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St. Paisios on Mobilizing Prayer to Avert War and Heal the Heart
6:16
The post shares excerpts from St. Paisios the Athonite’s Spiritual Counsels on prayer, focusing on the Elder’s urgent call for fervent intercession to prevent war and calamity. He recounts a spiritual assurance to pray intensely that a Turkish attack be restrained, giving thanks to the Theotokos for protection. St. Paisios teaches that all people are brothers by descent from Adam and Eve, but Orthodox Christians share a deeper spiritual bond, compelling them to pray with greater pain for those suffering.
He clarifies that prayer is not a mechanical guarantee of national salvation but an expression of heartfelt sorrow that invites God’s intervention. The Elder calls for spiritual warriors like the Maccabees, urging monastics to prioritize prayer above all tasks because the world is in turmoil. He explains that passions — pride, self-will, shamelessness — act like rusted wires that short-circuit communion with God.
Using a radio analogy, he illustrates that to communicate with God we must tune our transmitter to love and our receiver to humility, laboring to acquire divine contact so the mind remains continually with God.
- The Elder mobilized prayer from spring to autumn to avert war, receiving assurance to pray fervently for restraint of a Turkish attack on October 16th.
- All humans are brothers in flesh; Orthodox Christians are brothers in both flesh and spirit, so we must pray for others with deeper pain.
- Prayer is not a mechanical guarantee of salvation but an expression of heartfelt pain that seeks God’s intervention.
- Monastics must set aside urgent tasks and devote all strength to prayer, as their purpose is the salvation of souls and helping the world.