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Archimandrite Sofian Boghiu
Part I

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...(Whom) he should serve...

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...is like fish out of water, as St. John Chrysostom says...

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Someone is asking:"If Christ, our Saviour,

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spent nights on end in prayer.

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What should we do to save ourselves?"

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St. Ambrosius of Mediolanum says

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Those who don't pray, are lying in the realm of matter,

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are not written in the heavenly Book of Life,

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and cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

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At God's judgement, which no one can elude,

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he will be told: "I know you not".

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Woe, to those who receive this answer!

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What is the use of prayer?

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Through prayer one can get
from God whatever we ask for.

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But our
prayer needs to be worthy of God.

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Prayer must be made with a pure heart,

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with perseverence and in humility.

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Christ The Saviour is promising us this,
when He says:

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"Everything you ask for in faithful
prayer, will be given to you"

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As we don't know whether all
we pray for, is useful to us,

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we should always end our prayer
with the following words:

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"Lord, Who know everything, please help
me that the prayer I make in front

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of You meet Your sacred will. Lord,
may Your will be done in my life!"

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Honourable audience,

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Beside this manner of praying
 we've talked about,

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there is another
one: calling the name of the Lord

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which is also named the Jesus Prayer, the
Prayer of the Mind or the Prayer of the Heart.

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It is a short prayer, full
of power, which comes

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directly from Christ The Saviour
and His apostles and is

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comprised in these words: "Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,
the sinner!".

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This prayer is short, it can be said
anywhere and anytime,

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sitting or walking.

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In our modern life, when everything happens so fast

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and we cannot find time for long
 prayers in our home, in front of the
 icons and the candle light,

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we can say this prayer in
any place and at any time in our life.

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In school, at the shop, in the
factory, at the workshop,

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we can say this prayer in the privacy of our
heart.

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And Jesus Christ, always
present in our life, will

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listen to this powerful
prayer made in His name.

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Many of you are familiar with it.
I know many people,

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especially young ones, but
elders, too, who practice

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this prayer and on an advanced level. I
always rejoice when I find out about
such persons.

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It is founded on the Saviour's
words: "I will do whatever you ask

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in my name, so that the Father
may be glorified in the Son".

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And again: "If in my name you
ask for anything, I will do it." (John
14, 13-14).

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The Apostles and all the saints after
them made miracles by calling the name

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of our Lord Jesus Christ and thus
healing all disease and casting demons
out of people.

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This prayer is called the Jesus Prayer
because at its core lies the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ,

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which is full of power, as I said.

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It's also called the Prayer of the Mind
because in its first stage it is said with the mind,

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and it's called the Prayer of the Heart
because, after saying it with the mind

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for a long time and very attentively,
it will descend into one's heart.

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It is usually accessible to anyone and
it can be said in two manners:

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spoken – just like I'm speaking
now –, especially when

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we are working or walking; or
in the rhythm of breathing

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– when we sit down on a small
stool, with our head tilted

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to the left and with two
fingers from our right hand on the clothes

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lightly touching the place above our
heart on our
left side.

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Thus we say the prayer loudly,
whispering or in a very low voice.

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The prayer calling the name of the Lord
needs to be said incessantly,

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day and night and in any place. And in any work
we may find ourselves.

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In practice, though, especially for
beginners, it is hard to say it
incessantly.

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That is why it can be said alternating
with the seven praises of the

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day, of which the morning and evening
prayer should not be omitted;

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with the Paraklesis to
Theotokos, the Akathist Hymn to Theotokos

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and also the Akathist
to Our Lord Jesus Christ,

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because it is linked to the name of the
Lord, including all the attributes
conferred on Christ the Saviour.

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In addition to church worship,
monastic community members especially

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should say the Prayer of the Mind four
or five times daily, for 15 minutes
each time.

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Undoubtebly, this prayer can be
said by laymen as well – by any of you,

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according to your zeal, at least three
times a day for 15 minutes each time.

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This prayer requires frequent
repetition before it can infix itself

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in our heart, in the center of our
being.

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And one more thing we should pay attention to:

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when we say the prayer, we must
make sure that each word falls
on the place of the heart.

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Where I showed you with the two fingers,

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over the
physiological heart, made of flesh.

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This place of the heart, found by the Holy
Fathers,

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who were greatly exercised in this prayer,

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is the spiritual center of our human being,

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(situated) over
the heart made of flesh.

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This sacred prayer ought to be made
with the blessing and under the surveillance

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of the spiritual father,
who should also practise it.

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It is meant to help us purify our mind
and heart of unworthy thoughts and desires,

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which cannot be accomplished
without calling the

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name of the Lord. The frequent
calling of this Name.

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This name burns like heavenly fire our inner foulness.

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The ultimate goal of this holy prayer is to
descend the mind into the heart,

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to unite ... these two cores
of human being, the mind

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and heart, making a perfect
harmony between them.

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Usually, man thinks one thing while he feels another.

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He speaks well of someone who stands before him,

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while deep inside,
in his heart, he reviles him.

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When we unite these centers, the mind and the heart,

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man becomes one
from a spiritual point of view,

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he will be
complete again, just like God has made
him.

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Through this prayer one can attain this sacred
 ideal of our human life.

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Before reaching this ultimate goal of
uplifting, of sanctifying and unifying

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our innner human being which
has been torn apart by the

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passions of the soul, we need
to work a strict spiritual

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detachment – a fight with our own self
which isn't easy at all.

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We need to empty our minds and
hearts of all evil and focus

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the mind, which is prone to
wander during the prayer.

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Should we not get help from above in these efforts,

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the fight with
ourselves would be almost fruitless.

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But to our comfort, we have the experience and advice
of our Holy Fathers,

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which is to be found in their
books, in the lives

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of the saints and in the
literature of the Holy

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Fathers, especially those
much exercised in prayer.

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We also have the Church sacraments
and worship, especially the
sacrament of Confession

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– with our spiritual father's advice –,
and the Holy Communion.

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In addition we have the immediate help from Christ The Saviour,

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Whose name we call upon by uttering as often as possible

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on the journey of our life, the prayer: "Lord Jesus

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Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!".

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Even if, after a long time, we still can't have
the joy of the mind descending into one's heart

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(for this will happen only with God's help, when God and His grace
from within ourselves will want it),

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our sincere and steadfast
effort of frequently calling

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the name of our Lord will
be of great benefit to us.

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Thus, through this prayer – as feeble
as it may be –, we acquire a sense of
God's presence in our life.

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We get a taste – as much as
humans are able to grasp –

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of the joyous and happy
life that awaits us beyond.

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May good God help us attain this sacred
ideal of uniting our mind with our heart,

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which is in fact our reuniting
with God. Then the fight with our self
will get easier.

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The sacred prayer will then be uttered
incessantly in our hearts, day and night,

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as the Song of Solomon (5, 2)
says: "I sleep, but my heart is awake"

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And spiritual rejoicing
surpasses all earthly joy.

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And love of God and the fullfilling
of His holy commandements

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is really great and difficult
to describe in human terms.

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Until then, let us say in humility,
persistenly, lovingly and wistfully,

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"in season and out of season" (II Tim. 4,2),
trusting God, this prayer:

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"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
God, have mercy on me, the sinner!"
Amen!

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We thank Father Sofian for
 these very helpful words.

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And we welcome questions from you.

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Until then, a first question:
"In The Diary of Happiness,

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Nicolae Steinhardt says that
 many people think they pray

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so that God listen to them.

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But in reality it is the other way round:

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the man, while praying, starts listening to God.
 How can you comment on this?".

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It is true that people pray because
they are waiting something from God:

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the help which only He can grant them.

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Most often, the entreaties
we make towards people are in vain.

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But, when one starts praying and finds
a benefit in it,

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the benefit of God's counsel in one's life
 – in my life –,
then that is a real help

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God's teachings are never bad.
They are always for our good.

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What can you tell us about
the power of prayer

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proven by some people
in the (communist) prisons?

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In the prison we were
so well guarded, so confined,

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that our thoughts could only
go upwards, in a vertical
movement. To God.

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Man's prayer is usually powerful
when he faces adversity.

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And there was great
 adversity in prison, indeed.

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The prayers of the imprisoned were
received by God.

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And this would give them strenght
 despite all the misery and
 programmed wickedness

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inflicted upon them – the poor (political)

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prisoners would display a serenity and
joy that could only come from above,
from God.

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Thus, the prisoners' prayers were
prayers that may have resembled those

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made by the Ancient Fathers
of the Desert or by the holy martyrs
burned in bonfires

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who,

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while the fire burned beneath them,

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were joyfully praying and
thanking God that

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they might bring themselves as an
offering to His Holiness.

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Such were the prayers made by many of
the prisoners.

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For us, who were outside,
their prayers and way of life

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suggest that we should
humble ourselves.

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That we should strive to
lead as much an ascetic life

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as possible, with fast,
prayer and prostrations.

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That we should
suffer insults in patience
throughout our lives.

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We should endure all without complaining
and then our prayer will be received by God.

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Just like He received
those prisoners' prayers.

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In the spirit of those said by now,

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please share with us a few things
about the Unburnt Bush (group).

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The Unburnt Bush, as we very well know,

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is a biblical fact, a fortunate
happening, when prophet Moses ran away

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from the Pharaoh's house in Egypt
and was feeding the sheep of his
 father-in- law, Jethro.

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 On Mount Sinai, he reached a bush,

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a tree burning in flames that
 did not consume it.

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He went closer to touch the
thing and see what was it.

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Then he was told:

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"...Remove the sandals from
your feet, for the place on which
you are standing is holy ground"
(Exod.3, 5).

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And from this bush there was
Someone speaking: it was God.

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In the theology our Orthodox Church,

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this bush symbolises the Mother of
God, who was the mother of the Incarnated God.

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In her sacred being although Jesus Christ was
heavenly fire

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–, but she remained unburned, untouched but deified by this
holy Child – Jesus Christ

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the One Who is about to
be born again in Bethlehem in 40 days
from tomorrow.

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Therefore, the Unburnt Bush is
the symbol of the Mother of God.

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And for us, the group
that chose this sacred

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patron of the Antim Monastery,
the Unburnt Bush is the

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symbol of incessant prayer
I was telling you about.

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Basically, whoever prays incessantly is
like this bush which burns without
being consumed.

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We are constantly under
God's fire, in a blaze of light and power

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And the more we burn, the more
full of light we become and
closer to God we get.

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This is one meaning of the Burning Bush.

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At present, image has become an ever
powerful influence, especially through TV.

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Do you believe this affects
people's ability to pray?

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TV, this modern communication tool, is
both good and worthless.

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It's good if we know how to choose
what's good from it and it's
bad because it transmits

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through images disturbing things –
especially for young people's lives.

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I am referring to images of indecorous
movies and – to say it plainly –
pornographic.

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I've met many young people, not only their parents, who

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oppose these images that
trouble the minds and senses of

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those who look at the TV screen.
Passion shivers are

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transmitted by means of
wavelength, through images.

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In St. Basil the Great's time,
young pagan people would

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come to him asking what to do
regarding the pagan books.

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It was the turning point of history,
the period between paganism and Christianity.

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And pagan literature,
especially the Greek one,
was very pleasant.

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And they wanted to read, but
were afraid they could go astray, as
there were indecent things in them.

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St. Basil gives very practical advice
on this: do as the bees do

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– they fly from flower to flower and where they
find more nectar and pollen they make longer stops;

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where there is none, they
fly away to another.

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This piece of advice is good when it
comes to TV.

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Television is good because we find out many things, especially
when we don't have time to read the press.

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We also have scientific or even
spiritual reports on TV.

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But beware of its flowers that have neither nectar, nor pollen.

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These are better avoided: the programs that affect the viewers' mind, imagination and heart.

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In our current way of life, how can we
receive the gift of the Jesus Payer?

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00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:26,000
Because nowadays  the Christians' minds go
astray more than ever and the rhythm of life

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makes it difficult to focus one's mind
and thoroughly evaluate
one's movements of the soul.

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00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:47,000
It is true. Such is today's rhythm of
our turbulent and restless life,
 full of movement.

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But this prayer is very
short. The ancient hermits' prayers
were taking up all day and night.

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A saint from the Philokalia books says
that he was praying from morning to
evening.

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And when he would get tired,
he would read the entire Holy Scripture.

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Thus, his life was perpetually
committed to his relation with God.

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We don't know his posture
during prayer: kneeling or standing,
hands raised or hands on his chest...

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Posture varied from man to man.
His was a static prayer.

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It made him stay on the
spot, in his prayer corner.

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Whereas for our modern life it
seems that God gave us this short prayer:

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"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,
the sinner!", as I told you and as you
know it yourselves.

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Or at least we can try an even shorter
version: "Jesus, have mercy on me!",

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no matter how hurried we are in our
everyday life.

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Even if we listen to a
lecture at the University or work in
the workshop, or in the factory, or

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00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:30,000
when we are on the road or even
while talking to someone – we

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00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:35,000
can say as often as possible:
"Jesus, have mercy on me!"

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00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:41,000
The two words that sum up this
prayer: on one hand Jesus,

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the highest level of Christian life,
representing God and His Kingdom;

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00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,000
on the other hand, there is "have
mercy", which represents our lowly

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00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:56,000
condition, the state of misery and
need we often find ourselves in.

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We should at least utter these few
words in our life.

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00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,000
Of course, the whole prayer
would be the best, but at least

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00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:12,000
these few words, two words, can be said no
matter how busy we are.

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00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:19,000
I ‘ve met a person who had the prayer
of the heart, who I knew for sure was
praying incessantly.

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00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:27,000
When he was talking, saying
important things, recalling

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00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:33,000
his tormented life during
the Russian Revolution,

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00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,000
I put my hand on his shoulder
and told him:

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00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:50,000
"Father John, are you praying right now?"

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00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,000
He was explaining something
very ardently. "Yes,

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00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,000
father, I am praying."
His heart was praying.

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00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:06,000
The prayer had descended into his heart.
And when this happens, we will
pray as we breathe.

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00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:14,000
Therefore, in modern
life with its haste, its speed,
with our restlessness,

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00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:22,000
we can still
feed on this prayer in a
really satisfactory way.

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00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:28,000
Please forgive my state of mind.

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00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:36,000
Related to what you've just said and
because there's a new question about
the Unburnt Bush,

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00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:44,000
please tell us about the group
with the same name organized
at Antim monastery

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00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:53,000
and about the role played by the Jesus Prayer
in the group members' lives.

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00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:06,000
The Unburnt Bush spiritual movement
appeared during the communist regime,

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00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:17,000
when in the street and in everyday
life there was great commotion

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00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:25,000
and effort made by some enemy powers
to change everything old,

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00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:31,000
beautiful and stable into
a new fashion of things

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00:31:31,026 --> 00:31:37,025
that we all know because
we've lived through it.

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00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:48,000
All the while, in this turmoil, in the
library of Antim monastery were
talking about the Jesus Prayer:

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00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:57,000
how to pray, confession and innner experiences

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00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:05,000
– all based on the Holy Tradition, the experience of the

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00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:13,000
Holy Fathers, all this millenia-old asceticism,

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00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:19,000
which was full of prayer,
especially of this synthetic, integrated,

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00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:25,000
short and comprehensive prayer: the Jesus Prayer.

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00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:47,000
There were conferences every Sunday for
 six years on end, starting from 1945.

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00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:59,000
This common work in a limited circle was
very pleasant,

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00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:10,000
but could not be extended because
of the uproar that was going
on outside our monastic life.

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00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:26,000
There were university professors
speaking to us: Father Dumitru Staniloae,
Father Benedict Ghius,

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00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:50,000
Prof. Alexandru Mironescu, Dr. Vasile Voiculescu,
Ion Marin Sadoveanu and others of similar
stature.

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00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:59,000
They would deliver a lecture
 followed by a kind of workshop.

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00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:08,000
The library was filled
with people, some stood even on the stairs.

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00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:21,000
There were many people: a
lot of young people, many students
who after this suffered a lot in prison.

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00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:33,000
They were thirsty for knowledge on the inner life
and left the conferences well fed spiritually.

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00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:42,000
After the lecturer finished speaking,
there were questions coming from the
public.

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All sorts of questions, just
like we're doing right now.

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00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:54,000
The answers were coming from anyone
who wanted and was able to give them.

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00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:03,000
It was a dialogue, a texture of ideas
 and thoughts and spiritual aspirations

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00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:11,000
that would feed a lot the
audience present at this spiritual gathering.

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00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:22,000
Is it true that all those who took part in the
 Unburnt Bush were sentenced to prison?

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00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:29,000
And on what legal grounds?

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00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:49,000
There is a saying in the Gospel that
whoever is not with us is against us.

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00:35:52,000 --> 00:36:00,000
Those who ruled us wanted us all to be
on their side.

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00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:09,000
And, although we didn't contradict them,
 we were not in accord with them.

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00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:18,000
They were smart, because the devil is very
smart and they were led by this spirit.

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00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:24,000
They realised we were not with them but against them,

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00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:32,000
so they picked us up from wherever
 they could find us and fiercely
guarded us for many years.

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00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:53,000
Lest we might be against them!
So were these things concluded.

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00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:05,000
Father Archimandrite, what should be
 a student's daily prayer program?

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00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:27,000
In Athens, two students once made a
powerful impression on their
contemporaries.

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00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:34,000
Gregory and Basil were their names.

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00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:48,000
We also call the latter Basil the Great
and the former Gregory the Theologian.

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00:37:50,000 --> 00:38:06,000
The blessed twosome, who were
 studying in Athens, were also
 preoccupied with the Gospel.

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00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:18,000
Two roads they would walk (so St.
Gregory says): the road to school and
the road to church.

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00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:32,000
Our contemporary
students should live their lives like
them, between study and prayer.

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00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,000
I don't know how they
could make their program,

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00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:51,000
but in addition to food for their
bodies, which we are all bound to get,

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00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:59,000
we also need food for the soul,
without which we die even if we are alive.

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00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:05,000
We die spiritually. Without this
soul food we become barren,

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00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:12,000
frozen, dry, unsympathetic (callous),
bad, jealous, proud and so on.

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00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:20,000
That is why it is good to be fed on
both types of food, just like Christ
The Saviour says:

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00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,000
"...strive FIRST for the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and

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00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:28,000
all these things will be given
to you as well" (Matt. 6, 33)

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00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:35,000
Because prayer and this life we've
talked about, this relation with the

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00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:42,000
source of holiness, of life and
wisdom will also help us learn well.

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00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:51,000
It will help us slash the veil
of darkness set on our mind.

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00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,800
Our mind will be enlightened.

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00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:03,000
It will also help us break the
layers from around our heart,

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00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,800
which
makes us indifferent to God's words.

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00:40:07,900 --> 00:40:14,900
But prayer slashes all these layers.
Let us emphasize this close
relationship with God

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00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:23,000
and all the others will come almost automatically,
almost naturally in our lives.

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00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:33,000
Let's not have empty spaces in our
lives,

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00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:44,000
let's not pray just for one day or
one moment and then spend the rest
of the life with other concerns.

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00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:57,000
Every day should be marked by prayer
and the other assignments a man or a student has.

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00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:12,000
Without alternating like
this, our life is limp and ill,
insufficient and toothless.

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00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:27,000
How can we tell the way for us: marriage or monastery?

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00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:44,000
Marriage has been the normal way of
life since the beginning of the world,
when there was a pair,

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00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:48,000
Adam and Eve you
all know about, our ancestors.

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00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:53,000
They received this command from God
 to be fruitful and multiply.

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00:41:54,000 --> 00:42:00,000
So the family is the foundation of human society.

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00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:12,000
And the source of life. Through
this way of  life, in marriage, man becomes creator.

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00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:18,633
The man and woman multiply humankind.
This way of

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00:42:18,659 --> 00:42:25,025
life is the general mission
of human families.

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00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:36,899
Monasticism is a Gospel
advice addressed to those who

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00:42:36,925 --> 00:42:48,025
sense the calling from the
very core of their being.

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00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:58,000
That is why there is a great
difference between these two ways of life.

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00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:08,000
One is the monk's mission and
another is the family's mission.

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00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:21,869
Family emphasizes social life, while

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00:43:21,895 --> 00:43:35,025
monasticism emphasizes, let's say,
like the light at sunset.

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00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:50,000
Family life, with its worries and daily
problems, often looks only towards the
earth, horizontally.

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00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,000
They have no time to look upwards.

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00:43:55,000 --> 00:44:02,000
The one who comes to
the monastery for this very special
purpose

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00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:08,000
– his relationship with God, we've talked about –

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00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:27,000
this brother, can enlighten people's mind and habits by
telling them there's more to life:

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00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:32,000
the eternal life beyond the earthly one.
He should make the others

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00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:37,000
do something we most often forget
about: think beyond the grave.

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00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:47,000
We gather fortune and work from dusk
til dawn for our daily bread, for a
house and other distractions,

340
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:52,541
forgetting that we shall die one
day and will have to justify every

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00:44:52,567 --> 00:44:58,025
futile word uttered in our life,
as Christ the Saviour tells us.

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00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:05,000
The monk, just like the priest who guides us,

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00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:13,000
has the mission to raise this beacon and
bring light in the darkness of our everyday lives.

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00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:23,000
I think
this is the mission of the monk
compared to that of the family.

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00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:31,000
Please tell us about tears that come during prayer.

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00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:35,000
Can we get tears from
the devil, too, while we are praying?

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00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,000
Quite many.

348
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:50,000
From the devil, but also from our nature.

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00:45:53,000 --> 00:46:04,000
The big sufferings we have in our
everyday life get calmed down through
weeping, through tears.

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00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:19,000
There are hysterical tears, joyful tears
for an earthly accomplishment.

351
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:28,000
And there are spiritual
tears, that don't come easily.

352
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:39,000
There are also repentance
tears, most welcome by God.

353
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:30,143
When we regret bad deeds we've
made in our life and repent with

354
00:47:30,169 --> 00:47:39,025
all our heart and tears are
coming in our repenting prayer.

355
00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:53,000
These tears please God. The other tears,
the human tears ease off the burden

356
00:47:53,000 --> 00:48:04,000
of our soul, but they are only of immmediate
help, they don't help the prayer.

357
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:18,000
What is the prayer without words?
And what is the fire-like prayer
St John Cassian spoke of?

358
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:30,000
The fire-like prayer and the prayer without words
 is the prayer of the heart I've just spoken of.

359
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:43,000
When our heart is praying. And it's praying
without words, day and night,

360
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:50,000
when God's grace is working in us to
such an extent that everything inside

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00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:57,000
is burning of a fire similar to the
Holy Light that descends in Jerusalem.

362
00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:01,000
You must have heard of the Holy Light from
 Jerusalem at the feast of Resurrection.

363
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:08,000
This light, as long as it does not meet matter,
 while it is not transmitted to a candle,
 it does not feel hot.

364
00:49:08,100 --> 00:49:15,289
You can hold it, you can
wash your face in it and you

365
00:49:16,215 --> 00:49:28,025
will not be burned. But it is still light.
Still flame.

366
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:37,000
The flame of the Unburnt Bush on Mount Sinai
would not consume the bush, the tree.

367
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:43,000
The same is this fire of the heart
that St John Cassian spoke about.

368
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:53,000
A fire that burns without consuming you,
burning and giving light

369
00:49:54,000 --> 00:50:01,500
just as God illumines our human minds and hearts
when we wish for something divine.

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00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:10,000
Can prayer replace the Holy Communion,
 as was the case for many hermits?

371
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:19,000
It cannot replace Communion.

372
00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:26,991
Holy Communion has Its role
and the prayer has the role

373
00:50:27,017 --> 00:50:35,200
of invoking this Holy Body of
Jesus- The Holy Communion.

374
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:48,000
After 47 years spent in the Jordanian Desert
without the Holy Communion,

375
00:50:50,000 --> 00:51:05,000
Saint Mary of Egypt was able, through prayer,
 to lift herself 1.5 feet from the earth.
Yet she still needed the Holy Communion.

376
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:12,000
Saint Zosimas, who brought her the
Holy Communion in the desert,

377
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:17,000
witnessed this and confirmed like with a seal, the
worthiness she had through prayer.

378
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:27,000
Her matter had become so light and
uplifted through prayer.

379
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:36,000
Yet she needed the Holy Communion.
 And when she got It, she died.

380
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:44,000
When Saint Zosimas came a second time
with the Holy Communion, he did not find her alive.

381
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:54,000
She had had her share of holiness:
Holy Communion after 47 years of eremitic life.

382
00:51:55,000 --> 00:52:02,000
Therefore, prayer has its function,
while the Holy Communion completes and crowns
this function.

383
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:14,000
Why must we have a spiritual father
to practice the prayer of the heart?

384
00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:30,000
We need a spiritual father because this prayer,
when repeated constantly, frequently
 and for many years on end,

385
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:37,000
gives us very special moods/states of
mind. Sometimes, for example

386
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:44,000
there is a heat coming here,
at the level of the heart
– upwards from our heart of flesh...

387
00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:54,000
...a sign. And the person who prays
and does not know the purpose of this prayer
may become proud.

388
00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:59,400
Who knows what he can think about himself!

389
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:04,000
But his spiritual father can tell him
that this feeling is natural.

390
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,000
So he should proceed undisturbed
 with his prayer.

391
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:19,000
This means the way of the prayer is
 dotted with new problems he cannot
solve by himself. The spiritual

392
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:30,000
father, who is experienced in prayer,
can give the exact answers to these
problems.

393
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:40,000
When practicing the prayer of the heart,
what is the purpose of loudly uttering
the words of the prayer?

394
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:47,190
We can utter with our mouth
psalms, akathists and

395
00:53:47,216 --> 00:53:54,000
canons, but also this short
prayer we've talked about

396
00:53:54,000 --> 00:54:07,000
tonight. Yet, very often, when you
speak with the mouth, your mind is
wandering. Therefore,

397
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:13,449
it's better to concentrate, to make an effort.
If we cannot do

398
00:54:13,475 --> 00:54:20,000
it immediately, we can repeat the prayer.
We should repeat it

399
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:27,000
and repent for this wandering of our mind.
We should ask God to help

400
00:54:27,026 --> 00:54:34,025
us gather our mind within ourselves,
whatever prayer we are saying.

401
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:41,000
When we read the most beautiful and
powerful psalms, or the Paraklesis to

402
00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:48,000
Theotokos, or the Canon to the Guardian
Angel, the Canon of Repentance or many

403
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:54,000
other canons and prayers (to Theotokos
for example), it would be extremely

404
00:54:54,000 --> 00:55:01,000
helpful if we could read any prayer
with our minds concentrated on every
word.

405
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:10,000
But as the mind rambles, after prayer,
we are the same people as before.

406
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:19,000
Nothing happens within us. I can see
that in our church. Sometimes we pray –
for example at the Divine Liturgy,

407
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:28,000
which is the most powerful prayer that
exists. Some other times there is a
speech given on the subject of prayer,

408
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:37,000
or on another subject. But, as soon as
the divine service or the teaching has
ended, quite a riot can be heard in the

409
00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:41,000
church and everybody speaks all kinds of other
things but not about what they heard in church.

410
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:46,000
This proves that nothing has remained in
the minds and hearts of the listeners.

411
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:57,000
Because they were distracted and
dispersed all the time. That is why, in
our prayer, be it spoken aloud or

412
00:55:57,000 --> 00:56:07,000
uttered in secret, or whispered, we
need to focus on every word. If we
can't pay attention, we repeat the

413
00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:16,000
prayer: once, twice, three or four
times. Because praying without
attention is null.

414
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:22,000
The answer from God will never come
because we call him only with our lips,
"but their hearts

415
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:28,000
are far from me" (Matt. 15, 8),
as Christ our Saviour tells us.

416
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:37,000
Therefore, pronounced aloud or in secret,
we must focus on the prayer.

417
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:49,000
Its words are so made that they lead us
towards our (inner)selves, to the center
of our being, where God lies hidden.

418
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:56,000
our Saviour tells us: "the Kingdom of God
 is within you" (Luke 17, 21)

419
00:56:56,000 --> 00:56:59,000
St Paul tells us: You are temples of
the Holy Spirit (1 Corinth. 6, 19). The

420
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:05,000
Holy Spirit dwells in us, the Kingdom
of God is within us.

421
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:22,000
If our mind is elsewhere, all the good teachings
inspired by prayers towards God, His Mother
 and the saints,  will not remain with us,

422
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:25,000
they will just float aimlessly in the air.
They will be of no help to us.

423
00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:32,000
It'd be as if we looked into a window shop:
we can see all the goodies, but between
them and us there's the glass

424
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:35,000
that prevents us from
touching anything we see.

425
00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:51,000
Thus, our prayer is separed from us
by our distraction, this window, this obstacle
 that stays between us and our prayer.

426
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:12,000
...these two centers: the mind,
which is in the head, while the other one
is our heart – for feelings,

427
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:17,000
and where man's will power resides.
 In the head there's man's
 intelligence and memory.

428
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:29,000
In spiritual life, though, the spiritual heart
 does not coincide with the heart of flesh.

429
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:47,000
The spiritual heart is the center where
God resides within us. It is named the
same: heart. God can dwell in this heart

430
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:57,000
but also the enemy can find
residence in it. Any passion
can find its place in it.

431
00:58:57,000 --> 00:59:04,000
Sometimes, the King of Darkness himself
enters this sacred place from our heart

432
00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:16,000
Then our life is empty, a bad life,
a dark, a sinful life.

433
00:59:17,000 --> 00:59:23,000
When the Holy Spirit resides in us,
just as it is meant to be, our life is

434
00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:39,000
full of light, benevolence, love and
humility. Therefore, this heart is the
spiritual center inside any of us.

435
00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:46,000
What to do if my spiritual father
does not practice the prayer of

436
00:59:46,000 --> 00:59:51,000
the heart and considers that young
people should not practice it,

437
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:59,000
prompting them to rather practice
a social Christianity than a mystical one?

438
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:13,000
I don't think there is a Christian
life that is not mystical.

439
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:19,000
Which means mysterious.
Which means related to God.

440
01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:24,000
I don't know of any Christian
that is not a mystical person.

441
01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:31,000
I mean a real Christian, who takes
part in the Church Sacraments,

442
01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:43,000
going to Confession and partaking of the
 Holy Communion. Who sanctifies one's
 inner life. It is a mystical, enigmatic,

443
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:54,000
"enter into thy closet" and
"pray to thy Father which is IN SECRET"
(Matt. 6, 6).

444
01:00:55,000 --> 01:01:04,000
How can one pray if one doesn't believe
the heavenly Father is hidden somewhere
 and can see your state of soul?

445
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:11,000
How can you be lay, worldly,
earthly without this spirit,

446
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:17,000
this energy, this place of
the soul without which this

447
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:28,000
perfect machine that is our body gets
dissipated, disintegrated and eaten by
the lowly creatures?

448
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:37,000
Thus, inside any of us there is a
secret mystical center. Towards it are

449
01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:44,000
directed all relations with our
neighbor, our love, kindness, mercy and

450
01:01:44,000 --> 01:01:51,000
humility, our decorum – all gets
related to this place inside us

451
01:01:51,000 --> 01:01:58,000
where God dwells with His Kingdom together
with the Holy Spirit.

452
01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:06,000
That's why I can hardly see a life without
prayer and without this mystical
 center, God's place inside us.

453
01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:15,000
"Social life!?" - the pagans had social life,
they were preoccupied only with
 this horizontal dimension of life.

454
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:21,000
But Jesus Christ teaches us, in His
Sermon on the Mount:

455
01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:29,000
"...seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God,
and His righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6, 33).

456
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:46,000
Nothing stops you from good deeds
in social life if you have, as an infinite
source, God's presence inside you.

457
01:02:47,000 --> 01:03:02,000
Does God listen to the prayers made
by those who haven't confessed in years
 or by those who live in great sin?

458
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:09,000
If they are made in humility, like the
prayer of the publican from the Gospel,

459
01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:22,000
with a grieving heart, without blaming
others and asking forgiveness for all
former iniquities, God will listen.

460
01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:30,000
It's for sinners that God took flesh and
descended into history... for the sinners...

461
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:37,000
The thief on the cross said
only a few words and saved himself,
earning forgiveness.

462
01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:50,000
You may know that Blessed Augustin
says about him these words:
 "Blessed thief!

463
01:03:50,000 --> 01:04:01,000
He stole things his entire life and in
the end he stole Heaven too!"

464
01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:10,000
Thus, God listens to the prayers said
with humility, repentance and regret

465
01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:22,000
about the wrongdoings we made until
we realized there is God and we have
a responsibility in this earthly life.

466
01:04:24,000 --> 01:04:32,000
Are there temptations from the left
and temptations from the right during
prayer? What does this mean?

467
01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:42,000
Yes, there are temptations from the
left and temptations from the right.
The ones from the left are well-known:

468
01:04:42,000 --> 01:04:56,000
drunkenness, sloth, lust, theft,
revenge, wrath - all are temptations
from the left.

469
01:04:57,000 --> 01:05:06,000
From the right: extreme fasting.

470
01:05:08,000 --> 01:05:21,000
Fasting has been prescribed by the
Holy Fathers to help our inner
and bodily purification.

471
01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:33,000
But fasting (like the fast that starts
tomorrow) needs not be just a bodily
one, but also a spiritual one.

472
01:05:33,000 --> 01:05:44,000
Some emphasize the former aspect
so much that they keep a strict, empty
 fast for a long time.

473
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:56,000
Today I saw something interesting.
Someone told me about a group of people

474
01:05:57,000 --> 01:06:09,000
who would not eat cheese because it
uses rennet in the making. Which leaves
some blood traces in the cheese.

475
01:06:10,000 --> 01:06:16,087
It's an exaggeration. The Holy
Fathers, when talking about

476
01:06:16,113 --> 01:06:23,025
spiritual life, never make such a
strict – and false – analysis.

477
01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:33,000
Consequently, fasting, should be made
with discernment, in order to be really
helpful – joined with kindness of the heart

478
01:06:34,000 --> 01:06:38,000
with keeping watch over our words,
with avoiding judgement on our fellow.

479
01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:42,000
Judging our neighbour is
very guilty in front of God. You can become dry from fasting but if you have

480
01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:50,500
bad thoughts on your neighbour
and speak of him badly

481
01:06:50,526 --> 01:06:59,025
when he is not around, your
fasting will be in vain!

482
01:07:00,000 --> 01:07:06,000
Such things, even if made with a good
intention, in order to sanctify our life,

483
01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:15,000
are exaggerations and represent
a fall into temptation coming from the
right.

484
01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:19,000
One can go along the wrong path
through good deeds, too.

485
01:07:19,000 --> 01:07:24,000
That's why we need
wisdom from God to enlighten our way.

486
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:33,000
So that we walk the Royal Road as the
Holy Fathers name it, "via aurea", the
golden way, so that we may not go wrong.

487
01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:44,000
The fast should be fast, made with
discernment. Abstinence should be real

488
01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:54,000
abstinence. Keeping watch over our
senses in a sincere manner. Repentance
should be true, not a false one.

489
01:07:55,000 --> 01:07:58,000
Prayers should be as many as we can but it should be done in

490
01:07:58,000 --> 01:08:02,000
an attentive manner an with
all humility. Then it's fine.

491
01:08:03,000 --> 01:08:16,000
But if one prays only with one's lips,
no matter for how long... There are many
Christians who read lots and lots of

492
01:08:16,000 --> 01:08:22,000
Akathists and many-many
 psalms  and very late they
realize they only prayed with

493
01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:29,000
their mouths. They had said the prayers
absentmindedly and with no heart.

494
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:41,000
These prayers help only a little – as much
as we paid attention now and then
 to whatever we were reading.

495
01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:51,000
Father, sometimes, when we make the
morning or evening prayers, we don't
find the right disposition of the soul.

496
01:08:51,000 --> 01:09:01,000
Sometimes we feel very tired. If we
feel tired, should we cut the prayer
short or continue it as such?

497
01:09:03,000 --> 01:09:10,000
Since we need to pay attention, if we
can continue, then let's do it. If not,

498
01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:14,000
God knows the real and sincere
 state of our life.

499
01:09:15,000 --> 01:09:21,000
We may be really tired and our mind all
scattered, so we should at least say a

500
01:09:21,000 --> 01:09:28,000
prayer or two and make a few
prostrations, then get some rest.

501
01:09:29,000 --> 01:09:34,000
If we can wake up during the night,
we can continue this prayer.

502
01:09:35,000 --> 01:09:43,000
But the prayer should be a conscious one:
 pay attention to what you are saying before God.

503
01:09:43,500 --> 01:09:50,500
God is continuous presence, He knows us
and sees us and hears us at any moment

504
01:09:52,000 --> 01:09:59,000
of our life. That is why we should
be just as present and attentive when
we talk to Him.

505
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:09,087
Why it has been said that
prayer is a dialogue with

506
01:10:09,113 --> 01:10:18,025
God if in reality it's
only us who are speaking?

507
01:10:19,000 --> 01:10:31,000
It's a dialogue, nevertheless, because
God is the one listening to our

508
01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:43,000
prayers. When two people are talking,
the listener accepts, approves what we
are saying.

509
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:50,000
Or, as it happens sometimes, God does
not hear our prayers. This is His

510
01:10:50,000 --> 01:11:01,000
answer. Or He hears and then there's a
dialogue, communication, communion with
Him.

511
01:11:01,000 --> 01:11:13,000
... and I repent. And I stop on certain
paragraphs or pages of the prayer - I
am doing it when I am by myself. But if

512
01:11:13,000 --> 01:11:21,000
I am with others, I cannot stop them
and go over some passages again
because my mind has gone astray.

513
01:11:21,000 --> 01:11:27,000
That's why I'm saying that prayer in a
group is very good if everyone has the

514
01:11:27,000 --> 01:11:33,000
same praying thought and pays
attention to what is being said.

515
01:11:33,000 --> 01:11:40,000
And if there are cases as I told you
about myself, private prayer is better.

516
01:11:40,000 --> 01:11:47,000
Each of us should pray separately,
in the secret of his life.

517
01:11:47,000 --> 01:11:56,000
Some fathers tell us the only group
prayer accepted in the Church is the
one during the divine services.

518
01:11:57,000 --> 01:12:10,000
Otherwise, we risk falling into
pietism. What can you tell us about
this? And what is pietism?

519
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:29,000
Pietism is formal prayer. Public prayer
is of the utmost necessity in the church

520
01:12:29,000 --> 01:12:43,000
(For example,) Vespers, Matins,
the Divine Liturgy, these cannot be
made in particular.

521
01:12:43,000 --> 01:12:52,000
They need to be made in a special
location, in God's house and in public.

522
01:12:53,000 --> 01:13:02,000
Some serve in the worship, others listen
 to what is being said in the altar,
at the lectern or by the choir.

523
01:13:05,000 --> 01:13:18,000
And then you need to pay attention.
 Because Christians, during these services,
may get disturbed by others.

524
01:13:18,000 --> 01:13:24,000
Someone's asking you something just as
 in the altar they are singing "We praise You,
 we bless You..."

525
01:13:24,000 --> 01:13:29,000
the most sacred moment of
prayer in the Divine Liturgy.

526
01:13:30,000 --> 01:13:42,000
And someone's asking you just
 then ... how to make marmalade
 or I don't know what...

527
01:13:43,000 --> 01:13:55,000
Or another question relating to
household chores... And the person next
to you loses the grace of the prayer,

528
01:13:55,000 --> 01:14:05,000
that arrrow which should always be
directed straight to God, who's
present on the Holy Altar

529
01:14:05,000 --> 01:14:10,000
transforming the gifts brought
by believers into the Body and

530
01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:16,000
Blood of Christ - the most sacred
moment of the Liturgy.

531
01:14:17,000 --> 01:14:23,000
Just then, or with other occasions,
someone is asking you something or
tells you to do something, or lets you

532
01:14:23,000 --> 01:14:26,000
know about things that could be
announced later or even not at all,

533
01:14:26,000 --> 01:14:29,000
because there was no harm in not
knowing them.

534
01:14:29,000 --> 01:14:34,000
And thus you are distracted from prayer.

535
01:14:40,000 --> 01:14:45,000
Frankly, I find difficulty in certain
expressions from the prayers addressed

536
01:14:45,000 --> 01:14:54,000
to Theotokos. For example: "The only
protection who speeds to us". How to
understand them?

537
01:14:59,000 --> 01:15:07,000
The Mother of God is God's Mother,
the Mother of Christ the Saviour.

538
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:25,000
A mother is always very attuned
to her son, her child.

539
01:15:26,000 --> 01:15:39,000
A mother is very sensitive about
 whatever happens to her child.

540
01:15:40,000 --> 01:15:53,000
If her son is at a dangerous turning
point, even if he was ill-behaved

541
01:15:53,000 --> 01:16:06,000
towards her before, she'll be very
speedy to worry and will not know how
to help him get out of deadlock.

542
01:16:07,000 --> 01:16:15,000
Earthly mothers – I've met with many
cases like this in my priestly activity.

543
01:16:16,000 --> 01:16:27,000
Christ the Saviour's Mother, the Mother
of God incarnated, is a great exception.

544
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:44,000
While being on the cross, Jesus
gave His mother this ... obedience:

545
01:16:44,000 --> 01:17:01,000
to be taken care of by Saint John – "Here is your
mother" (John 19, 27).

546
01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:06,165
At the most difficult moment
of our Saviour's earthly

547
01:17:06,191 --> 01:17:12,000
existence, while He is on the
cross, He entrusts His mother

548
01:17:12,000 --> 01:17:17,000
to his beloved disciple and at the same
time He entrusts her with a mission: to

549
01:17:17,000 --> 01:17:23,000
become our mother, the mother of all
people on earth.

550
01:17:24,000 --> 01:17:31,000
She really prays and is a great
intercessor for us to God,
along with St John the Baptist.

551
01:17:32,000 --> 01:17:49,000
These two witnesses, very well
regarded by Christ the Saviour,
 the Righteous Judge.

552
01:17:50,000 --> 01:17:56,000
We address ourselves to the Mother of

553
01:17:56,000 --> 01:18:02,000
God as we don't have the courage, for
our deeds, to address to Christ Himself.

554
01:18:03,000 --> 01:18:17,000
Then the Mother of God intercedes for
us: "Lord, I carried you in my arms, I

555
01:18:17,000 --> 01:18:23,868
raised You during Your
earthly life, please help me

556
01:18:23,894 --> 01:18:31,025
in my prayer and help this
one who's praying to me".

557
01:18:32,000 --> 01:18:41,000
In an Ikos from the Akathist to the
Holy Protection of the Theotokos, it is

558
01:18:41,000 --> 01:18:51,000
written that she prays to Our Saviour
like that: "Lord, help those who ask me
to pray for them".

559
01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:56,000
These are not the exact words, but this
is the idea. And she truly prays. And

560
01:18:56,000 --> 01:19:01,000
the prayer of the Mother is received by
her Son.

561
01:19:02,000 --> 01:19:09,000
because Her son is a God full of love.

562
01:19:10,000 --> 01:19:26,000
I'll tell you a story from prison.

563
01:19:27,000 --> 01:19:36,000
Someone young was sent to prison for twenty years.

564
01:19:37,000 --> 01:19:53,000
He grew old in there. During a very difficult
investigation, his patience ran out.

565
01:19:54,000 --> 01:20:06,000
So he decided to find a way
to put an end to his life.

566
01:20:07,000 --> 01:20:13,000
But he remembered that, when he was
out, his grandmother would tell him:

567
01:20:13,000 --> 01:20:19,000
"If you are in great trouble, pray to
the Mother of God".

568
01:20:20,000 --> 01:20:23,000
So he remembered that.

569
01:20:24,000 --> 01:20:32,000
He said: "I had no courage to pray to
the Saviour". He must have had his wrongdoings.

570
01:20:33,000 --> 01:20:41,000
"...But to the Mother of God, who was just
as earthly as we are, I prayed", he said.

571
01:20:42,000 --> 01:20:51,419
A short prayer, a distressed
one: "Mother of God, I can't

572
01:20:51,445 --> 01:21:01,025
stand the suffering and pressure
I endure here! Help me!"

573
01:21:02,000 --> 01:21:10,000
He was praying in his cell.

574
01:21:11,000 --> 01:21:22,926
In a few moments, he saw
entering through the high cell

575
01:21:22,952 --> 01:21:34,025
door a creature dressed in
white, holding a child.

576
01:21:35,000 --> 01:21:48,000
"You've called me. I'll help you.
Be at peace!". And away it went.

577
01:21:49,000 --> 01:21:54,000
Before being summoned to a new
investigation, he was moved somewhere

578
01:21:54,000 --> 01:21:59,000
to the North Pole, at Vorkuta, in another prison,
where he continued to live a very

579
01:21:59,000 --> 01:22:04,000
peaceful life, despite the fact that he
was still a prisoner and there were

580
01:22:04,000 --> 01:22:10,000
great difficulties sometimes from
outside.

581
01:22:11,000 --> 01:22:17,000
The Mother of God helped him the very
moment he finished saying his prayer.

582
01:22:18,000 --> 01:22:30,000
This happening is known to me from the
very man who lived it. He told me himself.

583
01:22:31,000 --> 01:22:39,000
And in prison you don't lie. In prison
everyone says truly what is in his heart.

584
01:22:40,000 --> 01:22:50,000
The poor man told me what happened
to him and how his problem was solved.

585
01:22:51,000 --> 01:22:56,000
This is how the Mother of God
can be speedy in helping us.

586
01:22:57,000 --> 01:23:00,000
But the prayer should be...

587
01:23:01,000 --> 01:23:07,000
...full of longing, made with all our
being, with all our might, full of

588
01:23:07,000 --> 01:23:10,000
trust, desperate ... and the prayer
will be fullfilled right after

589
01:23:10,000 --> 01:23:14,000
the moment you say it. There's no
need for more time or long prayers.

590
01:23:15,000 --> 01:23:25,000
Sometimes we need long prayers, indeed –
 for us to calm down and be able to
concentrate our thoughts towards God.

591
01:23:26,000 --> 01:23:41,000
Some other times, at very difficult moments,
we'll receive an answer right away, on the spot.

592
01:23:42,000 --> 01:23:51,000
Father Archimandrite, do you think that in the
Calendar of the Romanian Orthodox

593
01:23:51,000 --> 01:24:01,000
Church there should be a day dedicated
to those who died for Christ in the

594
01:24:01,000 --> 01:24:10,000
communist prisons? While you were in
prison, have you met people who lived

595
01:24:10,000 --> 01:24:20,000
through prayer, who really walked the
saintly way? Can you describe some of
them?

596
01:24:20,000 --> 01:24:24,000
Hard to say.

597
01:24:25,000 --> 01:24:42,371
Many of those who lived a spiritual
life in the prison are no longer with us,

598
01:24:42,397 --> 01:25:01,025
they are somewhere, up there,
in the kingdom of the righteous.

599
01:25:02,000 --> 01:25:04,000
How to...

600
01:25:05,000 --> 01:25:16,000
As for the other question, whether we
should have a prayer in the calendar,
or in our souls, or to reserve a moment

601
01:25:16,000 --> 01:25:28,000
for those who died in the (communist)
prisons, this is a very good Christian
deed... very good.

602
01:25:29,000 --> 01:25:40,000
Because not all who died in
prison don't need praying for them.

603
01:25:41,000 --> 01:25:48,000
Only saints don't need us to pray for
them. We pray to them to pray for us.

604
01:25:49,000 --> 01:25:59,000
But the others, who passed through this
life and went beyond maybe carrying heavy

605
01:25:59,000 --> 01:26:09,000
sins that were not forgiven, get much
help through the prayers of the Church
and our personal prayers.

606
01:26:10,000 --> 01:26:22,000
How to set aside all the cares of life
from one's mind when we are praying?

607
01:26:22,000 --> 01:26:34,000
What if my heart is hardened and I
can't feel anything when I'm saying my
prayer?

608
01:26:35,000 --> 01:26:38,000
Let us repent for this desolation we live in

609
01:26:38,100 --> 01:26:44,900
While we are at prayer, let's repent before God:

610
01:26:45,000 --> 01:26:51,000
God, I'm like a soil without water, a
deserted and barren, as the psalmist

611
01:26:51,000 --> 01:26:58,000
says. Help me! Rest Your grace upon my
heart that's thirsty for You!

612
01:26:59,000 --> 01:27:07,000
A particular, personal prayer can be made
 at that moment, on the spot, in the depths of your heart.

613
01:27:08,000 --> 01:27:22,000
We should resort to our conscience
and examine the cause of this numbness.

614
01:27:23,000 --> 01:27:28,000
Usually, our sins harden our
hearts. The bad things we do.

615
01:27:29,000 --> 01:27:34,000
There are people we can't forgive
and our heart is enveloped

616
01:27:34,000 --> 01:27:40,000
in a thick layer caused by this
hatred against our neighbour.

617
01:27:40,000 --> 01:27:48,000
And we pray God to slash this veil and
open this heart again, making it impermeable

618
01:27:48,000 --> 01:27:55,000
to all that is happening around us.
Then we'll set aside all the cares of life.

619
01:27:55,000 --> 01:28:04,500
This repentance for our sins,
this private prayer to God

620
01:28:04,526 --> 01:28:14,025
will slash this veil of
numbness that has wrapped us.

621
01:28:15,000 --> 01:28:21,000
Sometimes I get to say the prayer
mechanically. It doesn't reach to my soul

622
01:28:22,000 --> 01:28:30,000
It's as if prayer becomes blunt.
Is there routine in prayer?

623
01:28:33,000 --> 01:28:42,000
It's good to repeat it then. Let's repeat
the prayer by making and effort to think
about what we are saying.

624
01:28:42,000 --> 01:28:51,000
Let's ask from God this freshness
of the prayer. Then, on the spot,
immediately, something happens to us.

625
01:29:00,000 --> 01:29:05,000
Father, what do you say of those who
practice the prayer of the heart, but

626
01:29:05,000 --> 01:29:13,000
spread teachings that are far from
Orthodoxy – like yoga or parapsychology?

627
01:29:27,000 --> 01:29:32,000
I think God does not listen to their prayer.

628
01:29:40,000 --> 01:29:48,345
These practices are foreign
to our nation and mindset

629
01:29:48,371 --> 01:29:57,000
and are not carried out through
Christ and for Christ.

630
01:29:57,000 --> 01:30:02,000
It's a sort of hypocrisy of the prayer.

631
01:30:03,000 --> 01:30:11,000
It's a deception. They mix things so as
to seem that yoga, for example,
is Jesus prayer

632
01:30:11,000 --> 01:30:19,000
But they're different like
 heaven from earth.

633
01:30:21,000 --> 01:30:33,000
There are witches and wizards who keep
icons in their homes. They look at the

634
01:30:33,000 --> 01:30:39,000
icon and say certain things –
practicing divination.

635
01:30:39,000 --> 01:30:44,000
We are deceived when we
require such guidance.

636
01:30:45,000 --> 01:30:53,000
God's Spirit cannot abide with
this lie, this falseness.

637
01:30:55,000 --> 01:31:00,000
By their deeds will you know them –
these people who mix up the Jesus

638
01:31:00,000 --> 01:31:13,000
Prayer with yoga, if we scrutinize
their lives, we'll see they usually
make wrong steps.

639
01:31:16,000 --> 01:31:19,000
They actually have another way
of life (than what it seems).

640
01:31:19,000 --> 01:31:33,000
Yoga has some very questionable
aspects. Many indecorous things.

641
01:31:34,000 --> 01:31:41,000
Those who practise yoga
know what I'm speaking about.

642
01:31:44,000 --> 01:31:49,000
Father, I don't believe yet in God
with all my heart. Is it sinful to pray

643
01:31:49,000 --> 01:31:55,000
to Him only because right now I'm
 only afraid of Him?

644
01:31:55,000 --> 01:31:58,000
Yes, it's good to pray like that.

645
01:31:59,000 --> 01:32:03,000
In the Gospel, when the Saviour

646
01:32:03,000 --> 01:32:12,000
descends from Mount Tabor, half the
way down He meets with a commotion.

647
01:32:12,000 --> 01:32:19,000
The three apostles who had been with
the Saviour on the mountain were now
descending with Jesus

648
01:32:19,000 --> 01:32:23,000
and there they found a man with
his son who was possessed.

649
01:32:23,000 --> 01:32:32,000
They had come near the apostles with
the boy and asked them for help, as

650
01:32:32,000 --> 01:32:37,000
Christ had given them the gift and task
of healing the ill.

651
01:32:37,000 --> 01:32:47,000
But the aspostles failed to
 heal the demonized boy... They even despised the apostles

652
01:32:49,000 --> 01:32:55,000
At this moment Jesus descends from
Tabor and is greeted by the father of

653
01:32:55,000 --> 01:32:59,000
the possessed one, who tells
Him about the apostles

654
01:32:59,000 --> 01:33:05,000
"My Lord, I have this ill boy and I went
to Your disciples and asked them
to heal him but they couldn't.

655
01:33:05,000 --> 01:33:09,000
Can You?"

656
01:33:09,000 --> 01:33:17,000
And Jesus tells him:
"If you believe, then I can".

657
01:33:17,000 --> 01:33:26,000
Then the father tearfully says the following:
"I believe, help my unbelief!" (Mark 9, 24)

658
01:33:27,000 --> 01:33:32,000
There is your answer: "I believe, my
Lord, help my unbelief!" He did

659
01:33:32,000 --> 01:33:38,000
believe, but not completely. He was on
the way to believing.

660
01:33:39,000 --> 01:33:44,000
So the Saviour healed him
and healed his son, too.

661
01:33:45,000 --> 01:33:55,000
This lesser faith, manifested also by
the apostles some time, is received by

662
01:33:55,000 --> 01:34:06,000
our Saviour if we insist to stay close
to Him and ask Him to help us to fully
repent. And He does help.

663
01:34:07,000 --> 01:34:17,000
What does it mean assistance even in sin
for those who do not live a spiritual life?

664
01:34:30,000 --> 01:34:43,000
God helps us at any time. Our inner
freedom is natural from the beginning,
for we are born with it.

665
01:34:45,000 --> 01:34:49,000
But sometimes God helps us in addition

666
01:34:49,000 --> 01:34:56,000
to what we need to do. Help
in the good sense of the word.

667
01:34:57,000 --> 01:35:07,000
There are non-believers who still
believe a little, they are Christians, but are covered with sins.

668
01:35:08,000 --> 01:35:15,000
And God, Who loves everybody and knows

669
01:35:15,000 --> 01:35:23,000
what everybody is thinking,
can help him not fall into sin.

670
01:35:29,000 --> 01:35:41,000
There is a sin that is difficult
to be confessed, the sin of lust.

671
01:35:42,000 --> 01:35:54,000
Whoever wants to guard himself
from this sin will have no success
without help from God.

672
01:35:55,000 --> 01:36:02,000
Only with God's help
can we escape this snare.

673
01:36:03,000 --> 01:36:10,000
Even if he is less of a believer, God
knowing that person will turn to Him

674
01:36:10,000 --> 01:36:16,000
later – there are those who do just
that after they receive some signs from God in
their life.

675
01:36:17,000 --> 01:36:25,000
God knows all this and keeps him from a
snare, from a fall. And he escapes

676
01:36:25,000 --> 01:36:34,000
so as later to be grateful to God for
His help.

677
01:36:41,000 --> 01:36:52,000
Abba Poimen says that mind's scattering
is the beginning of all evil. Starting
from this truth, do you think it's

678
01:36:52,000 --> 01:36:57,000
important for everyone to have a
spiritual life program? What would you

679
01:36:57,000 --> 01:37:02,000
recommend young people to include in
such a program?

680
01:37:03,000 --> 01:37:16,000
I recommend them the Jesus Prayer. A
short prayer that can be said in any
manner and under any circumstances.

681
01:37:17,000 --> 01:37:21,000
A longer rule of prayer would
be difficult to recommend.

682
01:37:21,000 --> 01:37:34,000
But this prayer, spoken with all our heart,
and especially in humility, will help.

683
01:37:35,000 --> 01:37:41,000
Until we get to the psalms and

684
01:37:41,000 --> 01:37:47,000
cathismae, paraklesises and akathists,
this prayer can be very beneficial...

685
01:37:48,000 --> 01:37:56,000
...if one's life is very dissipated and
one cannot use the classical way of

686
01:37:56,000 --> 01:38:05,000
prayer: before the icon, with eyes on a
book.

687
01:38:05,000 --> 01:38:16,000
We'll take only three more questions,
so as not to tire the Father Archimandrite.

688
01:38:16,000 --> 01:38:27,000
If we don't have a spiritual father, then
we are not good Christians?

689
01:38:28,000 --> 01:38:36,000
We need...

690
01:38:37,000 --> 01:38:44,000
...a doctor, for we are ill.

691
01:38:45,000 --> 01:38:51,000
But, even if we are ill, we can

692
01:38:51,000 --> 01:38:57,000
stubbornly refuse to go to the
doctor. "I won't go to the doctor!"

693
01:38:58,000 --> 01:39:03,000
The doctor awaits you, or doesn't even

694
01:39:03,000 --> 01:39:08,000
know you are ill, while you are
lying in your sins and sorrows.

695
01:39:09,000 --> 01:39:17,000
It's the same thing. We need to confess so

696
01:39:17,000 --> 01:39:26,000
that we get rid of the
burden of our sins and faults

697
01:39:27,000 --> 01:39:38,000
Sometimes the need we feel is so great,
that we tell a friend about it.

698
01:39:38,000 --> 01:39:44,307
But that person listens to us, comforts
or encourages us,

699
01:39:44,333 --> 01:39:51,025
but we remain the same, with the
burden inside our being.

700
01:39:52,000 --> 01:40:01,000
If you tell your problem to your spiritual father, he
will listen to you but he will also set you free.

701
01:40:02,000 --> 01:40:06,000
It means he'll lift your
burden and dissipate it.

702
01:40:07,000 --> 01:40:14,000
And not through himself, we don't have
that power. Christ who is present

703
01:40:14,000 --> 01:40:22,000
everytime we confess, is the One who
forgives, blesses and lifts this
burden.

704
01:40:23,000 --> 01:40:33,000
Therefore, if someone doesn't confess,
it is his loss. He'll keep his burden,

705
01:40:33,000 --> 01:40:43,000
which will harden his heart at prayer. He'll be
prone to many complications and
pitfalls.

706
01:40:44,000 --> 01:40:52,000
He won't be able to think anymore about

707
01:40:52,000 --> 01:41:01,000
God's gifts – he won't know them,
they won't find any place in him.

708
01:41:02,000 --> 01:41:12,000
That's why you need a spiritual father.
So that he may help and guide you to
the small door through which you can

709
01:41:12,000 --> 01:41:28,000
contact God. He will forgive your sins
and enable you to get closer to the
essence of life that is God Himself.

710
01:41:28,000 --> 01:41:39,000
Can marriage become an obstacle in
practicing the prayer of the heart?

711
01:41:39,000 --> 01:41:56,000
It can be an obstacle. But I know married people
who very fruitfully pray with this prayer.

712
01:41:58,000 --> 01:42:11,000
I mean it's difficult and yet possible to pray,
even if one is married with family.

713
01:42:11,000 --> 01:42:19,000
The one who prays can also convince the
rest of the family to get familiar to

714
01:42:19,000 --> 01:42:31,000
this prayer. All their life will be
much easier and beautiful.

715
01:42:32,000 --> 01:42:40,000
And a last question: Please comment on
the biblical verse: "...where your

716
01:42:40,000 --> 01:42:46,000
treasure is, there will your heart be
also" (Luke, 12, 34).

717
01:42:57,000 --> 01:43:11,000
I think there's no need for
a complicated comment on that...

718
01:43:12,000 --> 01:43:27,000
...if one thinks that indeed whatever you are
passionate about will also draw your attention.

719
01:43:28,000 --> 01:43:40,000
Treasure usually means
the little coin or dollar.

720
01:43:41,000 --> 01:43:46,000
There are people whose sole
concern is getting rich.

721
01:43:47,000 --> 01:43:54,932
In the times we live in, there
are about three categories

722
01:43:54,958 --> 01:44:03,000
of people: poor people, middle
people and very rich ones.

723
01:44:03,000 --> 01:44:13,000
I think the very rich often have their
hearts where their money is: how to get

724
01:44:13,000 --> 01:44:22,000
and save them so as to continually
increase their income, their treasure.

725
01:44:23,000 --> 01:44:36,000
During prayer, or while we read the
Holy Scripture, the Philokalia, or
other sacred and blessed texts,

726
01:44:36,000 --> 01:44:49,000
attention splits between the place of
the treasure (and how to increase it)
and whatever it is written.

727
01:44:50,000 --> 01:44:57,000
Most often the mind slips away to the
place of the material treasure, not to

728
01:44:57,000 --> 01:45:04,000
the spiritual one, not to what one
reads for one's soul and salvation.

729
01:45:05,000 --> 01:45:11,000
That is why it is said: "...where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also"

730
01:45:12,000 --> 01:45:20,000
Everyone can see that in his own life.

731
01:45:21,000 --> 01:45:32,000
There are saints like St. Anthony, who
got completely free from earthly
possessions. When his parents died, he

732
01:45:32,000 --> 01:45:44,000
gave his possessions to the poor and
went away to live a heremitic life,
carrying only a bag.

733
01:45:45,000 --> 01:45:52,000
He had a man who brought him dry bread
and a little water from time to time.

734
01:45:52,000 --> 01:46:00,000
He got rid of all the big fortune his
parents had left him.

735
01:46:01,000 --> 01:46:05,000
Thus, he had no business thinking about
this treasure, which was no more: it

736
01:46:05,000 --> 01:46:10,000
had been given to the poor, to the
Kingdom of God.

737
01:46:11,000 --> 01:46:25,000
Thus, where his treasure was - with God, so
his heart was in the same place. So did
all these forsakers of fortune, these

738
01:46:25,000 --> 01:46:32,000
godly people who lived all the time only in prayer
and meditation, having their minds

739
01:46:32,000 --> 01:46:39,000
firmly installed in the life beyond
earthly life, into eternity.

740
01:46:40,000 --> 01:46:48,000
Their heart was where their treasure
was, where God was, where divine grace

741
01:46:48,000 --> 01:46:57,000
was, where secrets revealed, in the
eternity that opens after death.

742
01:46:58,000 --> 01:47:14,000
Archimandrite, in the end of our
meeting, would you like to address
a final word to young people?

743
01:47:22,000 --> 01:47:32,000
I have an excellent opinion about young
people, because out of an

744
01:47:32,000 --> 01:47:43,000
inner urge, under the impression and
influence of divine grace they turn themselves towards God.

745
01:47:43,000 --> 01:47:52,227
After the Revolution (from 1989),
I went twice to Bassarabia

746
01:47:52,253 --> 01:48:01,000
and visited some nephews of
mine in the villages there.

747
01:48:02,000 --> 01:48:12,000
I saw that in primary schools they
 talked about God, about religion.

748
01:48:14,000 --> 01:48:22,000
Their parents, devastated by
communism, knew nothing about God.

749
01:48:22,000 --> 01:48:27,000
They only knew about household and
earning an immediate living.

750
01:48:27,000 --> 01:48:40,000
Children are very direct and they will
say what they think. So they'd come
from school and tell their parents:

751
01:48:40,000 --> 01:48:47,000
"Our teacher spoke today of the Mother
of God". "Mom (or Dad), today our

752
01:48:47,000 --> 01:48:55,000
teacher told us about Jesus Christ
or about the apostles".

753
01:48:55,000 --> 01:49:00,000
"or she told us about St.
Stephen, who was killed with stones."

754
01:49:01,000 --> 01:49:05,000
They would open their eyes wide and
look at their children in

755
01:49:05,000 --> 01:49:08,000
bewilderment. They barely knew these
things.

756
01:49:08,200 --> 01:49:15,200
They had only vaguely heard about these
things that lie at the heart of Christian faith.

757
01:49:16,000 --> 01:49:23,000
Having returned in the country, I found

758
01:49:23,000 --> 01:49:33,000
out from the young people who
came to Confession that, for example, some of them pray more.

759
01:49:33,000 --> 01:49:45,000
In the evening, after dinner
and after the immediate discussions,
each of them withdraws to one's room.

760
01:49:46,000 --> 01:49:56,000
I know that from young men and women that
around 23.30 in the evening, the mother

761
01:49:56,000 --> 01:50:09,000
is peeping through the keyhole or by
the margin of the door and sees light
in her child's room.

762
01:50:09,000 --> 01:50:16,000
So she loudly knocks on the door and,
if it's open, she enters the room:
"Aren't you going to sleep, dear?

763
01:50:16,000 --> 01:50:24,000
What's that? Turn off that vigil
candle, it's late, you should sleep,
you need some rest!"

764
01:50:25,000 --> 01:50:29,000
She doesn't pray. And won't have her

765
01:50:29,000 --> 01:50:33,000
child or children pray. Because
she doesn't believe in God.

766
01:50:34,000 --> 01:50:40,000
The child, the student or pupil prays,
while his mother and father don't.

767
01:50:41,000 --> 01:50:49,000
But young people, as i said, feel this urge
from God to get closer to Him through prayer.

768
01:50:50,000 --> 01:50:57,000
Prayer is a weapon and spiritual tool by
which we can communicate to the invisible God.

769
01:50:58,000 --> 01:51:06,000
Therefore, children and young people,
many of whom only God knows, have

770
01:51:06,000 --> 01:51:15,000
this faith they did not learn from
school, for school only now has started
teaching them religion.

771
01:51:15,000 --> 01:51:22,000
But they overhear and learn like some
gifted people learn music by heart and

772
01:51:22,000 --> 01:51:29,000
then play their violin without reading
the musical notes.

773
01:51:30,000 --> 01:51:35,000
These young people learn in the same
way about faith: from church,

774
01:51:35,000 --> 01:51:41,000
by reading the Gospel and Philokalia, by
looking through a book found by chance.

775
01:51:41,000 --> 01:51:47,000
One's faith gets rooted inside and
one prays, feeling that prayer

776
01:51:47,000 --> 01:51:53,000
is beneficial, it enlightens the mind
and brings balance into one's life.

777
01:51:54,000 --> 01:51:59,000
And the child walks that path. But
mother or father often oppose this,

778
01:51:59,000 --> 01:52:02,000
just like the Bassarabian
parents with their children.

779
01:52:02,000 --> 01:52:05,000
What advice can I
give to young people?

780
01:52:06,000 --> 01:52:12,000
My advice to young people
 is to walk this path,

781
01:52:12,000 --> 01:52:19,000
to be realistic in their lives,
 to be balanced, not to slip to

782
01:52:19,000 --> 01:52:26,000
the right or to the left. To the left
are the usual passions of life,

783
01:52:26,000 --> 01:52:33,000
while to the right there are the
exaggerations of things.

784
01:52:34,000 --> 01:52:44,000
They should learn about God and His way,
consecrating this way through
prayer and pure life.

785
01:52:45,000 --> 01:52:57,000
They should not slip into drunkenness. Not search the
dangerous company that may

786
01:52:57,000 --> 01:53:10,000
attract them to evil deeds – like
stealing money from parents to buy
useless things or to drink.

787
01:53:11,000 --> 01:53:24,000
When they have no money, they steal it.
They can be successful a few times, but

788
01:53:24,000 --> 01:53:38,000
then they get caught and go to the... joint
as the prisoners call it. And they
dishonour and spoil their lives.

789
01:53:39,000 --> 01:53:49,000
That is why well-behaved young people
– be they wise or without whole wisdom
– should look for wisdom in the holy

790
01:53:49,000 --> 01:54:00,000
books and pray to God for it and guard
their bodies undefiled as much as possible.

791
01:54:01,000 --> 01:54:08,000
Because this body of ours will be
resurrected from death. And it will

792
01:54:08,000 --> 01:54:15,000
rise just as it was when it went to the
grave: sinful or righteous. That is why

793
01:54:15,000 --> 01:54:22,000
we need to live a life of purity,
of holiness, so the body be able

794
01:54:22,000 --> 01:54:29,000
to meet the soul and walk the way
of light into God's Kingdom.

795
01:54:30,000 --> 01:54:42,000
Romanians have a saying: You will sleep
where you made your own bed. It's also
valid for our life, which should be

796
01:54:42,000 --> 01:54:54,000
lived in balance and sobriety, so that a
good reward will await for you on the other
side according to the life lived here.

797
01:54:55,000 --> 01:55:04,000
This is my advice to young people:
balance, wisdom, prayer, guarding one's

798
01:55:04,000 --> 01:55:13,000
mind and mouth and guarding
one's heart against passions.

799
01:55:14,000 --> 01:55:21,000
If they have this spiritual shield,

800
01:55:21,000 --> 01:55:28,000
their life will be honourable
here, on earth, and also beyond.

801
01:55:29,000 --> 01:55:32,000
That's it.