On Prayer

Special attention must be paid to the sevenfold prayers. Such united, whole prayer does not exist in any other country. This is not our invention. It is written in the psalm: “Seven times a day do I praise thee, O Lord.” Unfortunately, over the millennia this tradition was forgotten, and it has been revived in Georgia. Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

If you ask something of the Lord in prayer and He delays in hearing you, do not be grieved — you are not wiser than God. Isaac the Syrian

Do not stop praying when the tempter brings hardness of heart upon you. If you go on praying while dry in spirit, you will stand higher than one who prays with tears. Hegumen Arseny

Prayer is the breathing of the soul. St John of Kronstadt

Prayer is not wearisome labour. It is an inward work, a warm outpouring of the soul. True, prayer needs fasting and vigil. Fasting calms the passions, and vigil kills them. Prayer lifts a man up on wings to heaven, sending down to him heavenly gifts.

Morning prayer is to a man what the morning dew is to a plant. He who prays in the morning with due attention is happier and calmer the whole day. Where the mind turns in the morning, with that it will be occupied all day — like a millstone that grinds all day whatever is poured into it in the morning, whether flour or tares. Let us try to pour in wheat from the morning, so that the enemy does not pour in tares instead. During the day diligently do the work that your calling and your position in society require of you. And while doing this work, find moments to think reverently of God and to pray to Him, who blesses honest labour and helps a man in good work. Work and prayer, prayer and work — there is the best and most needful use of the time God has given. Pray and work — there is the golden rule that holds all the wisdom of earthly life. Protopresbyter I. Tolmachev

If you wake at night, remember God and pray. Prayer at night is like the sun: it lights up all the works of the day. Whatever God lays upon you, whatever circumstances you find yourself in, pray for the salvation of your soul and work for the good of society: prayer and work strengthen each other: prayer gives strength for the work for which we were born, and work scatters bad thoughts — the children of idleness — and gives the mind and heart calm and attention. Blessed is the man whose heart does not break this order.

When we call on the Lord in prayer, His name crushes all the passions — only we do not know how this happens.

The prayers offered to the Lord without love remain outside the door and are not received. For only love opens the door to prayers.

The healing of the blind man at Jericho was the fruit of his persistent prayer… Coldness in prayer is unpardonable… To pray — that is exactly what it means to live… Prayer tells a whim from a need… People say: those around us hinder us from praying. But the Gospel points us to the blind man, who was rebuked and told to be quiet, yet he called on the Lord all the louder… We know badly how to pray, but still we must beseech the Lord to come and enlighten our hearts…

Why did the Lord hear the blind man’s plea when he cried: “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me”? He heard because the blind man’s prayer was full not only of faith in Christ as the Messiah, but his prayer overcame every obstacle and temptation that met him from the crowd… Often our words of prayer are forestalled by thoughts; the mind is full of words, images, ideas, memories, impressions, which hinder us from gathering our mind in prayer… Carried away by thoughts, we lose faith and the remembrance that the Lord stands before us and hears our prayer… If we too, like that blind man, paid no heed to our thoughts, and in spite of all the difficulties that go with prayer (for according to the teaching of the fathers the devil fights the Christian especially in prayer), we too cried out unceasingly from the depth of our hearts: Son of David, have mercy on me! — the Lord too would not delay to grant what we ask… But we have turned prayer into mere standing, and no fruit is to be seen… Our prayers are not heard not because the Lord does not hear us, but because we ourselves do not hear our prayers…