The Jesus Prayer

'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' The central prayer of the hesychast tradition, said again and again until it says itself, counted on the prayer rope. Shorter forms are used: 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.' The Fathers also describe a bodily method, the words joined to the breath and the mind brought down into the heart, and they never describe it without warning that it is not to be attempted alone. Taken up without a spiritual father it leads to prelest, self-deception mistaken for grace. The words themselves need no permission and no technique.