UNCEASING PRAYER. Chapter 13 The Various Forms of Unceasing Prayer

One must always pray.

Lux. 18, 1

Pray without ceasing.

1 Thess. 5, 17

It can be observed that often prayer and the life of a Christian are not connected into one whole. A person devotes time to prayer in the morning and evening, and the rest of the day he forgets about prayer, and about God, and about the teaching of Christ, and about His commandments.

In this case, prayer seems to be isolated and does not penetrate into life. From this, the life of a Christian in such cases is not much different from the life of those who live outside of God: a person easily succumbs to the action of passions, he is disturbed by spiritual storms, and he feels defenseless and abandoned in the face of life's misfortunes.

This happens because a person does not know how to constantly wield the powerful weapon of a Christian – unceasing prayer. It is as if he tries on weapons in the morning and evening, and during the day he takes them off and goes out to the daily battle with the enemy without weapons.

"Except for unceasing prayer, we cannot draw near to God," says St. Isaac the Syrian.

And St. Gregory the Theologian writes: "We must not only pray always, but we must always teach others the same, all in general: monks, laymen, wise and simple, husbands, wives, and children - and urge them to pray without ceasing."

St. Symeon the New Theologian teaches: "He who prays without ceasing, in this alone unites all that is good."

St. The Fathers also say that "if you pray only when you have risen to pray, then you never pray."

It must also be understood that we are exposed to an incessant stream of temptations: in thoughts and feelings, at work, at rest, in bed, etc. Therefore, the main means of combating temptations - prayer - must also be unceasing. Hence, the habit of unceasing prayer is the most important, the most necessary of all habits, and a Christian should spare no effort to acquire it.