Date: 2026-08-15T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Asceticism & Spirituality

How to Learn to Pray

St. Theophan the Recluse

Royal Archives

2026

Copyright

The modern English translation and the cover design are © 2026 Royal Archives. All rights reserved.

The underlying source text is in the public domain.

Published by Royal Archives

First published 2026

Translated by Royal Archives

Source: Как научиться молиться

Edition identifier: urn:royalarchives:kak-nadobno-molitsja:en:1

Introduction

The Author

Georgy Vasilievich Govorov was born on the tenth of January, 1815, in the village of Chernavskoye in Orel province, the son of a priest. He was formed in the seminary world of his day and completed his studies at the Kiev Theological Academy, where in 1841 he received monastic tonsure and the name Theophan, and was ordained to the priesthood. The years that followed carried him through a wide range of service—teaching and rectorship in the theological schools, a period with the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, and eventually the rectorship of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy—so that by middle life he had seen the Church’s work from the classroom, the mission field, and the administrative center alike.

In 1859 he was consecrated bishop and given charge of the Tambov diocese, and in 1863 he was transferred to Vladimir. As a ruling bishop he traveled his dioceses, preached, restored churches, and founded schools; it was in these episcopal years that he preached and published much of his early spiritual teaching. Yet the labor that history remembers him for lay ahead. In 1866, after twenty-five years of active service, he asked to be released from the government of his diocese and withdrew to the Vysha Hermitage in the Tambov region. There, after several years, he took a further and decisive step: he entered strict reclusion, closing himself off from ordinary company, serving the Liturgy alone in a small cell-church, and giving himself over almost entirely to prayer, study, and writing. This seclusion lasted some twenty-two years, until his death.

The paradox of Theophan’s reclusion is that it made him one of the most accessible teachers of his age. The more his tongue fell silent, the more his pen spoke. From his cell flowed translations, scriptural commentaries, and books on the Christian life—and an enormous correspondence, for people from across Russia wrote to him with their troubles and their questions, and he answered. He reposed on the sixth of January, 1894, at the age of seventy-nine. The Russian Orthodox Church numbered him among the saints in 1988; he is commemorated as St. Theophan, Recluse of Vysha. Among his enduring monuments is his Russian rendering of the Philokalia, the great anthology of the Church’s teachers on prayer and the inner life—a labor whose fruit is quietly present throughout the present book.

The Work: Occasion & Purpose

How to Learn to Pray belongs to that correspondence, and to the reclusion that produced it. For more than twenty years the letters came—from monastics and married people, the educated and the simple, those just beginning and those far advanced—and Theophan replied to each in turn, resolving a particular difficulty, steadying a particular soul. The counsel in this book is drawn from those replies, later collected and issued in Russia in several editions, and it carries throughout the marks of its origin: nearly every passage closes with a reference to the letter it came from, cited by number and by volume of his collected correspondence. What the reader holds, in other words, is not an abstract essay on prayer but the distilled pastoral advice of a spiritual father, given to real people over real difficulties, and then sorted by subject so that its cumulative wisdom can be read as a whole.

This origin explains both the book’s character and its scope. Because the counsel was given case by case, it is unfailingly concrete: it descends to how long to stand at prayer, what to do when prayer will not come, how to read Scripture, how to keep attention from wandering, how to hold to a rule without letting the rule become a dead form. And because the same questions recurred across many correspondents, the same themes are approached again and again from slightly different angles, so that a truth stated briefly in one place is unfolded more fully in another.

It is worth placing this book beside Theophan’s other, better-known treatments of prayer, for the corpus can seem to repeat itself. His four homilies on prayer set out, in the compact and shapely form of the pulpit, the ascent through the degrees of prayer—from prayer recited with the lips, to prayer attended to by the mind, to prayer that becomes unceasing in the heart. That ascent is present here too, and the book’s closing chapters state it plainly. But where the homilies teach the pattern from above, as a preacher laying out a map, this collection approaches it from below, as a director walking beside the traveler over the actual ground—telling him where to put his foot next. The homilies are the architecture; these letters are the daily construction. Readers who know the shorter works will find the doctrine familiar; what is distinctive here is its retail application, the sheer range of practical situations it addresses, and the intimacy of a teacher speaking not to a congregation but to one person at a time.

Argument & Structure

The material is organized as a graded course, moving outward from foundations to fine detail. It opens by asking what prayer is, and answers with the images that recur throughout Theophan’s teaching: prayer is the breathing of the spirit, the center of the Christian life, the barometer and thermometer by which the soul’s true condition is read. Set prayer right, he insists, and everything else will fall into order.

From this foundation the book turns to the ordinary supports of a praying life. Sections on the reading of Scripture and the holy books, and on the church services, treat prayer not as a private technique but as something nourished by the word of God and the common worship of the Church—with characteristically practical advice on how to read, what to read, and how to stand in church so that the services become prayer rather than mere attendance. A section on what hinders progress turns to the moral ground of prayer: idle talk, the neglect of the virtues, the subtle self-satisfaction that undoes everything, the need to keep one’s inner labor hidden.

The heart of the book concerns what is chief in prayer. Here Theophan presses his central conviction: that the essence of prayer is not the form of words but the turning of mind and heart toward God—attention, reverence, feeling, the warming of the heart into a steady flame. He returns repeatedly to the discipline of “walking before God,” the habitual awareness of God’s nearness that supports prayer at every hour. Around this center are gathered sections on the labor of prayer (the forcing of oneself, the long patience, the refusal to command God or to demand quick results), on attention (the unhurried recitation of words, the descent of the mind into the heart), and on praying amid many tasks, where prayer must be maintained in the midst of work.

The later sections descend to the concrete framework of a rule of prayer: how to keep a prayer rule, how to make prostrations, how to move from set prayers to praying in one’s own words, and how to compose a rule suited to one’s own life and strength. A section on spiritual sloth and coldness meets the discouragement that every praying person knows. The book closes with an extended body of counsel on the Jesus Prayer—its place and its power, and equally its dangers, for Theophan is emphatic that the prayer is safe and salutary in itself, while the artificial physical techniques sometimes attached to it are perilous. The final chapters draw the whole course together in his account of the degrees of prayer and the union of mind with heart.

Theological & Spiritual Significance

The lasting contribution of this book is its wholly practical, sober, and unromantic vision of the life of prayer. Theophan holds together two things that are easily set against one another: unremitting human labor and the free gift of grace. On the one hand he never tires of urging effort—force yourself, constrain yourself, pray for a long time, do not be lazy—and he compares learning to pray to learning to write: it comes only through disciplined practice against a model. On the other hand he insists just as firmly that the higher reaches of prayer cannot be manufactured. Deepened, unceasing, heartfelt prayer is grace, given in God’s own time to the one who has labored and waited with a pure conscience. Our part is the labor; the prayer itself is a gift. This balance guards the reader at once from despair and from presumption.

Equally significant is where Theophan locates the essence of prayer. It is not in the quantity of words, the length of the rule, or any bodily technique, but in the disposition of the heart—attention, contrition, reverent feeling, and above all the steady remembrance of God. From this flows his sharp and repeated warning against every “artificial” or mechanical method, and his careful teaching on spiritual delusion. He is a firm advocate of the Jesus Prayer as the great means of gathering the scattered mind toward God, yet he is at pains to define it soberly: in itself it is simply spoken prayer, a means and not a magic, and its fruit is God’s to give. This measured account has made him a trusted guide precisely on the terrain where enthusiasm most often goes astray. Because his counsel insists throughout that attentive, heartfelt prayer is the calling of every Christian and not of monastics alone, the book has served generations of ordinary readers as a safe and searching manual of the inner life.

Reception & Influence

Theophan’s authority on prayer did not rest on these letters alone. During his reclusion he gave the Russian Church one of its foundational gifts: a Russian rendering of the Philokalia, the great multi-volume anthology of the Fathers on the inner life, whose voices—Macarius, Isaac the Syrian, John Climacus, and others—stand behind the counsel in this book and are quoted in its notes. His own spiritual writings circulated widely in his lifetime and have never gone out of print, and this collection of his epistolary counsel on prayer has been reissued in numerous modern Russian editions, furnished with notes and an index for ordinary use. His canonization in 1988 confirmed a stature already long acknowledged: that of a trusted teacher of the interior life, valued especially for the balance and sobriety with which he handled the Jesus Prayer and the ascent to unceasing prayer—the very matters this book takes up. Through these letters he continues to serve as a spiritual director to readers he never met.

The Text & This Edition

This edition presents a fresh, modern English translation made from the Russian, prepared for today’s reader in clear contemporary prose. The base text is the public-domain Russian collection published on azbyka.ru under the title Kak nauchit’sya molit’sya (“How to Learn to Pray”)—the thematic anthology assembled from St. Theophan’s collected letters, the same body of counsel issued in modern Russian editions with explanatory notes and an index. (The work is filed under the source repository’s slug kak-nadobno-molitsja, which follows the online source’s address; the title given here follows the collection’s own.) The passages retain the editorial citations that identify the letter behind each entry, so the reader can always see that the counsel rests on a particular, concrete reply.

In keeping with the conventions of this series, the author is named as the Church has long received him—St. Theophan the Recluse—and those who rendered the text into English are credited as translators, never as authors. The translation aims to carry Theophan’s own register into English: direct, warm, occasionally blunt, and always practical. Chapter numbering and scriptural references are given in the modern Arabic style familiar to contemporary readers. Explanatory notes that stood in the source—identifying, for instance, a Church Slavonic term or a patristic quotation—have been preserved where they aid understanding. This is an English edition, meant to stand on its own; it does not set the Russian alongside the English, and it makes no claim to be a critical or scholarly recension of the original. Its purpose is the same as the letters’ own: to put St. Theophan’s counsel to work in the reader’s life of prayer.

Suggestions for Reading

Because the book grew from answers to particular questions, it does not need to be read straight through to be useful. A reader may follow the graded course from beginning to end, or may turn directly to the section that meets a present need—on keeping a rule, on distraction, on coldness and discouragement, on the Jesus Prayer. Either way it rewards slow reading. The passages are short by design, and many are best taken one at a time, held in mind through the day, and returned to. Theophan would ask of this book exactly what he asks throughout it of prayer: not that it be gotten through quickly, but that it be labored at, patiently and from the heart.

What is prayer

St. Theophan the Recluse

The author of this work on prayer.

Prayer is the Center of Christian Life

The work of prayer is the foremost work in Christian life. Prayer is the breathing of the spirit. Where there is prayer, the spirit lives; where there is no prayer, there is no life in the spirit.

(Letter 227. Vol. 2, p. 33)

Prayer is the work of all Christians. The work of prayer is not the work of the silent monks alone, but of all Christians—and this extends to the very highest degrees of prayer. All degrees of prayer are the work of God. With God, all are equal, and He looks only to the heart. As the heart is toward Him, so He is toward that heart, whatever heart it may be. The Lord said: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You (See: John 17:21).

This is about all Christians. The apostle also says: our life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).

(Letter 256. Vol. 2, p. 89)

Prayer as the Measure of Our Spiritual Being

I am very glad that all is going well with you, not in the monastery, but in your soul! For when there is prayer, nothing better is required. This is why it has been noted that the ancient monks, when they met with others—whether in mutual visits or elsewhere—first of all would inquire how prayer was going. In true prayer, all our highest relations to God are in action, and they ensure that at that time our spiritual life is in proper order. Prayer is a testimony to our spiritual being and the measure of it!

Why should it be surprising when we read that one of the saints rose to pray and did not depart, sometimes through the whole night and then into the day? Prayer lifted him into his native home, where the Father, Mother, brothers and sisters embrace him with full love and comfort and delight him. May the Lord grant you never to lose the structure of prayer within.

(Letter 542. Vol. 3, p. 242–243)

Prayer as Fruit and Attractor of the Spirit

The grace of the Holy Spirit is with us from the moment of Baptism and Chrismation. Church prayers, home prayers, the labors of ascetic practice and good deeds—develop this gift and give it room to act in us. The best means for this is prayer of the heart, which itself should be considered a fruit of the Spirit and at the same time an attractor of the Spirit. In this sense, the church’s prayer to the Holy Spirit is also an attractor of the Spirit.

(Letter 342. Vol. 2, p. 211; Letter 1340. Vol. 8, p. 95)

Prayer as a Spiritual Barometer

Prayer is a spiritual barometer and thermometer. Set it right, and all will go right.

(Letter 556. Vol. 4, p. 10)

Labor in Prayer

Labor in prayer. It is a source of consolation, enlightenment of thoughts, and the establishment of a good character.

(Letter 378. Vol. 3, p. 13)

Prefer nothing to prayer. Never oppose the movements of prayer nor prefer anything to it; rather, always be ready to offer everything to it in sacrifice. For it is a queen. And its point of support is a contrite spirit (Ps. 50:19).

(Letter 261. Vol. 2, p. 103)

On reading sacred books

On Reading the Gospel

Reading through the Gospel and other texts is good and very good. When a verse or thought strikes your soul, pause on it longer and call it to mind more often during the day, and expand those thoughts.

(Letter 947. Vol. 6, p. 23)

On the Same

It is good to read the Gospel and the Psalter. Do not set the book aside until you have gained some instruction or principle for life from it.

(Letter 1220. Vol. 8, p. 4)

How to Read the Divine Books

You ask for guidance on how to read the Gospel and the Apostle—chapter by chapter in order, or as the Church directs, by appointed sections.[1] Since you are already accustomed to reading in the church manner, continue doing so. If you read by sections, what is appointed for morning will be forgotten by evening; you could divide it: read the Gospel section in the morning and the Apostle section in the evening. To read chapter by chapter—that is quite a lot.

Strive to meditate and remember.[2] Instead of Thomas à Kempis, choose for reading another book by one of our writers. What such books do you have? Let us make a choice together. The lives of saints in the Menaion are good to read; though we cannot live as they do, we are obliged to imitate them in what is possible and even with effort.

One akathist is enough. But it is better to read the Akathist to the Mother of God. The Canon for the departure of the soul need not be included in your rule.

(Letter 487. Vol. 3, p. 154–155)

[1] Sections (zachala) divide the Church Slavonic text of the New Testament into parts similar to chapters and also have their own numbering. At each service, specific sections are read, whose numbers are indicated in the church calendar.

[2] Thomas à Kempis—a Catholic author who wrote the popular book of that time, The Imitation of Christ.

On the Same (11)

It is good to read akathists and canons as they are appointed. Look in the Followed Psalter, at the end. The cantor will help you. But do not take on too many. You can replace them all with prostrations and the Jesus Prayer. Consult about this too. And this is sometimes better.

The Gospel can be read sitting, but without diminishing reverence.

How much should you read from the Psalter? As much as your soul wishes. One kathisma, two, three, or several psalms.

To ‘sing psalms’ means to read them chanted, as for example they sing in church after ‘O Lord, I cry to You’ at Vespers.

(Letter 113. Vol. 1, p. 113)

How to Read the Psalms

If you want the psalms not to distract you, read a commentary on them and understand their meaning. Then never read many at once, and read slowly, pondering each word. When your heart is warmed by this, you can set aside the psalms. Remember the account of a certain elder who would read only the ‘Glory be’ and then go into the heart and into contemplation and pray in that way.

(Letter 908. Vol. 5, p. 184)

On Reading and Memorizing the Psalter

Memorizing the Psalter is a good deed. Fill yourself with prayerful thoughts and feelings. The holy fathers urged this on everyone. And they advised reading the psalms not only in prayer services, but also separately. You can read psalms even among your tasks, especially when you are moving from one place to another. But to maintain thoughts of God and feeling toward Him in the midst of work, it is best to become accustomed to a short prayer.

(Letter 947. Vol. 6, p. 23)

On Memorizing Psalms

You have memorized the Six Psalms and add: ‘I especially like the last two.’ This gives me the thought to propose to you: whenever you encounter a psalm that pleases you, memorize it. Then use them: whether at the time of your morning and evening standing before God in prayer and for the purpose of warming your prayerful spirit, or in the midst of your tasks—when you are walking, falling asleep, or waking; fill every idle moment with this reading. Look at the second psalm of the Third Hour and the third of the Sixth Hour.[1] They are similar to I lift up my eyes to the mountains (Ps. 120:1).[2]

(Letter 955. Vol. 6, p. 48)

[1] That is, Psalm 24 (To you, Lord, I lift up my soul) and Psalm 90 (The one who dwells in the help of the Most High).

[2] The Six Psalms—six psalms: 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, and 142, read at every evening service. It begins with the words: Lord, why have those who trouble me multiplied?

On Reading Canons

Should you read the canon to your guardian angel? Yes, read it. But when you are weak or have much to do, instead of reading the canon, offer a short prayer to him: ‘Holy angel of God, my guardian, pray to God for me, a sinner,’ 50 times with prostrations according to your will (that is, make either full bows or bows from the waist). With these short prayers you can replace all canons. But your attention should not be on the words alone, but together with corresponding thoughts and feelings.

(Letter 378. Vol. 3, p. 12–13)

Read for Edification

Regarding reading. To read for knowledge is one thing, and to read for edification is another. In the first case, much is read, but in the second you should not read much; rather, as soon as something from what you read strikes your heart, pause and think, trying both to understand and, more importantly, to root this thought deeply in your heart. This is the same as turning it into a subject for meditation on God. In this way you will nourish and grow your soul, not fill it like a sack.

(Letter 187. Vol. 1, p. 220)

What to Read About Prayer

On prayer, read the collection “On Sobriety and Prayer”: there is gathered everything the fathers have said about this. It is not bad to review those chapters in the book on spiritual struggle that speak about prayer.[1] And this much is quite sufficient. Better to labor in the practice of prayer than to speculate about it and read speculations. The matter is very simple.

(Letter 902. Vol. 5, p. 177)

[1] This refers to the book by Abbot Nikodim of Mount Athos, The Invisible Warfare (1st ed. Moscow, 1886), translated from Greek by St. Theophan the Recluse. All the books mentioned in this edition have been reprinted in recent times.

On church services

On the Importance of Going to Church

Going to church is the very best means for opening a prayerful spirit, whereby the heart cannot dare to harden.

(Letter 190. Vol. 1, p. 232)

Church prayer is better than domestic prayer. The church is your consolation. Thanks be to the Lord, who grants you to feel the blessing of remaining in church. Saint John of Gold-tongue recalls that one may pray at home too; but to pray as one does in church cannot be done at home.

(Letter 448. Vol. 3, p. 90)

Frequent the Temple of God

If you find it convenient, go to the temple of God frequently. Nowhere does the prayerful spirit open as it does in churches, through attentive and reverent presence in them. If you do this, you will soon see fruit, though not after the first or second visit to church. You must devote months and show constancy and patience in this labor.

But I add this also—do not bind yourself. Yet if you bind yourself to something, hold fast to it: for by this condition the fruitfulness of such a sowing is secured.

(Letter 191. Vol. 1, p. 234)

Come to Church as Often as You Can

In church you pray well and do not notice how the service goes on. That is good! If you can, come to church as often as you can. It is the true house of God, though made of bricks and mortar. The heart senses that it is in the house of the Father, and it is sweet to it. For the nurture of prayer, there is nothing better than going to church. At home, laziness overwhelms you, but there is no place for laziness there; for what else is there to do but pray?

(Letter 256. Vol. 2, pp. 92–93)

On the Importance of Church Services

You must stand through all church services. And I tell you, there is no better way to open prayer of the mind in the heart than to be in church, at the church services. In the church services is a prayerful spirit. Whoever stands through a service with attention to all that is read and sung cannot help but warm to a prayerful disposition. If this happens today, tomorrow, and the day after, and so on, then finally a prayerful flame will kindle in the heart. But when God grants this, then you will run to church as to a royal feast, and nothing will hold you back. Only try to pay attention to the church hymns and readings, for without attention nothing will happen.

(Letter 241. Vol. 2, p. 58)

How to Conduct Yourself at Church Services

On drowsiness at services. You must make an effort to overcome it through concentration of attention and prayer to the Lord precisely for this affliction, and the Lord will help.

How to conduct yourself at the Liturgy. Quicken your faith in the Mystery, awaken the fear of God, kindle hope for salvation, looking upon the Lord, who desires all to be saved (Compare: 1 Tim. 2:4) and calls all to this, and is both strict and most merciful. You must accustom yourself to these feelings and pray for their gift.

The liturgical prayers for Holy Communion, I think, are not sinful to complete, and not just once, but it seems better in a single sitting. But to read them in church is a bad habit: the church service demands its own attention.

The enemy stirs you to flee from church so that you might pray more earnestly in your cell. And so you both lose the church service and do not pray in your cell. You must stand through the church services and your rule with attention and feeling. Separately at home pray with noetic prayer. And you must stand through the church service with noetic prayer. All the content of the service is noetic. Pay attention, understand, and feel what is being sung and read, and behold—that is noetic prayer.

(Letter 242. Vol. 2, p. 59)

If We Do Not Hear or Understand the Church Service

In church, sometimes neither what is sung nor what is read is either heard or understood. In such a case, stand before the Lord and pray the Jesus Prayer. In church every action has its own meaning. Whoever follows this meaning with his understanding and comprehension will continually receive nourishing influences for the spirit from another world—and upon the conclusion of the service will leave the church as one leaves from a table richly and diversely laid out.

(Letter 113. Vol. 1, p. 113)

If We Cannot Attend Church Services

It is good to receive communion often, but how to arrange this—that is for you to see. Go to whatever church services your… occupation permits you to attend, and for those you cannot, make up for them at home by doing prostrations with the Jesus Prayer, as is also laid out in the Psalter of Daily Prayer.

(Letter 113. Vol. 1, p. 114)

What hinders progress in prayer

On Idle Speech

You cannot refrain from idle speech. Idle speech is the most destructive thing. Equal to it is the evil when one walks about without guarding one’s feelings. Both hinder progress in prayer very much. When the Jesus Prayer begins to be established in the heart, then the tongue will be bound. Reverence before the present Lord will bind it.

(Letter 896. Vol. 5, p. 166)

To Progress in Prayer One Must Adorn the Heart With Virtues

Know that to progress in prayer you must strive to adorn your heart with all virtues, especially: humility, contrition, obedience, and renouncement of your own will.

(Letter 377. Vol. 3, p. 11)

Beware of Turning Toward Righteousness

Most of all you must beware of turning toward righteousness. As soon as you begin to turn toward it, know that you have begun to step crooked. Take yourself by the legs then and drag yourself mercilessly back into sinfulness. I mean the sense of righteousness and the sense of sinfulness. The Lord receives only those who come to Him in the sense of sinfulness. From those who come to Him in the sense of righteousness, He turns away. He came to save sinners, not the righteous (See: Matt. 9:13). A broken and humbled heart God does not despise (Ps. 50:19). The worst thing of all is fullness. Full, one sprawls out and puffs. So it is spiritually.

Someone had the custom of asking: “When you go to prayer, do you go to collect a pension or to ask for alms?” A very instructive question.

(Letter 261. Vol. 2, pp. 102–103)

One Must Establish in Oneself the Thought of One’s Own Sinfulness

Labor to generate and establish in yourself the thought of your utter worthlessness and sinfulness, which stir up God’s wrath against you. And when you come to prayer, do not appear before the face of God in any other way than as such a… sinful, utterly worthless creature under God’s wrath. As soon as you receive this sense of your condition, you will not be able to refrain from crying out: “O Lord, save me, O Lord, help me speedily!”

Why does prayer go poorly? Because the need for God is not felt. “Well, we can manage all affairs and needs ourselves, right?” Pray so that God grants you such feelings. Without them you will perish.

(Letter 967. Vol. 6, p. 81)

Do Not Measure Yourself

You rightly do not give much weight to what you experience. Beginnings… how far still from the deed! And besides, you should not occupy yourself with yourself too much. The holy Fathers say: “Do not measure yourself.” The best measure for yourself is: “There is nothing. Lord, grant that I might make a good beginning! Lord, by whatever judgments you know, save me!” And drive away every thought of measuring yourself, but, forgetting what lies behind,—as if it never was—reach forward to what lies ahead (Compare: Phil. 3:13). The enemy prompts you to measure yourself so as to arouse self-conceit and spoil the whole work. Always say to yourself: “There is nothing, nothing to measure.”

(Letter 256. Vol. 2, p. 93)

One Must Write Down One’s Thoughts

In an hour of reflection or during prostrations—suddenly there will appear thoughts that are saving, or guiding, or clarifying; you must notice them and write them down.

(Letter 1458. Vol. 8, p. 197)

On thoughts born during prayer

You keep excerpts: good. It occurred to me to ask you: do thoughts come to you while reading or praying—good thoughts about the order of spiritual life? If they do, keep a notebook or small journal and write them down as they come, right then, without composing, but only expressing what came. Someone among the ascetics—I forgot who—never let them pass but always wrote them on the wall with charcoal. So write them down. Later you will sometimes leaf through them and thereby refresh good remembrances. I mean such thoughts as are born of themselves, occupy your attention, and stir the heart—good, edifying thoughts.

(Letter 730. Vol. 4, p. 218)

One Must Hide One’s Spiritual Labors

If you can, hide as much as possible your deeds in spiritual life, and reveal them not in glance, nor in speech, nor in other ways, but act simply. Only avoid empty chatter.

(Letter 488. Vol. 3, p. 156)

On the Same

Tears during prayer, both in church and at home, are beneficial. But you should not display them.[1] These are spiritual pearls, but from being shown they grow dull and lose their luster and worth. It is better to weep at home but hide tears in church, keeping in the heart a tearful disposition, or a spirit broken and a heart broken and humbled (See: Ps. 50:19). Strive always to maintain this.

(Letter 489. Vol. 3, p. 159)

[1] Margarite—pearl.

What is chief in prayer

Remember That the Lord is Near

The chief thing is to strive always to remember that the Lord is near and sees all—and hold yourself accordingly both outwardly and inwardly.

(Letter 487. Vol. 3, p. 155)

Infancy in Prayer

Infancy in prayer, like infancy in the whole spiritual disposition, is the very best attitude; guard it and ask the Lord not to let you lose this feeling. Children approach their father or mother and say nothing; they just cling to them—because it is sweet for them to be in their presence. Behave the same way: in the simplicity of your heart, always cling to the Lord.

(Letter 256, vol. 2, p. 89)

The Power is Not in the Form

The power is not in the form, but in the spirit of prayer. What you strive to feel in prayer is precisely what is suited to prayer. One of the fathers made the sense of standing condemned during the hour of prayer the very essence of prayer. Somewhere—I don’t remember where—there is a question written: “What is the best way to stand in prayer?”—and the answer: “Stand as if at the Judgment Seat, fixing your gaze on the lips of the Lord, from which is ready to come your final judgment: ‘Come’ or ‘Depart’” (Cf.: Mt 25:34,41). And cry out: “Lord, have mercy on me!” This is what happens with you. It seems to me further that with the single Jesus Prayer alone you can fulfill all your rule, only let it be not merely in words but also in deed (in mind and heart).

(Letter 1, vol. 1, p. 7)

On the Habit of Walking Before God

Prayer is an inward work. Everything that is done externally in prayer does not belong to the substance of the matter but is only external setting. Everything that appears good from this outwardness only seems good and is not truly so. Therefore you should not pay any attention to it.

What you are doing is better left alone. The chief thing in which you must exercise yourself is the remembrance of God, or walking in the presence of God. Strive to acquire the habit of always being in the consciousness and feeling that you are under the eye of God, which penetrates all the depths of your heart and sees all your inward movements.

The Jesus Prayer stands among the means for succeeding in the habit of walking before God.

Everything that needs to be known about practicing this prayer is found in the book on invisible warfare. Look there. The chief thing here is to stand with attention in your heart and cry out to the omnipresent Lord. It is better to stand than to sit. About breathing, the position of your head, and other such things, it is better not to think at all; turn all your attention instead to the inward state.[1]

The root of good inner state is the fear of God. You must make it constant. It will keep everything in tension and will not allow your body or thoughts to become slack, creating a vigorous heart and watchful mind.

But you must always remember and feel that success in spiritual life and in all its manifestations is the fruit of God’s grace. Spiritual life entirely comes from the Most Holy Spirit of God. We have our own spirit, but it is powerless. It comes into operation when grace overshadows it.

(Letter 895, vol. 5, p. 162–163)

[1] This refers to the book by Abbot Nikodim of Mount Athos, The Invisible Warfare.

Remember God

Suppose you came to an important person to ask something, and instead of making your request you walked through the rooms, looked at the walls, gazed out the windows, and so on. What would that person do, seeing you act this way? He would call a servant and order you to be shown out without honor. Exactly the same thing we do when we come to church for prayer and then dream about irrelevant things. Apply this to yourself: will you say it is nothing when you remember that you daydreamed almost the whole service? Do not oppose the thought; let it trouble you. Rather, strive with all your might to focus your attention so it does not wander from prayer and the service. And pray to the Lord for this, asking Him to help you.

For the mind not to wander during prayer, you must strive always to remember God: in work and in walking, at home and away, alone and with others. When you do this, you will maintain your focus on what is being done during prayer. Remember God and revere as you rise toward Him.

(Letter 1442, vol. 8, p. 172–173)

Standing in the Heart With Attention Before the Lord

The essence of prayer is noetic standing before the Lord with crying out to Him, in a feeling of either thanksgiving or praise or petition or contrition or fear or hope, or some other feeling belonging to the Lord—so that as soon as there is no feeling directed toward God, there is no prayer either. When someone is in feeling, he has no time to attend to external posture—neither the position of the whole body nor that of various parts such as the lips, tongue, or fingers. You must stand in the heart with attention, but not before your heart—before the Lord. If the Lord is not in your attention, then there is no prayer.

(Letter 899, vol. 5, p. 169–170)

Above All, Care for Prayer-filled Feelings

Is your prayer in its proper place? Prayer always serves as the expression of our relationship to God. When prayer is good—warm, fervent, attentive—then our relationship to God is good. Then everything is good. Strive to strengthen your prayer if it has grown weak. With the prayer word, above all care for prayer-filled feelings: faith, hope, thanksgiving, contrition, offering yourself to God’s will, and all the others.

When a prayer-filled feeling visits you, dwell on it and warm it as long as it remains in your soul. Call another when one departs. Do this the whole day. This will be unceasing prayer. Feeling sometimes comes by itself, and sometimes you must call it forth. How? By meditation on God, or reflection on all the mysteries of faith, especially the economy of salvation—and the end of all things. Walk through all these subjects often in thought—and something will surely fall into your soul. That is feeling. God bless you, Lord!

(Letter 1025, vol. 6, p. 177–178)

How to Keep Your Thoughts and Feelings Turned Toward God

Morning prayer is appointed precisely to establish in your consciousness and heart these two things: your thoughts and feelings toward God. And with them you then go out to your work and your tasks. If you raise this up in your soul in the morning, you have prayed correctly, even if you do not read all the prayers.

Suppose you prepared yourself this way in the morning and then went out to your work. From the first step, impressions from deeds and things and people will begin to distract your soul from God. What should you do? You must renew your thoughts and feelings by an inward turning of your mind and heart to God. And to make this easier—you must practice some short prayer and repeat it as often as possible. Any short prayer serves this purpose. But the most fitting of all prayers to the Lord Savior is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” Strive to practice it and do not stop until you master it. Once it has taken root, it will become a constant mover of standing before God in thought and feeling toward Him. Here is your whole program of prayer!

(Letter 947, vol. 6, p. 21)

On the Importance of Attention to God

I cannot give you a rule. But what is a rule for? Just fulfill the one given to you—that is all. To it add only this: whatever even slightly disturbs and weakens the action of attention to God, remove it without mercy. Do only what helps you maintain and strengthen it. Direct your reading, reflection, and prostrations toward this.

Every kind and every order of occupations is good as long as it promotes this. There is no need to outline specific occupations. As soon as one occupation does not nourish your prayer, you should abandon it and take up another. For example, you opened a book and started reading—it does not work. Leave it, take another. If that one does not work, take a third. If this one does not work either—stop reading and do prostrations, or meditate. You must have work that does not distract your attention. The ancient Egyptians sat at their work the whole day without leaving it even when someone came. They would only do prostrations at times. They performed their main prayer at night. One of them wrote: “Pray for two hours in the evening, then sleep six hours, then arise and pray until dawn.”

When attention to God is alive and prayer is happening inwardly, then it is better to do nothing (at home) but sit, or walk, or better yet, stand before the icons and pray. When your attention begins to weaken, warm it up by reading or reflection.

Rules are necessary for those entering the monastery so they become trained in monastic works or occupations. But later, when they reach inner sensations and especially the warmth of the heart, rules are not strictly necessary for them. In general, you should not become attached to rules but be free in your relationship to them, having only one intention: that reverent attention to God never departs from you.

(Letter 1458, vol. 8, p. 195–196)

The Path to a Prayerful State

All our relationships to God are marked by prayer. Everything, therefore, depends on prayer. Press on toward it.

Prayer is not only standing in prayer. Holding your mind and heart turned and directed toward God—this is already prayer, whatever posture you may be in. Your prayer rule goes one way, and this prayerful state goes another. The path to it is becoming accustomed always to remember God and the last hour, with Judgment following it. Order yourself thus and everything will go well. It means dedicating each inward step to God. And you must direct your steps according to the commandments. You know them. That is all! You can fit every situation under a commandment and inwardly dedicate to God what you do in it. So your entire life will be dedicated to God. What more is required? Nothing. You see how simple it is.

(Letter 255, vol. 2, p. 84)

How to Rise to God in Thoughts

You began to pray with short prayers and then stopped. If you had not stopped, the work would have gone far; now you must start again. True prayer is what comes directly from the heart and rises to God. And no other prayer is prayer if it is not such. This should be your entire concern in the work of prayer. But usually our mind is clogged with many non-divine thoughts, our will—with many worldly cares, our heart—with earthly sympathies and pleasures; therefore, to rise directly to God for us is like struggling out of quicksand. Little short prayers are a very helpful aid to this. They train the mind to hold to one thing; gradually they draw sympathy to their side and draw it away from cares. This action appears more strongly and quickly if you look over them with attention not only during your rule but at other times. The final fruit is the formation of a feeling toward God, which is inseparable from unceasing prayer, or is the same thing as it. Here there is a living union with God—the goal of spiritual life.

“Right after waking there is often a swift flood of thoughts and cares and sympathies.” You must destroy this and acquire the habit—to dedicate your first thought to God. This is done through meditation on God. This seems to have been discussed. Namely—go through all the holy truths according to the Creed, down to the General Judgment and the decision of the fate of all.

Please observe these two approaches, and all will be well. Add to this—turn from evil and do good in word, deed, and thought. That is the whole program.

Write this on a slip of paper and read it often: upon waking—meditation on God; then short prayers with attention and feeling, and throughout the day: turn from evil and do good (Cf.: Ps. 33:15). Do every deed—even the smallest—in the best way possible, as before the eye of God.

(Letter 192, vol. 1, p. 235–236)

Become Accustomed to Walking in the Presence of God

We have our Lord Savior, the Most Merciful One, always ready to help. Turn the eyes of your mind and heart toward Him. Cannot go to church? Pray at home.

Become accustomed to walking in the presence of God—that is, unceasingly to remember God, the omnipresent and all-seeing God, and to hold yourself in your thoughts, feelings, and deeds as you should before the eyes of God. Make this your only occupation until your consciousness merges with the thought of God. If you succeed in this, you will have no need of any other guidance. Fear of God will come and everything will begin to arrange itself.

Read the Gospel and the Epistles of the apostles, a little each day, with reflection and application to yourself.

Keep yourself strict; be merciful to others and humble yourself before everyone. Never offend anyone, and when you are offended, give thanks. Do not judge anyone; consider everyone holy while counting yourself alone as sinful.

(Letter 374, vol. 3, p. 8)

Acquire the Unceasing Habit of Standing Before the Lord

As I see it, your soul finds no peace. Why would it not find peace, working for the Lord, who is our peace? It seems you must decide this for yourself. When the soul is restless in the world, that is natural: the world cannot satisfy the spirit. But when someone begins to serve the Lord, he should taste peace right away, even if not complete. But you are troubled, and you have been on this path for a long time. So examine yourself and decide this. No one else can decide it for you.

You wrote that you stand for prayer, begin the Jesus Prayer—and then stop, considering yourself unworthy to stand noetically before the Lord. I do not understand what you mean. You must not only stand before the Lord when you pray, but always walk before Him as if looking into His face or being under His eyes. For that is exactly what it is. But you—just when your thought stands before the Lord, you run away.

If the Lord forbade coming before Him, certainly there would be something sensible in your action; but when the Lord Himself draws near (See: Lam. 3:57), requires all to draw near to Him (See: James 4:8), what sense does your action have? You have written this a second time. Please stop this and strive to acquire the unceasing habit of standing before the Lord. From the moment you wake until you fall asleep, and all through the time with fear and trembling and all your attention, both to yourself and to the Lord.

(Letter 774, vol. 5, p. 33–34)

The Labor of Remembering God

God Himself plants the remembrance of God in the soul. But for this the soul must itself labor and exhaust itself. Strive with all your strength, forcing yourself toward unceasing remembrance of God. And God, seeing how earnestly you desire this, will give you remembrance of Himself. Brief little prayers are very helpful for our own labor in remembering God. Prayers—any you wish: “Lord, have mercy on me! Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me!” and others. Any will do. Use whichever appeals to you most.

(Letter 955, vol. 6, p. 47–49)

The Chief Thing in Prayer—feeling Toward God

The prayer you perform—inward, from the soul, from yourself, according to your feeling of spiritual needs more than any other—this is genuine prayer. And do continue to labor in this kind of prayer more than in any other. The essential thing in prayer is feeling toward God from the heart. The words of prayer, when there is such feeling—will arrange themselves. Feeling toward God without words is prayer. Words support and sometimes deepen that feeling.

(Letter 516. Issue 3, p. 205)

On the Inner Fire

Your first question about that little flame, what is it?—Answer: When God grants it, then you will know. Without tasting the sweetness of honey, one cannot know what that sweetness is. So it is here too! It is revealed by constant feeling toward God.

You explained well with the burning glass how the inner fire is kindled. Do it that way.

How to stand before the Lord with mind and heart?—As one stands before a ruler, so here too one must. The prophet speaks: I have set the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand and so forth (Ps. 15:8). In the present state, this foreseeing appears already upon receiving the fire.

To ask for this gift is not contrary to God’s will. That with some this ended badly—grace is not to blame, but the one who received it and did not preserve it.

You ask: ‘Is this not the flame, when you stand at prayer with reverence and feeling of your own nothingness?’—This is connected with the flame; but the flame is inseparable from it. The flame comes without contrivance. And almost always through the mysteries of confession and holy communion.

(Letter 913. Issue 5, p. 193)

On the Burning of the Heart Toward the Lord

If your heart grows warm at the reading of your usual prayers, then by this method kindle the warmth of your heart toward God. The Jesus Prayer, if you perform it mechanically, gives nothing, like any other prayer spoken by the tongue alone.

Try, during the Jesus Prayer, to think more vividly that the Lord Himself is near, stands before your soul, and listens to what happens in it. Awaken in your soul a thirst for salvation and confidence that from no one but the Lord can we expect salvation. Then cry out to Him, mentally beholding Him before you: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner’ or: ‘Merciful Lord, save me by whatever means you know.’ The matter is not in the words at all, but in the feelings toward the Lord.

Spiritual burning of the heart toward the Lord is love for Him. It is kindled by the touch of the Lord to the heart. As He is all love (1Jn 4:8,16), the touch of Him to the heart at once kindles love for Him. And from this love comes the burning of the heart toward Him. This is what should be the object of your seeking. The performance of the Jesus Prayer is only an instrument for this, or rather, only the labor that shows the strong desire of the soul to find the Lord.

Let the Jesus Prayer be on your tongue, the foreseeing of the Lord before you in your mind, and a thirst for God, or communion with the Lord, in your heart. When all this is constant, then the Lord, seeing how you are striving, will grant what is asked.

Do arrange all this, take it as your guide, and read it more often so as to refresh in your memory how you ought to act.

(Letter 339. Issue 2, p. 208–209; Letter 1338. Issue 8, p. 93–94)

On Reverence and the Fear of God

This brother said he does not even understand what reverence and fear of God are. This is very bad. Who can stand before a king without fear?! And all the more before God?! In Kiev, in the Lavra, there was a brother who used to say: ‘Look, don’t get too familiar with God.’ Is not this the trouble with that brother? It is no wonder that the fruit of his prayer is determined only by warmth and sweetness. This is spiritual sensuality. The main thing is fear of God and a broken spirit. Warmth and sweetness are good in spiritual work, but one must not measure the worth of spiritual deeds by them.

(Letter 902. Issue 5, p. 176)

Never Approach God Carelessly

When circumstances do not allow you to perform your prayer rule in full, perform it in abbreviated form. But you should never hurry. God is everywhere. Say thanks to Him in the morning and ask His blessing in your own words, make a few prostrations—and that is enough! Never approach God carelessly. Always do so with great reverence. He needs neither our prostrations nor our many words. A short and powerful cry from the heart—that is what reaches Him! And this can be done while going about your business. And consequently, you can pray unceasingly. Care about this and direct everything toward it.

Saint Epiphanius was asked: ‘How should we keep the canonical hours?’ Hours?! There are no special hours for prayer: it must be at all hours and all moments. Saint Basil the Great was asked: ‘How do we pray unceasingly?’ He answered: ‘Hold a prayerful disposition in your heart, and you will pray unceasingly. Work with your hands, but lift your mind to God.’ The apostles went throughout the whole earth—how much labor! And meanwhile they prayed unceasingly. And they wrote this commandment. It is the spirit of faith, hope, and surrender to God’s will—this is what you must kindle in the heart.

(Letter 250. Issue 2, p. 78–79)

The Test of All Prayer

As for your inner state, I see nothing improper in it. That there is sweetness and warmth, and desire to withdraw from all else, and fear of something breaking such a state—all this is in order. Are you afraid of falling into spiritual sensuality? How could that reach you?! For prayer is not performed for the sake of sweetness, but because it is our duty to serve God in this manner; sweetness is a necessary accompaniment of true service. Moreover, in prayer the chief thing is standing before God with your mind in the heart, with reverence and fear that sobering and dispelling all conceit and planting grief before God in the heart. These feelings—fear of God and grief, or a broken and humbled heart (Ps. 50:19)—are the chief marks of true inner prayer and the test of all prayer, by which we must judge whether our prayer is proceeding in proper order or not. When they are present—prayer is in order. When they are absent—it is not in order, and you must bring it into proper form. Without them, sweetness and warmth can breed self-conceit, and this is spiritual pride, and this will be pernicious spiritual delusion. Then sweetness and warmth will depart; memory of them alone will remain, yet the soul will still think it has them. Fear this and all the more kindle fear of God, humility, and tearful turning to God, walking always in God’s presence. This is the chief thing!

(Letter 291. Issue 2, p. 145–146)

What Should Be Sought Through Prayer

What should be sought through prayer is the establishment in the heart of a quiet but warm feeling toward God that never departs; not to desire ecstasies and special movements, but when God sends special prayerful feelings, to give thanks for them, not to claim them as your own, and not to grieve when they depart as if over some great loss, but always to humbly descend from them to the quiet feeling toward the Lord.

(Letter 929. Issue 5, p. 216)

The Chief Thing in Prayer is the Arising of Reverent Feelings

To stand before an icon and make prostrations is not yet prayer, but only an aspect of prayer; to read prayers—from memory, from a book, or to listen to them—is not yet prayer, but only an instrument of prayer or a means of its expression and awakening. Prayer itself is the arising in our heart, one after another, of reverent feelings toward God: feelings of self-abasement, surrender, thanksgiving, glorification, petition, contrition, obedience to God’s will, earnest turning to Him, and the like.

All our care here should be that during our prayer these and such feelings fill our soul—so that the heart is not empty. When these feelings or some one of them, directed toward God, are in it, then our prayer-words are prayer; when they are absent—they are not yet prayer.

(Letter 227. Issue 2, p. 33–34)

On Prayer With Feeling

That you strive to understand each word when you pray and to pronounce the prayer with feeling—this is the essence of prayer, and keep forcing yourself to always do it this way. But when you pray with feeling, where else is your attention but in the heart? Feeling always draws attention to itself. In the head is a crowded marketplace. There one cannot pray to God.

That sometimes prayer goes well and flows by itself—this is a good sign. It means it has begun to take root in the heart. Guard your heart from attachments, try to remember God, holding Him before you and acting in His presence, help those in need and want—and your prayer will soon take wing. That it disappears and leaves coldness—grieve over this. Be contrite and pray to God and the Theotokos that they not allow warm prayer to depart.

True prayer is a gift of God! So pray about this. Cooling is preceded by the heart becoming attached to something, being troubled by something, becoming angry and judging, being discontent and indulging the flesh, selfindulgent pleasure, and scattering of thoughts! Guard yourself from this, and there will be fewer times of cooling. God bless your labors over yourself!

Heart! But where is life if not in the heart?

(Letter 602. Issue 4, p. 78–79)

One Must Develop Prayer of the Heart

Prayer of the heart is never premature. It is the beginning of the matter. By establishing it in the heart, God’s work ripens. You must develop it, sparing no labor. God, seeing the labor, gives what is sought. True prayer does not make itself: it is a gift of God. Ask, and you will receive (Matt. 7:7).

That you have not used an artistic method of instilling prayer—this is no loss. That method is not necessary: without it one can manage. The position of the body is not the main thing, but the inner structure. Everything is this: to stand with attention in the heart and to look to God or cry out to Him. I have never yet met anyone who approves of that artistic method. Metropolitan Ignatius and Father Makarius of Optina do not approve of it either.

That you have repentant feelings in prayer and tears—this is genuine work. Without repentant feelings—prayer is not prayer. Write it off as if it did not happen. Prayer without these feelings is like a dead miscarriage. So say the holy fathers. And tears—stoke them. Train yourself to wail over yourself as over a dead one—and with the proper words. For the chief thought, or the place where you should mentally hold yourself, is the hour of judgment, or that moment when God is ready to say: ‘Come’ or ‘Depart!’ O Lord, save us! And how not to weep, unable to say with certainty that He will not say: ‘Depart’?

(Letter 256. Issue 2, p. 93–94)

How to Teach the Soul to Turn Often to God

Having grown accustomed with your mind and heart to turn to God with outside help—through prayer books—it is then necessary to make attempts at your own drawing toward God, so that the soul itself, so to speak, in its own words enters into prayerful conversation with God, rises up to Him and reveals itself to Him and confesses what is in it and what it desires. And you must teach the soul this. What should be done to succeed in this science?

And the habit, with reverence, attention, and feeling, of praying from prayer books itself leads to this; for from a heart filled by means of prayers with holy feelings, of itself will begin to pour forth its own prayer to God. But there are also special rules for this, leading to the proper success in prayer.

The first method of teaching the soul to turn often to God is meditation on God, or reverent reflection on the divine attributes and acts: reflection on God’s goodness, justice, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience—on creation and providence, on the arrangement of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ—on grace and the word of God, on the Holy Mysteries, on the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever one of these matters you begin to reflect upon, this reflection will necessarily fill the soul with reverent feeling toward God: it directly directs all the being of a person to God and therefore is the most direct means to teach the soul to rise to God. Having finished your prayers, especially in the morning, sit down and begin to reflect—today on one divine attribute or act, tomorrow on another—and produce in your soul the corresponding disposition. Say with Saint Demetrius of Rostov: ‘Come, holy meditation, and let us plunge into reflection on the great deeds of God’—stir your heart thereby, and you will begin to pour out your soul in prayer. Little effort, but much fruit. Only desire and determination are needed. Suppose you begin to reflect on God’s goodness—you will see that you are surrounded by God’s mercies both physically and spiritually—and you will fall before God in an outpouring of grateful feelings; suppose you reflect on God’s omnipresence—you will understand that you are everywhere before God and God is before you—and you cannot but be filled with reverent fear; suppose you think about God’s justice—you will be convinced that no evil deed will go unpunished—and you will surely resolve to cleanse all your sins through heartfelt contrition before God and repentance; suppose you reflect on God’s omniscience—you will know that nothing in you is hidden from the eye of God—and you will surely resolve to be strict with yourself and attentive in all things, so as not somehow to offend the all-seeing God.

The second method of teaching the soul to turn often to God is to offer every deed—great and small—to the glory of God.[1] For if we make it our rule, by the apostle’s commandment, to do everything, even eating and drinking, to the glory of God, then we will certainly—with each deed—remember God, and remember not simply, but with fear: lest we not act rightly in any case and offend God with some deed. This will make us turn to God with fear and prayerfully ask for help and understanding. And since we are almost constantly doing something, we will almost constantly turn prayerfully to God; and, consequently, almost constantly practice the science of mental turning to God in the soul. Thus we will teach the soul to turn as often as possible during the day to God.

The third method of teaching the soul to turn often to God is frequent cries from the heart to God during the day with brief words, according to the needs of the soul and present circumstances. When you begin something—say: ‘Lord, bless!’ When you finish a deed—not with the tongue only, but with the heart’s feeling say: ‘Glory be to You, Lord!’ When some passion rises—say: ‘Save me, Lord, I am perishing!’ When darkness of troubled thoughts comes—cry: ‘Bring my soul out of prison!’ When unrighteous deeds stand before you and sin draws you to them—pray: ‘Guide me, Lord, on the path’ or: ‘Let not my feet be troubled.’ When sins weigh you down and draw you into despair—cry out in the voice of the publican: ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner.’ And so in every circumstance. Or simply speak more often: ‘Lord, have mercy! Theotokos, save me! Holy angel of God, my guardian, protect me!’ Or cry out with some other words. Only—as much as possible—make these cries more often, striving in every way for them to come from the heart, as if wrung from it. When we do this—there will be frequent mental ascents from the heart to God—frequent turnings to God—frequent prayer; and this frequenting will give us the habit of mental conversation with God.

So, besides the prayer rule, to teach the soul to rise to God in prayer, there exist also three methods that introduce into the prayerful spirit. These are: devote some time in the morning to meditation on God—offer every deed to the glory of God, and—turn often to God with brief cries. When in the morning meditation on God is well done—it will leave a deep disposition toward thinking about God. Thinking about God will cause the soul to perform every action—both inner and outer—carefully and to the glory of God; and both will place the soul in such a position that from it brief prayerful cries to God will often pour forth. These three: meditation on God, performing everything to the glory of God, and frequent cries are the most effective instruments of noetic and heartfelt prayer. Each one of them raises the soul to God. Whoever has resolved to practice them will soon acquire the habit of placing ascents in their heart to God. Separated from earth, the soul will enter its own realm and will dwell sweetly on high—here heartfelt and mentally, and there—and essentially will be worthy to remain before the face of God.

(Letter 227. Issue 2. p. 37–40)

[1] See: Whether you eat or drink, or do anything else, do all things for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31)

Meditation on God or the Jesus Prayer

You can replace meditation on God with the Jesus Prayer, but what need is there? They are one and the same. Meditation on God is the holding in the mind of some truth: the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, omnipresence, and so forth, without any particular direction of the mind.

(Letter 113. Issue 1, p. 114)

On the labor of prayer

Force Yourself to Pray

It was a law with the holy fathers: to compel yourself to pray—at home, in church, and while doing your work, on walks, and in every moment free from all else. That is all you need to know about prayer.

(Letter 915. Issue 5, p. 196)

When Prayer Does Not Go Well

What should you do when prayer doesn’t come to mind? If it’s a prayer said at home, then you can put it aside for a little while—for a few minutes. If it still doesn’t come, force yourself to carry out your prayer rule forcefully, straining to understand what is being said and to feel it. It’s like how a child who doesn’t want to bow is taken by the hair and bent down.

(Letter 113. Vol. 1, p. 112)

Pray More Frequently and More Earnestly

You have a disposition toward prayer… Give thanks to the Lord. And be so kind as to satisfy yourself according to your strength and beyond your strength—both in church and in your cell.

You wish to learn prayer… Pray more frequently and more earnestly—and you will learn. Nothing else is required. If you labor with patience, then in time unceasing prayer will be born in you. Set this as the goal of your seeking and seek. The Lord is near. Keep the remembrance of God and always strive to look upon the Lord before you and to hold yourself in reverence before Him.

(Letter 496. Vol. 3, p. 168)

Constrain Yourself by Force to Stand Before God

All learning is a chilling thing. From this there is no exception, even theological science, although here the subject, while chilled by the way the subject is treated, can sometimes unwittingly fall upon the heart anyway. Learning is of the soul’s nature, but prayer is of the spirit. Therefore they are not in harmony with one another. And as for the concerns of daily life, there’s no need even to speak of it, especially if someone has, unfortunately, an anxious disposition.

Can’t you set aside at least half an hour in the morning and evening for detached meditation on God and prayer? Constrain yourself by force to stand before God without distraction, even without reading prayers, but with one cry alone: “Lord of mercy, have mercy on my soul!” And it’s good to make prostrations. May the Lord grant you wisdom!

(Letter 277. Vol. 2, p. 130)

On Mercilessness to Oneself and Complete Surrender to God

Be so kind as to keep in mind that the Lord, our Savior, is the teacher of all good. If you will surrender yourself to the Lord with all your soul, then He Himself will teach you, either through your guardian angel, the entire doctrine of Christianity.

Mercilessness to oneself, readiness for any service to others, and complete surrender to the Lord with prayerful abiding in Him—these are the producers of spiritual life.

(Letter 1458. Vol. 8, pp. 197–198)

Strive to Form a Wound in Your Heart

When prayer comes not gathered and the soul is cold, you should not set a limit or end to it. As fallen beings, we have grown cold, and it takes a long time for us to rub ourselves to warm up. Labor is therefore unavoidable. And if it continues constantly and wisely, it is always crowned with success—not from us, but from the mercy of God, which has no end.

Whether the Jesus Prayer or some other short prayer—it’s a good thing if it sticks to the tongue. Just take care that your attention is not in the head but in the heart, and be there not only during time of prayer but at all times. Strive to form a wound of sorts in your heart… Constant labor will soon accomplish this. There’s nothing special about it. It’s a natural thing (the wound shows itself as a kind of ache). But from this too there will be more gathering of attention. And the chief thing is that the Lord, seeing the labor, grants help and His grace-filled prayer. Then right order will come into the heart.

(Letter 326. Vol. 2, pp. 198–199; Letter 1233. Vol. 8, p. 14)

You Must Pray for a Long Time

“I can’t pray for a long time.” But how, then, did the apostle command: Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17)?!

Remembrance of God with fear of God, love for God with hope, and surrender to God’s will make up the inner religious life. Whoever has this in motion is always with God. And for him it is not tedious to pray for a very long time.—You have a seed of this in the fact that you turn to God for help in every circumstance and then give thanks. Develop this—ever wider and wider.

(Letter 957. Vol. 6, p. 56)

If You Are Tired Toward Evening

How can one be bored with the Lord? And how can one even desire some kind of diversion?

And you don’t pray. This means you’re angry at the Lord, or self-satisfaction has taken hold of you. You’re satisfied!—And you don’t want to ask.

When you grow weary toward evening, begin to pray kneeling or even sitting, and then standing. But you must still pray. Give thanks to the Lord for the day, ask for a good night, confess the wrongs done.

(Letter 1269. Vol. 8, p. 38)

How to Learn to Pray

You wanted to study noetic prayer. Good! But what kind of prayer did you have before?! Prayer by its very nature is a noetic activity,—and if you were not praying noetically, then you were not praying at all.—But I will tell you that there is no one who does not pray noetically. Everyone prays noetically. Everyone, when they pray, mentally represents God as present and speaks their needs to Him. Even when reading prayers, everyone strives mentally to be raised up to God. If something should be said, it is that they do this imperfectly, not continuously, even during prayer, and chiefly—without feeling. Thus your desire will be: how to attain perfection in prayer—noetically raised up to God? The answer to this is: seek, and you will find (Matt. 7:7).

How did you learn to write?! By the labor of writing with the desire to write correctly according to models. Do the same in prayer—and you will learn. Prayer doesn’t come by itself; you must study.

First. Accustom yourself to walk in God’s presence, before God’s eyes with the feelings that correspond to this.

Second. Whenever you have the chance, make prostrations with feelings of contrition and humility.

Third. Read all the books about prayer—and meditate upon it.

Fourth. Above all, strive with all your might to conduct church services with remembrance of God,—and then your home rule as well.

You must rub the soul, and it will warm up. When warmth comes, then the thoughts will settle,—and prayer will become pure.

But all is from God’s grace. That is why you must pray to the Lord that He give you prayer.

(Letter 311. Vol. 2, pp. 174–175; Letter 1457. Vol. 8, pp. 194–195)

You Must Pester the Lord

But over everyone stands one sin: they make a bow or two and demand of the Lord, bring it here, put it there. If it is not given according to their desire—they raise a murmur and curse God’s providence. Thus they receive nothing. This—bring it here, put it there—means commanding God. You shouldn’t do that; rather, like this: “Lord, You see that I need this and that, that this and that weighs upon me. Help me and arrange me as Your holy will is pleased, not as my will desires!”

Having set yourself in this way, you must pray for a long time—not a long time all at once, but a long time over time: now, tomorrow, a week, a month, a year. Keep crying and crying: “Lord, deliver! Lord, help! But yet not my will, but Yours be done!” Thus the Lord spoke in the Garden of Gethsemane (See: Matt. 26:39), and the widow in the parable pestered the judge—and received what she asked for (See: Luke 18:1–8). Among the saints there is such a saying: “you must pester the Lord and His saints.”

(Letter 1428. Vol. 8, pp. 163–164)

Unceasing Prayer—a Gift of Grace

But there is unceasing prayer, which continuously goes out to God from the heart. This is a gift of grace. Saint Macarius the Great says: “Pray and labor in prayer, and God, seeing how earnestly you desire to pray, will give you prayer”9.[1] In the Slavic Philokalia, Elder Maximus of Kapsokalyvia speaks of himself, saying that for two years he prayed to the Mother of God that She give or obtain prayer for him. “Once,” he says, “as I, having prayed, kissed the icon of the Mother of God, suddenly a sweet flame descended into my heart and from that time it has glowed there”10. Behold a gift of prayer! Seek it yourselves and in prayer with words express that prayer, holding in mind the prayer of which Maximus speaks.[2] Sometimes it happens that this flame descends at the time of priestly absolution at confession, sometimes at communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. By all means seek it. But keep the labor of prayer as it is, striving in every way to stir up your feeling toward God.

(Letter 516. Vol. 3, pp. 205–206)

[1] Cf.: Abbot Makarios the Egyptian. Spiritual Homilies. Klin, 2001. Homily 19, 3. P. 174.

[2] Cf.: From the Life of the Venerable Father Maximus of Kapsokalyvia. On Noetic Grace-filled Prayer // The Philokalia: In 5 Vols. Moscow, 2003. (reprint). Vol. 5. P. 511. St. Theophan refers not to the Russian but to the Slavonic Philokalia for the reason that the 5th volume of the Russian Philokalia appeared in 1889, whereas the letter 516 cited here was written by him in 1888. The Russian five-volume Philokalia we know is the fruit of the great ascetic labor of St. Theophan himself.

A Pure Conscience and Labor Are Needed

Why then do you whimper?! In your prayer order everything is in order: there is nothing to add. Keep it as it has been established and wait for God’s mercy. Deepened prayer, unceasing prayer and other manifestations of prayerful grace—all come from grace. Ours is labor—within our strength, but whole-hearted and constant. The sought-for prayer—is grace. The time will come and it will be given. You need only not neglect it, seek with all your heart and employ all that is possible. But the chief thing—a pure conscience. For the grace of prayer is the grace of sincere communion with God. With God, into communion nothing unclean can enter. Thus prepared and laboring as you labor, wait—and it will come. And when? When it comes, then it will come.

I suspect you don’t have Macarius the Great. Obtain it. It will be very helpful to you in clarifying the point that all comes from God, but according to our labors. Without labors, nothing will come. And labors alone—nothing. Both are needed. It’s the same as air and lungs. Set the lungs in motion, and air enters. Stop—and it won’t enter.

(Letter 775. Vol. 5, p. 35)

On Prostrations, Attention, and Church Services

“Should you determine yourself by the quantity of prayers and prostrations or care more about attention?” Without attention prayer is not prayer. Consequently, this is the chief thing. But with this you must also determine the quantity of prayers and prostrations by rule. This is for home prayer. Best of all for success in prayer is to go to church for all services and there strive to be in reverent prayer. Look in the Slavic Philokalia at the account of Maximus of Kapsokalyvia and imitate him. When you receive what he received, then you will have true prayer.—Lying on your side, you will gain nothing.

(Letter 898. Vol. 5, pp. 168–169)

Prayer Never Goes to Waste

Prayer never goes to waste, whether the Lord grants the petition or not. Out of ignorance we often ask for what is unhelpful and harmful. By not granting it, God gives something else for the labor of prayer, unnoticed by us. That is why the saying, “See how you pray to God, and what did you get?”—is senseless. The one praying asks good for himself, pointing to it. Seeing that what is asked will not lead to his good, God does not grant the petition and thereby does good: for if He granted it, it would be bad for the petitioner.

Take heed how carefully you walk (See: Eph. 5:15) in the midst of this evil age!

(Letter 1406. Vol. 8, p. 146)

The Chief Thing—do Not Be Lazy and Always Pray From the Heart

Beyond this, settle all your questions about prayer however you wish. Only require that you not be lazy and that prayer always come from the heart.

(Letter 917. Vol. 5, p. 199)

On attention

For Success in Prayer You Must Attend to Yourself

You must establish the conviction that God sees and hears all, and knows all the secrets of our hearts.[1] Therefore you must attend to yourself and reject all evil; as soon as it breaks through in your thoughts or feelings, cast it out immediately, and at once repent and ask forgiveness.

(Letter 377. Vol. 3, p. 11)

You must drive away extraneous thoughts. Your prayer rule is good. Only strive always to pray from the heart; and for the heart there is this law: a contrite and humble heart God will not despise (Ps. 50:19).

Your prayer is disrupted by thoughts. Have you noticed this?! Now try to correct it. The first step toward this is: when approaching prayer, stir up in yourself the fear of God and reverence; then place your attention in the heart and from there cry out to the Lord.

And extraneous thoughts will come; as soon as you notice them, drive them away. They’ll come again, drive them away again. And so it goes. Do not allow your tongue to recite the prayer while your thoughts wander who knows where—always drive them away and pray.

You must labor and ask the Lord to help you overcome your thoughts. Do you have a collection of the fathers’ teachings on prayer?[2] Read and reflect on them, apply them to yourself. Labor tirelessly at this, and God, seeing your effort, will give you what you seek. Toil earnestly, but do not think you yourself can succeed in anything without God’s special help. Cry out to Him for it more often.

(Letter 488. Vol. 3, p. 155–156, 157)

[1] Otrevat’—to deny, to cast aside.

[2] Most likely, St. Theophan has in mind the book Holy Patristic Teachings on Prayer and Watchfulness, or Attention in the Heart to God, and an Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer in the Words of the Holy Fathers. 1st ed. Moscow, 1881; 2nd ed. Moscow, 1889. The name of the compiler of this book is not given, but it is known that it was St. Theophan himself. In recent times the book has been reprinted under the title The Holy Fathers on Prayer and Watchfulness.

On the Same Subject

When thoughts come during prayer, you must drive them away; they come again—drive them away again, and so it goes. Only do not yield to them; as soon as you notice them, expel them. This is the ascetic labor of watchfulness. Strive so that your heart is in some state of religious feeling: when the heart is in feeling, thoughts do not disturb, and all circle around the feelings.

(Letter 489. Vol. 3, p. 159)

Always Strive to Pray Well

When sometimes a wicked thought flies through your head—that is the enemy’s arrow. The enemy shoots it when he wishes to draw your attention away from prayer and occupy it with something unholy. If your attention dwells on that thought, then the enemy will come near and begin to build all sorts of stories in your head to defile your soul and kindle some evil passionate feelings. There is one law: turn your attention back from the evil to the good as quickly as possible and fix it there.

Nothing is hidden from God; He sees all. And He hears every prayer, but He answers it not according to our wish, but as is saving for us. Pray more and always strive to pray well, and you will learn to pray.

(Letter 472. Vol. 3, p. 116)

The Mind Must Be Kept in the Heart

That your mind wanders away—that is not right. You must hold it and bring it into accord with your heart, or enclose it in the heart. Take your attention into the heart and, not going out from there, pray to the Lord as you wish—even without words, with only a turning to God that is contrite and humble. Stay there without leaving. When there is this movement in the heart and you are alone—leave everything and pray, whether sitting or standing, but pray intently there in your heart. So continue until the feeling evaporates.[1] This is written somewhere, it seems, in the Ladder. If this happens when others are present, you must still pray—but you should not make outward displays of your prayer.

Know that attention must never leave the heart. But the work in the heart is sometimes only noetic—accomplished by the mind—and sometimes spiritual, that is, both begun and continued with warm feeling. This is a law not only for hermits, but for all who must present themselves to God with a pure heart and labor before His face—that is, for all Christians. The mind grows tired of speaking the prayer word. Pray then without words—casting yourself before the Lord mentally in your heart and surrendering yourself to Him. This will be prayer itself; words are only its expression, and they are always weaker than prayer itself before God.

(Letter 256. Vol. 2, p. 92)

[1] See: St. John, Abbot of Mount Sinai. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Sergiev Posad, 1908. Sermon 28, 11, 49. Pp. 234, 239.

You Must Return Your Attention

Should you continue reciting the prayer when your attention has drifted away? You must bring your attention back and continue with attention. You should not break off. But here is a new rule that will save you from distraction of attention, because it will constantly offer new prayer thoughts and sustain your attention. If even this does not help, it means you truly do not wish to save your soul and are unwilling to compel your soul to anything. But the kingdom of God is taken only by those who force themselves (Cf.: Matt. 11:12).

(Letter 967. Vol. 6, p. 83)

Keep Your Attention on the Words of the Prayer

To pray with thought for what the words of the prayer say—is indeed prayer, only limping on one leg. Prayer ceases to be prayer when attention turns away from the words of the prayer. When consciousness is present during prayer—this is prayer, even though unsatisfactory. Feeling will come, but you must also strive for it. It is better to do this through reflecting on the content of prayers outside the time of prayer, and then during the prayer itself stir up your heart. Even better is to ask God Himself that He always warm your heart.

Do also this: when you have gone through all the truths, linger on the last point—the Judgment and the judgment’s decision—awaiting the pronouncement: “Come” or “Depart.” And in that position cry out: “Lord, have mercy!” For once the Lord decides, no one can change it.

(Letter 615. Vol. 4, p. 89)

The Purpose of Short Prayers

That you cannot manage a short prayer—nothing to worry about. It will come in time. Your frequent turning to God during the day, in every activity and after each task, is very good. This is part of the general law—walking before God. Short prayers have the same purpose. In them sacred words express what you express in your own words. But the higher purpose of the short prayer is the focusing of thought and feeling toward God. What you experience in these invocations—scatters at first impression; moreover, despite the invocations, thoughts buzz in your head like flies. To cut short this buzzing, you must bind your mind to one thought, or the thought of the One. The short prayer is a help for this. With its aid the mind becomes simple, unified, and awakens or develops feeling toward God.

When this feeling comes—the soul is established in consciousness of God and begins to do everything in God’s way. With the short prayer you must hold the thought of God and attention to Him. But to limit yourself only to the words is a sounding gong (Cf.: 1 Cor. 13:1).

(Letter 957. Vol. 6, p. 55–56)

On Prostrations and Distraction

During the prayer rule you must exert yourself.[1] In the monastery of Saint Sabas they make a bow at each Jesus Prayer, and after each ten—a full prostration. You may do the same. But it seems you could also set aside—a certain number of prayers to recite standing, without prostrations.[2] This is in the rule of Father Seraphim. Arrange it as suits you.

Only you must exert yourself, though in measure. Otherwise small ease leads to greater ease, and everything can be ruined. When you begin your rule and your head is scattered so that you cannot control it, you must compel it to order, first with certain thoughts that will calm it; for this shows that fear has departed and your soul has become unruly. If this does not help, take to reading some prayers and read them with attention until your mind gathers itself. When it comes to order, then begin your prostrations. One who makes prostrations with a scattered head is like grass blown by the wind. However, this blessed labor itself will teach you how to act in each situation.

(Letter 729. Vol. 4, p. 216–217)

[1] This refers to St. Savva the Sanctified (†532; commemorated December 5/18), who composed the oldest of the liturgical monastic rules—the Jerusalem Typicon.

[2] St. Seraphim of Sarov

Never Read Prayers Hastily

You prepare yourself to complete your rule. Good! In fulfilling your rule, do not think that you only need to recite all that is appointed, but that you must awaken and strengthen a prayerful movement in your soul. For this to happen,

1) never read hastily, but read as if chanting, something like that. In ancient times all the prayers that were read came from the Psalms. But nowhere do I find the word “read,” but everywhere: “sing”;

2) into every word penetrate with thought, and do not merely reproduce the thought of what is being read in your consciousness, but also awaken the corresponding feeling;

3) to cut off the urge toward hasty reading, do not set yourself to “recite this and that,” but determine to stand in prayer-reading for a quarter hour, half an hour, an hour—as long as you usually stand—and then do not worry how many prayers you will read; do so once the time comes; if you no longer wish to stand, stop reading;

4) having set this aside, do not, however, watch the clock, but stand as if to stand without end: your thoughts will not run ahead;

5) to help awaken prayerful feelings, in your free time reread and reconsider all the prayers that make up your rule—and reconsider their feeling, so that when you stand at your rule and read them, you will already know beforehand what feeling should be awakened in your heart;

6) never read prayers without interruption, but always interrupt them with your own prayer and prostrations, whether this happens in the middle of the prayers or at the end. As soon as something stirs your heart, stop reading at once and make prostrations. This last little rule—is the most necessary and most essential for nurturing a spirit of prayer. If sometimes a feeling takes hold very strongly, remain with it and make prostrations, and abandon reading—right through to the end of the appointed time.

Do not make your prayers in the morning and evening only, but throughout the day often make a few prostrations, without fixing any hours for them.

Do what is mentioned in points 5 and 6 first for your morning and evening prayers alone. Perhaps nothing else will be necessary to read.

(Letter 773. Vol. 5, p. 31–33)

Recite Your Prayers Slowly

Never recite prayers hastily, but slowly, with the thoughts and feelings expressed in the prayers being read. Before beginning prayer, always prepare yourself a little, gathering your thoughts and striving with your attention to stand before the Lord, to whom you are coming to pray. The main disposition toward prayer should be penitential, for we all sin greatly. A broken spirit, a broken and humble heart God will not despise (Cf.: Ps. 50:19). In every rule pray about your sins—those in which you have transgressed.

(Letter 377. Vol. 3, p. 11)

Make it a Law Not to Hurry

Your conscience troubles you about the hurried performance of your prayers. And rightly so. Why do you listen to the enemy? It is the enemy who drives you: “Faster, quicker.” And because of this you get no fruit from prayer. But make it a law not to hurry; instead pronounce the prayers so that not a single word is uttered without consciousness of its meaning and, as much as possible, its feeling. Take up this labor with firm resolve, like a commanding general, so that no objection arises against it. The enemy suggests: “You need this and that,” but you answer: “I know without you; go away.” See how your prayer will go. Otherwise your prayer-words are only words, and you have no prayer. The soul is nourished by prayer alone. That is why you feel unsatisfied.

Check by the clock how much time passes if you do not hurry, and you will see it is only a few minutes. And what is the harm of haste?!!

(Letter 763. Vol. 5, p. 16)

You Must Come Down With Your Attention Into the Heart

How pleasant it was to read that spiritual emptiness drew you to prayer, and you turned to the best prayer—the Jesus Prayer—and began to practice it with such success. God bless you to make progress in it, and moreover so that nothing could ever distract you from it.

You ask what is needed. Pray as you are praying—that is good. Remember and do the same. I will remind you of one thing: you must come down with your attention into your heart and stand there before the face of the Lord—all-present both in you and all-seeing—both you. Thus you thought: above—toward God’s throne, and below—toward yourself, the sinful.

Standing before the face of the Lord, do not admit other thoughts, but only behold the Lord with proper feelings toward Him—that He sees, hears, is ready to listen and to fulfill. Do not leave the word without thoughts of the Lord and of what He is for us, but let your thoughts be simple: that He is near, guards, holds, teaches, guides.

When you begin, then certain needs will open up concerning this prayer, and you will ask.

Look to the end of the work. Thought and feeling will become so united with the Lord that they become inseparable—there will be a feeling toward the Lord unceasing, warm and sweet. Everything else will be outside, as foreign.

When you are humble, God’s grace will quickly bring this prayer into power.

Take care that everything proceeds from the heart. Do not think about outward postures.

That you at first thought it was established, and then everything scattered—this will happen often. So, as soon as such a thought arises, know beforehand that it lies, and do not dwell on it.

Stability will begin when a small flame kindles in the heart.

(Letter 977. Vol. 6, pp. 102–103)

On the Fruits of Prayer

When you recite prayers, enter into their meaning, applying them to yourself. The first fruit—you will not notice how time passes. And you will see other fruits afterward.

(Letter 191. Vol. 1, p. 234)

How to pray amidst many tasks

Establish Yourself in Attention Before God in the Morning

Strive to do this: in the morning, during your prayer rule, strive to establish yourself in attention before God so that afterward you might be before Him all day long, whatever you may have to do. If you arrange yourself thus and begin with the prophet to always set the Lord before me (Ps. 15:8)—with corresponding feelings, of course—then you will pray unceasingly. And then you will not find it tedious.

Do not leave your prayer rule until contrition is reborn in your heart together with dedication to God. You are a wife, a mother, a homemaker. The duties that pertain to this—these are your salvation.

(Letter 1220. Vol. 8, p. 4)

On Unceasing Prayer in Spirit

What does it mean to pray unceasingly? To be unceasingly in a prayerful disposition. A prayerful disposition is the thought of God and feeling toward God together. Thought of God—the thought of His omnipresence, that He is everywhere, sees all things and sustains all things. Feeling toward God—the fear of God, love for God, zealous desire to please Him alone in all things, with the same desire to avoid all that displeases Him, and above all—surrender of yourself to His holy will without protest and acceptance of all that happens as coming directly from His hand. Feeling toward God can exist in all our actions, occupations and circumstances, if it is not merely sought but already planted in the heart.

Thought can be drawn away by various objects; but even then it is possible to cultivate the habit of not departing from God, and to engage in all things in the light of remembrance of God. Behold, these two—thought and feeling toward God—this is where your whole effort must be. When they are present, prayer exists, even when there are no prayer words.

(Letter 947. Vol. 6, pp. 20–21)

You Must Always Maintain Prayer

Question: “In the midst of many worldly relationships, should I maintain prayer, or should I use it only during my cell rule and in church, and at other times, if not stifle it, then not maintain it?” You must always maintain prayer. God is everywhere and sees all things, and His eyes are brighter than the sun. This remembrance must be planted in your heart, or merged with your consciousness. When the soul maintains the consciousness of this, it cannot but have fear of God and reverence before Him, with concern to please Him in all things—in word, thought, motion and deed. With this disposition greet and bid farewell to others and do every task, whether you are alone or among people.

Convince yourself that God tests you through every circumstance, and having fixed His eye upon you, awaits: how will you act? And act as a student answers at an examination, both outwardly and inwardly. Such a disposition is prayerful, and is achieved only through prayer. Prayer is the turning of mind and heart to God. When this exists—behold, prayer exists. Labor on. God will give you the strength to receive all, and your mind will not turn away from Him. In this labor there is no division. Only perhaps at the beginning of experience. Do not forget that this is the chief thing: to show householder’s warmth to your visitor, full attention, a cheerful disposition, and along with this remembrance of God with fear and reverence.

If you were to become incapable of continuing to live in the world—the loss would be small. But prayer, proceeding on the true path, should not lead to this. It will only lead you to glorify God with your whole life, removing from it all that is superfluous, vain and passion-feeding, and making it a silent sermon on what is proper; yet not pushing anyone away or wounding hearts, but attracting all and disposing all to imitate it through the fragrance of your life. Labor to think through this according to your circumstances and arrange yourself thus. A gloomy, repellent or querulous life is not God’s life. I trust that your prayer will not let you fall into this distortion of yourself.

Yet it is necessary to have deliberation, experience and petition for God’s help. The root of all is humility and warmth of heart toward all. God will give burning of heart. Then whoever meets you will perceive this warmth, and it will bind all to you and make all submit to you.

(Letter 256. Vol. 2, pp. 89–90)

Prayer Through Deeds

You complain of the poverty of your prayer. But indeed, one can pray without standing at prayer. Every raising of mind and heart to God is true prayer. If you do this during your tasks, then you are praying. I remember that in Basil the Great, the question of how the apostles could pray unceasingly is resolved thus: they thought of God in all their deeds and lived in unceasing dedication to God.[1] This disposition of spirit was their unceasing prayer. Here is your example. I think I have already written to you that from active people, to whom you belong, one cannot demand the same as from sedentary people. Their chief concern should be not to allow improper feelings in doing tasks and to strive in every way to dedicate all of them to God. This dedication will transform deeds into prayer. It is written that the blood of Abel cries out to God (See: Gen. 4:10). So also deeds dedicated to God cry out to Him. One elder, when someone brought him something edible, said: “How foul it smells,” and yet what was brought was very good in content. When they asked him: “How can this be?”, he explained that it was sent not with good feelings and from something bad. Thus every deed is anointed with the feelings with which it is done. And those who have purified feelings perceive this. It turns out that just as a good fragrance comes forth from good flowers, so also from deeds done with a good disposition comes forth their own fragrance and ascends on high, like incense from a censer. Here is another prayer.

(Letter 555. Vol. 4, pp. 8–9)

[1] See: Saint Basil the Great’s Teachings on Prayer and Watchfulness // Holy Patristic Teachings on Prayer and Watchfulness… Moscow, 1889. P. 11.

On Prayer Without Words

You complain of the cares that distract you and do not let you remember the Lord. Try to understand all your household tasks and other duties as if they were directly appointed to you by the Lord Himself; not in general, but specifically each task in this way. Then, when you approach a task and perform it, you can maintain in your thoughts that you should do it as would be pleasing to the Lord. Through this, in doing, your thought will be with the Lord. If at the end, having recognized God’s help, you give thanks to the Lord, behold—at the end is the Lord. If then in the same order you perform the second, third and so on until the end of the day, behold, all day long you will be with the thought of the Lord. And this is what is required, namely, to walk in God’s presence. From this will come feeling toward the Lord—the feeling of fear, reverence, dedication, gratitude. And feelings are prayers without words.

(Letter 279. Vol. 2, pp. 131–132)

Do Not Part With Prayer Amidst All Your Tasks

Prayer is surely harder for you now. Cares!… But since it is obligatory, you must in every way arrange yourself so that prayer does not allow itself to be removed from the circle of your tasks. Blessed are those people who fall asleep and rise with prayer and do not part with it amidst all their tasks. Your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).

(Letter 278. Vol. 2, p. 131)

Do Not Be Weighed Down by Worldly Cares

You write that worldly care weighs on you so much that it does not even let you pray. This is an enemy’s deception. Since we need: shelter, clothing, food and other things, we must also acquire them; we must therefore think about this and make an effort. And there is nothing sinful in this. God has willed to arrange our life thus. But to this blameless need the enemy, creeping in, grafts the sinful—this is unceasing worry, which weighs down the head and gnaws at the heart. Against this illness are directed all the teachings of the Savior about not being anxious: Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself and further (Cf.: Matt. 6:34). This does not mean that you should do nothing; rather, while doing everything, you should not be tormented by excessive worry, which adds nothing but only torments. Excessive cares are sinful because they want to arrange and acquire everything themselves without God—because they then teach us to rely on hope placed in what we have acquired and in our own abilities exclusively without God’s providence, and through both of these things arrange to consider worldly goods as the chief goal and present life as the end, not extending our thoughts about the future life. Do you see what a god-fighting spirit moves in this excessive care! Take from this the impulse to fight this evil, as you would fight if the enemy, approaching, suggested to you soul-destruction. If you do not fight, worry will consume you entirely; if you fight, it will depart, like any other spiritual weakness when one fights against it. How to fight? Begin, and you will learn. Begin first of all to purify your prayer from this worry, and then purify all your deeds as well, so that your deeds will go their own way, and there will be no worry along with them.

How do you purify your prayer from worry? As soon as worry comes during prayer, drive it out; it will come again, drive it out again. And always thus. Never hold worry during prayer—as soon as you realize it has come, drive it out. In this lies the struggle! And you will see the fruit. Moreover, before prayer, resolve not to submit to worry if it comes during prayer, and protect yourself with this—strengthen this intention with various thoughts. You will see the fruit—only do not lose heart, but keep fighting!

I will say nothing more, and there is no need. Practice will teach you all things.

(Letter 287. Vol. 2, pp. 139–140)

How to Establish Home Prayer

That despondency occurs—this comes from lack of habit. Distribute your hours so that there is not a moment without an urgent task. Reading with reflection, prayer with prostrations, and some simple handiwork—let these consume all your time, and you will have no opportunity to be bored or despondent. That church services are rare—this is a great deprivation. But God willing, home prayer will be established. Cultivate the habit of so acting that as soon as there is no task, you immediately take up the Jesus Prayer and begin to perform it with attention, walking, sitting, and—best of all—standing before the icons. You can designate special times for this. This will be better, and your habit in this prayer will take firmer root. The thought of moving to eternity is well suited to your circumstances, but it always has its own place amid all. Attach it to your mind and heart and look through it at all else.

It is desirable for you to unite your mind with the thought of the Lord. The best way for this is the habit of the Jesus Prayer, as written above. Assign yourself to stand before the icons three or four times a day to perform this prayer with reverence and with the vision of the Lord before you, and perform it each time 100, 200, 300 times, as you are able. Having appointed a time for this, do not change it. Your thought all day will keep seeing ahead: “There, there, it is time to stand.” And the Lord will be near.

(Letter 578. Vol. 4, pp. 51–52)

When Weary From Conversation

When you are wearied by conversations with those who visit, then after they leave, do not immediately stand at prayer, but quiet yourself in spirit first, then perform your prayer service. And drive away sloth—it is a bad guest, and it does not come alone.

(Letter 932. Vol. 5, p. 221)

How to perform your prayer rule

The First Way of Ascent in the Heart to God

Prayer, or the stirring of the heart toward God, must be awakened and, being awakened, must be strengthened, or—which is the same—you must cultivate in yourself a prayerful spirit.

The first way to this is our reading or listening to prayer services. Read or listen to the prayer service as it should be done—and you will surely awaken and strengthen the stirring in your heart toward God, that is, you will enter into a prayerful spirit. In the prayers of the holy fathers there moves great prayerful power, and whoever fully, with all attention and zeal, enters into them, that person—by virtue of the law of reciprocal action—will surely taste of prayerful power, in proportion to how much your disposition matches the content of the prayer.

(Letter 227. Vol. 2, p. 34)

On Prayer for Beginners

My thought is this: beginners must first be taught to pray properly with ready-made prayers, so that they might acquire for themselves the thoughts, feelings and words of prayer. For toward God even the word must be turned in a God-befitting manner. When the teacher notices that they have made sufficient progress in this, then let him tell them how to pray not with words of others, but with their own words—lifting up their own personal spiritual needs to God in prayer and asking Him to be merciful to them and help them. At the same time, one can suggest that they pray with short prayers, showing them as a pattern the twenty-four short prayers of Saint John Chrysostom, and allowing them to gather other such prayers from the Psalms, from church prayers, and to compose them themselves.

With these short prayers they will acquire the good habit of maintaining attention without distraction during prayer. Then, finally, one can teach them lessons about the Jesus Prayer, not surrounding it with any external methods—only urging them to bring forth this prayer from their heart.

Every prayer whatsoever must come from the heart, and any other kind of prayer is not prayer. And prayers from the prayer book, and prayers of one’s own, and short prayers—all of them must go from the heart to the Lord, whom you see before you. All the more so must the Jesus Prayer be thus.

(Letter 917. Vol. 5, p. 198)

Beginners Should Pray From the Prayer Book

Is it necessary to assign noetic prayer to young—to beginning—students?

Prayer without spiritual and heartfelt turning to God is not prayer. This must be explained to the beginner. Let him perform prayer from the prayer book, striving in every way so that thoughts and feelings go along with the words. Through this labor the novice will become accustomed to the turns of prayer speech, and then will himself perform prayer with his own speech, when it is moved from the heart. But one should in no way leave a beginner without a prayer book, except in the case where he was familiar with spiritual prayer to God before his beginning.

(Letter 915. Vol. 5, p. 196)

Without a Prayer Rule, Prayer is Not Complete

As you have resolved to act with regard to prayer, well. Take care to arrange yourself thus and cultivate it. A prayer rule is a safe protection of prayer. Prayer is an internal activity, and a prayer rule is external.

But just as a human being is not complete without a body, so prayer is not complete without a prayer rule. One must have both and perform them according to one’s strength. The binding law is to pray internally, and to pray always and everywhere.

But prayer service cannot be without a definite time, place and measure. The determination of these three constitutes a prayer rule.

And here the guide is prudence; when, where, how long to stand at prayer and what prayers to use—anyone can determine according to their circumstances: increase, decrease, shift the time and place—direct all things so that internal prayer is performed as it should be. Regarding internal prayer itself, there is but one rule: pray without ceasing (Cf.: 1 Thess. 5:17).

(Letter 947. Vol. 6, p. 20)

Preparation for Prayer

When you approach prayer, whenever it may be, stand for a moment, or sit, or walk—and labor at this time to sober your mind, drawing it away from all earthly affairs and concerns. Then consider who He is to whom you will turn in prayer, and who you are, who are about to begin this prayerful turning to Him—and stir up in your soul the feeling appropriate to this: a sense of self-abasement permeated with reverent fear before standing before God in your heart. In this small, yet not insignificant preparation lies the whole thing—to stand before God in your heart with reverence. Here is the beginning of prayer, and a good beginning is half the deed.

(Letter 227. Vol. 2, pp. 34–35)

The Actual Performance of Prayer

Having settled yourself inwardly in this way, stand before the icons, cross yourself, bow, and begin your customary prayers. Read slowly—understand every word, bring the thought of every word down to your heart, accompanying this with bows and the sign of the cross. In this lies all the work of prayer that is pleasing to God and fruitful.

Understand every word and bring the thought of the word to your heart, or in other words: understand what you are reading, and feel what you understand. You read: “cleanse me from all impurity”—feel your own impurity, desire purity, and—with full confidence ask it of the Lord. You read: “Your will be done”—and in your heart completely surrender your fate to the Lord, with full readiness to meet with gratitude all that the Lord sends you. You read: “and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors”—and in your soul forgive everyone everything, and so ask forgiveness for yourself from the Lord. If you act this way at every verse of your prayer, then you will have prayer as it should be.

And in order for you to accomplish it more successfully in precisely this way, here is what you must do. First, have for yourself a certain prayer rule—a small one, so that, with your usual tasks, you are able to fulfill it without haste; second, in your free time read through the prayers of your rule, understand every word of the prayer and feel it, so that you know beforehand what feeling should be in your soul and heart at each word, in order that—during prayer—it will be easy for you to understand and feel. Third, if your restless mind during prayer runs off to other matters, strive to keep attention and return your mind to the subject of prayer; it runs off again—return it again: repeat the reading until you read each word of the prayer with understanding and feeling. In this way you will train your mind away from distraction during prayer. Fourth, if any word of the prayer affects your soul deeply—stop at it and do not read further: stand at this place with attention and feeling—nourish your soul with it. Or: do not disturb this state with other thoughts that it may produce, until it passes of itself. This is a sign that the spirit of prayer is beginning to take root in you, and this state is the most reliable means for cultivating and strengthening the spirit of prayer within us.

(Letter 227. Vol. 2, pp. 35–36)

For our prayer to be an effective means for cultivating prayer, we must perform it in such a way that both mind and heart receive the content of the prayers that make up our prayer rule.

For this there are three very simple approaches: do not approach prayer without proper preparation,—do not perform it carelessly, but with attention and feeling,—and do not immediately upon finishing prayers move to your usual activities.

(Letter 227. Vol. 2, p. 34)

Reading From a Book Greatly Scatters Attention

Remember that the matter is not in words and bows, but in raising the mind and heart to God. You could speak everything that is written for you and perform all the prescribed bows, and yet never think of God or think of Him carelessly with a scattered mind and wandering attention. And consequently, not pray while fulfilling the prayer rule. The result will be prayer that is sin before God. God forbid! With fear and trembling you must perform the work of God, and hold this in mind.[1] By all means strive so that wherever there is a word, there too is the mind, or, as the holy ladder-bearer says, to enclose the mind within the words of prayer. When approaching prayer, you must establish yourself in attention before God and not depart from Him.

Reading prayers from a book greatly scatters attention. It is better to commit them to memory. Likewise, leafing through to find this or that troparion and kontakion must also scatter attention. Try to do this: memorize the morning and evening prayers, understanding them and feeling what is said in them. Then read them as though they flow from your heart. From the Psalter too, choose the psalms that are understandable and close to your heart, and memorize them. Read them too during prayer from memory in order. And read them also while walking somewhere or doing something.

Read the daily Gospel after prayer, with reflection and drawing from it what is needful for yourself. Compose a prayer list following the pattern of a printed one (in the Prayer Book Psalter), according to your needs and circumstances, and recite it from memory. Convert all acathists into bows; do not read them from a book, but mentally turn to those for whom you have appointed them, and perform the bows. Because you are not reading the words, add an extra bow.

The less you need to rely on a prayer book, the better. Strive above all to dwell in the remembrance of God and the remembrance of death. A broken spirit is a sacrifice to God (Ps. 50:19). Then count that you have prayed well when you leave prayer with contrition and complete self-abasement. And during the day, instead of counting beads, strive to stand mentally before God with the Jesus Prayer. As the Angels always stand before the face of God, so must we strive. They offer the sacrifice of praise, and we—the sacrifice of contrition.

(Letter 89. Vol. 1, pp. 71–73)

[1] See: The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Sermon 28, 17. P. 235. See also: Sermon 4, 92; Sermon 19, 7; Sermon 25, 5.

Read Less From Prayer Books

God bless your solitude. That you do not attend church, do not worry. For God every prayer from the heart is equally valuable, wherever it is offered. Here only habit makes the difference. And one can become accustomed to prayer apart from the church. Read less from prayer books. Pray more in your own way. And with a simple “Lord, have mercy” you can manage. Transform the services into bows and satisfy yourself by means of them. This is how all the desert dwellers and solitaries did it. And this is much better than reading. You cannot refrain completely from reading. But something—from memory, without a book.

(Letter 417. Vol. 3, p. 61)

When to Perform the Evening Rule

It seems to me you give yourself little sleep (from 10 to 1 o’clock past midnight). You could perform the night rule in the evening and then sleep until the morning service. But since you write that you are accustomed (to rising at 1 o’clock and performing the rule), it is difficult for you to change the order.

(Letter 2. Vol. 1, p. 8)

What to Do in the Intervals Between Sleep

When I wrote to you to pray more at night, I meant prayer before sleep. And when you wake up and pray lying down—this is not a bad thing, but a good substitute for empty fantasies in the intervals of sleep. It is good to know several psalms by heart so as to read them at this time.

(Letter 1378. Vol. 8, p. 124)

Are the evening and morning prayers sufficient?

The elder or brother who told you: “Morning and evening prayers are enough.” Understood this for a private rule, with attendance at all the services. Of course, it is enough. Only it is necessary that both the church and home prayers be performed with attention and from the heart. All the intervals must be filled with remembrance of God—with fear and contrition of heart. But for all this, you must remember or keep in view the ultimate goal—obtaining that little spark that was given to Maximus Kapsokalivitin.

(Letter 912. Vol. 5, p. 191)

Do Not Count the End of Prayer as the End of Prayer

There weighs on your mind the feeling that not everything was done as it should have been in prayer… This happens from awareness that it was performed not as it should be: thoughts ran away, inappropriate feelings arose, and concerns about something intervened. In this you must immediately repent, condemn yourself, and form the intention to be careful.

You must try to acquire the habit of not counting the end of prayer as the end of prayer, but even after this to consider it your duty to remain in prayer. This is fulfilled by constant remembrance of God, with reverence and surrender of yourself to God’s will. Then you will have the sense that, leaving prayer, you are not leaving prayer—but only changing one form of it to another.

(Letter 198. Vol. 1, p. 248)

What to Do After Prayer

When you finish your prayer, do not immediately move to some task, but stand for a moment and think: what have you done and what does this oblige you to do, preserving after prayer especially what affected you deeply. The very nature of prayer is such that if you pray well, as you should,—you will not want to busy yourself with tasks soon: whoever tastes sweetness will not want bitterness; and tasting this sweetness of prayer is the goal of prayer, and through this tasting of prayerful sweetness in prayer the spirit of prayer is cultivated.

Fulfilling these few rules, you will soon see the fruits of your prayerful labor. Every prayer will leave a trace of prayer in your soul, its continuous repetition in the same manner will root it, and patience in this labor will engraft the spirit of prayer.

This is the first—initial—way of cultivating the spirit of prayer in us! This is the fitting performance of our prayers. But this is not yet everything; here only the beginning of the teaching of prayer is laid. One must go further.

(Letter 227. Vol. 2, pp. 36–37)

Can the Prayer Rule Be Shortened?

There remains with me one more question—about your prayer rule. Before you asked to finish the rule an hour earlier. Not perceiving the enemy’s deception, I agreed to this. Now the enemy has crept in with you and persuaded you that the prayer rule could be shortened further by adding handicraft to it. So your usual prayer was completely disrupted. This is not good. Make an effort to restore it as it was from the beginning.

If it is more convenient for you to finish the rule an hour earlier, then start it an hour earlier as well. Cast out handicraft entirely. Where did you find such permission? No, no… You must labor hard, not invent indulgences. This is the broad path—not good.

(Letter 528. Vol. 3, pp. 223–224)

When it is Impossible to Read All the Rule

In case you cannot read all the prayers in the morning or evening, choose from the prayers those that are more substantial and read them, but above all be more concerned with planting in your mind and heart the thought of God with appropriate feeling.

(Letter 947. Vol. 6, p. 22)

If We Cannot Sustain the Rule Due to Weakness

Yes, everything is going well with you. And I don’t know what to correct. I don’t even know where the thought came from. Keep going as you have begun and become accustomed to. If sometimes you cannot complete something of the rule due to the weakness of old age, scold yourself a little, complain before the Lord, and find peace. If it happens again—do the same, and so always.

(Letter 2. Vol.1, p. 8)

Never Bind Yourself to the Rule

God bless you and continue to pray according to your rule. But never bind yourself to the rule and do not think that there is anything precious in the fact that you have such a rule or always fulfill it. All the value is in heartfelt prostration before God. See, the saints write that if someone does not leave prayer as one condemned and worthy of every punishment from the Lord, then such a person leaves it as a Pharisee. Another said: “Standing in prayer, stand as before the Last Judgment, when it is ready for a decisive determination of God about you: ‘Depart!’ or ‘Come!’”

(Letter 249. Vol. 2, p. 77)

The Rule Can Be Changed by Whoever Established It

As far as I could understand, you desire to shorten your four-hour private rule, replacing it with a briefer personal prayer. And you ask how to position yourself.

I cannot answer you directly on this question, not knowing how your life has gone, and where your rule came from, and what your inner prayer is, which you are so eager about. If you yourself determined your private rule, then it is in your power to change it in any way. But if it was given to you by someone with whom you previously consulted about your affairs, then about changing this rule you must speak with him as well. It can be changed, but propriety requires that you first ask.

The rule is not an essential part of prayer, but only its external form. The main work is—prayer of the mind and heart to God, offered with glorification, thanksgiving, and petition, and finally with complete surrender of yourself to the Lord. When there are such movements in the heart, there is prayer there, but when there are not, there is no prayer, even if you stood at the rule for whole days. Precisely this is what should occupy your attention. So continue striving to come to this. Ask, and you will find (Matt. 7:7). The Lord is near (Cf.: Ps 33:19,144,18).

(Letter 515. Vol. 3, p. 204)

On bows

Prayer From the Heart Must Accompany the Bows

You have come to love bows… And well. But do not forget that prayer from the heart must accompany the bows: glorify God from the heart, give thanks from the heart, ask from the heart, with your own words—which is better—or with memorized words, only let there be heart everywhere.

As for prostrations—whether to do bows from the waist or full prostrations—what should I say? But you do well as you are: 10 bows from the waist and one full prostration. You may do them freely, sometimes from the waist, sometimes to the ground.

Prostrations are prostrations, but the main thing is a corrected life. A corrected life goes on with fear and trembling, never departing from the remembrance of God and accompanying every step. From this comes watchfulness. But above all else—zeal for salvation, strong and unsparing.

(Letter 908. Vol. 5, p. 184)

On Prostrations and Fear of God

You do many prostrations. This is good; but try to bring attention to the Lord and feeling to them as well. The most fitting feeling for us is contrition: a contrite spirit—a broken and contrite heart God will not despise (Ps. 50:19). This comes from fear of God, and fear of God awakens from remembrance of death and divine judgment. Each time you approach prayer, restore in yourself fear of God and contrition, then pray without letting these feelings weaken. It is easiest to be in fear of God and contrition in church. Make sure to always be in church with these feelings. Then at home you will have them too. And blessed are you!

(Letter 899. Vol. 5, p. 170)

How Many Prostrations to Do

Prostrations—as you choose. If you did not have this in your rule before, then do 50 bows from the waist, small ones, and 5 full prostrations before the beginning of your morning and evening prayers, on the large knot—a great bow on the prayer beads. Do the same at the end of the rule. With prostrations—short prayers. The main one—the Jesus Prayer. Then to the Mother of God, your saint, and to other venerated ones. For each person, decide how many prostrations yourself, so that in total you have 50. Roughly—to the Savior 30, to the Mother of God 15, to other saints 5.

(Letter 487. Vol. 3, p. 154)

On Prostrations

Prostrations must necessarily accompany the Jesus Prayer, and the more the better. If you are alone in your cell, then stand for prostrations more often and do them as many as you wish with the Jesus Prayer. Morning and evening, do many of them.

(Letter 241. Vol. 2, p. 58)

On Prostrations and the Quantity of Prayers

If your head prevents you from doing prostrations, pray without them: prostrations are an aid to prayer, not prayer itself. Prayer is what your mind and heart offer to God. Do prostrations rarely. As you pray, sometimes stand, sometimes kneel. If you practice the Jesus Prayer, begin not with 3,000 but with 1,000 or even 500, and then add more. Do not go beyond 3,000—unless need requires. But it is better to fulfill the set number all at once, including at night. During the day, do it intermittently, not counting, to practice that same prayer repeatedly.

(Letter 1337. Vol. 8, p. 92–93)

How to transition to praying in your own words

Every Rule is Good

Regarding the rule, I think this way: whichever rule someone chooses for themselves, every one is good—as long as it keeps the soul in reverence before God. Further: read prayers and psalms until the soul is stirred, then pray yourself, expressing your needs, or without anything at all: “God, be merciful to me…” Further: sometimes you can spend the entire time assigned for the rule reading one psalm from memory, making your own prayer from each verse. Further: sometimes you can spend the whole rule in the Jesus Prayer with prostrations. Or else take something from this, that, and the other. God needs the heart (see: Prov. 23:26), and as long as it stands reverently before him, that is enough. Unceasing prayer consists in this—to always stand reverently before God. And in this the rule is only kindling, or throwing wood in the stove.

(Letter 2. Vol. 1, p. 8–9; Letter 509. Vol. 3, p. 189)

On Prayer From a Book

“I have started to pray worse from prayer books.” This is no loss. Don’t ever take a prayer book in your hands. Prayer books are like conversation exercises, say French ones. While someone has not learned to speak freely, they memorize conversations, but when they get the knack of speaking, the conversations are forgotten. So it is with prayer books. They are needed while the soul begins to pray by itself, but when it already prays by itself, they can be set aside. Only when your own prayer does not flow should you pray with printed prayers to stir it up, and when your own prayer is stirred, set them aside. This is what the great intercessors did. They read, one a psalm, another a “Glory,” and then—having entered the spirit of prayer—they abandoned the psalms. You should know several prayers by heart, and also several psalms. But always, when prayer is on your heart, you can pray without a prayer book—in your own approach to God, with prostrations. Only avoid sloth and indulgence. For at once the enemy will approach and seem to pull your hand away from prayer. Understand his tricks.

(Letter 256. Vol. 2, p. 90–91)

The Rule Can Be Changed

The liturgical order for church services must be kept as it is. As for the prayer rule at home, it does not have to be unchanging but can be varied in time, in length, and in composition; one thing to keep in mind: that everything is done not to please laziness and that prayer comes from the soul. Whatever liturgical order you have, that is good. You can add to it and change it. The short prayers of St. John Chrysostom are good—12 for night and 12 for day. You can select the more impressive verses from the psalms. Act with complete freedom in all things. Sometimes spend the entire prayer time praying your own prayers according to your present need; or insert such a prayer in your rule at the beginning, middle, or end; or without words, just holding feeling toward God with the cry: “God, be merciful to me” or “By what judgments you know, save me.”

(Letter 516. Vol. 3, p. 205)

On the Prayer Rule and Prostrations

Take a prayer rule for yourself—whichever you wish: for morning, for evening, sometimes for day. Put it all in prostrations, with your personal prayer, that is, in your own simple words lay out before God the needs of your heart. And it is better not to set a number of prostrations or a time. Pray, doing prostrations, as long as your heart requires, and don’t contradict it; for the enemy will come, saying: “That’s enough, you’ve already prayed a lot.”

Bodily labor humbles, fills the intervals, and doesn’t let thoughts wander. It is good to replace it with prostrations—this is the best labor. But can you always do this?

(Letter 291. Vol. 2, p. 146–147)

Don’t Be a Slave to the Rule

You can arrange the prayer rule yourself. Memorize the prayers you read, and read them from memory with understanding and feeling. And insert your own prayer alongside; the less you depend on the book, the better. Memorize several psalms, and when you go somewhere or do something else and your mind is not occupied, read them. This is conversation with God. The rule should be in your free will. Don’t be a slave to it.

Be saved!

(Letter 250. Vol. 2, p. 79)

The Rule Should Be Handled Freely

You must avoid all formality and mechanism in prayer. Let it each time be a matter of deliberate, free decision, and perform it with consciousness and feeling, not carelessly. You need to be able to shorten the rule as circumstances require. How many contingencies are there in family life? You can, for instance, morning and evening, when there is no time, read only the morning prayers and the prayers before sleep from memory. You can even read not all of them, but just a few. You can read nothing at all and do several prostrations, but with true, heartfelt prayer. Handle your rule with complete freedom. Be the mistress of the rule, not its slave. A slave only of God, obliged to devote every moment of your life to pleasing him.

(Letter 249. Vol. 2, p. 77)

Externals in the Rules Can Be Changed

Let us bless the Lord both for dryness and for consolation. But where does one live evenly? Both inside and outside everything flows changingly. Stand, watch, and discern how you ought to conduct yourself in all things. Discernment was given to man for that.

May your prayer be perfected! You change something in your rules—good. Let the painful turning of the heart to God and kneeling in worship not depart, but the external can be changed, adapting as seems better. Test all things and hold to what is good (cf.: 1 Thess. 5:21).

(Letter 730. Vol. 4, p. 217)

How to compose your own rule

Beginning to Pray in Your Own Words

While learning to pray from ready-made prayers, you should gradually begin to pray also in your own words, according to your needs—spiritual or external. As soon as spiritual needs awaken, they at once turn toward God. Sometimes the impulse to turn to God comes without a defined need, but simply from a longing for God. Whatever form and measure this impulse takes, you should never leave it unsatisfied, and pray in whatever state the impulse found you: if at work—then work and pray, if at reading—then amid your reading pray, if while walking—then as you walk pray. But of course it is better and more fruitful to stand in your prayer place and take a prayer position, if possible.

The more earnestly these turns to God are fulfilled, the more often they will appear and the longer they will last and the deeper they will take root. Don’t forget this point. This method is the best of all for perfecting prayer. And prayer is the main thing in our work. Don’t begrudge effort especially for this. If during prayer reading this impulse arises, stop reading your prayer and pray according to your impulse, with your own words or without words. God will see how ardently you desire and seek prayer—and will give you prayer that will not be interrupted. May God bless you, Lord, for this work!

(Letter 187. Vol. 1, p. 219–220)

Example of a Prayer Rule

You wish to have a prayer rule. A good desire. Your previous rule was good too; but since you have grown unaccustomed to it, here is a new one.

Evening and morning perform the morning prayers and the prayers before sleep. Attach to them brief prayers—24 from St. John Chrysostom the Divine, which are found among the prayers before sleep, repeating each one 5 times. Then invoke all the saints: apostles, prophets, hierarchs, martyrs and women martyrs, venerable fathers and venerable mothers, and all of every kind who have pleased God by their good works. Generally, that is; but by name: the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, your Guardian Angel, the saint whose name you bear, the saints whose icons are in the monastery; the saints whom you venerate according to your circumstances, as for instance St. Tikhon and others. Conclude with commemoration of the living and the dead for whom you pray.

(Letter 377. Vol. 3, p. 10–11)

How to Compose Your Own Rule

You want rules. I wrote you: take the small prayers of St. John Chrysostom—24. If that is little, add from “Have mercy on me, O God” the verses up to “Restore to me the joy of salvation…” That is another 12–13. From the supplicatory litany compose prayers—6: “The day is ended…” “An angel of peace…”—You can compose them yourself. The toll-collectors’ tone: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” The cry on the ship: “Lord, save us, we are perishing!”

Gather about three, four, or five dozen of them. Repeat them 10 times, and this will be your rule—morning and evening.

Your prayers, the ones you wrote out, are very good, but long. You can insert them among the shorter ones, but it is not obligatory, and when they come to mind. But the main thing is to turn to the Savior with every spiritual need. Awaken faith that he is near and hears. And tell him your need. Do this more often, and it will come.

(Letter 191. Vol. 1, p. 234)

How to Compose Your Prayer to the Lord

Memorize several psalms—the ones you like best. And then during prostrations you can read them and from each verse compose your prayer to the Lord. Someone told me about this who began with the beginning of matins—“Have mercy on me, O God”—and did not manage to finish it by the end of matins. This method develops the spirit of prayer more than any other.

(Letter 1458. Vol. 8, p. 198)

Another Example of a Prayer Rule

I know someone who keeps a prayer rule in a special way, namely: he stopped reading the prayers in prayer books, but chose for himself several brief prayers from the psalmic verses and from the responses in the litanies, which are most suited to his condition, arranged them in his own way, and then, standing for prayer, he repeats each little verse several times with attention and feeling. When he has told all to the Lord, the rule is over. He assures me that since he began to do this, his attention does not scatter throughout the whole rule and his feeling is sustained. But of course it is not mechanical repetition that produces this but the power of the thoughts in the verses. He says: “I begin the rule, having placed before myself all my sins, ready for judgment, shame, and condemnation—and I cry out for mercy.” Besides these verses, he reads nothing else prayerful.

You have a home prayer rule for the whole family. This holy work should not be changed or abandoned. But you can then have your own—just for yourself—rule, if you wish, following the example described.

And here is what I wanted to show you as a practical matter. If you decide to, gather some verses – and the rule is ready.

There are prayer books where people pray with the Jesus Prayer alone. But that is for the perfect; for us beginners, this single focus of mind soon grows tedious. For that reason the method I suggested better diversifies the content of prayer by pointing toward different spiritual needs. Meanwhile, all the little prayers turn toward the Lord. Consequently, in spirit the Jesus Prayer is there too.

(Letter 190. Vol. 1, pp. 232–233)

On Brief Prayers Instead of Reading From a Prayer Book

You can limit your prayer rule, because of the weakness of your eyesight, to a set time, and an hour, as you do, is enough for it. Instead of reading prayers from prayer books, you can pray with little brief prayers. The matter works like this: choose for yourself several short little prayers, according to your spiritual needs – three, four, or five of them – learn them by heart and repeat them in your rule 5 or 10 times each, the way people do with the Jesus Prayer, trying in every way for both the thoughts and feelings expressed by the prayers to go inseparably with the words of the prayer. Labor at this for an hour, and that is enough. The main thing is that each prayer you speak should come from your heart. For this reason, when learning them you must think deeply about them.

An example of brief prayers can be seen in the 24 little prayers of Saint John Chrysostom, which appear among the prayers before sleep. You can learn them now, think them through and feel them, and use them. It is clear that Chrysostom himself prayed them.

Rework the litany of supplication into brief prayers like this: “The day (or night, evening) being completed, holy, peaceful and sinless, grant to me, O Lord” – and the other 6 prayers.

Take verses from Have mercy on me, O God – up to restore to me the joy of your salvation… (Ps 50). All these verses are deeply penitential.

There you have your rule for now. Later you can gather other prayers more suited to your needs. Remember that people do not pray to God with words, but with mind and heart. Therefore, never pray with words alone.

(Letter 379. Vol. 3, pp. 13–14)

On the Prayers of Saint John Chrysostom

How should you read the little prayers of Saint Chrysostom? (24 in the evening prayers before sleep.) Read them before your prayer book, so that your attention gathers together. But also recite them mentally at any time. This is the best way to train yourself in remembrance of God; and this remembrance is the foundation of spiritual life. Make waist-deep bows, and sometimes full prostrations.

(Letter 378. Vol. 3, p. 12)

On Brief Prayers

It is not a matter of words, but of a brief prayer. Such prayers were not unique in use. Saint Cassian writes that in Egypt they used a prayer like this: “O God, come to my aid; O Lord, hasten to help me” (see: Ps. 69:1)18. In other places other prayers were in use – such as: “My hope is the Father, my refuge is the Son, my covering is the Holy Spirit.[1]” Again: “I, as a human, have sinned; but you, as God, are merciful; have mercy on me, seeing the weakness of my soul.” Between them is the Jesus Prayer. But then – precedence was given to the Jesus Prayer.

The purpose of brief prayers is to help gather the thoughts and watchfulness. The power is not in the words, but in the feeling toward God. It forms quickly in those who labor over prayer.

This is indeed noetic prayer. The mind, standing in the heart, sees God and humbly confesses to him through his invocation. Feeling toward God is unceasing prayer without words.

(Letter 932. Vol. 5, p. 221)

[1] See: St. John Cassian the Roman. Works. Moscow, 1892. Conference 10, chapter 10. Pp. 356–361.

On the Same Subject

I regret that you are not succeeding with a brief prayer. You choose one more commonly used: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” All of you will recite it steadily, and you will become accustomed to it. Introduce it into your morning and evening prayer rule. Repeat it several times before your prayers and after them. Repeat it 5–10 or more times. Or 33 times, according to the number of years the Lord Savior spent on earth. But do not forget that the power is not in the words, but in the thought and feeling. A brief prayer is an aid, but the thing itself is unceasing remembrance of the Lord, or walking in the sense of his presence, with reverence. If this were always in us, we would not need words at all. But because distraction and a flood of impressions throw us off course, to counter them it is advised to practice making brief prayers. When the tongue becomes accustomed, it will read them all by itself and turn back wandering thoughts.

(Letter 956. Vol. 6, pp. 51–52)

On the Same Subject (144)

About the disruption of your prayer. I wrote to you about brief little prayers, and you replied that you had gathered them as I suggested. Well then, be so kind as to pray only with these prayers morning and evening. In the morning read with full attention: “Rising from sleep…” and the other thanksgivings to the Holy Trinity. Then make those prayers, repeating each one at least three times (and if more – that is fine) – slowly, all with thought and feeling. Close with invocations to all the saints whom you commemorate, and with the commemoration of your living and deceased – and that is enough. Do the same in the evening, and during the day sometimes read all of them through once, especially when you go somewhere. Nothing helps gather attention before the face of God as these brief little prayers do. Insert the Jesus Prayer among them, as you find convenient – after every three or five prayers.

(Letter 194. Vol. 1, p. 239)

On the Same Subject (145)

You recalled the brief prayer… Well spoken, priest of God, that you should not forget this. Labor to not interrupt it, and it will establish itself so firmly that it will recite itself – and you will have a little brook babbling, as the elder Parphnius of the Kievan Caves expressed it. And from the ancients, someone said: “Just as when thieves approach a house intending to break in to steal, they hear someone speaking inside and do not dare to climb in – so, when our enemies creep up to the soul intending to rob it, and hear a little prayer babbling within, they go around it but are afraid to go inside.[1]”19

To the one little prayer, you can add the 24 prayers that stand among the prayers before sleep, and having fixed them in your memory, often repeat them: they embrace the inner spiritual life in all its fullness. In our church services there are very many brief prayers scattered throughout. Notice them and memorize them. And you will always carry a prayer book within yourself, which you can read at any place under the dominion of the Lord.

(Letter 979. Vol. 6, pp. 105–106)

[1] See: Memorable Sayings on the Ascetic Struggles of Holy and Blessed Fathers. Moscow, 1999. Abba John the Little, 3. P. 202.

On the Same Subject (146)

Have you tried praying with brief little prayers?! The chief of them is the Jesus Prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” To it you can add others according to the needs of your soul. For example, take the 24 little prayers of Saint Chrysostom, which are found in the prayers before sleep. Learn them with understanding and feeling, and then insert them into your private prayer service and call out to the Lord with them, pronouncing each one three times, five or more times. When you become established in them, try to gather others. Where and how to find them? Listen to the church prokimens and remember them. Read the psalms and choose from them.

Prayer with brief little prayers – it gathers attention and goes through all the spiritual needs.

Do not forget that the power of prayer is a broken spirit, a contrite and humble heart.

Entrust yourself to God’s hands, and he will not abandon you.

(Letter 496. Vol. 3, pp. 168–169)

On the Same Subject (147)

The little prayers of Saint Chrysostom you can use instead of your home prayer rule, which you keep in your cell – in the evening and morning. Learn them and think through each one. In them the entire spiritual life is commemorated. How many times to repeat each one – determine it so that you stand in prayer for as long as you ordinarily spend on your rule. To them you can also add your own prayers, chosen from the psalms: whichever verse strikes your heart, write that down. Also the words from the litany of supplication, sung to “Grant, O Lord!”, you can turn into prayers, just instead of: we ask… and grant – say: “Grant me, O Lord.” For example, the litany says: forgiveness and remission of sins and transgressions do we ask of the Lord. Instead of that, say: “Forgiveness and remission of sins and transgressions grant to me, O Lord.” And so with all. Using these prayers in your rule with attention, you will soon become accustomed to standing in prayer without distraction. Insert the Jesus Prayer among them. For instance, after saying ten times, “Lord, do not deprive me of your heavenly blessings,” add: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

If you take up this practice, all akathists, canons and prayers can be set aside, except the prayers that are very close to your heart. A prayer list of one sort with these prayers. You can read it.

(Letter 500. Vol. 3, pp. 178–179)

On the Same Subject (148)

How you have decided to prepare for your prayers – this is genuine work. There are three writings on prayer – by the monks of Athos. There is mention in them of what you have thought up for yourself. Learn by heart the 24 little prayers of Saint Chrysostom, and you can begin your prayer service with them. And so – throughout the day often repeat them. They contain everything that should be there. Through them it is easier to pass over to unceasing prayer with the Jesus Prayer. Especially for beginners this is fitting. The whole matter is this: to become accustomed to keeping your attention always on the Lord who is omnipresent and all-seeing and desires the salvation of all (See: 1 Tim. 2:4), and is ready to help toward that.

This habit will not allow you to grieve – whether inner or outer sorrow troubles you: for it brings the soul complete satisfaction, which, filling the soul, leaves no place for any feeling of want and insufficiency, as you cast yourself and all that is yours into the Lord’s hands, and this gives rise to a feeling of his constant protection and help.

(Letter 916. Vol. 5, p. 197)

On the Same Subject (149)

I suggest to you – not to make one brief prayer, but to gather several, and then use them morning and evening – and sometimes during the day. On the first place put: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Then: the 24 little prayers of Saint Chrysostom (in the prayers before sleep); next: Have mercy on me, O God – up to – restore to me the joy of salvation… (See: Ps 50) – Finally, turn the proclamations from the litany of supplication into prayers: “This day (or evening, or night)… holy, peaceful and sinless, grant, O Lord… An angel of peace… Forgiveness and remission of sins grant, O Lord…” and so forth – 6 prayers. If you wish, choose from the psalms prayerful and penitential invocations.

Learn all of this with understanding of the meaning and feeling. And then use them, limiting your entire prayer rule to them alone. In the morning read the beginning prayers up to “Rising from sleep, I thank you, O Holy Trinity” and so on to the end, and begin to recite the brief little prayers. In the evening read “O eternal God…” and again the prayers. Conclude your prayer service with invocations to the Lord concerning your present needs, both inner and outer.

When you are pronouncing the prayers – always keep both your thought and your feeling with the words. The little prayers can be said quickly, but set yourself to repeat each one no fewer than three times, or even 5–10, depending on your zeal.

This is your rule for your whole life; if you fulfill it well – soon you will see its fruit. God bless! – Never hurry!

(Letter 967. Vol. 6, p. 82)

On the Same Subject (150)

You want to learn noetic prayer. You understand, of course, the Jesus Prayer. A good and most good work! But without the habit of concentrating in prayer it is difficult to succeed in the Jesus Prayer. To become accustomed to such concentration, here is what you should do. Gather from the psalms and other prayer books brief prayerful invocations that approach closely to your inner state, learn them, feel them deeply and pray with them, repeating each one 3, 5 or 10 times, so as to occupy the appointed time with this, and among them insert the Jesus Prayer, and after all add the invocation of the Mother of God and the saints and the commemoration of your living and deceased. You can also add reading from printed prayers, for instance: “Bless, O my soul, the Lord and all that is within me…”, “Praise, O my soul, the Lord”, “At all times” and so forth.

For an example, here is what you should take: the 24 little prayers of Saint Chrysostom, which stand in the prayers before sleep.

Rework the litany of supplication into prayers like this: “Let the whole day be holy, peaceful and sinless for me, O Lord” and so forth. Take psalm 50 from the beginning up to restore to me the joy of salvation… In these verses all the penitential feelings are combined. Learn them and pray with them. In this way your entire prayer rule can be formed, in which there will be no need for either books or candles.

Each prayer will give you more than one spiritual contemplation, and these contemplations will produce or sustain spiritual feelings. So seek, and you will find the prayer that will then flow from your heart like a river. God bless!

(Letter 529. Vol. 3, pp. 225–226)

On spiritual indolence and coldness toward prayer

Counsel for the Case of Coldness and Lack of Feeling

Here is a word from Saint Isaac the Syrian – for the case of coldness and lack of feeling! “Do not be troubled in mind and do not yield your hand to soul-sickness, but endure – read the books of the teachers, compel yourself to prayer – and wait for help. It will come soon, sooner than you know.[1]”20

(Letter 190. Vol. 1, pp. 232–233)

[1] Cf.: St. Isaac the Syrian. Ascetic Teachings, 218 // The Philokalia. Vol. 2. P. 775.

Why Coldness Toward Prayer Happens

The coldness you speak of comes either from spiritual exhaustion, or from the fact that the soul has absorbed too much that is merely psychological (see in the book “What is Spiritual Life”18 about this), or from too much ease and comfort given to the body, or from presumption and other passions that have troubled and occupied the soul. All such things are contrary to spiritual life, in which prayer is queen; it muddies and blocks the spring of prayer. But sometimes it comes by God’s permission, and by the withdrawal of grace. When your soul burns with zeal, this is the action of grace, God’s touch upon your soul. It happens that when this lasts a long time, the soul begins to think that it is very skilled at praying, forgetting that the liveliness of prayer is not its own doing, but the work of God’s grace, present within us. For such thinking, grace departs and leaves the soul alone, and by itself it is immobile toward the spiritual – hence the coldness and sloth.

How should you proceed then? The main thing is to try to remove the causes of such a state. And then act as you are acting: fulfill your rule despite sluggishness, striving both to gather your thoughts and to kindle your feelings toward God. Through patience and humility grace will return—and at once it will disperse sluggishness, as the wind dispels fog.

(Letter 947. Vol. 6, pp. 22–23)

You Must Kindle Zeal

Everything you have described about the progress of your prayer work, fasts, and other matters is, thank God, good. One thing I will note: beware lest the work of prayer come to nothing. What you are doing now in prayer is direct work of your will. The soul of it is earnest desire. This zeal must always be kindled before prayer; otherwise there will be no prayer at all. Yet you confess: “I pray sometimes lazily, without eagerness.” This does not suit the nature of your prayer. Endeavor not to allow this. The matter is in your hands. Otherwise this can happen: today without eagerness, tomorrow without eagerness… and then prayer ends altogether. Guard against this and compel yourself to prayer with eagerness.

(Letter 955. Vol. 6, pp. 47–48)

Do Not Withdraw Your Attention From the Lord

I hasten to tell you a word or two. Distraction. This is the first hostile attack against the inner order from the enemy. Take care that when you enter into contact with others and busy yourself with affairs, you remember the Lord at the same time, and do and speak everything with the awareness that the Lord is near, directing all things toward pleasing Him. To this end, when something happens, prepare yourself beforehand during the matter not to withdraw from the Lord, but to remain in His presence and pray to Him about it. You can acquire this habit if only you resolve from now on always to act in this way.

The second enemy of dwelling within is attachment to something and the captivation of the heart by something through sense-impressions or thoughts about something. This one is worse. You did not have this, and you quickly returned to the old way. If your heart had become attached to something, you would have had to suffer for a long time. Then it would have been necessary first to tear your heart away from that to which it had become attached, and to turn away from it. Keep this in view and guard yourself in every way from both distraction and especially from captivity of the heart. There is one remedy: do not withdraw your attention from the Lord and from the awareness of His presence.

Why do you feel sadness after a long conversation with someone? Because during the conversation you withdrew your attention from the Lord. The Lord finds this displeasing, and He makes you know it through sadness. Accustom yourself to abide inseparably with the Lord in whatever you do, and do all things for Him, striving to conform them to His commandments. And you will never be sad, for you will know that you are doing His work.

(Letter 518. Vol. 3, pp. 208–209)

You Must Restore Inner Fervor

The moment inner fervor begins to diminish—hasten to restore it in its full strength. The Lord is near. Turning to Him with compassion and reverence, you will at once receive it.

Here especially, when the Jesus Prayer is suited: there it has its true power; moreover, your state can also be in its true form there with attention and feeling toward the Lord alone. Services in God’s temple are all about the divine, and endeavor to be there unfailingly. Above all guard yourself from distraction of thoughts and their scattering, and from passionate movements. The scattering of thoughts and any bodily pleasure or comfort in food and sleep—these are the first enemies, and in alliance with them is always irritation. Flee even the slightest movement of displeasure.

Moreover, the very work of preserving this state will teach you the necessity of choosing means and practices for it. When the desire arises to read, read only about prayer in the books you have. Choose such articles.

(Letter 517. Vol. 3, p. 207)

When Distracted

First you describe how you pray noetically and with what feelings, and ask whether this is possible—I answer: it is possible. Bless us, O Lord, always to pray so, if you remember what you wrote (“Being in church, in my cell, or wherever I happen to be, I strive to gather my feelings and to imagine the Lord before me without form; then my lips close, my tongue remains still, and only with mind and heart do I speak the prayer; then all my bodily members come into order, a feeling of reverence toward the Lord takes hold of me, and I clearly see my own nothingness”). Then you add: “I grieve that I pray such a prayer rarely. Prayer departs, and again I become distracted.”

You must grieve greatly about this. But you should not blame anyone else: the fault is your own. To establish yourself in such prayer, first of all pray to the Lord, the Giver of all good, that He grant you to pray so, and secondly, approach such prayer more often. The habit will come, by God’s grace.

“I become distracted.” Who is at fault? Do not be distracted. And as soon as you notice that your thoughts have wandered, at once turn them back again. Accustom yourself to dwell in the remembrance of God and the remembrance of death. Contrition will come and will not allow your thoughts to scatter. Following this you ask: “Should I continue such prayer or descend with the mind into the heart?” But what you just said—where does it happen? It cannot happen anywhere but within. You stand before the Lord without images, in His presence, and you experience good feelings. What more is needed? Here is everything. Are you perhaps producing this in your head?! No, you must stand in the heart. But you need not remember the heart itself, only behold the Lord. Everything can be expressed thus: “To stand in the heart with the mind before the Lord and to pray.”

(Letter 902. Vol. 5, pp. 174–175)

When Prayer Grows Cold

Grant you, O Lord, to conform to the order of the Holy Church not only in food and drink, but also in spiritual disposition.

You remind me of spiritual coldness in the matter of prayer. This is great damage. Endeavor to rouse yourself. Household tasks can excuse only brief standing in prayer, but they cannot excuse the decline of inner prayer. The Lord is pleased with little, but even little must come from the heart. To raise the mind to Him and with contrition to say: “Lord, have mercy! Lord, bless! Lord, help!”—this is a prayer cry. And if there arises and dwells in the heart a feeling toward God, then this will be unceasing prayer without words and without formal prayer standing.

You certainly have the book “On Watchfulness and Prayer.” A collection… Take it up and read it little by little. Prayer will begin to move.

Insert into your prayer rule brief prayers of Saint John Chrysostom: “Lord, do not deprive me of Your heavenly blessings!” and others. You may omit any of the appointed prayers, but speak these 3, 5, or 10 times. As your soul is inclined. Sometimes you can replace the whole rule with these. It is also good to read them during the day between tasks. You must think them over and feel them. And then they will serve as a lever.

I am sending you the 3rd volume of the “Philokalia.” There you will find something to read for warming prayer.

(Letter 293. Vol. 2, pp. 150–151)

On Sluggishness in Prayer

In your letter of January 23 you described what you read in your night rule. It seemed to me then that there was too much reading, and I intended to write to you to shorten your reading and insert noetic prayer in the intervals—prayer spoken mentally from the heart to the Lord with petitions for your spiritual needs.

But in your letter of January 26 you say that you refuse to read in the evening because of eye pain. And you resolve to practice noetic prayer, and in order not to doze, you knit a sock. It seems that reading prayers is being abandoned altogether. This is possible, but you must do away with knitting a sock, and instead, when drowsiness takes hold, walk about the room, or lift something heavy, or, what is much better, take a thicker prayer rope and strike yourself lightly on the shoulders.

When I wrote to you not to shorten prayer time, I wrote because, as it seemed to me, you had begun to grow sluggish in prayer. This is what above all must be avoided. Sluggishness means a weakening or cessation of spiritual movements, which is much to be lamented. But as I see that your zeal for prayer work is alive, I think it right to leave to your discretion both the time and the rule of prayer: arrange both as you find best and most convenient for yourself. Only keep one thing unfailingly: when you stand in prayer, let prayer come from your heart and with feelings toward God—praiseworthy, thankful, and supplicatory with trust—and let nothing extraneous be mixed with this.

(Letter 529. Vol. 3, pp. 224–225)

Counsels on the Jesus Prayer

Beginners Have No Need for a Jesus Prayer Rule

You raised very important questions. The first concerns the Jesus Prayer. I think the elders do well in not imposing a rule of this prayer upon beginners. One should wait until the person who has begun the work labors in church prayer and home prayer; and only counsel him to pray always from the heart with remembrance of the omnipresent God to whom he prays, and with understanding of the prayer words, believing that the Lord is near, hearkens to his prayer, and is ready to fulfill his request if he prays as he should. Keep him in this order for a longer time. Then, when he becomes accustomed to praying attentively in this manner, teach him the rule of the Jesus Prayer.

In teaching the performance of this prayer, instruct students not to confine themselves to memorizing the words alone, but to always have the Lord before their mind’s eye at the same time, and, directing the words of prayer to Him, hold themselves as they would hold themselves if standing before a sovereign and asking him for something. Let there be a contrite spirit and a contrite and humble heart (Ps. 50:19).

(Letter 929. Vol. 5, p. 215)

Endeavor to Acquire the Habit of Brief Prayer

Endeavor to grow accustomed to the Jesus Prayer so that it speaks itself as you walk and as you work. And you can always repeat other short prayers: “God, cleanse me…,” “God, be merciful…,” “Guide me, Lord my God…” and similar ones.

(Letter 487. Vol. 3, p. 154)

The Jesus Prayer—flower and Fruit

The Jesus Prayer, in its power, appears not at the beginning but at the end of progress, as flower and fruit. It is preceded by a drawing inward.

(Letter 894. Vol. 5, p. 162)

The Vestibule to Prayer

You did well to think of applying yourself properly to the Jesus Prayer. Zeal and labor will overcome all. Pray to the Lord that He help you in this. You yourself, through your labors, can only become accustomed to repeating this prayer ceaselessly. But the Lord will implant it in the very heart. This latter is the chief work, while the first is only the vestibule.

(Letter 1265. Vol. 8, p. 35)

The Straight Path in Prayer

I said about prayer what I said because I don’t know what people have made of the Jesus Prayer. They think that as soon as someone begins to perform this prayer, they have already accomplished everything. The prayer has become for them like some sort of charm: “Perform it, adding to it the bodily positions spoken of elsewhere, and you will obtain everything.” So they mutter it, while their heart remains empty, their thoughts wander, even shameful movements arise, and it troubles them not, as though all such things were in the natural order. Some experience a slight warmth when doing this, and they cry: “Look, grace, look, grace!”—and forget what those experienced say: “Beware, a slight warmth may come—do not marvel, this comes from nature, not from grace.”

What is sought through the Jesus Prayer? That the grace-filled fire should sink into the heart and unceasing prayer should begin, which is how grace-filled state is defined. Know that the Jesus Prayer, when the divine spark falls into the heart, fans it into flame; but the prayer itself does not give this spark—it only facilitates receiving it. How does it facilitate? By gathering thoughts into one and giving the soul the power to stand before the Lord and walk in His presence. The chief thing is to stand and walk before God with a cry to Him from the heart. This is how Maximus Kapsokalivier did it. Let all who seek the grace-filled fire do likewise, and let them not worry about the words and bodily positions. God looks on the heart (Cf.: 1 Sam. 16:7). I speak against those who completely forget about the cry from the heart. All their care is for the words and bodily position, and after reciting a certain number of Jesus Prayers in this position with prostrations, they rest in this with a certain self-esteem and condemn those who go to church for the common liturgical prayer. Some live their whole life this way and remain empty of grace.

If someone asked me, “How should I conduct my prayer work?”, I would say to him: become accustomed to walk in the presence of God, or preserve the remembrance of God and reverence; to support this remembrance, choose a few short prayers, or simply take the 24 brief prayers of John Chrysostom and repeat them often with corresponding thoughts and feelings. As you grow in the habit, your head will be enlightened by the remembrance of God and your heart will grow warm. In this state, at last the divine spark—a ray of grace—will sink into your heart. This you cannot produce by any means; it comes straight from God. Then you can remain with the Jesus Prayer alone and fan the prayer spark into flame with it.

Such is the straight path.

(Letter 911. Vol. 5, pp. 189–190)

The Jesus Prayer is Mighty Through the Name of the Lord

The Jesus Prayer is like any other prayer. It is mightier than all only through the all-mighty name of Jesus, the Lord, the Savior, when it is invoked with full, fervent, unwavering faith—that He is near, sees and hears all, and attends with all His heart to what is asked—and is ready to grant and bestow what is requested. Such hope is not ashamed. If sometimes the fulfillment is delayed, it depends on the unreadiness of the one asking to receive what is asked.

(Letter 827. Vol. 5, p. 113)

The Essence of the Jesus Prayer is in Meditation on God

You ask about the Jesus Prayer? Read the books. Everything is written there. My thought about it is this.

The prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” is a verbal prayer, like any other. In itself it has nothing special, but takes all its power from the disposition with which one performs it.

All the practices spoken of (sitting, bowing…) or the artistic performance of this prayer are not suitable for all and without a living teacher are dangerous. It is better not to take them up at all. One practice is universally obligatory: to stand with attention in the heart. Everything else is extraneous addition that does not lead to the work.

Concerning the fruits of this prayer they say that there is nothing greater than this in all the world. Unlawfully. They have found a talisman! None of the fruits belong to the verbal composition and recitation of the prayer itself. All fruits can be obtained even without this prayer, and even without any verbal prayer—through the mind and heart being turned toward God alone.

The heart of the matter is to establish yourself in the remembrance of God, or to walk in the presence of God. You can tell anyone: “Do as you wish, but achieve this one thing. Whether you pray the Jesus Prayer, or bow down, or go to church – do whatever you want, just achieve the state of always being in the remembrance of God.” I remember meeting a man in Kyiv who said: “I used no methods, and I did not know the Jesus Prayer, yet everything that is written here, was and is. But how – I do not know myself. God gave it!”

That gift from God – or which will be given – you must keep as your goal, so as not to confuse self-made effort with the gift of grace.

The skillful practice of the Jesus Prayer, reciting it simply with attention in the heart, or walking in the remembrance of God, are our labor and in themselves bear their own natural, non-grace fruit. This fruit is: the gathering of thoughts, reverence and fear of God, remembrance of death, calming of thoughts, and a certain warmth of the heart. All this is the natural fruit of inner prayer. You must remember this well, so as not to boast to yourself and not to show off to others.

While we have only natural fruits, we are not worth a cent in the essence of the matter and in God’s judgment. We have value when grace comes. For when it comes, it means God has looked upon us with a merciful eye. But as long as it does not come, whatever we do, however great the labors we bear, it means we are worthless persons upon whom God does not even deign to look.

I cannot tell you exactly how grace manifests its action; but it is certain that it cannot come before all the fruits of inner prayer that are indicated above appear.

The word inner prayer came to me by chance. But it expresses the matter very well. And it should be placed where people have been saying: the Jesus Prayer. They say: “Acquire the Jesus Prayer,” that is, inner prayer. The Jesus Prayer is a good means toward inner prayer, but in itself it is not inner prayer, but outer prayer. Those who acquire it do well. But if they stop at it alone and do not go further, they stop halfway.

I read in the rules of St. Antony and in many others: “Learn the psalms and, whether you go somewhere or sit at work, read them.” This means they then recited the psalms, reflected, and developed inner prayer within themselves. Now people say: “Whatever you do, pray the Jesus Prayer – and you will attain the same.” But meditation on God is still necessary during the Jesus Prayer; otherwise it is dry food. It is good to have the name of Jesus fixed on your tongue. But one can at the same time forget the Lord entirely, and even harbor thoughts opposed to Him. Therefore, everything depends on a conscious and free turning toward God and on the labor of maintaining yourself in this with discernment.[1]

(Letter 12, vol. 1, pp. 17–19)

[1] The book What is Spiritual Life and How to Attune Oneself to It (Moscow, 1878) was written by St. Theophan himself.

The Essence of Prayer-work

Labor! Do well, do well! Toil earnestly and with humility. And the Lord will not abandon your labor. Do not forget that you must not confine yourself to the mechanical repetition of the words of the Jesus Prayer. This leads nowhere except to the mechanical habit of repeating this prayer with your tongue while not even thinking about it. And this is not bad, of course. But it constitutes the very outermost edge of this work.

The essence of the matter is a conscious standing in the presence of the Lord with fear, faith, and love. This disposition is possible even without words. It is this that must first be restored in your heart. Then the words will follow, to hold your attention on this one thing and to deepen those feelings and affections.

(Letter 321, vol. 2, pp. 194–195)

The Goal of Prayer – to Warm the Heart With Love for God

What should you strive to achieve through prayer? That your heart might grow warm with love for God and that the feeling toward God might not depart from you. For this purpose the Jesus Prayer is appointed: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Repeat this prayer frequently and reach the habit, so that your tongue repeats it of itself.

(Letter 377, vol. 3, p. 11)

On Zealous Prayer

Do not indulge laziness. Zealous prayer is never long – that is, it does not seem long.

You can pass through the Jesus Prayer with your mind in your heart, without moving your tongue. This is better than spoken prayer. Spoken prayer should be in aid of noetic prayer. Sometimes spoken prayer is needed for the steadiness of noetic prayer.

When after prayer with attention and feeling the mind departs from the prayer and becomes distracted, you must return it to its place, reprove yourself, grieve before the Lord, and again pray with attention and feeling. Good prayer is always God’s mercy and a gift of grace. Do not boast and give thanks to the Lord.

What is written by St. Simeon the New Theologian about careless prayer is completely true. What is to be done? – You must pray diligently, driving away inattention, indifference, and carelessness, for it lies in our hands. Seek, and you will find (Matt. 7:7).[1]

(Letter 907, vol. 5, p. 183)

[1] See: St. Anthony the Great. Rule for the Solitary Life, 124, 126 // The Philokalia: In 5 Vols. St. Petersburg, 1877. Vol. 1. P. 89.

Stand With Attention in Your Heart

Seek, and you will find, the Lord has promised. You seek, and be assured that you will find.

What should you seek? Living, tangible communion with the Lord. God’s grace gives this, but we also must labor for it ourselves. Where should you direct your labor? To always remember the Lord, as if he were near and even in your heart. To succeed in this, you are advised to acquire the habit of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” repeating it ceaselessly with the thought of the Lord as being in your heart or near your heart. Stand with attention in your heart before the face of the Lord and say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” – This is all the work is, and, in essence, nothing else is required.

Everything else that is devised is devised only as an aid to this main thing.[1] The elders say: “Keep your attention in your heart or on the tip of your tongue and hold your hand at your breast”; an eldress says: “Imagine the crucified Lord and, as to the living, speak your prayer to him.” If this is helpful for them, let them do it, but they should not consider it the main work. Others did it like this: they would sit on a small bench, what they put under their feet, press their head to their breast, bend toward their knees, and breathe, saying half the prayer while inhaling and the other half while exhaling. Laboring thus, they acquire the habit of prayer, and then advise others to do the same. And let them, but only let them not think that this is the whole work.

But all this and things like it – these are not the work itself, but accessories. The work is: to stand with your mind in your heart before the face of the Lord and speak your prayer to him. In this, know that noetic prayer is standing with your mind before the Lord with sighing to Him, while the Jesus Prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” – is verbal, outer prayer.

By this method the remembrance of God will become firm in your mind, and the face of God will be in your soul like the sun. Place something cold in the sun, and it will grow warm. So too will the soul grow warm from the remembrance of the Lord, who is the spiritual Sun. And what happens after – you will see later.

The first labor is the habit of repeating ceaselessly the Jesus Prayer. And begin, keep saying and saying it, but always with the thought of the Lord. And that is all there is.

Where is the heart? – Where sorrow, joy, anger, and so forth are felt and resonate, there is the heart. Stand there with your attention. The bodily heart is a muscular organ – flesh – but it is not the flesh that feels, but the soul, for which the fleshy heart serves only as an instrument, just as the brain serves as an instrument for the mind.

Do not condemn the elders. Truly, they begin by keeping attention on the tip of the tongue, and then move to the heart. Let them be; only do not consider this noetic work, just as with reciting the Jesus Prayer. Both are outer, bodily work. The noetic work is one alone: lifting your mind and heart to the Lord.

Is the imagination of the crucified Lord an essential work? No, and it too is also helpful, not the main thing. The eldress speaks truly that for keeping the mind from wandering it is good to imagine the subject in form. This you can do. But there is no reason to attach yourself to this image.

The Lord now is in glory, sitting at the right hand – and all the saints around him. – And so one can imagine. But it is better to do without images, for imagination is a crude force. It is better to stand in faith alone, that the Lord is near, than to imagine. The eldress has become used to it, and the image of the crucified Lord has become for her a prayer of the heart, in which all the work lies. That the eldress is absorbed in prayer to the forgetting of everything – this truly is God’s mercy because of her humility, without which this would not have been given. She is not in spiritual delusion, but in truth.

(Letter 896, vol. 5, pp. 164–166)

[1] These are not the ancient elders, but recent ones who wrote instruction to that same monk from their own understanding. – Note from the 1898 edition.

The Words of Prayer – Not the Main Thing, but an Instrument

In your last letter you mentioned the action of the Jesus Prayer in all things. May the Lord bless this good beginning! In the action of this prayer there should be no image standing between the mind and the Lord, and the words pronounced are not the main thing, but the mediating thing. The main thing is the noetic standing before the Lord in the heart. This is noetic prayer, not the words. The words here are the same as the words of any other prayer. The essence of noetic prayer is in walking before God; and walking before God is an unwavering consciousness, a conviction that God, as he is everywhere, is also within you and sees all your inner self – sees even more than you see yourself. This consciousness of God’s eye looking within you must also have no image, but must consist solely of simple conviction, or feeling. One who is in a warm room feels how the warmth surrounds him and penetrates him. The same must happen in our spiritual being from the omnipresent and all-embracing God, who is fire (See: Deut. 4:24).

The words “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” though they are an instrument, not the essence of the work, are a very powerful and efficacious instrument; for the name of our Lord Jesus is terrible to the enemies of our salvation and a blessing to those who seek him. Do not forget that this work is simple and has no eccentricities, and should have none. Pray to the Lord about everything, and to the Most Pure Lady and to your Guardian Angel, and they will teach you all things, either themselves or through others.

(Letter 704, vol. 4, p. 171)

The Power of Prayer Lies Not at All in Words

Nowadays people do not know how to approach the Jesus Prayer. How many tricks and gimmicks they have invented! – And they forget entirely about the essence of the matter. As a result, some remain only with words, repeating: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” but without any thought or feeling. I call them “whisperers.” Others stop at nostril-breathing and snort. These are “snorters.” Then others appeared who, as if unable to restrain some inner movement, begin to cry out: “Jesus… Jesus… Ee… Ee…” These are the “shriekers.”

But the work of this prayer is simple: stand with your mind in your heart before the face of the Lord and cry out: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” or simply: “Lord, have mercy,” “Merciful Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner,” or other words. The power lies not in the words at all, but in the thoughts and feelings. Stand on this and reject all tricks – both yourself and teach others to do so.

(Letter 910, vol. 5, p. 188)

On the Same Topic

That novice who wrote the Jesus Prayer on his heart clearly placed all the power of prayer in the words. Let him acquire the habit of walking in the presence of God and perform every duty of obedience in the best manner, knowing that the Lord is watching him and for good fulfillment of obedience is preparing a reward for him, while for carelessness (“just to get it done”) – either nothing, or something punitive. In this way he will become accustomed to praying mindfully and with attention.

(Letter 929, vol. 5, pp. 215–216)

A Good End – From God’s Grace

The power lies not in the words of the Jesus Prayer, but in spiritual disposition, fear of God, and devotion to God, and in constant attention to God and standing before him with the mind.

The Jesus Prayer is only an aid, not the very essence of the work. Resolve to live in the remembrance of God and walk in the presence of God, and this alone will lead you to a good end. All this is from God’s grace. Without God’s grace you cannot acquire anything spiritual in any other way. When grace knocks on the heart, then everything will proceed as it should be.

We have the Lord Savior, who desires all to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4); we must importune him, and he will grant it. Embrace the humble self-attribution of nothing to yourself, knowledge of only your own deficiencies, failures, and omissions, and grievous cries from your heart: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And God’s grace will never withdraw its overshadowing and protection from you.

(Letter 939, vol. 5, p. 231)

How to Fulfill the Prayer Lesson

You desire to acquire the habit of the Jesus Prayer according to the pattern described in that book. (A manuscript from Mount Athos: “Seeker of Unceasing Prayer.” There is also a printed book.[1]) Good! God will bless it!

You must perform the prayer lesson all at once. Begin with a smaller number. For example: for two or three days do 1,000, then for two or three days 2,000, then for a week or more 3,000. You can stay longer at three thousand. After that, add 1,000 more, if time permits and other services allow it.

The Wanderer (this is a pilgrim – a seeker of unceasing prayer, indicated in that manuscript) was occupied with nothing and did not attend services (he would pray from 6 to 12 thousand Jesus Prayers a day).

It is better to pray standing, as is done when one fulfills one’s rule. If your legs grow tired, you can kneel. You can also arrange it so that you fulfill the appointed number of prayers sometimes standing and sometimes on your knees.

Pray the whole prayer, or the first half, or the second: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner,” “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Only do not change too quickly, but determine, either a hundred for each, or some other number, but not less than ten.

Keep your attention in the chest, a little below the hollow beneath the throat. The reason is that your heart is likely tightening. When you do this, it will not. Then warmth will respond in the heart without tightening. Speak the prayer words slowly, as if chanting. Make prostrations at this time as you will. If the work goes better without them, it is better not to make them or to make them rarely.

In performing this prayer, directed to the Lord Savior, do not let slip from your awareness that he is one from the Most Holy Trinity, indivisible from the Father and the Holy Spirit. Therefore with those words, in some way bring into consciousness: the good pleasure of the Father and the grace of the Spirit. You can do this on a prayer rope.

Do not limit yourself to words alone, but at the same time refresh your contemplation of God, as omnipresent, all-sustaining, caring for all things, and so forth. It is best of all to perform this lesson at night.

The fruit of prayer is the concentration of attention in the heart and warmth. This is natural action. Everyone can achieve this. And pray this prayer everyone, not monks alone, but also lay people.

This is not some lofty work, but a simple one. And the Jesus Prayer by itself is not wonder-working, but, like any other brief prayer, verbal and consequently outer. But it can transform into noetic and prayer of the heart – all by natural means. What comes from grace, that you must await; you cannot obtain it by any such method.

What you’ve been told—that you must first purify the passions—applies to the lofty contemplative prayer; but this is simple prayer, which however can lead to that higher prayer.

For this practice to go well, you must each time, before beginning, set everything aside so that the heart is free from everything entirely, so that in your attention nothing sticks out: neither a person’s face, nor a task, nor a thing. You must drive everything out during this time. After completing your rule, you should not leave off this prayer at any other time either; whenever you have freedom, do it at once.

During church services, you must attend to the service, standing with your attention in the same place where the Jesus Prayer is prayed. And when something is unclear in the reading or singing, then pray this little prayer.

The external methods (described in volume 5 of the Philokalia)—sitting on a chair, bending your head, restricting your breathing—you can set aside. Direct all your effort to concentrating attention in the place we’ve mentioned.

Fear of God you must always have. Just as even the closest people are not so bold before a king, how much more we sinners before the Lord. If you take God for granted, that’s bad—it goes nowhere. You must pray with reverence, and God will give it.

(Letter 320. Volume 2, pp. 192–194)

[1] See: St. Symeon the New Theologian. On Three Forms of Attention and Prayer // The Philokalia. Vol. 5. Pp. 500–510.

How to Learn the Jesus Prayer

You’ve felt the desire to learn the Jesus Prayer. God bless you! But practicing the Jesus Prayer is not unceasing prayer, only a help toward it. Unceasing prayer is a gift of grace, and so you must pray: “Lord, grant me to pray to you without ceasing!” This prayer consists not in words, but in a feeling toward God that does not depart. You must take care of this feeling and kindle it.

Surely you’ve experienced how sometimes an irresistible desire to pray to God comes upon you. Remember what was in your soul at that time, and each time you stand to pray, try to bring that feeling back to your soul and pray the Jesus Prayer with it. This rekindling will stir the Jesus Prayer, and this prayer will sustain that prayerful state. This is the whole secret of success in praying the Jesus Prayer. Power lies not in the words, but in this feeling.

For practicing the Jesus Prayer, set aside a special time apart from your morning and evening prayers. Stand before dinner twice, after dinner twice, each time praying one hundred Jesus Prayers with bows—waist bows at the small knots, full bows at the large ones. Once set, fulfill this without fail each day, making no excuses.

When you stand to pray, at once remember that the Lord is near—and sees, and hears, and desires to give you what is salvific for you.

Persistence in fulfilling this—this is the chief condition of success. Success will not show itself at once. For this you will need months and years. Therefore do not despair of success when the fruit of your labor does not appear quickly.

Do not fill your stomach with food; let a sense of emptiness remain there—and you should not indulge in sleep either. You must not permit distractions—laughter and buffoonery. Hold yourself always as if you were in the presence of a king.

If you pay close attention and do all things carefully, the work itself will teach you much.

(Letter 825. Volume 5, pp. 111–112)

The Jesus Prayer in Full and in Parts

Pray every Jesus Prayer in full: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” and also in parts: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me!” Pray this great prayer—the most important of the short ones—more often than the others, sometimes in full and sometimes in parts.

(Letter 378. Volume 3, p. 12)

On the Number of Prayers

The monk does well to labor in the Jesus Prayer. But does he forget that the matter lies not in the words and not in the number of Jesus Prayers, but in becoming accustomed to always remaining in the remembrance of God? It is good to maintain a number, so as not to grow lazy, but the essential thing is that thoughts and feelings remain holy. The main fruit of prayer is not warmth and sweetness, but fear of God and contrition. You must constantly kindle these, live with them, and breathe them.

You say that sometimes you forget to keep count with the prayer rope. It is no great trouble. When there is a turning toward the Lord as present to you, with reverence and trust, this is better than any precise number of prayers.

(Letter 902. Volume 5, pp. 175–176)

On the Number of Bows

The bows during the Jesus Prayer are left to your own will and fervor. At the small knots make a waist bow, and at the large ones a full bow. How many? As many as pleases your soul, yet determining this once and for all. Better to set a fixed time for this prayer: a quarter hour or longer or shorter.

Night is the best time for prayer, especially midnight.

(Letter 113. Volume 1, p. 113)

On Impulses Toward Prayer

The manifestation of a prayer impulse is not the same for everyone. In your case: “A kind of pulse beats in the heart…there arises an impulse in the mind to pray…a tightness is felt in the throat…the mind quickly runs off, but the work continues in the heart.” Consider: what is essential here and what is incidental? That pulse in the heart and the tightness in the throat—these are nervous accidents, which in others manifest differently, for instance by trembling, and in others do not occur at all. It seems to me that those in whom it occurs may not give it leave to develop, and equally can amplify it to extremes, as for instance in Siberia someone fell into convulsions. All this is nervous and can and must be restrained. For “God’s presence expands and lifts our life,” producing no disorder or unevenness. Pay attention to this carefully. The essential thing here is: “The heart feels an impulse to prayer.” There should be warmth with this, and with warmth, the accompanying attention.

(Letter 256. Volume 2, pp. 91–92)

Should You Pray the Jesus Prayer in the Church?

You ask: “Should one compel the mind to pray the Jesus Prayer in the church, when the soul is at peace, serene, and the mind in that quiet attends to what is being read and sung?” You should stand in God’s presence and in a feeling toward God, whatever you are doing. The same is true in the church. In another letter you wrote: “In the church, listening to prayers, the Jesus Prayer goes better for me.” This prayer awakens and sustains attention to God with the corresponding feelings.

(Letter 530. Volume 3, p. 227)

On the Prayer Rope

Wear the prayer rope as you wear it—there is nothing wrong with this if you do not entertain superstitious notions about it.[1] Better to keep them beneath the icons as a rule.

(Letter 487. Volume 3, pp. 154–155)

[1] The advice about prayer beads concerns clergy. As a rule, lay people are not blessed to pray with beads.

On the Impulse Toward Solitude and Silence

The impulse toward solitude and silence, and even the yearnings you experience, are not of good quality. Therefore it is better to drive them away and in their place to produce or call forth in your soul a desire for labor—overexertion of yourself. You sometimes have solitude—and that is enough. At all other times, strive to retire into your heart and there to establish your consciousness before God’s face—which is what it means to walk before God.

(Letter 198. Volume 1, p. 248)

One Must Cast Out All Images

You ask about prayer. I find from the fathers that when praying, one must cast out all images from the mind. I try to do this, striving to stand in the conviction that God is everywhere, and here too, where I am, where my thought and my feeling are. I am not wholly successful in freeing myself from images, but they increasingly fade away.[1] Perhaps there is a term when they will disappear entirely.

In the fixed prayers there are many images depicting God; from this we may suppose that having such representations is not sinful. But it is better to strive toward a thinking of God that is closer to what he truly is. When prayer of feeling appears, images disappear, and only the feeling itself remains in power. Noetic prayer hardly separates itself from images and pictures. But effort can overcome all things.

(Letter 1150. Volume 7, p. 153)

[1] Term—a deadline, a limit.

God Cannot Be Represented in Images

The question “When I stand in my heart, is it necessary there to form some images: the Trinity or something else?” answers itself. If you stand before the Lord without his image, what other images would be fitting? They could not even appear: God the Trinity has no image. To represent him in images is neither possible nor proper. The Lord Savior, in his incarnate dispensation, has human form; but you must stand before him without images, in the awareness of his presence alone.

(Letter 902. Volume 5, p. 175)

One Must Pray Without Images

What the elder said about visible objects as necessary in prayer—I think you have misunderstood. You must strive in every way that when you think of God, you think of him as the purest Spirit, having no form or image. But grace alone, working a feeling toward God in the heart, gives such thinking. Until that point, our thinking of God is incomplete, mixed with some form. For example, the prophet says: I have set God before me always, for he is at my right hand (Ps. 15:8). This is an image. Another like it: Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I descend to the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast (Ps. 138:7–10). This too is an image of God’s omnipresence. So it is with every other thinking about God and divine things.

The elder’s thought was that it is difficult for us to free ourselves from images when thinking of God; but you understood it to mean that you must always have an image and that without it you cannot even pray. That is your mistake, not the elder’s. Therefore strive in every way to pray without images of God. Stand in your heart with faith that God is there too, but do not reason about how he is.

Pray and seek that God’s grace may at last grant you a feeling toward God.

(Letter 898. Volume 5, pp. 167–168)

In Prayer One Must Not Construct Images

This monk sees the Holy Trinity imagewise in his heart. The Holy Trinity, God, is invisible, hidden, and has no image. You must stand in the awareness of God’s omnipresence, but you should not construct images. He says he found this thought among the fathers. Ask him—which fathers? I do not recall anyone saying this. Those who construct their thoughts about spiritual matters so as to give them weight cite the fathers. Without verification, one cannot accept such words as truth.

(Letter 902. Volume 5, p. 176)

Drive Away All Images

You ask about the prayer of one of the poorest of pray-ers.

How do I pray?! In every way I strive during the hour of prayer to stand in the conviction that God is omnipresent and here too, where my consciousness is, and that he sees and hears not the word alone—spoken or not—but every movement of thought, and especially feeling. And I flee from every image, hard though it be. When prayer comes with feeling, there is no effort to keep the imagelessness in prayer. This shows that imagelessness in prayer is the true work, and to achieve it one must reach the prayer of the heart, and therefore must go from the head into the heart.

Likewise—you must not picture the Mother of God, nor the saints, nor the Angels in your soul. Yet pray to them in that same conviction that they hear. How do they hear? Why reason about it? They hear, and that is all.

Let us suppose such a distinction: for mental labors images are needed—and they are indeed in Scripture about God himself and all divine things. And imagination is a mental faculty—a knowing faculty. Imagination—the faculty to form and hold images—is the lowest faculty, the most menial! For that very reason you should not permit it to appear with its images in the higher realm, such as prayer. Noetic contemplative work is lofty, and the spiritual work manifesting in prayer is loftier still. How could imagination reach there…. This is where it belongs: “Friend, how did you come in here?!friend! how have you entered here?… (Matt. 22:12)”

So when you grow angry, use imagination; when you pray, drive away all images. If you allow images, there is danger—you begin to pray to a fantasy. Can you say that the image you hold in mind expresses truth? You cannot….therefore you must become accustomed to imagelessness. But there is one path—prayer of the heart. The mind without images hardly exists.

I remember a saying about an elder who always pictured God in images. When someone explained to him that this should not be done, he said: “You have taken God from me.” But they did not take God from him—they took away his fantasy.

(Letter 1063. Vol. 7, pp. 24–25)

What Images You Must Fear

Are you afraid of images? You must fear not all images, but only phantasmal ones—and only those that relate to God’s nature, which is invisible and entirely beyond imaging. All things relating to creatures can be imaged and imagined. And the Lord Savior, according to his incarnate economy, can be imagined. Moreover, during prayer you must not hold images in your mind; rather, standing noetically before God who is invisible, you should speak reverent words to him. This is what you must seek, and you will find (Matt. 7:7).

(Letter 907. Vol. 5, p. 182)

On Spiritual Delusion

Your fear of spiritual delusion is also justified. There is intellectual delusion—this is self-conceit; there is external delusion—lights, sounds, various apparitions. Spit on all of it… it is from the enemy. A demon appeared to someone and started crying: “Christ is coming, Christ is coming!” He said to it: “Get away, wicked delusion! Christ will not come to me: for I am exceedingly sinful”—and the demon vanished.

(Letter 256. Vol. 2, p. 93)

On Bodily Weakness From Prayer

That the activity of inner prayer leaves bodily weakness in you—I attribute this to something that should not be. During this time, as always, work at keeping your heart sober through fear of God, humility, and contrition. This may pass. And at the same time, beseech the Lord to end it himself.

(Letter 291. Vol. 2, p. 148)

On Heaviness Appearing in the Head

That your head becomes heavy from prayer with feeling—I do not know what to make of it. Prayer of feeling refreshes, but this in you is something unusual. It will pass. But prayer of feeling is genuine prayer. God desires the heart, by his own commandment: My son, give me your heart! (Prov. 23:26) The Lord provides all that is needed. Pray to him for guidance on how to address one thing or another. And he will provide.

(Letter 1150. Vol. 7, p. 153)

On Irritability

Your irritability, sometimes capricious, will pass as soon as you grow accustomed to walking in God’s presence, under his all-seeing eye. It comes from pride. Humility will drive it out—and also the awareness that you must spread goodness around you.

(Letter 198. Vol. 1, p. 248)

On Physical Sensations During Prayer

What you wrote about prayer is all good. But that sometimes during prayer there are movements of blood—this will pass. Do not strain the heart excessively; act in simplicity. Then whatever feelings God sends will produce nothing harmful. When this happens, pray about this movement to the Lord and your guardian angel, asking them to quiet it and, if the enemy is stirring there, to drive him away.

There is no need to fear delusion. It happens to the proud, who think that once warmth enters the heart, then this is the end of perfection. But it is only the beginning, and even then perhaps not a firm one. For both warmth and peace of heart can be natural—the fruit of concentrated attention. But you must labor and labor, wait and wait, until the natural is replaced by grace. In all things, it is best never to think yourself to have attained anything, but always to see yourself as poor, naked, blind, and good for nothing.

(Letter 322. Vol. 2, pp. 195–196)

On Artificial Methods of Prayer

Spiritual prayer does not depend on any bodily strain, such as pressing attention to the heart or constricting the breath, and the like. It is accomplished by the noetic way. Begin by placing yourself in the presence of the Lord, and then, giving yourself entirely to the Lord in faith and hope, turn your prayer to him simply, like a child. The feelings that come—be content with whatever God sends. Spiritual work is not about ecstasies: its finest manifestation is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart (Ps. 50:19). As you wrote, that when you imagine the Lord’s presence, things go better—always do this.

(Letter 906. Vol. 5, p. 181)

On External Methods of Prayer

Who came up with this—holding attention on your lips or the tip of your tongue?! That’s a bad idea; drop it. Your effort should be to keep attention in the heart, and nowhere else.

That your mind flees from the heart after a few prayers and lapses from the remembrance of God—this comes from weak attention and from indifference to prayer. The soul does not treasure prayer and hurries to get through it carelessly, muttering it anyhow. Seek the fear of God and with it approach prayer, praying while keeping your attention on the meaning of the words. Short little prayers and the Jesus Prayer are then used to implant in the heart a feeling toward God and thus to bind attention to him. But if we are negligent toward prayer, we shall never advance in it. Remember also that prayer alone is never perfect, but exists together with all the virtues. As the virtues are perfected, so prayer is perfected. The chief ones are these: fear of God, chastity, humility, contrition, mortification of the flesh, patience, love. When these are present, all the others appear, and with them prayer.

(Letter 898. Vol. 5, p. 168)

On Mechanical Methods of Performing Prayer

The nun’s question about item 28 is answered by the opening words: “Pray sometimes with words, sometimes with the mind.” Only it needs to be clarified that you cannot pray with the mind without words either, only these words are not audible, but rather are uttered silently within, in the heart. Better to say it this way: pray sometimes with audible words, and sometimes silently and inaudibly. You need only take care that both audible and silent prayer proceed from the heart.[1]

The rest added here—these are absurdities, namely: “Closing your eyes, clenching your lips and teeth, utter the words of prayer without touching your tongue to your teeth… hold your breath… through nostril breathing, this is even better…” Such and similar devices are completely useless. When prayer comes from the heart, everything is forgotten. But the inexperienced will read this and begin to do so and believe that this is genuine prayer.

The question probably referred to the Jesus Prayer. How many absurdities have they heaped upon this holy prayer?! But the matter is simple: do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is your sole Savior? If you believe, cry out to him: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” But the wise men forgot about faith, and fixed all attention on the words; then they came up with tales about the tongue, the lips, the breath, the head with its beard, and sitting positions.

Not prayer alone is necessary, but also zeal—earnest zeal for salvation. When this zeal is present, it itself will teach you how to proceed. And you must keep your conscience clean: this is the main thing.

(Letter 908. Vol. 5, pp. 185–186)

[1] This refers to a note in which it was reported that a certain elder answered the question of a nun: “How is it better to pray—with the mouth or with the mind?” – Note from the 1898 edition.

On Methods in Prayer and the Gift of Grace

In the first letter you write well about prayer, namely: that the methods in prayer—how to hold attention and what posture to give the body and certain of its members—are not the essential matter in prayer; let each person hold himself as feels best.

The chief concern in prayer is that it should flow from the heart. True prayer of the heart is a gift of grace, bestowed through the sacraments of confession or communion. And after such a gift is given, it is warmed by these same sacraments. The distinguishing mark of this gift is the continuity of prayer, which is expressed as a feeling toward God, sometimes in the words of prayer, and sometimes without words.

What grace gives, your own effort can in no way give. It only prepares you to receive the gift—and after receiving it, sustains it—together with the sacraments.

(Letter 915. Vol. 5, pp. 195–196)

On the Artistic Form of Practicing Prayer

The artistic form of practicing prayer is described by the fathers as an external aid and is subordinate to the inner work. But nowadays most people adopt only the external side, neglecting the inner. As soon as some warmth stirs in the heart, they decide: “There—God has given it…” and give themselves over to fantasies about themselves. Then they look down on all those who do not observe the artistic form of prayer, and not only that, but also on the church prayers themselves and on those who strictly adhere to it, trying not to omit it. As a result, their progress in inner prayer ceases, and they remain with only external practice. And the spiritual life stops.

Be concerned rather about inner prayer, drawing your attention away from the external.

Laborious prayer leads to the reception of the gift of prayer.

(Letter 193. Vol. 5, pp. 193–194)

On External Methods of Performing the Jesus Prayer

I reviewed the letter of the elders and their reply to your question. Did you reply to their answer? If not, respond like this: “Since you could not justify your prayer method by patristic teachings, I am declining to follow you, fearing I might fall into a false path: innovations are destructive. Through them the enemy digs us a pit.”[1]

Tell that young brother, to whom you transmitted the elder’s method, to discard it. Let him stir up in himself a spirit of contrition and humility and with these feelings pray to the Lord, standing with attention in his heart and always walking in the presence of God and in the remembrance of death. Let him seek and pray for what Maximus Capsokalivia sought and found. That is the straight path. In it, you see no special methods, only a thirst for the good he eventually received. That good is a spiritual fire and warmth. But completely different from those so-called “goods” that arise from the elders’ methods or other devices. When the Lord gives that gift, then everything will proceed differently, and the Jesus Prayer will sound different.

(Letter 800. Vol. 5, pp. 170–171)

[1] The question of external methods of performing the Jesus Prayer

Prayer is Salvation; Artistry is Harm

The Jesus Prayer, practiced in faith with simplicity of heart, is always salutary for the soul. What can be harmful is the artistry that is joined with it. We must guard against this. One need not rush into this prayer, but at first let each person become accustomed to praying from the heart with the appointed prayers and with prayers in church. Then, when you notice that someone begins to deepen in prayer, you can suggest he practice the Jesus Prayer unceasingly and in doing so keep the remembrance of God with fear and reverence.

Prayer is the first task. The chief thing sought through prayer is to obtain that flame which was given to Maximus Capsokalivia. This flame is not drawn by any artistry, but is freely given by God’s grace. For this, laborious prayer is required, as holy Macarius writes. “If you wish to attain prayer,” he says, “labor in prayer. God, seeing how earnestly you seek prayer, will give you prayer” (Discourse 1, Chapter 13).[1] This is the path of Maximus Capsokalivia. For two years he labored from the heart seeking prayer—and received the gift of prayer. Teach this to all. But add that the house of prayer is a pure heart, and a peaceful conscience, and zeal for every virtue, and their implanting in the heart.

Madness from the Jesus Prayer can happen when, while practicing this prayer, one does not cease from certain sins and sinful habits that the conscience condemns. In this case, a profound inner discord arises within, driving away all peace of heart. From this the head can become confused and understanding can fall into chaos and bewilderment.

(Letter 912. Vol. 5, pp. 190–192)

[1] Probably, this refers to the book Candid Tales of a Pilgrim to his Spiritual Father. The stories of the first part of the book were copied from an Athos manuscript titled A Seeker of Unceasing Prayer. There are conjectures that its author is Archimandrite Michael (Kozlov, 1826–1884), who spent many years laboring on Mount Athos. At the beginning of the 1880s, the 1st edition of Candid Tales of a Pilgrim appeared in Kazan.

The Danger is Not the Jesus Prayer, but the Artistry

To practice the Jesus Prayer as we all learn to do is a good deed. In monasteries it is imposed as a duty. Would they impose it if it were dangerous?! It is the artistry joined with this prayer that is dangerous. It plunges some into fanciful delusion—and others, wonder to say, into a state of constant lustfulness. This is why it must be discouraged and forbidden. But all should be taught to invoke the sweetest name of the Lord in simplicity of heart, and all should be disposed toward this.

(Letter 1102. Vol. 7, p. 87)

On the Quirks of Practitioners of the Jesus Prayer

As to what you wrote about some practitioners of the Jesus Prayer who place their hand on the table and gather attention under their fingers—these are inappropriate quirks. It is also a quirk when someone strikes the palm of his left hand with the fingers of his right hand and thus gathers his mind and prays.

You propose that I clarify the matter of prayer. But there is nothing to clarify here. Place your mind in your heart before the face of the Lord and cry out to him: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” That will be laborious prayer. According to how earnestly each person labors, the Lord, seeing the labor, will give him spiritual prayer, which is the fruit of the grace of the Holy Spirit. That is all that should be said and understood about the Jesus Prayer. Everything else contrived for this purpose does not belong to the work. This is how the enemy distracts from genuine prayer.

(Letter 922. Vol. 5, p. 205)

On the Same

Placing a wet towel on the chest…—someone among present-day ascetics does this. And wrote to me about it. This does not pertain to the work of prayer itself, but to those cases when the blood of the heart becomes heated through artificial practice of prayer, in order to diminish the heat of blood. This heat is not a spiritual manifestation, but a physical one, and arises from immoderate use of artificial techniques in the Jesus Prayer. Hidden in this as well is the fact that they regard the artificial practice of the Jesus Prayer as the principal work and the physical warmth of the heart accompanying it as the true spiritual prayer of Jesus. Whoever thinks thus is in spiritual delusion.

(Letter 921. Vol. 5, p. 204)

On Spiritual Warmth and Physical Warmth

Certain particular movements in body and spirit come from prayer, but not the same in all who pray—some experience one kind, others another; therefore there is nothing to dwell upon in them.

In some, no special movements at all occur, and prayer proceeds quietly, even in full strength. And this is the very best and safest portion! What is prayer? The noetic standing before God in the heart with glorification, thanksgiving, petition, and contrite repentance. All of this is spiritual. The root of it all is reverent fear of God, from which comes faith about God and in God, self-dedication to God, trust, and cleaving to God in the feeling of love with forgetfulness of all created things. When prayer is in strength, all these spiritual feelings and movements are present in the heart in corresponding power. Read the prayers of the saints that have come down to us, ponder them, and you will see that all of this in them is the outpouring of their complete prayer-filled disposition. Again I repeat: here all is spiritual, it proceeds from God and ascends to God.

How does this happen? The holy father enters into the heart, deepens into contemplation of the mysteries of faith—either all of them in general, or one particular mystery of faith—sets in motion the aforementioned feelings and pours them out in prayer. We read these prayers, come into a disposition similar to theirs, either partially or fully, and remain in the proper disposition. Through frequent repetition of this, constant spiritual prayer is cultivated in us and a constant prayer-filled state is established, which is unceasing prayer. All here is spiritual, noetic, and descends from above downward.

How then does the Jesus Prayer, which is a spoken prayer, relate to this? And how does the warmth that develops within the heart and around it relate to the action of this prayer?

Prayer-skill does not form at once, but requires long labor and exertion of oneself. In this very labor of forming prayer-skill, the Jesus Prayer and the warmth accompanying it are of greatest help. Note that they are means, not the actual work itself. It is possible for the Jesus Prayer to be present and warmth to be present, yet true prayer to be absent. Strange as this may sound, it does happen!

When we pray, we must stand before God with our mind and think of Him alone. Meanwhile, in the head various thoughts constantly swarm and distract the mind from God. In order to teach the mind to stand fixed on one thing, the holy fathers used short prayers and became accustomed to pronouncing them without ceasing.

This unceasing repetition of the prayer held the mind in remembrance of God and scattered all extraneous thoughts. These short prayers were various. Saint Cassian said that in Egypt everyone used this one: “God, come to my aid; Lord, make haste to help me” (Ps. 69:1). Saint Joannicius was perpetually reciting: “My hope is the Father, my refuge the Son, my shelter the Holy Spirit, O Holy Trinity, glory to you.” Another: “I am human and have sinned; you are God and merciful—have mercy on me.” There is no doubt that others used various different prayers; in our tradition especially the Jesus Prayer became established and entered into common custom: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

So that is what the Jesus Prayer is. It is one of the short spoken prayers, like all the other short prayers. It is appointed for the purpose of keeping the mind fixed on one thought of God.

One who becomes skilled in this prayer and practices it as it should be practiced is truly in remembrance of God without ceasing. Since remembrance of God in a sincerely believing heart is naturally accompanied by religious feelings of reverence, trust, thanksgiving, submission to God’s will, and others—all of which are spiritual—we call the Jesus Prayer, which produces and maintains remembrance of God, a spiritual prayer. And this is just, when it is surrounded by these spiritual feelings. But when it is not accompanied by such actions, it remains what it is—a spoken prayer, like any other similar one. This is how we should think of the Jesus Prayer.

Now, what does the warmth that accompanies the use of this prayer mean? In order for the mind to remain fixed on one thing when using a short prayer, it must be drawn down by attention into the heart; for if it remains in the head, where the tumult of thoughts occurs, it will not succeed in concentrating on one thing. When attention descends into the heart, it draws all the powers of soul and body down to one point. This concentration of all human life into one place is at once accompanied by a special sensation; and this sensation is the beginning of the warmth that will come.

This sensation, at first slight, continually strengthens, becomes firmer, deepens, and from being cold as it is at first, transitions into a warm feeling and sustains attention upon itself. And it comes about in this way: at first attention is sustained in the heart by an effort of will, [and] through its strength attention gives birth to warmth in the heart. This warmth then sustains attention without any special effort on its part. They then support one another and must remain inseparable, for scattering of attention cools the warmth, and diminishing of warmth weakens attention.

From this comes the law of the spiritual life: keep your heart in feeling toward God—you will always be in remembrance of God.[1] Saint John of the Ladder expressed this law somewhere.

Now the question—is this spiritual warmth? No—it is not spiritual! But ordinary, physical warmth. However, since it sustains the attention of the mind in the heart and thereby assists in the development there of the spiritual movements mentioned before, it is called spiritual, but only in that case if it is not accompanied by carnal pleasure, even a light one, but keeps the soul and body in a watchful state.

From this it follows: as soon as the warmth accompanying the Jesus Prayer is not accompanied by spiritual feelings, it should not be called spiritual, but simply physical warmth; and it, being such, is not bad if it is not connected with carnal pleasure, even light pleasure; but if it is, then it is bad and should be cast out.

This disorder occurs when the warmth is located below the heart. The second disorder is when, having come to love this warmth, one limits everything to it alone, caring neither about spiritual feelings nor even about remembrance of God, but only about having this warmth; this disorder is possible, though not in everyone and not always, but from time to time. One must notice this and correct it, for in such a case there will remain only physical, carnal warmth. One must not regard this warmth as spiritual or grace-filled. The warmth can be called spiritual only when it is accompanied by spiritual, prayer-filled movements. Whoever calls it spiritual without them makes an error. Whoever calls it grace-filled is even more wrong.

Grace-filled warmth is a particular thing, and it is, properly speaking, spiritual. It is detached from the flesh and produces no noticeable changes in the body, and is attested to by a subtle, sweet feeling. By these feelings anyone can easily determine and distinguish the warmth. Each person must do this; no outsider has any business or place in this.

If sometimes bodily movements or certain sensations occur during prayer and warmth—pay no attention to them: they do not pertain to the essence of the matter and vary among different people. Direct all your attention to spiritual actions and feelings. They will pass through the soul and body like the pleasant coolness of morning.

(Letter 244. Vol. 2, p. 61–66)

[1] It is possible that St. Theophan has in mind the following words: “…Whoever thinks in the feeling of the heart that he stands before God will be in prayer like an unmoved pillar” (The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Sermon 19, 4. P. 138).

Degrees of Prayer

You wish to hear something about prayer. What can I tell you that you do not already know? There is prayer that a human creates himself; and there is prayer that God gives to the one who prays. Who has not known the first? The latter should be known to you as well, at least in its beginnings. At first, when someone draws near to the Lord, the first work is prayer. He begins to attend church and pray at home from prayer books and without them. But thoughts scatter everywhere. He cannot manage them at all. Yet the more he labors in prayer, the more thoughts settle down and settle down, and prayer becomes purer. However, the atmosphere of the soul is not purified until a spiritual spark is kindled in the soul.

This spark is the work of God’s grace, but not a special grace—it is common to all. It appears as a result of a certain degree of purity in the entire moral structure of the person who seeks.

When this spark is kindled, or a constant warmth is formed in the heart, then the turbulence of thoughts ceases. The same thing happens to the soul as to the woman with the issue of blood: the flow of her blood stopped (Luke 8:44). In this state, prayer, more or less, approaches unceasing prayer. The Jesus Prayer serves as the intermediary for it. And this is the limit to which prayer created by the human himself can reach! I think all this is very clear to you.

Beyond this, in this state is given prayer that arrives—not created by the human himself. The prayer-spirit arrives and draws into the heart—just as if someone took another by the hand and forcibly drew him from one room into another. The soul is then bound by an alien force and remains willingly within it, as long as the arriving spirit is over it. I know two degrees of this arrival. In the first—the soul still sees all, is conscious of itself and its external state, and can reason and govern itself, can even break apart this state of itself if it wishes. And this should be clear to you.

The holy fathers, and especially Saint Isaac the Syrian, point to another degree of given, or arriving, prayer. Above the one shown stands in his teaching prayer which he called ecstasy or rapture. And here too the prayer-spirit arrives; but the soul drawn by it enters into such contemplations that it forgets its external state, does not reason but only contemplates, and cannot govern itself or break apart its state.[1] Remember, in the Desert Fathers it is written that someone stood up to pray before his evening meal, and came to himself the next morning? That is prayer in rapture, or contemplative prayer. In some it was accompanied by the brightening of the face, light around it; in others by lifting from the earth. The holy Apostle Paul in this state was caught up into paradise (2 Cor. 12:2–4). And the holy prophets were in it when the Spirit took them up.[2]

Marvel at what great mercy God shows toward us, sinners. Few labor, and what are they granted? To all who labor, one can boldly say: labor; there is good reason for it!

(Letter 747. Vol. 4, p. 240–241)

[1] See: Memorable Sayings… Abba Arsenius, 30. P. 44.

[2] See: St. Isaac the Syrian. Ascetic Teachings, 45–49. Pp. 706–709.

More on the Degrees of Prayer

Prayer must always be the lifting up of mind and heart to God. When, ascending to God, we glorify God, thank Him, and ask Him for the gift of spiritual blessings, with consciousness and feeling of His greatness, His beneficence, and His merciful compassion, then we are praying, or we are in a state of prayer. All our prayers, which are contained in prayer books and in church books, contain all that has been said; and if we, in reading these prayers, do not merely pronounce words but have the same thoughts and feelings, then this is true prayer. If you pray in this way, then well done. If, praying thus in church and at home, by long performance of your prayer in this manner you come to the point that prayerful thoughts and feelings become natural to your mind and heart, so that whether you are standing at prayer or not, these thoughts and feelings do not depart from your attention and always keep it clinging to God—then you have ascended to a higher degree of prayer, which may rightly be called prayer of the mind in the heart. It occurs in the soul even without words, during conversation with others and while occupied with some work. This uninterrupted attention to God, or walking before God, is unceasing prayer.

The Jesus Prayer is a great aid to this; it very powerfully concentrates attention toward God and makes it strong. From this you can see where the place of this prayer is and what is required for success in it. These are the degrees of prayer.

First. Becoming accustomed to ordinary prayers in church and at home.

Second. The becoming natural of prayerful thoughts and feelings to mind and heart.

Third. Unceasing prayer.

The Jesus Prayer can lead to all three of these, but its proper place is in unceasing prayer. The principal condition for success in prayer is the purification of the heart from passions and all attachment to anything sensual. Without this, prayer will always remain at the first degree, or the reading degree. In proportion to the purification of the heart, prayer of reading will transition into prayer of the mind in the heart, and when the heart is fully purified, then unceasing prayer will be established.

How should you act? In church, follow the service and hold those thoughts and feelings which the church service offers. At home, awaken in yourself prayer-filled thoughts and feelings and maintain them in your soul with the help of the Jesus Prayer. May God bless you, Lord!

(Letter 243. Vol. 2, p. 60–61)

The Jesus Prayer, Spoken, Noetic, and Prayer of the Heart

On spoken prayer. In its shortened form it is said thus: “Lord, have mercy”; “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner”; and in its full form: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” At first it is pronounced for the most part with effort and reluctance, but as the practice increases and one constrains oneself to it, if only there is a firm intention by means of prayer to diminish with God’s help and grace all-around passions, then from frequent practice of it, in proportion as passions diminish, it will gradually become easier, more pleasant, and more desirable.

In spoken prayer, one must try in every possible way to keep reason in the words of the prayer, to speak slowly, concentrating all attention on the thoughts expressed by the words; and when the mind is drawn away into extraneous thoughts, without disturbance “draw it back into the words of the prayer” (see: Ladder, Discourse 28, 17). Stillness of mind is not given quickly, nor when we wish, but when we humble ourselves and when God wills it. This gift of God is not determined by time or by the number of prayers, but by heartfelt humility and Christ’s grace and constant constraint of ourselves to it. From spoken attentive prayer there is a transition to noetic prayer, which is called thus when we are drawn to God with mind alone, or when we behold God.

On noetic prayer. In noetic prayer it is absolutely necessary to keep attention in the heart before the Lord. In proportion to our zeal and humble effort in prayer, God grants the first gift to our mind—gathering and concentration in prayer. When attention to the Lord becomes inseparable, then it is grace-filled attention; but our own attention is always constrained. From such noetic prayer there is a transition to heartfelt inner prayer, if there is an experienced teacher who is very suitable and free. When we come to be with God through the feelings of the heart, and love of God fills the heart, then such prayer bears the name of prayer of the heart.

On inner, heartfelt prayer. In the Gospel it is written: if anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross (Matt. 16:24). If we apply these words to the work of prayer, they will mean the following. Whoever wishes to labor lawfully in the ascetic struggle of prayer, let him first deny his own will and his own opinions, and then bear the cross—that is, the labor of soul and body that is inevitable in this struggle. Having given himself entirely to the sleepless care of God, he must humbly and courageously endure this labor for the sake of the true good that is granted to the diligent pray-er by God in his own time, when God by His grace sets bounds to our mind and establishes it immovably with remembrance of God in the heart.

When such standing of the mind becomes something natural and constant, it bears among the fathers the name union of mind with heart; in such an arrangement, the mind no longer has any desire to be outside the heart; on the contrary, if by any circumstances or much conversation it is held outside in attention, it has an irresistible desire to return again into itself with a certain spiritual thirst and with new zeal again to occupy itself with building its inner house. In such a heartfelt arrangement, everything transfers from the head into the heart, and then as it were a certain noetic light illumines all his interior, and whatever he does or says or thinks is all done with full consciousness and attention. He can clearly see what thoughts come to him, what intentions and desires, and willingly compels his mind, heart, and will to obedience to Christ, to the fulfillment of every God-given and fatherly commandment. Any deviation from them he blots out with a feeling of heartfelt repentance and contrition with sincere sorrow and with a humble, tender appeal to God, asking and awaiting help from above for his infirmity. And God, seeing such humility in him, does not deprive him of His grace.

Know that prayer of the mind in the heart comes to some quickly and to others not so quickly. I know of three people: one it came to as soon as it was told, that very hour; another it came to after six months, a third after ten months; and to one great elder it came after two years. And why this happens—only God knows.

Know further that before the destruction of passions, prayer is one thing, and another after the purification of the heart from passions: the first is a help in purifying the heart from passions, while the second is as it were a spiritual pledge of future blessedness.

Do thus: when you feel the entering of the mind into the heart and the action of prayer, then give complete freedom to such prayer, removing all that is unfavorable to it; and while it lasts—do nothing else. When you do not feel such a draw, then pray with spoken prayer and prostrations, endeavoring in every way to keep attention in the heart before the face of the Lord. Your heart will become warm in this manner of prayer as well.

Be watchful and vigilant, especially during prayer of the mind in the heart. No one is more pleasing to God than the one who correctly practices prayer of the mind in the heart. When you are unable or lack time to practice prayer, then in every possible way preserve a spirit of prayer in yourself in all your activities—that is, keep God in remembrance and in every way strive with the eyes of the mind to behold Him before you with fear and love, and feeling Him present before you, with reverent obedience in all your works offer yourself to His dominion, His might, His all-seeing eye, and His all-knowledge, so that in every deed, word, and thought God may be remembered and His holy will. This, in brief, is what a spirit of prayer consists in!

It is absolutely necessary for the lover of prayer to have this spirit, and, insofar as possible, with constant heartfelt attention, bring your reasoning under God’s reasoning and submit to Him humbly and reverently; likewise bring your desires and wishes under God’s desire and wholly offer yourself to God’s reasoning and God’s will. You must stand firmly against the spirit of self-willedness, or the desire and impulse to act without any restraint. This spirit whispers: “This is beyond my strength, I don’t have time for it,” or “It’s not yet time to take this on, I need to wait,” or “The duties of obedience prevent me,” and much of the like. Whoever listens to it will never become skilled in prayer.

In alliance with this spirit stands the spirit of self-justification, which comes forward and begins to work after someone, carried away by the spirit of self-willedness, does something for which conscience troubles him. Then the spirit of self-justification employs various tricks to deceive the conscience and present his wrongdoing as right. May God guard you from these evil spirits.

(Letter 937. Vol. 5, p. 226–230)

The Jesus Prayer, Noetic Prayer, and Noetic Practice

You must pour your heart into every work, and it must be a God-fearing heart. For the heart to be in a state of God-fearing, it must constantly be overshadowed by remembrance of God. Remembrance of God will be the door through which the soul enters into active life. All labor now must be directed toward thinking of God without ceasing, or walking in God’s presence (Seek God, seek his face continually (Ps. 104:4)). This is where watchfulness and noetic prayer stand. God is everywhere: act so that your thought too may be everywhere with God.

How then can we do this? Thoughts swarm like gnats in their columns, and above the thoughts are the feelings of the heart. To attach the thought to the one thing, the elders had the custom of becoming accustomed to uninterrupted recitation of a short prayer; from habit and frequent repetition this prayer so stuck to the tongue that it repeated itself. Through this the thought became attached to the prayer, and through it to remembrance of God, ceaseless. After the habit was formed, prayer bound remembrance of God, and remembrance of God bound prayer; and they mutually supported one another. This is walking before God.

Various short prayers were used—one “God, be merciful to me,” another “God, come to my aid,” another “I am human and have sinned; you are God and merciful—have mercy on me.” But later everyone preferred one prayer—the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner!” They became accustomed to repeating it and with it keeping remembrance of God. You see now where the Jesus Prayer stands and what its significance is? By itself it is not noetic, but spoken, external, like all other written prayers, and is a means to noetic prayer, when someone, standing with it before the Lord, prays to Him. Likewise it is not noetic practice, but the same practice as church or home prayer-reading prayer-book style. Noetic prayer is when someone, having become established in attention in the heart, from there sends forth prayer to God. Noetic practice is when someone, standing in attention in the heart with remembrance of the Lord, keeps out every other thought trying to enter the heart.

Now I think you yourself will resolve many of your misunderstandings. By noetic prayer you mean the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” But after the explanations given, you see that this is not noetic prayer, but spoken prayer, and you can practice it without fear, just as you learned any other prayer. Whether you sit or walk or do something else, repeat this prayer, and that’s all—you will become skilled in it, and it will repeat itself on your tongue by itself. No harm is foreseen in this.

Noetic prayer is when you, standing in the heart in attention, call out to the Lord, and ask Him, or repent, or give thanks, or glorify Him. In this action too there is no danger; such prayer serves as a guard to itself. For here the Lord is present, if you turn to Him with faith. In this very hour you can try this in deed.

Practice, practice, and not only when you sit alone in your cell, but everywhere: in church, at the table, and when you walk. Only take care that there is remembrance of the Lord here, and not merely words.

What the schema monk Basil said about setting aside singing for noetic prayer applies to recluses and to those people in whom noetic prayer has unfolded and become unceasing. They can do all things instead of church services and personal prayer rule. But here we are not speaking of repetition of the Jesus Prayer, but of unceasing prayer-like ascent of prayer-filled cries from the heart. I read how it is said of one elder that he could continue his prayer-reading only until the first “Glory” (from the Psalter), and then entered into heart prayer and prayed without words. The reading of the prayer then ceases of itself. Thus setting aside singing does not apply to us with you; we must maintain church services and fulfill what is appointed for personal prayer-reading.

When unceasing heart prayer is formed, then you will see how to proceed. You ask for a blessing for your inner work. God will bless! But clarify for yourself what the matter is here: become accustomed to practicing the Jesus Prayer so that it sticks to your tongue, but always with thought of the Lord. If while doing this you sigh to the Lord from the heart, this will be noetic prayer, not the words of the Jesus Prayer. If, having stood in attention in the heart before the Lord and practicing the Jesus Prayer, you keep out from the heart every other thought and feeling, this will be noetic practice.

(Letter 240. Vol. 2, pp. 55–58)

Scripture Index

Every Scripture reference identified in this book, sorted in canonical Bible order. Tap a reference to jump to the verse where it appears.

Genesis
Genesis 4:1096. Prayer Through Deeds (96.1)
Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 4:24172. The Words of Prayer – Not the Main Thing, but an Instrument (172.1)

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 16:7165. The Straight Path in Prayer (165.2)

Psalms

Psalms 15:851. On the Inner Fire (51.3); 93. Establish Yourself in Attention Before God in the Morning (93.1); 187. One Must Pray Without Images (187.1)

Psalms 33:1546. How to Rise to God in Thoughts (46.4)

Psalms 50:196. Labor in Prayer (6.3); 29. Beware of Turning Toward Righteousness (29.1); 34. On the Same (34.1); 55. The Test of All Prayer (55.1); 79. For Success in Prayer You Must Attend to Yourself (79.3); 88. Recite Your Prayers Slowly (88.1); 109. Reading From a Book Greatly Scatters Attention (109.4); 122. On Prostrations and Fear of God (122.1); 161. Beginners Have No Need for a Jesus Prayer Rule (161.2); 196. On Artificial Methods of Prayer (196.1)

Psalms 69:1142. On Brief Prayers (142.1); 206. On Spiritual Warmth and Physical Warmth (206.7)

Psalms 104:4210. The Jesus Prayer, Noetic Prayer, and Noetic Practice (210.1)

Psalms 120:114. On Memorizing Psalms (14.1)

Psalms 138:7–10187. One Must Pray Without Images (187.1)

Proverbs

Proverbs 23:26127. Every Rule is Good (127.1); 193. On Heaviness Appearing in the Head (193.1)

Lamentations

Lamentations 3:5748. Acquire the Unceasing Habit of Standing Before the Lord (48.3)

Matthew

Matthew 6:3499. Do Not Be Weighed Down by Worldly Cares (99.1)

Matthew 7:759. One Must Develop Prayer of the Heart (59.1); 71. How to Learn to Pray (71.1); 119. The Rule Can Be Changed by Whoever Established It (119.3); 170. On Zealous Prayer (170.4); 190. What Images You Must Fear (190.1)

Matthew 9:1329. Beware of Turning Toward Righteousness (29.1)

Matthew 11:1283. You Must Return Your Attention (83.1)

Matthew 16:24209. The Jesus Prayer, Spoken, Noetic, and Prayer of the Heart (209.4)

Matthew 26:3972. You Must Pester the Lord (72.2)

Luke

Luke 8:44207. Degrees of Prayer (207.3)

Luke 18:1–872. You Must Pester the Lord (72.2)

John

John 17:212. Prayer is the Center of Christian Life (2.3)

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13:185. The Purpose of Short Prayers (85.2)

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 12:2–4207. Degrees of Prayer (207.5)

Ephesians

Ephesians 5:1576. Prayer Never Goes to Waste (76.2)

Philippians

Philippians 3:1331. Do Not Measure Yourself (31.1)

Colossians

Colossians 3:32. Prayer is the Center of Christian Life (2.4); 98. Do Not Part With Prayer Amidst All Your Tasks (98.1)

1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 5:1769. You Must Pray for a Long Time (69.1); 106. Without a Prayer Rule, Prayer is Not Complete (106.4)

1 Thessalonians 5:21133. Externals in the Rules Can Be Changed (133.2)

1 Timothy

1 Timothy 2:423. How to Conduct Yourself at Church Services (23.2); 148. On the Same Subject (148) (148.1); 175. A Good End – From God’s Grace (175.3)

James

James 4:848. Acquire the Unceasing Habit of Standing Before the Lord (48.3)

Illustration Credits

Sources and attribution for every illustration in this book. Each entry lists the photographer or artist when known, the licence under which the image was released, and a link to the original page on Wikimedia Commons or the equivalent host. Images released into the public domain are listed without further obligation; images released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence are reproduced here under the same licence.

1. St. Theophan the Recluse

Photograph by P.F. Borel.

Licence: Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Author: Saint Theophan the Recluse

Saint Theophan the Recluse (1815–1894) is among the most beloved teachers of the spiritual life in the Russian Orthodox Church. He was born on 10 January 1815 in the village of Chernavsk, in the Oryol province of central Russia, and given the name Georgy Vasilyevich Govorov. His father was a parish priest, and the boy was raised in the ordered piety of a country rectory. He studied first at the theological school in Livny, then at the Oryol Seminary, and finally at the Kiev Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1841. The ancient monasteries of Kiev, and above all the Monastery of the Caves, left a deep mark on him during those years.

In his last year as a student, in 1841, Georgy Govorov was tonsured a monk and given the name Theophan, after Saint Theophan the Confessor, a defender of the holy icons. He was soon ordained hieromonk and set on the path of teaching and administration in the Church’s schools: he served in the theological schools of Kiev, as inspector at Novgorod, and as an instructor in moral and pastoral theology at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy. For several years he lived in the Christian East, attached to the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, where in Jerusalem, Constantinople, and on Mount Athos he studied, copied, and gathered the writings of the Fathers that he would later render into Russian. In 1857 he was appointed rector of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy.

In 1859 he was consecrated Bishop of Tambov and Shatsk, and in 1863 he was transferred to the ancient see of Vladimir. As a bishop he was known for gentleness, tireless preaching, and care for the education of his people, founding diocesan schools for girls in both dioceses. Yet the labours of administration drew him away from the inner life he most desired. In 1866, at his own request, he was released from the government of his diocese and withdrew to the Vyshensky Hermitage, a quiet monastery he had come to love while at Tambov.

At Vysha, Saint Theophan gradually gave himself wholly to prayer and writing. Beginning in 1872 he entered strict reclusion: he no longer left his cell for the monastery church, received almost no visitors, and lived for the remaining years in two small rooms, celebrating the Divine Liturgy alone in a chapel he had arranged. This seclusion, far from being idleness, became the most fruitful period of his life. From it flowed the works for which he is remembered: The Path to Salvation and What the Spiritual Life Is; his translation and great expansion of the Philokalia (the Russian Dobrotolyubie) and of other monastic writings; Unseen Warfare; his commentaries on almost all the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, together with expositions of several Psalms; and an immense correspondence, in which he answered, often at the rate of dozens of letters a day, the spiritual questions of people throughout Russia. In 1890 the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy conferred on him a doctorate in theology.

Saint Theophan reposed on 6 January 1894, the Feast of the Theophany whose name he bore, at the age of seventy-nine, and was buried at the Vysha monastery. In 1988, during the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church that celebrated the millennium of the Baptism of Rus’, he was numbered among the saints. His feast is kept on 10 January.

His significance for the Church lies in the way he gathered the whole ascetical and patristic inheritance of Orthodoxy and made it speak to ordinary Christians. He wrote not for specialists but for anyone seeking God, tracing with unusual clarity the movements of the heart, the discipline of unceasing prayer, and the long work by which grace and human freedom together bring a soul to salvation. In his Scripture commentaries this same pastoral aim is at work: he reads the sacred text through the eyes of the ancient Fathers and turns every doctrine toward the reader’s own inner life. For this the Russian Church honours him as a Father in her own age and a sure guide on the path of salvation.

Colophon

How to Learn to Pray
by St. Theophan the Recluse.

This edition was produced by
Royal Archives.

The text is set in Palatino and Georgia.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
August 16, 2026.

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright
Introduction

What is prayer

- Prayer is the Center of Christian Life

- Prayer as the Measure of Our Spiritual Being

- Prayer as Fruit and Attractor of the Spirit
- Prayer as a Spiritual Barometer
- Labor in Prayer

On reading sacred books

- On Reading the Gospel
- On the Same
- How to Read the Divine Books
- On the Same (11)
- How to Read the Psalms
- On Reading and Memorizing the Psalter
- On Memorizing Psalms
- On Reading Canons
- Read for Edification
- What to Read About Prayer

On church services

- On the Importance of Going to Church
- Frequent the Temple of God
- Come to Church as Often as You Can
- On the Importance of Church Services
- How to Conduct Yourself at Church Services

- If We Do Not Hear or Understand the Church Service

- If We Cannot Attend Church Services

What hinders progress in prayer

- On Idle Speech

- To Progress in Prayer One Must Adorn the Heart With Virtues

- Beware of Turning Toward Righteousness

- One Must Establish in Oneself the Thought of One's Own Sinfulness

- Do Not Measure Yourself
- One Must Write Down One's Thoughts
- One Must Hide One's Spiritual Labors
- On the Same

What is chief in prayer

- Remember That the Lord is Near
- Infancy in Prayer
- The Power is Not in the Form
- On the Habit of Walking Before God
- Remember God

- Standing in the Heart With Attention Before the Lord

- Above All, Care for Prayer-filled Feelings

- How to Keep Your Thoughts and Feelings Turned Toward God

- On the Importance of Attention to God
- The Path to a Prayerful State
- How to Rise to God in Thoughts

- Become Accustomed to Walking in the Presence of God

- Acquire the Unceasing Habit of Standing Before the Lord

- The Labor of Remembering God

- The Chief Thing in Prayer—feeling Toward God

- On the Inner Fire
- On the Burning of the Heart Toward the Lord
- On Reverence and the Fear of God
- Never Approach God Carelessly
- The Test of All Prayer
- What Should Be Sought Through Prayer

- The Chief Thing in Prayer is the Arising of Reverent Feelings

- On Prayer With Feeling
- One Must Develop Prayer of the Heart
- How to Teach the Soul to Turn Often to God
- Meditation on God or the Jesus Prayer

On the labor of prayer

- Force Yourself to Pray
- When Prayer Does Not Go Well
- Pray More Frequently and More Earnestly

- Constrain Yourself by Force to Stand Before God

- On Mercilessness to Oneself and Complete Surrender to God

- Strive to Form a Wound in Your Heart
- You Must Pray for a Long Time
- If You Are Tired Toward Evening
- How to Learn to Pray
- You Must Pester the Lord
- Unceasing Prayer—a Gift of Grace
- A Pure Conscience and Labor Are Needed

- On Prostrations, Attention, and Church Services

- Prayer Never Goes to Waste

- The Chief Thing—do Not Be Lazy and Always Pray From the Heart

On attention

- For Success in Prayer You Must Attend to Yourself

- On the Same Subject
- Always Strive to Pray Well
- The Mind Must Be Kept in the Heart
- You Must Return Your Attention

- Keep Your Attention on the Words of the Prayer

- The Purpose of Short Prayers
- On Prostrations and Distraction
- Never Read Prayers Hastily
- Recite Your Prayers Slowly
- Make it a Law Not to Hurry

- You Must Come Down With Your Attention Into the Heart

- On the Fruits of Prayer

How to pray amidst many tasks

- Establish Yourself in Attention Before God in the Morning

- On Unceasing Prayer in Spirit
- You Must Always Maintain Prayer
- Prayer Through Deeds
- On Prayer Without Words

- Do Not Part With Prayer Amidst All Your Tasks

- Do Not Be Weighed Down by Worldly Cares
- How to Establish Home Prayer
- When Weary From Conversation

How to perform your prayer rule

- The First Way of Ascent in the Heart to God
- On Prayer for Beginners
- Beginners Should Pray From the Prayer Book

- Without a Prayer Rule, Prayer is Not Complete

- Preparation for Prayer

- The Actual Performance of Prayer

- Reading From a Book Greatly Scatters Attention

- Read Less From Prayer Books
- When to Perform the Evening Rule
- What to Do in the Intervals Between Sleep

- Do Not Count the End of Prayer as the End of Prayer

- What to Do After Prayer
- Can the Prayer Rule Be Shortened?
- When it is Impossible to Read All the Rule

- If We Cannot Sustain the Rule Due to Weakness

- Never Bind Yourself to the Rule

- The Rule Can Be Changed by Whoever Established It

On bows

- Prayer From the Heart Must Accompany the Bows

- On Prostrations and Fear of God
- How Many Prostrations to Do
- On Prostrations
- On Prostrations and the Quantity of Prayers

How to transition to praying in your own words

- Every Rule is Good
- On Prayer From a Book
- The Rule Can Be Changed
- On the Prayer Rule and Prostrations
- Don't Be a Slave to the Rule
- The Rule Should Be Handled Freely
- Externals in the Rules Can Be Changed

How to compose your own rule

- Beginning to Pray in Your Own Words
- Example of a Prayer Rule
- How to Compose Your Own Rule
- How to Compose Your Prayer to the Lord
- Another Example of a Prayer Rule

- On Brief Prayers Instead of Reading From a Prayer Book

- On the Prayers of Saint John Chrysostom
- On Brief Prayers
- On the Same Subject
- On the Same Subject (144)
- On the Same Subject (145)
- On the Same Subject (146)
- On the Same Subject (147)
- On the Same Subject (148)
- On the Same Subject (149)
- On the Same Subject (150)

On spiritual indolence and coldness toward prayer

- Counsel for the Case of Coldness and Lack of Feeling

- Why Coldness Toward Prayer Happens

- You Must Kindle Zeal

- Do Not Withdraw Your Attention From the Lord

- You Must Restore Inner Fervor
- When Distracted
- When Prayer Grows Cold
- On Sluggishness in Prayer

Counsels on the Jesus Prayer

- Beginners Have No Need for a Jesus Prayer Rule

- Endeavor to Acquire the Habit of Brief Prayer

- The Jesus Prayer—flower and Fruit
- The Vestibule to Prayer
- The Straight Path in Prayer

- The Jesus Prayer is Mighty Through the Name of the Lord

- The Essence of the Jesus Prayer is in Meditation on God

- The Essence of Prayer-work

- The Goal of Prayer – to Warm the Heart With Love for God

- On Zealous Prayer

- Stand With Attention in Your Heart

- The Words of Prayer – Not the Main Thing, but an Instrument

- The Power of Prayer Lies Not at All in Words

- On the Same Topic
- A Good End – From God's Grace
- How to Fulfill the Prayer Lesson
- How to Learn the Jesus Prayer
- The Jesus Prayer in Full and in Parts
- On the Number of Prayers
- On the Number of Bows
- On Impulses Toward Prayer

- Should You Pray the Jesus Prayer in the Church?

- On the Prayer Rope
- On the Impulse Toward Solitude and Silence
- One Must Cast Out All Images
- God Cannot Be Represented in Images
- One Must Pray Without Images
- In Prayer One Must Not Construct Images
- Drive Away All Images
- What Images You Must Fear
- On Spiritual Delusion
- On Bodily Weakness From Prayer
- On Heaviness Appearing in the Head
- On Irritability
- On Physical Sensations During Prayer
- On Artificial Methods of Prayer
- On External Methods of Prayer
- On Mechanical Methods of Performing Prayer
- On Methods in Prayer and the Gift of Grace
- On the Artistic Form of Practicing Prayer

- On External Methods of Performing the Jesus Prayer

- Prayer is Salvation; Artistry is Harm

- The Danger is Not the Jesus Prayer, but the Artistry

- On the Quirks of Practitioners of the Jesus Prayer

- On the Same
- On Spiritual Warmth and Physical Warmth
- Degrees of Prayer
- More on the Degrees of Prayer

- The Jesus Prayer, Spoken, Noetic, and Prayer of the Heart

- The Jesus Prayer, Noetic Prayer, and Noetic Practice

Scripture Index
Illustration Credits
The Author: Saint Theophan the Recluse
Colophon