On the Prayer of Jesus by Ignatius Brianchaninov

Author:Ignatius Brianchaninov
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Seeds Books

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Higher Levels of Prayer

Before coming to a description of the method offered by the Holy Fathers almost exclusively to those living in silence, we consider it necessary to prepare the reader somewhat. The writings of the Fathers may be compared to a drugstore in which are quantities of the most healing remedies. But a sick man unacquainted with medical science and without a doctor for a guide will find it very difficult to select a medicine suitable to his illness. But if out of self-confidence and thoughtlessness, without properly consulting, in the absence of a doctor, medical books, the sick man hurriedly decides on the choice of a medicine himself, that choice can be most unfortunate. A medicine in itself curative can prove not only useless but even very harmful. We are in a position similar to that of the sick man, owing to the absence of Spirit-bearing guides, in regard to the writings of the Holy Fathers on the mystical action of the Prayer of the Heart and its consequences. The teaching on prayer in the books of the Fathers that have come down to us is expounded with satisfying fullness and clarity. But being placed in our ignorance before these books in which are described in the greatest variety the activities and states of beginners, intermediates and proficients, we find it extremely difficult to choose states and activities suitable for us. Unspeakably happy is he who feels and realizes this difficulty. Through not realizing it, after a superficial reading of the Holy Fathers and having become superficially acquainted with the activities proposed by them, many have taken upon themselves an activity unsuited to them, and have done themselves harm.

St. Gregory the Sinaite, in his article written for the extremely advanced hesychast Longinus, says, “The work of silence is one thing, and life in community is another. Everyone who continues in the life to which he is called will be saved. And therefore I am afraid to write on account of the weak, knowing that you live among them. For whoever adopts an excessively strenuous labor of prayer from hearsay or study labors in vain through having no director.”1 The Holy Fathers remind us that many who undertake the work of prayer wrongly, by methods for which they were unready or unfit, fall into self-delusion and mental derangement.

The greatest harm comes not only from reading the books of the Fathers with insufficient understanding but even from associating with the greatest of God’s saints and from hearing their holy teaching. That is what happened to the Syrian monk Malpat. He was a disciple of St. Julian. In the company of his elder [St. Julian], Malpat visited St. Antony the Great and heard from him the most sublime teaching on the monastic life: on self-mortification, on mental prayer, on purity of soul, on vision. Without properly understanding his teaching, burning with material heat, Malpat laid upon himself the severest labor and began to live as a strict recluse, in the hope

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