Prayer is a conversation with God. The soul of the true Christian wants to pray
constantly. It begins with doxology and praise, moves on to supplication and
petition. We should prepare for prayer by reading a passage from the Gospel
or the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The one praying should also remember
his brothers and sisters and daily ask God to have mercy on them and direct
them on the way of salvation. Let the problem of others become our problem
as well. And if you want to have pure prayer you must genuinely and truly see
all people as saints. The model in our prayer should be the blind man from the
Bible who, even though was told to be silent, cried more for the Lord to have
mercy on him. The Canaanite woman, but also the Lord Himself, whose sweat
on the Mount of Olives ran like clots of blood.
Saint Paisios the Athonite
Translated by Dr. Nick Stergiou
