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St
Paisius
Velichkovsky and the Prayer of the Heart
It is in the famous book, The Way of the Pilgrim, that many of us first
come across the name of this Holy Church Father who dedicated his life
to Patristics and to the "Prayer of the Heart."
Born in Poltava in Ukraine, Paisius was descended from a proud and noble
family, many of whom were Kozak officers. Throughout his life, and whenever he signed his name, Paisius
would always underline his Ukrainian identity with the added words,
"Native of Poltava."
Sent to the Kyivan Academy for higher studies, Paisius considered the
neo-classical Greek education the Academy offered to be a waste of his
time. After being tonsured
a monk, his heart is aflame with love for ceaseless prayer and the study
of the Fathers.
Paisius becomes a wanderer. He
travels to Athos and to Rumania, among other places, and undertakes
translations of the Fathers, especially their teachings on the Prayer of
Jesus: Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!
He undertakes a new Rule of monastic life that is based on this
ceaseless prayer of the heart and, with it, renews Orthodox monasticism
throughout Eastern Europe.
His monks must fulfill the rule of the Horologion, so that no one would
blame them for neglecting the Church's daily prayer. They must give themselves to reading and study of the Sacred
Scriptures and the Fathers. They
are to exercise themselves constantly in the Jesus Prayer. And they must undertake a handicraft with which to support
their monastery.
It has been said that the Paisian monks prayed a total of 14 hours
daily!
St Paisius became attached to what was then the Ukrainian monastery of
St Panteleimon and founded the famous Skete of the Prophet Elias.
It was to this Skete that many Kozaks came to live out their
final days in repentance. It
was here that the famous Ivan Vyshensky lived and about whom Ivan Franko
wrote a popular poem.
Paisius was himself a great ascetic.
He prayed with tears and many miracles occurred during his
heart-felt prayer. Once,
during the Divine Liturgy, Paisius had a vision of Christ.
He stood in awe without saying anything. His monks then used ropes to pull him away from the altar.
Paisius then stood in the corner, praying with tears, and looking
up at the vision for another five hours . . .
Paisius spent the better part of the night reading Scriptures and
Patristic commentaries on them. He
prayed the Jesus Prayer assiduously and became Orthodoxy's foremost
teacher on this form of spirituality.
Paisius was called to be Archimandrite of the Niametz Monastery in
Moldavia. He had such a
great impact on the Church of Roumania that, to this day, they call him,
"St Paisius of Roumania."
He also had quite a gathering of Orthodox Christians from different
nationalities, including: Ukrainians,
Roumanians, Carpathian Hutsuls (who are listed separately thus),
Russians, Georgians, Greeks, Armenians (of the Chalcedonian persuasion),
and others.
In his monasteries in Roumania, Paisius introduced a dual chanting of
the services, in Roumanian and Slavonic.
He learned and spoke Roumanian very well.
He also introduced Roumania to the cult of his own Ukrainian Saints:
Volodymyr and Olha, Boris and Hlib, Anthony and Theodosius of the
Kyivan Caves and that of Sts. Job of Pochayiv and Dmytry of Rostov.
The feasts of these Saints remain in the Roumanian Calendar to
this day.
The local populace always found in Paisius an understanding Father who
would satisfy them when they were hungry and cold. Even more importantly, Paisius became an Elder or
"Staretz" who provided invaluable spiritual guidance to his
monks and to the people.
The Elders played an incredibly important role in the history of
Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe. They
helped keep alive the faith even as they trained their flocks in deeper
devotion and a more intense life of faith and prayer.
Paisius founded an entire Choir of Venerable Elder-Saints.
These Holy people would often live as hermits in the forests.
They would always be found with their prayer ropes and
"lestovkas" in their hands, saying the Jesus Prayer
unceasingly. And they would
always be ready with their advice and guidance to those seeking it.
Many Elders were miracle-workers and clairvoyants.
They could read people's hearts and sometimes the future.
During the Soviet era especially, people would gather at the
graves of much venerated Holy Elders to ask their guidance from the
Throne of Heaven. It is only now that their glorification as saints has been
made possible.
St Paisius' followers have either been so glorified or else await their
imminent glorification. One
of my favourite Paisian disciples is Blessed John the Fingerless who cut
off a finger so that he couldn't be ordained a Priest . . .
Another is Blessed Ambrose of Poltava, a Russian Bishop who
practiced the Jesus Prayer under Paisius' inspiration and was buried in
the birthplace of his beloved Elder.
St Pachomius the Roman, a Roumanian bishop, was so inspired by Paisius,
that he asked to be buried not in his native Roumania, but among the
Kyivan Caves Fathers, a wish that was granted . . .
The popularity of the Orthodox prayer rope used in the Prayer of the
Heart was at its zenith in Paisius' time.
Every Orthodox Bishop, Priest and Monk must have a prayer rope,
the "Sword of the Spirit" as it is called during tonsure
services, on his person (the same goes for Nuns).
Every Orthodox Christian should really have one on his or her own
person as a reminder to "pray always."
St Paisius reposed in the Lord and was buried at his Niametz Monastery.
He was glorified a saint for world Orthodoxy in 1988, the 1000th
anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' by St. Volodymyr the Great.
He had earlier been glorified by the Churches of Roumania and
Mount Athos.
St Paisius' translation of the "Philokalia" which is a set of
volumes with teachings on the ceaseless prayer of the heart was and is
extremely popular.
The West has discovered the Jesus Prayer through J.D. Salinger's Franny
and Zooey and the Way of the Pilgrim.
There are even "spiritual teachers" in the U.S. who charge
fees for sessions on how to pray the Jesus Prayer!
It is best to have one's own experienced, Orthodox Spiritual Father, if
one were going to seriously undertake this spirituality.
The Jesus Prayer is not a substitute for the Divine Liturgy, the
Mysteries/Sacraments and the Horologion.
The saints who have followed in the way of the ceaseless prayer
of the heart have remarked how much more they were drawn to the Church
as a result of this spiritual path.
We are also called to the Spiritual Meadow, to name a book by St
Paisius, where we may see the beautiful flowers of the soul watered by
the heavenly dew invoked through the Jesus Prayer.
We could and should say the Jesus Prayer with sobriety and humility as
frequently as we can, without inviting dangerous and unnecessary
"spiritual experiences."
We should have a time to fulfill a prayer rule with a specified number
of Jesus Prayers. It could
be one hundred to start with. The
Rule of St Pachomios prescribes a hundred Prayers for each hour of the
day and night i.e. 2400 Prayers!
The Horologion may be substituted with about 1000 prayers with
prostrations. 300 Jesus
Prayers may substitute for one of the twenty kathismata portions of the
Psalter. This is all up to
our state in life and our devotion.
We should let God be our ultimate teacher in this.
The Jesus Prayer is a wonderful basis for meditation on the bus or
anywhere we are, at any time of the day or night.
And remember to get your friends and neighbours to say the Jesus Prayer
to. They will (quite
literally) be FOREVER grateful!
Holy and God-Bearing Father Paisius Velichkovsky, Native of Poltava and
Archimandrite of Niametz, pray unto God for us. |
