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During Prayer, a Kind of Mystery Takes Place: Elder Ephraim on the Jesus Prayer
11:09
What the video says
Elder Ephraim of Arizona describes the way of night prayer he received from his spiritual father, Elder Joseph the Hesychast, during their years in the wilderness. The monks woke around sunset, took a little coffee, and withdrew into their cells for the night vigil. Elder Joseph taught them to offer the mind the name of Christ before other thoughts entered, first preparing the heart with remembrance of death, sin, judgment, and eternity, without forming images.
The prayer is joined to attention and breathing, and the mind must be continually brought back from wandering. Elder Ephraim warns that unnecessary speech and distraction during the day spill what prayer has gathered, like a man who milks a cow and then knocks over the container. He describes prayer as encounter, sometimes accompanied by tears, while insisting that no technique can manufacture grace: we prepare the vessel, and God decides when to fill it.
Key moments
- In the wilderness, the monks awoke around sunset, took a little coffee to stay awake, and each withdrew into his cell for the night vigil, leaving behind the day's activities and conversations.
- Elder Joseph taught them to prepare the heart first: to remember the end of earthly life, their sinfulness, God's judgment, and eternity, without forming images, until the heart softened and acquired contrition.
- Then the prayer begins: 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.' The wandering mind is gathered and led inward, called back from its dispersion to remain attentive to the invocation of Christ.
- Elder Ephraim describes the monastic method of joining the prayer to attention on the heart and to breathing, but warns that the mind must not form an image of Christ or the Mother of God; the name of Christ is enough.
- The enemy opposes prayer because it creates a spiritual fortress, so the struggle begins before the place of prayer: the first thoughts, conversations, unnecessary words, and impressions of the day all matter.
- Elder Ephraim gives the image of a man who milks a cow and then carelessly knocks over the container: a person may struggle in prayer and then scatter everything through unnecessary speech, distraction, and careless living.
- Elder Joseph allowed no conversation at sunset; he motioned his disciple to leave, entered his cell and, as Elder Ephraim describes it, entered into his heart, remaining for hours and sometimes chanting mournful, compunctious hymns to rest his mind.
- Elder Ephraim compares the quieted nous being drawn toward God to a spiritual magnet, and to two people who love one another meeting after years apart: tears flow because the heart has encountered the one for whom it was created.
Elder Ephraim of Arizona recalls the teaching on prayer he received from Elder Joseph the Hesychast during their years in the wilderness. The monks woke around sunset, took a little coffee to stay awake, and each withdrew into his cell for the night vigil, leaving behind the day's activities and conversations. Elder Joseph allowed no conversation at sunset; he motioned his disciple to leave, entered his cell and, as Elder Ephraim describes it, entered into his heart, remaining for hours and sometimes chanting mournful, compunctious hymns to rest his mind.
Elder Joseph taught them to prepare the heart before praying: to remember the end of earthly life, their sinfulness, God's judgment, and eternity, without forming images, until the heart softened and acquired contrition. Then the prayer begins: 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.' The wandering mind is gathered and led inward, called back from its dispersion to remain attentive to the invocation of Christ.
The monastic method joins the prayer to attention on the heart and to breathing, but Elder Ephraim warns that the mind must not form an image of Christ or the Mother of God; the name of Christ is enough.
He warns that unnecessary speech and distraction during the day spill what prayer has gathered, like a man who milks a cow and then knocks over the container. The enemy opposes prayer because it creates a spiritual fortress, so the struggle begins before the place of prayer, with the first thoughts and words of the day. Elder Ephraim describes prayer as an encounter, sometimes accompanied by tears, while insisting that no technique can manufacture grace: we prepare the vessel, and God decides when to fill it.
During prayer, he says, a kind of mystery takes place, one that cannot be fully expressed in ordinary words.
Main points
- The monks in the wilderness woke around sunset, took a little coffee, and withdrew into their cells for the night vigil.
- Elder Joseph taught them to prepare the heart with remembrance of death, sin, judgment, and eternity, without forming images, until contrition came.
- The Jesus Prayer is joined to attention on the heart and to breathing, but the mind must not form an image of Christ or the Mother of God; the name of Christ is enough.
- Unnecessary speech and distraction during the day spill what prayer has gathered, like a man who milks a cow and then knocks over the container.
- No technique can manufacture grace: we prepare the vessel, and God decides when to fill it.