Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene

Author:Hieromonk Damascene [Damascene, Hieromonk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Christianity, General, religion_rel
ISBN: 9781887904230
Google: r2VRAAAAYAAJ
Publisher: Valaam Books
Published: 2004-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

36. The Jesus Prayer

In the tradition of The Philokalia – the Eastern Orthodox tradition – there is an especially powerful prayer by which to call upon the incarnate Tao. It is called the Jesus Prayer. When done with pure intention, the Jesus Prayer encompasses all that we have spoken of thus far: metanoia, being forgiven and forgiving, and cultivating Grace through watchfulness and prayer.

The Jesus Prayer is a short, simple prayer, based on the prayer of the blind men in the Scriptures (Matthew 20:30–31; Luke 18:38) and of the publican in Christ’s parable (Luke 18:13). The full prayer is: «Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner». Sometimes it is done in shortened form in order to better maintain attention on the words: «Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me».

In the first half of the prayer, we confess that Christ is indeed the incarnation of the Word by Whom all things were made, and We invoke Him, the Tao made flesh. Because Jesus is the name that the Logos took when putting on the raiment of abasement and humility (i.e., human flesh), there is no more powerful name on earth to oppose the proud fallen spirits. In the words of the Apostle Peter, «there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved».671

In the second half of the prayer, we confess our sin-condition and with every breath we call upon the Word to forgive us, to purify our spirits. Thus in the Jesus Prayer is contained the whole mystery of continuous metanoia.

According to St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, «the essential properties of this prayer should be: attention, the enclosure of the mind in the words of the prayer, extreme unhurriedness in pronouncing it, and contrition of spirit. Although these conditions are necessary for all prayer, they are more easily observed and more needed in which practice of the Jesus Prayer. In psalmody the diversity of thought in which prayer is clothed involuntarily attracts the attention of the mind and causes it some diversion. But in the case of the Jesus Prayer, the mind is concentrated on a single thought: the thought of the sinners forgiveness by Jesus. Outwardly this activity is the most dry, but in practice it proves to be the most fruitful of all the soul’s activities. Its power and value derive from the all-powerful, all-holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ».672

«The action of this prayer», says St. Barsanuphius of Optina († 1913), «is always hidden by the greatest mysteries. It does not сonsist merely in speaking the words, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,’ but reaches the heart and mysteriously settles there. Through this prayer we enter into relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, we become accustomed to Him, we merge with Him into one whole. This prayer fills the soul with calm and joy amidst the most difficult trials, in the midst of every oppression and human vanity».673

The Jesus Prayer represents the

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