and will be repeating it continually. 

How does  this help us you ask? How can we sin when we continually have God in our mind and are seeking His mercy. It is only through His mercy that we can be healed of this infirmary of sinfulness. We should not despair in our condition but recognize it and seek His love and Grace so we can continually grow to become closer to His image. 

More on the Jesus Prayer

Prayer Is About Silence

When we begin to pray we experience prayer as a struggle. Because of our love and intense desire to be in communion with God we cry out to Him. This is a cry that comes from the depth of our heart. But when we find that our cry is not being heard what do we do?


Elder Aimilianos says the following:

It has to be transformed, reversed—into silence within an atmosphere of silence. God is the God of those who live in tranquility and silence.

This may seem contradictory. First we cry our from our depths with intense desire but then we change our direction to silence. But this is not a contradiction. It is a transformation. We must transform from trying to speak, to intent listening. This requires silence. It’s a sequence of successive steps.

The Elder says,

Everybody’s got to stop, including you, if you want to hear the other person. And if they are talking, the first thing you’ll say is “Shh!” and then you’ll speak, to make yourself heard. It’s this experience and this reality that we’ll go through when our soul has recourse to God, too.

What he is talking about is a progression in our prayer. We are making a monvement toward God. This happens in silence.

He says,

When prayer is about to leave from inside us, to become, truly, a movement towards God, then we will see a “silence within silence”. Absolute silence, in other words.

This means we have to learn to learn how to pray in silence while surrounded with noise. It helps to find a quiet place to pray as Jesus instructed His followers. He used to go away from the crowd to pray where it was quiet. This why it is best to pray at night or early in the morning when your surrounding are quieter.

If we are following our breath while saying the Jesus prayer there is a cycle of crying out and silence. When we breath we inhale and then exhale. There is a midway point where we make a transition, an interval between these two movements. It is in the interval that we can find silence and listen for God.

Elder Aimilianos says,

I have to learn to keep this interval, this tuning, this setting of the ear, and then I’ll see that this is a fundamental thing in prayer, not the sound of my own voice... I have to learn to be silent, I have to learn to wait, to await the voice of God.

Resource: The Authentic Seal, pp 205-206
More on Prayer

How Does Prayer Begin?

Once we realize how great is the gap between our earthly being and the transcendent and all powerful God, we begin to appreciate how little we know about God. We come to terms with the limitations of our intellect and our rational powers.

Edlder Aimilians says,

We don't know God. We live in total ignorance, in what is essentially total oblivion. I neither remember God nor know Him. This is why I cry all the time, so that He can feel sorry for me and can answer me. And when God answers I can strike up a conversation. That is how prayer starts!

The beginning of prayer is a movement from the deepest part of our being. It's a humble cry for help. In the beginning prayer can be expressed in many ways. It can begin with the words we express with our mouths, reading the prayers of the psalms or the Church. This can be an outward verbal expression or one that is said silently from inside ourselves. What is important is that the prayer is sincere, based on our faith and coming from our inner depth. The key is for us to pray with this depth so that we eventually become aware that it is the spirit within us that speaks.

Elder Aimilianos says,

What matters is that there should issue forth a cry from the depths, which is like a powerful bomb, like an earthquake, should shake the heavens and make God answer, in the end, and say to us: Are you shouting to me? Why?

The beginning of prayer involves this intense longing to communicate with God. It is an urgent cry and a persistent one. Always based on a humble view of our reality in relationship with Him. It makes no difference how we try to express this, whether standing, sitting, or lying prostrate on our belly. It must be a cry that God cannot ignore.

The Elder says,

We should learn to seek Him. Because if God were to surrender to us immediately, before we did any of these things... we'd cast Him off as easily as we'd won Him, because we would not know His true value... God wants us to sense Him first from the depths of our beings which we raise up to Him.

The first thing is to experience prayer as a struggle. The second is a cry from the depths.

Reference:  The Authenic Seal by Archimandrite Aimilianos, pp 203-205.

What is Prayer?

We all assume we know what prayer is, but do we really know? How do we feel in prayer? What does it mean to live prayer?

Elder Aimilianos says prayer is the vehicle of the soul. "It is the atmosphere the soul lives in." He compares it to our breathing, that it is the breath of the soul.

It is only when the Spirit prays within us that our prayer is able to ascend to heaven. Prayer is in the Spirit and the Spirit comprehends Spirit and is united with that, not with flesh.

We should ask ourselves if we are still holding on to a child's way of prayer. Prayer is much more than asking for something good in this life for others or ourselves. The Elder says "that prayer is a journey towards God." For an Orthodox Christian, prayer must become a way of life, a key part of their journey to knowing and being united with God.

The Elder reminds us of the incredible task we are engaged it when we pray. We are so different than God. He is in heaven but we live in a physical world here on earth. His essence is beyond what we can comprehend. The Elder says "God is light and we are darkness," emphasizing the difference. Because of the large difference we should expect to experience a struggle with prayer. In relation to God the soul is very small and is also clouded with all our earthly desires and passions. God is so great and perfect that our attempt at prayer only makes us aware of our smallness and weakness. The closer we come to God the more we realize our condition.

This means that prayer is naturally a struggle. The Elder says, 

It follows that we experience prayer initially - when we start to pray - as a wrestling-match, as a struggle... not in the sense that it is difficult to pray,  that I have to struggle to gather my thoughts or overcome my sleepiness, ... this is ascetic struggle... [but] the struggle we have with God. 

This means the feeling we can have is a feeling of this great gap, so large it appears to be an insurmountable obstacle. We are reminded  of the transcendence of God. Bridging this great difference between us is the nature of the struggle we should feel in prayer.

The Elder makes an important point, 

When I do not have this sense of this struggle with God... I have not even begun to pray.

Reference: The Authentic Seal, by Archimandrite Aimilianos, pp 199-201.

Prayer is Connected to Liturgical Life

Often we think of prayer as an independent action, saying a few words addressing God. But true prayer is much more and dependent on our participation in the liturgical life of the church.

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra says

Prayer is linked with our worship, and especially with Holy Communion. If there is no worship and no Holy Communion, it is not possible for there to be prayer.

Why is this so? When I pray I pray to somebody. This somebody must exist. I have to know to whom I am praying. It is through Holy Communion that we become familiar with His existence.

The elder says,

I have to become familiar with His presence and existence. Christ the in-dwelling, Who is everywhere present, becomes present for me in my life through my participation in Holy Communion.

What happens in the sacrament of Holy Communion? When I participate I become an active member of the body of Christ. Taking Him in, allowing Him to permeate my whole being, united and in Him, I now have to participate in His properties. I am being united with His divinity.

The elder says,

Worship and Holy Communion are indissolubly united... They make God present and alive for me... He, through worship, tends toward me and I, through petition, tend towards Him.

To have a life of prayer it is essential to go to church and participate in the sacramental life of the church. Also, I must be praying to attend the Liturgy,

The elder says,

I cannot say I will go to church if I have not been praying. It is superfluous for me to go to church to attend Liturgy and useless for me to take Holy Communion if I am not continuously at prayer.

Prayer and the sacramental life depend on each other. They are interdependent.

Next we will address "what is prayer?"

From "Catechism on Prayer" in Spiritual Instruction and Discourses: The Authentic Seal by Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, pp 196-198

Buddhism and Eastern Asceticism Compared to Orthodox Christian Asceticism

By Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex

It is unfortunate that there is widespread confusion, not to mention delusion, in the inexperienced, whereby the Jesus Prayer is thought to be equivalent to yoga in Buddhism, or 'transcendental meditation', and other such Eastern exotica. Any similarity, however, is mostly external, and any inner convergence does not rise beyond the natural 'anatomy' of the human soul. The fundamental difference between Christianity and other beliefs and practices lies in the fact that the Jesus Prayer is based on the revelation of the One true living and personal God as Holy Trinity No other path admits any possibility of a living relationship between God and the person who prays. 

Eastern asceticism aims at divesting the mind of all that is relative and transitory, so that man may identify with the impersonal Absolute. This Absolute is believed to be man's original 'nature', which suffered degradation and degeneration by entering a multiform and ever-changing earth-bound life. Ascetic practice like this is, above all, centered upon the self, and is totally dependent on man's will. Its intellectual character betrays the fullness of human nature, in that it takes no account of the heart. Man's main struggle is to return to the anonymous Supra-personal Absolute and to be dissolved in it. He must therefore aspire to efface the soul (Atman) in order to be one with this anonymous ocean of the Suprapersonal Absolute, and in this lies its basically negative purpose. 

In his struggle to divest himself of all suffering and instability connected with transient life, the eastern ascetic immerses himself in the abstract and intellectual sphere of so-called pure Existence, a negative and impersonal sphere in which no vision of God is possible, only man's vision of himself. There is no place for the heart in this practice. Progress in this form of asceticism depends only on one's individual will to succeed. The Upanishads do not say anywhere that pride is an obstacle to spiritual progress, or that humility is a virtue. The positive dimension of Christian asceticism, in which self-denial leads to one's clothing with the heavenly man, to the assumption of a supernatural form of life, the Source of which is the One True, Self-revealing God, is obviously and totally absent. Even in its more noble expressions, the self-denial in Buddhism is only the insignificant half of the picture. In the mind's desire to return to its merely 'natural' self, it beholds its own nakedness in a 'cloud of divestiture'. But at this point there is a grave risk of obsession with itself, of its marvelling at its own luminous but created beauty, and worshipping the creature more than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). The mind has by now begun to deify or idolize its self and then, according to the words of the Lord, 'the last state of that man is worse than the first' (Matt. 12:45). 

Such are the limits of Eastern styles of contemplation, which do not claim to be the contemplation of God, and are in fact man's contemplation of himself. This does not go beyond the boundaries of created being, nor does it draw anywhere near to the Truth of primordial Being, to the uncreated living God Who has revealed Himself to man. This kind of practice may well afford some relaxation or sharpen man's psychological and intellectual functions, yet 'that which is born of the flesh is flesh' (John 3:6) and 'they that are in the flesh cannot please God' (Rom. 8:8). 

In order to be authentic, any divestiture of the mind from its passionate attachments to the visible and transitory elements of this life must be linked to the truth about man. When man sees himself as he is in the sight of God, his only response is one of repentance. Such repentance is itself a gift of God, and it generates a certain pain of the heart which not only detaches the mind from corruptible things, but also unites it to the unseen and eternal things of God. In other words, divestiture as an end in itself is only half the matter, and it consists of human effort operating on the level of Created being. Christianity on the other hand, enjoins the ascetic to strive in the hope and expectation that his soul will be clothed, invested, with the grace of God, which leads him into the fullness of the immortal life for which he knows he has been created. 

Many admire Buddha and compare him to Christ. Buddha is particularly attractive because of his compassionate understanding of man's condition and his eloquent teaching on freedom from suffering. But the Christian knows that Christ, the Only begotten Son of God, by His Passion, Cross, Death and Resurrection, willingly and sinlessly entered into the totality of human pain, transforming it into an expression of His perfect love. He thereby healed His creature from the mortal wound inflicted by the ancestral sin, and made it 'a new creation' unto eternal life. Pain of heart is therefore of great value in the practice of prayer, for its presence is a sign that the ascetic is not far from the true and holy path of love for God. If God, through suffering, showed His perfect love for us, similarly, man has the possibility, through suffering, to return his love to God. 

Consequently, prayer is a matter of love. Man expresses love through prayer, and if we pray, it is an indication that we love God. If we do not pray, this indicates that we do not love God, for the measure of our prayer is the measure of our love for God. St. Silouan identifies love for God with prayer, and the Holy Fathers say that forgetfulness of God is the greatest of all passions, for it is the only passion that will not be fought by prayer through the Name of God. If we humble ourselves and invoke God's help, trusting in His love, we are given the strength to conquer any passion; but when we are unmindful of God, the enemy is free to slay us. 

The title was added for publication on this site. The untitled excerpt is from Chapter 5, "The Building Up of the Heart by Vigilance and Prayer". 

From The Hidden Man of the Heart: The Cultivation of the Heart in Orthodox Christian Anthropology, by Archimandrite Zacharias (Waymart, PA: Mount Thabor Publishing, 2008), pp. 66-68. Copyright 2008, The Stavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist, Essex, UK. Posted on 8/9/2008 with the permission of the publisher. 

Archimandrite Zacharias 

Source-www.pravoslavie.ru/english
http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2014/10/buddhism-and-eastern-asceticism.html 

4. Using the Jesus Prayer

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”

This prayer has the potential to transform your consciousness and bring you closer to God. It is a prayer rooted deeply in the tradition of the Church. It is a prayer to be repeated over and over, many times. You can begin to develop the use of this prayer by incorporating a number of repetitions in your daily prayer rule. It is a simple prayer and you can learn to say it everywhere and at any time. In fact, your aim should be to make it an unending prayer. In this way your whole life becomes a life of prayer.

Recognize, however, that this prayer is incredibly difficult to practice even though it seems to be very simple. In its practice, you continually recite it so that it permeates your heart and focuses your mind, predisposing you to follow God’s will instead of your own ego-directed will. 

Start by repeating it for ten minutes in the morning or evening. Begin by saying it out loud or at least by moving your lips. Eventually you will repeat it mentally, but start with a verbal prayer. Add more repetitions, slowly building up the time you are able to concentrate on the prayer. When your mind wanders, bring it back to the prayer. Concentrate, but do not be harsh on yourself. This is not something you will master with your self-will. Ask God to help you conquer the restlessness of your mind. With persistence, humility and patience, the practice of this prayer will prepare you for God’s grace to work actively within you.

Along with saying this prayer as part of your prayer rule, try to say it whenever you can. You can do this while walking, while waiting in the doctor’s office, in line at the post office, or while waiting to board a plane. You can say it when doing dishes or yard work. You can say it when you are stressed, afraid, or nervous. When you become angry, repeat this prayer over and over until your anger subsides. Do this whenever your mind is agitated, and you will find that it will calm your mind. When you do say it, be sure to think of God and His endless love and seek His mercy.

The practice of the Jesus Prayer is different than Far-Eastern Buddhist, Hindu or Sufi practice. In Buddhism, a common practice is to constantly repeat a mantra such as “Om mani padme hum.” The aim of Buddhism is to free oneself from all suffering and attain what the Buddha called “Nirvana” or the perfect peace of mind. This peace of mind is achieved through various meditation techniques. The Buddha never taught about any form of God. Many practice this form of meditation to gain calmness in their lives. Sufism is a branch of Islam that also employs forms of meditation. Sufi scholars define Sufism as “a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God.” In meditation they aim to reach an awareness of their oneness with the universe, believing that in doing so they can attain fundamental truths that are within us, but often remain hidden. They do not believe that Jesus is God, but view Him as only a prophet. In Hinduism the chief aim is to gain release from the cycle of reincarnation caused by karma – the consequences of past actions, in this or in previous lives! This is achieved though meditation techniques. This release leads to some kind of absolute Truth. Many of these approaches have been adapted by our modern culture to serve as means of relaxation or ways to lessen the stress of our over-active lives. They form the basis of the “New Age” spiritual movement. They are taught without any specific aim of repentance, nor the purpose of doing the will of God, nor of seeking union with Christ. 

The use of the Jesus Prayer is done with an attitude of repentance and humility seeking an encounter with the living Christian God, Jesus Christ. We may gain benefits of relaxation or reduced stress, but this is not the aim of our effort. Union with God is. It is NOT a mantra to simply quiet the mind. You will also gain this benefit if you learn to repeat it hundreds of times, but it is important that you truly feel contrition for your sinfulness and seek God’s mercy as you repeat it. All prayer is about a personal relationship with God.

Many Orthodox Christians use a prayer rope to aid them in concentration as they repeat the Jesus Prayer. Prayer Ropes come in a great variety of forms and sizes. Most prayer ropes have a cross woven into them or attached to mark the “end,” and also have some kind of marker after each 10, 25, or 50 knots or beads. There are many forms of prayer ropes, some knotted of wool or silk, or other more elegant or simpler materials. At the time of our regular prayer, when you pray following your rule of prayer, hold the prayer rope with your hand between the thumb and the index finger and move from knot to knot each time you say the prayer. Do this until the number of repetitions in your rule have been completed.

“Just as it is impossible to fight battles without weapons, or to swim a great sea with clothes on, or to live without breathing, so without humility and the constant prayer to Christ it is impossible to master the art of inward spiritual warfare or to set about it and pursue it skillfully.” Saint Hesychios

More on the Jesus Prayer

Articles and Books on the Jesus Prayer

Mindfulness Meditation or Prayer?

With hectic schedules and a constant bombardment of stress, many people are turning to meditation training programs to find relief.  A recent article in our local newspaper reported the following:

Meditation, primarily a 2,500year-old form called mindfulness meditation that emphasizes paying attention to the present moment, has gone viral.The unrelenting siege on our attention can take a good share of the credit; stress has bombarded people from executives on 24/7 schedules to kids who feel the pressure to succeed even before puberty. Meditation has been lauded as a way to reduce stress, ease physical ailments like headaches and increase compassion and productivity.

However, for Orthodox Christians, there is a more sure way to find a joyful way of life. Rather than mindfulness meditation, the Orthodox Church teaches the way of prayer, particularly the Jesus Prayer. When rooted in a faith in Jesus Christ and active participation in the full sacramental life of the Church, we can find a greater peace than what can be achieved through mindfulness meditation.

To be watchful, as Orthodox Christians say, is crucial for our spiritual well-being. We must have a mind that is under control and not easily swayed by external stimuli. Since the time of Christ, the Orthodox Church has taught repeating the phrase "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner" as a form of prayer. This is not a mantra; it's a short prayer that affirms our faith in Christ, recognizes our distance from the way of life He taught us, and seeks His help and forgiveness. By repeating it for at least 15 minutes every morning and evening, the prayer becomes programmed into our physical being, and eventually becomes a prayer that's with us continually, linking all our actions with the will of God.

We start by praying it verbally and then, when God allows, we can say it in our minds with few distractions. The discipline of sincere prayer is to develop the ability to reject distractions and thoughts that try to keep us from prayer. This takes effort and time, but rather than investing time in mindfulness meditation, we should invest our time in prayer, which yields greater benefits.

Unfortunately, many people believe that such spiritual disciplines are only for monastics. However, if we're to follow the teachings of Christ, we need God's help and our own efforts to control our bodily passions. This is why disciplines like the Jesus Prayer and fasting are emphasized in the Orthodox Church. Most importantly, we must learn to become watchful, controlling what thoughts we allow to affect our actions. If we can control our minds with God's help, we'll receive more of His grace to do all that He commands.

If you're interested in learning more about the Jesus Prayer or the  Ten Point Program for an Orthodox Christian way of life, please visit the links provided.

Becoming Watchful

Do you experience distractions when you try to pray? Do you ever wonder what is the cause of those actions you take that you wish you had not taken? Whether we are in prayer or involved in our daily activities we are misled by thoughts. To counteract this we need to learn the practice of Watchfulness.

What is watchfulness in our Orthodox tradition? It involves a continual guarding or the heart, the center of our soul, from all thoughts that lead us away from God. These thoughts are called "logismoi" in Greek. These are thoughts that mislead us or distract us in prayer. They are not like we normally think of thoughts, but are those that seem to come from nowhere. They are temptations intended to lead us astray. They are not the result of our rational process but come from outside us sent by the devil to lead us away from God.  They are not "our" thoughts. They are directed at "our" weaknesses, our passions, which lead us to sinful activity, away from God. When we sit down for prayer we intend to focus our full attention on God. But against our intention we are bombarded by thoughts that take us away from our prayer and concentration on God. They are coming from without with the intention of disrupting our prayer to keep us separated from God.

The Church Fathers describe differing ways how these work but in general they describe them beginning with an assault, a sneak attack. It may be a thought to get up and do something during prayer. It may be a thought to lash out in anger or to condemn another person. It may be a thought of envy or a desire to possess something that is not ours or we cannot afford. It could be any  number of things depending our our weaknesses.

After this initial assault then if we are not watchful we enter into a dialogue with this thought. We begin to consider how to respond as a result of this thought. This then is followed by a consent, we own the thought as our own and become prepared to act on it. This is when the sin is committed and we become a captive of the thought. 

After we respond to the thought, the next time a similar thought is encountered we are more likely to accept it as our own and respond. The temptation becomes stronger. We become a captive of the logismoi leading us to a bad habit that we call a passion.

If we are watchful what are we to do with these thoughts? IGNORE them! The church fathers tell us to simply ignore them. They are like flies that fly around and bother us. We need to brush them away. Watch them come and go without disturbing the mind. They will quickly disappear. We need to think of them as an unwanted salesman who knocks at our door. We do not let him in and do not have a dialogue with him. The same with these thoughts. Do not let them enter into your heart.

Since God demands our whole heart, mind and soul we need to be ever watchful of these temptation that come in the form of thoughts. They are not ours but sent to us to lead us away from God. So just like we are not obligated to let any stranger into our house, similarly we do not have to accept theses thoughts and let them into our minds or enter our heart. To become watchful we must seek God's help to develop this attentiveness and resistance. This is why it is so important for us to stand before God every morning and focus our full being towards Him and engage our mind in prayer focused on God alone.

In prayer we need to practice rejecting all thoughts and develop this mental discipline. To pray we must not be distracted by any worldly thoughts otherwise it is not prayer. To dialogue with God requires our full attention to Him alone.  One of the most powerful prayers is the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner." This is a complete prayer. The first part is a confession of faith in the divinity of Christ and the Holy Trinity. The second is a supplication acknowledging our fallen nature, our weakness, our sinfulness and our need to God's mercy.

By repeating this prayer over and over as part of our prayer rule, we learn to concentrate only on the words. In doing this, the prayer becomes a habit and will be with us at all times. It will be there when we receive the tempting thoughts and will help us immediately drive them away. This is a prayer that with practice will be with you the entire day, even while you are working. It will lead you to a life where you act as of God's children. It will enable you to become watchful.

Remember what our purpose is in this life. We are preparing for our Heavenly life to come. We should always be looking forward to the end of our earthly life and think of ourselves as training for this future, our life with God in Heaven. The Jesus prayer is not like yoga or Transcendental Meditation. It is based of the reality of a living relationship with God, the God who revealed Himself to us in His Incarnation, the God who humbled Himself to take on human flesh, to become fully man while yet remaining fully God. He Showed us the Way to become united with Him. He was Crucified, arose to sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and opened the gates of Paradise for those who choose to follow Him. This is quite different from Eastern ascetic practices that are centered on oneself and seek a stillness that is identified with an impersonal absolute. As Christians, God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ. We strive to become like Him and out of our love for Him enter into a ongoing dialog with Him. This leads us to a mind that is ever focused not on stillness or emptiness, but on actions that carry out His will, actions that are without sin actions based on love. We are created in His likeness and image and out of his love for us and our love for Him we are destined to be united with Him in eternal life. Watchfulness is key to us realizing our potential. The Jesus Prayer coupled with a life of repentance and participation in the sacramental life of the Church helps us gain the grace of God that enables us to become like Him.

For more on the Jesus prayer go to the website OrthodoxPrayer.org 

Reference: The Hidden Man of the Heart, Archimandrite Zacharias