Editor: Reijo Oksanen, Switzerland
I was in my early twenties when I first heard of the Prayer of the Heart. Since then I have tried to find those who could teach it to me and at the same time tried to practise it.I feel a little bit like the pilgrim in the "Tales of the Pilgrim"; he had a very long way to travel and although I have put even more miles in my travels in a much shorter travelling time, it all comes to the same conclusion: without thorough preparation and daily practise even the Prayer of Jesus is quite useless.
Therefore this website; to help myself and others to find the way to pray continuously!
We should remember what St. Seraphim of Sarov said to Motovilov: "... we must pray only until the time when God the Holy Ghost overshadows us by his heavenly grace. When he is pleased to visit us we must cease to pray." (Sergius Bolshakoff: Russian Mystics, p. 132.)
It is not only once I have experienced, in myself and other, how the prayer is "left on" although the contact to God is missing! The Elders call this "talking to the wind".
Saint Seraphim of Sarov