The Jesus Prayer, becoming by frequent repetition almost habitual and unconscious, helps us to stand in the presence of God wherever we are
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The Jesus Prayer
Τhis talk was an adaptation of The Power of the Name, by Kallistos Ware (1974) with an addition from The Payer of JESUS, by A Monk of the Eastern Church (1967).
Introduction
No authentic relationship between persons can exist without mutual freedom and spontaneity, and this is true of prayer. There are no fixed rules for those who seek to pray; and there is no mechanical technique, whether physical or mental, which can compel God to manifest his presence. His grace is granted always as a free gift, and cannot be gained automatically by any method or technique.
Nevertheless, the Jesus Prayer has become for many Eastern Christians over the centuries the standard path, and not for Eastern Christians only: in the meeting between Orthodoxy and the West which has flourished again since the beginning of the 20th century, probably no element in the Orthodox heritage has aroused such intense interest as the Jesus Prayer, and no single book has exercised a wider appeal than The Way of a Pilgrim, in which a pilgrim wonders what is the meaning of the Pauline exhortation to pray without ceasing, and is led to inner knowledge of that prayer.
The prayer’s origin is most likely the EgyptianDesert; sayings by Evagrius point to this place. But where lies the distinctive appeal and effectiveness of the Jesus Prayer? Perhaps in four things above all: in its simplicity and flexibility; in its completeness; in the power of the Name; and in the discipline of repetition. Let us take these points in order.
I) 4 strengths of the Jesus Prayer
1. Simplicity and flexibility
The Invocation of the Name is a prayer of the utmost simplicity, accessible to every Christian, but it leads at the same time to the deepest mysteries of contemplation. No specialized knowledge or training is required before commencing the Jesus Prayer.
Just begin. Begin to pronounce it with adoration and love. Cling to it. Repeat it. Do not think that you are invoking the Name; think only of Jesus himself. Say his Name slowly, softly and quietly.
The outward form of the prayer is easily learnt. Basically it consists of the words ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me’. There is, however, no strict uniformity. We can say ‘. . . have mercy on us’, instead of ‘on me’. The verbal formula can be shortened: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’, or ‘Lord Jesus’, or ‘JESUS, have mercy’ or even ‘Jesus’ alone.
Alternatively, the form of words may be expanded by adding ‘a sinner’ at the end, thus underlining the penitential aspect. Theologically, the Jesus Prayer can be considered to be an extension of the lesson taught by the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, in which the Pharisee demonstrates the improper way to pray by exclaiming: “Thank you Lord that I am not like the Publican”, whereas the Publican prays correctly in humility, saying “Lord have mercy on me, the sinner.” (Luke 18:10-14.)
Incidentally, this urges me to wonder: did Benedict know the JESUS Prayer? The genre of the Rule does not allow for clues in that area. Nevertheless, one passage sounds to me very close to the JESUS Prayer. It is precisely the passage which quotes the prayer of the Publican:
Judging himself always guilty on account of his sins, he should consider that he is already at the fearful judgment, and constantly say in his heart what the publican in the Gospel said with downcast eyes: Lord, I am a sinner, not worthy to look up to heaven. RB 7:64-65
We can also add to the formula, recalling Peter’s confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi, ‘Son of the living God’.
The one essential and unvarying element is the inclusion of the divine Name ‘Jesus’. Each is free to discover through personal experience the particular form of words which answers most closely to his or her needs. No doubt the formula employed will vary from time to time, following the movement of the Holy Spirit in you.
There is a similar flexibility as regards the outward circumstances in which the Prayer is recited. Two ways of using the Prayer can be distinguished, the ‘free’ and the ‘formal’ way.
By the ‘free’ use is meant the recitation of the Prayer as we are engaged in our usual activities throughout the day. Part of the distinctive value of the Jesus Prayer lies precisely in the fact that, because of its radical simplicity, it can be prayed in conditions of distraction when more complex forms of prayer are impossible. This ‘free’ use of the Jesus Prayer enables us to bridge the gap between our explicit ‘times of prayer’ and the normal activities of daily life.
‘Pray without ceasing’, St Paul insists (I Thess. 5:17): but how is this possible, since we have many other things to do as well? Bishop Theophan indicates the method in his maxim,
‘The hands at work, the mind and heart with God’.[i]
The Jesus Prayer, becoming by frequent repetition almost habitual and unconscious, helps us to stand in the presence of God wherever we are—not only in the chapel or in solitude, but in the kitchen, on the factory floor, in the office, or in the car. And again, the simplicity of the prayer and its few words make it very accessible at work time, especially manual work.
Unceasing prayer may have no words, but you will walk and sleep in the presence of God.
In these ten minutes, you will find that your fevered mind is soothed, that the noisy bazaar of your thoughts has become light, clear, and direct, and that your heart has begun to say other prayers in a manner that satisfies you. You pray, you breathe, you speak to God; you are not just repeating empty words.
What does it mean to have your mind in your heart? It means that you are to control your feelings. You are not to admit invaders into your heart, but are to check your heart with your mind, to observe everything that takes place there. To have your mind in your heart is exactly what our Lord prescribes to us in His commandment:
When thou pray, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret.
What does it mean to shut the door? It means to banish every earthly image or passion with the concentration of your mind and will. When we pray we should not admit feelings of lust or open our hearts to the snake of irritation; we are to rid ourselves of everything that is unpleasant. To have your mind in your heart is to control the space of your heart. It is the kingdom of God Almighty and of nothing else.
If you make progress in this humble prayer, you will begin to understand that this commandment is very complete. Your heart will be filled with a spiritual warmth that embraces the center of your feelings. You will come to understand what attentive prayer is, and that your heart has been created for ceaseless prayer.
Ceaseless prayer is not a perpetual repetition of this or that word or phrase. The Holy Fathers say that it is the feeling of your heart. Just as you view the objects of this world with open eyes, so your heart, warmed by prayer to God, will partake of the spiritual world.
This will be due, not to your piety, but to God's grace. Unceasing prayer may have no words, but you will walk and sleep in the presence of God.
The Jesus prayer is a vehicle to achieving that presence with God.
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The Jesus prayer is a very short phrase: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." It springs from the word of Jesus that we have in the Gospel of Saint John, where Jesus in his last discourse to his disciples says, "You have never asked anything in my name. Now, anything you ask in my name will be given to you." The idea of asking in the name of someone is something we're not too accustomed to these days. We think instead of back door politics: Knock, knock, knock. "Who's there?" "George sent me." The door opens and out comes the little money bag and off we go.
In the Near East of Biblical times, "name" meant the presence or reality of the one whose name was called. That's part of the reason why the name of the God of Israel became unspeakable: the name was never adequate to the reality. So asking in Jesus' name is making present the full reality of what Jesus is, which is being present immediately to God.
This presence is not a confrontational one. It's not the presence of speaking with someone on the phone. It is an immediate and absolute union, like the presence of two people in love: not something you intellectualize, not even necessarily emotional. It's just there.
One of the best examples: two people who've been married a long time and have been through the good times and the bad together. One can be in the kitchen and the other in the living room, but they're completely aware. Or one is doing a crossword puzzle and the other writing a letter, but they're absolutely present to each other.
The Jesus prayer is a vehicle to achieving that presence with God. Using words makes it easier for us, just as between two people who love each other a glance or kiss makes it happen.
To invoke Jesus’ name is to place yourself in his presence, to open yourself to his power, his energy, The prayer of Jesus’ name actually brings God closer, makes him more present.
What it is: Real presence
It is probably a very good exercise to practice “the imitation of Christ”, to walk “in his steps”, to ask “What would Jesus do?” in all circumstances. But the prayer we are teaching now is even better, for two reasons. First, invoking his name invokes his real presence, not mental imitation; something objective, not subjective; between us and him, not just in us. Second, it is actual, not potential; indicative, not subjunctive; “What is Jesus doing?” rather than “What would Jesus do?”
To invoke Jesus’ name is to place yourself in his presence, to open yourself to his power, his energy, The prayer of Jesus’ name actually brings God closer, makes him more present. He is always present in some way, since he knows and loves each one of us at every moment; but he is not present to those who do not pray as intimately as he is present to those who do. Prayer makes a difference; “prayer changes things.” It may or may not change our external circumstances. (It does if God sees that that change is good for us; it does not if God sees that it is not.) But it always changes our relationship to God, which is infinitely more important than external circumstances, however pressing they may seem, because it is eternal but they are temporary, and because it is our very self but they are not.
the Jesus prayer leads one towards continuous prayer, internal silence and continuous feeling of God’s presence.
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Jesus prayer service
The Jesus prayer consists of reciting a short prayer called ‘Jesus prayer’. There are different forms of the Jesus prayer. One of the most common ones is ‘Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy upon us”.
The reading of the Jesus prayer leads one towards continuous prayer, internal silence and continuous feeling of God’s presence.
The Jesus prayer services in Sofia’s chapel typically take 1,5 hours. The service begins with opening prayers and psalms, after which the reciting of the Jesus prayer begins (during the reading of the Jesus prayer it is common to sit).
After each set of about 100 prayers, we stand up for “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto ages of ages. Amen. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Glory to you o God (3x), Lord have mercy (3x), Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto ages of ages. Amen.”
Towards the end of the service, prayers for the living and the dead are included in the prayer, as well as prayers for the help of Mother of God Mary. At the very end, we recite “Lord Jesus Christ Son of God glory to you” for some time (standing).”
Sometimes, by preliminary agreement, each of the sets of 100 prayers has been assigned to a different reader, which means that sometimes the person who recites the prayer changes during the service.
At the end of the service, the Magnificat is sund, or possibly some other church hymn, depending on the time of the church year.
Although it is customary to stand during certain parts of the service, and sit during some others, it is not essential whether you stand or sit, the most important thing is prayer.
With the help of the Jesus Prayer, we begin to believe and experience the presence of God dwelling within our heart and around us.
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The Jesus Prayer
also known as
“The Prayer of the Heart”
“The Prayer of the Most Holy Name”
Is a prayer that developed in the early monastic tradition, but quickly spread throughout the Church. Today, it is practiced by thousands of faithful, laity as well as religious and monastics, all over the world.
The Jesus Prayer is a very simple and easy prayer to learn. It consists of just a few powerful words repeated over and over again:
“Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” or
“Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us,” or
“Lord, Jesus, have mercy,” or just the single word “Jesus.”
The exact wording is not important, as long as it includes the most holy name of JESUS. If we persevere in saying the prayer frequently, we will find a formula that best suits our particular needs and speaks to us the most.
Although very simple, the Jesus Prayer is also a very profound prayer. In one brief sentence, it expresses the essence of our Christian faith and summarizes the entire Gospel message. When we say, “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God”, we proclaim that Jesus is indeed Lord, the eternal and unbegotten Son of the living God. He is the “Christos,” the “Anointed One” promised by our Heavenly Father — the Saviour of the world. When we say, “have mercy on me, a sinner,” we confess our faith and our trust in His infinite mercy and love. The Lord God will pour out an abundance of His mercy and loving kindness upon us; He will love us, forgive us, heal and comfort us. All we need to do is to ask. Each time we sincerely call upon His name, we receive His grace, His forgiveness and peace. The Jesus Prayer is a holy, wonderful prayer, and it is a great gift from God to be able to pray it.
With the help of the Jesus Prayer, we begin to believe and experience the presence of God dwelling within our heart and around us. The prayer sows deep within our souls the great truth, that God is always present within us, and that we are truly, in the words of St. Paul, “living temples of the Holy Spirit.”
The Jesus Prayer
Prayer is the basis of our Christian life, the source of our experience of Jesus as the Risen Lord. Yet how few Christians know how to pray with any depth! For most of us, prayer means little more than standing in the pews for an hour or so on Sunday morning or perhaps reciting, in a mechanical fashion, prayers once learned by rote during childhood. Our prayer life - and thus our life as Christians - remains, for the most part, at this superficial level.
The Challenge Of St. Paul
But this approach to the life of prayer has nothing to do with the Christianity of St. Paul, who urges the Christians of first century Thessalonica to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). And in his letter to Rome, the Apostle instructs the Christian community there to "be constant in prayer" (Rom. 12:12). He not only demands unceasing prayer of the Christians in his care, but practices it himself. "We constantly thank God for you" (1 Thess. 2:13) he writes in his letter to the Thessalonian community; and he comforts Timothy, his "true child in the faith" (1 Tim. 1:2) with the words: "Always I remember you in my prayers" (2 Tim. 1:3). In fact, whenever St. Paul speaks of prayer in his letters, two Greek words repeatedly appear: PANTOTE (pantote), which means always; and ADIALEPTOS (adialeptos), meaning without interruption or unceasingly. Prayer is then not merely a part of life which we can conveniently lay aside if something we deem more important comes up; prayer is all of life. Prayer is as essential to our life as breathing. This raises some important questions. How can we be expected to pray all the time? We are, after all, very busy people. Our work, our spouse, our children, our school - all place heavy demands upon our time. How can we fit more time for prayer into our already overcrowded lives? These questions and the many others like them which could be asked set up a false dichotomy in our lives as Christians. To pray does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things or to spend time with God in contrast to spending time with our family and friends. Rather, to pray means to think and live our entire life in the Presence of God. As Paul Evdokimov has remarked: "Our whole life, every act and gesture, even a smile must become a hymn or adoration, an offering, a prayer. We must become prayer-prayer incarnate." This is what St. Paul means when he writes to the Corinthians that "whatever you do, do it for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31).
The Jesus Prayer
In order to enter more deeply into the life of prayer and to come to grips with St. Paul's challenge to pray unceasingly, the Orthodox Tradition offers the Jesus Prayer, which is sometimes called the prayer of the heart. The Jesus Prayer is offered as a means of concentration, as a focal point for our inner life. Though there are both longer and shorter versions, the most frequently used form of the Jesus Prayer is: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." This prayer, in its simplicity and clarity, is rooted in the Scriptures and the new life granted by the Holy Spirit. It is first and foremost a prayer of the Spirit because of the fact that the prayer addresses Jesus as Lord, Christ and Son of God; and as St. Paul tells us, "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3).
The Scriptural Roots Of The Jesus Prayer
The Scriptures give the Jesus Prayer both its concrete form and its theological content. It is rooted in the Scriptures in four ways:
- In its brevity and simplicity, it is the fulfillment of Jesus' command that "in praying" we are "not to heap up empty phrases as the heathen do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them . . . (Matt. 6:7-8).
- The Jesus Prayer is rooted in the Name of the Lord. In the Scriptures, the power and glory of God are present in his Name. In the Old Testament to deliberately and attentively invoke God's Name was to place oneself in his Presence. Jesus, whose name in Hebrew means God saves, is the living Word addressed to humanity. Jesus is the final Name of God. Jesus is "the Name which is above all other names" and it is written that "all beings should bend the knee at the Name of Jesus" (Phil. 2:9-10). In this Name devils are cast out (Luke 10:17), prayers are answered (John 14:13 14) and the lame are healed (Acts 3:6-7). The Name of Jesus is unbridled spiritual power.
- The words of the Jesus Prayer are themselves based on Scriptural texts: the cry of the blind man sitting at the side of the road near Jericho, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me" (Luke 18:38); the ten lepers who "called to him, Jesus, Master, take pity on us' " (Luke 17:13); and the cry for mercy of the publican, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:14).
- It is a prayer in which the first step of the spiritual journey is taken: the recognition of our own sinfulness, our essential estrangement from God and the people around us. The Jesus Prayer is a prayer in which we admit our desperate need of a Saviour. For "if we say we have no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves and refusing to admit the truth" (1 John 1:8).
The Three Levels Of Prayer
Because prayer is a living reality, a deeply personal encounter with the living God, it is not to be confined to any given classification or rigid analysis. However, in order to offer some broad, general guidelines for those interested in using the Jesus Prayer to develop their inner life, Theophan the Recluse, a 19th century Russian spiritual writer, distinguishes three levels in the saying of the Prayer:
- It begins as oral prayer or prayer of the lips, a simple recitation which Theophan defines as prayers' "verbal expression and shape." Although very important, this level of prayer is still external to us and thus only the first step, for "the essence or soul of prayer is within a man's mind and heart."
- As we enter more deeply into prayer, we reach a level at which we begin to pray without distraction.Theophan remarks that at this point, "the mind is focused upon the words" of the Prayer, "speaking them as if they were our own."
- The third and final level is prayer of the heart. At this stage prayer is no longer something we do but who we are. Such prayer, which is a gift of the Spirit, is to return to the Father as did the prodigal son (Luke 15:32). The prayer of the heart is the prayer of adoption, when "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit that cries 'Abba, Father!'" (Gal. 4:6).
The Fruits Of The Jesus Prayer
This return to the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit is the goal of all Christian spirituality. It is to be open to the presence of the Kingdom in our midst. The anonymous author of The Way of the Pilgrim reports that the Jesus Prayer has two very concrete effects upon his vision of the world. First, it transfigures his relation ship with the material creation around him; the world becomes transparent, a sign, a means of communicating God's presence. He writes:
"When I prayed in my heart, everything around me seemed delightful and marvelous. The trees, the grass, the birds, the air, the light seemed to be telling me that they existed for man's sake, that they witnessed to the love of God for man, that all things prayed to God and sang his praise."
Second, the Prayer transfigures his relationship to his fellow human beings. His relationships are given form within their proper context: the forgiveness and compassion of the crucified and risen Lord.
"Again I started off on my wanderings. But now I did not walk along as before, filled with care. The invocation of the Name of Jesus gladdened my way. Everybody was kind to me. If anyone harms me I have only to think, 'How sweet is the Prayer of Jesus!' and the injury and the anger alike pass away and I forget it all."
Endless Growth
"Growth in prayer has no end," Theophan informs us. "If this growth ceases, it means that life ceases." The way of the heart is endless because the God whom we seek is infinite in the depths of his glory. The Jesus Prayer is a signpost along the spiritual journey, a journey that all of us must take.