"Save me, God!".
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The Jesus Prayer is one of the initial steps in faith. The power of the Jesus Prayer is very great. It is aimed at asking for mercy from the Lord God through His Son. In addition, prayer can become a daily amulet for any life difficulties.
Other names for the Jesus Prayer
At some points, turning to the Son of God can be classified as ascetic practices. However, for the most part, it is part of the esoteric direction. Among adherents, it is called “secret prayer.” They read it in order to gain strength of mind and protect the soul from sin.
Within the framework of asceticism, prayer is an important part of understanding oneself and Divine Providence. In this case, the ascetic renounces his earthly existence in favor of heavenly existence.
INTERESTING: Life of Jesus Christ: read.
Anyone can practice asceticism, however, you should not comprehend this trend of Christianity on your own. For convenience, clarify all questions of interest with your spiritual mentor. Only he can help you, put you on the right path. Alone, you can become an adherent of a heretical movement, although you will not suspect it.
Sometimes prayer is the cause of temptation. For example, a person suffers from gluttony. And he prays to the Lord to forgive Him this sin. But every time, the believer is tempted to taste forbidden food. In this case, the help of a priest is necessary. It is a long-known fact that priests can help, heal, and guide with a word. It is useful to have conversations with them and ask for advice.
Since Jesus is somewhat reminiscent of yoga practices, it is constantly confused with it. In fact, this is not true.
"Secret prayer" is practiced in hesychasm and involves silence. Ascetics of this kind prefer to spend time in silence and learn to understand the Lord God without words. This approach is certainly interesting, but for an ordinary layman, whose life is spent in constant communication, it is impossible.
We are cut from the same cloth, but the taste is different
We are all built the same way, and at the same time we are very different: in intelligence, in the level of Christianization, understanding of Orthodox teaching, depth of faith, abilities, temperament, inherent passions, and finally, in the degree of determination to follow Christ. What is good for one is death for another. By practicing prayer, you will have an idea of its impact on:
- events;
- own transformation;
- surrounding people;
- changes in life.
You need to approach it thoughtfully. Listen to advice, but choose your path based on the experience of the saints. Follow their example, but don't copy. Adopt knowledge, but realize that their level of soul purification and ours are different as heaven from earth. We are cut from the same cloth, but we have individuality. You won’t know how it will manifest itself until you experience miracle prayers in your own skin.
The history of the formation of the Jesus Prayer
She has come a long way in her development. In fact, it gave rise to many questions among the clergy in the 17th century. The Great Moscow Council discussed a significant issue within the framework of Orthodoxy. It was necessary to determine the name for the Jesus Prayer - “Our God” or “Son of God”.
Ultimately, the council decided to use exclusively the first option. This is due to the fact that Jesus Christ, within Orthodoxy, is not the Son of God, but God. This was the essence of the demands with the official churches and representatives of heretical movements. The approximate text of the prayer sounded like: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
The Lord brought us freedom
Many people don’t even know what real freedom is. And this is a most interesting (priceless) thing. After deliverance from slavery to sin (possible only with the help of Christ), this good is acquired. The Lord said: Believe in the Truth (the content of the Jesus Prayer), and It will make you free. What does it mean?
If you tell a mountain to be thrown into the sea, it will move from its foundations; if you want to cross the river as if it were dry land, go and do not be afraid. Need rain? Ask in the Name of the Lord, and heaven will obey you. Raise the dead, please! Would you say science fiction? No, my dears, this is the absolute truth. And there were such saints on earth.
Note: Yes, not everyone can do this. We have little faith, practically none, otherwise we would become saints. You must at least be aware of your weakness.
Stages of perfection of the Jesus Prayer
As mentioned above, prayer is not a spell, but a conversation with the Lord. But it is impossible to achieve a connection with Him immediately, without due diligence. Some clergy adhere to the levels of perfection of reading the Jesus Prayer for the glory of Jesus Christ.
- Oral stage. Here an initial effort of mind and heart is required from a person. There is nothing wrong with this, then everything depends on whether a habit is formed or not. It is difficult to read prayers for the first time and regularly, but then it becomes easier.
- Smart-hearted . Next after the oral stage. Its essence lies in the non-violent reading of prayer at the call of the mind and heart. At this stage, a person gradually abandons earthly temptations and directs his soul to dialogue with the Creator.
- Creative . At this level, spiritual understanding is much higher than at the second stage. Only ascetics and those who have dedicated their entire lives to God can reach the creative stage.
- High level . Here reading reaches a whole new level. It is almost impossible to find such people; basically, only angels can glorify the Lord with high prayer.
To comprehend each stage, it is necessary to gradually renounce earthly existence. Over and over again, suppress your temptations, put aside sinful thoughts, and become cleaner and brighter every day.
Only in this case is it possible to reach a high level. The angels reached him because they were pure from the beginning. Man only has to overcome sin and become higher than the angels.
How do demons affect a person?
To corrupt and enslave the will, unclean spirits introduce thoughts. Before committing any sin, a thought arises in a person. He accepts it and begins to think about it. Even realizing that this is a thing harmful to the soul, he tries to resist, but is defeated by devilish cunning. I savored the crime a little in my mind, and then took it and committed it:
- I understand that overeating is harmful, but I can’t refuse;
- I know: love of money is evil, but I want, I want, I want..., and like a wound-up mechanism, a person spends his life acquiring more and more new “toys” that flatter his own vanity, beyond all measure;
- I know that drugs are death, but it’s impossible to resist;
- I feel like I’m living wrong, I need to change - but what the hell, I’m too lazy to even think about my salvation, etc., etc.
This is how passions and sins penetrate a person’s heart, becoming his essence, completely subordinating his will to themselves. A soul enslaved by the devil is deprived of freedom, doing not what it wants, but what the demons dictate.
The role of the Jesus Prayer in the life of a Christian
A person’s life proceeds in constant temptation. The Earthly Kingdom is full of temptations, so there is no believer who has not sinned at all. This is fine. But sin is alien to the divine nature. He is like a parasite, corrupting the soul over and over again. A person must renounce sin.
But he is not able to throw off his shackles on his own. The only helper in this difficult task will be the Lord and His mighty power. To find a protector in the form of the Creator, you should regularly read the Jesus Prayer. In this way, the believer will strengthen his soul, mind, heart, become immune to the wiles of Satan and come closer to the City of God.
Unfortunately, our hearts are poisoned by sin. It remains to be seen when we will finally get rid of it. The Savior gave us the chance to return to the Heavenly Palace with His redemptive feat. For our sake, He endured suffering and rescued all those wrongfully condemned from the Underworld.
After His resurrection, every Christian was commanded to live like Christ. Live and enjoy life in prayer and meekness, gradually drawing closer to God. Leaving earthly pleasures far behind is our responsible task, our duty.
How not to get fed up?
First you need to learn sincere, simple, pure prayer. Because many, starting to read the morning and evening rule, quickly get tired of it. They say that they are already tired of it, that they don’t feel anything. They ask permission to pray in their own words. Well, pray in your own words. But the word of prayer must be true, it must glorify.
One of the saints said that in prayer a person should unite with the word in the same way as the soul unites with the body. See how deep the image is. If this unity does not exist, then prayer becomes boring to us. She seems formal, cold, and words do not resonate with her.
And all only because the person has not developed the right approach to prayer. I didn’t survive, I didn’t feel the prayer in myself. Even if you once experienced some kind of prayer image, it is forgotten. And it is very easy to go into the mechanism, to perform one ritual side - pronounce, speak, read, but not pray.
Prayer requires interest, attention, thirst for prayer and truth. Prayer is a living need. On this given day, at this moment, I need to express myself in prayer, stand before God and say: “Lord, here I stand before You, my day passed in vanity, somewhere I lost my inner freedom, somewhere to unnecessary thoughts , I gave myself up to worries, I had troubles, and so on.” As we are, that is how we should turn to God.
Life itself teaches us prayer, God teaches us, the Church teaches us. These lessons should not be missed. Only then will we begin to truly understand what the Jesus Prayer is. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner” - this will already be a cry. This is actually my entire nature, concentrated in the living Lord, this is the flow of my internal energies rushing out. Then, please, pray the Jesus Prayer, day and night. Then the Jesus Prayer will begin to work.
Text of the Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is read alone. This is the case when it is necessary to create an intimate one-on-one communication environment. To do this, buy candles, an icon of Christ (if you don’t have an icon) and start praying. If your thoughts are pure and your heart is open to the good news, you will be heard and helped in any situation in life. You should wait for help and be grateful for it. Pray regularly not with your mind in the hope of receiving some benefits, but with your heart and soul.
Jesus Prayer: how to pray correctly
The Jesus Prayer can be performed not only by monks, but also by lay people. You can do this both out loud at home, in front of icons, making the sign of the cross, and in your mind in various life circumstances, for example, on the road or in a queue.
How to learn the Jesus Prayer? You should not get carried away with external prayer feats and concentrate on the number of prayers read. Otherwise, you can fall into a dangerous state of delusion, that is, narcissism. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov in his essay “On Prayer” wrote that delusion arises due to the fact that
“Repentance is not placed at the basis of prayer, that repentance has not become the source, the soul, the goal of prayer.”
Not quantity, but quality is the main thing in any prayer. The participation of not only the mind is necessary, but also the heart, humble and contrite. Prayer should be simple and sincere, without verbosity, imagination and desire to achieve some kind of spiritual delight. Prayer is always work, but the Lord rewards the one who prays with His grace, spiritual vigor, which gives rise to the desire to turn to Him again.
Archpriest Andrei Tkachev advises the laity to follow the commandment of St. Dmitry of Rostov to pray briefly. At the same time, he warns against getting carried away with lengthy prayers:
“The practice of long prayers for a weak worldly person can be difficult and dangerous.”
Being fed up with lengthy prayers often leads to a spiritually inexperienced person stopping praying altogether.
The repentant nature of the Jesus Prayer, on the one hand, leads a person to heartfelt contrition for his sins, on the other, it gives consolation and hope in God’s love and mercy. Such an elevated joyful-sad state is a sign of prayer pleasing to God.
Temptations
When a person really comes to love prayer, when his spirit is kindled, then, according to the teachings of St. Ignatius, the Jesus Prayer will begin to move from verbal form to heartfelt form. And heartfelt prayer, if offered with attention, will begin to capture the mental spheres of the soul. Only in this way can mental-heart prayer become accessible to modern Christians who have devoted themselves entirely to God. Priests, monks, pious laity, who are removed from everyday worries and sorrows, can take this Divine gift and perform mental-heart prayer for the benefit of the soul.
I recommend starting this way: step away from the usual bustle - from the radio, TV, and retire to a quiet place where you can tune in prayerfully. If over time you begin to seriously engage in the Jesus Prayer, you need to look for those people who have experienced this path and discuss all your conditions with them.
A beginner needs an assistant. Because the activity of the spirit affects the soul, the mental state, and the nervous system. It awakens many movements in the soul that perhaps were not there before. When a person constantly performs mental prayer, the innermost begins to awaken in him, which a person may not have encountered in his practice.
There is such a law in the physical world - the more powerful and the larger some energy movement, the more surrounding spheres are involved in it. The same is true of the Jesus Prayer. If you do it with some effort, with some tension, then it can awaken a lot from the sensory world and from the world of imagination, especially if we do not have a feeling of repentance. All the negativity that is still hidden will come into motion and can have a detrimental effect on a person’s state of mind.
You can determine whether a person is following the right path in his prayer work by his fruits. The fruit of incorrect prayer can be pride of mind. A person begins to do everything for show, tries to show everyone that he has been praying for a long time, that he knows how to say the Jesus Prayer.
The Gospel says: if you want to offer a heartfelt prayer to God, “...go into your closet, and when you have shut your doors, pray to your Father who is in secret: and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in reality” (Matthew 6:6) . If a person does not enter his inner cage with humility, with deep faith, with a feeling of repentance, with attention, then this activity will result in him either into pharisaism or into proud self-affirmation.
Often in such a situation, people begin to experience a nervous disorder, noticeable from the outside - nervous sudden movements, excitability, a desire to prove something, to argue. This also shows that the person is praying incorrectly.
One cannot enter into the spiritual world without reasoning. Each step must be verified by both the spirit of the Gospel and the spirit of the Lord’s commandments, the tradition and teaching of the Church, and the thoughts of the holy fathers. A person must have a clear state of mind so that he can see the right and wrong paths.
