The Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The Jesus Prayer is the short, repeated invocation at the heart of Orthodox spiritual practice. Its full form is: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' It is prayed by monks and laypeople alike, aloud or silently, often counted on a prayer rope.
The words
- Full form: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
- Shorter: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
- Shortest: Lord, have mercy — Kyrie eleison.
- Greek: Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν.
Where it comes from
The prayer joins Peter's confession — 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God' — with the cry of the blind man and the publican: 'have mercy on me, a sinner.' The desert fathers of Egypt in the fourth century practised short repeated prayer; by the time of St John Climacus it had taken recognisable shape, and the fourteenth-century hesychast fathers, above all St Gregory Palamas, gave it a full theology.
The Philokalia, compiled on Mount Athos in 1782, is the classic anthology of texts on the prayer. The nineteenth-century Russian book The Way of a Pilgrim carried it to a wide lay readership.
How it is prayed
Begin small: a fixed number of repetitions, morning and evening, said slowly and attentively. Do not force breathing techniques or seek experiences — the fathers are unanimous that the prayer is about repentance and attention, not sensation. Ask your parish priest or spiritual father before increasing a rule.
A prayer rope (komboskini, chotki) of thirty-three, fifty or one hundred knots is used to count without distraction, the fingers moving one knot per prayer.
Hesychasm
Hesychia means stillness. The hesychast tradition holds that through unceasing prayer and the grace of God the mind descends into the heart, and the person may come to know the uncreated energies of God — the same light seen by the apostles on Mount Tabor. This teaching was affirmed by the councils of Constantinople in 1341, 1347 and 1351.
Frequently asked
- Is the Jesus Prayer only for monks?
- No. It is prayed by laypeople everywhere — walking, working, waiting. Monastics simply pray it in far greater quantity and under obedience.
- Is it like a mantra?
- No. It is address to a Person, not a sound used to empty the mind. Orthodoxy explicitly warns against imageless techniques pursued for their own sake.
- How many times should I say it?
- Start with what you will actually keep — thirty-three or one hundred a day — and grow slowly with the blessing of your priest.