The Conversation

The Jesus Prayer is an ancient Christian prayer that has its origins in the monasteries of Syria, Israel and Egypt. The Jesus Prayer is a spiritual remedy to help heal our fragmented and stressed out souls and lead us to a true encounter with God. On this episode we will explore the Jesus prayer as taught in the 19th century spiritual classic: The Way of a Pilgrim. The text claims that we can move from prayer of the lips (verbal recitation) to 'prayer of the heart'. This method incorporates an awareness of one's own heart beat along with the breath and the words of the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." We begin with an awareness of the actual beating heart within the chest. The Fathers and Mothers of the Eastern Church see the heart as the spiritual meeting place of God and humanity. The purpose of saying the Jesus Prayer this way is to reintegrate our scattered and fallen consciousness back into the temple of the body. Our modern lives are highly stressful and fragmented, and the Jesus Prayer can help us to overcome our stress and anxiety, and lead us to true knowledge of God. Here are the instructions of the Staretz from The Way of a Pilgrim: "Picture to yourself your heart, turn your eyes to it just as though you were looking at it through your breast, and picture it as clearly as you can. And with your ears listen closely to its beating, beat by beat. When you have got into the way of doing this, begin to fit the words of the prayer to the beats of the heart one after the other, looking at it all the time. Thus with the first beat say or think “Lord”, with the second, “Jesus”, with the third, “Christ,” with the fourth, “have mercy,” and with the fifth “on me”. And do it over and over again. This will come easily to you, for you already know the first part of praying with the heart.
Afterward, when you have grown used to what I have just told you about, you must begin bringing the whole prayer of Jesus into and out of your heart in time with your breathing, as the Fathers taught. Thus, as you draw your breath in, say, or imagine yourself saying, “Lord Jesus Christ,” and as you breathe again, “have mercy on me.” Do this as often and as much as you can, and in a short space of time you will feel a slight and not unpleasant pain in your heart, followed by a warmth. Thus by God’s help you will get the joy of self-acting inward prayer of the heart. The holy Fathers lay down most strongly that inward prayer should be kept free from visions, lest one should fall into temptation." I hope you will join me on this exploration of our own deep heart to find the peace that we all deserve, the peace of God. God bless, and Glory to Jesus Christ!

We continue the Conversation on deepening our prayer lives. Tonight we hear from Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest Father Andrij Figol. Father Andrij lives in Toronto, Canada and serves the parishes of Guelph and Cambridge. He and subdeacon Shawn are leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the summer of 2021 (email sgmetanoia@gmail.com). To join our Thursday Zoom calls email Subdeacon Shawn, or see the Facebook livestream @St.demetrius (7pm EST). Tonight, Fr. Andrij is going to introduce the concept of silent prayer which has a history in Eastern Christian monasticism and the Catholic Contemplative tradition. For Fr. Andrij, deepening our prayer lives is to encounter the God who is without end. God bless.