www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology The Jesus Prayer and a Chotki

I'm thinking about buying a Chotki from a monastery gift shop online (it's a Benedictine monastery I visited a couple months ago). I saw a young man around my age praying with one of the prayer ropes I saw in the gift shop and I was really curious so I researched the Jesus Prayer and, as I said, want to get a chotki to say it on.

The problem: I have been told that if not monitored, the use of this prayer can cause delusions of pride, unhealthy practices, and mental disruption. Is this true? I decided to ask the Eastern Catholics here. Any of our Orthodox brethren I also welcome to answer in a spirit of charity, of course! I've gotten some rude responses lately when asking around about this that basically boiled down to "Westerners should stick to their Rosary because their Priests are too spiritually retarded to guide someone saying the Jesus Prayer."

If you are using the Jesus Prayer as a replacement for the Divine Office and simply reciting it there is no problem. If you are using Hesychayst techniques then you definately need a spiritual fathers guidance. Unfortunately these can be hard to find.

Fr. Deacon, perhaps we could delve a little more into the Hesychast technicques, what they are and what they are not.

This young man (we have talked in other forums) may not be very familiar with what those are and are not.

At 16 or 17 I picked up a copy of "The Way of a Pilgrim" (RM French translation) and read it from cover-to-cover in a day (First mistake! There is too much in there to "wolf down" like taking a drink of water from an open fire hydrant or "speed reading" scripture!)

Then I made my own chotki and wandered around for a month or two.

After about a few months of this, I was frustrated - Why aren't I glowing yet? Shouldn't I be able to talk to bears like St. Seraphim and live on 3 hours of sleep on the floor already?

Youthful enthusiasm can use a lot of direction.

The experience was not the edification, I suspect, that most spiritual fathers would pray their sons to have.

The value of this spiritual experience was two fold at least: I learned that some rules of prayer need more guidance than others... and I will say that it did become my "default prayer" at night as I fall asleep or post-communion when I can feel so overwhelmed, it is a simple joy of a prayer. It also has come back to me in some of my dryest moments when no other prayers came to mind.

Simple

I want to talk to bears.....