“Prayer requires constant co-presence and the assistance of attention. With attention, prayer is the inalienable property of the one praying; in the absence of attention, it is alien to the person praying. With attention, it bears abundant fruit; without attention it brings thorns and thistles. <…>
Especially conducive to maintaining attention during prayer is the very leisurely pronunciation of the words of the prayer. Pronounce the words slowly, so that the mind can more easily retain its conclusion in the words of the prayer, so that it does not escape from a single word of it.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
“When you pray, preserve your memory with all your might, so that it does not offer you its own, but in every possible way raise yourself to a reasonable stand (with the consciousness of Who and why you stand). For during prayer the mind is usually greatly robbed by memory: it brings to mind things, persons, events and with them distracts the attention of the mind from prayer. Memory brings to your mind during prayer, or the imagination of old affairs, or new worries, or the face of someone who insulted you. The mind can also be occupied with philosophical speculation; passions are not in motion, but the mind philosophizes and does not pray: the state of scientists.”
Venerable Neil of Sinai
“Absent-mindedness robs prayer. The one who has prayed absent-mindedly feels a vague emptiness and dryness within himself. One who constantly prays absent-mindedly is deprived of all the spiritual fruits that are usually born from attentive prayer, and acquires a state of dryness and emptiness. From this state is born coldness towards God, despondency, clouding of the mind, weakening of faith, and from them deadness in relation to eternal, spiritual life. Yet, taken together, this is a clear sign that such prayer is not accepted by God.
Daydreaming in prayer is even more harmful than absent-mindedness. Absent-mindedness makes prayer fruitless, and daydreaming causes false fruits: self-delusion and what the holy fathers call demonic delusion.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
“Read slowly, delve into every word and bring the thought of every word to your heart, accompanying everything with bows. This is the whole point of reading a prayer that is pleasing and fruitful to God. Delve into every word and convey the thought of the word to your heart, otherwise, understand what you read and feel what you understand.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
“Remember that if during prayer you do not idle, but say the words of prayer with feeling, then your words will not return to you thinly, without strength (like a husk without grain), but will certainly bring you the very fruits that are contained in the word, like a fruit in a shell. This is the most natural thing, just as the fruit and its shell are natural and ordinary in nature. But if you throw words in vain, without feeling their power, like a husk without a kernel, then they will return to you empty: you throw a husk - the husk will come back to you, you throw a seed - the ear will bring you, and the better, the fatter the seed, the more abundant the ear. So it is with our prayers: the more sincerely and heartily you pronounce each word, the more fruit from the prayer: each word, like a grain, will bring you spiritual fruit, like a ripe ear. Who among those who pray has not experienced this?
Or again: the words of prayer are like rain or snow, if spoken with faith and compassion: raindrops or snowflakes, falling in a continuous thread or flakes, water the earth, and it vegetates and bears fruit; So the words of prayer are the rain of the soul: each one separately, waters the soul, and it vegetates with the fruits of virtues, assisted by the Holy Spirit, especially if there is still tearful rain.”
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt
“Those who have not acquired heartfelt prayer should pray slowly, waiting for the corresponding echo in the heart of each word of prayer. And this is not always easy for a person who is not accustomed to prayerful contemplation. Therefore, the rare pronunciation of the words of prayer for such people should be made an indispensable rule. Wait until every word resonates in your heart with its own echo.”
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt
“We must use all measures to uproot every lie from the heart and plant pure truth in it. We must start with prayer. Having learned to speak the truth in our hearts during prayer, we will not allow ourselves to lie in life. How can we learn to speak the truth in our hearts in prayer? We need to bring each word of prayer to the heart, put it on the heart, feel its truth with our hearts, realize the whole need for us of what we ask God for in prayer, or the need for heartfelt thanksgiving for His great benefits to us and the need for whole-hearted praise for His great, wise deeds in His creation.”
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt
“The image of pure prayer can also guide you in understanding how one usually acts in the face of an earthly king. If you happen to gain access to the king, then you stand before him with your body, and you beg with your tongue, and you fix your eyes pleadingly on him - and thus attract the royal favor to yourself. Do the same in prayer, whether you are standing in a church meeting or praying in the solitude of your cell. When you come to church to pray in common with your brethren in the Lord, just as you stand before Him with your body and offer psalmody with your tongue, so keep your mind attentive to the words and to God and in a clear knowledge of the One with whom you are talking and to whom you are addressing; remember that if the thought is diligently and purely engaged in prayer, then the heart is granted inalienable joy and indescribable peace. When you are alone in your cell, keep your prayer in your mind, in a sober mind, with contrition of heart - and a vision will overshadow you for the sake of sobriety, knowledge will dwell in you for the sake of prayer, and wisdom will rest in you for the sake of tenderness, driving out wordless lust and introducing Divine love.”
Theoliptus, Metropolitan of Philadelphia (Philokalia, vol. 5)
“If we, having come to a person, show such attention to him that often we do not even see the people standing nearby, but, concentrating our thoughts, we see only the one to whom we have come, all the more should we do this in relation to God, always and incessantly being in prayer.”
Saint John Chrysostom
“As a man sees a man face to face, so try to place your soul before the Lord, so that you are eye to eye. It is so natural for this to happen that there is no need to even mention it. For the soul by nature must strive for the Lord. And the Lord is always near. And there is nothing to recommend them to each other, because they are old acquaintances.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
“As soon as you deviate a little from the Lord in your trust, the whole matter is then distorted, for then the Lord retreats, as if saying: well, stay with what you place your trust in.” And whatever it is, it’s completely insignificant.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
“Outward reverent standing in prayer is very necessary and very useful for everyone who struggles in the feat of prayer, especially for the novice, in whom the disposition of the soul is most consistent with the position of the body.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
“When you pray to God and are distracted with your mind, then strive until you pray without distraction, and stay alert with your mind so as not to be distracted. If the distraction of the mind continues, then at least at the end of the prayer, reproach yourself internally and say with tenderness: “Lord, remember me and forgive me all my sins!” - and you will receive forgiveness for all sins and absent-mindedness that occurred during prayer.”
Venerable Barsanuphius the Great
“Do not stop praying until you have fully repaid your prayer debt, and do not listen to the thought that it is time to sit down to work; equally, when you are busy with work, do not be too busy with your work, so as not to rush to disturb your heart and make it unfit for prayer.”
Venerable Neil of Sinai
“Question: When I pray or practice psalmody and do not feel the power of the spoken words, due to insensitivity of the heart, then what is the benefit of this prayer to me?
Answer: Although you do not feel the power of what you say, the demons feel it, hear it and tremble. So, do not stop practicing psalmody and prayer, and little by little, with the help of God, your insensibility will be transformed into gentleness.”
Venerable Barsanuphius the Great and John. Question and answer 718