pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17)
You see now, my brothers, how it is the duty of all Christians in general, from the least to the greatest, to always pray the mental prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! so that their mind and their heart always have the skill to utter these sacred words. Convince yourself how much this pleases God and how much great good comes from this.
Paul, who knew better than us the great benefit that this prayer would bring, commanded us to pray unceasingly. He would not oblige us to do this if it were extremely difficult and impossible, knowing in advance that in this case we, not being able to fulfill it, would inevitably turn out to be disobedient to him and transgressors of his commandments, and through this we would become worthy of condemnation and punishments. And this could not have been the Apostle’s intention.
Who should also take into account the method of prayer, how it is possible to pray unceasingly - namely, to pray with the mind. And we can always do this if we want. For when we sit at handicrafts, and when we walk, and when we eat, and when we drink, we can always pray with our minds and create mental prayer, pleasing to God, true prayer. Let us work with our bodies and pray with our souls. Let our outer man perform his bodily affairs, and let our inner man be devoted entirely to the service of God, and never lag behind this spiritual work of mental prayer, as the God-man Jesus commands us, saying in the Holy Gospel: But whenever you pray, enter into close your cage, and when you have shut your doors, pray to your Father who is in secret (Matt. 6:6). The cell of the soul is the body; our doors are the five bodily senses. The soul enters its cage when the mind does not wander here and there about affairs and worldly things, but is located inside our heart. Our feelings are closed and remain so when we do not allow them to cleave to external sensory things, and our mind thus remains free from all worldly attachments and through secret mental prayer is united with God our Father.
And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in reality, the Lord adds. God, who knows all that is hidden, sees mental prayer and rewards it with obvious, great gifts. For this prayer is true and perfect prayer, which fills the soul with divine grace and spiritual gifts, like peace, which the more tightly you stop the vessel, the more fragrant it makes the vessel. So it is with prayer, the more firmly you enclose it inside your heart, the more it abounds in divine grace.
Blessed are those who become accustomed to this heavenly work, because with it they overcome every temptation evil demons How David defeated the proud Goliath. They extinguish the wanton desires of the flesh, just as the three youths extinguished the flame of the oven. By this practice of mental prayer passions are tamed, just as Daniel tamed wild animals. They bring down the dew of the Holy Spirit into their hearts, just as Elijah brought down rain on Mount Carmel. This mental prayer ascends to the very throne of God and is kept in golden vials, and, like a censer, smells fragrant before the Lord, as John the Theologian saw in the revelation: twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each having harps, and golden vials full of incense, these are already prayers saints (Rev. 5:8). This mental prayer is the light that enlightens a person’s soul and ignites his heart with the fire of love for God. It is a chain that holds God and man and man and God in unity. Oh, the incomparable grace of mental prayer! – It puts a person in the position of a constant interlocutor with God. Oh, a truly wondrous and wonderful thing! You deal with people physically, but you talk with God mentally.
St. Gregory Palamas
Today we will study just one verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:17. He says, “Pray without ceasing.” The Apostle Paul gives a simple and specific command, calling on Christians to make prayer a way of life. I have already said that prayer is like breathing. Just as it is natural for people to breathe, it is also natural for Christians to pray. This is what life is all about. We inhale and then exhale the air of the presence and power of God. And this is actually true. But at the same time, it should be noted that people who depend on God and have fellowship with Him (in any case, those who actually belong to the Christians) do not pray as “continuously” as they should. We are guilty of often holding our spiritual breath. In theory, the pressure exerted on us by the presence of God should force us to pray, just as air pressure forces us to breathe. But this doesn't always happen. And we, Christians, because of our own sinfulness, limit ourselves in how much we remain in God's presence. This is where the command of the Apostle Paul comes from to pray unceasingly, always. Constant, bold, unceasing prayer is an integral part of Christian life, and its beginning is in our dependence on God.
I would like us all to understand the principle of unceasing prayer. Reading the command itself paints a completely clear picture for us. But there are many texts in the Bible that support and enhance the meaning of the words we have read, and I would like us to explore together these great riches of biblical teaching on prayer. And at the very beginning let us turn to two parables told by our Lord. In fact, these two parables stand out from all others because of one simple, but very interesting reason. All other parables operate on the principle of comparison. In them, Jesus compares something to God or the Kingdom of God. They tell us how God acts. These same two parables operate on the principle of contrast. This talks about how God doesn't act. These are the only two parables Jesus told that contrast with God. In these two parables, the main characters appear as the absolute opposite of God, and in contrast they paint a very bright, clear image of what unceasing prayer should be.
Let's read these two parables. The first of these is in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11. The Lord Jesus told it in the context of prayer. Let's open verse 1: “One day one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” In response, Jesus told him the words that are well known to us: “When you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven! hallowed be your name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This is the well-known “Our Father” prayer, or the Lord’s prayer, or the prayer of the disciples.
Thus, from verses 2 to 4, Jesus teaches how to pray. He talks to the disciples and instructs them on what the content of the prayer should be. We must give honor to God and sanctify His name. We need to pray for His kingdom to come. We need to ask for the most pressing needs that only the Lord can supply.
We need to confess our sins and seek His forgiveness. You need to ask for wisdom and not give in to temptation. These are all components of prayer. This is how you need to pray, this is exactly what you need to say during prayer.
However, in addition to this, He “said to them: suppose that one of you, having a friend, comes to him at midnight and says to him: friend! lend me three loaves of bread, for my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him; and he from the inside will tell him in response: don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can’t get up and give it to you.” Let's not forget that when the cold weather set in, the whole family went to bed in one bed so that everyone would be warmer. The time was late, around midnight, and perhaps the most inopportune time to get out of bed and give bread to a neighbor. Jesus continues in verse 8: “If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him because he is friendly with him, then because he persists, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.” In other words, what he will not do out of friendly sympathy, he will do in order to sleep peacefully, because the persistent neighbor was not going to leave until he received as much bread as he needed. Jesus sets the example of an intractable neighbor who did not want to help out of friendship, so he had to be begged until he had no choice. In this way, according to Jesus, we can learn the blessings that perseverance can bring. However, here Jesus notes one more detail: the meaning of the parable takes on more higher value, when you realize how different God is from this reluctant neighbor. If such a neighbor does good because you persevere, imagine how much more God, who is not reluctant, will give you when you persevere. This is the contrast in this parable. And then Jesus says in verse 11: “Which father among you, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? or, when he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?” An earthly father will never do anything that would harm his child. An earthly father will always hear the cry of his children. Finally, Jesus concludes in verse 13: “If you therefore, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”
God is not like an intractable neighbor or earthly father. But God also answers persistent requests. If even an unfaithful and callous friend, who is alien to compassion, mercy and sympathy, responds to the persistent request of a neighbor, then how will a loving, merciful, compassionate, kind-hearted God respond to your persistent request? Continuous prayer moves God's hand.
So, first Jesus tells the disciples what to pray for, and then reminds them to pray about it constantly, because a good God will definitely hear constant prayer and answer. There is another parable in Luke 18 that also shows the contrast. In Luke 18 verse 1, Jesus again tells them “the parable of always praying and not losing heart.” If everything doesn’t go exactly the way you want, if everything doesn’t work out as quickly as planned, don’t be discouraged, keep praying. And then, to illustrate His point, He told a parable: “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and was not ashamed of people.” Here, of course, it is worth asking the question of how he managed to become a judge. But, however, he became one. “In the same city there was a widow, and she came to him and said: protect me from my adversary.” Clearly someone was trying to take away her entire livelihood, so she cried out for justice to have a judge protect her in court. In verse 4, Jesus says that “he for a long time did not want. And then he said to himself: although I am not afraid of God and I am not ashamed of people, but, as this widow does not give me peace, I will protect her so that she does not come to bother me anymore.” It was the widow who had already set his teeth on edge. So this judge thought: “If I don’t give her protection because of the love of God or because of the love of man, I will protect her so that she will leave me alone. I just can’t bear to hear her constant requests anymore.” And from verse 6 we read: “The Lord said: Do you hear what the unjust judge says? Will not God protect His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night, although He is slow to protect them? I tell you that he will give them protection soon.” Do you see? God is different from an unjust judge. God is different from an unfriendly neighbor. But even an unfriendly neighbor and an unjust judge fulfill the persistent request of the one asking. How much more will a loving, merciful, and compassionate God grant the persistent request of His children. This is exactly what Jesus wanted to say. So, in essence, Jesus tells the disciples to pray like this: persistently, constantly, consistently, all the time, don't give up, don't get discouraged, keep knocking on the door, keep asking, keep searching, and God is good, empathetic, faithful, loving, generous and merciful Jehovah will hear and give an answer.
Some researchers have the impression that these parables contradict other teachings of Jesus. For example, in Matthew 6, Jesus speaks words that at first glance sound contradictory. These words need to be understood. In Matthew 6:7-8, Jesus says, “And when you pray, do not talk too much like the pagans, for they think that for their many words they will be heard; Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
You may say, “Doesn’t this contradict what was said above? Doesn’t He say not to repeat yourself in your prayers?” No, he says not to say too much, that’s the main thing. What does “superfluous”, “verbosity” mean? This is a form of prayer practiced by pagans. They think that the more words they have, the more likely it is that their prayers will be answered. Their deity does not care about the condition of the heart. They think that God does not understand compassion, suffering, pain, the longings and desires of the heart. They think that a certain formula is important to God, religious rite, ceremony, mantra, funeral service, something like this or something like that, fingering a rosary or something like that. And if these rituals are constantly repeated, then God can somehow be forced to do something that He would not otherwise do. Jesus said: you can’t pray like that. He does not at all prohibit repetition with meaning. It does not prohibit a sincere heartfelt cry. He prohibits empty ritualism, meaningless muttering that comes from the lips, but not from the heart, when the person praying thinks that God will answer the words, and not the impulses of the heart. When Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, he is not contradicting Jesus. He upholds the principle emphasized in the parables of Luke 11 and 18 that prayer should not cease. God hears not verbosity, but the cry of the heart. That neighbor who came to his friend asking for bread did not speak memorized words, did not say a standard ritual prayer. He begged his neighbor to give him what he needed. The widow who pestered the judge did not repeat rosaries or mantras or recite prayers from the prayer book by heart. She asked with all her heart for protection from the one in whose hands the corresponding power was. Such deep, repeated prayer touches the heart of a compassionate, loving God.
We can better understand the idea of unceasing prayer by looking at the prayer life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was constantly in communion with the Father. Communication between Jesus and the Father never ceased. Often in the Holy Scriptures we read that he got up very early to pray. We see how He spent the whole night in prayer. There was constant, continuous, never-ending communication between the Son and the Father. Hebrews says that “in the days of His flesh He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” (Heb. 5:7). Amazing words! There was a special, unique, powerful intensity in Jesus’ prayer. When Jesus prayed - and we read about this more than once in the Holy Scriptures - one could see His struggles and torment. And although the Bible does not record all the details of His prayer life, it can be assumed that such intensity was present not only in those prayers that are available to us in the texts of the Gospels, but also in other prayers of Jesus. When the Bible says that He went up to the Mount of Olives and prayed all night, there is no doubt how intense that prayer was, although we know virtually nothing about its content.
A classic illustration of how emotionally charged His prayer was in the Garden of Gethsemane before He died is how He dripped sweat mixed with blood as He prayed. Luke in chapter 22 writes that Jesus “knelt down and prayed, saying: Father! Oh, that You would deign to carry this cup past Me! however, not My will, but Yours be done” (vv. 41-42), and the Evangelist clarifies that the Lord “being in agony, prayed more diligently, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (v. 44) .
The Lord Jesus experiences such a high intensity of prayer that, while in prayer, He not only sweated, but also subsequently bled. It just amazes me. In addition, I am struck by the fact that in Matthew chapter 26, verses 28-46, Jesus repeats His request to the Father three times in a row while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He spared no time in prayer. And in this specific prayer He spent a particularly long time. We know this because the disciples fell asleep several times while He prayed. This kind of struggle in diligent prayer shows how unique this feature was in the life of Jesus Christ.
What I mean? During his earthly life, the Lord Jesus accomplished many great things. None of them required any special expenditure of energy from Him. Although in one place it is said that power came out of Him, in the Holy Scriptures, which speaks about the life of Christ, there is not a single mention of the fact that during the performance of a miracle some kind of struggle occurred in Him. Wherever He was, no matter what He did, when He made the blind sighted, when He restored the ability of the deaf and dumb to hear and speak, when He healed the sick, when He gave the lame the opportunity to walk, when He raised from the dead, when He fed 5 thousand men alone who gathered at seas with wives and children total number about 20 thousand, when he calmed the storm, when he walked on water - nothing indicates that He wasted strength, shed sweat or blood, got tired or even strained. In these miracles and exploits there was no feeling of fatigue, tension, or special labor. But all this happens only until it comes to prayer. When Jesus prayed, there was always a struggle, the heart sank, everything inside pounded, tension manifested itself throughout the body. He prayed with such intensity that it was clear that Jesus was praying to God with the same urgency that he spoke of in the parables of Luke 11 and 18. Paul also speaks of this when he exhorts us to pray without ceasing.
From its very birth, the early church was characterized by just such constant, unceasing prayer. Even before the day of Pentecost, all the believers “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14). Constant, never-ending, unceasing, persistent prayer characterized the early church. After the founding of the church, the apostles, in order to fulfill the ministry, said: “It is not good for us to leave the word of God, caring for the tables... let us continue continually in prayer and in the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2,4).
In Acts 12 we see the early church again. Peter was imprisoned, but the church of God “prayed diligently to God for him.” Diligent, constant, unceasing, persistent prayer characterized the early church.
In the letters, whether you read Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, or 1 Thessalonians, Paul continually exhorts his readers to pray. Ephesians, perhaps as much as the other epistles, emphasizes the importance of prayer. Paul says in Ephesians 6:18, “Praying with all prayer and supplication at all times.” The same idea is evident here. Pray at all times. In the letter we are reading now, 1 Thessalonians 3 chapter 10, the Apostle Paul gives own example, saying that he wants to give thanks to God for his recipients, “praying with all earnestness night and day...”. Unceasing, constant, never-ending prayer was his way of life.
In Colossians I am struck by the example of a member of the Colossian church. This is “Epaphras your servant of Jesus Christ, always laboring for you in prayer” (Col. 4:12). Here is a man of prayer. There, in Colossians chapter 4, verse 2, Paul says, “Be constant in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving.” Never-ending, unceasing, dominant prayer has an enduring significance.
Perhaps Coleridge was right when he said: “Prayer is the greatest power of which the human heart is capable. This greatest achievement Christian on earth." But I fear that if we perceive prayer as a lofty achievement of great power, we will reduce it to a few moments in life. And these moments are indeed present, but our entire essence, our daily existence must be permeated by such unceasing communication with God. There must be tension. This is the essence of prayer. You remember that you can find God if you seek Him with all your heart. Persistence in prayer should prevail in communication with God. James reminds us that “the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Therefore, despite the fact that in life there are majestic moments of intense, exhausting prayer, it is for us an obvious, integral component of all life. Sometimes she is more intense, sometimes she is calmer. But God commands His children to pray without ceasing. The word “pray” in the passage we are studying is the common word προσεύχομαι, which is most often used to denote prayer in the New Testament. It can be praise, thanksgiving, petition, intercession, and obedience. This word simply means “to pray.” The word "continuously" means a repeated action: "continuously." This does not mean talking without stopping, it means praying with consistency. It's a way of life. We must turn to the Lord again and again in prayer. This is the attitude of the heart...consistency in prayer.
There is rarely a night when I don't pray and fall asleep in the middle of prayer. I rarely wake up in the morning without praying. Prayer has so permeated all my tissues that I am constantly in open communion with God. Sometimes this communication is more intense, sometimes less. But I always feel God’s presence, so I fall asleep with prayer and wake up again in prayer. Scripture gives examples of people who prayed in the morning, who prayed at noon, who prayed in the evening, who prayed seven times a day, who prayed at midnight, who prayed all night, who prayed before dawn, who prayed for days, for weeks. Some prayed for a long time, some prayed briefly, some prayed standing, some prayed on their knees, some prayed while lying in bed, some prayed prostrate, some raised their hands to the sky, some... sometimes he lowered his hands, someone bowed his head in prayer, someone raised his eyes upward, and so on, and so on. By any means, but pray. Pray everywhere, pray without ceasing.
If you look again at the text you are studying, you will see that it goes hand in hand with verse 16. Verse sixteen says, “Rejoice always!” Verse 17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” These two spiritual disciplines work together and balance each other. The believer feels his inadequacy throughout his Christian life. Therefore, he lives in complete dependence on God. You will pray unceasingly as long as you feel insufficient and dependent on God. At the same time, recognizing your worthlessness and dependence, you can be confident of the incalculable riches and blessings of God. Therefore, on the one hand, you pray in complete dependence on God, on the other hand, you rejoice in God's inexhaustible blessings. This is why we always rejoice—because God showers us with blessings in answer to our constant prayers.
If a Christian believer lives in a constant state of personal insufficiency, a state of awareness of his dependence on God, if he lives in gratitude for everything that the Lord does for him, if he regularly confesses his own sins and repents of them, if he shows love for his neighbors, such an attitude cannot but result in an unspeakable prayer to God. God, in His turn, will open windows through which streams of blessings will pour upon His child, and His child is ready to respond again in grateful joy. So, we must not only always rejoice, but also follow the path that leads to joy. And this is the path of unceasing prayer, which leads to blessings, and they again lead to joy.
How does verse 17 compare to the overall context? Paul concludes his message to the church in Thessalonica and wants to give the believers the right direction for the future. This is a healthy church, a great church, a noble church, a spiritual church. But he still wants to remind believers about how to grow, mature, and be a healthy congregation of believers. This is still a young church. She can be called an infant, she is only a few months old. Pavel offers her a growth plan. In verses 12-13 he talks about how growth occurs when the congregation is in a healthy relationship with the shepherds. In verses 14-15 the apostle points out that in a healthy church there must be right relationships among the sheep of the flock. Verses 16-22 show that a healthy church requires a healthy relationship between the sheep of the flock and the Great Good Shepherd.
So the church consists of similar relationships– between church members and leadership, between leadership and church members, between different church members, between church members and God. And the spiritual growth of the church is determined by the spiritual life of its people. Therefore, the relationship with the Good Shepherd is of utmost importance. And in this relationship one must always rejoice and pray unceasingly. This way the relationship is maintained at the level it should be. This is vital to a growing healthy church.
And if we want to be a healthy church, we must continually pray and drink from the inexhaustible God's source. We must continue to knock on the door and ask for bread. We must kneel before God's justice and ask for a fair and impartial trial. We must appear before God from own name and on behalf of others and to pray unceasingly, because this is how the power of God's greatness and blessing is manifested.
There really isn't much more to say about this verse. You understand what it means. Therefore, now I would like to offer a small list of what I would like to call motives for prayer. And most likely the same thing is happening in your life as in my life. No matter how much I pray, I always feel like it's not enough. Do you feel this way too? I always have a certain feeling of guilt that I don’t pray enough. No matter how much I pray, I always feel like I'm not praying enough. This is partly because I haven't really prayed much, and partly because in my position as a pastor I am inundated with requests for prayer. But I am only human, so it is simply impossible to even try to see and fulfill all the requests for prayer, and this makes my burden even heavier.
In this case, it is worth asking yourself the question: Am I motivated to pray when I am not praying as I should? And now I would like to consider some motives that encourage prayer. There are ten points on my list, ten motives for prayer. If they are present in the life of a Christian, he will pray unceasingly.
1. Desire God's glory. Desire for God's glory. As Jesus himself said, the prayer should begin like this: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” What are you praying for when you say these words? So that God is glorified, so that God’s purposes are realized, so that God’s will is fulfilled. This is what you need to pray for. Not about yourself, but about God.
Indeed, the first motive for prayer is the desire for the glory of God. When your heart is set on glorifying God, you will find yourself praying that way. You yourself will notice that involuntarily, constant praise to God will fly from your lips: “Be glorified, be exalted, be exalted, accomplish Your purpose, build Your Kingdom, fulfill Your will.”
2. The desire to communicate with God. The second motive for prayer is the desire to communicate with God. The psalmist spoke wonderfully about this truth at the very beginning of Psalm 41: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so does my soul long for You, O God! My soul thirsts for the mighty, living God: when will I come and appear before the face of God!” We see a thirst for God here. The psalmist's heart is drawn to God to communicate. The psalmist feels distant from God, he seems to be cut off from the Lord, so he feels loneliness, his heart cries out: “Lord, I want to communicate with You, I need to come to You, I want to be in Your presence!”
An even greater desire for God can be seen in Psalm 62: “God! You are my God, I have been looking for You since the early dawn; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You in an empty, parched and waterless land, to see Your power and Your glory, as I saw You in the sanctuary.” David says: “I want to see You, I want to be with You, I want to experience Your miracles.” In Psalm 83, the first verses also speak for themselves: “How desirable are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts! My soul is weary, longing for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh delight in the living God... Blessed are those who dwell in Your house: they will continually praise You.” The psalmist longs to be in God's presence. Finally, we can see the most magnificent desire for God in Psalm 27. Listen to these delightful words: “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life: whom shall I fear? ... I asked one thing from the Lord, this only I seek, that I might abide in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord and to visit His temple.” I want to be where the Lord is. Can you say the same about yourself? Do you have the same desire for communication, for heartfelt unity with God?
3. The desire to fill the need. There is a third motive for praying unceasingly. The desire for needs to be fulfilled. What motivates us to unceasing and constant prayer is the desire for our needs to be fulfilled. And not only ours, but also the needs of those around us. In Matthew 6:11, Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It is absolutely right to pray for needs to be met. Asking God for basic needs is entirely appropriate. Therefore, such a desire is a motive for prayer. However, many of us stop praying for these needs because we have so much! In our country there is an overabundance of what we need every day. And on the other side of the earth, many people pray for the Lord to meet their most basic daily needs. In our wealthy society, we simply do not understand this, but many brothers and sisters in Christ are forced to turn to the Lord with such a prayer. This is their way of life.
We have a family from Africa in our church. Sam and Nora were members of our church for six years before returning to their homeland to serve. Sam came to America from Africa because he was unable to feed his family. The fact is that he has diabetes, and there he could not find and purchase appropriate medications, unlike Americans, for whom such medications are quite accessible. We live in a society where prayer for our daily bread is perceived as something alien to us. But we should not delude ourselves and take God’s mercy for granted. If the Lord supplies all our daily needs even when we do not ask Him for it, this does not mean that He will not take them away from us when we show indifference to Him.
4. The desire to gain wisdom. This is the fourth reason for unceasing prayer. James writes about it this way: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5). If you believe that you don't need wisdom from God, then you've just been deceived, haven't you? Instructing his disciples on how to pray, Jesus says to pray like this: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). I believe this is a prayer for spiritual discernment, a prayer for spiritual wisdom. “Lord, by Your Spirit give me the ability to discern when I find myself in temptation. Give me wisdom to see when evil attracts me." This kind of prayer should be addressed to the Lord constantly. All the days of our lives we must pray: “Lord, do not lead me into temptation and deliver me from evil. Give me wisdom and the ability to discern. Give me discernment and spiritual sensitivity. Bless me to be led by the Holy Spirit of God, so that I will not fall into the snares of Satan, the flesh and this world.”
So what motivates us to pray? To unceasing prayer? 1) desire for the glory of God, 2) desire to communicate with Him, 3) desire to meet daily needs, 4) desire for wisdom to carefully walk through the mine field of this world.
5. The desire to escape from trouble. The fifth reason for unceasing prayer is the desire to be saved in the day of sorrow. The Psalter is replete with texts that simply scream prayer for deliverance. Let me quote a verse from Psalm 19, which can be said to encapsulate all the pleas for salvation: “May the Lord hear you in the day of trouble, may the name of the God of Jacob protect you” (Ps. 19:2). And He will certainly hear. There is no doubt about this. When we find ourselves in trouble, our straitened circumstances greatly contribute to unceasing prayer, don’t they? Moreover, the stronger the trouble, the stronger the misfortune in which we often find ourselves, due to the fact that we did not ask for wisdom and, as a result, found ourselves in the trap of our own ignorance, the more we want to get out of this trap and, seeing that this is humanly impossible , we cry to God for help and deliverance.
The example that comes to my mind is Jonah, who, by the way, had a rather specific prayer life. He found himself in the belly of a large fish, and as it is written in Jonah 2:2, “Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the whale.” However, Jonah did not pray for the successful work of missionaries around the world. First of all, with his long prayer, he begged the Lord to free him from captivity. And the Lord heard him and delivered him. The Lord freed him. Jonah said: “I cried to the Lord in my affliction, and He heard me; From the belly of the grave I cried, and You heard my voice” (Jon. 2:3). In other words, he said: “When I was there in the pit, I remembered the Lord, I cried out to Him, and He delivered me.”
We turn to God in times of suffering, distress, stress, pain, sorrow and sadness. We need his deliverance. And this need directs us to unceasing prayer.
6. The desire for freedom from fear and anxiety. The sixth motivation for unceasing prayer is the desire to be freed from fears and worries. If we show humility, we will certainly pray unceasingly. We should remind ourselves as often as possible of the words of the Apostle Paul: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” " (Phil.4:6,7).
What to do if you are overcome by fear, anxiety, worry, worry, if you are upset? The answer is simple: stop worrying, and instead pray, pray with a grateful heart, and then God's peace, which is beyond all human understanding, will protect both your heart and your mind. What does it mean? This means that God will protect you from anxiety, from despondency, frustration, fears and worries. If you want an answer within the framework of human understanding, contact a person. If you want an answer that surpasses human understanding, turn to God. When you are scared, when you are restless, when it is emotionally difficult and painful, simply turn to God in constant, unceasing prayer with thanksgiving, and God’s promised peace will preserve both your heart and mind.
Why then turn to all kinds of other sources? After all, our God promises that through prayer he will always give us relief and consolation when you are afraid, when you are overwhelmed by anxiety. The psalmist writes: “When I cry, hear me, O God of my righteousness! In tight spaces, You gave me space. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer” (Ps. 4:2). The Lord has provided relief in the past. David asks not to leave him now.
7. A desire to give thanks for past blessings. The seventh motive for continual prayer is the desire to give thanks for past blessings. If your heart is filled with gratitude, if you are a grateful person, if you remember all that God has done for you in His goodness, you will pray if only to thank God. In Psalm 43 we read the psalmist praying: “O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers told us of the work that You did in their days, in the days of old: You destroyed the nations with Your hand, and planted them; defeated the tribes and drove them out; For they did not acquire the land with their sword, nor did their arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance, for You favored them. God, my King! (Ps. 43:2-5). These are words of glorification, and glorification not for what God did personally for the psalmist, but glorification for the virtues shown to other people in the past! Thus, we learn to be grateful to God for all that He has accomplished throughout the history of redemption. Thus, we learn to praise God with a grateful heart for all the good that He has done, and not only for us. Paul writes to the Philippians: “I thank my God whenever I remember you, always offering my prayer with joy for you all, because you have shared in the gospel from the first day even until now” (Phil. 1:3-5). The apostle simply cannot resist unceasing prayer of thanksgiving for what God is doing in the lives of his recipients, for what He has done in the past and is doing now. And if you are grateful to God for all that He has done, that gratitude will motivate you to pray thanksgiving.
8. The desire to be freed from the feeling of guilt for sin. A very important motive for prayer is the desire to be freed from the guilt of sin. We can see this desire in the famous penitential psalm, Psalm 31. A similar desire can be seen in other biblical texts, but let’s listen to the words of the psalmist from Psalm 31 to understand his attitude. Let's start with verse four: “When I kept silent, my bones grew old because of my groaning all day long. – David says that as a result of feeling guilty for sin, he developed a psychosomatic illness. “For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My freshness disappeared, like in a summer drought. – David describes his state of complete collapse. All vital forces, all juices have dried up, all muscles and ligaments have withered, as if under the summer heat. All nervous system, all circulatory system and the digestive system (all juices) were dried up. His throat was dry, his nerves were frayed, his blood pressure rose. His whole life turned into a complete nightmare. Guilt led to physiological illness. “But I revealed my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my crimes to the Lord,” and You took away from me the guilt of my sin. David confessed his sin and the Lord forgave him.
But let's return to the beginning of this psalm. The psalmist exclaims: “Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered!” Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile!” Now the wickedness is over, you no longer hide your sin, you have revealed your sin, confessed it and received forgiveness. Now you are blessed! And the desire to be free from the feeling of guilt for sin contributes to unceasing prayer and endless confession and repentance.
9. Desire for the lost to be saved. Another motivation for prayer is the desire to see lost sinners saved. If you truly care about the salvation of the lost and have compassion for them, you will be motivated to continually pray for them. They surround us everywhere, they are all around us. And if you care about their salvation, you will want to constantly pray for them, whenever they cross your path or whenever you think about them.
Listen to what Paul says in Romans 10:1: “Brothers! my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel’s salvation.” Paul says he is praying for the salvation of his countrymen. Whenever he sees the unsaved, he cannot help but pray that they will be saved.
God, through Paul, tells Timothy that he “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). And then, a few verses later, Paul writes: “I desire therefore that men in every place say prayers, lifting up clean hands without anger or doubt” (1 Timothy 2:8). What should they pray for? That those unbelievers whom the Lord has provided for salvation be saved. The desire for unbelieving sinners to be saved motivates them to pray. And if you don't pray without ceasing, you may not have enough compassion for lost sinners.
10. Striving for spiritual growth of believers. Continuous prayer is promoted by the desire for believers to grow spiritually. Thus, Paul instructs the believers of the Ephesian church: “Therefore, having heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, I give thanks [to God] for you without ceasing, remembering you in my prayers—what is Paul praying for? - that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to the knowledge of Him, and may enlighten the eyes of your heart, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of His glorious inheritance are for the saints, and how immeasurable is the greatness His power is in us who believe" (Eph. 1:15-19)
Paul prays for believers. What exactly is he praying for? About wisdom. About knowledge. About enlightenment. About hope. He prays that His power may be fully manifested in the lives of believers and their spiritual growth.
Further, in the same letter to the Ephesians, in chapter 3, verse 14, he writes: “I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Again Paul prays. About what? So that the Lord would give believers “... according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in inner man"(v. 16). That is, he prays for spiritual strength. In addition, he prays that, through the faith of Christians, Christ may dwell in their hearts (v. 17), and that the believers themselves, “rooted and established in love, may comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to understand the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (vv. 18-19). The apostle prays that his recipients will be able, with God's power, to “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (v. 20). In other words, Paul is praying for the spiritual growth of the members of the Ephesian church.
We have a lot to pray for, don't we? When you have a desire for the glory of God, when you want to communicate with Him, when you want your needs to be met only by the One who Himself is the source of everything and in Whom are all sources, when you want wisdom and the gift of discernment, when you want deliverance from life troubles, when you desire relief from fears, worries and worries, when you desire to express gratitude for all past and present blessings, when you desire to be free from guilt and sin, when you desire the salvation of unbelievers, when you desire the spiritual growth and development of believers , you will always want to pray.
In our life, we are accompanied by enough reasons for unceasing prayer, isn’t it? So let's do some research into our spiritual state. If you do not pray constantly, perhaps something is wrong at the level of desires, something is wrong at the level of motivation. But how to solve such a problem? Using my example own life All I can say is that my prayer life is fueled by the Word of God. Time spent reading and studying God's Word determines the quality of my prayer life. Yes, there are other times when the Spirit of God works with me, and I live in obedience to the Lord, and He leads me to pray... Without a doubt. But if I want to have a real desire for the glory of God, I find that this desire is stimulated solely by the study of His Word. When I see God's Word reveal God's amazing plan, I feel like Daniel. When I read what the Lord commanded for the sake of His future glory, a desire arises in my heart to glorify God. And then I feel like the Apostle John at the end of the book of Revelation. Having described all the evidence of God’s glory with which Christ will shine, he cannot refrain from shouting: “Hey, come, Lord Jesus!” Not for yourself, but for His glory. Therefore, when I look at the glorious purpose of God revealed in the Word of God, I am overwhelmed with the awareness of His Kingdom and His glory, and it moves me to pray for it. As I study the Word of God and through it am in communion with the Lord, comprehending His revelation about Himself, as I learn more about His person and character, about His greatness, I have an even greater desire to communicate with Him. When I study the Bible and find in it all the promises that God has made, when I see all that He wants to do for His children, how He meets all our needs, how He gives us everything we need, I become more and more eager to pray about it. When I read and study the Holy Scriptures, when I see the greatness of His wisdom, when I see His amazing insight, His perfect understanding of everything that happens, I strive to have the same wisdom to live in this difficult world.
When I read the Holy Scriptures and see the chronicle of the times when the Lord delivered His people time after time, when I read about the promises that He will forever remain faithful to His people, it leads me to pray for deliverance from troubles in my own life and the lives of those who surrounds me. When I read the Word of God and see how many of His chosen beloved servants were delivered from fear, worries and worries, how many of them sang hymns in prison, how many stood on the edge of a fiery furnace and praised God who allowed them to endure all these trials, because they were completely trusted in Him, I get deliverance from own fears, my own worries and worries, and I understand that I can cast all my worries on Him, knowing that He completely cares about me, and I have nothing to worry about.
Also, when I study the Bible and see all the past blessings, His deeds and glorious deeds throughout the history of redemption, all that He has done in order for the history of redemption to reach its present stage so that I can experience all the riches of glory. The gospel of Christ and the blessing of the Holy Spirit indwelling me that I may enjoy the treasure of His Word, I cannot help but give thanks to Him for His blessings.
When I see in the Holy Scriptures the perfect forgiveness granted to me in Jesus Christ, when I realize the greatness of the plan of redemption, when I see how this plan has been fulfilled in my life by God's grace through faith, when I realize that every moment I have access to the full and final forgiveness and cleansing, it prompts me to confess my sins. When I see the tears of the Lord in Jeremiah 13 and the tears of Jesus in Matthew 23, tears shed for those who reject salvation and reject God's goodness, I burn with desire for lost sinners to be saved. After all, this is what God wants. When I see in the Word of God how much God desires for His people to grow spiritually, when I read the call from the first pages of Scripture to the last and see the call for God's people to live in obedience and holiness, it reminds me to pray for the spiritual growth of believers.
So, if I want my prayer life to be constant and consistent, I need certain desires of my heart to generate and nourish such a life. And these desires will appear as a result of constant and careful study God's Word. As I study the Bible, God's Word reveals these truths in new ways and makes me want to pray. It is rare that I finish studying God's Word without renewing my commitment to pray about one aspect or another with more fervor than I have hitherto.
Paul says, “Pray without ceasing.” These words say a lot. Prayer should be our way of life. Let us bow down and turn to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the promise given to us in 1 John 3:22 that whatever we ask, we will receive from You, because we keep Your commandments and do what is pleasing in Your sight. Therefore, we know that our prayers will not be in vain, they have power. And if we pray in the context of fulfilling Your commandments and doing pleasing deeds before You, then You will hear our prayers, and answer them, and bless us. You will have the glory for everything. We know that this is Your plan, and we pray for it for the glory of Jesus. Amen.
A practical tutorial for those taking their first steps or for those who have already forgotten what the joy of prayer is.
Preface
There are topics that are very difficult to describe. No wonder one elder said: “No one can talk about prayer if he does not pray. If he prays, he has not the slightest desire to talk about it.”
But the question that naturally kept me awake for a long time sounded like this: How to fulfill the commandment of unceasing prayer? After all, a person is designed in such a way that he cannot hold attention for a long time, he is endlessly distracted. And even these monastic horror stories about the fact that the laity may not need to pray unceasingly at all. It is enough for them to regularly begin the Sacraments, fast and read the rule.
There are a huge number of books on prayer available in the public domain. But all of them, one way or another, were written by monks - alas - for monks. Monastic practices are of little use for life in the world; just remember the many hours of services against the need to take children to school and go to work.
Legend
note
[!] Danger
[x] My personal opinion
Everything stated below is dedicated to beginners who are taking their first steps in mastering the skill of unceasing prayer.
A little theory
St. Theophan the Recluse (+1894): “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.”
St. John Chrysostom, in his commentary on the words of the Apostle Paul, “Pray with all prayer and supplication at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18), emphasizes precisely this meaning of prayer: “Do not limit yourself to one known time day. Do you hear what he says? Start praying at all times. Pray without ceasing, he says. Have you not heard about the widow, how she defeated (the judge) thanks to her persistence? Did you not hear how one friend, at midnight, strongly begged and begged (his friend)? Haven’t you also heard about the Canaanite woman, how she, with her persistent request, aroused the participation of the Master? These people achieved their goal through perseverance...We must pray unceasingly with good spirits.”
So, the Apostle Paul finally speaks about the need to constantly remain in communion with God: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything” (1 Thess. 5: 16-18).
Great. We must constantly pray. Hmm, how can this be implemented in practice? We are worldly people, we are full of worldly worries. Children, relationships, need and commuting to work, sometimes across the city. How can one keep the remembrance of God in such *non-monastic* conditions?
[!] If you have a confessor, you should discuss the stage you have chosen with him. The confessor knows your individual characteristics better and can prevent all sorts of problems on your way.
Step one: open the door
Starting from simple to complex, it is worth assuming that the person reading these lines has no skill in prayer at all, except for reading to the holes prayer rules and canons for Communion. That is, the most important detail, making prayer personal: one’s own will. A slave is not a pilgrim. Standing at the icons with a prayer book, feeling like a serf, and noting in advance half an hour of lost time that could have been spent with the children, an internal murmur arises. The dry grinding of other people's words, other people's books, although very beautiful, but memorized to the core, brings nothing but fatigue, emptiness and sometimes - the smug thought of sacrificing to God - one's own suffering, of course. The suffering is that it seems like something needs to be done, but it is completely unclear why. You sacrifice this half hour to God, do your corvée, and you seem to be righteous. Sleep well, dear comrade.
Dry prayer during the reading of the rule is a sign of a problem. It's like saying something to someone who is behind a locked door. Locked on your side.
To open the door and not interfere with God’s listening to you, it is enough to have the WILL to pray at all. Simply put, it is enough to WANT to say something to God.
You ask: what if I don’t want to?
Don’t you really have anything really vital that makes you endlessly worry and worry? Here's about resolving your most common everyday problems, about reconciliation with your boss if you had a fight again, about forgiveness for yelling at your children... you can and should tell God. And you never know what else! In your own words and simple formulations.
Prayer coupled with your desire to receive God's help is effective. Because our will is the stone that the Lord created and cannot lift. Only in collaboration with our will can the will of God be done, when two directions, two vectors are combined. But the Lord does not fulfill reluctance and unwillingness, because He never forces a person’s own will.
[x] Having learned to apply your will to prayer, it comes down to reading prayers the rules will do much better.
Step two: anchors
The rule is more or less clear, pray with “ open door"Somehow we learned. Let us move on to the question of how we can maintain constant remembrance of God in order to fulfill the commandment of unceasing prayer.
To do this, you will have to learn to put your prayer into a wordless, silent, but clearly formulated petition to God.
Do not confuse unceasing prayer with self-propelled prayer! Incessant - constant, in every place, in every deed, a persistent and continuous invocation of God, driven by the will of man.
[x] The anchor method helped me while working in the office.
[!] Practicing prayer in the workplace or in the company of colleagues should be as hidden as possible! You should not cross yourself over the icons on the table, kneel, or otherwise attract attention to yourself. This will lead to misunderstanding on their part, at a minimum, and at a maximum, you will be considered a freak, converted to Orthodoxy. Well, if at the same time you begin to think that you suffered for your faith, you will have to be disappointed: unauthorized martyrdom does not lead to success.
So, no one should notice that you are praying.
At home, at work or on the road, it is very difficult to keep attention on a thought, of course, if it is not thoughts about where to spend the upcoming salary. The thought and will to pray instantly floats away into the imagination, which can immediately put on a halo and award you the “great prayer book” award of the first degree.
[!] Imagination is the most cunning and dangerous enemy. You cannot imagine in prayer. This leads to delightful self-delusion.
A thought addressed to God must be brief, to the point, and have a strong-willed vector. You must want say it. In patristic works such prayer is called “smart.”
The question of what exactly to tell you, and what to say constantly, should have already been resolved by this stage. If you have already shared everything that was vital for you, and wished health to all your sick friends, it’s time to move on to the Jesus Prayer, which in its brevity is, nevertheless, a masterpiece and a “thing in itself” of the prayerful creativity of the holy fathers. Full text sounds like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” You can use its shortest version - “Lord have mercy”, which even from shortening does not lose anything in essence.
Let us turn to the Holy Fathers:
The Monk Leo taught to pray in simplicity of heart, awaiting God’s mercy: only the Lord knows what is good for each individual person:
“Pass the Jesus Prayer as you do it, and the time will come when the very work and mercy of God will enlighten and enlighten your soul, how and whom to ask, and you will know what you are looking for and wanting.”
The elders advised saying the Jesus Prayer as often as possible, but not looking for any special pleasant feelings, spiritual consolations and pleasures.
During the Jesus Prayer, there is often a storm of thoughts that the enemy stirs up.
The Monk Hilarion taught not to contradict the enemy’s thoughts, since only experienced prayer workers can do this, but to simply continue to pray in the simplicity of heart, trusting in the mercy of God:
“And if when the mind is captivated against desire, then continue the prayer, and not contradict - contradicting is not yet your measure.”
The Optina elders warned about the need for humility when praying. Once a spiritual child of Father Ambrose complained to him that when saying the Jesus Prayer, she stumbled over the words “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” The elder answered:
“You write that in the Jesus Prayer you have some kind of hesitation on the words “Have mercy on me, a sinner”; this shows that before this prayer was performed by you without due humility, without which our prayer is unpleasant to God. Therefore, force yourself to hit the word “sinner” with the proper understanding.”
The Monk Barsanuphius reminded us that those who follow the path of the Jesus Prayer can endure sorrows, which, however, must be accepted without grumbling:
“The path of the Jesus Prayer is the shortest, most convenient path. But do not grumble, for everyone who follows this path experiences sorrow.”
Elder Macarius wrote an article “A Warning to Those Reading the Spiritual Books of the Fathers and Those Who Want to Perform the Mental Jesus Prayer,” where he warned that the Jesus Prayer should be read simply, and the main thing should be a feeling of repentance, and not the search for high spiritual gifts.
We are not monks in a monastery, and most likely we will not try hesychast practices, so what is important is not the number of prayers and counting the rosary. It is important to cling your thought, your consciousness, to prayer, to God. This is the first step on the path to improvement in the skill of continuous personal Survival.
Let's move on to the anchors. Anchors are objects, or colors, or characteristics that constantly surround us, no matter where you are. That is, this is what is always before your eyes. But they are called anchors because we will make such an installation as if we drew a memorable badge (a cross, a zero) on our left hand with a ballpoint pen, so as not to forget about an appointment with the dentist. This commemorative badge is the anchor. Every time we come across this icon, and we constantly notice what is there on our left hand, we will instantly remember the circumstance associated with it. Such a simple old trick, and we use it.
It is best to place anchors in the evening, before you arrive at work, where a memorial mark will already be waiting for you.
So, today our anchor is... a mug. We chose a mug and said to ourselves: today you won’t let me forget something important. And while you drink your morning coffee from it, you will slowly begin to pray.
The mug at work is in front of us again. It doesn't matter if it's full or empty. It is a mug, and by that very fact it is a reminder to you. We prayed and got back to work. Bang, there’s a mug on the table again!
I think you already get the idea. However, human consciousness is designed in such a way that after a couple of days the anchor will stop reminding you of something, you will simply get used to it. So it's time to come up with something else. For example, green color. Or a circle. Or a yellow sticker on the monitor or laptop.
[!] The only thing I would like to warn against is using prayer beads as an anchor. It's a good thing, but only where no one can see you. Praying with the rosary can make you think that you are already such a tough ascetic.
It is especially important at this stage to begin Communion as often and regularly as possible. The struggle of your sinfulness with a volitional movement towards God can only be overcome with the direct help of God, received in Holy Communion. Many holy fathers warn that with intense prayer, sensitivity to any irritation increases, or even attacks by strong sinful thoughts are possible. There is no way to do this without God’s gracious help.
Over time, you will realize that it becomes easier and easier to “open the door.” A habitual skill is being developed. And then, at one fine moment, you realize... that you no longer want to say anything. That the time has come to just be silent sometimes. It's time to learn prayerful silence.
Step three: sober silence
To stand before God means to place yourself before the eyes of God, in all your human indecency, knowing that He sees you as you are. This means you need to recognize and accept your deep imperfection. This is humility - to accept the fact that you yourself cannot do anything about this imperfection.
Therefore, the basis of more perfect prayer is precisely the awareness of your weakness, your inability in something to really become better than you are. In humble prayer, you can receive God’s direct help in the fight against your shortcomings, primarily those that prevent you from communicating with God.
“The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; You will not despise a broken and humble heart, O God.” (Ps. 50:19)
But do not ask God for spiritual gifts and high degrees of prayer! The Lord Himself knows what you can handle.
[!] We must never forget that prayer cannot be the goal! This is a dangerous misconception! Prayer is not a goal, but a means to an end. The goal is communication with God, deification!
Now about sobriety.
Sobriety is a Christian virtue that consists in attentive attitude to spiritual life, that is, in keeping oneself from sin while constantly turning to God.
Sobriety is a manifestation of tireless spiritual vigilance on the path of salvation. On the one hand, sobriety is attention to the salvation of the soul among the sorrows and temptations of the transitory world, opposing absent-mindedness and laziness. On the other hand, sobriety is a correct (sound) assessment of one’s strengths and one’s spiritual state, based on knowledge of one’s weakness and trust in Divine grace.
And the last necessary link in this chain is repentance. In this case, we are not talking about confession! The point is to, with the help of sobriety, discover yourself right “at the scene of the crime” of the sin committed, without delay, relentlessly pray to God for forgiveness. At the same time, you need to try to correct what you have done, for example, if you offended a person, apologize. Even if he arrogantly considers it your weakness. Don’t think about others, “pay attention to yourself”, they are already adults, they will figure it out on their own.
Over time, sensitivity to sin will begin to increase. This is a sign that the soul has slowly begun to sprout conscience from the inside cemented by sin and cynicism.
If you still constantly think that you are right about everything, and never ask for forgiveness from anyone, then you are definitely doing something wrong.
[x] A subtle feeling of inner silence and peace, over time, will become a constant, always available anchor for you.
So, for continuous survival we need humility, sobriety and repentance.
In practice, this only differs from verbal prayer in that you listen more than you speak. There is little more that can be added here, because the longer you follow this path, the more difficult it is to talk about it. Because you don’t have to talk, but do it.
Conclusion
I intentionally began my guide directly with personal mindful prayer. Without all sorts of ideas of pre-purification, reading many books (especially monastic ones) and other “prefaces” that some zealots today propose to put first before engaging in prayer. They frighten you with charms, with some kind of demons - it feels like they dream of banning people from praying altogether. Well, who are the demons here?... To those who want to communicate with God, He Himself will give everything they need, as long as the person wants it. Therefore, both repentance and sobriety come next after the most volitional and personal conversion.
Prayer is the path that leads and teaches itself. Therefore, rather than tremble and read theory, it is better to try with your own experience, in your own skin, to understand what is true and what is a fairy tale. No path is complete without mistakes, but you will not walk along it alone, the Lord, whom you will call, will be with you. And with such accompaniment there is nothing scary at all.
To avoid squabbles, all comments that are not related to the topic, as well as references to the author’s personality, will be deleted.
Feedback with a focus on personal experience and the experience of the Holy Fathers.
CONTINUOUS PRAYER
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
It is not in vain that God reveals to us the holiness and greatness of some ascetics of the spirit. Many others, probably unknown to us, rest in the glory of God; but some are revealed to us so that we can learn something from them. Today the Church remembers a saint whose name perhaps few of us know: St. Ioannikios the Great. And I want to dwell on one of the aspects of his life that was decisive for him and from which, I think, we can learn.
He lived in the 8th century, was born in Bithynia and was a warrior. And then, leaving the service, he returned to his native village. He was a simple man, illiterate, who, according to our concepts, had no education. He went to church, listened to readings, took in what he could; until the day when he heard one word from the letter of the Apostle Paul; this word struck him in the soul and revealed to him the perfect meaning of life. This word was: Pray without ceasing.
He left the temple and never returned to his hut, but went to a mountain that was nearby, and decided that the word he heard not only with his ears, but with his whole being was God’s call, and that if God calls, then He will give and strength, and intelligence, and help. He knew only one prayer: Our Father. And he began to say this prayer, slowly, carefully, bringing to the depths of his heart every request of this prayer, every word of it, becoming one, as far as he could, with his prayer. And while the day lasted, things went well; he got used to a harsh life from a young age; he picked berries, ate what he could, and prayed. And then the night came, full of darkness, fears, unusual sounds in the thickets around him...
Years later he met another ascetic. By that time he had grown to his full measure and became a man of prayer; it was all prayer, like a fiery torch before the face of God. And the ascetic asked him: “Tell me, father, who taught you to pray like that?” Ioannikis looked at him and said: “I will give you the answer, because I think you will understand: demons taught me unceasing prayer.” And he went on to say that after the first day, when night fell and fear attacked him, he felt infinitely helpless and defenseless. He sat, surrounded by unknown danger, full of fear, and could not even read the Lord's Prayer; he could only say: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me! And so he cried out of fear all night. When the day came and he began to wander, he knew that danger was lurking all around. While picking berries, he knew that the animals he had heard at night were hiding in these very bushes. And so he continued, making his way through the bushes, making his way through the forest, looking around, trying to find protection and help in this cry: Lord Jesus Christ! Son of God! Have mercy on me!.. And night came again, and he screamed more and more insistently; and so he shouted from day to day and from night to night.
Very soon he discovered that he could cope with the fear of the physical danger surrounding him; but then other dangers arose. He began to see the evil that lurked in his own heart, the division of mind, the wavering of the will, the demands of the flesh - everything that was born from within. And when he began to struggle with this, he discovered that the dark, evil forces They use every weakness, every flaw in him to destroy him from the inside. And Ioannikios continued to cry out to God with the same words, until one day peace finally came. That is why he said that the demons, the evil that characterized himself, taught him to pray unceasingly: not through an effort of will, but out of inescapable need, he shouted with his whole being for protection, and then for salvation.
We can ask ourselves: why don't we have such an urge? Partly because we are not surrounded by danger; there is nothing around that would make us scream for protection from things that we cannot cope with; we don't feel helpless, we feel strong, we feel safe, we feel protected.
But there is another reason: we are very insensitive to the danger that lurks within ourselves, we are very insensitive to the shortcomings and destructive evil within ourselves. I remember the words of one spiritual writer about this fight against passions, against evil. One day he was asked by a student: “Why don’t I see this? I don’t feel that evil is attacking me, that I am being pursued by temptations; what is the difference between the saints and us?” And the confessor replied: “There is no need for evil to pursue you; You yourself are chasing after everything that excites and awakens passions in you: why should evil take up arms against you when you are only looking for an opportunity to serve it?”
Let’s think a little about this: both about Saint Joannikius and about these words. Why are we so calm? Materially this is easy to understand, but spiritually? Is it because we never resist the enemy, we never engage in mortal combat against any evil living inside us? Is it because we imagine that evil is only pain, suffering and grief around us, from which we are protected?
Let's think about this, because our Christian calling is to be warriors, to defeat the evil within our hearts and to establish Christ as the King of our lives. The Kingdom of God begins within us. While we are captive to any impulses that pull us in all directions, why should evil reveal its own face, reveal its presence? Only if we take it upon ourselves good feat in order to subordinate our entire being to holiness, so that our body, our soul, our mind, everything in us would be as if a continuation of the presence of Christ, a place of indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so that we could become participants in God’s work and God’s life - then it will only begin for This is a struggle for us. But in this struggle we must remember the words of Christ: Don't be afraid! I conquered the world... We can overcome because the Cross not only testifies to human hatred of God, it also testifies to God's victory through love, which can overcome suffering, rejection and death itself. Amen.
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(according to the testimony of the ascetic tradition of the Church)
Archpriest Vladimir Bashkirov
It is difficult to talk about prayer, it is a very difficult topic, sometimes you don’t know where to start, although there is a lot of literature on prayer. You can’t help but feel how right the unknown elder was who once said jokingly: “No one can talk about prayer if he does not pray. If he prays, he does not have the slightest desire to talk about it” [*].
But it is necessary to speak, nevertheless, because the topic of prayer is extremely relevant. People are looking for alternatives to prayer books, with their huge collections of obscure prayer books, the reading of which modern man There is simply no time, and therefore one often hears such questions:
1) What exactly is prayer, and are there any analogies to make it easier to understand its action?
2) What is its purpose, and is it possible to achieve it in a more concise and in a simple way than the prayer book suggests.
3) How to behave if a prayer remains unheard.
In my report, I would like to answer these questions with a selection of statements from ascetic fathers of different eras, which have not yet lost their significance, and, moreover, turn out to be very much in demand.
1.
Prayer or supplication is mentioned more than 240 times in Scripture. Turning to God at any time life situation was common, and therefore the reminders of the Apostle Paul: “ Pray without ceasing"(1 Sol. 5:17), " Pray at all times in the spirit" (Eph. 6:18), " Be constant in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving"(Col. 4:2) are imbued with a deep biblical spirit.
I looked in the etymological dictionary where the word pray came from, and was surprised at the wisdom of our ancestors. It turns out that the Proto-Slavic verb modliti(from molditi) is close to the Greek adjective malthakos(soft, gentle) and Old Saxon mildi(soft, kind, merciful), and had the main meaning: make someone soft, kind [*] .
They got it amazingly accurately the main meaning of prayer: it changes a person so much that he becomes able to communicate with God.
Usually it is given this definition, for example St. Theophan the Recluse (†1894): “ Prayer is the lifting of the mind and heart to God» [*] .
He summarizes here the classic definitions of prayer, for example, St. John Chrysostom (†407):
“Prayer is the basis of every good and contributes to the achievement of salvation and eternal life... Everyone, praying, talks with God; and how much it means, as a person, to talk with God, everyone knows... What could be holier than those talking with God? What is more righteous? What is nobler? Which is wiser? [*].
We find a similar definition in Rev. John Climacus (†649):
“Prayer, in its quality, is the abiding and union of a person with God; according to its action, it is the affirmation of the world, reconciliation with God, the mother and together the daughter of tears, propitiation for sins, a bridge for crossing temptations, a wall that protects from sorrows, contrition with armor, the work of Angels, food for all bodiless, future joy, endless work , invisible prosperity, food for the soul, enlightenment of the mind, an ax to despair, an indication of hope, the destruction of sadness, taming anger, a mirror of spiritual growth, the discovery of a spiritual dispensation, a sign of glory. The prayer of the one who truly prays is the judgment and the throne of the Judge before the Last Judgment” [*].
The famous polemical Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs (1723) gives the following detailed concept of prayer:
“Prayer is a conversation with God, a request suitable for the good of God, from Whom we hope to receive them; it is an ascent to God, a pious, directed towards God, disposition, mental seeking of things above, healing of the soul..., service pleasing to God, a sign of repentance and firm hope. It happens either in the mind alone, or in the mind and on the lips.
During prayer, we contemplate the goodness and mercy of God, feel our unworthiness, are filled with a feeling of gratitude, and vow to henceforth submit to God.
Prayer strengthens faith and hope, teaches patience, keeping the commandments and especially asking for heavenly blessings; it produces many fruits, the calculation of which would be unnecessary; It is performed at any time, either in a straight position of the body, or with kneeling.
The benefit of prayer is so great that it constitutes writing and the life of the soul. Everything that has been said is based on Holy Scripture, and the one who demands proof is like a madman and a blind man who doubts the light of the sun during a clear noon" [*]
St. Maximus the Confessor (†662) emphasizes the element of petition in prayer:
“Prayer is asking for those benefits that it is inherent in God to bestow on people for their salvation” [*]
St. John of Damascus (†749) says the same thing:
“Prayer is the ascent of the mind to God or asking God for what is proper” [*].
To explain the effect of prayer, the fathers often looked for analogies in the surrounding world and in man himself. This method is generally characteristic of patristic tradition and was widely used not only in asceticism, but also in triadology, Christology and anthropology. Suffice it to mention St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. †395), who used it so widely that without analogies from nature he did not begin any of his reflections on divine things [*].
The situation was similar with prayer. Let's limit ourselves to just a few striking analogies. So St. Filaret of Moscow (†1867) compared prayer to a magnet that attracts gracious and miraculous power [*].
And St. Feofan turned to the analogy of inhaled oxygen:
“Someone,” he says, “calls prayer the breath of the spirit. She is the breath of the spirit... Just as in breathing the lungs expand and thereby attract the life-giving elements of air, so in prayer the depths of our heart are revealed and the spirit ascends to God in order to receive the corresponding gift through communion with Him. And just as there the oxygen received in breathing through the blood then disperses throughout the body and revitalizes it, so here what is received from God enters inside us and revives everything there” [*].
The image of air is also used by St. Righteous John of Kronstadt (†1908):
“Prayer, like the external air - the body, refreshes the soul and revives it. In it you feel more cheerful and cheerful, just as after taking a walk in the fresh air you feel physically and spiritually more vigorous and fresh” [*].
Here is another typical comparison:
“Prayer is the breath of the soul, like air is the breath natural body. We breathe the Holy Spirit. You cannot say a single word of prayer from your whole heart without the Holy Spirit. When you pray, you converse mouth to mouth with the Lord, and if you have your heart’s lips open in faith and love, at the same time you seem to inhale from Him the spiritual benefits you ask for” [*].
St. rights John of Kronstadt also offers a beautiful analogy of burning glass:
“A burning glass, when it ignites wood or paper, when we point it at an object so that the rays of the sun, concentrated at the focus of the glass, are all concentrated at one point of the object being lit, with their entirety acting on it, and thus, as if the whole sun in a reduced form fits in the object. So in prayer, then our soul warms up, enlivens and ignites with the intelligent Sun - God, when with our mind, like a burning glass, we point this mental Sun at the heart, as a spiritual point in our being, and when It acts on the heart with all His simplicity and His power" [*].
Another analogy, now from technology, is given by St. Theophan the Recluse, when he explains how saints hear our prayers:
“Do you know how the electric telegraph works? In St. Petersburg, for example, a well-known apparatus is started, and at the same moment that action in St. Petersburg is reflected in Moscow in a similar apparatus and in the same meaning in which the movement takes place there. Why does this happen? Because the devices are homogeneous, and the wire connecting them is adjusted to them. That the action of such a telegraph is our prayer. We and the saints are like two apparatuses - homogeneous, the environment in which the saints and with which our souls are surrounded is a wire. When true prayer - heartfelt - moves in the soul, then it, according to that element, influencing it, flies like a ray of light to the saints and tells them what we want and what we are praying for. There is no gap between our prayer and hearing, only the prayer must come from the heart. We have it as a telegraph projectile for the sky. The same prayers that come not from the heart, but from the head and only from the tongue, do not give a ray ascending to heaven, and are not heard there. Yes, this is not prayer, but only prayer techniques” [*].
These comparisons are not accidental. They suggest that prayer is not an activity at a certain time of day, but a state of mind that is always present. But then it turns out that standing in front of an icon and bowing down is not a prayer at all, but only a technique or a means; reading prayers from memory or from a book is also not prayer, but a way of inciting it. A sign of prayerful activity is reverent feelings towards God: thought of God, gratitude, devotion, a sense of one’s damnation, praise [*]. It turns out that when I have these feelings, I pray. The mind must be filled with them, otherwise it will find something to do for itself, begin to generate thoughts and, being in constant motion, will be engaged, according to the blessed one. Theophylact of Bulgaria (†c. 1126), curiosity, gossip, idle talk and idle talk [*].
St. John Chrysostom in his commentary on the words of the Apostle Paul “ Pray at all times with every prayer and supplication in the Spirit"(Eph. 6:18) emphasizes precisely this meaning of prayer:
“Don't limit yourself to one known time of day. Do you hear what he says? Start praying at all times. Pray without ceasing, he says. Have you not heard about the widow, how she defeated (the judge) thanks to her persistence? Did you not hear how one friend, at midnight, strongly begged and begged (his friend)? Haven’t you also heard about the Canaanite woman, how she, with her persistent request, aroused the participation of the Master? These people achieved their goal through perseverance... You need to pray unceasingly with good spirits” [*].
2.
Hence the purpose of prayer - keep in mind the memory of God.
The ancient ascetics describe precisely this nature of prayer. For example, Rev. Isaac the Syrian (†c. 700), a strict ascetic and ascetic, at first glance unexpectedly broadly interprets the concept of prayer, which, in his opinion, includes all human actions performed with the thought of God. However, for him there is nothing unusual or strange here:
“We need to know that every conversation (with God) carried out in secret (internally), every care of a good mind about God, every reflection on the spiritual is established by prayer and is called the name of prayer, and this includes various readings, praise to God, caring sorrow for the Lord , bodily bows or psalmody in poetry, or everything else that constitutes the entire teaching of pure prayer, from which the love of God is born; because love comes from prayer..." [*].
And St. Basil the Great (†379) emphasizes the active nature of such prayer. For him, as later for St. Simeon the New Theologian (†1022), a word that is not confirmed by deeds is fluid and empty [*], because prayer cannot be reduced only to words. Her strength and energy lie in her spiritual mood and in virtuous deeds, which, according to the apt definition of St. Apostle Paul, one should practice throughout one’s adult life: “ Whether you eat, drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God"(1 Cor. 10:31) [*]. To this thought St. Vasily returns often; here is another characteristic reflection of his:
“...Any time is suitable for prayers and psalmody, as for many other things. Therefore, moving your hand to work, ... if possible with your tongue, but if impossible, then sing to God with your heart ... with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19) and in the meantime pray, ... giving thanks to Him who gave strength to your hands for work and wisdom of mind for the acquisition of knowledge...” [*].
St. thinks the same way. Theophan the Recluse:
“What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Be constantly in a prayerful mood. The prayerful mood is a thought about God and a feeling for Him. The thought of God is the thought of His Omnipresence, that He is everywhere, sees everything and contains everything. Feelings for God - fear of God, love for God, a zealous desire to please Him alone in everything and to avoid everything displeasing to Him, and most importantly - surrendering oneself to His holy will unquestioningly and accepting everything that happens as if from His hands directly” [*].
He also offers very simple techniques for preparing for prayer and performing it, which are well known from other sources. I need to distract myself from earthly affairs and objects, stand for a while, walk around, sober up my thoughts, think about who I am and who is the One to whom I intend to turn in prayer. It is extremely important to set yourself up in such a way as to pronounce the words of prayer with reverence and the fear of God in your heart [*]. Once you start praying, try to accompany the prayer repentant feeling, without which prayer is like a dead miscarriage, And it’s also good to mentally put yourself before God’s judgment [*]. If the prayer has become hasty, then you need to strain and make sure that not a single word is pronounced without awareness of the meaning and, as far as possible, feeling [*]. In the fight against haste, the following technique is suggested. Try to be attentive in the heart and nowhere else, because from weakness of attention the mind moves away from the heart, where it should be during prayer, and loses the memory of God, and without attention there is no prayer [*]. It also happens that a prayer does not come to mind, then it can be put off for a while. But if even then it does not come, then you must force yourself to fulfill your prayers, straining to understand the spoken words in order to feel them [*].
But is this real? And if so, how?
Let's remember well-known rule St. Seraphim Sarovsky:
“He especially advised to always keep on your lips and in your heart the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father,” the Archangel’s prayer “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary,” the Creed, and the Jesus Prayer - “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” which he considered especially effective and saving" [*].
It's interesting to note that short rule, however, in a slightly different connection, the Venerable already proposed. Simeon the New Theologian:
“When evening comes, after Compline, go to some special place and perform the following prayer rule: Trisagion; Psalm 50; Lord have mercy - 50 times; Lord, forgive me, a sinner - 50 times; Psalm 6; Lord, I have sinned greatly in word, deed and thought, forgive me. Make 25 bows from the waist" [*].
“To do this, you need to pray often, but briefly,” says Rev. John Cassian the Roman (†435) - so that the enemy-slanderer cannot plant anything in our hearts. This is a true sacrifice, because a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit (Ps. 50:19). This is a saving offering, this is a pure drink offering, this is a sacrifice of righteousness, this is a sacrifice of praise (Ps. 49:14), this is a mental burnt offering (Ps. 65:15), which is offered by a contrite and humble heart” [*].
A similar thought is expressed by St. right John of Kronstadt, for whom prayer is simultaneously petition, thanksgiving and doxology:
“Sincere Christians always pray, because we always sin; thanksgiving is constant, because every day, every minute we receive new mercies of God, and there are many old ones too; constant doxology, because we see the glory of God’s works in us and in the world, especially the glory of His endless love for us” [*].
At St. Feofan the Recluse, I read very practical advice on how to do this:
“The means to this end is a short prayer, constantly repeated in thought: “ Lord have mercy“... Sitting, walking, doing something or saying, on any occasion and at every moment, keep in mind that the Lord is close, and cry out to Him from your heart: “ Lord have mercy“» [*] .
Many are accustomed to repeating these words “ Lord have mercy", even without considering them a prayer. In fact, it has a deep meaning, and it is usually interpreted like this:
“This is the first prayer of each of us, for it is most easily imprinted in the weak memory of infants. It is also the last prayer that a dying person says on his deathbed, leaving for another life. No matter what sad state a person is in: whether sin weighs on the soul, whether sorrow tears apart the heart, or illness exhausts the body, in all these cases he calls out to the Creator: Lord have mercy. What does it mean? This is the most natural cry of our soul, wounded by sin, the truest expression of our spiritual weakness... But even on joyful occasions we must not forget to say this prayer. We, after all, can easily lose and use God’s gifts for evil if the Lord does not have mercy on us... So we can say: Lord have mercy, - we still have hope of salvation” [*].
He also offers to compose your own short prayers, which would combine everything. For example,
Glory to Thee, God, worshiped in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Glory to You, who created everything! Glory to You, who has honored us with Your image! Glory to You, Lord Jesus Christ! You became incarnate, suffered, died for us and rose again!
[*] .It is good to cry out to God many times throughout the day, making up an appropriate petition in each specific case. For example, at the beginning of the case - “ God bless", at the end of the matter - " Glory to You, Lord", passion took over - " Save me, Lord, I'm perishing", in embarrassment - " Bring my soul out of prison", sin entails - " Guide me, Lord, on the path", finds despair - " God, be merciful to me, a sinner" and so on [*] .
St. also teaches about prayer in his own words. John of Kronstadt:
“It is good sometimes in prayer to say a few of your own words, breathing with ardent faith and love for the Lord. Yes, it’s not all about talking to God in other people’s words, it’s not all about being children in faith and hope, but you have to show your intelligence... besides, we somehow get used to other people’s words and grow cold. And how pleasing to the Lord is this babbling of our own, coming from a believer, loving and grateful heart: it is impossible to retell... Do not let the prayer evaporate and only dry words remain from it, but let it breathe with the warmth of the spirit, like moist and warm bread taken out from the oven" [*].
In order to hold the thought of God, we must combine with it all the concepts known to each of us about Him, His properties and actions, and delve deeper with our minds into one thing or another. It is useful to reflect on the creation of God, His providence, the incarnation of the Son of God, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the structure of the Church, the Kingdom of God, goodness, wisdom, omnipotence, omniscience and other properties of God. This awakens the energy of the spirit.
It is good to learn to interpret all the things that catch your eye in a spiritual sense so that the eye sees the object and the mind contemplates the spiritual truth. For example, if you see stains on white linen, think how unpleasant it is for the Lord to see sinful stains on our soul. You hear the running and commotion of children, imagine what a commotion and noise arises in the soul when attention moves away from it to God, and so on.
This is what St. teaches. Feofan emphasizes:
“...And you need to start with the house and rethink everything in it - the house, the walls, the roof, the foundation, the stoves, the tables, the chairs. Then - parents, children, brothers, sisters, relatives, visitors, and then the whole order of life: getting up, greeting, lunch, work, absences, returning, drinking tea, refreshments, singing, day, night, sleep and everything else... Like everything else If you do this, then every thing will be for you like a holy book or like an article in a book... And then every thing and every occupation and deed will lead you to the thought of God” [*].
Look how natural and simple everything is. You don’t even need to spend extra time on prayer, as thinking about divine things; you can always occupy your mind with it.
But we are accustomed, if we turn to God, then only when we need something, and it often happens to us as in one funny conversation between a young girl and a priest:
Father, I finally began to pray as you taught, completely unselfishly!
Can you tell me how? - asked the priest.
Here’s how: “Lord, I don’t ask for anything for myself. But give my mother a good son-in-law in two years” [*].
3.
Well and what to do if prayers in the form in which we ask are not fulfilled. Usually the reasons are seen in the fact that we ask God without zeal, as if in passing, and also because our petitions are often similar to the petitions of a snake and a stone (Matthew 7:9-10). It seems to us that we are really asking for real things, but in fact we are demanding from God the fulfillment of our illusions. Meanwhile, the prayer is fulfilled exactly to the extent that prayer work was attached to the petition [*].
This is approximately what the Venerable teaches. John Climacus:
“Let us not grieve if, after asking something from the Lord, we are not heard for some time. Everyone who asks something from God and does not receive it, undoubtedly does not accept it for one of the following reasons: either because they ask before the time, or because, having received, they would become arrogant, or because they would be careless after fulfillment of their request" [*].
And he continues:
“Being in prayer for a long time and not seeing fruit, do not say: I have not gained anything. For the very stay in prayer is already an acquisition; and what good is greater than this, to cleave to the Lord and remain unceasingly in union with Him” [*].
St. Theophan the Recluse shares the same opinion:
“Prayer will never be in vain, whether the Lord grants the request or not. Out of ignorance, we often ask for unhelpful and harmful things. Without doing this, God will give us something else for our prayer work, unbeknownst to us. That’s why the speech: “So you pray to God, but what did you get?” is meaningless. The person praying asks for a benefit for himself and appoints it himself. Seeing that what is asked will not lead to good, God does not fulfill the request and thereby creates good, for if he had fulfilled it, it would have been bad for the petitioner” [*].
And the Monk Zeno, the Sinai ascetic (4th century), pointed out the way when the prayer will definitely be fulfilled:
“Whoever wants God to quickly hear his prayer, when he stands before God and stretches out his hands to Him, first of all, even before praying for his soul, he must pray with all his heart for his enemies. For this good deed, God will hear him, no matter what he prays for" [*].
The first reaction to such a call is: “How is this possible?” Indeed, it is impossible to love the actions of a person who offends us, violates and tramples natural and Divine laws. However, we must find the strength in ourselves, without approving of his actions, to wish good for him, not to repay him with evil for evil, to help him in his needs, difficulties, and, finally, to wish him eternal blessings (Rom. 12:17-20) [*] . And St. Silouan of Athos did not divide people into enemies and friends at all, but spoke only about people who knew God and those who did not know Him. Here are two more of his brief opinions on the attitude towards enemies:
“...Whoever, without pity, for the sake of his own benefit and interest, harms others, plots or commits murder, has either become like a beast and in his depths recognizes himself as a beast-like creature, i.e. does not believe in eternal life, or took the path of demonic spirituality."
“Those who hate and reject their brother are curtailed in their being, and they have not known the true God, Who is all-encompassing love, and have not found the way to Him” [*].
Of course, the information provided about short prayer- only a grain from the treasury of ascetic heritage. And, nevertheless, I would like to hope that the thoughts of ascetics and ascetics collected in this article may be useful for those who want to enter the blessed world of prayer [*].
See also: Saint Basil (Kineshma). Parable of the fig tree. How should you pray to be heard? Archimandrite Rafail (Karelin). Archpriest Vladimir Bashkirov.