St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia (source)
"And what are you looking for regarding prayer, like a recipe to prepare food or medicine? I told you to only seek the salvation of your soul.
In other words, you should try to become an inheritor of the eternal Kingdom of the Heavens. And everything else you should leave to the judgment of God. I remind you, again, to "seek first the Kingdom of the Heavens."
Is this not enough for you? If this is not enough for you, or if you are not satisfied completely, restrict yourself to noetic prayer. For me, the "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me", says everything. And whatever else from that which you are saying. It is enough to say it with faith and determination.
And of course, at that hour, perceive that you have before you, the crucified Jesus. And listen. The hour that you saw it, turn your nous here, towards me. And I will understand your thought, and will pray with you for you. This is the best. I recommend you to do this...
Why do you separate yourself from the rest of the world? This is not at all correct. When we love ourselves, thus we must love our neighbor. I love the whole world as myself. Because of this, I see no reason to say: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us" and not "have mercy on me". Because the world and I are one and the same! Thus you say: "have mercy on me".
Source: Theology and Miracles of Noetic Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" (amateur translation of text from: source)
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
2 comments:
I am not proficient in noetic prayer, and do not claim to be. I provide quotes from the Holy Fathers who were.
Though it can be helpful before our prayer to have the reality that we are before our crucified Lord, or as St. Paisios said, to use passages from the Fathers to "warm our hearts" towards fervent love for God, during the Jesus Prayer, I was always told that we should not bring images to our minds, because there is always the possibility of delusion. But I always defer to the writings of the Neptic Fathers and more importantly, to those monastics who make noetic prayer their craft and art of Salvation.
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