Some
mistakenly think that the Jesus prayer is only for monks. However, the Optina
elders also instructed laypeople to do the Jesus prayer. St. Barsanuphius
(Plikhanov) taught, “In order to have remembrance of God, we have the Jesus
prayer.”
The saint
wrote about various steps of the prayer:
“The
Jesus prayer is divided into three, even four steps. The first step is oral
prayer, when the mind often runs away and the person has to apply great effort
in order to collect his scattered thoughts. This prayer takes work, but it
gives one a repentant mood.
“The
second step is the prayer of the mind in the heart, when the mind and the
heart, reason and feelings are one; then prayer is made without interruption.
No mater what the person is doing—eating, drinking, or resting—the prayer
continues.
“The
third step is creative prayer, which can move mountains with one word. This is
the prayer that for example St. Mark the desert dweller of Thrace had.
“Finally
there is the fourth step. This is such a high level of prayer that only the
angels have it, and it may be given to one man only out of all humankind.”
In order
to understand better what gifts the Lord sends to those who pray and what
prayer corresponds to the level of spiritual growth of the one praying, St.
Barsanuphius explained in more detail:
“The
first gift the Lord gives in prayer is attention; that is, when the mind can
dwell in the words of the prayer without being distracted by thoughts. But with
such attentive, undistracted prayer the heart is yet silent. That is the whole
matter—our feelings and thoughts are separated; there is no agreement between
them. Thus, the first prayer, the first gift, is undistracted prayer.
“The
second prayer, the second gift, is inner prayer; that is, when the feelings and
thoughts are in agreement and directed toward God. Up until this stage, every
struggle with passion ends in the passion’s victory over the person; but from
that stage on, when the mind and heart pray together—that is, the feelings and
thoughts are in God—the passions are already conquered. They are conquered, but
not destroyed; they can come back to life if he is careless. Here the passions
are like corpses lying in the coffins, and if a passion but twitches, the man
of prayer beats it down and conquers it.
“The
third gift is spiritual prayer. I cannot say anything about this prayer. Here
there is no longer anything earthly left in the person. True, a person can live
on earth, walk on earth, sit, drink, and eat—but in his mind and thoughts he is
wholly in God, in the heavens. To some have even been revealed the service of
the angelic ranks. This prayer is the prayer of a visionary. The one who has
attained this prayer sees spiritual things, for example the state of a human
soul, just as we see tangible things, as if in a picture. They look with the
eyes of the spirit; in them the spirit is looking.”
How to correctly pray the Jesus prayer
St. Leo
taught to pray in simplicity of heart, waiting for God’s mercy—only the Lord
knows what is beneficial for each specific person:
“Go
through the Jesus prayer as you do it, and the time will come when God’s mercy
itself will enlighten and inform your soul as to how and who to ask; and what
you search for and desire will be sent.”
The
elders counseled to pronounce the Jesus prayer as often as possible, but not to
look for any kind of pleasant feelings, spiritual consolations or delights.
St.
Ambrose explained:
“No
matter who it is, no one has ever fallen into demonic delusion (prelest) by
praying the Jesus prayer orally. However, those who incorrectly pray the Jesus
prayer of the mind and heart often fall into demonic delusion. Therefore, one
should first of all hold fast to oral prayer and then to mental prayer and
humility; and only then, whoever can and whoever has the Lord’s will for it,
will go on to prayer of the heart according to the instruction of the holy
fathers, who taught from experience.”
At the
question of how to attain prayer of the heart and what it means to “have the
mind descend to the heart,” St. Anatoly (Zertsalov) replied with a warning:
“One
should not search for the place of the heart; when prayer grows, it will find
it itself. Our striving is to enclose the mind in the words, “Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
During
the Jesus prayer there is often a storm of thoughts sown by the enemy.
St.
Hilarion taught not to contradict enemy thoughts because only those experienced
in prayer can do this, but to simply continue praying in simplicity of heart,
hoping in God’s mercy:
“And if
the mind is captivated against your wishes, then continue the prayer; but do
not contradict—contradicting is not your measure yet.
The
Optina elders warned about the necessity of humility in prayer. Once a
spiritual daughter of St. Ambrose complained to him that when pronouncing the
Jesus prayer, she stumbles at the words, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” The
elder replied:
“You write
that when doing the Jesus prayer you experience a kind of stumbling on the
words, ‘Have mercy on me, a sinner.’ This shows that you have done the prayer
without the proper humility, without which our prayer is not pleasing to God.
Therefore, force yourself to emphasize the word ‘sinner’ with the proper
understanding.”
St.
Barsanuphius noted that whoever walks the path of the Jesus prayer is can
endure sorrows, which he must nevertheless accept without murmuring”
“The path
of the Jesus prayer is the shortest, most convenient path. But do not complain,
for whoever walks this path will experience sorrows.”
On the danger of asking for spiritual gifts
and exalted prayer
The
Optina elders warned against self-willed striving to reach more exalted levels
of prayer or to seize spiritual gifts, be they tears during prayer, or purity
and passionlessness.
St. Leo
wrote that whoever has not cleansed his heart, or has not conquered the
passions, cannot preserve spiritual riches without harm to himself:
“Having
by God’s mercy tasted sweetness and consolation from prayer, but now not
finding that in yourself, you are depressed and consider it your own fault for
the loss and the fault of your carelessness. This is really true. But I also
find God’s Providence in this, which took away that consolation. Can anyone who
has not conquered the passions or cleansed his heart possibly preserve these
riches without harm?! For your own good it’s not given to you, so that you
would not fall into delusion.”
St.
Barsanuphius also warned about the danger of asking for gifts and exalted
levels of prayer:
“One can
pray for attentive prayer, but I would say that it is sinful to pray for the
gift of exalted states of prayer. This must be entirely left to God. Some have
begged exalted prayer for themselves; the Lord gave it to them according to His
mercy, but it was of no benefit to them…”
Elder
Macarius taught:
“Remember:
Prayer is a gift, and not your own property. You have to earn this gift—not
only by prayer, but also by all the other good works: humility of mind,
simplicity, patience, and guilelessness. But without these virtues, the person
may think he has attained prayer, but he is deluded; this is not prayer, but a
mask of prayer.
By Olga Rozhneva
Source: http://orthochristian.com/99403.html
CONVERSATION