In addition to what has been said, you must also know that for the life-giving commandments and the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must, when the time requires, willingly destroy our very soul, that is, not spare our very lives, as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself says: "Whosoever shall destroy his soul for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, the same shall he save me" (Mark 8:10). 35), believing without doubt and without hesitation that the resurrection, and the life, and all that is salvific, is the God-Man Jesus the Saviour Himself, as He Himself said: "I am the resurrection and the life: believe in Me, and if he die, he shall live: and whosoever lives, and believeth in Me, shall never die" (John 11:25, 26). And again: God so loved the world, as He gave His Son the only people to eat, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16), and also: "I have come, that they may have life, and have more" (John 10:10). "In such a dispensation, forgetting the one that is behind, and stretching out in the past, as it is said (Phil. 3:13), the flows, with Christ Jesus our Lord, in their own way, not looking back (Luke 9:62).

Now, as it seems to us, it is appropriate to expound to Blessed Nicephorus a natural method (method, technique) of entering into the heart by attention through breathing, which contributes to the concentration of the thoughts of the mind. This man, having quoted the testimonies of many holy fathers about the inner life, finally says the following on his own behalf:

19) The natural method of entering into the heart with attention through breathing with the creation of prayer at the same time: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. This method contributes not a little to the concentration of the thoughts of the mind.

"You know, brother, how we breathe: we draw air into ourselves and let it out. On this bodily life rests, and the warmth of the body depends on it. "And so, sitting in your silent cell, gather your mind, lead it into the way of breathing, by which the air enters inside, and compel it to descend into the heart together with the inhaled air, and keep it there; hold, but do not leave him silent and idle, but give him the following prayer: Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. And let him have this as his unceasing work, and never forsake it. For, keeping him not dreamy, it makes him inaccessible to the enemy's pretenses, and elevates him to divine desire and love. "But, brother, take the trouble to accustom your mind not soon to get out of there; for in the beginning he is very bored with this within his imprisonment and constraints, but when he becomes accustomed, he no longer likes to rush about external objects. For the kingdom of God is within us; and to him who sees it, and, having sought it with pure prayer, feels it, everything external no longer seems attractive and loses all value. There, inside, he is no longer unhappy and joyless; But like some kind of husband. when he is away from home, when he returns, he does not know what joy he is to see his wife and children again: so the mind, when it is again united with the soul from dispersion, is filled with indescribable sweetness and joy" (this passage is abbreviated). This is what this blessed father said, intending to teach the mind, under the influence of this natural method (method, or method), from its usual whirling, captivity, and soaring. to return to oneself's attention, through such attention to be united with oneself again, and in this way to unite with prayer, and together with this prayer to descend into the heart and remain there forever. Another of the God-wise ones, as if to explain what has been said, as having become accustomed to this sacred work by experience, makes the following remark:

20) Also about the natural method of invoking the Lord Jesus Christ together with the breath.

Whoever wishes to learn this work must know that when we accustom our mind, together with the entrance of the air, to enter inward, then we will experience that the mind, beginning to descend inward, as soon as it begins to do so, it rejects every thought, and becomes singular and bare, and not occupied with any other memory than the invocation of our Lord Jesus Christ; on the contrary, proceeding from there and turning to the outward, he immediately amuses himself with manifold memories.

Chapters 21 – 40

21) and St. St. Chrysostom teaches prayer within the heart with the words: Lord Jesus, Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

And the great Chrysostom says: "I beseech you, brethren, never break or despise the rules of this prayer." — A little later: "A monk must, whether he eats, drinks, sits, serves, walks the path, or does anything else — constantly cry out: Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me! that the name of the Lord Jesus, descending into the depths of the heart, may humble the serpent that holds the pasture there, and save and give life to the soul. Abide unceasingly in the name of the Lord Jesus, that the heart of the Lord may swallow up, and the Lord the heart, and these two may be one." And again: "Do not separate your heart from God, but abide with Him, and guard your heart always with the remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, until the name of the Lord is rooted within the heart and it thinks of nothing else, — that Christ may be magnified in you."

22) Testimonies to the same by Sts. Climacus and Hesychius.

The Ladder also says: "Let the memory of Jesus be dissolved with thy breath; and then you will know the benefit of silence" (Verse 27:61). "The same is true of St. Hesychius: "If you truly wish to cover your thoughts with shame, be complacently silent, and sober your heart without difficulty; let the Jesus Prayer stick to your breath, and in a few days you will see it in practice" (ch. 182).

23) Whoever wishes to be mentally sober — everyone, especially a beginner — must, for the most convenient exercise in prayer, live in a silent and unbright cell, because through this the mind and thoughts naturally somehow gather into one.

To what has been shown above, as the main thing, which has long been legitimized by the great holy fathers, as is evident from the testimonies we have cited, concerning how we ought to pray, meditate, and sober in His holy and saving name, descending together with the breath into our hearts, in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and in His holy and saving name, and seek mercy for ourselves,