“To Pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever present, all seeing, within you.”
“The best Prayer is: ‘Lord! Thou knowest all things. Do with me as Thou Willest!'”
“The principal thing is to stand with the mind in the heart before God, and to go on standing before Him unceasingly day and night, until the end of life.”
“Turn to the Lord, drawing the down the attention of the mind into the heart, and calling upon Him there. With the mind firmly established in the heart, stand before the Lord with awe, reverence and devotion. If we would fulfil this small rule unfailingly, then passionate desires and feelings would never arise, nor would any other thought.”
“Descend with your attention into the heart, stand there before the Lord and admit nothing sinful to enter there. In this is the entire activity of inner warfare.”
“Do not rush one Prayer after another but say them with orderly deliberation, as one addressing a great person for a favour. Do not just pay attention to the words, but rather let the mind be in the heart, standing before the Lord in full awareness of His presence, in full consciousness of His greatness and Grace and justice.”
“Attention to that which transpires in the heart and proceeds from it – this is the chief activity of the proper Christian life.”
“A Christian without zeal is a poor Christian.”
“When a soldier is attacked by the enemy, should he just run away? Of course not. He should fight. And we have to fight, too. As soon as the devil, the enemy, bares his teeth, through the little problems he creates for us, we have to fight back.”
“Stand before the Lord with the attention in the heart, and call to Him: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!’ The essential part of this is not in the words, but in faith, contrition, and self-surrender to the Lord. With these feelings one can stand before the Lord even without any words, and it will still be Prayer.”
“Walking into Church we walk into a completely different world, are influenced by it, and change according to it.”
“We grow cold within when our heart is distracted, when it cleaves to something other than God, worrying about different things, getting angry and blaming someone, – when we are discontented and pander to the flesh, wallowing in luxury and wandering thoughts. Guard against these things, and the coldness will diminish.”
“The Spiritual life is such a realm into which the wisdom of this world does not penetrate.”
“The Lord is on the Cross. Stand in front of Him in your thoughts and ponder, how would the Lord meet you once He comes down from the Cross? Keep thinking about this for some time, and your conscience will clearly tell you the truth.”
“During the Prayer, the enemy always will try to bring into your mind things that may seem extremely important, and then removes these thoughts and leads you further astray. It is vital to instill in your hearts a strong conviction and decisiveness in order to be able to choose God as opposed to anything else, at least during Prayer.”
“Comprehension or the ability to see certain Spiritual things can happen during Prayer. But the Prayer that is simply read will not give you this. You can only get this from a brief, personal Prayer, where you continuously keep God within yourself.”
“When you finished your Prayer, do not think that it is all over. Act as if you are attending the Liturgy. Always have a sober mind and keep your thoughts chaste.”
“Get out of the mind and into the heart.”
“A person who has repented will first only see his sins, but once the inner self begins to settle, a person can start seeing passions that surround the Soul. Someone who has said before: ‘O Lord have mercy on me a sinner’, will now add the following: ‘God, cleanse me a sinner’ or ‘heal my Soul.'”
“But how can it be that our Good Shepherd, Who for three years sought the sheep which had wandered amiss, crying out so loudly that His throat was parched, and following roads so worn and full of thorns that He shed every drop of His blood and delivered His very life. How can it be, I say again, that now, if His sheep should follow after Him, turning to Him with love and calling out to Him for help with hope, He would decline to cast His eyes on the sheep that had gone astray. How could He not take it into His Divine embrace and, put it among the Angels of Heaven, and prepare a welcoming banquet for it?”
“The work of God is simple: it is Prayer – children talking with their Father.”
“You must gather yourself together within your heart and stand there before the Lord. This will show up any speck of dust. Pray, and may God grant your Prayer.”
“Although prayer is a habitual action for us, it needs preparation. For anyone who knows how to read and write, what is more usual than reading and writing? Yet if we sit down to read and write we do not do so suddenly, we first get ourselves into the mood for what we are going to do. This kind of preparation is all the more necessary before we start to Pray, particularly if our occupation immediately beforehand was very different from Prayer. So, morning or evening, immediately before you begin to repeat your Prayers, stand awhile, sit for awhile, or walk a little and try to steady your mind and turn it away from all worldly activities and objects. After this, think who He is to Whom you turn in Prayer, then recollect who you are; who it is who is about to start this invocation to Him in Prayer. Do this in such a way as to awake in your heart a feeling of humility and reverent awe that your are standing in the presence of God. It is the beginning of Prayer, and a good beginning is half the complete task.”
“Prayer is the test of everything; Prayer is also the source of everything; Prayer is the driving force of everything. If there is no success in Prayer, then there will be no success in anything.”
“To Pray is quite straightforward. Stand with the mind in the heart before the face of the Lord and cry: ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me’, or just: ‘Lord have mercy’, Most Merciful Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner’ – or with any other words. The power is not in the words, but in the thoughts and feelings.”
“It is a good Prayer that ends with your falling down before God with the feeling that Thou Who knowest the hearts, save me.”
