“LORD JESUS CHRIST,

HAVE MERCY ON ME “

Numerous Church Fathers tell us that the Jesus
Prayer is “essential” to our spiritual growth. It
proclaims our faith and humbles us by asking
mercy for our sinfulness and is thought to be as
old as the Church itself.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom says the Jesus
Prayer, “more than any other,” helps us to be able
to “stand in God’s presence.” This means that it
helps us to focus our mind exclusively on God
with “no other thought” occupying our mind but
the thought of God. At this moment when our
mind is totally concentrated on God, we discover
a very personal and direct relationship with Him.
Jesus Prayer is both a discipline and a prayer. As
a prayer it proclaims our faith in God and seek
his mercy for our recognized sinfulness. As a
discipline, its practice helps us to control our
mind and its many wandering thoughts so that we
can focus our attention on God more and more
frequently during our daily life. The aim is to
become one with God and have our entire life
become one continuous prayer dedicated to act
with the will of God.

Theological Foundation
The prayer begins with the name of our God and
Lord, Jesus Christ. In the book of Acts we are
told, “There is no other name under heaven given
among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
The power in the prayer comes from our
proclaiming the Lord’s name. In its simple form
we confess our faith in Jesus Christ as our God
and Lord.

Patience
Remember, this is a process and you will go through
stages. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov reminds us
that our simple attentive beginnings lead us to the
temple of the heart.
It is one thing to pray with attention with the
participation of the heart; it is another thing to descend
with the mind into the temple of the heart and from
there to offer mystical prayer filled with divine grace
and power. The second is a result of the first. The
attention of the mind during prayer draws the heart
into sympathy. With the strengthening of the attention,
sympathy of heart and mind is turned into union of
heart and mind. Finally, when the attention makes the
prayer its own, the mind descends into the heart for the
most profound and sacred service of prayer.
All this is accomplished under the guidance of the grace
of God. It is harmful to strive for the second before
acquiring the first.

How long to pray
Be sure to consult your spiritual Father on the
amount of time you should devote to the Jesus
prayer. As a general rule you should repeat it for a
minimum of 15 minutes at any one prayer session.
Any less will not help you develop the attention
needed for prayer of the heart. You should then
fairly quickly work up to a period of thirty minutes.
You will need to measure your time to make sure
you fulfill your desired time. One way is with a
clock. Another way is to use a prayer rope. A
prayer rope has 50 or 100 knots typically. Holding
it between your thumb and index finger you can
index one knot at a time each time you complete
one complete recitation of the Jesus prayer.

Practice of the Jesus Prayer is A
Long and Difficult Path

A struggle is required in the practice of the Jesus
Prayer. Saint Maximos said, “Spiritual knowledge
without ascetic practices is the theology of the
demons.” (A Night in the Desert of the Holy
Mountain, p 61) To transform our being and free
our mind from domination by passions, and to bring
it into the heart to be aligned with God as its focus
is not a simple task. Reflect on difficulty you
encountered in developing other disciplines you
have learned in your life, whether it relates to your
work life, home life, or a sport. You will find that
the same is even more true for your spiritual life.
The practice of the Jesus Prayer requires a firm
commitment, much effort and time. The practice of
the Jesus Prayer must become a daily practice and
engrained in your daily life. It is not something that
you can allow yourself to ever say, “I am too busy
today”, or “I feel too tired for prayer.” It must
become just like other things you do without fail,
like the simple act of brushing your teeth, taking a
shower, and other such activities that are not
treated as options in your life. If you skip it you
should have the same unclean feeling as if you
skipped your shower or brushing your teeth. This is
how daily prayer needs to find its place in your life.
It needs to become an integral part of your life.

Jesus Prayer is Not a Form of
Eastern Meditation
The practice of this Prayer should not be confused
with methods used in Eastern Yoga or meditation.
In all Orthodox Prayer we are seeking a
relationship with a personal God based on faith and
love. The difference from “New Age” practices or
Eastern yoga meditation has been described by
using the analogy of a framed masterpiece. We can
admire the beautiful frame of a masterpiece, but the
frame is not the masterpiece. The similarities
between the Jesus Prayer and various meditation
practices can be considered to be like the frame of a
masterpiece. The masterpiece in the practice of the
Jesus Prayer is union with Jesus Christ. The frame
is only the methods used. There may be similarities
with postures, techniques and other acts of the
outer form of this prayer, but the content and aim is
totally different and uniquely Christian.