By Fr. Maximos (Constas) It seems clear that the very practice of the Jesus Prayer reflects the Biblical teaching of the nature of personal names, and especially of the Divine Name. We all know that the name is closely linked to the person that bears it so that to invoke the name is to invoke the person who bears it. So it’s logical that when there is a change of life there is also a
By Fr. Maximos (Constas) What is the Jesus Prayer and how old is it? Who is the Jesus Prayer for? Where can the Jesus Prayer be found in Scriptures, and how does it differ from the mantras of eastern traditions? How ought we to practice the Jesus Prayer, and what do we find when we do? This talk is about the Jesus Prayer, something that we all know about and hopefully something we all practice, but
By Fr. Maximos (Constas) The sayings of the desert fathers are really remarkable—some of the oldest Christian literature we have and yet it sounds so contemporary, fresh, modern, and relevant, partly because the whole ethos is just stripped down to the essentials and simplicity of the desert. There is a story from Abba Poemen who is one of the more prominent desert fathers. Apparently a layman from a nearby city had heard about his reputation
Archimandrite Placide Deseille is Higoumen of the Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great, St.-Laurent-en-Royans, France, and professor at the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris. The following thoughts are adapted from a talk he gave at a local parish on 6 March 2008, originally published by the Service Orthodoxe de Presse (SOP), supplement no. 327, April 2008. The expressions “Prayer of the Heart” and “Prayer of Jesus” or “Jesus Prayer” are often used as equivalents.
On Silence and Stillness (I) Although they are often used interchangeably, the terms “silence” and “stillness” are not synonymous. Silence implies in part an absence of ambient noise, together with an inner state or attitude that enables us to focus, to “center” on the presence of God and to hear His “still, small voice.” To silence, the virtue of stillness adds both tranquility and concentration. Stillness implies a state of bodily rest coupled with the
If we speak about the practical aspects of the Jesus prayer: usually one is seated and one says the prayer silently, in the place of the heart. This prayer may be linked with breathing. When one breathes in, one says: ‘Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God’. Then when one breathes out, one says: ‘Have mercy upon me’. One concentrates all one’s attention on the name of Christ and on the words ‘Have mercy upon me’.
SPIRITUAL AUTHORS TELL us that we need to spend some time every day being still, either seated or standing. They encourage us to have a “prayer word”-the Jesus Prayer, the single name “Jesus,” some other short prayer, or silence. Our quest for a spiritual life pivots on quiet time and intimacy with Christ. Our quiet time can be part of our personal prayer rule as directed by our spiritual father. The usual directive is to
Study and learning are spiritual disciplines much esteemed in the Christian contemplative tradition (as they are in many religious traditions). When this discipline is being strengthened and purified to make the discursive mind a better servant of God, we become aware of a not-so-subtle tendency to show off how much we have come to know in all our reading and study. This need not be a public display; we can look down on people less
Jesus said this parable: Two men went down to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God I thank Thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up
It often seems that we Orthodox only end up spinning our wheels when we try to answer questions… with reference to monastic literature. While we probably have a clear sense that there is something to be learned about such topics there, we do not always have a good picture of how to really find this value while also respecting the basic integrity and purpose of these texts. One of the key sources of this problem
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