In his third book entitled Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Saint John Damascene says: “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God”. From this definition, one can view prayer as an intimate relationship between the person who prays and God. Thus, before any actual petitioning is made, prayer implies an interpersonal relationship of love and trust with the Divine. In the Christian understanding, prayer is the jovial encounter with Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.
Since prayer is a life-giving fountain of grace, it is essential for the believer to always keep alive the Spirit of God within himself. Unceasing prayer is the key. Four times throughout his letters, Saint Paul reminds us of this basic reality of the Christian faith: “Pray constantly” (1 Thess 5,17), “be constant in prayer” (Rom 12,12), “we also thank God constantly for this” (1 Thess 2,13) and “I remember you constantly in my prayers” (2 Tim 1,3). For Saint Paul prayer is best depicted via two important words: pantote (meaning always) and adialeptos (meaning without interruption or unceasingly).
Authentic prayer always leads the person to live in the presence of God. The great Russian Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov stated that “our whole life, every act and gesture, even a smile must become a hymn of adoration, an offering, a prayer. We must become prayer-prayer incarnate”. In other words, he was explaining in a mystical way what Saint Paul envisaged as a life dedicated to God, namely that “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10, 31).
The Orthodox Tradition fulfils the Pauline requirement of constant prayer by proposing the Jesus Prayer, which also referred to as the Prayer of the Heart. Its most commonly utilised form is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. Thanks to the Jesus Prayer, one can enter into the sanctuary of his heart, and there meet Christ, his personal Lord and Saviour. Adding to this, the Jesus Prayer is a prayer of the Spirit since it proclaims with extraordinary conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. For the Bible “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12,3).
The Prayer of the Heart has biblical foundations. Both its brevity and simplicity point to the accomplishment of Christ’s injunction that while praying we are not to “heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them …” (Matt 6,7-8).
The authority of the Jesus Prayer is laid in the invocation of the precious and powerful name of Jesus. In the letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul openly states that Jesus’ name is “the name which is above every name” to the extent that “every knee should bow” to it (Phil 2,9-10). Jesus’ name is the wellspring of spiritual and physical healing. Due to this name, devils are cast away (Lk 10,17), prayers are answered (Jn 14, 13-14) and the lame walk again (Acts 3,6-7).
Perhaps the greatest proof for the scriptural basis of the Jesus Prayer, are the very words that constitute it. To begin with, the blind man of Jericho cries to Jesus, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Lk 18,38). Then, the 10 lepers, lifted up their voices and implored him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Lk 17,13). Even the tax collector, while standing far off, with his head bowed down, he beat his breast and confessed, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” (Lk 18,14). Last, but not the least, the Jesus Prayer gently leads us to admit that we need a Saviour in our lives. Since, “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1,8).
According to the 19th century spiritual writer, Theophan the Recluse, the Jesus Prayer can be prayed in three stages. The first stage is that of recitation. The more Jesus’ name is invoked the more the mind focuses on the words of the Prayer itself. By virtue of such a continual and persistent recitation, the Prayer becomes so imbued in the inner depths of the person, that one’s heart is gradually transformed into a prayerful heart. Thus, the Prayer becomes the person and the latter finds his existential identity in the former. Via this prayer, the praying person experiences himself as being adopted by God. As Saint Paul instructs to the Galatians, “because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4,6).
Those who pray the Jesus Prayer with faith will progressively mature in their material and spiritual life. They will be in a position to understand it more. The first benefit that flows from the Jesus Prayer is that of making the praying person realising that God’s Kingdom is already present in his life.
It also changes the dominant way the human person relates with creation and tend to give it a fraternal and a caring face. Ergo, creation is to be treasured, precisely because it is the tabernacle of God’s presence in the world. In the famous book The way of the Pilgrim, the pilgrim beautifully observes his peaceful and harmonious relation with the natural phenomena, thanks to his faithful and constant recitation of the Jesus Prayer. “When I prayed in my heart, everything around me seemed delightful and marvellous. The trees, the grass, the birds, the air, the light seemed to be telling me that they existed for man’s sake, that they witnessed to the love of God for man, that all things prayed to God and sang his praise”.
The second benefit that the praying person profits from the Prayer of the Heart is that this prayer permeates one’s relationships with other people with the forgiveness and compassion of Jesus Christ. Thus, the pilgrim admits: “Again I started off on my wanderings. But now I did not walk along as before, filled with care. The invocation of the Name of Jesus gladdened my way. Everybody was kind to me. If anyone harms me I have only to think, ‘How sweet is the Prayer of Jesus!’ and the injury and the anger alike pass and I forget it all”.
The Jesus Prayer is an effective means in one’s ever deepening relationship with God, the world, and oneself. In and through Christ, redemption is made available now. If we believe that whoever believes that Jesus Christ is the only Lord and Saviour of fallen humanity “should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3,16), why don’t we open up and bring on us the freshness of his salvation by starting constantly invoking his powerful, healing and relieving name?