Saint Paisios said characteristically: – Only heartfelt prayer is prayer because
it has pain and brings results. One “Lord, have mercy” with pain is equivalent
to a thousand simple “Lord, have mercy”! And we should not let anything stop
or disturb the prayer of the heart to God. Neither when we are conversing,
nor when we are walking, nor when we are insulted and slandered. Do not let
your mind stray from your heart. Let us be completely alone within the
treasury of our heart and let there be a multitude of people around us. And let
the attention be an ever-watchful guard, so that we do not think that the
thoughts of the demon come from God. However, a person can only
experience these things on a personal level and can never understand them
epistemologically, no matter how many books they read. We must have an
example in our prayer: The man born blind, who, the more they told him to be
quiet, the more he cried out for the Lord to have mercy on him. The Canaanite
woman, who “clung with nails and teeth” to the Lord and implored Him to have
mercy on her (hence the intensity in the prayer). The saying of the Lord
Himself.” And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do,” (from which the
prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” is derived). The same Lord,
whose sweat from prayer on the Mount of Olives ran like drops of blood
(hence the intensity in prayer). Once we learn to pray, whatever grace comes
to us, let us return it with utmost humility to the love and all-saving providence
of God and in no case to our intense efforts, which aim solely to demonstrate
human intention!
SAINT PAISIOS OF MOUNT ATHOS
Translated by Dr. Nick Stergiou
