About the Prayer of the Heart - The Prayer of Jesus
Prayer of the Heart, also known as the Prayer of Jesus, can be traced back nearly 2000 years. According to Paul what we should do is to: "Pray without ceasing" [Thessalonian's 5:16-18 (King James Version)].
The writings of the "desert fathers" (of whose lives very little can be verified from the records of history) and others who were engaged in the 'spiritual warfare', and who practised the prayer, are preserved in the Philokalia.
The Greek Philokalia was compiled by Metropolitan Macarius of Corinth and St. Nicodemus Hagiorite and first published in Venice 1782. There are three version of the Philokalia: the original Greek, the Slavonic and the Russian translations.
The texts of Philokalia cover the writings of the Fathers of the Church from the fourth to the fourteenth century.
The translations to the English are from the Greek and the Russian, but there are also translations to different languages. Of these the Russian text, translated and edited by St. Theophan the Recluse, is the most interesting and consists of five volumes (with a sixth associated with them). This Russian work is called "Dobrotolubiye" and like the Greek original name it means "Love of Beauty".
Prayer of the Heart is also know as the 'art of arts' and the 'royal art'; it is possible to practice it and it can be learned from those who know how to pray. Who are they?
However, as an Orthodox Christian I find myself in quite a strange situation. The tradition of the Prayer of the Heart is part of the Orthodox tradition. Who is teaching it? I could think that one should find someone among the priests, but I have not come across any such priest since 1962. Where are those people who could teach me how to pray ceaselessly?
From the time I started my 'search for truth' there has been a popular tendency in the western world to look for spiritual teachers (and also teachings) from among the many 'gurus' from the East; earlier more from the Far East (like Buddhism, Yoga, Vedanta), and now also from the Middle East (like Sufism and Kabbalah). No doubt this tendency is also fully justified as the spiritual teachers in our time in the West have been few and far between. Moreover, is not Christianity also a teaching from the Middle East?
In our time teachers of all sorts can be found also in the West. For example within the Catholic Church there is a strong 'movement' to fetch knowledge and practice from Zen Buddhism. It is quite common that instead of a priest, we have a Zen Master whose prior education is Christian theology. Why does a priest not learn what he should learn - like how to pray? This is a confirmation of a sad state of affairs: Christian practice is not taught in the Universities! What are taught are morality, psychology and theory; what are not given and taught are the tools and the ability to be able to apply them into practice.
As the education of the Christian priests does not include the learning of the 'art of arts' it is not possible by any even superhuman efforts for a priest to teach others how to pray; both knowledge and ability are lacking. This is why those who are in the position of 'educators' (priests) in the churches need to go to other religions and find their 'gurus' to learn the basics of spiritual practice. In other words they have a need to fetch the 'know how of spiritual life' from outside Christianity.
This search for the 'know how' is highly necessary.
A case in point: in the 1950's what was left of the Russian monasteries had such a lack of spiritual teachers that Father Michael (see column on right), who had managed to survive and settle in the New Valaam in Finland, was asked to move to the Russian territory, which he did with some other monks. What happened to them is not in my knowledge. Are there any of the Startzy left in Russia? What happened to the tradition of the Optina monastery with such a long chain of oral teachings by the elders to both monks and the lay people?
Much of what is connected with the practice of the Prayer of the Heart is a 'well kept secret'. This web site is an attempt to find some of these secrets and to help to revive the practice of the Prayer for our time.
© Reijo Oksanen 2007-2010
www.prayerofheart.com
Born in 1812 in Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov Province, Russia, Alexander Grenkov arrived in the Optina Monastery in 1839.
After a long service as an Elder in Optina, he left for the women's convent in Shamordino in 1890 and died there on October 10th in 1891.
Elder Ambrose was canonized in 1988 and is now known as St. Ambrose of Optina.
Father Michael came to Valaam from Western Russia in the early 20th century. In the twenties he retreated to a skete on Valaam's Smolensky Island.
During the 2nd World War he was one of the monks who survived the Russian bombing and came to Finland. In the New Valaam Father Michael continued his life as a recluse, but soon found that an increasing number of people wanted his council.
In 1957 the Metropolitan of Krutitsi invited Father Michael to come to Russia, where the need of spiritual fathers was great. He left for Moscow with seven of his friends and disciples. They were directed to the Pskovo-Pechersky monastery.
On the eve of his departure from Finland Father Michael sent Sergius Bolshakoff his last letter of direction, which said: "I will give no more direction. The Lord has commanded me to pray fervently for everyone and to lead a hidden life, but not to teach. As St. Arsenius the Great, I love everyone and run away from it all."
Source: Sergius Bolshakoff: Russian Mystics © Cisternian Publications, Inc. 1976