Free Paper Of Hesychios Of Sinai On The Jesus Prayer Essay Sample

There is a specific method of preventing oblivion that throws its veil upon our minds and render us off guard in the face of circumstances that cause us to forget the purpose of following Christ. This method is known among Christian monks as the “Jesus Prayer.” It serves as a source of light and a fuel for our spiritual life, since it is the best guidance to avoid being let astray from our path towards Jesus and from eternal salvation (102). Even though we might have had already a few years of walking in the Lord and have piled up treasures in heaven, “we should strive to preserve the previous gifts, which preserve us from all evil” (103). Harmful experiences, detriment to the soul, might come both from “the senses” and “the intellect” (103). When we call on Jesus Christ in this incessant prayer, we protect our mind and gain a constant access “into the heart’s depth” (103). To achieve that, we need to reach the status of stillness of mind, where it is not affected by any thought; neither a good one, nor a bad one.
Hesychios of Sinai admits that there is a real presence of demonic powers that have to be taken into consideration and that every believer is fighting against. This prayer does not allow them to sneak into our minds and at the same time offers an easily accessible comfort during the painful process of trying to stay focused “in the heart” (103). The heart has to be protected all the time from all sorts of influences stemming from the demonic world that is trying to invade our souls with images harmful to us (104). We have to understand that, since we get baptized, the Spirit of God comes to live in us, but we also need to protect this inner realm from the influx of the ideas from the enemy (104).
God’s presence in us is similar to a fuel or a flame that starts our spiritual life and leads us into meditation, when God can find a clean space in our heart, not affected by wickedness, immorality and vain intellectual pursuits (104). The repetition of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is a very important tool for our “spiritual welfare” (105). It resembles “flashed of lighting in the sky before rain” (105). The process of the battle in the spirit has to involve three important elements: “attentiveness” as to with what strategies the enemy is trying to take us off guard. When we notice them, we should annihilate any root of evil thoughts seeking to wound our spiritual life and to pollute the cleanliness of our hearts dedicated to Christ. Finally – our most effective ‘weapon’ should be the Jesus prayer that we can “direct against” the enemy’s attacks (105). This, together with our willingness to not give place to temptation, will serve the process of “crushing it” “angrily in the heart” (105). We are supposed to be like David, who with all his strength was calling on the name of the Lord, therefore we should never stop searching for the face of the Lord (106).
Jesus Himself taught us to pray without ceasing and compared the intensity of a fervent prayer with seeking justice restored, even when the ‘judge’ who hears our case seems relentless to answer our prayer, because God is much more than that – He restores and answers those who diligently seek Him (107). Basically, the Jesus Prayer helps us to focus on our hearts and from there we receive light. In this process we will not be disappointed, claims Hesychios of Sinai (108). We have to admit that sometimes as Christians we a thrown amidst demonic attacks and the task of Jesus Prayer is to extinguish their lies. The repetition of words directed toward Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when done without ceasing and with eagerness, prevents the attacks from entering our mind and from using it like a mirror to project their influence and to aggravate us (174).
Thus, demonic attacks cannot reach our hearts, as well. If the heart is guarded and clean of demonic manifestations, there will be no corrupt thoughts in our mind (174). The demons otherwise have the ability to engage in conversation with our soul through infusing negative and destructive thoughts in order to spoil it (174). They bring us grave images and cause heavy emotional stirs; therefore, incessant prayer is essential as a counter-reaction to keep our life peaceful (175). Only then the light of Jesus can reveal itself in us, because the essence of Christ is light. We need to get rid of pride and illusions about who we really are, and furthermore need to realize that only through the assistance of Jesus Christ we can be free from pretension and vanity, since He is “the paradigm of humility” and “loathes all such self-inflation” (175). Hesychios of Sinai urges is to adopt modesty, while praying earnestly, because both humble spirit and vigilance in prayer form a formidable defense against spiritual attacks of the enemy (176). This will make us participants in heavenly joy throughout all the hours of the day (176).
The result of a continuous spiritual vigilance in the Lord through practicing the Jesus Prayer conveys to the believers that it is a means of spiritual purification of the “intellect” (188). Hesychios compares it to cleansing the body of poison that has entered through eating bad food. The same is the effect of “evil thoughts” on the mind, which needs to be emptied, once sensed the bitterness of it (188). The repetition of Jesus prayer has to be synchronized with the breathing and with practicing “watchfulness,” “humility and unremitting study of death” to bring good results and a ultimate blessing (189).

Works Cited:

Christian Ways of Being Religious. “Hesychios of Sinai. The Jesus Prayer.” p. 436-437.