Письмо 29
The Discipline of Unceasing Prayer
The author encourages the recipient to persevere in the difficult initial stages of mental prayer.
Well, thank God you've started to learn the lesson. Bless this, Lord — for the glory of His holy name. It's hard at the beginning, and it seems like some absurdity, some pretension — and how many unfavorable thoughts there are about this work! The main thing is this: you must keep your mind in your heart before the Lord, and remain before Him without leaving, day and night, until the end of your life.1 Put in a little effort. How long it takes to learn the lesson is both long and short, depending on faith and zeal. Don't grow weak. There will be suspicion toward the one advising you, and ill will toward the work of prayer itself — reproach against it, exhaustion, the desire to quit — precisely because it seems complicated.2
Victory Through the Name of Jesus
The Jesus Prayer acts as a spiritual shield that repels the enemy and grounds the soul in humility.
It's dangerous! Don't listen; just stick to your work. Above all else, the Enemy sows blasphemies against this prayer. That's because the fire burns him and drives him away. He can't get near a person in whose heart the Jesus Prayer has been planted. The sweetest name of the Lord, sounding and being spoken without ceasing in the heart, even without your knowing it, will beat him. It happens that the soul, through carelessness and lack of understanding, forgets itself and drifts into daydreams; but when it comes to its senses and returns to itself, it finds that in the heart one and the same thing is being sung: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!✦3 Your intention to cast yourself into the dust before the Lord is the very heart of this practice.
Standing Before the Dread Judgment
The author emphasizes the need for bodily and mental vigilance, treating prayer as a serious encounter with God.
Stay that way without ceasing, and everything is right here. In prayer, you must stand as if you are at the Dread Judgment.4 Yes. Bolt upright!5 This is exactly what it means: don't allow yourself any free movements, and don't give your body any rest.6 Any rest for the body is damage to the soul. You'll find all this out for yourselves later. Just set this as your standard: a warm falling before God.7 In this is blessedness. Consider anything that gets in your way an enemy.
Paschal Joy and Self-Offering
The author connects the liturgical season of Pascha to the call to imitate Christ's self-emptying love.
Tomorrow is Lazarus Saturday. You'll be reading these lines, no doubt, at Pascha.8 Christ is risen! Pass this on from me to everyone you know as well. But first, let's walk through the Passion, go deep into it, and learn love from the Lord, who emptied Himself completely for our sake—and learn how to offer ourselves to Him as a whole burnt offering!✦9 Bless us, O Lord! I wish you peace from the Lord.
A Final Gift of Guidance
The letter concludes with a postscript regarding a spiritual notebook sent for the recipient's edification.
P. S. I've long meant to send you a little notebook.10 I'm finally sending it. Read it.
Read the original Russian
Ну, слава Богу, что вы начали учить урок. Благослови Господи, – славы ради имени Его святаго. Трудно в начале, и кажется какою-то нелепостию, вычурностию и сколько невыгодных мыслей о сем деле! – Главное – надо стать умом в сердце пред Господом, и стоять пред Ним неотходно и день и ночь, до конца жизни. Употребите небольшой труд. Длительность изучения урока и долга и коротка, смотря по вере и усердию. Не ослабевайте. – Будет и подозрение к советующему, и неблаговоление к самому делу молитвы, – хула на нее, изнеможение, желание бросить – именно потому, что мудрено.
Опасно! не слушайте, держите свое дело. Враг паче всего всевает хулы на сию молитву. Ибо тогда огнь палит его и отгоняет. Ему приступа нет к тому лицу, в сердце котораго внедрена молитва Иисусова. Сладчайшее имя Господа, непрестанно звучащее и глаголющееся в сердце, даже без вашего ведома, будет бить его. Ибо бывает так, что душа – по небрежию и неразумию – забудется и замечтается, – но опомнясь и возвратясь к себе находит, что в сердце поется одно и тоже: Господи, Иисусе Христе, Сыне Божий помилуй мя грешнаго! – Ваша мысль о повержении себя в прах пред Господом есть сердцевина сего делания.
Будьте так непрестанно и все тут. На молитве надо стоять, как на страшном суде. – Так! – В струнку! – Это и есть не допускать вольнодвижений и покоя телу не давать. Всякий покой телу ущерб для души. После все сами узнаете. Только положите мерою – теплое припадание к Богу.
В сем блаженство. Все что мешает, считайте врагом.
Завтра Лазарева суббота. Вы будете читать сии строки, верно, на Пасхе. – Христос воскресе! Повторите сие от меня и всем знаемым. – Но прежде страсти пройдем и углубимся в них и поучимся любви у Господа, всего Себя истощившаго ради нас, – и тому, как себя приносить Ему в жертву всесожжения! – Благослови Господи! Мира вам от Господа желаю.
P. S. Давно я собирался переслать вам одну тетрадку. Посылаю наконец. Прочитайте.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.18.13 — But the tax collector, standing far off, was not even willing to lift his eyes to heaven, but kept beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner.'
- ↩Phil.2.7 — but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and appearing as a human being.
Notes
- 1 ↩стать умом в сердце is classic hesychast language for uniting the mind with the heart before God; rendered as 'stand with the mind in the heart' to keep the technical force.
- 2 ↩мудрено can mean 'complicated,' 'hard to grasp,' or 'too clever/artificial'; here, with the following section on enemy attacks against the Jesus Prayer, 'complicated' best fits the discouragement that makes one want to abandon the practice.
- 3 ↩The closing petition is the traditional Jesus Prayer formula (Church Slavonic: «Господи, Иисусе Христе, Сыне Божий, помилуй мя грешнаго»); rendered in its familiar English shape rather than calqued archaic pronouns.
- 4 ↩Russian «страшный суд» is the traditional Orthodox name for the Last Judgment (the Dread Judgment), not merely any fearful trial.
- 5 ↩Russian «в струнку» is a posture idiom: standing ramrod-straight / at attention. Rendered as bodily discipline in prayer, not as musical string imagery.
- 6 ↩«Вольнодвижения» names self-willed, casual bodily motions (shifting, lounging, easing the stance), not mere physical motion as such.
- 7 ↩«Припадание» is the devotional act of falling down before God (prostration / casting oneself at His feet), continuous with the previous section’s «повержение себя в прах».
- 8 ↩«на Пасхе» rendered as Pascha (Orthodox Easter feast); Easter would also be acceptable for broader accessibility.
- 9 ↩«всего Себя истощившаго» carries the kenotic sense of self-emptying (cf. Phil 2); «жертву всесожжения» is the whole burnt offering, not a generic sacrifice.
- 10 ↩тетрадка: a small notebook/booklet (often a handwritten spiritual copybook); rendered 'little notebook' rather than a generic 'booklet' or modern 'workbook'.
Letters on the Christian Life companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit