"The Holy Fathers on Prayer and Sobriety"

Preface to the collection of Theophanes the Recluse

The proposed collection owes its origin to the following incident. A certain God-lover, who loves to pay attention to himself and to converse with God in prayer, told about himself that he, sometimes having to worry a lot about the household and his position, always weakens in attention and cools down in prayer. No matter how sorrowful it is, he says, I am not able to cope with myself. But then, as soon as I have free time, I lock myself in my room and, putting an end to all my affairs and worries, I only pray, read, and meditate on God and divine things. God is merciful, — the former peaceful mood returns again. At this time I read only about prayer, now in one book, now in another. Having said this, he expressed the desire that it would be good if all this were collected in one small book. Then there would be no need to rummage through various books.

And behold, it is collected, at least partially, but enough for the purpose. The motivation was not only the desire of the aforesaid God-lover, but especially the fact that many other God-lovers are in similar circumstances, and those in which prayer is written do not have at hand the books in which prayer is written in order to read and restore in themselves a prayerful mood. Meanwhile, such reading is the best means of pacifying the mind and sobering the heart, and it will kindle the desire for prayer. He will pray while his heart is glowing, and again for reading, so that, warmed by it, he may again stand up for prayer.

That is the reason and motivation for this collection! But even without that, in it everyone who wishes to establish himself in prayer will find the necessary instruction for this.

Everything is said in it about the spirit of prayer. As for the rules and the order of the prayer book, there is no need for special instruction for this. These rules and rites are indicated in the church, and are fulfilled by everyone, even those who do not listen to prayer so diligently. They go to church and pray at home according to prayer books. And there is no one who remembers himself at all, who does not correct his prayers every day, be that as it may.

With all this, however, one cannot help wondering how it happens that we pray for a whole century, but still do not know how to pray as we should. The proposed collection will remind us of this, depicting proper prayer, and whoever desires to attain perfection in it, so that it may be worthy in his soul, will teach him how to succeed in this.

The crown of the collection is to make up an interpretation of the Lord's Prayer. And its origin is similar to the previous one. Several persons bothered me to give an explanation of this prayer, Out of the consciousness of powerlessness to do this well with my mind and word, it was proposed to collect for each word of the prayer what the Holy Fathers said about it, and to bring it to the attention of Christ-loving men of prayer. And it is proposed.

This is how the two halves of the collection took place.

Others, perhaps, will regret that the collection has not been given some kind of system. "I had a thought about it. But one of the great men of prayer, a saint of God now of blessed memory, was asked, "Would it not be better to give a system to the collection?" The answer was received as follows: the system is not moving towards this matter. The system is produced by forces that are in a completely different area from that in which prayer operates. Therefore, it will be a mixture of unrelated elements. The collection is compiled for edification, not for speculation. But he who seeks edification does not need a system, but an indication of the deed. His own prayerful order is created in his heart, and every instruction read immediately finds its place in the heart, and not in the head. The system will only interfere with him, and even cool down the work of prayer. "This cannot be contradicted," and the collection was compiled without a system.

We accompany it with the desire that the Lord grant all those who read it to find in it that which is useful for the creation in their hearts of the spirit of prayer.

Chapter 1: ST. BASIL THE GREAT'S INSTRUCTIONS ON PRAYER AND SOBRIETY[1]

1) Prayer is a petition for good things sent by the pious to God. "But it is necessary not to place prayer in words alone, but even more in a prayerful disposition of the soul. And one must always pray, on any occasion. If you sit at the table, pray; when you eat bread, give thanks to Him who gave it; strengthening the infirmity of the body with wine, remember Him Who gave you this gift for the joy of the heart and for the alleviation of infirmities. If the need for food has passed, let the remembrance of the Benefactor not cease. If you put on a tunic, thank Him who gave it; if you put on clothes, increase your love for God, Who has given us coverings suitable for winter and summer, protecting our life and covering our ugliness. Has the day passed? Give thanks to Him Who gave us the sun for the conduct of the day's affairs, and Who gave us fire to illuminate the night and serve for the other necessities of life. Let the night give you other motives for prayer. When you look up to heaven and fix your gaze on the beauty of the stars, pray to the Lord of the visible, and worship the best Artist of all, God, Who "created all things in wisdom" (Psalm 103:24). When you see that all animal nature is enveloped in sleep, worship Him Who by means of sleep and against our will frees us from the continuity of labor, and through a little calm again brings us to the vigor of strength. Therefore, do not let the whole night be your lot of sleep, — do not allow half of your life to become useless from sleepless insensibility; on the contrary, let the night time be divided into sleep and prayer. In this way you will pray unceasingly, not concluding the prayer in words; but through the whole course of life drawing near to God, so that thy life may be uninterrupted and unceasing prayer (4:68, 69).

2) To every call to prayer, answer: "My heart is ready," and until the last prayer be at the divine service, considering it a great loss to abandon prayer. For if, partaking of food to strengthen your flesh, you remain without a way out at the table until you have satisfied your needs, and without great necessity you do not easily leave the table, then how much more should you remain to the end during the time of spiritual nourishment and strengthen your soul with prayer? For as much as there is a difference between heaven and earth, and between heaven and earth, so much is the difference between soul and body. The soul is a likeness of heaven, because the Lord dwells in it; and the flesh is from the earth, on which mortal men and dumb animals dwell. Therefore, measure your bodily needs with the hours of prayer, and prepare yourself not to listen to thoughts that distract you from common prayer. For it is the custom of the devil to urge us to leave during the hours of prayer, under the pretext of a plausible reason, in order to distract us from prayer. Do not apologize: I have a headache, a stomachache, presenting unknown witnesses to an unprecedented illness and for the sake of repose weakening in yourself the effort to keep vigil. On the contrary, perform also secret prayers, which God sees in secret, and for which He will reward you "Java" (Matt. 6:6). [5, 59–60].