There's a lot of interest in ancient and authentic Christian prayers and monasticism recently, especially with the CBS News '60 Minutes' piece on Holy Mt. Athos, the secluded peninsula in Greece home to continual prayer for the last 1,100 years. I made a spiritual pilgrimage to Mt. Athos a couple of years ago with a film crew, focusing entirely on the traditions of the prayers of the heart and the sacred mysteries of the central Christian prayer, the "Jesus Prayer." Here's a passage from my just released book and documentary feature film about Vatopedi Monastery, the second largest and oldest monastery on Mt. Athos, featured on '60 Minutes.'
"One of the traditions that took root on Mount Athos was introduced by St. Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), a monk of Vatopedi who developed a method of reciting the Jesus Prayer that is linked to breathing. Father Ruwais and Father Lazarus first taught us this at St. Anthony's Monastery in Egypt. As the monk inhales, he prays, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God," then pauses a moment, holding his breath, before exhaling and praying, "have mercy on me, a sinner." St. Palamas explains, "In this way, [the monk] will also be able to control the mind together with the breath."
It is a form of prayer that requires the focus of mind and heart, intellect and body.
St. Palamas' method is known as hesychasm (worship in stillness), a type of contemplation in which one focuses body and mind on one goal: unceasing prayer. By entering a monastery or convent, a monk or nun has physically withdrawn from the noise of the secular world. Through hescychasm, he or she now withdraws deeply into him/herself to maintain a constant conversation with God. The inspiration for this private form of prayer is drawn from the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in St. Matthew's gospel. "When you pray," Jesus says, "go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6: 6). The "room" mentioned by Christ is the interior, the soul, the nous, the seat of our spiritual energy and the place where the monk becomes aware of the presence of God. And it is the constant recitation of the Jesus Prayer that is his spiritual passport to that secret and sacred place.
Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi Monastery on Mt. Athos spoke of this during our filmed conversation. "For all Christians, especially the monks," he said, "silence is important. But this does not mean only 'don't speak.' Mainly, silence, from the theological point of view, is the concentration of all the inner powers, in the mind, in the heart and the inner union of our nous. This is the main point of the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas. This can be achieved through the Jesus Prayer."
For St. Palamas, hesychasmis not one type of prayer among many but "the whole purpose of Christian life." Gregory Palamas believed that the point or goal of Christianity is to purify the heart and enter so deeply into the contemplation of God that He will graciously grant a glimpse of His glory. St. Palamas likened such an experience to the Transfiguration, when Christ took his three favorite apostles, Sts. Peter, James and John, to the summit of Mount Tabor and there let them see Him in His divine splendor. According to St. Palamas, the continual practice of reciting the Jesus Prayer may culminate in the type of vision the three apostles experienced on Mount Tabor.
I don't know how many of the monks on Mount Athos have been granted such a special grace, but I believe that it represents what all of them desire and strive for.
We were warned by many monks and nuns during our travels in the Middle East, Mediterranean and Eastern Europe about connecting breathing with the Jesus Prayer, and also special postures that advanced ascetics use. "These are only for monks who pray all the time, inside monasteries and caves, it is not safe for everyone to use these methods," one Anthonite, Father Matthew, cautioned off-camera.
Others, such as Mother Maria at Agapia Monastery in Northern Romania said, "why not use the Jesus Prayer, it is for everyone!"
One truth is certain: Recitation of the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") is very powerful, even for just a few minutes at a time. Whether you're in a cave or monastery, or in the cell of your apartment or suburban bedroom, you don't have to leave everything behind and become a monastic in order to find God in silent prayer.
From the book, Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer by Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D., available in bookstores everywhere, and on Amazon.com, BN.com and IndieBound.com. For more information on the book and feature film visit JesusPrayerMovie.com.
Follow Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Jesusmysteries
Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D.: The Compelling Spiritual Discipline of Asceticism
Mount Athos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
YouTube - Holy Mount Athos- Elders & Hermits-Psalm 50
Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer — Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
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But that%u2019s what I have to do, because my growing up, and being raised in this overwhelming atheist society, I can truly understand why I was not aware of God%u2019s Love for me.
I am very %u201Clucky%u201D {fortunate} to have been able to see clearly the Light of God, I have always carried Jesus with me since I was a little child, but I could not break away from the sinful earthly desires. Just like everyone ells that surrounded my life I imitated and continued to sin.
As a matter of fact, just recently, about 7 to 12 years ago I became aware of the True Light of God. I guess theirs no easy way to explain to anyone how to find the true light of God, but for the rest of my life I will Pray, and continue to live in the Light of God, and in God%u2019s salvation.
I will sing to my Lord as long as I live. (Psalo ton Theo Mou eos iparxo)
I Pray every day now, every moment I continue to Praise my Lord Jesus, for Saving me from an overwhelmingly sinful earthly reality that continues to exploit and devastate my coexistence with God.
To Believe In God, We must diminish every ridiculous thought that we are alone. God%u2019s Love is Eternal and always present in our Life, whether we chose to Love God or not.
To Believe In God, is to understand that we will %u201CNot%u201D; go to the grave in darkness with our souls.
To Believe In God, is to understand Life is not some sort of chemical reaction, feeling, or dream.
To Believe In God, is to Rejoice in the Glory of an immediate Everlasting Existence with Our Lord Jesus.
To Believe In God, is to Believe our present Creation, the stars, the planets, and everything and as far as we can see with our eyes, is one of the %u201CInfinite%u201D Creations, Created for our Salvation, By and Through God.
Wealth of a Different Kind
Mary’s voice was soft. Her blue eyes sparkled peace. Too many people in Louisburgh, Co. Mayo (Population 500). She lived where St. Joseph’s lilies grew free and Croagh Patrick was two miles up the mountain.The church where St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland looks like a white speck atop dramatic desolation, but to Mary it's just an hour’s hike up the back on a good day.
She had a sick little lamb who couldn’t get up. It’s feet were bent, so she fed him by hand. “Oh, we don’t name sheep here,” she said, laughing. And then she had a field of year-old lambs. They just ran free, always coming back to the shed when it rained. The milkman left plenty of milk by the side of the road, and there was cheese, too.
It was not a place for questions. It was not a place for the power struggles of multicultural urban America. It was a place radiant with spiritual wealth in its simplicity, in its overpowering beauty, in its freedom. Remote from man–close to God. That was her luxury.
She didn’t have to struggle. She could be kind.
I was shaking inside when I left for I knew I had seen a woman who had all the answers she needed. She felt God on the mountain. It was wealth of a different kind.
Christ Jesus, that "fellow-traveler" from Nazereth. It was a liberated statute and
a life to emmulate. "...Give us this day our dailey bread, and lead us not into
temptation..." Thus you inquire, can the Lord tempt? I testify. An inquivable yes.
Achieving the blessings of Monastic attributes, the Benedict rule & principal of Work,
prayer, living with less and a meditative mediation with the divine, can be achieved
in your home sanctuary. With occasion retreats and sabbaticals on Guest retreat
at an available American Monestary. It is a strict observence.
Enlightment and attunement to the audible voice of our Maker, comes through an ever
councious mind-set and witness "in this very mili-second", to every act. Be it the pro-
creative exercise of "sex" ore removing "aphed insects" from the cavity of a stock of
Califlower while harvesting/plowing a vaste field. Cathartic self-talk is key, to self or
The Abbot or working companion. A scribe maintains a journal. As did Hermit/Monk
Thomas Merton, a Christian intuitive that brought a large amount of postulents into
the [Gessemini] Order, in Western Kentucky. Worshipping in a Zen-Buddha commune
left me with many points unanswered. At journeys end I at last reached enlightment while on
retreat at a "trappist monestary" while cutting grass on the back of a {John Deere Tractor}.
I wonder if religions would still fight if they were to sit down together and share their energy healing techiques for the benefit of all of the worlds poor. IMHO gods of all types are sources of subtle energy and are much more alike in this respect than they are different.
I feel guilt
Although I ain't done nothing wrong
I feet guilt.
Seriously why would you want to tear yourself down like that by pleading for mercy all day.
I understand the power of meditation and or chanting but that is some sort of masochism.
Orthodox would never hesitate to acknowledge that they are separated from God. The whole point is to see yourself as you really are: spiritually naked and to seek to cloth yourself in Christ.
Talk about mumbo jumbo!
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
100's of bright, talented men locked away in a voluntary prison contributing nothing to the world.
The Monastery swapped what was basically swamp lands with prime state owned real estate. These swaps cost the Greek Tax Payer something close to 100 million Euros in loss of fixed assets, including assets in the Olympic Arc (real estate built with Tax Payer Money for the Olympic games). In total Vatopedi acquired 250 pieces of State owned real estate!!
The Abbot was especially ingenious when it came to acquiring real-estate from the state. They went as far as presenting a Chrysobull, while laying claim to an entire lake in Thrace Greece. FYI a Chrysobull was a property deed issued by Byzantine Emperors to Byzantine Aristocracy, the only snag in this story is that the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist more than 6 centuries ago and in no country in the world is a document issued 600 years ago at least can be considered legally binding.
The swaps were possible due to the monastery's connections with the upper echelons of Greek society. Lawyers, law-makers, ex-ministers all faced charges of fraud expect the main Culprit, Abbot Ephraim and his monk cronies!
These people are ruthless and I'll be damned before I sit and cheer for them exonerating their faith!
Citations:
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/world/europe/25greece.html
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11570472
It's a combination of ujjaya breath (any yoga teacher can show how). It's very relaxing. Other part is moving the awareness from the mind to the heart center (not the physical heart). In the East, the mind is described as moving like a drunken monkey, from 1 thought to another. With awareness at the heart center, no thoughts...with practice, one can experience quiet bliss. Yet, at the same time, be present and aware to drive and do various tasks, ride a bike, etc.
I've had over 25 yrs. of meditation practice, find this the best.