To the devil, we don’t need to give explanations … ( Elder Arsenie Papacioc of Romania )

To the devil, we don’t need to give explanations … If you want to drive him away, say: 

“Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”, and speak to God. 

 

The power of His Name will rid him. It suits the devil to enter into a dialogue for it means that you acknowledge him. 

 

Thus through prayer, we ignore him.

Elder Arsenie Papacioc of Romania 

Simple guide for the Jesus Prayer ( St. Paisios )

A simple way for ceaseless prayer, if you want to you can use it too, which probably helps simple people who cannot get the true meaning of the neptic Holy Fathers, and run the risk of delusion.

Some (unfortunately) do not set the goal of putting off the old man (repentance, humility, and asceticism as a way of helping the sanctification of the soul) with a deep sense of their sinfulness. Then, they would naturally feel the need for God's mercy, saying "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me," often. This with pain in their heart and then the feeling of the sweetness of divine comfort of the most Sweet Christ within their heart.

But unfortunately some people (as I mentioned) start off with a dry ascetic practice and seek after divine pleasure and lights and continually multiply their prayer-ropes and are sanctified by their calculation, reaching that conclusion (about their sanctity) from the mathematical reckoning of the greater amount of prayer-ropes they say.

They also (naturally) make footstools to the exact inch and all the other things, the bending of the head towards the heart. They regulate their breath and whatever else the watchful Saint Kallistuses and Gregorys of the Philokalia say. Then they create the false sensation that they are somewhere near the measure of those Saints.

From the moment they believe that thought, the tangalaki (the demon) immediately appears and sets up a television for them (with their fantasies) and devilish prophecies etc. of delusion follow.

For this reason, only certainty is repentance and let every spiritual edifice be built upon it and let us continually seek repentance from God and nothing else except that.

We should not ask for lights or miracles, or prophecies, or gifts of the Spirit, only for repentance. Repentance brings humility; humility will bring grace from God, because grace always goes to the humble, of necessity. Therefore, repentance is necessary for our salvation and when we have it, the grace of God will come and it will teach us what we need to do for salvation even of our fellows too, if it is necessary.

In this way, which I mentioned (feeling the great need for God's mercy), we will say the Jesus Prayer many times with our whole heart and we will feel, as I mentioned, the sweetness of divine comfort of the most sweet Jesus within our heart. The heart will (then) have our nous in tight embrace, as well as our whole being.

Then, and only then, will prayer not be tiring, but rather it will give rest, because we have grasped the true meaning of it. Only then do we pray without putting pressure on ourselves, but we are pressurised by our sense of honour and dignity (philotimo) , which gives rise to all our spiritual upstanding generosity (leventia) . This produces the fluttering of the heart. Then the heart (however stony it may be) breaks and tears burst forth from their ducts (without an effort being made to weep during the time of prayer).

You feel the need for this prayer like a hungry baby who opens its little mouth and runs into the arms of its mother to be suckled and at the same time feels very secure in its mother's loving care.

Nobody doubts that the enemy will try to war against us and to disperse our thoughts. However, when preceded by a little bit of Patristic study (e.g. The Sayings of the Fathers) a lid is put on all our cares, great and small, and on the day's temptations. So, it is transformed into another atmosphere, a spiritual one and you pray with concentration.

If the enemy wages war with blasphemous thoughts (from his usual wickedness and envy) do not get upset. Instead, use the demon as your worker in the following way, by not getting upset, but by saying to the enemy: "It's a good thing that you brought me those thoughts so that I can say the Jesus Prayer, because otherwise I forget to pray without ceasing." The enemy will then depart immediately, because he is only used to doing evil. I mentioned that because the enemy brings blasphemous thoughts to sensitive people (usually) to make them even more sensitive, to upset them and to cut them down.

The same applies to some that struggle in vigil over and above their strength, and with pride. When they slacken, and they do not have the strength to banish the thoughts of the enemy. They think that those blasphemous thoughts are their own, and so they suffer without reason, while the thoughts are not their own, but those of the enemy.

That is why young people should struggle in the matter of prayer with humility and discernment. They should prepare for the night. This, by not being distracted, by study and through moderate and simple food, which helps. As far as possible it should not be savoury, to avoid drinking plenty of water, because that, too, is an obstacle, with the bloating that it causes. In this way, the person is helped with prayer.

It helps a great deal if the light evening meal, however light it may be, takes place at around 4 o'clock (European time), after study, fathers and so on, or else 3 hours after the main meal. Small and great prostrations beforehand, and in between each prayer-rope, help a great deal, unfreezing the machine's oil. Later, after getting quite tired, he should sit down and say the Jesus Prayer, since he brings to mind his wretchedness and the great favours of God that our good God has done for him.

Then the nous is collected (as I mentioned, in the heart, on its own) and seeks God's mercy with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his mind, without making a great effort.

The three hours after sunset help a lot (having read patristic books before sunset), as well as after midnight until sunrise. For young people it is good for them to sleep one hour after sunset, with less prayer, and to get up after midnight, in order to avoid scandalous sleep of the morning.

Naturally, discernment is required and guidance from their spiritual father, who is a requirement."



St. Paisios

33 intercessions to pray using a prayer rope

1) Be mindful, O Lord, for the peace of the world!

2) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our Church and our Orthodoxy.

3) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our Bishop and his clergy.

4) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on all Orthodox clergy and laity in every land.

5) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our spiritual father and his community.

6) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our country and on our armed forces.



7) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the civil authorities.

8) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who hate us, on those who love us, and those who pray for us.

9) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our parents, our sponsors, and our teachers.

10) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our brethren and relatives, according to the flesh and spiritual.

11) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the elderly and the monastics.

12) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on infants, the defenseless, and the powerless.

13) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the youth in schools.

14) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the adolescent and our youth.

15) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the drug-addicted, alcoholics, and smokers.

16) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the marriages of Orthodox families.

17) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our sisters who are pregnant.

18) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the widows and orphans.

19) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our brothers and sisters who are martially separated and tempted.

20) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the weak in soul and body.

21) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who do works of mercy and labor in the holy monasteries and parishes.

22) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the pious pilgrims of monasteries and churches.

23) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who journey by sea, by land, or by air, those who are imprisoned and the despairing.

24) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the poor and our brethren who are afflicted.

25) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our judges and elected representatives.

26) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on those who are deceived and blaspheme our Orthodoxy.

27) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and grant peaceful seasons.

28) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from sickness, wrath, and danger, and enlighten our physicians and nurses.

29) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from poverty, danger, and misfortune.

30) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from heat, fire, and earthquake.

31) O Lord Jesus Christ, guard us from flood, drowning, and frost.

32) O Lord Jesus Christ, grant rest also to the souls of our fathers, mothers, brethren, relatives, grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

33) O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, the sinner!

The Jesus Prayer renders man a communication of divine glory ( St. Symeon Archbishop of Thessaloniki )

This divine prayer, which consists of the invocation of the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, specifically “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” is simultaneously a prayer, a devotion, and a confession of faith. 

 

This prayer bestows the Holy Spirit, it transmits divine gifts, it purifies the heart, it banishes the demons, it makes Jesus Christ dwell within us, it is a source of spiritual understanding and divine awareness, it liberates us from sins, it is a cure for both our souls and bodies, it imparts divine enlightenment, it is a fountain gushing forth God’s mercy, and it confers divine revelations and mystical knowledge of God to them who have humility. 

 

It is the only thing that affords salvation, because it contains the salvific name of our God, which is the only name that has been given to us [for salvation], that is the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and it is not possible for us to be saved through any other name, as the Apostle Peter indicates: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

 

It is primarily a prayer, because through it we seek God’s mercy. It is also a devotion, because we surrender ourselves to Christ when we invoke His name. Furthermore it is a confession, because when the Apostle Peter confessed this name, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he was praised by the Lord thus, “Jesus then answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven’” (Mt. 16:16-17). It also imparts the Holy Spirit, because no one can refer to Jesus as “the Lord” without the Holy Spirit: “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). 

 

Additionally, it is the transmitter of divine gifts, since it was on account of this confession that Christ promised the Apostle Peter that He would give him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven: “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,”(Mt. 16:19). 

 

It is purification of the heart, because it sees and calls upon God Who purifies the person beholding Him. It expels the demons because with the name of Jesus Christ all the demons were and continue to be expelled. It is the dwelling of Christ within us, because when we bring Christ to mind, He is within us, and with this memory He dwells in us and fills us with joy, just as the Prophet David describes in the Psalms, “I remembered God and I was gladdened” (Ps. 76:4). 

 

Furthermore, it is a fountain of spiritual understanding and contemplation because Christ is the treasury of all wisdom and knowledge: “Of Christ, Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3), and He transmits these to them in whom He dwells. It is liberation from sins because on account of this confession the Lord said to Peter, “And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 16:9). 

 

It is the cure of our souls and bodies because the Apostle Peter said, “‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,’ and immediately the lame man “stood and walked” (Acts 3:6-8); and elsewhere when he said, “‘Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.’ Then he [Aeneas] arose immediately” (Acts 9:34). It is the issuer of divine enlightenment because Christ is the true light: “He is the true Light who gives light to every man coming into the world” (Jn. 1:9), and He transmits His brilliance and grace to them who call upon Him, as it is stated in the Psalms: “And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps. 89:17). The Lord likewise confirms: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12). 

 

It is moreover a fountain of God’s mercy because we plead for mercy, and the merciful Lord shows His compassion to all them who call upon Him, “The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him” (Ps. 144:18) and He quickly administers justice to all them who call upon Him: “Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily” (Lk. 18:7). 

 

This is the marker of our faith, since we are called and are in deed Christians, and it also serves as testimony that we are of God. For the Evangelist states: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God” (1Jn. 4:3), as we have already mentioned, and whoever does not confess this is not from God; whoever does not confess Jesus Christ is from the antichrist. 

 

This is why all we faithful must ceaselessly confess this name: in order to profess and proclaim our faith; on account of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, from which love nothing must ever separate us: “What shall separate us from the love of Christ? ... neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35); and because the name of Christ bestows grace, forgiveness, redemption, healing, sanctification, enlightenment, and above all salvation. Because with this divine name the Apostles accomplished and taught great and wonderful things. And the divine Evangelist says, “these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”–behold the faith! “And that believing you may have life in His name”—behold the salvation and the life! (Jn. 20:31).

 

St. Symeon Archbishop of Thessaloniki

 

https://www.stnektariosmonastery.org/en/index.php 

Teaching the Jesus Prayer ( St. Porphyrios )

This is a story of one of the spiritual children of Elder Porphyrios told about how he taught them to pray.

He placed us towards the east, two of us to his left and two to the right, with him in the middle. “Now we’ll pray noetically. 

First, I will say the words, and you will repeat them. But be careful, without anxiety or force, you’ll say the words calmly, humbly, with love and sweetness.” The Elder started off with his fine, delicate and eloquent voice, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” He said it very slowly, word by word, without forcing it at all. It was as though he had Christ before him and he was begging him, with a log pause after the word “Christ”, Coloring his words “have mercy on me” with an entreating tone. And we repeated it each time, trying to imitate his stance, the color of his voice and if it at all possible his spiritual disposition. 

At some point, the Elder stopped saying the prayer out loud and just continued whispering it on his lips. We did the same thing. How long did our night-time prayer take? I don’t remember. All I remember was that the Elder imparted an emotion to us that I cannot express with human words.

The Jesus Prayer Method by Archimandrite Sophrony

 

I propose to devote this chapter to setting out as briefly as possible the more important aspects of the Jesus Prayer and the commonsense views regarding this great culture of the heart that I met with on the Holy Mountain.


Year after year monks repeat the prayer with their lips, without trying by any artificial means to join mind and heart. Their attention is concentrated on harmonizing their life with the commandments of Christ. According to ancient tradition mind unites with heart through Divine action when the monk continues in the ascetic feat of obedience and abstinence; when the mind, the heart and the very body of the 'old man' to a sufficient degree are freed from the dominion over them of sin; when the body becomes worthy to be 'the temple of the Holy Spirit' (cf. Rom. 6. 11-14). However, both early and present-day teachers occasionally permit recourse to a technical method of bringing the mind down into the heart.

To do this, the monk, having suitably settled his body, pronounces the prayer with his head inclined on his chest, breathing in at the words 'Lord Jesus Christ, (Son of God)' and breathing out to the words 'have mercy upon me (a sinner)'. During inhalation the attention at first follows the movement of the air breathed in as far as the upper part of the heart. In this manner concentration can soon be preserved without wandering, and the mind stands side by side with the heart, or even enters within it.

This method eventually enables the mind to see, not the physical heart but that which is happening within it-the feelings that creep in and the mental images that approach from without. With this experience, the monk acquires the ability to feel his heart, and to continue with his attention centered in the heart without further recourse to any psychosomatic technique.

True Prayer Comes Through Faith and Repentance
This procedure can assist the beginner to understand where his inner attention should be stayed during prayer and, as a rule, at all other times, too. Nevertheless, true prayer is not to be achieved thus. True prayer comes exclusively through faith and repentance accepted as the only foundation. The danger of psychotechnics is that not a few attribute too great significance to method qua method.

In order to avoid such deformation the beginner should follow another practice which, though considerably slower, is incomparably better and more wholesome to fix the attention on the Name of Christ and on the words of the prayer. When contrition for sin reaches a certain level the mind naturally heeds the heart.

The Complete Formula

The complete formula of the Jesus Prayer runs like this: Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner, and it is this set form that is recommended. In the first half of the prayer we profess Christ-God made flesh for our salvation. In the second we affirm our fallen state, our sinfulness, our redemption. The conjunction of dogmatic confession with repentance makes the content of the prayer more comprehensive.

Stages of Development

It is possible to establish a certain sequence in the development of this prayer.

First, it is a verbal matter: we say the prayer with our lips while trying to concentrate our attention on the Name and the words.

Next, we no longer move our lips but pronounce the Name of Jesus Christ, and what follows after, in our minds, mentally.

In the third stage mind and heart combine to act together: the attention of the mind is centered in the heart and the prayer said there.

Fourthly, the prayer becomes self-propelling. This happens when the prayer is confirmed in the heart and, with no especial effort on our part, continues there, where the mind is concentrated.

Finally, the prayer, so full of blessing, starts to act like a gentle flame within us, as inspiration from on High, rejoicing the heart with a sensation of divine love and delighting the mind in spiritual contemplation. This last state is sometimes accompanied by a vision of Light.

Go step by step

A gradual ascent into prayer is the most trustworthy. The beginner who would embark on the struggle is usually recommended to start with the first step, verbal prayer, until body, tongue, brain and heart assimilate it. The time that this takes varies. The more earnest the repentance, the shorter the road.

The practice of mental prayer may for a while be associated with the hesychastic method-in other words, it may take the form of rhythmic or a-rhythmic articulation of the prayer as described above, by breathing in during the first half and breathing out during the second part. This can be genuinely helpful if one does not lose sight of the fact that every invocation of the Name of Christ must be inseparably coupled with a consciousness of Christ Himself. The Name must not be detached from the Person of God, lest prayer be reduced to a technical exercise and so contravene the commandment, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain' (EX. 20.7; Deut. 5.11).

Attention of Mind gained

When the attention of the mind is fixed in the heart it is possible to control what happens in the heart, and the battle against the passions assumes a rational character. The enemy is recognized and can be driven off by the power of the Name of Christ. With this ascetic feat the heart becomes so highly sensitive, so discerning, that eventually when praying for anyone the heart can tell almost at once the state of the person prayed for. Thus the transition takes place from mental prayer to prayer of the mind and heart, which may be followed by the gift of prayer that proceeds of itself.

Do Not Hurry

We try to stand before God with the whole of our being. Invocation of the Name of God the Savior, uttered in the fear of God, together with a constant effort to live in accordance with the commandments,, little by little leads to a blessed fusion of all our powers. We must never seek to hurry in our ascetic striving. It. is essential to discard any idea of achieving the maximum in the shortest possible time. God does not force us but neither can we compel Him to anything whatsoever. Results obtained by artificial means do not last long and, more importantly, do not unite our spirit with the Spirit of the Living God.

It's a Long Path

In the atmosphere of the world today prayer requires super human courage. The whole ensemble of natural energies is in opposition. To hold on to prayer without distraction signals victory on every level of existence. The way is long and thorny but there comes a moment when a heavenly ray pierces the dark obscurity, to make an opening through which can be glimpsed the source of the eternal Divine Light. The Jesus Prayer assumes a meta-cosmic dimension. St John the Divine asserts that in the world to come our deification will achieve plenitude since 'we shall see Him as He is'. 'And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure ... Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him' (cf. 1John 3.2,3,6). In order in Christ's Name to receive forgiveness of sins and the promise of the Father we must strive to dwell on His Name 'until we be endued with power from on high' (cf. Luke24-49).

In advising against being carried away by artificial practices such as transcendental meditation I am but repeating the age-old message of the Church, as expressed by St Paul: 'Exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men' (1Tim. 4.7-10)

It's Not Like Transcendental Meditation

The way of the fathers requires firm faith and long patience", whereas our contemporaries want to seize every spiritual gift, including even direct contemplation of the Absolute God, by force and speedily, and will often draw a parallel between prayer in the Name of Jesus and yoga or transcendental meditation and the like. I must stress the danger of such errors-the danger of looking upon prayer as one of the simplest and easiest 'technical' means leading to immediate unity with God. It is imperative to draw a very definite line between the Jesus Prayer and every other ascetic theory.

He is deluded who endeavors to divest himself mentally of all that is transitory and relative in order to cross some invisible threshold, to realize his eternal origin, his identity with the Source of all that exists; in order to return and merge with Him, the Nameless transpersonal Absolute. Such exercises have enabled many to rise to supra-rational contemplation of being; to experience a certain mystical trepidation; to know the state of silence of the mind, when mind goes beyond the boundaries of time and space.

In such-like states man may feel the peacefulness of being withdrawn from the continually changing phenomena of the visible world; may even have a certain experience of eternity. But the God of Truth, the Living God, is not in all this. It is man's own beauty, created in the image of God, that is contemplated and seen as Divinity, whereas he himself still continues within the confines of his creatureliness. This is a vastly important concern.

The tragedy of the matter lies in the fact that man sees a mirage which, in his longing for eternal life, he mistakes for a genuine oasis. This impersonal form of ascetics leads finally to an assertion of divine principle in the very nature of man. Man is then drawn to the idea of self-deification-the cause of the original fall. The man who is blinded by the imaginary majesty of what he contemplates has in fact set his foot on the path to self-destruction. He has discarded the revelation of a Personal God.

He finds the principle of the Person-Hypostasis a limiting one, unworthy of the Absolute. He tries to strip himself of like limitations and return to the state which he imagines has belonged to him since before his coming into this world. This movement into the depths of his own being is nothing else but attraction towards the non-being from which we were called by the will of the Creator.

Knowledge of Personal God

The true Creator disclosed Himself to us as a Personal Absolute. The whole of our Christian life is based on knowledge of God, the First and the Last, Whose Name is I AM. Our prayer must always be personal, face to Face. He created us to be joined in His Divine Being, without destroying our personal character. It is this form of immortality that was promised to us by Christ. Like St Paul we would not 'be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life'. For this did God create us and 'hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit' (2 Cor. 5.4,5).

Personal immortality is achieved through victory over the world - a mighty task. The Lord said, 'Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world' (John 10. 3 3), and we know that the victory was not an easy one. 'Beware of false prophets ... Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it' (Matt. 7.13-115).

Wherein lies destruction? In that people depart from the Living God.

To believe in Christ one must have either the simplicity of little children - 'Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. 18.3)-or else, like St Paul, be fools for Christ's sake. 'We are fools for Christ's sake ... we are weak ... we are despised ... we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day' (1 Cor. 4. 10, 13). However, 'other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. 3 .11). ‘Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me' (1 Cor. 4. 16). In the Christian experience cosmic consciousness comes from prayer like Christ's Gethsemane prayer, not as the result of abstract philosophical cogitations.

When the Very God reveals Himself in a vision of Uncreated Light, man naturally loses every desire to merge into a transpersonal Absolute. Knowledge which is imbued with life (as opposed to abstract knowledge) can in no wise be confined to the intellect: there must be a real union with the act of Being. This is achieved through love: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart ... and with all thy mind' (Matt. 22.37). The commandment bids us love. Therefore love is not something given to us: it must be acquired by an effort made of our own free will. The injunction is addressed first to the heart as the spiritual center of the individual. Mind is only one of the energies of the human 1. Love begins in the heart, and the mind is confronted with a new interior event and contemplates Being in the Light of Divine love.

A Difficult Task

There is no ascetic feat more difficult, more painful, than the effort to draw close to God, Who is Love (cf. i John 4.8, 16). Our inner climate varies almost from day to day: now we are troubled because we do not understand what is happening about us; now inspired by a new flash of knowledge. The Name Jesus speaks to us of the extreme manifestation of the Father's love for us (cf.John 3.16). In proportion as the image of Christ becomes ever more sacred to us, and His word is perceived as creative energy, so a marvelous peace floods the soul while a luminous aura envelops heart and head. Our attention may hold steady. Sometimes we continue thus, as if it were a perfectly normal state to be in, not recognizing that it is a gift from on High. For the most part we only realize this union of mind with heart when it is interrupted.

In the Man Christ Jesus 'dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily' (Col. 2.9). in Him there is not only God but the whole human race. When we pronounce the Name Jesus Christ we place ourselves before the plenitude both of Divine Being and created being. We long to make His life our life; to have Him take His abode in us. In this lies the meaning of deification. But Adam's natural longing for deification at the very outset took a wrong turning which led to a terrible deviation. His spiritual vision was insufficiently established in Truth.

Our life can become holy in all respects only when true knowledge of its metaphysical basis is coupled with perfect love towards God and our fellow-men. When we firmly believe that we are the creation of God the Primordial Being, it will be obvious that there is no possible deification for us outside the Trinity. If we recognize that in its ontology all human nature is one, then for the sake of the unity of this nature we shall strive to make love for our neighbor part of our being.

Our most dire enemy is pride. Its power is immense. Pride saps our every aspiration, vitiates our every endeavor. Most of us fall prey to its insinuations. The proud man wants to dominate, to impose his own will on others; and so conflict arises between brethren. The pyramid of inequality is contrary to revelation concerning the Holy Trinity in Whom there is no greater, no lesser; where each Person possesses absolute plenitude of Divine Being.

The Kingdom of Christ is founded on the principle that whosoever would be first should be the servant of all (cf. Mark 9.3 5). The man who humbles himself shall be raised up, and vice versa: he who exalts himself shall be brought low. In our struggle for prayer we shall cleanse our minds and hearts from any urge to prevail over our brother. Lust for power is death to the soul. People are lured by the grandeur of power but they forget that 'that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God' (Matt. 16.15).

Pride incites us to criticize, even scorn our weaker brethren; but the Lord warned us to 'take heed that we despise not one of these little ones' (cf. Matt. i8.io). If we give in to pride all our practice of the Jesus Prayer will be but profanation of His Name. 'He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked' (1 John2.6). He who verily loves Christ will devote his whole strength to obeying His word. I stress this because it is our actual method for learning to pray. This, and not any psychosomatic techniques, is the right way.

Not a Christian Yoga

I have lingered on the dogmatic justification for the Jesus Prayer largely because in the last decade or so the practice of this prayer has been distorted into a so-called 'Christian yoga' and mistaken for 'transcendental meditation'. Every culture, not only every religious culture, is concerned with ascetic exercises. If a certain similarity either in their practice or their outward manifestations, or even their mystical formulation, can be discerned, that does not at all imply that they are alike fundamentally. Outwardly similar situations can be vastly different in inner content.

When we contemplate Divine wisdom in the beauty of the created world, we are at the same time attracted still more strongly by the imperishable beauty of Divine Being as revealed to us by Christ. The Gospel for us is Divine Self-Revelation. In our yearning to make the Gospel word the substance of our whole being we free ourselves by the power of God from the domination of passions. Jesus is the one and only Savior in the true sense of the word. Christian prayer is effected by the constant invocation of His Name: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy upon us and upon Thy world.

Though prayer in the Name of Jesus in its ultimate realization unites man with Christ fully, the human hypostasis is not obliterated, is not lost in Divine Being like a drop of water in the ocean. 'I am the light of the world ... I am the truth and the life' (John 8.12; 14.6). For the Christian-Being, Truth,'Life are not 'what' but 'who'. Where there is no personal form of being, there is no living form either. Where in general there is no life, neither is there good or evil; light or darkness. 'Without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life' (John 1:3).

When contemplation of Uncreated Light is allied to invocation of the Name of Christ, the significance of this Name as 'the kingdom of God come with power' (Mark 9.1) is made particularly clear, and the spirit of man hears the voice of the Father: 'This is my beloved Son' (Mark 9.7). Christ in Himself showed us the Father: 'he that hath seen me hath seen the Father' (John 14:9). Now we know the Father in the same measure as we have known the Son. 'I and my Father are one' (John 10.30). And the Father bears witness to His Son. We therefore pray, 90 Son of God, save us and Thy world.'

To acquire prayer is to acquire eternity. When the body lies dying, the cry 'Jesus Christ' becomes the garment of the soul; when the brain no longer functions and other prayers are difficult to remember, in the light of the divine knowledge that proceeds from the Name our spirit will rise into life incorruptible.

From His LIfe is Mine by Archimandrite Sophrony, trans. Rosemary Edmonds,St. Valdimir Seminary Press, pp112-120

I am at this moment in some pain, and I call on the Name of Jesus ( Fr. Seraphim Rose )

“Why do men learn through pain and suffering, and not through pleasure and happiness? Very simply, because pleasure and happiness accustom one to satisfaction with the things given in this world, whereas pain and suffering drive one to seek a more profound happiness beyond the limitations of this world. I am at this moment in some pain, and I call on the Name of Jesus—not necessarily to relieve the pain, but that Jesus, in Whom alone we may transcend this world, may be with me during it, and His will be done in me. But in pleasure I do not call on Him; I am content then with what I have, and I think I need no more. And why is a philosophy of pleasure untenable?—because pleasure is impermanent and unreliable, and pain is inevitable. In pain and suffering Christ speaks to us, and thus God is kind to give them to us, yes, and evil too—for in all of these we glimpse something of what must lie beyond, if there really exists what our hearts most deeply desire.”


Fr. Seraphim Rose

Saint Porphyrios on the Jesus Prayer

"And what are you looking for regarding prayer, like a recipe to prepare food or medicine? I told you to only seek the salvation of your soul.

In other words, you should try to become an inheritor of the eternal Kingdom of the Heavens. And everything else you should leave to the judgment of God. I remind you, again, to "seek first the Kingdom of the Heavens."

Is this not enough for you? If this is not enough for you, or if you are not satisfied completely, restrict yourself to noetic prayer. For me, the "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me", says everything. And whatever else from that which you are saying. It is enough to say it with faith and determination.

And of course, at that hour, perceive that you have before you, the crucified Jesus. And listen. The hour that you saw it, turn your nous here, towards me. And I will understand your thought, and will pray with you for you. This is the best. I recommend you to do this...

Why do you separate yourself from the rest of the world? This is not at all correct. When we love ourselves, thus we must love our neighbor. I love the whole world as myself. Because of this, I see no reason to say: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us" and not "have mercy on me". Because the world and I are one and the same! Thus you say: "have mercy on me".

Source: Theology and Miracles of Noetic Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me

Can seven words—Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me—change lives?

          Science studies the Jesus Prayer

It may seem a lot of effort over just seven words: Finding 110 Eastern Orthodox Christians, giving them a battery of tests ranging from psychology to theology to behavioral medicine, and then repeating the tests 30 days later. But the seven words—”Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” (a.k.a. the Jesus Prayer)—are among the most enduring in history. What Boston University psychologist George Stavros, Ph.D., wanted to find out was whether repeating the Jesus Prayer for ten minutes each day over the 30 days would affect these people’s relationship with God, their relationships with others, their faith maturity, and their “self-cohesion” (levels of depression, anxiety, hostility, and interpersonal sensitivity). In short, Stavros was asking whether the Jesus Prayer can play a special role in a person’s “journey to the heart.”

The answer—at least on all the scales that showed any significant effect compared to the control group—turned out to be a resounding yes. Repeating the contemplative prayer deepened the commitment of these Christians to a relationship with a transcendent reality. Not only that, it reduced depression, anxiety, hostility, and feelings of inferiority to others. So powerful were the psychological effects of the prayer that Stavros urges his colleagues to keep it in mind as a healing intervention for clients. He recommends that the prayer be used along with communal practices so that one’s relationship with God and others is “subtly and continuously tutored.” In other words, going inside to find God does not mean going it alone.

http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2013/08/can-seven-wordslord-jesus-christ-have.html

Guidance about the Jesus Prayer ( St.Paisios )

A simple way for ceaseless prayer, if you want to you can use it too, which probably helps simple people who cannot get the true meaning of the neptic Holy Fathers, and run the risk of delusion.

Some (unfortunately) do not set the goal of putting off the old man (repentance, humility, and asceticism as a way of helping the sanctification of the soul) with a deep sense of their sinfulness. Then, they would naturally feel the need for God's mercy, saying "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me," often. This with pain in their heart and then the feeling of the sweetness of divine comfort of the most Sweet Christ within their heart.

But unfortunately some people (as I mentioned) start off with a dry ascetic practice and seek after divine pleasure and lights and continually multiply their prayer-ropes and are sanctified by their calculation, reaching that conclusion (about their sanctity) from the mathematical reckoning of the greater amount of prayer-ropes they say.

They also (naturally) make footstools to the exact inch and all the other things, the bending of the head towards the heart. They regulate their breath and whatever else the watchful Saint Kallistuses and Gregorys of the Philokalia say. Then they create the false sensation that they are somewhere near the measure of those Saints.

From the moment they believe that thought, the tangalaki  (the demon) immediately appears and sets up a television for them (with their fantasies) and devilish prophecies etc. of delusion follow.

For this reason, only certainty is repentance and let every spiritual edifice be built upon it and let us continually seek repentance from God and nothing else except that.

We should not ask for lights or miracles, or prophecies, or gifts of the Spirit, only for repentance. Repentance brings humility; humility will bring grace from God, because grace always goes to the humble, of necessity. Therefore, repentance is necessary for our salvation and when we have it, the grace of God will come and it will teach us what we need to do for salvation even of our fellows too, if it is necessary.

In this way, which I mentioned (feeling the great need for God's mercy), we will say the Jesus Prayer many times with our whole heart and we will feel, as I mentioned, the sweetness of divine comfort of the most sweet Jesus within our heart. The heart will (then) have our nous in tight embrace, as well as our whole being.

Then, and only then, will prayer not be tiring, but rather it will give rest, because we have grasped the true meaning of it. Only then do we pray without putting pressure on ourselves, but we are pressurised by our sense of honour and dignity (philotimo) , which gives rise to all our spiritual upstanding generosity (leventia) . This produces the fluttering of the heart. Then the heart (however stony it may be) breaks and tears burst forth from their ducts (without an effort being made to weep during the time of prayer).

You feel the need for this prayer like a hungry baby who opens its little mouth and runs into the arms of its mother to be suckled and at the same time feels very secure in its mother's loving care.

Nobody doubts that the enemy will try to war against us and to disperse our thoughts. However, when preceded by a little bit of Patristic study (e.g. The Sayings of the Fathers) a lid is put on all our cares, great and small, and on the day's temptations. So, it is transformed into another atmosphere, a spiritual one and you pray with concentration.

If the enemy wages war with blasphemous thoughts (from his usual wickedness and envy) do not get upset. Instead, use the demon as your worker in the following way, by not getting upset, but by saying to the enemy: "It's a good thing that you brought me those thoughts so that I can say the Jesus Prayer, because otherwise I forget to pray without ceasing." The enemy will then depart immediately, because he is only used to doing evil. I mentioned that because the enemy brings blasphemous thoughts to sensitive people (usually) to make them even more sensitive, to upset them and to cut them down.

The same applies to some that struggle in vigil over and above their strength, and with pride. When they slacken, and they do not have the strength to banish the thoughts of the enemy. They think that those blasphemous thoughts are their own, and so they suffer without reason, while the thoughts are not their own, but those of the enemy.

That is why young people should struggle in the matter of prayer with humility and discernment. They should prepare for the night. This, by not being distracted, by study and through moderate and simple food, which helps. As far as possible it should not be savoury, to avoid drinking plenty of water, because that, too, is an obstacle, with the bloating that it causes. In this way, the person is helped with prayer.

It helps a great deal if the light evening meal, however light it may be, takes place at around 4 o'clock (European time), after study, fathers and so on, or else 3 hours after the main meal. Small and great prostrations beforehand, and in between each prayer-rope, help a great deal, unfreezing the machine's oil. Later, after getting quite tired, he should sit down and say the Jesus Prayer, since he brings to mind his wretchedness and the great favours of God that our good God has done for him.

Then the nous is collected (as I mentioned, in the heart, on its own) and seeks God's mercy with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his mind, without making a great effort.

The three hours after sunset help a lot (having read patristic books before sunset), as well as after midnight until sunrise. For young people it is good for them to sleep one hour after sunset, with less prayer, and to get up after midnight, in order to avoid scandalous sleep of the morning.

Naturally, discernment is required and guidance from their spiritual father, who is a requirement." 

St. Paisios 

http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/blessed-father-paisios-guidance-about-the-jesus-prayer.aspx

Danger of Delusion when Practicing the Jesus Prayer

Hieromonk Adrian (Pashin). “The Way of a Pilgrim” and Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov’s) Teaching on Prayer".

Basing himself on the legacy of St Ignatius of the Caucasus, Alexey Ilyich Osipov, the well-known Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, reflects on the issues of spiritual practices in Eastern and Western Christian traditions, as well as the place of the book The Way of a Pilgrim in Christian spiritual life.
Hieromonk Adrian (Pashin): Alexey Ilyich, your booklet on the Jesus Prayer was published recently. What prompted you to tackle this exclusively (as it might seem) monastic subject?
Alexey Ilyich Osipov: The thing is that I was invited to give a lecture in Italy, at the famous Bose monastery, where they hold conferences on various topics every year. Representatives of different Churches are invited – not only from the Catholic Church, but from the Orthodox and even the Protestant Churches as well. That was in September 2004. The topic of the conference was prayer and, I think, even the Jesus Prayer, but I don’t remember for sure. How did the theme for my talk come up? The Chancellor of one of the Pontifical Institutes in Rome visited our Academy about twenty years ago. During his talk in the conference hall he said, in particular, that Catholic monastics are currently very interested in Hindu meditation practices and The Way of a Pilgrim, where a quite peculiar teaching on the Jesus Prayer is expounded. That is why I decided to write a talk on the subject of “The Teaching on the Jesus Prayer according to Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and The Way of a Pilgrim”. I thought that the subject would be of interest both to Catholics and to me because I had read The Way when I was 16 or 17 and it had made a very inspirational impression on me back then. I remember trying to practice the Jesus Prayer for a day or two, using the Pilgrim’s method – I could not do it for much longer; later, when I took up work on my talk, I understood that that had been fortunate. I gave my talk at the conference. The Orthodox showed interest while the Catholic audience received it in silence. However, one of the famous (I am not going to name him) secular scholars from St Petersburg (not a theologian), a regular participant at all the Bose conferences, expressed his displeasure at my talk. The talk was then translated into Italian and published both in Italy and Russia. Such is its background.


Hierom. Adrian: So it seems as if The Way of a Pilgrim, a book by an unknown author that is rather popular here in Russia, is also well-known abroad?
A. I. Osipov: It is not simply well-known abroad, but, as that Chancellor said, Catholic monasteries pay a lot of attention to it. It is being read, studied – it is being followed as a guide.
Hierom. Adrian: Why do you think Catholics are so interested in the book?
A. I. Osipov: This is how things stand. First of all, the Pilgrim achieved the unceasing Jesus Prayer and reached special soul-and-body states at a stunning speed – in just a few weeks, well, maybe a few months, whereas Bishop Ignatius writes that according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers “this takes many years.” The Pilgrim states that when in the beginning the elder gave him an obedience to say three thousand prayers daily, he felt that the prayer became easy and desirable in just two days. After that, the elder ordered him to say six thousand prayers, and after only ten days – twelve thousand. And he “finished the twelve thousand prayers with ease early in the evening,” and “in about three weeks . . . I began to feel . . . that pleasure was simmering in my heart … and I myself turned into rapture. The blind man [in the story – A.Z.J.] reached the same state in the same lightning-fast way – in less than a week (!); he began to follow the method shown to him by the Pilgrim. “In about five days I started to feel an intense warmth and . . . he began to see light from time to time . . . sometimes, when he was entering his heart in his imagination, it felt as if the powerful flame of a lit candle was kindled with sweetness in his heart and, leaping out through his throat, illumined him; by the light of that flame he could even see distant things.
Such a quick and easy method, compared to the rigorous feat of the struggle with passions undertaken by the Holy Fathers for many years, is very tempting to all who would like to avoid the "no pains, no gains" way.
The second and no less stimulating reason for interest in this book is the vanity and pride that lure people into achieving high states at once, without taking the preliminary steps on the spiritual journey. These passions turn an ascetic into a daydreamer, with quite logical and often terrible consequences for his life.
Bishop Ignatius characterizes such aspirations of Catholic ascetics very pointedly, “They are at once lured and lure their readers to heights inaccessible to the novice, become themselves conceited and make others conceited. A heated, often frantic dreaminess replaces everything spiritual for them—they have no idea of true spirituality. They consider this dreaminess as grace. “Ye shall know them by their fruits,” (Mt 7:16) said the Savior. We all know only too well through what crimes, torrents of blood and decidedly anti-Christian behavior Western fanatics expressed their ugly way of thinking, their ugly feeling of heart.”
Such are the hidden reasons for the interest in The Way.
Hierom. Adrian: Do you think that such a quick way is dangerous?
A. I. Osipov: In this case I by no means wish to speak for myself, because I don’t have any experience in this matter. My understanding is based on the theoretical study of the Holy Fathers of ascetic life and, above all, on the writings of the holy Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov). Why is it that I turned to his works in particular? As is well known, the oral and written accounts of him by all the Optina Elders and many other pious Russian ascetics are not simply positive, but rather, I’d say, are filled with admiration. They spoke and wrote about him as a true teacher who had a profound understanding of spiritual life and expounded the way of the Holy Fathers in his writings. I will quote their statements.
St Macarius of Optina called him “a great mind.” St Barsanuphius of Optina wrote, “When I read his writings, I marvel at his truly angelic mind, his amazingly deep understanding of the Holy Scriptures. For some reason, I am especially favorably disposed toward his writings; they somehow have a special appeal for my heart and my mind, illumining it with a truly evangelical light.” “The fifth volume of Bishop Ignatius’ writings contains the teaching of the Holy Fathers applied to modern-day monasticism and teaches how the writings of the Holy Fathers should be read. Bishop Ignatius had a profound outlook and was, in that respect, probably even deeper than Bishop Theophan [the Recluse – A.Z.J.]. His word has a powerful effect on the soul for it proceeds from experience.” Abbot Nikon (Vorobyev) expresses the same thought fifty years later, “How grateful I am to him for his writings! Not to understand and not to appreciate him means not to understand anything about spiritual life. I would dare to say that Bishop Theophan’s writings (may the holy Vladyka forgive me) are a schoolboy’s works compared to those of a professor—the writings of Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov). St Nikon (Belyaev) of Optina called Bishop Ignatius’ work “the ABC of spiritual life” – he held it in such high esteem. And it is Bishop Ignatius’ writings that all the other Optina Elders recommended for study, in particular, his teaching on prayer – a true guide to spiritual life.
We find remarkable words about Bishop Ignatius in the writings of Abbess Arsenia (Sebryakova), “I read him with great pleasure, to my soul’s comfort and edification. The words of Vladyka himself are dear to me.” Schema-Abbot John of Valaam refers to Bishop Ignatius and offers the bishop’s advice to his own spiritual children as the most authoritative for our times. (In this connection, I would like to point out in parentheses that any Church preacher or writer who, speaking of spiritual life in his writings, does not turn to Bishop Ignatius’ writings, gives a clear testimony to “what manner of spirit he is of” [Lk 9:55 – A.Z.J.] However, turning to those works is not in itself an indicator of the writer’s spirituality). So taking into account this multitude of undoubted spiritual witnesses, I decided to compare the teaching on the Jesus Prayer in The Way of a Pilgrim with that of Bishop Ignatius.
Hierom. Adrian: Guidance in practicing the Jesus Prayer is necessary; without it, as you write, we can fall into spiritual delusion (prelest). But what should we do today, when, in the words of Bishop Ignatius (and you agree with them), spiritual guidance and spiritual fatherhood have become so scarce? How then are we to learn how to pray correctly?
A. I. Osipov: First of all, I would remind you once again that when it comes to my advice on the careful practice of the Jesus Prayer, I am not speaking from myself. It is well-known that the Optina Elders used to give this advice to those who had more zeal than sense because, as St Isaac of Syria wrote, «Everything is made beautiful by moderation. Even something considered beautiful will become harmful when done without moderation.” At this point people who don’t understand the conditions required to practice the Jesus Prayer and who have the wrong aim in practicing it, generally fall into self-importance, spiritual delusion and pride. Bishop Ignatius advances the same idea. What should our attitude toward the Jesus Prayer be nowadays? It depends on who practices it. It is one thing for those who have chosen the monastic way, but it is quite a different thing for those who live in the bustle of worldly life.
As far as spirit-bearing teachers are concerned, Bishop Ignatius gave that name to those who had achieved the unceasing God-given Jesus Prayer, reached dispassion and received from God the rare gift of seeing into the human soul. Such teachers could truly point out those hidden passions and their causes that people could not see in themselves. However, speaking of his own time, Bishop Ignatius said words that were extremely offensive to those who saw themselves as spiritual fathers, “We do not have any teachers who are inspired by God!” And he did not simply say that – he said that with an exclamation mark. And he knew the state of monasticism at his time pretty well.
Still, in the absence of advisors inspired by God, Bishop Ignatius offers some very important advice to those seeking spiritual life.
The first piece of advice is to be guided above all by the writings and experience of those ancient Fathers and Russian ascetics who gave advice to people of the same spiritual level as the modern Christian. Of course, to those writings one should add all the works by Bishop Ignatius himself, since he pursued his monastic calling and wrote in the period that was spiritually very much like the modern one – that is why he is the best spiritual advisor for our times.
The second piece of advice is that we should consult those who are of the same spirit as we are, who sincerely seek spiritual life, study and know the writings of the Holy Fathers and, very importantly, have the gift of discernment. With respect to the last condition (discernment), Bishop Ignatius warns that there were even saints who had reached exalted spiritual states, but, not possessing the gift of discernment, sometimes offered advice that seriously damaged the soul.
In this connection, Bishop Ignatius quotes the thoughts of Sts Macarius the Great and Isaac the Syrian, “St Macarius the Great used to say that . . . there are souls that, having become partakers of the Divine grace . . . at the same time abide as if in childhood, because of lack of actual experience . . . in a state that is very unsatisfactory for true ascetic struggle.” They have a saying about such elders in monasteries – “holy but not skilful” – and take care in consulting them . . . to avoid entrusting yourself hastily and thoughtlessly to such elders’ guidance. St Isaac the Syrian even says that such an elder “is not worthy of being called a saint.” It is with such care, it turns out, that we should approach the choice of those whom we can consult.
That is why in our time people who want to learn how to pray and live aright, without spiritual delusion, have to study Bishop Ignatius’ writings most meticulously, for he knew the teaching of the Fathers very well and followed the way of prayer experientially. But, of course, if we manage to find a knowledgeable, understanding and reasonable person, we should seek his advice as well. However, we should consult him as we would consult friends – not as a leader of an absolutist “Orthodox” sect who demands unquestioning obedience. In view of the absence of teachers who are inspired by God nowadays, we can hardly speak of complete obedience even in monasteries; and as for life in the world, such obedience never existed, except maybe in the relationship between false spiritual fathers and false spiritual children, especially false spiritual daughters. It is true, though, that we should distinguish between obedience in administrative issues (according to rank), which is useful for spiritual life and spiritual obedience, which Bishop Ignatius calls a great monastic deed.
He wrote, “In vain do you desire to be completely obedient to an experienced teacher. This kind of ascetic struggle has not been granted in our times. It is absent not only amidst Christians living in the world, but in monasteries as well.”
“And many thought that they were working in obedience, but in reality it turned out that they had been obliging their own whims and had been carried away by their zeal. Happy is the man who in his old age will have time to shed a repentant tear over the passions of his youth. The Lord said about the blind leaders and those lead by them, “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Mt 15:14).
Hierom. Adrian: However, some may object to you that in Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov’s) time there were the Optina Elders and now there are quite a few spiritual fathers and elders who are esteemed among the people. Many seek their spiritual guidance and are willing to completely surrender their wills into their hands. Can’t simple people do the same now?
A. I. Osipov: According to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, we should exercise a great deal of caution in this matter. All the saints warn of it, beginning in ancient times, when the ascetics flourished. For example, St John Cassian of Rome wrote in the 5th century, “It is useful to reveal our thoughts to the fathers; not to whomever happens to be there, though, but rather to spiritual elders who have discernment, who are elders not just because of the age of their bodies and gray hair. Many, having been attracted by the appearance of old age and having expressed their thoughts [to such elders – A.Z.J.], were harmed instead of receiving a remedy.” And look at how emphatically St John of the Ladder (6th cent.) speaks of this, “When we…wish… to entrust our salvation to another, then, even before taking this path, if we have just a little insight and discernment, we must study, test, and put this guide to the test, so to speak. We must do so in order not to obtain for ourselves a mere oarsman instead of a helmsman, instead of a doctor – a sick person, instead of a dispassionate man – one possessed by passions, instead of a haven – an abyss, – thus, in order to avoid finding our destruction ready for us” (The Ladder. Sermon 4, Ch. 6). Bishop Theophan (Govorov) used to warn, “In determining who will become [our spiritual fathers – A.O.], we should exercise a great deal of caution and use strict judgment, in order to avoid doing harm instead of good, in order to avoid bringing about devastation instead of doing constructive work.”
But as the ancient Fathers predicted and the latter-day Fathers constantly repeated, the Church is witnessing the process whereby teachers are becoming scarce – the teachers who can see into the soul and can achieve what St Seraphim of Sarov called acquiring the Spirit of God. Clearly, in Bishop Ignatius’ own words, such teachers had already disappeared in his time.
If we now return to the Optina Elders, they fully agreed with Bishop Ignatius on this issue. This is evident from the high esteem in which they held his teaching as well as their own spiritual guidance. None of them would point to someone else, to his predecessor or spiritual father in this way, “Isn’t Fr Macarius, Fr Ambrose, or Fr Barsanuphius, or… a teacher inspired by God?” For they understood the meaning of the Apostle Paul’s words well, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory” (1 Co 15:41). So even though we are talking about spiritual and even holy people, we nevertheless understand that one spiritual man differs from another in glory.
The searching of spiritual people are quite natural and understandable. But when that searching turns into the creating myths, when frequently rather dubious priests are set up as elders, or when some spiritual fathers start acting as if they were elders, then trouble comes. Bishop Ignatius said about them very emphatically and precisely, “Those elders who accept upon themselves the role [of an elder–A.O.]. . . (if we may use that unpleasant word ‘role’) . . . are essentially soul-destroying actors and the saddest of comedians. Let those elders who take on themselves the role of the ancient Elders, lacking their spiritual gifts, know that their very intention, their very thoughts and notions of this great monastic deed – obedience – are false; their very way of thinking, their mentality and their knowledge are self-delusion and demonic spiritual delusion”. Unfortunately, ordinary people don’t have an understanding of this. They want an elder, naturally clairvoyant, a miracle-worker, a healer, they will flock like sheep without any discernment to anyone who is mentioned to them. From here you get many misfortunes, both of a spiritual order and those concerning everyday life.
I have met people whose lives were totally ruined after believing in a false elder. Taking advantage of his moral authority, such an elder literally gives an order – sorry, “gives a blessing” – to those coming to him to take such decisive steps that ruin their body and soul. He “gives a blessing” to move house, to abandon good jobs, thus plunging the family into utter poverty and causing the disintegration of family relationships. He “gives her a blessing” to sell her apartment and her possessions and enter a monastery. When in a year she is dismissed from it, instead of helping her, the elder tells her: you should have thought for yourself, now go where you please. I know a family whose mother was “given a blessing” by an elder to assign all her young daughters and son to monasteries. The son became a hieromonk, but then three years later he got married. The same thing happened to the daughters and only one of the four remained a nun; the others, after living in a convent, got married.
Why am I talking about this? First of all, to show how far the undiscerning trust of simple believers as well as the spiritual blindness and moral insensitivity of “the elders” themselves can go: they keep believing in and giving these blessings even after witnessing their catastrophic consequences. It is obvious that a clairvoyant elder could not have blessed an act that would lead to defrocking and dismissal from monasticism. And if he is not clairvoyant but still keeps encouraging such acts, then what is the moral level (or the psychic state) of that “elder?!” This serious question is answered by Bishop Ignatius, “Vanity and self-conceit are fond of teaching and giving directions. They do not bother about the quality of their advice! It does not occur to them that they might inflict an incurable wound on their neighbor by their incongruous advice. The inexperienced novice accepts their advice with uncritical credulity, with excitement of flesh and blood! They desire success, no matter its quality and its origin! They have to impress the novice and make him their moral subject! They desire the praise of man! They desire the reputation of saints, intelligent and clairvoyant elders and teachers! They have to satisfy their insatiable vanity, their pride!”
This is exactly what the Fathers called spiritual delusion (prelest). And spiritual delusion is the delusion that leads to mental disorders.
So in our days we should approach the relationship with an elder with tremendous caution, following the wise rule commanded by our great bishops St Ignatius and St Theophan – to live by advice, not by obedience. Bishop Ignatius urges us to listen to St Nilus of Sora who lived in the 15th century and who already commanded back then, “Nowadays, in view of the extreme scarcity of spirit-bearing guides, an ascetic practicing prayer has to be guided exclusively by the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers.” And St Pimen the Great commanded us to depart immediately from an elder living with whom turned out to be harmful to the soul.” Otherwise, “belief in man, – says Bishop Ignatius, – leads to frenzied fanaticism.”
Bishop Ignatius writes that advice does not imply the obligation to follow it. If you see something strange, unclear or contradictory in the advice, then you have the full moral right to turn to someone else, to disagree or to turn to the Holy Fathers. And if a spiritual father is truly intelligent and humble, he would even thank his spiritual child for acting rightly and disobeying him. “By no means,— writes Bishop Ignatius,—do evil by obedience, even if you happen to suffer some tribulation for displeasing someone and being steadfast. Consult virtuous and intelligent fathers and brothers, but take their advice with utmost care and discretion. Do not get carried away by the first impression that their advice makes on you!”
In our times we should live by advice, not by obedience. In this connection Bishop Ignatius responds to the most widespread counter-argument, “They will object: the faith of the person carrying out an obedience may replace the elder’s inadequacy. This is false: believing the truth saves, while believing a lie and demonic delusion destroys, according to the Apostle’s teaching” (2 Thess 2:10-12). [Here, Bishop Ignatius paraphrases Paul’s words “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” - A.Z.J.] Christ told His disciples, “Henceforth I call you not servants . . . but I have called you friends” (Jn 15:15). Can friends be given orders? I guess not.
Hierom. Adrian: One more question. Why do some people connect the Jesus Prayer to some other practices, for example, to the Hindu and Buddhist mantras and meditation? Many people do not understand the difference between those ascetic practices and the noetic Jesus Prayer, the Christian prayer.
A. I. Osipov: If we turn our attention to the essential, then the types of meditation you are talking about are reflections, internal discussions. They do not carry with them the main condition for prayer – repentance. Repentance is supplication. Supplication for what? For our sinfulness, our inadequacy, our inability to live as the Gospel commands. Prayer, as Bishop Ignatius writes, should be said with attention, awe and heartfelt contrition. These things are not required by meditation. Meditation, I repeat, is a concentrated reflection on a great variety of subjects: theological, everyday, spiritual and moral, all sorts.
There exists a very important and vital act in Christian practice – the contemplation of God. However, this also differs from the above-mentioned types of meditation. This contemplation of matters of Christian faith and life goes hand in hand with humility, correct prayer and reverent inward submission of our possible understanding of any matter to God’s will.
This is the main thing that distinguishes prayer and contemplation of God from meditation.
Now for the second thing. Turning to mantras, we enter the sphere of a teaching that is decidedly, we could say, different from the Christian or, more exactly, Orthodox teaching. Mantras, in some ways outwardly resembling prayers or rather incantational prayers, are of a completely different nature. They inherently imply belief in the effectiveness of the very words pronounced, often regardless of the understanding of their meaning. We see it in Hindu practice, for example, in Japa mantra, which calls on people to repeat a god’s name as much, as often and as quickly as possible, for the name itself purifies man and brings him to the state of Samadhi. Mantras, if you wish, are one of the elements of magic and are used in the rites of pagan mystery religions.
A similar idea was promoted by the Russian name-worshipers. However, it is not God’s Name in itself that sanctifies. The Name of God is similar to an icon: it is a link to turn our prayers to the Archetype. And human purification is accomplished not through the Name itself, but through correct prayer with God’s name uttered in it, as the Holy Fathers taught. When prayer is repeated mechanically, as many times and as quickly as possible, then it “is not prayer at all. It is dead! It is useless, harmful to the soul and insulting to God,” – as Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) wrote.
Currently too, we can see this tendency to understand prayer as a mantra. Books are published which recommend saying the Jesus Prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” – a huge number of times (14,400 prayers at one go!) from the very beginning. They recommend saying it very, very quickly: 3,600 prayers per hour, that is, one prayer per second (“his tongue, like a little engine, was repeating the short Jesus Prayer non-stop”). This practice runs absolutely counter to the Holy Fathers’ experience, which says that we are to say any prayer, including the Jesus Prayer, without haste, paying attention to the words of the prayer, with awe and a feeling of repentance.
Hierom. Adrian: In the West there is an opinion that the ban on using imagination in prayer that exists in Orthodoxy, in the East, is only because of the greater emotionality of Easterners, and in the West, where people are supposedly less emotional, such imagination is not dangerous.
A. I. Osipov: This is self-justification. Look at the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Italians – those people are so fiery that you constantly have to be on the lookout. Wasn’t it in Italy that the stigmata emerged for the first time in the history of Christianity, with Francis of Assisi? It is not emotionality that matters at all. The reason that Catholicism so ardently protects the possibility and even the need for imagination is quite different. Psychology, yoga and Catholic ascetic experience testify convincingly to the fact that developing imagination and constantly concentrating on mental images is an effective way for people to achieve special exalted states very easily. For example, compassion for Christ (сompassio) – an ascetic achievement of the same Francis – consisted of mentally imagining and attempting to empathize with Christ’s sufferings and His love for the whole world, as well as with the sufferings and experiences of the Mother of God and other saints.
When ascetics dreamily imagine scenes of love, suffering etc., their nerves and psyche get highly excited, their imagination gets inflamed, and as a result hallucinations and demonic apparitions occur. Such ascetics develop an extremely high opinion of themselves as being full of divine grace and close to Christ and the saints. Western ascetics deem those states God-given. But there is neither God, nor grace in this phenomenon. Bishop Ignatius writes, “The Holy Fathers strictly forbid using the facility of the imagination; they command us to keep the mind formless, not sealed by anything material.” “While in prayer, we must have the mind formless and take special care to keep it so, rejecting all the images fantasized through the facility of the imagination . . . Images, if allowed by the mind in prayer, will become an impenetrable curtain, a wall between the mind and God.” On the contrary, he warns, “fallen spirits seek to incite our imagination.” “Blood and nerves, – he wrote, – are activated by many passions: anger, covetousness, lust and vanity. The latter two passions greatly fire up the blood of the ascetics who undertake their struggles unlawfully, and they turn them into raving fanatics.”
Bishop Ignatius tells of one office clerk from St Petersburg who fell into spiritual delusion and attempted suicide, “It turned out that the clerk had been using the image of prayer described by St Simeon; he had inflamed his imagination and blood, which makes man quite capable of fasting strictly and keeping vigils. . . The clerk had seen light with his bodily eyes, fragrance and warmth that he had felt just as tangibly.”
“Western Christians strove to enliven their feelings, blood and imagination; they soon succeeded in that and soon reached the state of spiritual delusion and frenzy, which they called holiness. All their visions come from that realm. Eastern Christians and all the children of the Universal Church journey to holiness and purity in a way that is just the opposite of that mentioned above: by subduing their feelings, blood, imagination and even ‘their opinions.’”
The main reason for the sorry plight of Western ascetics is that they stopped following the guidance of the ascetic Fathers of the ancient Church and began living according to their own understanding, replaying “movies” in their imagination and worshiping the images contained in them. They substituted fantasies of love for Christ for the struggle against the passions.
Let me quote here a short passage from The Story of a Soul, a book by a great Catholic saint, a doctor of their Church, Therese of Lisieux (19 cent.), so that what we are talking about will be clear, “It was indeed an embrace of love. I felt that I was loved, and I said: ‘I love Thee, and I give myself to Thee for ever.’ Jesus asked nothing of me, and claimed no sacrifice; for a long time He and little Therese had known and understood one another. That day our meeting was more than simple recognition, it was a perfect union. We were no longer two. Therese had disappeared like a drop of water lost in the immensity of the ocean.” [Ch 4. “First Communion and Confirmation” – A.Z.J.]. This kind of “love” needs no commentary.
Such “spirituality” is very contagious, it conforms to the tastes of “the old man” , to his search for spiritual sweetness, to his vanity, to his pride. Unfortunately, the Pilgrim from The Way also followed this easy path, enticing away with himself inexperienced Christians who were seeking spiritual pleasure. In this regard his following advice is quite revealing, “With your imagination, find the spot where your heart is, under your left nipple (our underlining – А.О.), and fix your attention there.” Whereas Bishop Ignatius warns, “He who strives to activate and warm up the lower part of the heart activates the power of lust…” This is one of the reasons why Bishop Theophan wrote, “Don’t look in the book – The Way. There are pieces of advice in it that are not good for you and they may result in spiritual delusion.
Hierom. Adrian: Thank you very much for the interview and telling us about your booklet, Alexey Ilyich. Our website “Bogoslov.ru” wishes you Divine aid in your teaching and theological work. We look forward to your new books.
Interview by Hieromonk Adrian (Pashin)


Translated from Russian by Aida Zamilova Judah
Edited by Fr. Andrew Phillips 





http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2014/11/danger-of-delusion-when-practicing.html#more
http://www.pravmir.com/the-way-of-a-pilgrim-and-bishop-ignatius-brianchaninov%E2%80%99s-teaching-on-prayer-2/

How the Jesus Prayer Differs from the Hindu Mantra ( St. Paisios )

One of the greatest spiritual gifts that Elder Paisios gave me was his guidance along the mystical path of the Jesus Prayer. This started at the beginning of our acquaintance and continued until his repose twelve years later. The Jesus Prayer consists of the repetition of the phrase "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me."' The Jesus Prayer is not recited as a Mantra, but as a prayer to the Person of Christ.

Prayer, as I learned, is a relationship between two persons, God and man, who move towards each other. Thus, the swiftness or slowness with which a person advances in prayer depends on both the human and divine wills. Neither the freedom of God in His sovereignty nor the freedom of man in his free choice are ever violated. For his part, man offers his good intention, his labors, and his desire to draw near to God. God, in turn, offers His grace...

When yogis claim that the Jesus Prayer resembles their own mantras, they are in fact trying to fit the Jesus Prayer into their own Procrustean bed. Of course, there are similarities, but there are also enormous differences-both a table and a horse have four legs, but to conclude that they are consequently the same would be an error of the crudest sort. But this is just the kind of error the yogis make when they claim that the Jesus Prayer is a kind of mantra. A brief examination of the essential differences between the Jesus Prayer and a mantra should provide those with an open mind the wherewithal to draw the proper conclusions.

First, consider how the Orthodox tradition understands the meaning of the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." The word "Lord" is the name for God most frequently encountered in the Old Testament in the oft-repeated formula "Thus saith the Lord ..." or in the commandments: I am the Lord thy God. When Orthodox Christians call Jesus Christ, "Lord," they are confessing that He is the God of the Old Testament Who spoke to the patriarchs-Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Word is the Person who gave the law to Moses. In other words, the One who spoke to the prophets was none other than the second Person of the Holy Trinity, Who later took flesh and was united with human nature in the Person of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, when we say "Lord Jesus Christ"-with faith, with all our heart's strength-we come under the influence of the Holy Spirit, as Saint Paul says: No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3).

Having recognized the existence of the true personal God outside and beyond his own self, from this God a Christian asks "mercy." The elder once told me, "Mercy contains all things. Love, forgiveness, healing, restoration, and repentance all fit within the word 'mercy."' It is the mercy of God that brings about repentance, purification from the passions, the illumination of the nous, and, in the end, theosis. From my journey I have learned that salvation comes from the mercy of Christ, the unique Savior of mankind, rather than from my intelligence, my prideful endeavors, or the techniques of yoga. Salvation and theosis are so very precious that it is impossible for anyone to make any effort or do any ascetic labor that would be equivalent to even the smallest fraction of their value.

Indeed, from my conversations with other fathers who were laborers in the Jesus Prayer and from my own experience, I know full well that prayer is a gift from God. Nothing is accomplished by human labor alone, for Christ said, Without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5), and as the Apostle James bears witness, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights (James 1:17) Even as God granted us existence, in the same way He gradually grants us to know Him and be united with Him through prayer, leading us ultimately to life eternal.


Now, consider how the yogis view a mantra. First of all, there are many mantras, and each refers to one of the many gods of the Hindu pantheon such as Krishna, Rama, Vishnu, or the goddess Kali. There is not one standard explanation given by yogis for the mantras; rather, their explanations are tailored to the receptivity of each listener. For beginners who are not disposed to worship idols, yogis give a pseudo-scientific, mechanistic explanation: they claim that the benefit accrued by repeating the mantra is due to certain frequencies produced by its pronunciation, which cause spiritual vibrations that activate spiritual centers within man. (However, the existence of such centers in man can only be taken on faith-if someone willingly chooses to believe such a claim.) For those who are inclined towards psychological interpretations, the yogis present the repetition of a mantra as a type of auto-suggestion that enables the practitioner to program his inner world according to positive models. When addressing those who have become more involved with Hinduism and now believe in many gods, the yogis claim that the worshipper receives the blessing of whatever god is being invoked.

What constitutes the infinite distance separating the Christian Jesus Prayer from the Hindu mantra, however, is that which lurks behind the name of the god being invoked in a mantra and invited into the soul. Through the mouth of the Holy Prophet David, God declares, All the gods of the nations are demons (1 Psalm 95:5)––In other words, behind the names Krishna, Rama, or Shiva are demons lying In wait. Once they are invoked by the use of the mantra, the door is open for the devil to begin his theatrical productions, using sounds, images, dreams, and the imagination in general in order to drag the practitioner deeper into deception.

Another significant difference between the Christian Jesus Prayer and the Hindu mantra is the diametrically opposed viewpoints of the two faiths regarding techniques and the human subject. I recall a conversation I had with Niranjan after he had given me permission to begin to practice some supposedly powerful yoga techniques. I said to him, "It's fine practicing the techniques, but what happens to the human passions of greed, lust for power, vainglory, and selfishness? Aren't we concerned about them?" "They disappear," he replied, "through the practice of the techniques." "Do they just disappear like that, on their own?" I asked. "Yes, they disappear automatically, while you are practicing the techniques."

What an astonishing assertion: physical exercises can wipe out the inclinations that a person's soul acquired in life through conscious choices. But, in reality, man, as a self-determining and free moral agent, can change the conscious aspect of his personality and his moral sense only by the use of his own free will to make conscious decisions in real-life situations. Any external means to automatically induce such a change in a person's consciousness without his consent circumvent man's free will, obliterate his volition, and destroy his freedom, reducing man to a spineless puppet manipulated by a marionettist's strings. Hinduism's relentless insistence on properly performed techniques with automatic results degrades man by depriving him of his most precious quality: the self-governing free will. It restricts the boundless human spirit within a framework of mechanical methods and reflexes.

Orthodox Christian Faith, on the contrary, recognizes and honors the gift of human freedom as a divine trait. This recognition and approach help man to be actualized as a free being. Precisely on account of the human freedom to choose, man's often- unpredictable responses can't be limited to the mechanical reflexes of a closed system, but can innovatively turn in any spiritual direction that he, as a free subject, wills. This is why Orthodoxy is not adamant about techniques and methods. In freedom and with respect, Orthodoxy seeks the human heart, encouraging the individual to do what is good for the sake of the good, and pointing out the appropriate moral stance of the soul before God, which an individual can then freely choose to embrace.

Genuine spiritual development entails a deepening familiarity with God and with one's own self, acquired through moral choices that a person freely makes in the depths of his heart. Spiritual progress is a product of man's way of relating to himself, to his fellow man, and to God by the good use of his innate moral freedom. This is why Christ calls out, If any man wills to come after Me, let him freely deny himself (Matt 16:24)––that is, without being deceived, without being psychologically compelled, and without being forced, all of which are inappropriate to the spiritual nobility of Christian life.


Saint Porphyrios had a small parrot that he taught to pray in order to illustrate the absurdity of some Christians' empty repetition of the words of prayer, as well as the ridiculousness of the opinion commonly presented in Eastern religions that someone can make moral advances by physical exercises or breathing techniques. Every so often, the parrot would mechanically say, "Lord, have mercy." The elder would respond, “Look, the parrot can say the prayer, but does that mean that it is praying? Can prayer exist without the conscious and free participation of the person who prays?"

The Gurus, Young Man, and Elder Paisios by Dionysios Farasiotis, St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2008, pp 276-285

http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2012/11/how-jesus-prayer-differs-from-hindu.html