On Prayer

This is the best personal account of the Hesychast prayer life I have found. One benefit American or English speaking orthodox have in reading Saint Sophrony is that he wrote in English, so there is a fluidity of expression that is often lacking in translated material. There are so few works like this that one is thankful to have found his profound insight on Hesychast spirituality and the Jesus prayer in particular. The second half of the book is specifically devoted to aspects of the Jesus prayer, and I can’t recommend it more highly. I would recommend to read this along with The Watchful Mind and A Night in the Dessert of the Holy Mountain. These three works are all on the same subject but in very different styles and go perfectly together

An amazing book on prayer, it is a joy to sit with someone who has seen as far into God as Sophrony. Much of what Sophrony says is beyond the ken of the average reader, myself very much included. Nonetheless there is a great deal of life-giving wisdom to be absorbed by anyone at any sage in their spiritual journey. The book also contains a lengthy appendix of prayers written by Sophrony. Ultimately the book is much more than just a manual on how to pray or a theology of prayer but really it is a masterpiece of living the contemplative life in Christ as understood in the Christian East. I think this is a book that can be read slowly over and over for years as one tries to enter into the endless depths of the Christian life.Blessings

Every page reads like a poem.

The book, On Prayer, should have been a better read, but the author does not have enoughskill to handle the subject as well as he should have. He was unnecessarily negative aboutthe physical methods employed to develop the Jesus Prayer, methods that have proven veryhelpful in past generations. His style is afflicted with a kind of verbosity that makesit difficult for the average reader to latch onto. I have no doubt as to the sincerityof the author but I do not deem him inspired either.

This is the testimony of an unique witness of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, which spans across two thousand years of history. The author, a former hermit in Mount Athos, is soaked in the wisdom of the ascetic, dogmatic and liturgical tradition of the radical Christianity represented by Orthodoxy. The essays included in this volume are not an easy read, but they provide us with a sober guide to perfection. No wonder why some people already regard the book as a classic. Don't miss it.