Pain of the heart ( Elder Paisios )

First of all, Elder Paisios tells us that, for love to blossom in the heart, we must pray with pain of heart. Once he was asked, "We pray, Elder, and our thoughts go here and there. Why?"

"Because it is prayer without pain!" replied the Elder. "To pray with the heart, we must hurt. Just as when we hit our hand or some other part of our body, our mind (nous) ("Nous: the highest faculty or power of the human soul, called by the Holy Fathers "the eye of the soul," St. John Damascene, and "the spiritual nature of man," St. Isaac the Syrian) is gathered to the point we are hurting, so also for the mind to gather in the heart, the heart must hurt."

The Elder was then asked, "How can we preserve ourselves in this state when we don’t have some problem, some pain?"

He replied, "We should make the other’s pain our own!! We must love the other, must hurt for him, so that we can pray for him. We must come out little by little from our own self and begin to love, to hurt for other people as well, for our family first then for the large family of Adam, of God" (Athanasios Rakovalis, Talks with Father Paisios (Thessalonica, Greece: Orthodox Kypseli, 2000), pp. 123-24).

At another time the Elder said, "The more one hurts, the more divine consolation one receives, because otherwise it is not possible to stand the pain... God especially consoles those who hurt for others" (Ibid.,p. 124).

To his spiritual children the Elder wrote: "To some people your love will be expressed with joy and to others it will be expressed with your pain. You will consider everyone your brother or your sister, for we are all children of Eve (of the large family of Adam, of God). Then, in your prayer you will say: ‘My God, help those first who are in greater need, whether they are alive or reposed brothers in the Lord.’ At that point, you will share your heart with the whole world and you will have nothing but immense love, which is Christ" (Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, Epistles, p. 50).



Elder Paisios

Protecting our heart ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

We must continually protect our heart from unclean thoughts and impressions, according to the words of the author of the book of Proverbs: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23).

Purity is born within the heart from extended safekeeping of it, to which the vision of the Lord has access, according to the assurance of eternal Truth: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mt. 5:8).

We should not reveal unnecessarily what is best in the heart, for only then does that which has been accumulated remain in safety from enemies visible and invisible, when it is kept as a treasure in the innermost heart. Do not open the secrets of your heart to everyone.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

The Pure In Heart Perceive God and Discover Him ( St. Nektarios )

It is evident that unbelief is an evil offspring of an evil heart; for the guileless and pure heart everywhere discovers God, everywhere discerns Him, and always unhesitatingly believes in His existence.


When the man of pure heart looks at the World of Nature, that is, at the sky, the earth, and the sea and at all things in them, and observes the systems constituting them, the infinite multitude of stars of heaven, the innumerable multitudes of birds and quadrupeds and every kind of animal of the earth, the variety of plants on it, the abundance of fish in the sea, he is immediately amazed and exclaims with the Prophet David: "How great are Thy works, O Lord! In wisdom Thou made them all."


Such a man, impelled by his pure heart, discovers God also in the World of Grace of the Church, from which the evil man is far removed. The man of pure heart believes in the Church, admires her spiritual system, discovers God in the Mysteria, in the heights of the theology, in the light of the Divine revelations, in the truths of the teachings, in the commandments of the Law, in the achievements of the Saints, in every good deed, in every perfect gift, and in general in the whole of the creation. Justly then did the Lord say in His Beatitudes of those possessing purity of the heart: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."


St. Nektarios of Aegina

Interaction of Heart and Mind in Prayer ( Saint Theophan the Recluse )

" All these evil things come from within and defile a man."


Jesus Christ (Mark 7:23)

Maintaing attention is a central part of prayer. Watchfulness is essential. We find our mind is continually influenced by thoughts which pollute our heart. These are not necessarily temptations that come from our external environment but are our reactions to external factors. The thing that we need to gain control over is our inward reactions that generate thoughts and bound up our heart


Saint Theophan says,

"The mind's thoughts are all directed toward this earth, and there is no way to raise them to heaven. Their object is vain, sensual, sinful. You have seen how fog drifts along the valley. This is a precise picture of our thoughts. They all crawl and drift along the earth. In addition to this downward drifting, they constantly seethe, not standing still in a single place; they jostle each other, like a swarm of mosquitoes in the summer. In addition, they are always in motion.


Beneath these there lies the heart. It is from the thoughts that blows are continually struck in the heart and corresponding actions of the heart. from this is joy, anger, envy, fear, hope, pride, despair––they arise in the heart one after the other. There is no stopping them; just as with the thoughts, there is no order whatsoever. The heart continually trembles from the emotions like an aspen leaf."


Our challenge in prayer is to cut off these thoughts.


Elder Nikodim says,


"When the mind is pure, then the heart will be pure. And when the heart is pure, then the mind will also be pure."

When we have mastered this we will find the mind becomes a true partner in our prayer.


Fr. Sophrony says

"The mind becomes all ears and eyes, and sees and hears every extrinsic thought approaching from without, before it can invade the heart. Praying the while, the mind not only refuses to admit extraneious thoughts into the heart but positively throusts them aside and preserves itself from association with them."

Knowing the interaction between the mind and the heart is an important discovery to make about our inner life.


See Christ the Eternal Tao pp 363-365.

My heart is hard like a stone… ( Elder Paisios )

- Elder, when I feel my heart become hard like a stone, what should I do?


- Your problem is not a hard heart but a mind-driven heart. Your entire heart has been taken over by your mind and is now at its service. But there is still a chance for your heart to go back. Each day you must read prayers to the Theotokos. If you want your heart to get back in shape, that’s the best medicine. You do have a heart, but it has been clouded by “logic”…. Things are different in the spiritual life. What is needed is simplicity. Act with simplicity and trust in God.

- How can I become simple, Elder? – I shall have to open your head and put an old-fashioned mind in it!
You need to enter the simple world of the Saints, and get to know the spiritual science which lifts and refreshes the soul, and gets rid of headaches. “Logic” will make us suffer. For example, I say to myself, ‘This must be done in this specific manner,’ and so I go ahead and do it because it has to be done. I don’t do it with my heart but because the mind dictates it. Logic and courtesy may tell me that ‘I must surrender my seat,’ but my heart will not. Think of the difference when my heart is moved and I surrender my seat out of love. I feel such joy!

- Elder, I don’t have a heart.

- You do have a heart, but as soon as it tries to act, your mind puts a muzzle on it. You must try to acquire the logic of the heart, faith and love.

- How can I achieve this? – The first step: go down town to Thessaloniki and March barefoot in protest, so that people will say that you went mad; this way you will get rid of your mind!!! Blessed soul! You approach everything with mathematical exactness. What are you, an astronomer? If you stop thinking “logically”, you will be able to start working spiritually on yourself.

“The Holy Fathers saw everything with the spiritual, the divine eye. Patristic tests were written in the spirit of God and it was in the spirit of God that the Holy Fathers gave their interpretations. Today this spirit is lacking and Patristic texts are hard to understand. People see everything with secular eyes and cannot see beyond that; they do not have the breadth of spirit that results form faith and love.”

 Elder Paisios

Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Heart

Saint Theophan speaks to one of our greatest challenges (At least one of mine).

You've got to get out of your head and into your heart. Right now your thoughts are in your head, and God seems to be outside you. Your prayer and all your spiritual exercises also remain exterior. As long as you are in your head, you will never master your thoughts, which continue to whirl around your head like snow in a winter's storm or like mosquitoes in the summer's heat. If you descend into your heart, you will have no more difficulty. Your mind will empty out and your thoughts will dissipate. 

Thoughts are always in your mind chasing one another about, and you will never manage to get them under control. But if you enter into your heart and can remain there, then every time your thoughts invade, you will only have to descend into your heart and your thoughts will vanish into thin air. This will be your safe haven. Don't be lazy. Descend. You will find life in your heart. There you must live.
- St. Theophan the Recluse

Living Out of the Heart

Those who are  new to Orthodoxy often spend much time reading and studying the Fathers of the Church, its traditions and practices, reconciling doctrine to Scripture, all to help develop a new Orthodox worldview.  There is much to learn when we are making a change in our way of thinking about religion and salvation.  For some, this effort can be very intense and demanding. But, this effort is only the beginning. At some point it is necessary to make a transition––to shift one's effort towards more inner development.  Our love for Christ must move from the head to the heart.  This requires more than following the guidelines for daily prayer, following the fasting guidelines, and attending the services of the Church.  This too, can be done through mental effort, and often is in the beginning.  The move from the head to the heart requires a surrender to the Church, a giving up of filtering everything through the mind.  What we seek is the active work of the Holy Spirit that was planted in us at Baptism and sealed with our Chrismation.  The aim is a union with God, not fulfilling some external rules.
Saint Tikhon (of Zdonsk)  puts it this way

If someone should say that true faith is the correct holding and confession of correct dogmas, he would be telling the truth, for a believer absolutely needs the Orthodox holding and confession of dogmas.  But this knowledge and confession by itself does not make a man a faithful and true Christian. ... The knowledge of correct dogmas is in the mind, and it is often fruitless, arrogant, and proud....  The true faith in Christ is in the heart, and it is fruitful, humble, patient, loving, merciful, compassionate, hungering and thirsting for righteousness..

Fr Saraphim Rose says,

Do we perhaps boast that we keep fasts and the Church calendar, have good icons and congregational singing, give to the poor and maybe even tithe to the Church? Do we delight in exalted Patristic teachings and theological discussions without having in our hearts the duplicity of Christ and true compassion for the suffering?––then ours is a spirituality of comfort, and we will not have the spiritual fruits that will be exhibited by those without all these comforts who deeply suffer and struggle for Christ.

When we are able to make this transition from the head to the heart, we discover an intense heartfelt desire, a burning from within, for the love of God and to be united with Him.  We leave our earthly passions behind and have only one, to be in the loving embrace of God. We experience a sense of willingness to sacrifice all we have for Him.  When we speak we no longer search our memory for the proper thing to say based on what we have learned from out readings or studies. Instead the Holy Spirit moves us to say the proper words and do the proper deeds.  It comes naturally and in a loving way. We come alive with an inner fire of love.  We find an inner peace no matter what difficulties we face.

Elder Porphyrios says,

When you find Christ [in the heart], you are satisfied, you desire nothing else, you find peace.  You become a different person.  You live everywhere, wherever Christ is.  You live in the stars, in infinity, in heaven with the angels, with the saints, on earth with people, with plants, with animals, with everyone and everything.  When there is love for Christ, loneliness disappears.  You are peaceable, joyous, full. Neither melancholy, not illness, nor pressure, nor anxiety, nor depression nor hell.

When Christ enters your heart, your life changes.  Christ is everything.  Whoever experiences Christ within himself, experiences ineffable things––holy and sacred things.  He lives in exultation...

Fr Seraphim writes,

"When those who are rich in the Holy Spirit, really having the heavenly wealth and the fellowship of the Spirit in themselves, speak to any the word of truth...it is out of their own wealth and out of their own treasure, which they possess within themselves when they speak, and out of this that they gladden the souls of the hearers of the spiritual discourse...."

But one who is poor, and does not possess the wealth of Christ in his soul ... even if he wishes to speak a word of truth and to gladden others ... but after he has gone through it, each word goes back to the source from which is was taken, and he himself remains once more naked and poor.... 

For this reason we should seek first from God with pain of heart and in faith, that He would grant us to find this wealth, the true treasure of Christ in our hearts, in the power and effectual working of the spirit.  In this way, first finding in ourselves the Lord to be our profit and salvation and eternal life, we may then profit others also, according to our strength and opportunity, drawing upon Christ, the measure within."

It is helpful to seek out a spiritual father who can guide you.  He will be able to help you to make this transition.  He can help you avoid becoming too intense in your effort to learn doctrine and practice guidelines for this and that.  It is God's love we seek and this only comes from the heart.

How to Soften our Heart ( St. Theophan the Recluse )

A hard heart is one that does not fully recognize our true condition and the danger we are in. The best way to begin change this condition is to remember our eventual fate. Saint Theophan give the following advice:

Say to yourself 'Alas, so will come death.' Another man you know dies; any time it could be your hour. Do not estrange yourself from this hour of death. Convince yourself that the angel of death has already been sent; he is coming, and draws near. Or imagine yourself to be a person who stands with a sword drown over his head , ready to cut it off. Then imagine clearly what will happen at the time of death or after words.

James tells us: The judge standeth before the door (James 5:9) At this moment yo will be faced alone with all your sins. There is a choice you are making. It is one between eternal life in paradise or hell. One promises blessedness and the other torment. Will you know God and be accepted or not know Him and be rejected? Theophan says, "Feel all this vividly and force yourself to remain in it until you are filled with fear ind trembling."

Next, he suggest that you turn to God and place yourself before Him. Imagine you sinful nature standing before God and wonder if your presence will be offensive. Will you be able to face Him or will you turn your back on Him?

Next, he suggest that you ascend in thought to Golgotha and crucify yourself. Think about all you have been given as a Christian: redeemed by His blood, cleansed by the Baptismal water, you have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, you have taken the Blood and Body of Christ at His table,. Imagine being on Golgatha. Will you be one who crucifies Him. Will you repent like the thief? Saint Theophan says. "Choose one or the other: either crucify Him, then perish eternally––or crucify yourself, and inherit eternal life with Him."

Next, he asks you to consider the sin that you hang on to and abhor it and reject it. realize that it is your sinfulness that separates you from God. Saint Theophan says, "It separates you from God, wreaks havoc on your soul and body, torments your conscience, brings upon you God's punishment in life and at death; and after death it sends you to hell, closing paradise to you forever."

Finally, he asks you to look at sin from the devil's point of view. Do you realize that when yo sin you are working for the devil who has done nothing for you? He befriends you through sin and entices you by promising sweetness and then he torments and tortures. Like eve in the Garden of Eden he will try to convince you that your sins are nothing. He is filled with glee when anyone falls in his traps of sin.

"When you will thus press into your heart one after another contrition-producing and softening feelings––little by little your heart will warm up and begin to move, and after it your enfeebled will will begin to strain itself and spring into action. As volts of electricity communicate certain tension and stimulation to the body, or as the cool, clean morning air communicates freshness and energy, so does this feeling that fills the soul awaken slumbering energy and renew the call and willingness to escape your dangerous condition. these will be the beginnings of your active care for you own salvation..."

Ref: Path to Salvation pp 137-139