The Jesus Prayer - Part 4

In the name of the Holy Father and the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit, One True God. Amen

In the previous three sessions, we covered two of the four elements of the Jesus Prayer - the cry for mercy and the discipline of repetition. We understood that the Jesus Prayer is not to be seen as dark and sombre, but on the contrary should be seen as a prayer full of light and hope. Then we also understood that the discipline of repetition is an intense and powerful method of recollection, practiced since ancient times and confirmed by contemporary psychologists.

Let us now continue onwards, by the Grace of the Almighty God onto the third element/strand -

THE QUEST FOR STILLNESS

One of the leading monks of the 4th century, Evagrius of Pontus writes, "When you pray, do not shape within yourself any image of the Deity, and do not let your intellect be stamped with the impress of any form... Prayer is a putting away of thoughts." He did not, of course, intend this as a description of all forms of prayer. He was simply recommending, along with liturgical worship and the study of the Scriptures, a particular type of prayer that may be called 'non-iconic'. But there was no particular method has been mentioned for attaining 'non-iconic' prayer.

However, in the 5th century, St. Diadochus of Photike proposed the 'remembrance' or invocation of Jesus as precisely a way of entry into the prayer of inner stillness:

"The intellect requires of us imperatively some task that will satisfy it's need for activity. For the complete fulfillment of it's purpose we should give it nothing but the prayer LORD JESUS... Let the intellect continually concentrate on these words within it's inner shrine with such intensity that it is not turned aside to any mental images."

In this was, St. Diadochus linked two of our four stands - the discipline of repetition and the quest for hesychia (stillness). Repetition will assist us in stilling our ever active mind, and so will enable us to acquire prayer of inner silence.

The Jesus Prayer is not a prayer meant to mediate on the specific incidents in the life of Christ. When using the Prayer, we should seek to still our imagination. Instead of calling to mind incidents from the life of Christ, we are to dwell upon his total and immediate presence. When visual images occur, we set them aside. We should not engage in chains of reasoning or a string of resolutions. We think solely of Jesus Himself.

Many people find it hard to set aside all thoughts and images. They try to do this but find it very difficult and decide that it lies beyond their power. In such a situation, it is advisable to adopt a more positive approach. Instead of emphasizing what we want to get rid off, let us concentrate rather on what we hope to acquire. Let us think of the Saviour Jesus with living tenderness. What we seek is not so much a mind stripped of image as a heart full of love.

Images and thoughts will constantly rise up within us. Let them recede into the background. In the foreground, place Jesus.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner.

Reference: The Jesus Prayer - Bishop Kallistos Ware