Father Paisios the Athonite: Guidance about the Jesus Prayer

An Excerpt from With Elder Porphyrios: A Spiritual Child Remembers

We also think that it would be good to add a relevant text by the blessed and very well-known monk Paisios, the Athonite, who recently slept in the Lord (1 !"!1##$%& 'e wrote this text c& 1#"(, as a letter to someone, who had asked him about it& 'e gave it to a visitor to post in an open envelope and gave him permission to read it and to keep a copy& )his visitor gave it to us and we hope that *lder Paisios will no longer have an ob+ection to us publishing it ,or the spiritual bene,it o, many and as proo, that experienced *lders agree that the prayer o, the heart is not sub+ect to measurement and sub+ugation&

-uidance about the .esus Prayer, A simple way ,or ceaseless prayer, i, you want to you can use it too, which probably helps simple people who cannot get the true meaning o, the neptic 'oly /athers, and run the risk o, delusion& 0ome (un,ortunately% do not set the goal o, putting o,, the old man (repentance, humility, and asceticism as a way o, helping the sancti,ication o, the soul% with a deep sense o, their sin,ulness& )hen, they would naturally ,eel the need ,or -od1s mercy, saying 2Lord .esus 3hrist, 0on o, -od, have mercy on me,2 o,ten& )his with pain in their heart and then the ,eeling o, the sweetness o, divine com,ort o, the most 0weet 3hrist within their heart& 4ut un,ortunately some people (as 5 mentioned% start o,, with a dry ascetic practice and seek a,ter divine pleasure and lights and continually multiply their prayer-ropes and are sancti,ied by their calculation, reaching that conclusion (about their sanctity% ,rom the mathematical reckoning o, the greater amount o, prayer-ropes they say& )hey also (naturally% make ,ootstools to the exact inch and all the other things, the bending o, the head towards the heart& )hey regulate their breath and whatever else the watch,ul 0aint 6allistuses and -regorys o, the Philokalia say& )hen they create the ,alse sensation that they are somewhere near the measure o, those 0aints& /rom the moment they believe that thought, the tangalaki 718 (the demon% immediately appears and sets up a television ,or them (with their ,antasies% and devilish prophecies etc& o, delusion ,ollow& /or this reason, only certainty is repentance and let every spiritual edi,ice be built upon it and let us continually seek repentance ,rom -od and nothing else except that&

We should not ask ,or lights or miracles, or prophecies, or gi,ts o, the 0pirit, only ,or repentance& 9epentance brings humility: humility will bring grace ,rom -od, because grace always goes to the humble, o, necessity& )here,ore, repentance is necessary ,or our salvation and when we have it, the grace o, -od will come and it will teach us what we need to do ,or salvation even o, our ,ellows too, i, it is necessary& 5n this way, which 5 mentioned (,eeling the great need ,or -od1s mercy%, we will say the .esus Prayer many times with our whole heart and we will ,eel, as 5 mentioned, the sweetness o, divine com,ort o, the most sweet .esus within our heart& )he heart will (then% have our nous in tight embrace, as well as our whole being& )hen, and only then, will prayer not be tiring, but rather it will give rest, because we have grasped the true meaning o, it& ;nly then do we pray without putting pressure on ourselves, but we are pressurised by our sense o, honour and dignity (philotimo) 7 8, which gives rise to all our spiritual upstanding generosity (leventia) 7<8& )his produces the ,luttering o, the heart& )hen the heart (however stony it may be% breaks and tears burst ,orth ,rom their ducts (without an e,,ort being made to weep during the time o, prayer%& =ou ,eel the need ,or this prayer like a hungry baby who opens its little mouth and runs into the arms o, its mother to be suckled and at the same time ,eels very secure in its mother1s loving care& >obody doubts that the enemy will try to war against us and to disperse our thoughts& 'owever, when preceded by a little bit o, Patristic study (e&g& The Sayings of the Fathers% a lid is put on all our cares, great and small, and on the day1s temptations& 0o, it is trans,ormed into another atmosphere, a spiritual one and you pray with concentration& 5, the enemy wages war with blasphemous thoughts (,rom his usual wickedness and envy% do not get upset& 5nstead, use the demon as your worker in the ,ollowing way, by not getting upset, but by saying to the enemy? 25t1s a good thing that you brought me those thoughts so that 5 can say the .esus Prayer, because otherwise 5 ,orget to pray without ceasing&2 )he enemy will then depart immediately, because he is only used to doing evil& 5 mentioned that because the enemy brings blasphemous thoughts to sensitive people (usually% to make them even more sensitive, to upset them and to cut them down& )he same applies to some that struggle in vigil over and above their strength, and with pride& When they slacken, and they do not have the strength to banish the thoughts o, the enemy& )hey think that those blasphemous thoughts are their own, and so they su,,er without reason, while the thoughts are not their own, but those o, the enemy&

)hat is why young people should struggle in the matter o, prayer with humility and discernment& )hey should prepare ,or the night& )his, by not being distracted, by study and through moderate and simple ,ood, which helps& As ,ar as possible it should not be savoury, to avoid drinking plenty o, water, because that, too, is an obstacle, with the bloating that it causes& 5n this way, the person is helped with prayer& 5t helps a great deal i, the light evening meal, however light it may be, takes place at around $ o1clock (*uropean time%, a,ter study, ,athers and so on, or else < hours a,ter the main meal& 0mall and great prostrations be,orehand, and in between each prayer-rope, help a great deal, un,ree@ing the machine1s oil& Later, a,ter getting Auite tired, he should sit down and say the .esus Prayer, since he brings to mind his wretchedness and the great ,avours o, -od that our good -od has done ,or him& )hen the nous is collected (as 5 mentioned, in the heart, on its own% and seeks -od1s mercy with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his mind, without making a great e,,ort& )he three hours a,ter sunset help a lot (having read patristic books be,ore sunset%, as well as a,ter midnight until sunrise& /or young people it is good ,or them to sleep one hour a,ter sunset, with less prayer, and to get up a,ter midnight, in order to avoid scandalous sleep o, the morning& >aturally, discernment is reAuired and guidance ,rom their spiritual ,ather, who is a reAuirement&2
*nd o, supplement&

Endnotes

1. 2.

)his was the *lder Paisios1s own peculiar expression& 5t is perhaps )urkish in origin (the *lder came ,rom Asia Binor% ,rom a word meaning a trickster, con-artist or eAuivocator& Another interpretation is that it is ,rom the -reek word ,or a rancid stink& Translator. *lder Paisios was absolutely correct when he once said that 2-reeks may have a pile o, ,aults, but they also have a gi,t ,rom -od, philotimo and leventia: they celebrate everything& ;ther peoples do not even have these words in their dictionaries&2 )hese two expressions are almost untranslatable in *nglish& Philotimo, according to *lder Paisios, means 2the reverent distillation o, goodness: the radiant love o, the humble man bere,t o, himsel,, but with a heart ,ull o, gratitude to -od and his ,ellow man: because o, his spiritual sensitivity he tries to repay even the slightest good that others do to him&2 Leventia means courage, honesty, generosity o, heart, directness, manliness and in general the willingness to lay down one1s li,e ,or others& Translator. 0ee above& Translator.

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