rew-iss10-art3

The Jesus Prayer and Inner Stillness Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam. Abstract: The author describes in detail the spiritual practice of reciting the Prayer of the Heart, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” The author shows how constancy in this recitation practice can lead to inner silence, spiritual transformation, and consciousness of the presence of God. Fr. Joseph compares this popular Christian practice to the popular Buddhist practice of reciting the name of Buddha Amitabha. This paper was originally presented at the conference entitled “Contemplation in the City: Buddhist and Christian Monastics and Lay Contemplatives in Dialogue,” held in April 2003 in Berkeley, California, cosponsored by the Camaldolese Institute for East-West Dialogue and the Institute for World Religions, which is an affiliate of Dharma Realm Buddhist University.

This article appeared in Religion East & West, Issue 5, October 2005.

T

oday, one of the major challenges of trying to be a contemplative while living in a modern city is learning how to cultivate inner silence, or inner stillness, in the midst of the clamor and the hectic activities of a busy life. Yet I have known from childhood that the kind of recollectedness which can lead to inner stillness can in fact be maintained in an urban setting. I grew up in Hong Kong, and I used to hear my grandmother, who was a devout Buddhist, reciting the Buddha’s name throughout the day. Turning her prayer beads in her hand, she would chant “Nan-Mu E-Mi-To-Fo” (which means “Homage to the Buddha Amitabha”). When I greeted her, she would interrupt her recitation, exchange a few words with me, and then continue chanting “Nan-Mu E-Mi-To-Fo.” Later I attended a Catholic school and became a Catholic.

When I first learned about the Jesus Prayer, I was greatly struck by the similarities between this prayer and my grandmother’s recitation of the Buddha’s name. In this paper, I shall present the Jesus Prayer as a way that can lead us to inner stillness and unceasing prayer, whether we are living in a city or in the countryside.

Issue 10, October 2010

35

Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam.

The Jesus Prayer—also known as the Prayer of the Heart—had its origin in the tradition of the desert monks in fourth-century Egypt. Later, having passed through Mount Sinai, the Jesus Prayer was introduced to Greece, where it flourished on Mount Athos during the Middle Ages.

From there it spread to Eastern Europe and became an important element of Eastern Orthodox spirituality. In the middle of the last century it entered the Western Church and is now widely known and practiced in the West as well.

Many Christians have learned about the Jesus Prayer through the nineteenth-century Russian classic Way of a Pilgrim, which has been translated into some forty languages.1 Its anonymous author teaches the Jesus Prayer by way of telling stories about himself. One day when he was in church, so the narrative begins, he heard the scripture reading of Paul’s injunction to the Christians to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes.

5:17). Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the pilgrim felt that Paul’s words were addressed to him personally. He was determined to put the command into practice, but first he needed to learn how to cultivate unceasing prayer.

He frequented a number of churches and listened to famous preachers for some time, but he was greatly disappointed because no one presented any practical instruction in how to pray unceasingly. Finally, by the grace of God, he met an elderly monk in a small village who taught him the Jesus Prayer as a concrete way of praying continuously. The monk also gave him a copy of the Philokalia, which contained the teachings on the Jesus Prayer given by ancient spiritual masters.2 Thus, under the guidance of this spiritual father, the pilgrim read the Philokalia with great interest and thereafter recited the Jesus Prayer continuously as he pursued his path as a pilgrim. Then, after a period of time, due to his earnestness, and with the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, the pilgrim was able to obtain the gift of unceasing prayer.3 1. Hesychia: Inner Stillness According to the ancient monastic tradition, the monks went into the desert in order to cultivate hesychia, a Greek term which means “inner silence” or “inner stillness.” An inspiring description of hesychia is given

by Hierotheos Vlachos, a contemporary Greek Orthodox spiritual writer.

According to Vlachos, hesychia means the peace of the heart, the undisturbed state of the mind (nous), the liberation of the heart from the thoughts (logismoi), from the passions and the influence of the environment; it is the dwelling in God. Hesychia

36

Religion East & West

The Jesus Prayer and Inner Stillness

is the only way for humans to attain divinization (theosis). External quietness is helpful so that humans can reach the noetic hesychia.4 Note that Vlachos distinguishes between “external quietness” and “noetic hesychia.” The term noetic comes from nous, meaning “of the mind.” Thus, noetic hesychia means “stillness of the mind” or “inner stillness.” It is important for our discussion that Vlachos makes the distinction between “external quietness” and “inner stillness.”

Bishop Kallistos Ware, one of the leading Orthodox spiritual writers of our time, has explained three levels of meaning of hesychia, moving from the external to its more inward sense.5 According to Bishop Ware, the first meaning of hesychia is related to the idea of living in solitude.

A hesychast, one who cultivates hesychia, is a monk who has left the city to live in the solitude of the desert. The second meaning of hesychia is related to the spiritual practice in the cell of a monk. This meaning was explained well by the early Desert Father Abba Rufus: Interior silence (hesychia) means to remain sitting in one’s cell with fear and knowledge of God, holding far off the remembrance of wrongs suffered and pride of spirit. Such interior peace brings forth all the virtues, preserves the monk from the burning darts of the enemy, and does not allow him to be wounded by them.6 While emphasizing the importance of sitting in the cell, Abba Rufus points out that simply remaining in one’s cell will not guarantee hesychia.

One must also practice watchfulness and remembrance of God. “Watchfulness” means vigilance over oneself (a concept similar to the Buddhist concept of mindfulness), while “remembrance of God” means attention to God, which is achieved through unceasing prayer.

Finally, in the third level of meaning as explained by Bishop Ware, hesychia is “a return to oneself.” This inward understanding of hesychia is emphasized in the classic definition given by St. John Climacus, in his book The Ladder of Divine Ascent: “Strange as it may seem, the hesychast is one who strives to keep his spiritual being shut up in the house of the body.”7 According to this inward sense, the hesychast is not someone who has journeyed outward into the desert but someone who has started the journey inward into his own heart, someone who “returns to himself.”

The idea of returning to oneself is beautifully described by St. Basil the Great: “When the mind is no longer dissipated amidst external things, nor dispersed across the world through the senses, it returns to itself; and by remaining in itself it ascends to the thought of God.”8 The differences between these three levels of hesychia are important to our understanding of inner stillness. A person may flee to the desert Issue 10, October 2010

37

Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam.

and yet in his heart still linger in the marketplace of the city. Conversely, a person may live in the city and yet be a true hesychast in his heart. I remember an episode in the life of a twentieth-century contemplative, Brother Carlo Carretto, a Little Brother of Charles de Foucauld. In his book Letters from the Desert, he recounted his profound experience of God during his life of solitude in the Sahara Desert. Later, while on a journey to the Far East, he met with a group of young people in Hong Kong, and he was confronted with the question of whether and how young people could have similar experiences of God while they were living in a busy city. The question took Brother Carlo quite by surprise. After he returned to Italy, he reflected on the question and wrote a second book, The Desert in the City, in which he explained how it is possible to cultivate an interior desert in the midst of a city.9 (His book reminds me of a visit I made with another Camaldolese monk to Gold Mountain Buddhist Monastery in San Francisco. In Chinatown, on the second floor of a bank building, we found nuns chanting their prayer in this urban temple with edifying recollection and devotion.)

St. Gregory of Palamas, a Greek Orthodox saint of the fourteenth century, insisted that St. Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing” applies to all Christians without exception.10 St. Symeon the New Theologian, who was abbot of St. Mamas in Constantinople at the beginning of the eleventh century, maintained that the grace of contemplation is given to people living “in the middle of cities” as well as to those living “in mountains and cells.” Married people, he believed, with secular jobs and children, burdened with the concerns and anxieties of a large household, may equally ascend to the heights of contemplation.11 The ultimate criterion is not the external situation but the inward state, even though the external may be of help.

From the threefold meaning of hesychia, we may conclude that solitude, or inner stillness, is a state of mind rather than an external place. The real desert lies within the heart. If originally a hesychast meant a monk living in a cell in the desert, in a metaphorical sense it is possible to create a desert in the city by cultivating the inner cell of the heart. As we have seen, the spirituality of the cell hinges on the two basic practices of watchfulness over oneself and remembrance of God. The two practices are closely related and inseparable from each other: attention to oneself leads to attention to God. In Orthodox spirituality, the recitation of the Jesus Prayer is seen precisely as the key to cultivating this twofold attention.

38

Religion East & West

The Jesus Prayer and Inner Stillness

2. Constituent Elements of the Jesus Prayer The standard formula of the Jesus Prayer is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” In practice, various forms are used. For example, the designation “a sinner” may be added to the ending: “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” Some omit the title, “Son of God,” and say: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” Or the prayer can be simply shortened to the following invocation: “Lord Jesus, have mercy.” To pray in Jesus’ name is in accord with Jesus’ own teaching—just as the practice of reciting the name of the Buddha Amitabha was taught by the Buddha himself in the Amitabha Sutra.12 Thus, during his discourse at the Last Supper, Jesus invited the disciples to pray in his name with the promise that whatever they might ask for in his name, he would do it (John 14:14). Moreover, the formula of the Jesus Prayer is based on the combination of two short prayers found in the gospel: that of the blind man in Jericho, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke, 18:38); and that of the tax collector, praying at a distant corner of the Temple, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13).

A brief reflection on the origin and development of the Jesus Prayer will help us to understand better its meaning and value for us. The real origin of the Jesus Prayer can be traced back to the early tradition of the desert monks. In the practice of the Jesus Prayer, three constituent elements may be distinguished: 1. the frequent or continual repetition of a short formula; 2. the appeal for God’s mercy, accompanied by a sense of repentance (penthos); 3. the invocation of the name of Jesus.13 The third element is the distinctive element of the Jesus Prayer. I place it last because historically it came after the other two elements. The first two elements of the Jesus Prayer were already found in the desert spirituality of fourth-century Egypt. The practice of frequent repetition of short prayers among the Egyptian monks was attested to by St. Augustine in his Letter to Proba: It is said that the brothers in Egypt have certain prayers which they recite often, but they are very brief, and are, so to speak, darted forth rapidly like arrows, so that the alert attention, which is necessary in prayer, does not fade and grow heavy through long-drawn-out periods.14 In order to cultivate constant remembrance of God, the desert monks developed a practice that was called “secret meditation.”15 Meditation in Issue 10, October 2010

39

Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam.

the desert tradition had a very different meaning than it has today. To meditate, in the first place, meant to repeat a sacred text vocally, again and again, in order to savor it and to memorize it. Then in the second place, to meditate meant to recite certain sacred texts, which had been learned by heart, throughout the day. It was thought to be the most effective way of keeping one’s mind occupied with the remembrance of God. The monks were ordinarily engaged in simple manual labor, such as making baskets, plaiting mats, or cultivating a vegetable garden. Normally they would accompany their work with the recitation of some verses of the Psalms or some texts from other parts of the Scripture. Initially, a variety of texts were used for frequent repetition. Very soon a preference was given to penitential texts, such as the first verse of Psalm 50: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your great mercy,” or the prayer of the tax collector, which we mentioned earlier. Gradually the monks also made up their own short prayers to be repeated throughout the day. The invocation “Lord, have mercy” became the most commonly used short prayer. The Greek equivalent, “Kyrie Eleison,” is familiar as an important phrase in the Eucharist.

Together with the theme of invoking mercy, another major theme of the monks’ short prayer was asking for God’s help, such as, “Lord, help!”

In his famous Conference 10, John Cassian recorded the widely diffused practice among the desert monks of repeating the opening verse of Psalm 69 throughout the day: “O God, come to my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me.”16 This practice of reiterating a short phrase or formula was later described by John Climacus as “monologic prayer,” that is, prayer consisting of a single logos, or phrase.17 Through such monologic prayer the monks were able to combine the “outer work” of their manual labor with the “inner work” of unceasing prayer.18 As regards the third element, the invocation of the holy name of Jesus, no priority is assigned to this invocation in fourth-century writings, although in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers there are a few prayers that include the name of Jesus. It was not until the following century that the name of Jesus became the focus of devotion, when a Jesus-centered spirituality began to emerge. The continual “remembrance” and “invocation” of the name of Jesus occupied a central place in the teaching of Diadochus, bishop of Photice in Northern Greece. Diadochus was concerned with recollecting our dispersed and fragmented memory to one-pointedness and with bringing our mind from restlessness to stillness, from multiplicity to unity. This is his teaching:

40

Religion East & West

The Jesus Prayer and Inner Stillness

When we have blocked all its outlets by means of the remembrance of God, the mind requires of us imperatively some task which will satisfy its need for activity. For the complete fulfillment of its purpose we should give it nothing but the prayer “Lord Jesus.” 19 The advice given by Diadochus is very wise. The human mind tends to be always active. Thoughts keep moving restlessly and aimlessly in our mind like the buzzing of flies or the capricious leaping of monkeys from branch to branch. It is of little use to say to ourselves “stop thinking”; we might as well say “stop breathing.” The rational mind cannot remain completely idle or quiet. In order to let go the multiplicity of thoughts we must, as Diadochus recommends, give the mind “some task which will satisfy its need for activity,” that is, something which will keep it sufficiently occupied, at the same time without allowing it to be too active. For this purpose Diadochus proposes the constant repetition of the phrase “Lord Jesus.” Diadochus’s point was echoed centuries later by St. Theophan, the Russian recluse of the nineteenth century, who said, “To stop the continual jostling of your thoughts you must bind the mind with one thought, or the thought of One only.”20 This strategy is fully in keeping with the Chinese Buddhist saying which forms the basic rule on one-pointedness, so necessary for any kind of sitting meditation: to “replace the ten-thousand thoughts with one single thought.” In our case, this one single thought, or “the thought of One only,” is the holy name of Jesus.

In his writings, Diadochus frequently recommends the prayer “Lord Jesus.” But we find the full and standard formula of the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” only a century later in the Life of Abba Philimon, collected in the Philokalia.21 As for Diadochus, it is not clear whether the invocation “Lord Jesus” was followed by some other words, such as “have mercy on me.” But as Kallistos Ware points out, even the invocation “Lord Jesus” can be complete in itself.22 In a similar way, one can recite the Buddha’s name by saying “Nan-Mu E-Mi-To-Fo,” or simply by invoking the name “Amitabha.”

3. Effects of the Jesus Prayer a. Experiencing the Presence of the Lord The Jesus Prayer is not just a kind of mantra devised for inducing people into quiet and stillness. Emptying the mind of thoughts is only one aspect of the Jesus Prayer; its more positive effect is to experience the presence of the Lord. According to the biblical tradition, the name stands for the Issue 10, October 2010

41

Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam.

person. Orthodox Christians have special veneration for icons as they represent, and in some way mediate, the presence of the particular saints depicted. In a similar way invocation of the name of Jesus not only recalls Jesus in our mind but actually renders him present. For this reason St. Cabasilas, a fourteenth-century Byzantine spiritual writer, describes the Jesus Prayer as “the extension of Holy Communion.”23 Just as, through Holy Communion, Jesus is present to the Christian in a sacramental way, the invocation of the holy name renders Jesus present in a quasisacramental way, thus renewing and prolonging his presence realized through Holy Communion.

The idea of presence is essential to the Jesus Prayer. However, it deals with a nonvisualized, imageless presence of the Lord. The Jesus Prayer is meant to be a nondiscursive, contemplative prayer, which goes beyond images, concepts, and reflective thinking. While saying the Jesus Prayer, one does not reflect on various episodes in the life of Jesus or form images of him. The awareness of Jesus’ presence during the recitation of the Jesus Prayer should be free from visualization and be confined to a simple conviction or direct experience.24 St. Teresa of Avila testifies to the fact that it is possible to experience the presence of Jesus without forming mental pictures of him. One feels his presence through the spiritual senses, much as, upon entering a heated room, one feels its warmth with one’s bodily senses.25 While insisting that the Jesus Prayer must be free from images and thoughts, Theophan and other Orthodox writers emphasize that the Jesus Prayer is a prayer of feeling. Among the feelings which normally accompany the Jesus Prayer, they mention the sentiment of tenderness for the Lord and the sense of spiritual warmth, which they describe as the “burning of the spirit” within us, or the “flame of grace” kindled in the heart.26 Diadochus compares the recitation of Jesus’ name to kindling fire: “Our Lord is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24). Then the Lord awakens in the soul a great love for His glory; for when the mind with fervor of heart maintains persistently its remembrance of the precious name, then that name implants in us a constant love for its goodness, since there is nothing now that stands in the way.27 When Diadochus speaks of love for the holy name of Jesus, he means love for the person of Jesus himself. According to Kallistos Ware, the Jesus Prayer, as distinct from Zen meditation, should be seen “not so much as prayer emptied of thoughts, but as prayer filled with the Beloved.” He believes that the Jesus Prayer should be, in the richest sense of the word,

42

Religion East & West

The Jesus Prayer and Inner Stillness

a prayer of affection—although not of self-induced emotional excitement.

He also testifies that over the centuries most Eastern Christians have used the prayer simply as an expression of their tender, loving devotion to Jesus the divine Friend and Companion.28 b. Healing and Transforming Power The name of Jesus was given to him by an angel to indicate his saving mission. In Hebrew, Jesus means “God saves” or “God is our savior.” During his public ministry, a saving power constantly came forth from his person to heal the sick and to liberate people from the dominion of evil spirits.

When we recite the second half of the Jesus Prayer, “have mercy on me,” we confess our own sinful and miserable condition. But, even more, we confess that Jesus is full of mercy and compassion for us. In point of fact, the gospel tells us on several occasions that Jesus was moved by compassion for the people while he offered teaching to them or performed miracles of healing and deliverance. As a consequence of the fall of Adam and the sin of humanity, human beings find themselves in a sinful situation in need of healing and redemption. By invoking the name of Jesus, one experiences his healing and saving presence.

When the Desert Fathers speak of “thoughts” (logismoi), they do not mean thoughts in the ordinary sense, but passionate thoughts. According to the Desert Fathers, these thoughts are provoked in us by demons or evil spirits. Evagrius, an early Desert Father, was well known for his insightful treatment of the eight thoughts, which are gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, sadness, acedia, vainglory, and pride.29 While some Desert Fathers regarded these thoughts or passions as something intrinsically evil and therefore to be eradicated, others looked on passions as impulses originally placed in humans by God, although at present distorted by sin.

According to this second view, our passions are not to be uprooted but to be educated and transfigured.30 The Jesus Prayer plays an essential role in the reintegration and transformation of these thoughts and passions.

Thus, instead of engaging in a direct combat against evil thoughts, the Desert Fathers recommended the method of turning away attention from them and directing it towards Jesus by invoking his holy name. The Fathers presented the name of Jesus as a powerful weapon to be used to flog one’s enemies.31 The name of Jesus was also compared to healing medicine that cures our sicknesses, both physical and spiritual.32 Diadochus was convinced that, just as light and darkness cannot be present at the same time, so also the Holy Spirit and the devil cannot dwell together in a person’s mind or heart.33 By the constant invocation of the name of Jesus, one allows the light of Christ to shine in oneself and Issue 10, October 2010

43

Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam.

expel the darkness of evil thoughts. This is a process of transformation, replacing light for darkness, good for evil. Diadochus also compared the invocation of the name of Jesus to purifying fire: If, then, a man begins to make progress in keeping the commandments and calls ceaselessly upon the Lord Jesus, the fire of God’ s grace spreads even to the heart’s more outward organs of perception, consciously burning up the tares in the field of the soul.34 Diadochus’s statement reminds me of a beautiful saying in Chinese, which points out the purifying and transforming power of the recitation of the Buddha’s name: “Throw the pearl into muddy water and the muddy water cannot but become clear. Throw the Buddha’s name into a turbulent mind and the turbulent mind cannot but become enlightened.”

4. Prayer of the Heart: Journey of Inwardness The Jesus Prayer is not only a powerful means of unification; it is also a journey of inwardness, moving toward the heart, which is the inmost center of the person. One can usually distinguish three levels of prayer: prayer of the lips (or oral prayer), prayer of the mind, and prayer of the heart. The Jesus Prayer includes all three of these levels.35 The invocation of the name begins as an oral prayer, in which the words are spoken by the tongue. This first degree of prayer develops naturally into the second, as one must confine one’s mind to the words of the prayer; otherwise, there is no prayer at all. As regards the third level of prayer, one realizes that so long as prayer remains in the mind, it is incomplete. It is necessary to descend from the mind to the heart.

Theophan the Recluse explained the secret of prayer as follows: “The principal thing is to stand with the mind in the heart before God, and to go on standing before Him unceasingly day and night, until the end of life.”36 This means, in the first place, that prayer is to be understood as a constant state rather than as individual acts. Secondly, in order that prayer may become a permanent state, it is necessary to bring the mind into the heart. For this reason Theophan the Recluse often repeats the phrase “with the mind in the heart.” In the Orthodox tradition, the Jesus Prayer is called the “prayer of the heart,” or to be more precise, the “prayer with the mind in the heart.”

The word heart (kardia) is to be taken in its integral meaning, that is, in the Semitic, biblical sense. According to biblical tradition, the heart signifies not just emotions and affections; it has a broader meaning as well. From its starting point as a physiological organ of flesh and blood,

44

Religion East & West

The Jesus Prayer and Inner Stillness

the heart goes deeper to mean the interior center of the whole person, the “inner self” or “true self.” The heart is the central point where the body, mind, and spirit are unified. This is the hidden source from which our intellect, will, and affectivity derive. Kallistos Ware sums up the meaning of the heart as follows: The heart signifies the deep self; it is the seat of wisdom and understanding, the place where our moral decisions are made, the inner shrine in which we experience divine grace and the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity. It indicates the human person as a “spiritual subject,” created in God’s image and likeness. 37 To pray means to “stand with the mind in the heart before God.” The “mind” has a twofold dimension. Understood as “reason” (dianoia), it is the discursive, logical faculty in humans, the function of which is to formulate abstract concepts and draw conclusions through deductive reasoning. As “intellect” (nous), on the other hand, the mind is the organ of contemplation, which understands divine truth and the inner essences of created beings by means of immediate experience or intuition.38 As long as the mind remains in the head, it functions as reason. It is only when the mind descends to the heart that it can function as intellect, or organ of contemplation.

The Jesus Prayer is normally practiced in two different ways: structured and spontaneous. The structured way of reciting the Jesus Prayer is to set aside a period of time every day, such as twenty or thirty minutes.

The spontaneous way of reciting the Jesus Prayer is to freely repeat the prayer throughout the day. As the two ways complement each other, spiritual masters normally recommend adopting both ways, especially for beginners. Thus, Theophan the Recluse writes: “At the beginning you must give up an allotted part of your time, night and morning, exclusively to this prayer. Then you will find that the prayer begins to bear fruit, as it lays hold of the heart and becomes deeply rooted in it.”39 Thus, we are promised that, after spending some set time every day in saying the Jesus Prayer, the prayer will gradually accompany us in our daily living. That is, the holy name of Jesus will spontaneously appear on our lips and in our hearts at different times and on different occasions throughout the day. In this way we shall be able to follow the motto of Theophan: “the hands at work, the mind and heart with God.”40 As Theophan the Recluse points out, for a newcomer the Jesus Prayer begins as a “strenuous prayer,” that is, a prayer practiced with effort. But when the prayer enters the heart, it becomes “self-acting prayer,” that is, prayer that offers itself spontaneously.41 Thus, there is a transition Issue 10, October 2010

45

Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam.

from the prayer which I say to the prayer which says itself. The “prayer of the heart” signifies my prayer becoming identified with the action of another person praying within me. St. Isaac the Syrian indicates the Holy Spirit living in the Christian as the source of unceasing prayer: When the Holy Spirit takes its dwelling place in a person, he does not cease to pray, because the Spirit will constantly pray in him. Then, neither when he sleeps nor when he is awake, will prayer be cut off from his soul; but when he eats and when he drinks, when he lies down or when he does any work, even when he is immersed in sleep, the perfumes of prayer will breathe in his heart spontaneously.42 This was how the anonymous author of the Way of a Pilgrim learned unceasing prayer. He relates how he began his practice by saying the Jesus Prayer a certain number of times every day, increasing from several hundred to several thousand times a day with unremitting effort. Then to his surprise, as he tells us, “Early one morning the prayer woke me up, as it were.”43 Ever afterward he found the prayer repeating itself constantly in keeping with the rhythm of each heartbeat. It was as though he were carrying a small “murmuring stream” flowing unceasingly in his heart.

Prayer in such a person is no longer a series of acts but a permanent state. Paul Evdokimov, a Russian spiritual writer, offers a penetrating explanation of unceasing prayer:“It is not enough to possess prayer: we must become prayer—prayer incarnate. It is not enough to have moments of praise; our whole life, every act and every gesture, even a smile, must become a hymn of adoration, an offering, a prayer.”44 The Jesus Prayer is a way, proven over the centuries, to achieve hesychia, or inner stillness and unceasing prayer. As a prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer is a concrete expression of the Holy Spirit praying continuously in the hearts of Christians, “with sighs too deep for words” (Rom. 8: 26).  Notes 1. The Way of a Pilgrim, trans. R. M. French (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991).

2. Philokalia is the original Greek title of the work, meaning “Love of the Beautiful.”

It is an anthology of teachings by various writers from the fourth to fifteenth centuries, first published in 1782. The monk of Way of a Pilgrim would likely have had a copy of the Russian translation published by St .Theophan the Recluse between 1876 and 1890 and entitled in Russian Dobrotolubye, or “Love of the Good.” It is available today in English translation in four volumes (with the fifth in process): The Philokalia: The Complete Text, trans. G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (London: Faber & Faber, 1979–98).

46

Religion East & West

The Jesus Prayer and Inner Stillness 3. Way of a Pilgrim, 3–18.

4. Hierotheos Vlachos, A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain: Discussion with a Hermit on the Jesus Prayer (Levadia, Greece: Birth of Theotokos Monastery, 1991), 168.

5. Kallistos Ware, “Silence in Prayer: The Meaning of Hesychia,” in his The Inner Kingdom (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2000), 89–93.

6. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, trans. Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1975), 210.

7. “The Ladder of Divine Ascent 27,” in John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, trans. Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell (New York: Paulist Press, 1982), 262.

8. Letters 2; PG 32:228A. 9. Carlo Carretto, Letters from the Desert (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1972); The Desert in the City (New York: Crossroads, 1982), 9–16.

10. Patriarch Philotheos, Life of St. Gregory of Thessalonica (PG 151:573B-574B); see Ware, Inner Kingdom, 94–5.

11. Discourses 5, 122–41; 6, 153-61; see Ware, Inner Kingdom, 95.

12. See Tripitaka Master Hua, A General Explanation of “The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra” (San Francisco: Buddhist Text Translation Soceity, 1994).

13. Cf. Kallistos Ware, “Ways of Prayer and Contemplation: I. Eastern,” in Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff, eds., Christian Spirituality: Origins to the Twelfth Century (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 403–6. Kallistos Ware adds a fourth constituent element: the desire to attain nondiscursive or apophatic prayer (404). This aspect of the Jesus Prayer will be discussed below.

14. Epist. 130; in Saint Augustine: Letters, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1953), 391.

15. Irénée Hausherr, The Name of Jesus (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1978), 172–80.

16. John Cassian: The Conferences, trans. Boniface Ramsey (New York: Paulist Press, 1997), 371–87, esp. 378–83.

17. The Ladder of Divine Ascent 28; in John Climacus: Ladder, 275–6 and notes.

18. Cf. Ware, “Ways of Prayer and Contemplation,” in Christian Spirituality, 404.

19. Diadochus of Photice, On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination 59 in Philokalia I, 270.

20. Igumen Chariton, The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology (London: Faber and Faber, 1966), 97.

21. A Discourse on Abba Philimon; in Philokalia, vol. II, 348.

22. Ware, “Ways of Prayer and Contemplation,” in Christian Spirituality, 406.

23. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1974), 193–4.

24. Kallistos Ware, The Power of the Name: The Jesus Prayer in Orthodox Spirituality (Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1986), 16–7.

25. St. Teresa of Avila, The Book of Her Life, 27:3, in Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, vol. 1, trans. K. Kavanaugh-O. Rodriguez (Washington, D.C.: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976), 174.

26. Cf. Chariton, Art of Prayer, 149–63.

27. Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination 59; in Philokalia, vol. I, 270–1.

28. Ware, Power of the Name, 18–9.

Issue 10, October 2010

47

Fr. Joseph Wong, O.S.B. Cam. 29. The Praktikos 6-39; in Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, trans.

John E. Bamberger (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1981), 16–26. The term acedia is difficult to translate. The nearest English equivalent is listlessness.

30. Cf. “Glossary,” in Philokalia, vol. I, 363.

31. Cf. Ladder of Divine Ascent 21; in John Climacus: Ladder, 200; Ware, Power of the Name, 13.

32. The pilgrim tells the story of a craftsman in a village who indulged in drinking. A certain God-fearing man advised him that when the desire for drink seized him, to repeat the Jesus Prayer thirty-three times in honor of the Holy Trinity and in memory of the thirty-three years of the earthly life of Jesus. The craftsman took his advice and started to carry it out, and very soon he gave up drinking. The story witnesses to the healing power of the Jesus Prayer. Cf. Way of a Pilgrim, 27.

33. Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination 82, 85; in Philokalia, vol. I, 283–5.

34. Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination 85; in Philokalia, vol. I, 285.

35. Cf. Kallistos Ware’s introduction in Chariton, Art of Prayer, 21–3.

36. Chariton, Art of Prayer, 63.

37. Ware, Inner Kingdom, 62.

38. Cf. Philokalia, vol. I, 361, 363.

39. Chariton, Art of Prayer, 154.

40. Ibid., 92.

41. Ibid., 71.

42. Mystic Treatises (Wiesbaden: Dr. Martin Sändig oHG, 1969), 174; cited by K. Ware in his introduction to Art of Prayer, 23.

43. Way of a Pilgrim, 14.

44. Sacrement de l’amour. Le mystère conjugal à la lumière de la tradition orthodoxe (Paris: Éditions de l’épi, 1962), 83; see Ware, Power of the Name, 19.

48

Religion East & West