March 28, 2006: Long Prayers

Inevitably, someone will comment about St. Basil the Great and refer to him as "the long-winded." Poor St. Basil. In his Prayers of the Anaphora, he gives us a complete Orthodox Christian Catechism in a very "short" period of time. Shame on us for thinking they are "long." Here are some important words from St. John of Kronstadt to the priest (from his book "Counsels on the Christian Priesthood."): "When you are reading a lengthy form of prayer aloud in the presence of the people, the enemy may try to disconcert your heart and mind, and to quench the words on your lips, by the thought that the people do not understand much of what you are saying, and that to read such prayers is a useless waste of time. This is folly. for what of the Holy Spirit, the teacher of all truth? Have you forgotten about Him? Is He inactive? Does He not enlighten all of us? Have you not yourself experienced the enlightenment of your mind and heart by the Holy Spirit? There was something you did not understand, and suddenly the Holy Spirit opened your mind, and your heart also was suddenly enlightened. Be assured that the same thing happens to others also. Read the prayer with steadfast heart. It is for you but to sow the seed—God will give the growth."  Remember how concise and to the point St. Basil was the next time you visit your local movie theater!

Comments

[Brent]

Interesting irony. Last night Andrew and I read a paragraph from Unseen Warfare that was about the private use of SHORT prayers. It begins teaching about praying in the heart. It talked about how in long prayers, we often allow our minds to go off on a tangent--a word or phrase from the prayer itself starts us off--and we begin to think about things in the world rather than center in with God. Short prayers (Jesus Prayer) helps us keep our focus while praying.

Obviously, this does not stand opposed to your comments above, Father. I just thought it was ironic to read your post after our reading last night. A place and time for short AND long prayers.

[Tracy]

I've been thinking about what you said, Brent. Maybe it's a need for both "high" and "low", the Church's words and our words. St. John Climacus gives us the image of the Ladder. The Fathers are always saying: "ascend by descending", that is, we grow closer to God (ascend) in humility (giving up our self-will, descending). St. Basil's prayers bring us closer to God. They show us all He has done. We ascend through them to Him. They are quintessentially the words of the Church, the Gospel in a nutshell. The Jesus Prayer gives us our words, which have to be words of humility. Lord have mercy! Sometimes that's about all a person can say for herself.

[Linda]

Last night at Liturgy I was thinking this is a long service and the prayers are long. Then I realized that we were about 2/3 of the way and thought this will go quickly. Then near the end I thought this service is too short and I did not want it to end. Maybe the longer we are praying the more we want to pray and connect with our King and our God. Maybe it is the letting go of our daily life and attending to the service that allows us to transcend into a timeless place. Linda