Беседа 32. Того же блаженного мар Исаака. Об изменении, от святых движений, и о просветленном пути в час молитвы, который дается нам милосердием Господа нашего.

1. When at times it happens that a person is rewarded with fiery prayer due to the awakening of 1113 grace, then he has intense and countless movements in prayer - fervent, powerful and hot prayers, like fiery coals. And in these movements a strong cry 1114 rises from the depths of his heart along with humility, which is from strong joy. 1115 And from where they come, from there in a hidden way he receives some help in his movements at such moments, from prayer itself; and a flaming fire arises in the soul thanks to his joy - until that person humbles himself in his thoughts to the very abyss. So, these movements awaken in him thanks to prayer - prayers that are pure and strong, intense and unstoppable in their desire. They appear in the hiddenness of the heart 1116 along with an unwavering gaze towards God. And it seems to the person that in his body he is approaching our Lord at that moment because of the sincerity of the 1117 thoughts of his prayer ascending to Him. 2. If he is worthy of conscious prayer, 1118 then the moment he encounters the slightest word of prayer, the prayer immediately dries up on his lips and he becomes completely calm from all movements, and he achieves motionless silence in his soul and in his body. 3. Anyone who has walked this path will understand what has been said about these two forms of prayer. 1119 4. Or perhaps there is a person who imagines that the order and movement of spiritual prayer is one of these things. Let the thinker understand that all these things and countless others similar to them are the essence of pure prayer and pure spiritual thoughts that arise in a person during prayer. 1120 But in the life of the spirit there is no prayer. Every existing prayer has beautiful thoughts and emotional movements. On the spiritual level and in life there are no thoughts, no movement, there is not even any sensation of the slightest movement of the soul regarding anything, for nature completely moves away from this and from everything that is characteristic of it. And he remains in a certain unspeakable and inexplicable silence, for the action of the Holy Spirit awakens in him, and he rises above the region of 1121 spiritual knowledge. 5. What shall we say? Where there are no thoughts, how can one talk about prayer or anything else? 6. Regarding this rite, if anyone wants to hear exactly, let him read above the long Word we wrote about spiritual prayer; 1122 from there he will clearly learn the whole essence of this teaching about life in prayer 1123 and about the types of purity and impurity of it. 1124 what is spiritual movement and why is this ascent, which is above the movements of the soul, called prayer, despite the fact that there is no prayer in spiritual 1125. We have written all this clearly there. Lit. “they are very hidden in the heart.” Lit. “he will understand the indications of these two mentioned forms of prayer.” The Bodleian manuscript syr.e.7 at this point contains a scholia in the margin: “This Word is written in the First Part.” This refers to Slovo 22 from the 1st part (in Russian translation, Slovo 16). Lit. “about the lifestyle of prayer.” Those. prayers. Lit. “about the species associated with its purity and impurity.” You might be interested in: