Writings of Elder Paisius Velichkovsky and his mentor and friend, Elder Schemamonk Vasily, on mental prayer

“Sweet is the pure and constant memory of Jesus in the heart, and the ineffable enlightenment that comes from it.” Mark, Metropolitan of Ephesus. 1) About what mental prayer is. The teaching of Elder Paisius on mental prayer has already been briefly outlined in the second essay, “From the history of Russian eldership.” 1 Now we have to present it in more detail, using the writings of both Elder Paisius and Elder Vasily, his friend and mentor. Both elders were closely connected by mutual love and like-mindedness, and their writings on mental prayer complement one another, which is why Optina Pustyn found it possible, in the biography of Elder Paisius that she published, to place, along with the latter’s writings, the writings of Elder Vasily. So, what is “smart” prayer? Strictly speaking, all of our prayers should be mental prayers, that is, performed with the mind in the heart. However, this is not always the case in reality. For the most part, we are not able to rise to prayer that is pure, attentive, and not distracted, much less make it our constant mood. Christian asceticism is not satisfied with such scattered prayer. It strives to achieve not accidental, not fleeting, but constant inner presence with God, constant carrying in the heart, the saving memory of Jesus Christ, with the help of which bad thoughts, desires and moods arising in the soul are overcome, and purity of heart, inner peace and true joy are achieved. It is impossible to achieve such a spiritual dispensation without the inner feat of constant persistent work on cleansing the heart and instilling in it a constant prayerful memory of Jesus Christ, a prayerful constant closeness with Him. The order of this internal work constitutes the content of “doing mental prayer” or prayer performed with the mind in the heart, and the Fathers of the Church speak about it in detail in their writings, from whom Elders Paisius and Basil borrow their teaching. Considering mental prayer to be a necessary foundation and condition for correct monastic life, Elder Paisios, both on Athos, and in Dragomirna, and in Neamtsa, diligently planted and rooted it in his monastic Brotherhood, convincing the brethren not to weaken in this prayer work, and not to lose heart from failures. He constantly reminded them of the extreme importance and saving power of mental prayer and wishing to arouse in the brethren increased zeal for engaging in this work, “leading the ascetic to great and ineffable success in various virtues.” Here are the words about her from St. ascetic fathers. So, according to St. John Climacus in his 28th sermon on prayer, this “prayer is the coexistence and union of man and God; according to its action, it is the affirmation of the world, reconciliation with God, the mother and together the daughter of tears, the propitiation of sins, a bridge through temptations, protection from sorrows, contrition of battles, the work of angels, food for all bodiless, future joy, endless work, the source of virtues, the reason for talent, secret prosperity, food for the soul, enlightenment of the mind, an ax to despair, proof of hope, liberation from sorrow, wealth monks, treasure of the silent, weakening of rage, mirror of prosperity, indication of measure, detection of fortune, indicator of the future, seal of glory. Prayer is truly for the one who prays both the judgment seat, and the judgment itself, and the throne of the judgment of the Lord, before the future Throne.” Blessed Macarius the Great speaks about the same prayer: “The head of every good effort and the pinnacle of all deeds is to endure in prayer, through which we can always acquire other virtues by asking God. Through prayer, in those who are honored, there is communion with the holiness of God and spiritual activity, and the union of the mind, directed towards the Lord, with inexpressible love with Him. He who always forces himself to persevere in prayer with patience is kindled toward God with Divine zeal and ardent desire from spiritual love and, to the extent of his ability, accepts the grace of spiritual sanctifying perfection” (Demon 40. Chapter 2). Experience in prayer is acquired through constant practice. You can pray in different words. But usually the exercise in mental prayer is performed by saying the short Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner,” even more briefly and in accordance with the words of the Apostle Paul: “I would rather speak five words with my mind than ten thousand words with my tongue” (1 Cor. XIV:19) - saying the prayer: “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me!” This short Jesus Prayer has the advantage that, with its brevity and ease of execution, it most perfectly expresses the fundamental truth of Christianity - the salvation of man through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and a plea for mercy and salvation. St. Simeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica, says about this sacred prayer: “This Divine prayer, the invocation of our Savior: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, and there is prayer, and supplication, and confession of faith, and the giver of the Holy Spirit, and the giver of Divine Gifts, and the purification of the heart and the casting out of demons, and the indwelling of Jesus Christ, and the source of spiritual thoughts and thoughts of the Divine, and deliverance from sins, and the healing of souls and bodies, and the giver of Divine Enlightenment, and the source of God’s mercy, and the giver of the humble revelations and Divine Mysteries, and salvation itself, since it bears within itself the saving name of our God: which name is the name that is given to us, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Ch. 296). 2) About the reasons that prompted Elder Paisius to come forward with writings on mental prayer. Not all monks and did not always understand the great significance of the inner Jesus Prayer. There were those who believed that all prayerful work consisted only in the external, verbal “reading of canons and troparia,” not caring about the internal purification of the heart by constant diligent, in the depths of the heart, invoking the name of Jesus Christ. According to Elder Schemamonk Vasily, “they did not understand that such external prayer was assigned to us by the holy fathers only as temporary, in view of the weakness and infancy of our minds, so that we, gradually improving, would ascend to the level of “smart doing” and in no case remain until our death with only external prayer. According to St. Gregory of Sinaite, only infants tend to pray externally with their mouths, to think that they are doing something great and, consoled by the amount of reading, to cultivate an inner Pharisee within themselves.” Of course, the elder continues, one should not think that the holy fathers, by keeping us from exclusively external prayer and turning us to mental prayer, are thereby disparaging the psalms and canons. It won't happen! All the sacred rites of the Church are established in Her by the Holy Spirit and they all reflect the mystery of the incarnation of God the Word, right up to His second coming and our general resurrection. And there is nothing human in church rites, but all this is a work of God’s Grace, not increased by our merits and not diminished by our sins. We are not talking about the statutes of the Holy Church, but about a special rule of life for monks, that is, about mental prayer, as such a work that, through diligence and heartfelt rightness, and not just psalm words, pronounced without mental attention only with the lips and tongue, usually attracts the grace of the Holy Spirit. Not understanding the above, the mentioned monks, out of their ignorance, considered the instructions of Elder Paisius about mental prayer to be some kind of innovation, contrary to their established habit, called mental prayer deception, delusion and heresy, and with their speeches they embarrassed some inexperienced and unstable people from the monastic brotherhood. This circumstance prompted Elder Paisius to come out with his writings in defense of mental prayer and in refuting false slander against this spiritual work. For the first time, Elder Paisios came out in writing in defense of mental prayer back on Athos, when, at the insistence of the Athonite elders, in 16 chapters (and according to others in 14) he refuted the incorrect opinion about mental prayer of a certain Elder Athanasius, a Moldavian who lived with his disciples in the monastery of Kansokalive. Then, already in Dragomirn, approximately in 1864-65, the elder wrote a second time in defense of mental prayer against “a certain vain-minded philosopher monk” who lived in the Ukraine, in the Moshensky mountains, who with his speeches against this prayer had such an influence on his brothers that they, having collected the fatherly books that they had, taught about this prayer and, tying a stone to them, drowned them in the Tyasmyn River. Elder Paisios wrote an essay on this matter in six chapters and sent it to the Moshen monks. This essay is included in the Optina edition of the biography of Elder Paisius. Finally, for the third time, Elder Paisios spoke out in defense of mental prayer shortly before his death, being an archimandrite and abbot of the Nyametsky monastery. This work is not in print, but we had the opportunity to read it in manuscript. It was written for the following reason. The rector of the Polyanovoronsk monastery in Moldavia, Hieroschemamonk Agathon, signed by 13 monks and all the brethren of the same monastery, received a complaint about the hieromonk of the monastery Theopemptos, blaspheming the patristic books teaching about the noetic prayer of Jesus, and calling those who read these books heretics and “farmasons,” while, according to the complainants, the books were received by them from the monastery of the elder Paisia. The complainants demanded that Theopemptos prove in the council of the brethren that they were heretics. In view of this complaint, according to custom, everyone gathered in church and called Theopemptos, but he did not come. They went to his cell and asked why he called the brothers heretics? Theopemptus answered with these words: all the fatherly books that you read are a chimera and you are all deceived. At the same time, he called the Holy Jesus Prayer a heresy, saying that this heresy came out of the Moshensky mountains, and then reached the elder Paisius, and that would be about thirty years ago. It was decided to file a complaint against Theopemptus with Archimandrite Elder Paisius of Nyamets, outlining all the previous circumstances. The complaint was received by the elder on June 19, 1793 and served as an occasion for him to write a new essay in defense of the mental Jesus Prayer. At the beginning of his second essay, the elder turns to Jesus Christ with the following prayer: “I, dust and ashes, having bowed the mental knees of my heart before the unapproachable majesty of Your Divine glory, I pray to You, my all-sweet Jesus, the Only Begotten Son and Word of God, the radiance of the Glory and the image of the hypostasis of the Father, who enlightened the one born blind, enlighten my darkened mind and thought, grant your grace to my accursed soul, may this work of mine be for the glory of Your Most Holy Name and for the benefit of those who want, through the intelligent and sacred practice of prayer, to cleave in spirit to You, our God, and always carry You in their hearts, a priceless bead, and also for the correction of those who, due to their extreme ignorance, dared to blaspheme this Divine work! After this, the elder speaks about the antiquity and well-known nature of mental prayer, and that it was revered by everyone, and no one ever blasphemed it until the time of the heretic Varlaam (in the 14th century), who was the first to blaspheme mental prayer. “Let it be known,” the elder writes, that this Divine practice of sacred mental prayer was the constant work of our ancient God-bearing fathers, and shone like the sun among monks in many desert places and in communal monasteries: in Mount Sinai, in the Egyptian Skete, in Mount Nitria, in Jerusalem and the monasteries surrounding it, in a word, in the whole East: in Constantinople, and in Holy Mount Athos, and on the islands sea, in recent times, by the grace of Christ, and in Great Russia. With this intelligent attention to sacred prayer, many of our God-bearing fathers, ignited by the Seraphim fire of love for God and neighbor, became the strictest keepers of God’s commandments, and having cleansed their souls and hearts from all the vices of the old man, they were worthy to become chosen vessels of the Holy Spirit. Many of them, prompted by hidden Divine inspiration, wrote about this Divine mental prayer, in accordance with the Divine Scripture of the Old and New Testaments, books of their holy teachings, filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And they did this according to God’s special providence, so that somehow in subsequent times this Divine work would not fall into oblivion. None of the true believers ever dared to blaspheme this Divine work and preservation of the paradise of the heart, but everyone always treated it with great respect and extreme reverence, as a thing filled with great spiritual benefit. The leader of evil and the enemy of every good deed, the devil, seeing how through this intelligent practice of prayer the monastic order, choosing the good part, sits with unwavering love at the feet of Jesus, perfectly succeeding in His Divine commandments, used all his intrigues to discredit and blaspheme this soul-saving work, and, if possible, completely destroy it from the face of the earth. He found the Calabrian serpent, the heretic Varlaam, in the Italian countries, and, possessing him with all his power, prompted him to blaspheme our Orthodox faith. Just as our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, from the beginning of the Orthodox faith to the present time, has been a stone of stumbling and temptation for non-believers, and the salvation of souls for believers, so the sacred Jesus Prayer, although for some who did not believe and doubted, was a stone of stumbling and temptation, however, until the time of the said heretic, no one dared to openly, verbally and in writing, blaspheme the spiritual work of this prayer and the practitioners themselves. Varlaam was the first to detract from this divine prayer. Emerging, like a serpent from the abyss, from the Italian land of Calabria, he came to Greece, and first settled in Thessaloniki, near Mount Athos. There he heard about the Svyatogorsk monks and about the sacred Prayer they performed and, proud of his philosophical wisdom and astronomy, began to pour out the deadly poison of blasphemy, first on the prayer itself and on the monks, and then on the entire Church of God and Her dogmas. He called creation the uncreated and ever-present light of the Divinity of Christ, which shone on Tabor from His Most Pure Face on His holy disciples and Apostles; in the same way, everything else that essentially and naturally comes from one and the same being and nature of the Most Holy Trinity, just as from the sun rays, light and radiance, such as action, power, grace, light and radiance, gifts and talents, and so on, which is impossible to count, this heretic, together with his disciple Akindinus and his other followers and successors, called creation and creation. All Orthodox Christians who confess that there is nothing created in God, but everything in Him is uncreated and ever-present, they dared to call bigots and polytheists, being themselves atheists. As a result, those gathered at St. Mount Athos The Council of the Svyatogorsk Fathers anathematized the blasphemy first of Varlaam himself, who did not listen to the repeated verbal and written admonitions of St. Gregory Palamas, and did not want to repent and stop his blasphemy. Then, at different times, four great Councils gathered in Constantinople, in the great Church of the Wisdom of God, against all these heretics and their followers. At two of them St. Gregory Palamas was present, still in the hieromonastic rank, at the third - already in the rank of Archbishop of Thessalonica, and the fourth Council took place after his death. At all these councils, all the mentioned heretics, who did not want to repent and condemn their blasphemous heresies, were anathematized by the Church. And thus, after many years of their attacks on the Church, there was finally complete silence. At the same time, the Church recognized the Svyatogorsk monks as pure and innocent from all the blasphemies and slander brought against them by heretics. And the divine prayer of Jesus, not only with the lips, but also with the mind in the heart, like the immaculate Sun, remained unclouded by heretical blasphemies, and, as a Divine work, was glorified by the entire holy Church.” Having pointed out the most ancient source of blasphemy to sacred mental prayer, the elder calls on the brethren not to be embarrassed in spirit and not to doubt with their minds the correctness of this spiritual work. “I pray and ask you with all my soul, have divine zeal and undoubted faith in the books of the Fathers and in the teaching contained in them, for it is in everything consistent with the Divine Scripture and with the reason of all the ecumenical teachers and the entire Holy Church, since one and the same Holy Spirit acted both in the ecumenical teachers and in the holy fathers, teachers and mentors of monastic life. To both, for their perfect pleasing to God, He equally revealed the Secrets of the Kingdom of God, that is, the depths of Divine Scripture, and therefore the teaching found in the books of the Fathers is true instruction for monks who want to be saved, and you, adhering to it, run away from the blasphemy of the blasphemer of the holy books of our God-bearing fathers who has appeared among you. For neither he, nor others like him, can present a single holy witness to his wickedness and his blasphemies, but they have all their foundations only on the sand of their own corrupt and ungodly mind. They err from the belly and speak lies, encouraged by the father of lies, the devil, to blaspheme the truth. But you, faithful and true sons of the Orthodox Church of God, holding on to the truth, are established on the immovable stone of faith: for you have a great many witnesses about the true doing of God’s commandments and about this all-sacred prayer - our venerable and God-bearing fathers, a list of which I am telling you at the same time. Follow their holy teaching, compel your soul and body to do every good work and pleasing to God, according to your strength, with the assistance of God’s grace.” 3) About two types of mental prayer and that we should not rush prematurely to what exceeds the measure of our spiritual age. In monastic work, according to Elder Paisius, it is necessary to distinguish between two stages - action and vision (sight) and, according to these two stages, two types of mental prayer - active and visual, one for beginners, corresponding to action, the other for perfect ones, corresponding to vision. The first is the beginning, the second is the end, for deeds are the ascent into vision. “You should know that according to St. Gregory of Sinaite, there are eight first visions 2, listing which, he (St. Gregory) says: “We count the eight first visions: the first is about God, formless and beginningless, uncreated, the cause of everything, the Trinity Unity, and the supremely essential Divinity; second – order and structure of smart forces; third - the existing composition; fourth, the watchful condescension of the Word; fifth – universal resurrection; sixth - the terrible and second coming of Christ; seventh - eternal torment; the eighth is the kingdom of heaven, which has no end.” Now, Elder Paisius continues, I will try, on my own, to the extent of the thinness of my weak mind, to explain in what force the action and vision must be understood. Let it be known (I say this to the simplest monks like me) that the entire monastic feat by which someone, with the help of God, would strive for love of God and neighbor, for meekness, humility, patience, and all other Divine and paternal commandments, for perfect obedience to God with soul and body, for fasting, vigil, tears, bows, and other fatigue of the body, for the all-zealous performance of church and cell rule, for smart secret exercise in prayer, for crying and thinking about death, all such feat, while the mind is still controlled by human autocracy and will, as far as we know, is called an act; in no case is it called a vision. And if somewhere in the writings of the Holy Fathers the mental feat of prayer was called vision, then this is only in common parlance, just as the mind, being the eye of the soul, is called vision. When, with the help of God, by the above feat, especially by the deepest humility, a person cleanses his soul and heart from the filth of mental and physical passions, then the grace of God, the common mother of all, taking his purified mind, like a baby by the hand, leads him, as if by steps, to the mentioned spiritual visions, revealing to the mind, as it is purified, ineffable and incomprehensible to the mind Divine Mysteries, and this is rightly called true spiritual vision: this is visual, or according to St. Isaac, pure prayer, it brings horror and vision! But it is impossible for anyone to enter into these visions autocratically, by an arbitrary feat, unless God visits him and leads him into them with His grace. If anyone dares to ascend to such visions apart from the light of God’s grace, let him, according to St. Gregory of Sinaite, know that he is imagining dreams and not visions, being deceived by a dreamy spirit.” Elder Vasily has a similar message, warning the hasty, inexperienced and impudent from prematurely seeking visual prayer. He writes: “Smart work requires fear and trembling, contrition and humility, and much testing of the Holy Scriptures, and consultation with unanimous brethren, but in no case insolence and arbitrariness. The impudent and arrogant, striving for what is above his dignity and dispensation, proudly rushes to visual prayer, overwhelmed by the vain dream of ascending to a high level, imbued with satanic, and not true desire, he is easily caught in the devil’s nets. And that we should strive for high success in mental and sacred prayer, which, according to Saint Isaac, is barely awarded to one in ten thousand. It is enough, quite enough for us, passionate and weak, to see at least a trace of mental silence, that is, active mental prayer, which drives away the attacks of hostility and evil thoughts from the heart, which is the work of novice and passionate monks, through which one can achieve (if God wants) visual, spiritual prayer. And we should not be discouraged by the fact that not many are worthy of visual prayer: for with God there is no unrighteousness. Just let us not be lazy in following the path leading to this sacred prayer, i.e. With practical mental prayer we will resist temptations, passions, and evil thoughts. By following this path of the saints, we will also be worthy of their lot, although not here on earth, as St. Isaac and many other saints say” (From the preface to the book of St. Gregory of Sinaite). 4) Testimony of the Word of God and the Holy Fathers of the Church about mental prayer. Elder Paisios cites numerous testimonies from the Word of God and the Holy Fathers in favor of mental prayer. 3 “Divine mental prayer has an unshakable foundation in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew IV:6): “But when you pray, go into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to Your Father in secret; and Your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.” St. John Chrysostom (IV century), the mouth of Christ, the universal luminary, the universal teacher, in the nineteenth conversation on the Gospel of Matthew, according to the wisdom given to him by the Holy Spirit, refers not to the prayer that is pronounced only with the lips and tongue, but to the most secret, silent prayer sent up from the depths of the heart, which he teaches to perform not only in a bodily way, not only by the pronunciation of the lips, but with the most zealous will, with all quietness and contrition of spirit, with internal tears and mental illness, with the closing of mental doors. According to the unfalse testimony of our God-wise father Nile, a faster of Sinai (IV-V centuries), even in paradise, God himself gave the pristine man an intelligent prayer, befitting the perfect, Divine prayer. He writes: “having prayed as you should, expect what you should not, and become courageous, guarding your fruit. What you were assigned to do from the very beginning: to cultivate and preserve. And therefore, having cultivated, do not leave what you have cultivated without storage: if you do not do this, then you have not received any benefit from prayer.” Interpreting these words, Rev. Nil Sorsky (XV-XVI centuries), who shone like the sun in great Russia, with intelligent prayer, says: “The Saint brought these words “to cultivate and preserve” from the Old Testament, for the Scripture says: God created Araam, and settled him in paradise to cultivate and preserve paradise. By cultivation, St. Nilus of Sinai means prayer; под хранением же необходимое после молитвы соблюдение от злых помыслов». The same idea is expressed by Rev. Dorofey (VI-VII centuries) in his first teaching. According to the testimony of St. Gregory the Theologian (IV century), God, having created man in his own image and likeness, introduced him into the paradise of sweets, to cultivate immortal gardens, that is, Divine thoughts, purest, greatest and perfect. This is nothing more than the fact that the first man, as pure in soul and heart, was assigned to remain in visual, sacred, grace-filled prayer, performed with one mind, that is, in the sweetest vision of God, and courageously guard it, like a heavenly activity, like the apple of his eye, so that it would never fall away from the soul and heart. St. Gregory Palamas (14th century) points to the Most Holy Virgin Mary as the perfect worker of mental prayer and at the same time explains the meaning of mental prayer. He says that the Blessed Virgin, staying in the Holy of Holies, having understood from the Holy Scriptures, read every Saturday, about the human race perishing for the sake of disobedience, and being filled with extreme mercy towards him, she received a mental prayer to God for a speedy pardon and salvation of the human race. “By seeking what has been said, the Virgin finds sacred silence, as the most necessary thing for prayer books for an interview, which is what prayer is: silence of the mind, withdrawal from the world, oblivion of the earthly, penetration of the heavenly, reasonable for change for the better. This act, as truly an ascent to the vision of Being in truth or to the Vision of God, is, as it were, a brief indication to the soul that has truly acquired it. Every other virtue is, as it were, a cure when applied to mental illnesses and ingrained evil passions from cowardice. The vision of God is the fruit of a healthy soul, as a certain finite perfection, and at the same time an image of God’s deeds. Therefore, a person worships not from words, not from visible actions of prudent moderation, for all this is earthly and base and human; but from remaining in silence, because as a result of this we renounce and free ourselves from earthly things and ascend to God. And staying at the height of silent life, patiently laboring night and day in prayers and supplications, we in some way approach and approach that Inaccessible and Blessed Nature. And thus, those who patiently perform (the prayer) dissolved inexplicably into the Light that exists above the mind and feelings, they see in themselves, as in a mirror, God, having purified the heart with sacred silence. It (silence) is a quick and shortened guide, as it most successfully unites with God, especially for those who fully adhere to it in everything. And the Virgin, who, so to speak, from soft nails dwelt in him, she, as from a very early childhood, was supernaturally silent, for the sake of this, alone of all, she unknowingly gave birth to the God-Man Word... Having renounced, so to speak, the very existence of everyday life and rumor, she withdrew from people, and, having evaded a guilty residence, she preferred life to all the invisible and uncommunicative, dwelling in the inaccessible. Here, having renounced all material ties, renouncing all communication and love for everything, and surpassing condescension towards her own body, she gathered her mind to the same communion with Him and abiding and attention, and to unceasing Divine prayer. And through her, being in herself and having settled above the diverse rebellion and thoughts, and simply - every kind and thing, she opened a new and ineffable path to heaven, which is, I will say so, mental silence. Adhering to him, and listening with her mind, she flies over all creatures and creatures, better than Moses, beholds the Glory of God, contemplates Divine goodness, which is in no way subject to the power of feeling, as well as the souls and minds of the innocent, the grateful and sacred vision, having become a partaker of Which, She, according to the Divine hymns, is a bright cloud of truly living water, the Dawn of the mental day and a fiery chariot Words." Further, St. Basil the Great (IV century), in the interpretation of Psalm 33, “I will bless the Lord at all times, I will bring His praise into my mouth,” says that there are also mental lips of the inner man, and that the thought of God, once arose, and as if imprinted in the mind of the soul, can be called the praise of God, always abiding in the soul, and cites the following testimony from the Song of Songs: “I sleep, but my heart is vigilant." St. Gregory the Theologian in his first book, in many places, speaking about monks and about his inexpressible former desire to remain in silence, speaks of mental attention and the union of the mind with God in a very sublime and beautiful way and in accordance with the practice of prayer: which for those who know, although partly the experience of prayer is quite understandable, for those who do not know it is quite unclear. In his second book, which he wrote in verse, he dedicated the following two verses to this prayer: Always make your mind a church to God, To have inside your heart immaterial presence of the King. Even St. John Chrysostom, in the prologue of April 18, in his word says: “Wherever you are, say this: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner! Even if you do not move your lips, pray like this with your mind in your heart: for God hears even those who are silent. Named blessed, the Egyptian, or better yet, the universal sun, shining brighter than the sun with the ineffable gifts of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly man, the Great Macarius (IV century) in his heavenly words about this prayer says this: a Christian must always have the memory of God, for it is written: love the Lord your God with all your heart, so that he not only when he enters the house of prayer, but also when he walks, talks, eats and drinks, had memory of God, and love, and desire: for it is said: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew VI:21), Rev. Simeon (11th century), who shone in the reigning city like the sun through mental prayer, in the inexpressible gifts of the Most Holy Spirit, and for this received from the entire Church the title of New Theologian, in his Word about three types of prayer, he writes the following about mental prayer and about attention: “Our holy fathers, hearing the words of the Lord, as if evil thoughts, murders, come from the heart, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy, and that is what defiles a person (Matthew XV:19), who taught to cleanse the internal glass bottles, so that the outer one would be clean (Matthew XXIII:26), abandoning the thought of any other work, they labored in this guarding of the heart, undoubtedly knowing that with the guarding of the heart they would easily observe any other work, without it no virtue cannot resist.” These words of the monk clearly show that the above-mentioned Words of the Lord were recognized by the Divine Fathers as evidence and the basis for keeping the heart, that is, the mental calling of Jesus. Rev. Isaac the Syrian (VI century), acceptable and revered by the entire Holy Church, great praise and luminary, God-given teacher and mentor of true silence - in many of his words, filled with the grace of God, God-wise and wisely teaches about this holy and sacred, intelligent, heartfelt, unceasing prayer. Rev. John Climacus (VI century), who, through the God-made Ladder of his book, led countless monks and everyone who wanted to be saved to heaven, who raises and has to raise to heaven until the end of the world, whose book is a great praise for the entire Church of God, in many of his words, filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, speaks of this prayer as the most favorable sacrifice to God, secretly and mysteriously offered by the bishop - the mind on the spiritual altar of the heart. In particular, in his two words, about silence and prayer, he talks about it so sublimely, wisely, enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that even the wisest men who have not learned from the experience of doing this prayer will hardly be able, or even be able, to comprehend with their mind even a trace of the mystery hidden in it, and to understand it correctly, as it should. Our divine father Diadochos, Bishop of Photikie (5th century), with his word about the noetic Jesus Prayer, sacredly performed in the heart, filled with spiritual wisdom and found in his divine book “Hundred Glavizn”, gives the following basis from the Holy Scripture: No one can say the Lord Jesus, except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. XII: 3), and from the parable of the Gospel about the merchant seeking spiritual beads, testifies with the following words: “this is a valuable bead, which a person can acquire at the cost of all his possessions and have inexpressible joy in its acquisition,” and so on. Rev. Nicephorus the Faster (14th century), who labored in the most desolate places of Mount Athos, wrote a wonderful word about sobriety and guarding the heart, in which, like St. Simeon, the New Theologian, he very skillfully and wisely teaches the very beginning of this sacred practice of prayer with the mind in the heart. He calls this doing a burning lamp and quotes the words of St. Scriptures: The kingdom of God is within you; our battle is against flesh and blood; to do and keep (Lk.XVII:21; Eph.VI:12; Gen.II:15) and so on. Our divine and God-bearing father Gregory of Sinai (XIV century), by making this divine prayer in the Holy Mount Athos and in other places, achieved the highest vision of God, and like the sun, shining with the gifts of the Most Holy Spirit, he composed with the divine Wisdom the Trinity songs, which throughout the world every week, on the Trinity Canon, are sung by the Catholic Eastern Church, who also composed the canon of the Life-Giving To the Cross, declared the writings of all the spiritual fathers, he compiled a book full of all spiritual benefits, in which more than other saints he teaches in subtlety about this divine prayer performed with the mind in the heart. Having come to the Holy Mount Athos and walked around it all, testing all the monks living in it, and seeing that at that time the monks had come to a complete decline in doing secret prayer with their minds in their hearts, ignited, at the inspiration of St. Spirit, divine zeal, he with great experience and very skillfully, better, more separately, in more detail than all the other saints who wrote about this prayer, speaks not only about the beginning of doing the prayer, but also about all the phenomena of grace and charm that occur during its operation. He, with perfect clarity, as in a mirror, gave God-wise instructions to avoid delusion and to practice it without sin to everyone who wanted to mentally strive in it. Diligently and with the fear of God, those who listen to his spiritual and holy teaching about the sacred and from the Holy Spirit given by the mental and mental doing of this divine prayer, strengthened by God's help, will have considerable success in it. To certify his words, St. Gregory of Sinaite cites the following passages from the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures: Remember your Lord with all your might (Deut.XVIII); in Matins sow Thy seed, and in the evening let not Thy hand leave (Eccl. XI:6); Even if I pray (remember that the mouth and the tongue, and the spirit and the voice are one and the same) with the tongue (i.e., lips), my spirit prays (i.e., my voice); But my mind is unfruitful (1 Cor. XIV:14), I will pray with my mouth, I will also pray with my mind, and I want to say five words with my mind (1 Cor. XIV:19), and so on. Rev. Our great and God-bearing father Neil of Sinai, a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, a wise man both in external and in Divine teaching, wrote 153 chapters about this, and not about any other, prayer very sublimely and God-wise, revealing the subtlest spiritual concept about it. Our venerable and God-bearing father Barsanuphius (VI century), called the great Elder, mentioned in the book of St. Dorotheus, glorified by the entire Church of God on Cheese Saturday in the Word of Praise to the Reverend Fathers and called like an Angel among people, teaches very wisely about this Sacred prayer. Rev. Maximus the Confessor (VII century), a man most perfect both in external and in Divine wisdom, in his chapters on love teaches very godly about this prayer. Rev. Confessor Theodore the Studite (9th century) in his book in many places recalls and teaches about this holy and sacred prayer, and in his Testament testifies to St. Mark, Isaiah, Barsanuthias and Hesychia, teaching about this prayer, and about their books. Rev. Meletius the Confessor, who endured many torments for the Orthodox Faith during the days of the evil Tsar Michael Palaeologus, glorified by God both during his life and after death with great miracles, speaks very wisely and truthfully in his book about sobriety and prayer. Rev. Maxim Kavsokalivit, who labored in the Holy Mount Athos, through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, kissing Her Divine Icon in Her church, received the grace of this prayer with warmth that fell into his heart and into his heart, and was honored with its incessant doing. This saint speaks very wisely about the phenomena of delusion and grace in his answer to the teacher. Gregory Sinait. Blessed Theolintus (14th century), Metropolitan of Philadelphia, in his speech on secret work, recalls and teaches about this sacred prayer, acted with the mind in the heart, which prayer he was the mentor of St. Gregory Palamas, when he was still in worldly life. St. Gregory Palamas, in his sermon on the sacredly silent, teaches this holy prayer very sublimely and wisely. At the same time, he calls ancient saints and reverends. Simeon the New Theologian and Nicephorus the Faster, and mentions other saints who were shortly before him, namely Theolintus, Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Athanasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, whose tomb God honored, Nile, a zealot of the great Nile, Elijah, Gabriel and Athanasius, who were awarded prophetic talent. He says about all of them that they were attested to in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that with their lips they conveyed to him the same teaching about sobriety and mental prayer. Rev. He calls Simeon the true Theologian and spectator of the sacraments of God, which he preached infallibly. Like the saints, our father Callistus (XIV century), the second Patriarch of Constantinople, that is, a disciple of St. Gregory of Sinaite, was taken to the throne from the Holy Mountain and was twice the Patriarch of Constantinople, but after him the former, who, together with his companion, Rev. Ignatius, was from the monastery of Xanthopouls, together with the latter wrote by the Spirit of God about this prayer, performed with the mind in the heart, as the most blessed Simeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica, tells about them in his book compiled about them. He says that they discussed it spiritually and very highly, in a hundred chapters (the perfect number), revealing the most perfect concept about it. These God-inspired men, in their book about this sacred prayer, cite as testimony the many God-bearing fathers who wrote about it. His Beatitude Simeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, beautifully and truthfully teaches about this Divine prayer in five chapters, basing it on the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; he says that many reverend fathers wrote about it: the golden-talking father in three words about prayer, and the God-bearing Climacus, and Nicephorus the Faster, and Diadochos, Bishop of Photius and Venerable. Simeon, the New Theologian, and many others. He also described the actions of this prayer, which, being the invocation of our Savior “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” is both prayer and supplication, and confession of faith and the giver of the Holy Spirit and Divine Gifts, and cleansing of the heart, and the casting out of demons, and the indwelling of Jesus Christ. He encourages not only monks, but also all Orthodox Christians to frequent and unceasingly, if possible, if not, then at least at a certain time, to diligently and diligently do this prayer. A follower of the Apostolic Pillars, the invincible Pillar of the Orthodox Faith, the most holy, wise and verbal Metropolitan of Ephesus Mark, at the beginning of the interpretation of the Church Study, writes about the Divine Jesus Prayer, secretly performed with the mind in the heart, using the testimony of Divine Scripture, and I quote his own wise words, consisting of the following: “It would be fitting, according to the commanding commandment, pray unceasingly and offer up worship to God in spirit and truth; but the disposition to worldly thoughts and the burden of caring for the body removes and removes many from the Kingdom of God, which exists within us, as the Word of the Lord proclaims, and prevents them from remaining at the mental altar, offering spiritual and verbal sacrifices to God according to the Divine Apostle, who said that we are the church of God living in us, that His Divine Spirit lives in us. And there is nothing surprising if this usually happens with many who live according to the flesh, when you see some monks who have renounced all worldly things, mentally overwhelmed by the actions of passions, subjected as a result to great confusion, darkening the rational part of the soul, and therefore unable to achieve, with all their desire, true prayer. Sweet is the pure and constant memory of Jesus in the heart, and the ineffable enlightenment that comes from it!” Rev. Our Russian father, St. Nil of Sorsky, who compiled a book on the mental guarding of the heart based on the teachings of the Holy Fathers, especially St. Gregory of Sinaite, uses the following evidence from the Holy Scriptures: evil thoughts come from the heart and defile a person (Matthew XV:19); cleanse the inner glasses (Matthew XXIII:26); It is fitting to bow down to the Father in spirit and truth; If I pray to someone with my tongue, etc., I want to speak five words with my mind, rather than ten thousand words with my tongue (1 Cor. XIV:14-19), etc. Another Russian luminary, St. Demetrius of Christ (XVII-XVIII centuries), Metropolitan of Rostov; who wrote many books for the benefit of the Holy Church, filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and composed the Word on the internal mental practice of prayer, also filled with spiritual benefits, cites the following testimonies of the Holy. Scripture: Whenever you pray, come into your cage, etc., My heart says to you: Lord, I will seek; I will seek my face for You: I will seek Your face, O Lord; In the same way that the trees of the springs of water desire, my soul desires thee, God; the kingdom of God is within us; praying in the Spirit at all times with all prayer and supplication. And even if I pray with my tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful; I will pray with the spirit, I will also pray with the mind, I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the mind, and so on. All these words he, together with St. John Climacus and Gregory of Sinaite and Rev. Nil Sorsky refers to mental prayer. Finally, the Church Charter, setting out the church law on prostrations and prayer, cites the following words of Holy Scripture about this Divine prayer: God is Spirit; He wants those who bow in spirit and in truth (John IV:24); Even if I pray with my tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful; Whatever it is, I will pray with the spirit, I will also pray with the mind; I will sing in spirit, I will sing in mind also (1 Cor. XIV:15). And again: I want, in speech, in church to speak five words with my mind, rather than ten thousand words with my tongue. (1 Cor. XIV:19). He also brings into testimony the Holy Fathers: St. John Climacus, Divine Gregory of Sinaite and St. Antiochus, in that part of their Divine teaching that relates to mental prayer, and after that says: “here we finish the word about holy, sacred and ever-memorable mental prayer,” and then moves on to the one prayer that is holy for all, indicated in the church rites. Having brought all this evidence from the Word of God and St. fathers in favor of mental prayer, Elder Paisius says: “If, according to the word of the Lord, in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word becomes,” then in the mouth not of two or three, but of so many God-bearing fathers, witnesses and teachers of this divine prayer, how much firmer will their word become, like an unshakable foundation, forever established without any doubt! Which of the true-believing Christians, seeing this, could even come to doubt a little about this Divine thing, except for the one who is submissive to the spirit of insensibility, who hears and sees, but does not want to understand and know? Where can the detractors of this prayer get evidence of their blasphemy? From what scriptures, from what fathers are contrary to so many holy fathers, contrary to God and the entire Church of God? They can't get this from anywhere. Perhaps only from the father of lies, the devil, who allowed them to blaspheme this holy work. May his and their blasphemy be brought against his head! May God turn the detractors from their destructive path and grant them true repentance for the sin they have committed, so that they will not be condemned for their blasphemy on the day of God’s righteous reward for our deeds!” 5) Is mental prayer accessible to everyone, or only to the perfect, and about the obstacles to this prayer. According to Elder Vasily, any novice and passionate person can intelligently engage in mental prayer, guarding the heart, and, of course, remembering the warning regarding the premature search for visual prayer. "St. Gregory of Sinat, who more than anyone else has examined and discussed with subtlety the grace of the Holy Spirit living in him, the lives and scriptures and spiritual deeds of all the saints, commands us to make every effort about mental prayer. Also St. Simeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, commands and advises bishops and priests, monks, and laity to say this sacred prayer at all times and at every hour and, as it were, to breathe it: for there is no stronger weapon either on earth or in heaven, he says together with the holy Apostle, like the name of Jesus Christ. Know also this, good worker of this sacred mental activity, that not only in the desert, or in a solitary hermitage, there were teachers and numerous practitioners of this mental sacred activity, but also in the greatest Laurels, and even in cities. One can be surprised how, for example, the most holy Patriarch Photius, elevated to the patriarchate from the senatorial rank, and not being a monk, already in his high post learned this wise work: and succeeded in it to such an extent that, according to St. Simeon of Thessalonica, his face shone with the grace of the Holy Spirit, like that of the second Moses. According to the same St. Simeon of Thessalonica, Patriarch Photius also wrote a wonderful scientific book about this clever work. He also says that St. John Chrysostom, and Saints Ignatius and Callistus, being patriarchs of the same Constantinople, wrote their books about this same internal work. And so, if you, objecting to mental prayer, say that you are not a desert dweller to engage in this work, and do not live in solitude, then you will be rebuked by Patriarch Callistus, who learned mental prayer while serving as a cook in the great Lavra of Athos, and by Patriarch Photius, who, being already a patriarch, learned the art of heartfelt attention. If you are lazy to engage in mental sobriety, referring to obedience, you especially deserve censure, for according to St. Gregory of Sinaite, neither the desert nor solitude are as useful in this activity as reasonable obedience. If you say that you do not have a teacher who would teach you this work, the Lord himself commands you to learn from the Holy Scriptures, saying: try the Scriptures, and in them you will find eternal life. If you are confused, not finding a silent place, St. refutes you. Peter of Damascus, who says: this is the beginning of a person’s salvation: to abandon one’s own desires and understandings, and to fulfill God’s desires and understandings, and then in the whole world there will not be such a thing or place that could hinder salvation. Others, not knowing the power of the Holy. The scriptures and writings of the Holy Father claim that, according to the teachings of the Holy Father, it is necessary to first correct the bodily senses, such as sight, smell, taste, touch, speaking, so as not to sin with them, and then begin mental prayer. To such, the following should be answered: no one, oh friends, objects to the need to correct bodily feelings, but one cannot agree that the correction of feelings must be separated from mental activity. And first of all, St. Hesychius says this: Fear God and keep His commandments, sensually and intelligently: if you force yourself to keep them intelligently, then little by little you will achieve their sensual fulfillment. And in another place: If a man does not do the will of God and preserve the law in his womb (that is, in his heart), then he cannot do this outside himself. And Simeon, the New Theologian, said: The Holy Fathers, knowing that with internal work one can perform all external virtues, abandoned external work, and turned all their care to internal attention... You, friend, establish a gap and time between the preservation of bodily feelings and the training of mental prayer, and by this you show that you do not know the order and work of the heart. Those who know the work of mental prayer do not separate one from the other, but simultaneously and jointly carry out their training: turning the mind into the heart during the hour of prayer, they increase the boiling of feelings, not allowing the mind to occupy them; and when the mind is not occupied with bodily feelings, they remain inactive, and thus provide great silence to the mind and heart, so that by guarding the mind they themselves little by little learn not to strive for carnal lusts. Some consider physical weakness to be a significant obstacle to the sacred practice of mental prayer. Not being able to endure the supernatural labors and fasts that the saints carried out, they think that without this it is impossible for them to begin mental practice. Correcting their mistake, the great Saint Basil teaches: “abstinence is determined for each person according to his bodily strength.” And I think it is unsafe, having destroyed the strength of the body through immeasurable abstinence, to make it inactive and incapable of good deeds. For it is necessary to have an active body, not in the least weakened by lack of measure. If it were good for us to be relaxed in body, and lie as if dead, barely breathing, then God would have created us like that from the very beginning. If God did not create us this way, then those who do not preserve God’s beautiful Creation the way it was created are sinning. Let the ascetic of piety be concerned about only one thing: whether the evil of corruption is hidden in his soul, whether sobriety and zealous turning of thoughts to God have weakened, whether the spiritual sanctification and the resulting enlightenment of the soul has been darkened in him. If all the good things mentioned in him increase, then there will be no time for bodily passions to arise in him while his soul is occupied with heavenly things. With such a structure of the soul, the one who takes food is in no way different from the one who does not, and he completed not only fasting, but also complete non-eating, and is praised for his special care for the body: for moderate living does not inflame lust. In accordance with this, St. Isaac says: if you force a weak body beyond its strength, you will cause double confusion to the soul. And St. John Climacus writes: I saw, he says, this hostile (womb) resting, and giving vigor to the mind. And in another place: I saw it consumed by fasting and arousing lust, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in the living God. This is what the story that the Rev. recalls teaches. Nikon: already in our times, one old man was found in the desert, who had not seen a single person for thirty years, and had not eaten bread, eating only roots, and he admitted that all these years he had been tormented by a prodigal demon. And the fathers decided that it was not pride or food that was the cause of this fornication, but the fact that the elder was not taught intelligent sobriety and opposition to the enemy’s tricks. That is why St. says. Maxim: Give your body according to its strength, and turn all your feats into smart work. And St. Diadochos: Fasting has power in itself, and not according to God, 4 its purpose is to bring those who wish to chastity. And therefore it is not appropriate to be arrogant about it, but to wait for the outcome of our dispensation. In no art do artists judge the result of the work by the tool, but they wait for the end of the work, and the artist’s art is judged by it. Do not place all your care and hope on fasting alone, but while fasting to the extent and according to your strength, strive to do smart work. The holy fathers teach us about the reasons for delusion that occurs, not to prohibit mental activity, but to protect us from delusion. Like St. Gregory of Sinai, commanding the student of prayer not to be afraid and not to doubt, he also points out the reasons for delusion: self-rule and arrogance. Wishing that we should not receive harm from them, the Holy Fathers command us to study the Holy Scriptures. Scripture and be guided by it, having brother as a good advisor, according to the word of Peter of Damascus. If it is not possible to find an elder experienced in word and deed, following the example of the Holy Fathers, who knows the patristic scriptures well, then, even while remaining alone in silence, it is necessary in all cases to seek spiritual advice in the teachings and instructions of the Holy Father. Fathers, asking them about every thing and virtue. Those who shy away from mental prayer for fear of falling into delusion are reminiscent of that commander who, having received the news that the enemies have ambushed him in order to defeat him by cunning, - instead of outwitting them and gaining victory over them, he becomes frightened and turns to flight, exposing himself to eternal shame. If you are afraid to begin smart work, out of reverence and in simplicity of heart, I am ready to be afraid along with you. But you shouldn’t be afraid of simple fables, according to the proverb: don’t be afraid of the wolf, don’t go into the forest. And one should fear God, but not run from Him and not renounce Him. 6) About the correct states and sensations that occur during mental prayer and about recognizing them. There is no doubt, however, that when doing prayer intelligently there can be both right and wrong states, and it is necessary to be able to distinguish between them so as not to fall into error and self-delusion. Elder Vasily teaches us to distinguish between states of grace, natural states and those resulting from delusion. “The Holy Scripture says: Lord, did you not sow good seed? Where did the tares come from? It is impossible not to allow evil to creep into good. So charm is intertwined with this sacred mental activity, just like ivy with a tree. This delusion arises from self-indulgence and conceit, the cure for which is humility, the study of Scripture and spiritual advice, but not evasion from learning to do smart things... The method and effect of delusion consist, 1st, in the enemy's participation in the lust of the inner loins, 2ndly, in ghosts and daydreaming of the mind. Warning against the first, St. The father says: although the enemy transforms the natural movement of the loins, as it were, into a spiritual one, at his own request, arousing his own burning sensation instead of spiritual warmth, and instead of fun, bringing meaningless joy, and forces him to take his charm for the action of grace, but time, experience and feeling expose his deception. Pointing to the second danger, he teaches this: When you are silent, do not accept anything in any way if you see anything sensually or intellectually, inside or outside yourself, whether the image of Christ, or angels, or a saint, or light, or fire, etc. Here the objector will come to life again and, lashing out, will accuse the charms of clever doing. For they think that charm is not mixed with external singing. However, let it be known that in everything, whether in singing or in prayer, delusion has the same place despite the lack of skill of the doer, as St. John Climacus let us test and see and measure what sweetness comes to us in singing from the prodigal demon and what from spiritual words and the grace of power living in us. And in another place: while singing and praying, observe the coming sweetness, lest it be dissolved by bitter poisons. From these words you see that delusion can equally befall both those who sing and those who learn to pray. But since those who do not know smart things have only one concern, how can they fulfill the song rule, but they do not look for evil thoughts and lustful boiling, then they do not know when the lustful part itself rises up, and when it is excited by the enemy’s participation, and how to avoid all this. Or, as the scripture says, they hear the battle and receive wounds: but who their enemies are, and for what they are fighting, they do not know. Having learned from what has been said that it is not mental activity that is the cause of delusion, but only our self-indulgence and arrogance, we should not avoid mental prayer: for it not only does not lead us into delusion, but, on the contrary, opens our mental eyes to knowledge and understanding, which we could never achieve if we had not studied this sacred mental act, even if someone was a great faster and silent person. The most undeceptive action in prayer for beginners is to begin mental prayer in the heart and finish it in the heart, so that the mind seems to be covered in the depths of the heart, and not in the lustful region, according to the words of His Holiness Patriarch Callistus. Most of all, you need to remember and understand at the beginning that during the hour of prayer the mind must guard the insides of the heart from above. It has been proven by experience that if the mind, while performing a prayer, simply looks from the middle of the chest to half of the heart, willy-nilly or unwillingly it touches, at times descending to the loins, lustful warmth. And although he, recognizing her, will turn away from her, he will still suffer considerable labor and embarrassment due to his inexperienced attention. If someone dares to gather attention from below the heart, his mind, completely reclining on his loins, and from there looking into the depths of the heart and doing prayer, you commit adultery in your heart, voluntarily giving place to the enemy within you, which is obvious delusion. Many modern monks, having fallen through ignorance into this delusion and suffered from it, abandoned learning smart work, saying that this is the work of only dispassionate people... Not only did they not realize their foolishness and self-inflicted arrogance, but they also became teachers of others, saying that everyone who wants to learn smart work will suffer just like them, which should not happen! Therefore, everyone who makes a prayer needs to overshadow the heart with the mind, and constantly looking into its depth, perform the prayer: for there is, according to Scripture, the region of the heart. Sitting on it, like a king on a high throne, the mind can completely withdraw from the loins, and send back lustful warmth; in particular, he can, seeing from his height the evil thoughts splashing beneath him below, to turn away some, to drive out others, and to kill others, who are Babylonian babies, on the stone that is Christ.” 7) That sacred mental prayer is a spiritual art that requires an experienced mentor. The elders call mental prayer an art, that is, a science, or, perhaps, more precisely, an art. But by this they do not mean that success in smart doing depends exclusively on known external mechanical techniques and is their necessary result. The elders do not have such thoughts. They only indicate the difficulty of distinguishing between correct and incorrect internal spiritual states, the danger of mistaking a false state for the true one, and the need for guidance from a person who has personally walked and learned the path of inner Christian life, and who can help a novice and inexperienced ascetic understand his internal states and show him the right path. The elders call a necessary condition for correct spiritual activity a feeling of deep humility before Christ and the consciousness that without His constant help it is impossible to overcome one’s evil thoughts and temptations and defeat one’s spiritual enemies. This feeling of deep humility before Christ and constant prayerful appeal to Him from the depths of the heart is the main condition for achieving the goal of smart work, unity with God, or, according to Rev. Seraphim, the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, but achieving this goal is impossible without experienced guidance, which is why the elders of the Church Fathers call intelligent doing art. "St. John Climacus, Elder Paisius writes in word 23 about silence, teaching the sacrament of mental prayer, says: if you have learned this art through experience, then you know what I’m talking about. Sitting on a height, watch if you know how: and then you will see how and when, and from where, and how many and what kind of thieves are coming to steal the grapes. Having become tired, this guard gets up and prays; then he sits down again and courageously continues the first task. St. Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, says about this sacred prayer: sobriety is a spiritual art, which completely delivers a person, with the help of God, from passionate thoughts and words and from evil deeds (Hundreds. I. Chapter I). St. Nicephorus the Faster, teaching about the same thing, says: come, and I will reveal to you the art, or better yet, the science of eternal heavenly life, leading its worker without labor and sweat into the haven of dispassion. The above-mentioned holy fathers call this holy prayer art, I think, because just as a person cannot skillfully learn art on his own without an artist, so it is impossible to master this mental practice of prayer, without a skillful mentor. Its assimilation, according to St. Nicephorus, comes from teaching to the majority and even to all; rare people receive from God without teaching - through the pain of doing and the warmth of faith. The church rule, which, according to the sacred church books, as a tribute befitting the Heavenly King, all Orthodox Christians, lay and monks, must bring to God daily, can be read by anyone who knows the scriptures with their lips and performed without any teaching. It is impossible to offer to God with the mind in the heart the mysterious sacrifice of prayer without teaching, for this is a spiritual art. This spiritual art is the true and constant work of monks, who, not only by renunciation of the world and everything worldly, by a change of name during tonsure and different clothes, by celibate, virgin purity, by living in spontaneous poverty, by special food and a special place of residence, but also by the most mental spiritual attention and prayer in the inner man, must have a special work that surpasses worldly people. Since this divine prayer is higher than any other monastic feat, and according to the teachings of the Holy Father is the completion of all labors, the source of virtues, the subtlest and hidden in the depths of the heart, the work of the mind, the invisible enemy of our salvation extends over it the invisible, subtle and barely comprehensible to the human mind networks of his various seductions and dreams. Therefore, anyone who wants to learn this Divine work must, according to St. Simeon the New Theologian, surrender himself into obedience complete in accordance with the Holy Scriptures with soul and body, i.e. in the complete cutting off of his will and reasoning to a person who fears God, a zealous keeper of His Divine commandments, experienced in this mental feat, who can, according to the writings of the Holy Father, show His disciple the right path to salvation through this doing, that is, with the mind in the heart of secretly performed prayer, so that by true and reasonable obedience he could be freed from all the troubles, cares and addictions of this world and bodies. By humility, born from obedience (according to the testimony of St. John Climacus and many holy fathers), he will be able to avoid all the deceptions and snares of the devil and always exercise in this mental matter quietly, silently, without any harm and with great success for his soul. If, having given himself up to obedience according to God, he would not have found in his father a mentor skilled in this Divine prayer through his own deeds and experience, for at the present time experienced mentors of this work are completely scarce, then still he should not fall into despair, but continue to abide in true obedience according to the commandments of God with humility and fear of God, and not in an arbitrary and willful life without obedience, which usually follows seduction, and placing all hope in God, together with your father, obey by faith and love, instead of a true mentor, the teaching of our venerable fathers, subtly, through the enlightenment of God’s grace, who teach this Divine work, and from them learn this prayer. And the grace of God will hasten and instruct, through the prayers of the Holy Father, to learn, without any doubt, this Divine work.” 8) About external techniques that make it easier for beginners to do mental prayer. Next, Elder Paisios goes on to describe those external techniques that can make it easier for beginners to do mental prayer. These external techniques have only an auxiliary value, since among the imperfect the soul is especially dependent on the body and since the silence of the soul must be accompanied by the silence of the body, and the composure of the mind must be accompanied by the orderliness of the body. All the elder’s instructions about these techniques apply exclusively to monastics. Elder Paisios prefaces the presentation of the external methods of mental work with the following dissection: “Since in ancient times the practice of mental prayer flourished in many places where the holy fathers stayed, and there were many teachers of this spiritual work then, the holy fathers, writing about it, spoke only about the indescribable spiritual benefit that came from it, without having to write about the very method of this work befitting beginners. When they noticed that the true teachers of this work, far from being seduced, began to diminish significantly, then, prompted by the Spirit of God, so that the true teaching about the beginning of this mental prayer would not become impoverished, they described both the very beginning and the way how beginners should learn this prayer and enter with their minds into the lands of the heart, and truly and undeceitfully perform mental prayer there.” – Beginners often had and still have the most unclear and confusing ideas about what the “heart” is and how to perform prayer “with the mind in the heart”, and therefore they sometimes needed and still need the simplest and most basic explanations. Elder Paisios first of all cites the following words of St. Simeon the New Theologian: “Sitting in a silent cell in some secluded corner, do with attention what I tell you: close the door, distract your mind from all vanity, press your beard to your chest, directing your sensual eye along with your mind. Slow down your breathing so that you are not breathing too freely. And try to mentally find inside, in the chest, the place of the heart where all the spiritual powers naturally love to reside: and first of all, you will find there unrelenting darkness and rudeness. When you continue and do this work night and day, you will find, oh miracle! constant fun. For as soon as the mind finds a place in the heart, it immediately sees something it has never seen: it sees the air in the middle of the heart, and itself, all bright and full of reasoning. And from then on, no matter where a thought arises, before it turns into action or becomes an idol, by calling on Jesus Christ, he drives it away and destroys it. Hence the mind, having anger against demons, raises natural anger against them, and, driving them away, overthrows mental opponents. And you will learn something else with God’s help by keeping your mind, holding Jesus in your heart.” (A word about 3 types of attention and prayer). St. speaks even more clearly about entering the heart with the mind. Nikifor Postnik. “Above all, let your life be silent, free from worries, and peaceful with everyone. Then, entering your cell, shut yourself and, sitting in one of the corners, do as I tell you: you know that when we breathe, we inhale air into ourselves, but we inhale it not for the sake of anything else, but for the sake of the heart: for the heart is the cause of life and warmth of the body. The heart attracts air in order to release its warmth through breathing and to obtain fresh air for itself. The instrument of such activity is the lung, which, being created porous by the Creator, constantly, like fur, brings in and takes out air. Thus, the heart, drawing coolness into itself through breathing and bringing out warmth, invariably performs the function for which it was designed for the well-being of the body. And so you sit down and, having gathered your mind, lead it along the path that the air goes to the heart, and concentrate it, and force it to descend into the heart along with the inhaled air. When he enters there, what follows will not be gloomy or joyless.” And further: “Therefore, brother, train your mind not to leave there too soon: for at the beginning it becomes very discouraged from the inner seclusion and crampedness. When he gets used to it, he no longer wants to remain in external wanderings: the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. When we look at it there and seek it with pure prayer, then everything external appears to us as vile and hateful. And so, if immediately, as it was said, you enter with your mind the place of your heart that I showed you: give thanks to God, and glorify Him, and rejoice, and always stick to this doing, and it will teach you what you do not know. You should also know that when your mind is there, it should not remain silent and idle there, but should have as its constant work and teaching the prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, and should never stop this activity. It keeps the mind from being elevated, makes it inaccessible and elusive to the machinations of the enemy, and raises it to the love of God and to everyday Divine desire. If, after working hard, you cannot, brother, enter the lands of the heart, as I showed you, do as I tell you: and with God’s help you will find what you are looking for. Do you know that the rational principle of every person is in his chest? It is here, even with the silence of our lips, that we speak, and reason, and perform prayers and psalms, and much more. Let this rational principle, having removed every thought from it (you can, if you want), say: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, and force yourself to accommodate every other thought, and always cry out within. If you maintain this order for some time, the heart’s entrance will open to you, as we wrote to you, without any doubt, as we ourselves have learned from experience. The whole face of virtues will come to you, along with much-desired and sweet attention: love, joy, peace, etc.” The Divine Gregory of Sinai, also teaching how to make the most salvific invocation of the Lord in the heart with the mind, says: “Sitting in the morning on a seat in one quarter, bring the mind down from what is sovereign in the heart and keep it there. Bending over with tension, experiencing pain in your chest, shoulders, and neck, constantly cry out with your mind and soul: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! When it becomes too cramped and painful, the frequency of repetition may not even be sweet, which is not due to the monotony of the often eaten food of the Triple Name, for it is said: Those who eat Me will still hunger (Sir. 24:23), changing your mind to the other half, say: Son of God, have mercy on me! And repeating this half many times, you should not change it often out of laziness or boredom: for plants that are often transplanted do not take root. Restrain the breathing of your lungs so that it is not too free. For the breath of air coming from the heart darkens the mind, preventing or not allowing it to descend to the heart and scatters thought. Not allowing it to the heart, it betrays it into the captivity of oblivion, or sets it up to learn something other than what it should, leaving it to insensibly abide in what it should not. If you see the impurity of evil spirits, that is, thoughts arising or transformed in your mind, do not be horrified, do not be surprised: even if good understandings of certain things appear in you, do not listen to them; but holding your breath as much as possible, and confining your mind in your heart, and calling on the Lord Jesus Christ often and constantly, you will soon burn and destroy them, striking them invisibly with the Divine Name. For Climacus says: “In the name of Jesus, slay the warriors; for there is no stronger weapon in heaven or on earth.” Thy sitting must be in patience, for the sake of him who said: enduring in prayer; and it is not necessary to get up soon, weakening due to pain, with the difficulty of intelligent invocation, and frequent raising of the mind. For the prophet says: sickness has overwhelmed me, as if I was giving birth (Jer. 8:21). Therefore, bowing down and collecting your mind in your heart, if it is open, call on the Lord Jesus for help. Feeling pain in your shoulders, often having headaches, endure all this with effort and diligence, seeking in the heart of the Lord: For the needy are the Kingdom of God, and the needy are delighted (Matthew XI:12). Rev. Gregory also talks about how to pray: “This is what the fathers said: one: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. All. The other half: Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me. And this is more convenient due to the infancy of the mind and weakness. For no one can by himself purely and completely call the secret name of the Lord Jesus, but only by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. XII:3). Another thing: some teach to say prayer with their lips, while others teach them to say prayer with their mind. I think both are necessary. For sometimes the mind is exhausted from despondency to pronounce it, sometimes the lips. Therefore, it is necessary to pray with both, that is, with both the mind and the lips. However, one should cry out silently and unabashedly so that the feeling of the soul and the attention of the mind, confused by the voice, do not move away until the mind, having become accustomed to succeeding in its work, receives the strength from the Spirit to pray strongly and in every possible way. Then he will not have the need to speak with his lips, and he will not be able to, being able to perfectly do things with his mind alone.” The teaching of the elders about smart work was borrowed by them from the writings of the Church Fathers - ascetics, which can be found in detail in the collection “Philokalia”, published in Russian in five volumes by the Athos Panteleimon Monastery. This teaching underlies the entire monastic feat of Elder Paisius and all his senile activities. All his literary activities, the corrections and translations of patristic books he undertook, were aimed at giving monastics the most clear, understandable, accessible and complete acquaintance with the essence and methods of “smart doing.” And the greatest significance of Elder Paisius for Russian monasticism lies precisely in the fact that with his translations, writings and letters, as well as his personal direct leadership, he aroused extraordinary interest and attention to intelligent work in Russian monasteries, directed the spiritual life of Russian monasticism in this direction and educated a number of elders who were the successors of his work in Russian monasteries. The word vision is used here not in the sense of the appearance of any object to us in an external image accessible to our bodily eyes, but in the sense of a mysterious and at the same time undoubted, reliable comprehension of the deepest truths of faith rising above all sensory conditions. They are called visions due to the obvious, directly revealed to our soul, their reliability, which does not require either sensory or logical evidence. P.S.Ch. Transmitted with some abbreviations. That is, fasting is a means, not a goal, of asceticism. You might be interested in: