Kneeling with Giants: Part 3 - The Pilgrim

The word "pilgrim" brings one of three things to the average American Christian's mind:

1. The Mayflower and Plymouth separatists with buckles on their black hats and shoes who speak in King James English and cavorting with American Indians.
2. John Wayne
3. John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress - an extended narrative metaphor of the Christian life

Relatively few people will have read the 19th century Russian work The Way of the Pilgrim which "brought Orthodox spirituality to the West."  The "Jesus Prayer," as described in the book, is an example of the Orthodox practice of "hesychasm" which communicates the idea of "stillness," "rest" and "silence."  The practice of hesychasm finds some of its earliest reference in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and the Jesus Prayer itself dates back to the writings of Diadochos of Photiki, a fifth century ascetic.

Gary Hansen focuses the third chapter of Kneeling with Giants around this form of prayer, emphasizing the "Jesus Prayer" as described by the Pilgrim.  

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me."¹

He breaks the process of praying the Jesus Prayer into three phases:

Phase 1:  Repetition of the Prayer  (Hansen notes three methods for this repetition)

1. Say the prayer a certain number of times each day as described in The Pilgrim's Tale, tallying the number with beads or the traditional Orthodox prayer rope or "chotki"
2. Pray the prayer for a fixed period of time each day.  (Hansen suggests starting with five minutes and expanding this time as one progresses).
3. Leave notes around the home or office to remind oneself to pray at specific locations/times

Hansen also notes the importance of breathing and rhythm for the prayer.  He suggest breathing in with the words Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and exhaling with the words have mercy on me.  Obviously, this entails saying the prayer mentally as it is enormously difficult to speak while inhaling.  Saying the prayer either audibly or silently is perfectly acceptable.

Phase 2:  Meditate on the Meaning of the Words  (Hansen explains the meaning of each phrase)

1. "Lord" - Here we remember our role with respect to God.  He is our Lord and we are his servants.
2. "Jesus" - The Lord we serve is the humble Jesus who came to love and serve his servants and commend his way to us.
3. "Christ" - Jesus is the "fulfillment of all God's plans for salvation" and the reconciliation of ourselves to God.
4. "Son of God" - We are reminded of the orthodox understanding of Jesus to the Father:  the Word, the eternal Son of the eternal Father, very God of very God.  Approaching him, we approach God. 
5. "Have mercy" - We often distinguish between mercy and grace in the modern church.  But the understanding of "mercy" here is virtually the same as the contemporary understanding of grace:  "someone looks to your needs and helps you out of sheer generosity." 
6. "On me" - We must remember that God loves, provides and cares for each one of us personally.  This draws us to humility and honesty in bringing our needs and brokenness to Him.

Finally, Hansen notes the importance of moving beyond the words to deeper prayer

Phase 3:  Moving from the Intellect to the Heart   

First we recite the prayer, dwelling on the meaning of each word and phrase.  After a time of this, a state of relaxation and focus is reached where we are still praying the words but without concentrating.  At the same time we are able to let our deepest concerns, joys and needs percolate up from our heart while residing in a state of stillness.  Having experienced this myself, it is a bit of a strange feeling to have one's consciousness divided in this way.  I suspect it is something like the "autopilot mode" we all experience when we are thinking deeply while driving and suddenly realize we haven't been paying attention but are now 20 miles past our exit.  Or maybe I'm the only who has experienced that.

Summary:

Pros:  With this form of prayer tracing its way back to the biblical story of the penitent tax collector and back to the Desert Fathers, it naturally resonated with me.  I even researched and made my own traditional Orthodox prayer rope or "chotki" for counting the prayers (similar to a rosary but with knots instead of beads).

My hand-made 33 Knot Chotki

Some would even trace the making of prayer ropes back to Antony the Great as he is described making one in a vision,² although I suspect it goes back to other monastic groups prior to Christianity.  Though I continue to have difficulty staying with the prayer for long, long periods of time, I have found it to keep my prayers back from wandering far and wide and keeping my focus on Christ.  Equally importantly, saying the prayer in conjunction with the breathing has a calming effect on me when I find myself anxious or in tense situations.

Cons:  The only real problem with this prayer is the reaction that some conservative Christians are likely to have to it.    Inevitably in some fundamentalist and semi-fundamentalist protestant circles some people will label it New Age mumbo-jumbo.  My beloved Southern Baptist mother-in-law (who is remarkably patient with her prodigal son-in-law) looked at me a little funny when she observed me weaving/tying the chotki one evening.  But it is critical to remember that this form of prayer originates in the scriptures, asserts the foundational elements of all orthodox Christianity and is centered entirely on Jesus, the center of our faith.  This is at least as scriptural as the vast majority of prayers you will hear in evangelical churches.  There is no "vain repetition" here, because the purpose of the prayer isn't to get God to listen, but to tune our hearts to his.

1.  Many are used to this form of prayer included the words, "a sinner" at the end.  Hansen observes, "That is as far as the most traditional form of the prayer goes." (p. 63).

2. Ward, Benedicta, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers - The Alphabetical Collection, Cistercian Publications (1975), p. 1.