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Course 3 · Lesson 3.4

Practicing the prayer of the heart, with its cautions

10 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 3 outline

Module 1: The Idea of a Rule

  1. What a rule of life is, and what it is for
  2. Pachomius and the first written rule
  3. Basil of Caesarea and his Rules
  4. Benedict: the Rule as a school of the Lord’s service
  5. Adapting a monastic rule for ordinary life

Module 2: The Hours and the Psalms

  1. Origins of fixed-hour prayer in Jewish and early Christian practice
  2. The Divine Office in the West and the hours in the East
  3. How to pray the Psalms: lament, praise, trust, wisdom and imprecation
  4. Building a simple office for one person

Module 3: Scripture and the Prayer of the Heart

  1. Lectio divina: reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation
  2. Meditative reading compared with study and with Ignatian imaginative prayer
  3. The Jesus Prayer: its words, its history and its Eastern setting
  4. Practicing the prayer of the heart, with its cautions

Module 4: Fasting, Giving, Rest and the Year

  1. Fasting in Scripture and tradition, and its safe limits
  2. Almsgiving and care for the poor
  3. Sabbath rest and the Lord’s Day: how traditions differ
  4. The church year: Advent to Pentecost and the ordinary weeks

Module 5: Conscience, Confession and Worship Alone

  1. Examination of conscience: methods old and new
  2. Confession in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions
  3. Repentance, confession to God and to a trusted person when no minister is available
  4. What worship alone can include: prayer, Scripture, song, the hours
  5. What the traditions say requires a church or ordained minister

Module 6: Seasons and Ordinary Duties

  1. Silence as a discipline and its dangers
  2. Planning a day, a weekend and a longer retreat
  3. Work as part of the rule: ora et labora
  4. Hospitality, family and neighbor

Module 7: Dryness, Perseverance and Review

  1. Dryness and the dark night: what the tradition teaches
  2. Acedia: Evagrius, Cassian and the noonday demon
  3. Doubt and perseverance
  4. Accountability for a rule of life
  5. Reviewing and revising a rule at thirty days, ninety days and one year

All courses

Program / Course 3: The Rule of Life / Lesson 3.4

What you will learn

  • Describe a simple, safe way to begin praying a short prayer such as the Jesus Prayer.
  • State the Orthodox cautions about bodily techniques, visions and praying without guidance.
  • Recognize when a short-prayer practice is harming and not helping.
  • Decide how to place a short prayer inside a daily rule.

The big idea

The prayer of the heart is the practice of a short prayer, said with attention, until it becomes habitual. A beginner can start simply: a few minutes a day, a quiet posture, slow words. The tradition insists on cautions. Do not force the body or the breath. Do not seek visions or feelings. Do not practice alone and in pride when guidance is available. Stop and seek help if the practice produces distress. Used humbly, it fits a rule of life as a quiet center between the longer offices.

Key terms

Prayer of the heart
In Eastern usage, prayer in which the mind is gathered into the heart, the center of the person, and prayer becomes inward and continual.
Nepsis
A Greek word for watchfulness or sobriety, the attention to thoughts and temptations taught in the Philokalia.
Prelest
A Russian term for spiritual delusion or deceit, especially the false belief that one has attained a high spiritual state.
Spiritual father or mother
An experienced Christian, in the East often a monk or priest, who guides another in prayer.
Discernment
The skill of judging whether a thought, impulse or experience comes from God, from oneself or from something harmful.
Distraction
A wandering of the mind away from prayer. The traditions treat it as normal for all, including saints.

Background

The previous lesson described where the Jesus Prayer comes from. This lesson turns to practice. The writers of the tradition give simple advice. Begin short. Pray in a quiet place or in the midst of work. Return to the words when the mind wanders, and do not be harsh with yourself. Most of the advice concerns what not to do: not to hurry toward experiences, not to copy a method learned from a book without guidance and not to confuse feelings of warmth with God.

The cautions are as important as the method. Orthodox teachers in the tradition of the Philokalia warn that the same practice that has helped some has harmed others who attempted it with pride or with unsound methods. Catholic and Protestant teachers give related warnings about inward prayer. A student who reads about advanced states of prayer should remember that the great writers wrote for monks living under direction, and that beginners are told to pray simply.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: A simple way to begin

Choose a time, perhaps five minutes after morning prayer. Sit upright but comfortable. Place a Bible or an icon or a cross nearby if that helps. Say a short prayer of beginning, such as the Lord’s Prayer. Then say the Jesus Prayer slowly in your mind or aloud, attending to the words and the meaning. When the mind wanders, bring it back gently. Close with a moment of silence and a brief thanks.

Over the weeks the time may lengthen to ten or fifteen minutes. Between sittings the prayer can be said briefly during ordinary tasks: waiting, walking, washing dishes. A prayer rope or a counted set of repetitions can help keep attention, and it is a tool and nothing more.

Step 2: What the tradition warns against

Orthodox teachers caution against forcing physical techniques. Some writings of the hesychasts mention a posture and attention to the breath. The elders warn that these should not be attempted without a teacher, since they can produce strain, dizziness or a false excitement. A beginner should not manipulate the breath or heart rate.

They also caution against seeking visions, lights or sensations. If an unusual experience occurs, the advice is to ignore it, not to dwell on it and to tell a spiritual guide. They warn against pride, the sense of having achieved something. The word prelest names this danger. They advise that the prayer be accompanied by repentance, attendance at worship where possible, fasting in measure, and obedience in ordinary duties.

Step 3: Distraction, dryness and distress

Distraction is normal. A mind that wanders a hundred times and is brought back a hundred times has prayed well. Dryness, a lack of feeling, is common too and does not mean the prayer is useless. A later lesson treats dryness in detail.

Distress is different. If the practice brings panic, intrusive thoughts, a sense of unreality or worsening anxiety or depression, stop and seek help from a trusted guide and, where it seems appropriate, a physician or counselor. Practices based on attention to the breath or body can be troubling for some people, especially those with a history of trauma or anxiety. The tradition’s advice to go slowly and to seek guidance supports this.

Step 4: Placing the prayer in a rule

A short prayer fits well between the longer parts of a rule. It can follow morning prayer or precede sleep. It can be used in moments of waiting. It should not replace the Psalms, the reading of Scripture or the duties of the day. Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth-century lay brother in a Paris monastery, taught the practice of the presence of God in the kitchen, and his simplicity is a good guide for lay people.

A person should also consider who will know about this part of the rule. A friend, pastor, priest or elder who can ask how it is going provides a check on pride and strain. Without a church or elder, a trusted Christian friend can serve.

  1. What time in my day is quiet enough for five minutes of short prayer?
  2. Am I drawn to this prayer because of its words or because of the experiences it promises?
  3. How do I react when my mind wanders: with patience or with irritation?
  4. Whom could I trust to ask me honestly how this practice is going?
  5. What signs would tell me that the practice is harming me?
  6. How does this prayer relate to the duties that wait for me after I finish?

Examples

A healthy beginning

A man says the Jesus Prayer for five minutes each morning for a month, counting on a cord. He notes that his mind wanders constantly, but that he is slightly calmer during the day. He tells his pastor about it. (A constructed example.)

A warning sign

A woman reads about breath control and practices it for an hour a night. She begins to feel faint and anxious and believes she is seeing lights. A friend urges her to stop and see a doctor. She stops, sees a physician and speaks to her priest. She returns to a simple practice later. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

The Orthodox view

Orthodox writers insist on guidance, humility and repentance. They discourage experiments with posture and breath without an elder. The prayer is not meant to produce states but to unite the person to God in mercy and love.

The Catholic view

The Church’s teaching on prayer, as in the Catechism, warns that prayer is a gift and not a technique, and that methods should be judged by whether they serve a personal relationship with God. Catholic spiritual writers also warn against seeking extraordinary experiences.

The Protestant view

Protestants who value short prayer usually stress that it should be tied to Scripture and to faith in Christ, and avoid methods promising results. Some treat any such practice as optional and best left to freedom of conscience.

The medical and psychological view

Clinicians note that attention to breath or body can be calming for many but can trigger distress in some people with anxiety, panic or trauma histories. They recommend going slowly, stopping if distressed and seeking professional help when symptoms persist. This is a point of practical advice and not a theological claim.

Why it matters

A practice like the Jesus Prayer is simple to begin and easy to misuse. A beginner who knows the cautions can enjoy the benefits and avoid the harms. The cautions also teach a general rule for the whole course: any spiritual practice should be small, humble and open to correction.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The prayer works only if the breathing and posture are right.

Correction: These belong to advanced practice under a teacher. A beginner needs only attention and the words.

Misunderstanding: Unusual lights or sensations show spiritual progress.

Correction: The tradition counsels indifference to such things and caution about them. They are not signs of holiness, and some may be physical.

Misunderstanding: If I feel nothing, the prayer is not working.

Correction: Feeling is not the measure. Faithfulness and attention are. Dryness is common to all who pray.

Knowledge check

Describe a simple way to begin a short-prayer practice.

Choose a quiet time, sit upright, say a short prayer of beginning, then say the Jesus Prayer slowly for five minutes, returning gently when the mind wanders. Close with silence and thanks. Over weeks the time may lengthen, and the prayer can be said briefly during ordinary tasks.

What cautions do Orthodox teachers give?

They warn against forcing physical techniques such as breath control without a teacher, against seeking visions or sensations, against pride and the delusion called prelest, and against practicing without repentance, worship and guidance. They advise telling a spiritual guide of unusual experiences.

What should a person do if the practice brings distress?

Stop and seek help from a trusted guide and, where appropriate, a physician or counselor. Attention to breath or body can be troubling for people with anxiety or trauma histories. The tradition’s advice to go slowly and to seek guidance supports this.

Where does short prayer fit in a rule of life?

Between longer parts, such as after morning prayer, before sleep, or in moments of waiting. It should not replace the Psalms, Scripture reading or ordinary duties. A trusted person who can ask about the practice helps guard against pride and strain.

Think it through

  1. What would you want in a guide for this kind of prayer?
  2. How would you tell the difference between calm and numbness?
  3. Why might the tradition think pride the main danger for someone who prays well?

Independent assignment

Seven days of five minutes

In your notebook, write 300 to 450 words. For seven days, pray a short prayer of your choice for five minutes at a set time. After each session, write one line on distraction and one line on how you felt afterward. At the end, write a paragraph on whether to continue, change the length or stop, and name the person you would ask about it. Stop earlier if you feel distress. Do not post it.

Further study