The Jesus Prayer

What Is the Jesus Prayer?

The Jesus Prayer is the most ancient and beloved prayer of the Orthodox Christian tradition. In just a few words it contains the whole of the Gospel: the acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord and Christ, the confession of His divine Sonship, the cry for mercy, and the humble recognition of our own sinfulness.

It draws directly from Scripture, from the blind man who cried "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me" (Luke 18:38), from the publican who beat his breast and said "God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13), and from the ancient Christian acclamation "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God."

The prayer has been prayed by Orthodox Christians for over fifteen centuries and remains the very heartbeat of Orthodox spiritual life.

How to Pray It

The Jesus Prayer is prayed with the lips, the mind, and the heart, all three working together in harmony.

1. Find a quiet place. Sit upright, breathe slowly, and become still.

2. Begin to repeat the prayer quietly with your lips: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

3. As you continue, draw the words down from your lips into your mind, so that your mind is fully attentive to each word.

4. Over time and with practice, the prayer descends further still, from the mind into the heart, so that it is prayed not with effort but with love, arising naturally from the depths of your being.

Many use a prayer rope, the komboskini or chotki, to count their repetitions, freeing the mind from counting so it may rest fully in the words of the prayer.

Praying Without Ceasing

Saint Paul commanded us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The Jesus Prayer is the Orthodox Church's answer to this commandment.

Because the prayer is short, it can be prayed at any moment: while walking, working, cooking, driving, or waiting. The goal is not merely to say the prayer at fixed times, but to weave it into the very fabric of your breathing and your daily life until it becomes as natural as the beating of your heart.

The holy Fathers teach that when the prayer is established in the heart, it prays itself. Even during sleep, the heart continues its gentle, loving repetition of the Name of Jesus.

How the Monks Pray It

On the Holy Mountain of Athos and in monasteries throughout the Orthodox world, the monks dedicate their entire lives to the practice of the Jesus Prayer. This practice is called Hesychasm, from the Greek hesychia, meaning stillness or silence.

The hesychast monk rises before dawn and spends hours in the darkness of his cell, prayer rope in hand, repeating the Jesus Prayer thousands of times. He seeks not merely to say the words but to descend into the heart and find there the uncreated Light of God, the same light that shone from Christ on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration.

Saint Gregory Palamas, the great defender of Hesychasm, taught that this light is not created or symbolic but is truly God Himself, His divine Energy, accessible to every Christian who prays with humility, repentance, and perseverance.

The great collection of writings on this prayer, the Philokalia, compiled by Saints Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and Makarios of Corinth, gathers the wisdom of the Fathers on the Jesus Prayer across fifteen centuries. It remains the most important book of Orthodox spirituality after the Bible itself.

The Prayer Rope

The prayer rope, komboskini in Greek, chotki in Russian, is a knotted rope or string of wool, typically with 33, 50, or 100 knots, representing the years of Christ's earthly life.

Each knot is tied with a small cross woven into it through a complex series of loops, a practice said to have been taught to the monks by an angel, because the demons could not untangle the cross.

To use the prayer rope, hold it in your left hand and move one knot through your fingers for each repetition of the Jesus Prayer. This keeps count without requiring mental effort, freeing you to give your full attention to the words and to the Lord.

The prayer rope is not a magical object but a simple, humble tool, a companion for the journey of prayer.

Begin Today

You do not need to be a monk to pray the Jesus Prayer. You need only a sincere heart and a desire to draw near to God. Begin with ten repetitions in the morning and ten in the evening. Increase gradually as the prayer becomes part of you. The Lord receives every sincere cry for mercy with love.