The Jesus Prayer: Entering the Heart of God - Rt Revd Simon Barrington-Ward

Rt Revd Simon Barrington-Ward discusses The Jesus Prayer, exploring its use as a transformative devotional practice. This seminar was held at St Paul's Cathedral, London on Sunday 2nd October 2011.

[@InnerExploration]

Thank goodness that Bishop Simon's wonderful teachings on the Jesus Prayer are finally being recorded. This talk is an absolute gem and essential viewing/listening for anyone who is interested in this way of prayer.

[@gailkoelmeyer7650]

What a beautiful, Spirit Filled, gentle Bishop!

[@gailkoelmeyer7650]

Beautifully enriching. Thankyou, Bishop Simon.

[@gudidpadasian7729]

when we say this prayer the devil will ask you to stop saying he had headache when he hear this prayer this powerful prayer this is a humble prayer human is a sinner if you not a sinner you a not human. humility we must understand this word. Humility is knowledge of truth. lord jesuschrist son of have mercy on me a sinner. god bless us during this time of lent.

[@gudidpadasian7729]

we have to be humbel in order to be able to do jesus prayer lord jesuschrist son of god have mercy on us a sinner say it many many time .

[@lakaylee1]

This is a prayer that I use regularly 🙏

[@hellie_el]

❤❤❤❤❤ thank you

[@artistsurafel]

Dear Father please pray for me a sinner Surafel from VA USA

[@ralphsimpson5230]

being an Atheist, I am blessed.

[@chriswilcocks8485]

Excellent content. Sadly not the most inspiring talker. But obviously a very holy spirit filled man.

[@HickoryDickory86]

The saint earlier than St. Gregory Palamas who defended the two wills of Christ (dyothelitism) as opposed to one (monothelitism) was not St. Macarius but St. Maximos the Confessor. He was, in fact, defending Chalcedon-then again, the monothelites thought they were too. Dyothelitism and monothelitism were interpretations of Chalcedon, but it seems obvious the dyothelite position to be the logical one, seeing as Christ was upheld at Chalcedon was having two nature, and will is inherent to one's nature, ergo two wills. Saint Maximos had to flee to the West and sought refuge with Pope St. Martin I, as the monothelites had the power block in the Eastern Church as well as the Imperial throne. Following the Lateran Council of 649, which synodally upheld dyothelitism and condemned monothelitism, Maximos and Martin were arrested by the emperor and tortured. Each one died later as a result and is now venerated as a Confessor, meaning they initially survived but eventually succumbed to the grievous wounds that would have otherwise caused them to be martyrs.

[@shawnhampton8503]

I wonder what the monastery on Mt. Athos he was telling about was?

[@mitrasthemitchell5529]

The monastery is Simonopetra on Mt Athos

[@caroleelagrone9729]

I get so tired of people who say the Jesus with their Jesus prayer rope but they are moving along with only enough Time to Just say "Jesus" NOT THE JESUS PRAYER! Not one that claims to be saying the Jesus Prayer!!! ? What's up with that???

[@countpancake]

I like his views and his teachings but when having to answer a question about an extract from his book in RS, i found it difficult as there is a lot of seemingly unimportant description and when your trying to work out what he understands "worship" to be it is VERY CONFUSING!!!

[@garethifan1034]

This is mysticism, not the historic Christian faith. Beware..

[@HickoryDickory86]

Hesychia (ἡσυχία, which means "quietude," "stillness," or "rest") is mysticism, yes; it is also the historic Christian faith. It is _the_ genuine expression of the Christian faith lived out in continual prayer (1 Thess 5:16-18), exemplified by the righteous who are deeply in communion with God. You just don't see, understand, or appreciate that because you have inherited all the baggage of the West, influenced as it is by rationalist Scholasticism and naturalism, then Renaissance humanism (fueled by a resurgence of Plato and Neo-Platonic thought, Kabbalah, hermeticism, and neo-gnosticism), then the "Enlightenment," then postmodernism, and on and on. Over the centuries, these have served only to push the West farther and farther away from its ancient Christian heritage which once was almost identical to the East (including Christian mysticism, especially as practiced by the monastics, be they in the Egyptian deserts or Irish bogs). Hesychia (quietude, stillness) is what was practiced by the ascetic prophets of the Old Testament (e.g., Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc.), and also practiced by apostles like Paul and John, who frequently found themselves "in the Spirit" and having mystical experiences themselves (e.g., caught up to the Third Heaven and seeing things too wonderful and impossible to deacribe, or being present in the heavenly throne room of God and Christ, with the twenty-four elders, the living creatures, and innumerable angels surrounding the throne). Hesychia is Christian mysticism, but it is not to be conflated or confused with far eastern (e.g., Hindu, Buddhist) mystical practices like Zen, etc. The holy fathers have long taught that those practices were, in fact, copied from the early Christians by the pagans and distorted and corrupted. If you would like to learn more, I would highly recommend you get a copy of "The Triads" by St. Gregory Palamas. A recent translation of the whole work was made by Fr. Peter Chamberas. I also recommend getting and reading "The Way of a Pilgrim," translated by Olga Savin with foreword by Fr. Thomas Hopko (this edition is published, unfortunately, by Shambhala Classics, which also publishes books within the aforementioned pagan mystical traditions).

[@gailkoelmeyer7650]

The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, True God & True Man; The Alpha and The Omega; By Which Name Alone IS man saved; devils Exorcised; Miracles of Healing granted; The Holy Eucharist Confected upon our Altars; Sins Forgiven; Salvation wrought; and Every good work performed.., God Is Mystery, being Caught up In The Holy Spirit, Who Proceeds From The Father and The Son..Is The Mystical Life...that has progressed from the head to the heart.

[@gailkoelmeyer7650]

"The Prayer IS Love"

[@HickoryDickory86]

@@gailkoelmeyer7650 "Who Proceeds From The Father and -The Son- " The _filioque_ was not originally in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, as the creed deals specifically with the ontological natures of the Trinity. Unbegotten Father, Begotten Son, Spirit proceeding from the Father. The only sense in which the Spirit can be said to proceed from the Father _and_ the Son is economically, in time and space, after Jesus ascends back to the Father, requests of the Father, and sends the Spirit on Pentecost. It's in the economy of salvation only, but the insertion of the _filioque_ into the Creed was a western innovation (condemned as a heresy, in fact) and distorts the Trinity.

[@swhite5840]

​@HickoryDickory86 in what way distorts it?