The
"Jesus Prayer" or "Prayer of the Heart" (
Greek:
Η Προσευχή του Ιησού,
i prosefchí tou iisoú) or "The Prayer" (
Greek:
Η Ευχή,
i efchí̱ – literally "The Wish") is a short, formulaic prayer esteemed and advocated within the
Eastern Orthodox church:
| “ | Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν. | ” |
| “ | Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.[1] | ” |
The prayer has been widely taught and discussed throughout the history of the
Eastern Churches. It is often repeated continually as a part of personal
ascetic practice, its use being an integral part of the
eremitic tradition of
prayer known as
Hesychasm (
Greek:
ἡσυχάζω,
hesychazo, "to keep stillness"). The prayer is particularly esteemed by the spiritual fathers of this tradition (see
Philokalia) as a method of opening up the heart (
kardia) and bringing about the
Prayer of the Heart (
Καρδιακή Προσευχή). The Prayer of The Heart is considered to be the Unceasing Prayer that the apostle
Paul advocates in the New Testament.
[2] St.
Theophan the Recluse regarded the
Jesus Prayer stronger than all other prayers by virtue of the power of the
Holy Name of Jesus.
[3]
While its tradition, on historical grounds, also belongs to the
Eastern Catholics,
[4][5] and there have been a number of
Roman Catholic texts on the Jesus Prayer, its practice has never achieved the same popularity in the
Western Church as in the Eastern Orthodox Church, although it is said on the
Anglican Rosary. Moreover, the Eastern Orthodox theology of the Jesus Prayer enunciated in the fourteenth century by
St. Gregory Palamas has never been fully accepted by the Roman Catholic Church.
[6] Nonetheless, in the Jesus Prayer there can be seen the Eastern counterpart of the
Roman Catholic Rosary, which has developed to hold a similar place in the Christian West.
