In the Gospel now read, the prayer of the publican is depicted, which attracted God's mercy to him. This prayer consisted of the following few words: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" [78]. It is also noteworthy that such a short prayer was heard by God, and that it was pronounced in church, during public worship, during the reading and singing of psalms and other prayers. This prayer is approved by the Gospel, it is set up as a model of prayer: pious consideration of it becomes our sacred duty.

Why did the publican not choose some majestic and touching psalm for the outpouring of his heart before God, but turned to such a short prayer and repeated it alone during the entire service? We answer, borrowing the answer from the Holy Fathers [79]. "When true repentance vegetates in the soul, when humility and contrition of spirit appear in it because of the sinfulness revealed to its eyes, then verbosity becomes uncharacteristic and impossible for it. Concentrating on herself, directing all her attention to her plight, she begins to cry out to God with some shortest prayer."

Vast is the spectacle of sinfulness when it is given to man by God: it is indescribable in eloquence and verbosity; {p. 29} more accurately depicts his sighing and the groaning of his soul, clothed in the shortest and simplest words. Those who wish to reveal a deep sense of repentance in themselves use a short prayer as an instrument to attain such a state, saying it with all possible attention and reverence. The abandonment of many words, even if they are holy, helps the mind to completely free itself from distraction and to strive with all its strength towards self-contemplation. "In thy prayer do not allow thyself to be verbose," said St. John of the Ladder, "lest thy mind be inclined to the consideration of words. One word of the publican propitiated God, and one true saying saved the thief. Verbosity in prayer often leads the mind to distraction and daydreaming, and verbosity usually gathers it" [80].

In view of the greatest benefit of short, attentive, concentrated prayer, the Holy Church commands her children to become accustomed to any short prayer in due time. He who has accustomed himself to such prayer has a prayer ready in every place and at any time. And traveling, and sitting at a meal, and doing handicrafts, and being in human society, he can cry out to God. If it is impossible to pray with the lips, it is possible to pray with the mind. In this respect, the convenience of a short prayer is obvious: it is very easy to lose the meaning and consistency of a long prayer during practice; but a short prayer is always preserved in its entirety. Leaving it for a while, you can return to it again without any difficulty. Even during Divine services it is useful to repeat a short prayer in the spiritual cell: not only does it not interfere with the attention of the prayers read and sung in the church of God, but also contributes to especially careful attention to them, keeping the mind from being distracted. If the mind is not restrained in self-contemplation by a short prayer that fills the soul with a sense of repentance, then it will easily fall into distraction during the Divine services, leaving church reading and singing unattended, and will deviate to empty reflections and daydreams. This happened to the Pharisee now mentioned; the Pharisee listened superficially to the Divine services and was carried away by sinful thoughts. Sinful thoughts not only deprived his prayer, which was already weak, of all dignity, but also turned it into a pretext for condemning the one who prayed. The Pharisee's prayer was rejected by God: the Pharisee left the temple sealed with the seal of God's wrath, not understanding and not feeling his spiritual distress, for the reason that his heart, being dead to repentance, was filled with self-satisfaction and self-deception. When prayer by short prayer, from frequent and constant use, turns into a habit, then it becomes as it were natural for a person. Listening attentively to something that particularly interests us, we make various exclamations, which not only do not impede our attention, but even aggravate it: in the same way, having acquired the habit of short prayer, we express our sympathy and attention to the prayer and psalmody we hear.

Throughout the Holy Forty Days, during all the divine services, the prayer is often repeated, in the ears of those present in the church: God! cleanse me, a sinner. Why is this so frequent repetition of the same prayer? In order for us to learn to repeat it often. For the same purpose, another short prayer is often repeated: Lord, have mercy.

The Savior of the world, Who approved the prayer of the publican, subsequently permitted and granted us to pray in His all-holy name. Prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus, both in His name and as established by Him, is called the Jesus Prayer. Under the reign of the Old Testament, man turned to God, Whom he did not yet know definitely; At the onset of the dominion of the other, in the New Testament, man, in addition to the previous conversion, is given the opportunity to turn to the God-Man as an intercessor between God and men, as an intercessor in whom the Divinity is united with humanity, as an intercessor who has explained God to men with the detail and fullness possible for human comprehension, who confesses God [81]. To the Old Testament prayer God, be merciful to me, a sinner, the New Testament prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." The Old Testament servants of God used the first prayer; the New Testamentes, using the first, make the most use of the second, because it pleased the God-Man to combine with His human name a special miraculous spiritual power. For constant prayer, the prayer "Lord, have mercy" is also used. It is an abbreviated Jesus Prayer, and replaces it in those cases when the pronunciation of the entire Jesus Prayer becomes difficult, such as: in times of fright, in times of unexpected joy, in times of serious illness, during spiritual vision. In the latter case, the exclamation "Lord, have mercy" serves as an echo for the mind of those grace-filled understandings that appear to it after its purification, exceed its comprehension and cannot be expressed in words [82].

What is the meaning of the word "have mercy" in all these prayers, or be merciful? This is man's awareness of his destruction; it is a feeling of that mercy, that self-pity that the Lord commanded us to feel towards ourselves, and which is felt by very few; it is a denial of one's own dignity; it is a petition for God's mercy, without which there is no hope of salvation for the lost. The mercy of God is nothing else than the grace of the All-Holy Spirit; we, sinners, must unceasingly, persistently ask God for it. "Have compassion, O my Lord, on my miserable condition, into which I fell, having lost Thy grace, and dwell Thy grace in me again. Strengthen me with the Spirit of the Lord,[83] with the Spirit of Thy power, that I may be able to resist the temptations inflicted by the devil and the temptations that arise from my fallen nature. Send me the spirit of chastity, so that I may arise from the state of mental ecstasy in which I find myself, and correct my moral feet. Grant me the spirit of Thy fear, that I may fear Thee, as it behooves the weakest creature to fear the great God their Creator, so that because of my reverence for Thee I may keep Thy commandments sacredly. Plant in my heart love for Thee, so that I may no longer be separated from Thee, that I may not be carried away by an irresistible attraction to abominable sin. Grant me Thy peace, that it may preserve my soul in indestructible tranquillity, that it may not allow my thoughts to wander about the world unnecessarily, to my detriment, to my confusion, so that it may concentrate them in self-contemplation and from it ascend to Thy Throne. Grant me the spirit of meekness, so that I may abstain from anger and malice, and be constantly filled with kindness towards my brethren. Grant me the spirit of humility, so that I may not be arrogant, that I may not dream of myself, that I may not seek the praise and glory of men, but that I am earth and ashes, a fallen being, cast down to earth because of my unworthiness, which must be brought out of the body and this world by death, that I must be brought before Thy dreadful and impartial Judgment [84]. God, be merciful to me, a sinner! Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me! Lord, have mercy!"

Many pronounce these short prayers with the greatest haste, caring only about fulfilling the prescribed number of them. In this way, they do not allow prayer to penetrate into the heart and produce its proper action, which consists in tenderness. The Holy Fathers rightly note that those who pray in this way pray to the air, and not to God [85]. Why do we miss God's church? because they did not feel the effect of prayer. Why do we hurry to a well-fed table? because we know from experience the significance of material food. Why do we not hurry to the temple of God, but try to come to it later, when a significant part of the Divine Service has already been served? because we do not know by experience the meaning of prayer, which serves as food for the soul, which imparts spiritual strength to the soul. We do not know by experience the meaning of prayer because we pray hastily, superficially, without attention. The effect of a prolonged but inattentive prayer on the soul is like the effect of abundant rain on an iron roof, from which all the water, no matter how much it pours, runs away, without producing any effect on the roof. On the contrary, attentive prayer can be likened to beneficial rain that irrigates a sown field, gives nourishment to plants, and prepares a rich harvest. Correcting an important error, which deprives the ascetic of prayer of all the fruit of his podvig, the disciples and confidants of holy prayer, the Holy Fathers, command that the words of both short prayers and all prayers in general be pronounced with special unhurriedness, with the observance of the most careful attention to the words of the prayer [86]. With the unhurried reading of prayers, such attention is possible; in hasty reading, there is no place for attention. Prayer devoid of attention is devoid of its essence, devoid of life. Then it is like a body abandoned by the soul: it does not smell of humility, it does not ascend to God; Stricken and mortified by absent-mindedness, it grovels in earthly decay and stench, communicating them to the worshipper carelessly and coldly. The attention of the mind during prayer is reflected in the heart by the blessed sorrow for sins, which is the repentance commanded by God. When the heart is filled with a feeling of repentance, then it draws the mind to special attention. Following attention and tenderness, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit enter the soul, making it a temple of God.

Let us give our prayer two properties: attention and repentance. With them, as with two wings, may it fly to heaven, may it stand before the face of God, may it intercede for our mercy. These two properties were possessed by the prayer of the blessed publican. Imbued with the consciousness of his sinfulness, he did not find in his deeds any hope of receiving salvation, he saw this hope in the one mercy of God, Who calls all sinners to repentance and grants salvation for repentance alone. As a sinner who has no good of his own, the publican took the last place in the temple; As a sinner unworthy of heaven, he did not dare to lift up his eyes to heaven. He directed them to the ground and, striking their hearts with repentance, from the depths of their hearts, with all his soul pronounced a prayer combined with confession: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Молитва была так действительна и сильна, что грешник вышел из храма Божия оправданным. Засвидетельствовал это Сердцеведец Господь, Спаситель человеков, — и сбылось над покаявшимся грешником проречение Пророка: созиждет Господь Сиона, душу человеческую, разрушенную падением, и явится во славе Своей. Призре на молитву смиренных и не уничижи моления их. Да напишется сие в род ин, да напишется это в уведание всего человечества, да напишется во {стр. 34} уведание всего племени и потомства христианского! и людие, зиждемии покаянием и внимательною молитвою, ощутив свое обновление Божественною благодатию, восхвалят Господа [87], благоволившего восприять человечество, и спасти человеков дивным смотрением Своим и дивным учением Своим. Аминь.

Поучение

в Неделю блудного сына [88]

О покаянии

Возлюбленные братия! Святая Церковь, эта чадолюбивая мать верующих, родившая их во спасение и принимающая на себя все заботы, чтобы чада ее не лишились своего наследия — Неба, приготовляя их к успешному совершению наступающего подвига Святой Четыредесятницы, постановила сегодня читать на Божественной Литургии притчу Господа нашего Иисуса Христа о блудном сыне.