How exactly would one pray the Jesus prayer?

[gtsecc]

.

[Kolya]

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have Mercy on me, a sinner!"

(Whisper) That's how I say it each day.

[e=mv^2]

Don't take my word on it but....

I don't think that the importance is on the number of words or even the language of the words but the fact that you offer your prayer with the right heart. The broken heart of a sinner that knows it is wrong and that only grace can repair it. It is the heart that says the prayer not the mind or the mouth. So long as you are cultivating the proper heart then you can say:

Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy on me.
Lord have mercy I am a sinner.
Jesus have mercy.
Κύριε ἐλέησον - kyrie eleison

I have read that some even just use "Jesus".

The important thing is what is in the heart when the prayer is said.


But then.... I am not orthodox...yet...

[moses916]

i usually just say "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner" in my head

[Tsarina]

Reapeating and reapeating the Jesus prayer will bring great joy to your heart. (Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner). I am glad you have asked to how one can pray this prayer.

To pray, listen attentively to the rhythmic beat of your heart. When you have accustomed to this, then begin to say the words of the Prayer, while looking into your heart, to the rhythm on the heartbeat.

With the first beat say the first word, second beat the second word, and so on so forth. Repeat this frequently.

The next step, according to the writings of the Fathers, is to direct the flow of this Prayer in the heart in harmony with your breathing. By this, when you inhaling say, 'Lord jesus Christ'. When exhaling say the next bit of the prayer, inhale again and say the next bit. Finish off the prayer by exhaling.

Practice this as often as possible, gradually increasing the time, and before too long, you will experience a kind of pleasant pain in the heart, a warmth and a sense of burning. And, becasue of this, with the help of God, you will attain self-activating prayer of the heart.

I have learned this from a book that i have read. At first it was a little difficult to do, but each night in bed i started to do this and naturally i see myself prayering everywhere and anywhere. When i do stop praying, i feel the urge to pray again. You can use a prayer rope to help you if you like.

Godbless.

[icxn]

Don't take my word on it but....

I don't think that the importance is on the number of words or even the language of the words but the fact that you offer your prayer with the right heart. The broken heart of a sinner that knows it is wrong and that only grace can repair it. It is the heart that says the prayer not the mind or the mouth. So long as you are cultivating the proper heart then you can say:

Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy on me.
Lord have mercy I am a sinner.
Jesus have mercy.
Κύριε ἐλέησον - kyrie eleison

I have read that some even just use "Jesus".

The important thing is what is in the heart when the prayer is said.


But then.... I am not orthodox...yet...

Actually this is a very good answer. IMO anyway. :thumbsup:

icxn

[Akathist]

This prayer is not meant to be an esoteric experience for someone not yet at that level spiritually. Just repeating the prayer thoughtfully is sufficient and helpful.

We Orthodox have a "Prayer Rope" similar to the RC "rosary" only ours is typicaly made from special knots on wool. It can have 33 knots or 100, etc. We say one "Jesus Prayer" per knot.

When I first came to Orthodoxy I didn't have a Prayer Rope and I used the Rosary much like one might for the "Chaplet of Divine Mercy" (Which is similar in wording to the "Jesus Prayer" isn't it?)

[Xpycoctomos]

Don't take my word on it but....

I don't think that the importance is on the number of words or even the language of the words but the fact that you offer your prayer with the right heart. The broken heart of a sinner that knows it is wrong and that only grace can repair it. It is the heart that says the prayer not the mind or the mouth. So long as you are cultivating the proper heart then you can say:

Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy on me.
Lord have mercy I am a sinner.
Jesus have mercy.
Κύριε ἐλέησον - kyrie eleison

I have read that some even just use "Jesus".

The important thing is what is in the heart when the prayer is said.


But then.... I am not orthodox...yet...

....yet ;)

Good post.

[Ragamuffins]

The other day I heard a chap ont he radio (Cathic radio) say the Jesus prayer in this fashion:
Lord Jesus Christ
Son of the living God
Have mercy on me a sinner.

Slight variation but I was thrown a bit because I say it this way and thought it was always this way:
Lord Jesus Christ
Son of God
Have mercy on me a sinner.

In the end it matters not I guess, but I was thrilled that they were at least praying that prayer :)

[Stephanida]

I always just say it when I am overwhelmed and can not say anything else. I use it to calm me and to focus on other prayers. Depending on how much distress I am in is how I say it.

If I am in a true panic then I just say "Lord have mercy" over and over and over and over.............

But if I am a bit calmer I say a bit more "Lord have mercy on me"

If I am only slightly upset then I say "Lord have mercy on me a sinner"

If I am saying it when I am alright then I say the whole prayer "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner"

It isn't so much how you say it as how you mean it.

[Ioan cel Nou]

I agree with everything that's been posted here. Personally, I say the Jesus Prayer in Romanian rather than English for two (I think) good reasons. Firstly, the fact that it is a second language makes me concentrate more, avoiding the trap of rattling off thousands of vain repetitions, which I find all to easy to do in English. Secondly, the prayer in Romanian reads as Lord Jesus Christ (this in the vocative, so it's grammatically a call for help, which I miss in English - our grammar is too simple), Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner. I prefer this because it helps me realise that I am the worst of all sinners, which is somewhat different to just one sinner amongst all the others. I'm not saying that everyone else should use Romanian, of course, but I think it's helpful to notice these aspects of the prayer that are unclear in the usual English translation.

James

[prodromos]

Reapeating and reapeating the Jesus prayer will bring great joy to your heart. (Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner). I am glad you have asked to how one can pray this prayer.

To pray, listen attentively to the rhythmic beat of your heart. When you have accustomed to this, then begin to say the words of the Prayer, while looking into your heart, to the rhythm on the heartbeat.

With the first beat say the first word, second beat the second word, and so on so forth. Repeat this frequently.
Tsarina, not to discourage you but I know of a fellow who stopped his heart through this. His reciting of the prayer became so bound to his heart beat that he could slow his heart simply by praying more slowly. One day he paused for a bit in his prayers...

This is why such practices should only be developed under quidance. There are very real physical and spiritual dangers.

John

[Kolya]

I just pray the Jesus prayer slowly, with feeling, and no rythem.(So that I am consciously doing it, not in a dream like state) Every dacade on my Chotki I do the Lord's Prayer and a prayer to the Theotokos.

[Emmanuel-A]

Like John said, the practice of the Jesus prayer should be done under the guidance of spiritual father or someone who has experience (no book can replace that) because spiritual delusion is so easy in this field.

The Jesus prayer and hesychasm in general fascinate a lot of people, even outside the church. But this prayer has no meaning outside the Church and too often some people reduce it to a technique of relaxation or a "christian mantra".

To me, the most approriate answer to the initial question is the good old "ask your priest".

When I asked mine, he said that of course, one should say the Jesus prayer very often, but that true prayer of the heart was very difficult and for great spirituals (which I'm not), and that he knew a couple of great saints who did not know what "hesychasm" was, particularly one (can't remember his name) whose main form of prayer was to sing the akathist of the Mother of God aloud in front of the Icon.

[Akathist]

Tsarina, not to discourage you but I know of a fellow who stopped his heart through this. His reciting of the prayer became so bound to his heart beat that he could slow his heart simply by praying more slowly. One day he paused for a bit in his prayers...

This is why such practices should only be developed under quidance. There are very real physical and spiritual dangers.

John

I agree that this is not the way to say this prayer unless your Priest specifically instructs you. I have read the instructions of the use of this prayer this way in a book... but it is a book that was way above me spiritually and I should not have even read it.

It is better to just practice the laymember's normal disciplines of the church and leave this other level to those in monestaries or to Priests.

[Akathist]

particularly one (can't remember his name) whose main form of prayer was to sing the akathist of the Mother of God aloud in front of the Icon.

I bet there are a lot of Saints who fit this... but I was reading about St. Nectarious and this was exactly his form of prayer... He said the cycle of prayer and the book frequently mentioned the Small Compline and the akathist to Theotokos.

[Tsarina]

Tsarina, not to discourage you but I know of a fellow who stopped his heart through this. His reciting of the prayer became so bound to his heart beat that he could slow his heart simply by praying more slowly. One day he paused for a bit in his prayers...

This is why such practices should only be developed under quidance. There are very real physical and spiritual dangers.

John

Yes Prodromos, i have also heard of somthing like this. Praying the way i explained is how i do it, and i see no difficulites in it. I wonder how long this man you talk about was praying. He may be practicing it alot for hours throughout the day. Thats now how i do it; i dedicate atleast 15-20 mintues to this wonderful exercise.

However, if you pray it constantly over and over then perhaps somthing may happen, god forbid.

Godbless.

[Akathist]

There are dangers to saying this prayer this way without supervision of a Spiritual Father or Priest.

I am not going to discuss what the dangers are. Just speak to your Priest about this.

[Xpycoctomos]

These dangers are not only physical in nature, but spiritual too.

[Akathist]

I was actually thinking more of spiritual than physical!

[Tsarina]

There are dangers to saying this prayer this way without supervision of a Spiritual Father or Priest.

I am not going to discuss what the dangers are. Just speak to your Priest about this.

I shall take your advice and find out from my Priest; Thank you.

Godbless.

[Michael the Iconographer]

Pray it slowly, prayerfully and meaningfully. You may slowly repeat it over and again, if you wish. The goal of the prayer is to free your mind to contemplate the Divine.