Saint Paraskeva: Holiness in Youth – Fr. Pimen Vlad
14 October 2022
Saint Demetrius: Life, Miracles – Father Pimen Vlad
20 October 2022
View a compendium that is as complete as possible related to prayer, based on the Holy Fathers on one hand, and on the other hand, based on the pilgrims’ questions. We hope we have answered the most pressing and frequently asked questions about prayer – mainly related to the Jesus prayer.
Enjoy!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen.
Fr. Theologos: We are at Lacu Skete with some very dear worshippers, and we talk every evening. Now because one of them asked me a very important question and it’s on a subject that’s very dear to me – about prayer, in fact – I said I’m going to film the whole thing and I’ll try to say a few words on the subject of prayer, what I remember from the Holy Fathers and from my personal experience which is not very great, but still, I can say a few things. Afterwards, the boys will ask all sorts of questions.
In short, about prayer. First of all, brethren, the first thing that comes to my mind is what St. Dionisie of Colciu said, that the preparation for prayer is the perfect cutting off of one’s will. Meaning, prayer being the mind speaking with God, man cannot talk to God if he talks with his personal interests, i.e. he has many desires, many plans – he has to do this and that and that. And then his mind dissipates in all directions.
So the preparation for performance prayer is obedience. I mean we have to cut off all our worries, cut off all our wants, cut off all our plans – as much as possible. Of course, especially in the world this is impossible, but as far as possible let’s do this and be obedient as much as possible to the spouse, the boss, the spiritual father and so on, so that our mind is clear and we can talk to God, because I said that prayer is the mind speaking to God. That is number one. Number two – another very powerful, very important source of dissipating the mind are these pleasure centers, centers of interest which today unfortunately are very many, very powerful and there is a whole science, brethren – on how to steal a person’s attention, on how to steal his mind, on how to make him addicted. I talked a lot on this subject, usually addicted to screens, TikTok, all that. I’ve said it many times. Eh, brethren, and to cut off all these you need a schedule, you need strength of character, you need courage and especially the thought of death. That is, never to forget who we are, where we come from and especially where we are going.
Regarding the schedule – brethren, so first of all, as I was saying, you have to cut out these powerful pleasure centers. One of the main pleasure centers is the news, games, the internet – all of it. If you can cut it out completely, cut it, but let’s say to not push too hard… Okay, at this hour the news and all that is on the Internet. I’m not saying it’s good, but it’s on the Internet, there’s no more TV, I mean it’s gone, everything’s on the Internet. Brethren, it’s on the Internet, so, first of all, pray and then watch the news. You don’t first watch the news and then pray, i.e. at 12:00 at night, you are falling asleep and so on, after watching all the news, all the movies, all the football and so on, and then you start praying. No!
First you pray and then you watch the news or read. News, brethren, is on the Internet, it’s not leaving. Do you understand? You are not, as I say now very often lately, you are not part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Ukrainian army to see the news as soon as it comes on air and, if you are on the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Ukrainian army, you will not get the news from YouTube. You will find out from elsewhere, I say this publicly. Do you understand?
So if you see the news half an hour later, after doing your prayer canon, nothing happens. If you see the football match half an hour later nothing happens. You don’t have to see it live. Do you understand? I don’t want to offend anyone, but we are not… That’s very important – so the first thing is prayer. Let the first layer of defense be prayer and not the last, after we have exhausted all other resources.
A lot of people come here, brethren, who tell us that they are Orthodox and so on, and when you ask if they pray, they say: “I don’t pray.” Do you go to church? “I don’t go.” Do you fast? “I don’t fast.” Well, then where’s your Orthodoxy? Do you understand? I mean, brethren, a little concreteness. I have said this many times before. That is, we must act as Christians in our daily lives. I mean, when we work, when we do something in our daily life, that moment we have to pray: does God want this?
And the brother who asked me [about prayer] is a psychologist, Radu, God bless him! I mean, he should say, “Does God want me to do that? Lord, enlighten me! What advice should I give to the patient who comes to me?” And this helps a lot because it enlightens him and gives him a correct value system; otherwise people today have a very chaotic, and massively multitasking mind. We’ve talked about this before. Most people’s time is not spent in solving problems, most of their time is spent switching, changing, jumping from one problem to another – “Now I have to do that, then do that, then think about the other thing…” and so on. Chaotically. Understand? So we have to go back and the stabilization of the mind happens through prayer, through contemplation, not through the mental chaos that exists in today’s society, which is induced, brethren, by the current civilization, which of course promotes itself through media channels that are very aggressive. They are a form of war.
TikTok is probably the most destructive weapon at the moment. Do you understand? Where do you add, as I was even talking to the guys before, and they were telling me that Steve Jobs… Well, Stefan, what were you saying? That Steve Jobs wouldn’t let his kids…?
Pilgrim: They had no smart devices in the house.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, yes. So they were not allowed to use iPads and so on. And the same happens in China too, brethren, you should know, the Chinese have two TikTok artificial intelligence algorithms. An algorithm is for the Chinese, in which [clips such as] – how to be successful in business, how to build, and so on are promoted. And another is for outside of China, everything outside of China that fries the brains of young people. Do you understand? All the junk, all the garbage. May the good Lord forgive me! Okay, I don’t want to offend anyone, but there are also facial recognition algorithms in TikTok that openly promote young girls and young people which are attractive and which can generate addiction.
Now I’m not saying that these young people are Satanists, God forbid! They’re not. But they are beautiful and, of course, if you’re not careful, our feeble mind becomes addicted and then all day long you’re on TikTok. Do you understand? It’s terrible and not only are you on TikTok and wasting your time, on the contrary, you also become depressed because you are actually comparing yourself to the most beautiful young people on this planet that TikTok shows you and then you despair.
It’s a weapon, brethren, a very powerful one. Information warfare, is the most powerful form of warfare, you know. Much more powerful than armed warfare. I don’t know if a tank can destroy like TikTok has. And I think Radu, it was you that I was talking to, about what happens to the children…?
Pilgrim: With the children of those who now make TikTok?
Fr. Theologos: Yes! What will happen with them? Understand? If now there is no…
Pilgrim: Almost no essence at all…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, none. And Razvan, how long were they even watching?
Razvan:: The first three seconds.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, the first three seconds. So Razvan posts content on TikTok, but I made it very clear to him not to watch, as he’d fry his mind! Yes. But he has analytics and can see things. They watch the first three seconds and after the first three seconds how many more are watching? 10 – 5% or how much?
Razvan: 30%… Yes, versus 100%.
Fr. Theologos: Yeah, it’s dizzyingly decreasing because they don’t… Good and then, think about it, so my main problem, I’ve said it a million times, is time. I mean I always have to be attentive to the time because I can’t do a longer podcast to express myself [properly] because of the time, nobody will see it. Everybody skips it. And, Razvan, who is filming, that’s what he does: he shows me with his fingers how much [time has passed]… so after 10 minutes, he raises one finger, after 20 minutes, he raises two fingers. So I know I have to land, I have to finish my talk, not because I’ve finished what I have to say, but because time is running out. Do you understand? So that’s what Razvan does. And Father Pimen also knows that after 14 minutes, 15 minutes he has to finish, because people can no longer…, the young people can no longer…
Razvan: I can cut.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, you do, yes. So Razvan has to cut and the platforms push him to cut and you can’t even put the full titles, right? So I mean not even the letters… so it can’t be a long title because one doesn’t read anymore. Well, and then think about someone who has such an acute lack of patience – 1. What family is this man going to have? Because you wanted to talk about family… Such one won’t be patient with his wife, won’t be patient with the other person. And 2. How can such a man pray? Because “Lord have mercy!” and continuously – bam – his mind wanders elsewhere. “God help!” [looks around].
So it’s totally, super destructive. And that’s why I didn’t start with prayer techniques, with the Jesus Prayer and so on, but I started with educating attention. Meaning, you, brethren, need to educate your attention! We need to educate our attention! The cell phone, brethren, does not produce radiation. Because some think that cell phones produce radiation. They do not produce radiation. I mean, it has radiation, but normal radiation, so it’s not harmful to health, as people think. So around [the year] 2000-something, so about 20 years ago, it was [circulating that] the cell phone would produce some radiation and that this radiation is harmful to human health. They are not harmful to human health, something which has been proven.
At the time it was said to cause cancer. Well, if this radiation caused cancer, well, brethren, everyone would have cancer by now because everyone uses cell phones. But the Holy Spirit has allowed this fuss in the church to keep people somewhat reserved on the cell phone issue, because cell phones fry the brain not through radiation at 2.4 GHz or 5, whatever, it matters less, but through this dopamine hit provided by cell phone apps. There’s the problem, in the misuse, in the addiction that is created by these apps that are very, very addictive. And as we were discussing a little bit with Stefan beforehand, Jobs knew very well what he was doing and Jobs, when he made the operating system for Apple, so the new operating system, he said: I’m going to make an operating system so good, you’ll want to lick it. So he clearly knew he was doing something very sticky, very addictive and because of that he told his kids – you’re not going to touch this stuff. Yes. What can I say? God forbid!
So the first thing in the case of prayer, Razvan, is cutting off all those pleasure centers, that’s clear. And this is where we need a schedule and, as I said, first of all we pray and then we watch the news, football and all that. Of course it would be very good to stop watching, but people still go into withdrawal, you know. Yeah, because you see… everyone’s shaking if they don’t have internet. The second point, regarding prayer: it would be very good to talk about types of prayer. Because our mind is very, very sick. And here we have, let’s say, a classification with two types of prayer.
We have the prayer of request – “Lord, give me!”
And the prayer of thanks – “Lord, thank you!”
And St. Tikhon, abbot of St. Paisios the Hagiorite, said that “Lord, give me!” is one drachma and “Lord, thank you!” is 100 drachmas. That is, God appreciates man’s love for Him much more, and you should know that the opening up of charisms happens through gratitude. Meaning, brethren, let’s not be like the dog when you throw him a piece of sausage and he takes it and goes away without thanking you. The moment man gives thanks, God says: “Aha, so the man is decent! He likes it, he’s grateful.” If we don’t give thanks, we close ourselves up in our own loneliness, we close ourselves up within the very narrow frames of our egoism and God no longer gives them to us. God stops giving to us because we are actually usurpers of His grace and it destroys us. That is, we can be proud of His grace.
As you know very well that very many, unfortunately, I hope not it is not so, but you know that it is so, very many people boast of natural God-given charisms that God has given them in abundance: a very good voice, a talent for composition, acting, politics, oratory and so on. So those people instead of saying “Yes, God, thank you!” and helping others, they take pride in it and self-destruct. Then God of course says “Stop” [and] does not give further. Of course now, God knows in the complexity of His wisdom how He manages things, but all the Holy Fathers say this, including St. Joseph the Hesychast – one of the last great holy fathers, – they say that the key to opening the gate of grace, through which grace comes, the faucet of the conduit is thanksgiving, gratitude. So always, brethren, give thanks. So when God gives us something let’s say: “Thank you God! Glory to you, Lord!” Understand?
Of course, pope Tikhon, St. Tikhon said it in a much simpler way. Now that I’ve slipped and said “pope” Tikhon, it’s very good to know brothers, a little aside; so in the Holy Mountain, hieromonks, that is, priestmonks are called “papas” [“popes”] Don’t be scandalized! You should know that in the past there used to be a lot of popes. Today there are only two popes left – the Pope of Alexandria and the Pope of Rome. We have no issues with the title of pope in the case of the Pope of Rome, but we have [issues] with the heresies, well, with the things that this Archbishop of Rome says. (Distant noise) It’s not a jackal, it’s something else. We are closing the parenthesis.
Back to prayer. So I said there are two; of thanks and of request. So brethren, it is often best for it to be the prayer of thanksgiving. Prayer of request is usually used, if you like, or appears – I think that’s the best word – appears in the case of confessional prayers. That is, the moment we pray with our words and then we start praying and saying to God: God, give that and that and that and that and so on. These prayers are of course answered by God because they are the sincere product of our heart, but here we have two big problems. The first problem is, as I was saying a little earlier, the very narrow vision of our own egoism, the very narrow frames of our egoism. Because we tend, we try, to lock God into the framework of this vision. I mean [to have] God do what I say now and as I want it – this is seen on commemoration lists.
Brethren, I ask you kindly, I say this to you with much love, on the commemoration lists do not write that it’s for health, for goodness, for exams, for this, for that. God knows! Newsflash, He’s smarter than us and He knows better. Please forgive me for saying so. Understand? So just write the name and the good Lord knows. Let us not dictate to God because we are not wiser than God, as one of the greatest saints of Orthodoxy says – Saint Isaac the Syrian (Avva Isaac), a great saint.
So this is a big problem with confessional prayers, that is, I try to command God, if God doesn’t do it, I fall into despair, I get troubled and so on. And where do you add that this method dissipates the mind, as I was talking about before. I mean, I’m thinking now what to say to God, what to say next… Brethren, it’s not good in this way! And because of this there are two other forms of prayer.
There is the linear prayer which is the prayer of the saints, so the confessional prayer of the saints that you see in the prayer books, you see at the services. It’s a story. “Our Father who art in heaven,” Akathist, Paraklesis. This is purer than…, better somehow than the confessional prayer – which must be done. Confessional prayer [is] necessary! But linear prayer is better than confessional prayer. Why is it better? Because it is, as I said, the product of the saints’ heart and not the product of our chaotic heart, but also because it has so many requests and words and thoughts it causes the mind to dissipate.
It causes the mind to dissipate and that’s what you see when you read an akathist, a paraklesis, you read and, at some point, at the end, you wake up in Tokyo somewhere. You say, “I read it, didn’t I?” You read it. But the mind flew away. The mind is the ultimate focus. Do you understand? And here you can see the difference between mind and logic because you read with logic, but the mind flies away – they are two different rational parts of the soul, but let’s not go into details now, let’s stick to prayer because a lot of [side topics] open up…
Coming back, so we have the confessional prayer, we have linear prayer and so the most powerful form of prayer is the cyclic prayer, the prayer of one thought: Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” is the most powerful form of prayer because it strikes at this great parasite, the great parasite of today’s society mainly which is the distraction of the mind, chaos.
Due to the fact that in this prayer “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” we don’t have many thoughts, in fact, we have only one thought, it is a prayer that fights very hard with the dissipation of the mind and is much stronger. The Jesus Prayer is more powerful because it fights the dissipation of the mind and because it has the Lord’s name in it. And in order to fight even more effectively with the dissipation of the mind and to guard the mind even better, the prayer rope is used. I remember, Radu, that you asked me about the prayer rope, how to use it and so on.
I have two prayer ropes here. This one, which you can see, is a prayer rope that is of 100 beads. I usually recommend this rope. Some use 33 prayer ropes. The 33 should go around a lot. The 100 [not as much], we also use the 300 prayer rope in the Holy Mountain – I have it at the cell, I won’t bring it here now.
This prayer rope has some beads on it, I think you can see, they’re red. Why? So we can count. The prayer rope is very important. Why? Because: 1. the problem of number arises – God is not a merchant, meaning [He doesn’t say] I give you this much, you give me this much – but number ensures constancy, number ensures a program, number ensures obedience to the program, ensures this bravery, this control, self-control. And, because of this, as I was saying, with every bead one says the Lord Jesus prayer, and, moreover, monks also make the sign of the cross to guard against demonic attacks. So “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” ….
And this is said standing up; it’s best while standing. Why? Because the best position for prayer is the standing position, in which the person is fulfilled. And because of this in the icons at the services, you see all the saints standing, and especially, you should know, brethren, that during the Liturgy you should stand. So you hear, especially at the important moments, at the Gospel, what does the priest or deacon say? He says, “Wisdom. ARISE. Let us hear the Holy Gospel” and everybody sits down or kneels down. Brethren, one does not kneel at the Gospel, one stands on his feet, because then the mind is focused because that is the position in which God created us. We close the many parentheses and return again to prayer. So that’s regarding the number. Alright? And that’s why canons are given of a certain number of Lord Jesus prayers – how many there are.
Pilgrim: Does 100 or 33 mean anything? Why are there 100 and 33 beads?
Fr. Theologos: So 100 is significant and these red beads here are not for decoration, the meaning is that it is a very, very easily divisible number meaning that you can do your canon – of course you should do it in the evening, or at some point all at once, but often that can’t be done and then when you are at work and you have a respite, remember I told you, take a break and do a part of the canon. This is very important for the mind to be purified.
Then you do 100 or if you can’t do 100, you do 50 this is why there are intervals – the red beads are at 25, 50, 75, 100. And such numbers are very divisible and very easy to remember, you remember the numbers very well. And these can even be noted and if you want to be so-called advanced, these beads [shows prayer rope counter] are not for decoration either, but they are a counter – so for every hundred we draw a bead, so we know the number.
Then again a very, very important advantage of the prayer rope is that we use the sense of touch. You probably know as a psychologist, touching is the most powerful human sense. The sense that generates the strongest emotions. So when you feel, the mind focuses very well. You can try saying with and without the prayer rope – you will see a night and day difference, especially if you also make the sign of the cross at every bead, the mind focuses very, very well. So that’s why the prayer rope is very important. And of course prayer, as I said, is very important, also because of the fact that you can start it anywhere and anyhow – on the tram, on the bus, even at the wheel, well, at the wheel you don’t use the prayer rope, you drive. And so the mind is very well purified, it doesn’t move around chaotically and then it is not easily deceived when this prayer is said.
And well, if we continue on this theme, if we continue with prayer, you will see that at some point the Jesus Prayer will begin to say itself in the rational parts of the soul, which together are called mind: it is logic and mind, yes, which together are called mind. Anyway, it’s kind of an elliptical language, but what can I say? As the United Kingdom is called England, even though England is only one country, or The Netherlands is called Holland which is a province there, likewise the rational parts of the soul are called mind.
This is the prayer of the mind. So prayer of the mind, brethren, is a special state of the Jesus Prayer. Just as the prayer of the heart is a special state of the Jesus Prayer when prayer descends into the heart, that is, when it is uttered incessantly in the irrational parts of the soul which together are called the heart. And then man regains his originary and original unity and for this the saints died, brethren. That is when a very great enlightenment of the mind appears, a very great stability, and as I said, the mind is not easily deluded. And that is unceasing prayer. So that’s pretty much it in a nutshell about prayer. I don’t know, am I clear?
Pilgrim: Father, about breathing, won’t you tell us something?
Fr. Theologos: In regards to prayer, you mean?
Pilgrim: Yes.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, good question. It’s best to avoid it. The Holy Fathers have actually talked about breathing in the case of prayer, why? Because it’s in fact about the prayer rope.
Pilgrim: Forgive me, I meant regarding the Jesus Prayer.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, about the Jesus Prayer. That’s what I mean.
Pilgrim: You can’t hold your breath when it comes to an akathist.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes. Why? So what does the prayer rope mean? I mean that the Holy Fathers wanted to connect the prayer with their breathing so that they would tie it to a habit, or to a function that happens continuously. And so to have breathing remind you of prayer. That was the idea. So when you breathe in and breathe out you remember the prayer and then you actually say it unceasingly. And of course until today… I mean, it should be that it happens. The monks of the Holy Mountain when they are doing a work with their hands, by hand, they say the prayer “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” But especially for us today this is very difficult and instead of the mind being closed on the words of prayer, because the main way, or the main factor for prayer to be fruitful, is for your mind to be locked on the words of prayer. I mean, your mind should not be flying I don’t know where, but be attentive to what you are saying. Now when I say “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” – do you hear me? Well, I also have to hear myself when I say that, so I can’t think about I don’t know what, like what I’m going to eat tomorrow.
Pilgrim: So to understand.
Fr. Theologos: And understand – well, that’s what I’m talking about here. The attention, the mind must be centered on the words of the prayer, not to a thought.
Pilgrim: You merge them…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes. Alright, good. And breathing, although it has the advantage that it is something constant and continuous, if people are not attentive and do not have perfect stillness, so they aren’t hesychasts, then instead of thinking about Christ, they will think – “Well, how can I link this prayer to breathing?” So that’s why this is not recommended today, because it’s very difficult and it shifts the focus away from the person of Christ, it shifts the focus to the breath.
Pilgrim: And for us, [who are] in the world… What do you recommend?
Fr. Theologos: I said no. Don’t use your breath.
Pilgrim: Father, does the length, the form of the prayer – the long or the short one – make any difference?
Fr. Theologos: That’s right. It does, it matters. Why? Because I said that our mind is all over the place and although…actually it was an arc across time – in the beginning, the prayer in its original form was “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” Saint Paul the Apostle says: I would rather speak five words with my understanding… than ten thousand words in a tongue. “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” They’re only five [in Romanian and Greek]. In time, indeed it appeared in certain areas and so on, the prayer grew – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, for the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother and of all Your saints! Amen.” Out of piety. Yes, ok, but prayer, especially today, needs to be as short as possible so as not to let the mind dissipate. Today our mind is very weak and, because of this, all the Holy Mountain, all the tradition of the Holy Mountain, and we, recommend and say from our experience and from those with whom we are in contact, the short form because it is much easier to hold. It holds much easier: “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” Only that. Because if you stretch it, it breaks. Do you understand? As I was saying, you have to be a hesychast or you have to be… well, we won’t go into details now.
Pilgrim: [To] have a peaceful life.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes. So “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” And the whole Holy Mountain which… well, I’m a loser, but there are fathers here who are hesychasts and say “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” St. Porphyrios, St. Paisios the Athonite the same, St. Ephraim of Katounakia the same, St. Joseph the Hesychast the same.
In the beginning especially, it has to be fast, relatively fast, so that no thoughts arise, no thoughts enter. It has to be like a circle of fire, you know, where no other thoughts can enter. That is, you are there with the prayer and you detach yourself from worldly things. “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” Especially in the beginning. But that also depends on character. There are certain characters that [say it slowly] “Lord… Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” To feel it. But mainly for people and young people today, if this is done, in 10 minutes he thinks of anything else but prayer. Do you understand? You wanted to say something.
Pilgrim: I wanted to ask if this type of prayer can be practiced by anyone or would it need the blessing of the spiritual father?
Fr. Theologos: No.
Pilgrim: Is it mandatory or?
Fr. Theologos: No. This is a Russian spin-off… a whole story about this whole blessing of the spiritual father. Why? Because the Russians would dedicate themselves to this, but in a somewhat bigoted way. And especially as you advance in this prayer, certain effects occur. That’s what we do it for. But in these effects the enemy can also enter, you know, and then the Russian – we don’t judge them all, especially because the Russians have some great, gigantic saints, but mainly or, how shall I say, the boors usually tend not to ask. And that’s why over there it came about that you had to ask. Ask, but ask as you advance with your prayer, not at the beginning. It’s true that you can get a blessing for anything, but it’s not required. Because it’s come to: “Don’t do this unless you get the blessing!” Not like that! No. This is the best form of prayer and it can be done. In Byzantium it was in everyday life. I mean, everyone was doing it. It’s true that the moment you reach a higher level of prayer, which can be reached even by lay people, that’s the moment you ask. You don’t believe in everything that happens, in all the lights and everything.
Pilgrim: After all, the quality of prayer is more important than the quantity.
Fr. Theologos: Exactly. The quality of prayer is more important than quantity and quality matters, but St. Ephraim of Katounakia says: for quality to come, quantity is needed. You have to have quantity and you have to have consistency. I think we’ve talked about this a million times in videos – consistency and schedule. That’s what Father Joseph of Vatopedi used to tell us every 5 minutes until at one point, we looked at each other somewhat askance: “What does the Elder want?” And now I say: Thank God the Elder knew what he was talking about.
Pilgrim: About rhythm don’t forget to tell us!
Fr. Theologos: Rhythm. We talked about rhythm. It needs to be faster, but it depends from character to character. Faster and why? I told you, so as not to have intruding thoughts.
Pilgrim: And how long should we keep this up?
Fr. Theologos: As many years as you want.
Pilgrim: No, [I mean] the fast pace…
Fr. Theologos: No, listen – so prayer will teach you. Say it quickly and you’ll see! If St. Porphyrios said it quickly, St. Ephraim of Katounakia said it quickly, St. Joseph the Hesychast said it quickly, St. Paisius said it quickly, all of us in the Holy Mountain say it quickly… Understand? But as I was saying there are certain characters that… And then you’ll see that prayer is an energy – but energy… I’m wary of this word because unfortunately it’s a word that has a distorted meaning coming from the East, you know, from yoga, because there are also some energies there, but they are demonic, it very bad, brethren.
Yoga is not gymnastics. Yoga is pure demonism. Search Klaus Kenneth on the website to see what the man who had experience of it says. The man reached nirvana. I do not validate Klaus as an elder of the Church. I validate Klaus as a man who has had the experience of doing this and therefore has power in his word, because he has lived this. Then he can speak from experience. So I met Klaus and he told me… What this man has been through, God forbid! You can’t imagine. 27 times he almost died… 27 times he almost died. But when I say die, I don’t mean die like I would be here on the edge or I get a little faint.
So the man was involved with black magic and with the drug cartel in Mexico and he was up at 6000m in the Andes and they stripped him, completely naked, please forgive me, and had him dig his hole to shoot him. And they were with guns to shoot him. And as he was digging his hole, he said, “Lord, if you exist, get me out of here!” And what happened? So when he had dug, like, half a meter or something like that, that’s when another rival drug cartel comes out of the forest and they start shooting each other, killing each other, and he was in the hole, you know. So he was half a meter into the ground as they were machine-gunning over him. They all shot each other, they all died and only he escaped. Yes, and he said, “There clearly is a God!” Can you imagine?
And after all these experiences, of course Klaus was also demonized before coming to Orthodoxy. And I don’t know if you know who brought him to Orthodoxy. St. Sophrony of Essex did, and he got him rid of his demons. And I asked Klaus and said: “Klaus, what was the most difficult moment in your life?” After 27 encounters with death, so no playing around, including the demons… And he said: “The most difficult moment in my life is the moment…” – and now please forgive me – “…is the moment when I bring someone to Orthodoxy and that person is scandalized because of an Orthodox, with or without a cassock, who is not up to expectations.”
So brethren, God forbid there should be any scandals! The Savior well said that woe to him through whom scandals come. And please forgive me if I have scandalized anybody, I don’t want to scandalize anyone! So God forbid! Although of course I am a sinner and it is a great responsibility and I do my best to give the word of the Holy Fathers as much as possible and to be in God’s will.
So that was it with Klaus. I don’t know, I started somewhere and I ended up somewhere else again. Anyway, more questions!
Pilgrim: Father, for us as Orthodox, regarding our behavior – if we feel, I don’t know, challenged by a Muslim, a Protestant, an atheist – is it wiser to respond from our knowledge? Or not to enter into conversation that may bring about the passions; we get upset…?
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, because you there in Switzerland really…
Pilgrim: No, in general…
Fr. Theologos: In general. But I mean the diaspora.
Pilgrim: In the diaspora it’s harder…
Fr. Theologos: I know, I know. Yes, St. Paul the Apostle says – after the first and second counsel leave it, leave it. So you’ll see it in him, you’ll see if he asks well-intentioned questions. I see this in the comments. So if someone is well-meaning and asks, well, I really struggle to answer, you know? Because of course, I have my spiritual life and I’m not on the internet all day long as some people think, because some people [say:] “Father, you’re always…” I’m not always on the internet and I’m not on the internet now, so this video is not on the internet [as I’m filming it]. It will be on the internet when it will be, but I am with you now in the Holy Mountain, praise God!
And then, I really start to answer as much as I can, but I only get [on the internet] very little and I have the conscience and I really want to apologize to the many people that ask me questions on all channels and I do not manage to answer. But if you see someone who is aggressive and stiff, leave him, because God doesn’t want to convert him through you at that time because they’re not ready.
And I know, brethren, someone in Romania – I won’t say who on channel because he is still living – so brethren, he is… I don’t know if he is the greatest theological capacity in Romania because, well, everyone has his own preferences, but he is well read, I mean you can’t imagine, the man is a walking encyclopedia. And he was on train ride, I think, I don’t remember, from Bucharest to Sibiu or something like that, and he was alone in the compartment and, at one point, a Protestant enters the compartment and, not knowing who’s before him, he starts to talk. And this genius begins, as he is indeed a genius, beyond his erudition and ability, and, brethren, he knocked him out of the park. He chewed him up. From the Holy Fathers, from the history of the Church, from archaeological evidence, the Protestant couldn’t even take a breath, he was like a fish on dry land.
For hours and hours, for hours and hours and hours, and after I don’t know how many hours in which the little one [the Protestant], how shall I say, was put against the wall, glued to his seat, he was about to get off, and when he gets off, he turns towards him and says: “You should know that I’m still right!” And he leaves.
That’s it! Understand? God didn’t want it. He [the theologian] could’ve slept, he could have said the Jesus Prayer, done something… God didn’t want it. So you can fire away [for nothing]. Better pray for him! Personal example. You pray, are an example and your word should be a last resort. Because if you pray for him then you attract God’s grace, you enlighten him and he sees your personal example and says “Ok, I want something like that, I’m interested.” Do you understand? Yes, and I can give many examples on the subject.
Pilgrim: How important is prayer for the other and what effects can it have both ways?
Fr. Theologos: Yes. It’s very important because it restores that original Adam that we’ve talked about in so many clips. It is the channel that restores unity, the channel of love. The moment you unite with the other – at that moment you unite existentially with the other – if the other has grace, you feel it too. I mean, some people actually prayed for saints – not for the saints who are canonized because it’s already official – but they prayed for saints or prayed for spiritual people, and they felt grace when they prayed for someone. Because it comes back to you. You want to help that person and you receive help. Apart from the fact that you receive grace anyway, when you pray for someone because it is a gesture of love, a gesture of restoration of the global Adam, of which St. Sophrony of Essex speaks so well about, you receive grace because you are in the naturalness of God’s love, but you also receive grace from him as a source of grace.
On the other hand, truly, if the other is a pit of grace, meaning that he has a lot of demonic energy, then there are problems. Since you are united with him, these energies can come upon you, and that is why St. John the Evangelist, in his Epistle, says that people should pray for others – this is his point – but not for those who have mortal sins. There are deadly sins, but he does not say to pray for those who have deadly sins.
Pilgrim: And how do we know if they have mortal sins?
Fr. Theologos: I’ll tell you. Why [does he say this]? Because St. John addresses the herd of the Church and says: Brethren, don’t go where there are great demonic energies or you will get hurt. Of course the Church institutionally prays for the whole herd of the Church, and you see the litanies during the Liturgy, which are for everyone and so on. But if one does not have much grace from God, does not have great love from God and so on, if one prays for someone, it rebounds upon him. And this is what happens, brethren, you know, especially with institutions. That is, for example, when the abbot is praying for his disciples and his disciples are not as they should be, the abbot receives the temptations of the disciples. Do you understand? This happens. Or parents when they pray for their children. And you must pray for your children. And then children and spiritual children feel the cover of their parents and this is so strong that it is used, let’s say, during all services: “Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers.” And I’ve also started [the discussion] with that: “Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers…” So that we have an umbrella, an umbrella of grace, a shield. It’s very important and very cool, this is essential. It’s very powerful. And in the morning when we awake, brethren, [say]: “Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.” When we need to do something, “Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers…” It is really necessary.
Pilgrim: Then, specifically, let’s assume a classic situation where in a family there is someone who has taken things seriously, but still within the family there are some people who have these serious sins. How do you help? Through prayer, or can you help him through prayer?
Fr. Theologos: Of course you can help through prayer, because that is where God’s will is. So if you find the quote, Razvan, and we don’t move past the topic, you can say it. So, in the case of the family, it’s the about institution, as I said. Outside [of the institution], if you pray, if you get involved, it’s a problem, you’re gonna get it. But in the family, since it is God’s will that you be the father and so on, then God strengthens you. Of course you feel like you’re going off the rails, you know, you can feel it. But God says ok, I’m with you because I validate you as a parent. And that’s why the parents’ prayer for their children is very, very powerful, because it’s an institution validated by God. It’s very powerful. Beyond, of course, your spiritual measure, which may or may not be there.
Pilgrim: For husband and wife? For close friends?
Fr. Theologos: Yes, between husband and wife, of course, it’s very powerful. For close friends, it depends on how close they are. I mean, it depends on how attached they are to you.
Pilgrim: Spiritually!
Fr. Theologos: Spiritually, yes, that’s what I mean.
Pilgrim: Within the family, do we also consider the spiritual family or only the physical one?
Fr. Theologos: Mainly the spiritual family. So, there must necessarily be prayer for the spiritual father and the spiritual father must necessarily pray for…
Priests necessarily, fathers please, necessarily – I know there are many priests who are watching – you must necessarily pray for the members of the congregation, for the parishioners! So, God help Ion, Vasile, Gheorghe, so-and-so, so-and-so, so-and-so! Mandatorily, mandatorily, because your prayer is very powerful. And likewise the owner of the company for his employees, because there too is a form of institution, of course, an institution of a lower level, so to speak, but God has given the person in question the power to take care of his employees.
Pilgrim: It’s like a herd.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, it is. “God help us! You gave these in my care. God bless them!” It is very important. Because as I said, at one point, we act like atheists, you know. That is, God is somewhere far away, up there, He with His matters, us with ours. No! Prayer is needed.
Pilgrim: But the prayer “Most Holy Mother of God, save us” next to “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me?”
Fr. Theologos: Yes, it’s true… a lot of people ask this. The tradition is with the Jesus Prayer, but some also use [the prayer] to the Mother of God and the Mother of God helps.
Pilgrim: She may be more merciful…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, the dear one, of course she is. The Savior is more like…, but Mommy solves it all. Do you know why they call the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”?
Pilgrim: Because she helps quickly.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, exactly, because of that! Do you understand? So the Mother of God helps.
Pilgrim: [She’s] more forgiving…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, of course. And sometimes you can also use the “Most Holy Mother of God, save us” prayer.
Pilgrim: “Have mercy on us” or “Save us?”
Fr. Theologos: “Save us.” Indeed the Mother of God does not save through herself, meaning she is not God. She saves with her prayer, she puts in a good word, she is the Queen Mother, brethren. She says: Do this! And then of course the Son does.
Pilgrim: I would like to ask something. There are certain prayers such as the psalms, for example. Is it okay to speak in the plural when praying?
Fr. Theologos: When you read the psalms?
Pilgrim: There are other prayers that…
Fr. Theologos: Don’t change prayers! Because it’s a form of mind dissipation, it’s a way of dissipating the mind.
Pilgrim: I was trying to include the family…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, I know, but it seems that you haven’t watched the clips, So I talk about a global Adam a lot and [it’s] not my idea; As I was saying, St. Sophrony speaks at length and St. Gregory Palamas speaks [of this], all the Holy Fathers speak on this subject. So when you say “Have mercy on me,” others are united with you.
Pilgrim: That’s what I was going to say, maybe we have someone in our family who doesn’t pray and I was trying to pray for that person…
Fr. Theologos: You don’t understand! I mean, everyone is united with you when you say “me.” How can I say it? This current of love, this wind of love, this spirit of love passes from you to the others. I mean God, brethren, God is not stupid, it’s not like that, I mean, if you didn’t mention Gigi and Maricica and Tanța and Costel, God says “No, I’m not being merciful to them.” No, brethren!
Pilgrim: I felt a little selfish, I said somehow to help them more!
Fr. Theologos: No! Do as the Church says…
Pilgrim: Father, what can you tell us about us, lay people, we run around from morning till evening and, in the evening, when we get home, we are weary and draw the conclusion that we can no longer fulfill a canon…
Fr. Theologos: Yes. Run less! Stop, brethren! The mirage of money – cut it out, brethren, you aren’t gonna starve! Cut it out, cut it out, cut it out! You need a plate of food, you need a coat to cover yourself and you need a bed – that’s what you need. Not continually to develop, to do, to sort out and so on. Let it go, brethren! That is, rediscover the verb “to be,” not the verb “to have” or “to do.”
Pilgrim: There’s a saying: “Hurry up slowly!”
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, but I’m talking about something much more concrete now. I’m talking about “being.” The ancients knew this. Until recently we all knew that. What did Shakespeare say, just the other day we were talking about it. What was Shakespeare saying through Hamlet’s mouth? To be or not to be? That is the question. To be or not to be. This is the question. Do you understand? I mean [it’s] not “To have or not to have.” That’s not the question. Or “To do or not to do.” That’s not the question. Well, if I ask you what you have, I mean how much wealth you have, it’s a slap in the face. If I ask you how you are, it’s a sign of love. Understand? So it’s very, very important to stand still a little and be. To learn to behave, to learn to rediscover the beauty of your wife, of the person, of the family. To say, “How beautiful my wife is!” “How beautiful my children are!” Stand still a bit! Do you understand? Hurry up slowly – by the way. It is very important. You have to cut out.
Pilgrim: Perhaps towards the end of the discussion, it’s up to you if you want to continue, clarify one thing, Father, about the miracle prayer, the one that we meet especially in cyberspace, written by all sorts of enthusiastic people that begins with “If you say this prayer 3, 5, 10, 15,000 times you will…” Or “If you distribute it to… you will have everything you want, absolutely all your desires fulfilled, without exception.”
Fr. Theologos: Mother of God!
Pilgrim: And if you don’t send it, it’s a disaster.
Fr. Theologos: Oh, Cristi, Cristi!
Pilgrim: Many take them seriously, that’s why I ask you very seriously.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, that’s right. It’s Cristi Bumbenici, whom I’m going to “get revenge” on tomorrow and have him on a podcast… But, really, Cristi is very, very right, unfortunately. I’ve seen it too. So, brothers, I go on Facebook very little, very little, I don’t know how long – five minutes, believe me. I mean, I actually only share – bam – I shared it and I’m out. And I’m bombarded with this stuff. Brethren, it’s not good! So these are forms of superstition, they’re superstitions, these are forms… not to say pagan, but [that’s] the direction they tend towards, so they are mechanisms…
Pilgrim: It leads you astray…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, of course we are talking about delusion, but now I don’t want to say it very strongly… but let’s say the truth, since we’re talking the truth… So these are influenced by, they’re… someone will get upset, but it doesn’t matter… These are influenced by some Western heresies – Catholics and so on who have a legalistic spirit, but they are not even like the Catholics because they still have a certain theology that is wrong on some points, of course, and especially on some very serious points, and they have taken it to a very low level, brethren, please forgive me! I mean, [saying that] if you buy I don’t know how many sweet breads, if you do I don’t know what and the Tuesday prayer or…
Well of course you can do this Tuesday prayer, that is, to have a prayer everyday, but all these things lead people into a labyrinth very far from God, very far from God. So now I don’t know how long we’ve been talking, for 40 minutes or I don’t know how long – we’ve been talking for 50 minutes – we keep talking about the dissipation of the mind, about the chaos of the mind, and, on the internet, these things are done precisely because of that and especially precisely against the focusing of the mind, so as to dissipate the mind. And what comes to mind again, Cristi, is regarding the magical. Meaning, if you do I don’t know how many two steps to the right and another two to the left, it solves the problem. Problems are not solved that way! Problems are solved by sacrifice, by love, by patience, by personal effort.
Pilgrim: Through participation.
Fr. Theologos: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. That is sacrifice. Sacrifice is participation – stepping out of the very narrow confines of one’s own egoism. So brethren, leave all that stuff! [They say] to distribute so that they can collect data to see who your friends are and so on – that’s what they’re for. Do you understand? And whoever posts there is certainly not in the Tradition of the Holy Fathers, but I’m not even sure how well intentioned they are. Do you understand? So cut these out, brethren! These are not from… the Holy Fathers never came to say that if you don’t do I don’t know what… Oh, God! May the Good God forbid it! In that sense. Well, that’s about it. Any other questions?
Pilgrim: We come to prayer with all kinds of personal desires and ambitions and all sorts. How do we get rid of them?
Fr. Theologos: Yes, Ștefan, it takes faith! It takes faith! It’s true that sometimes when the need is pressing – this is for everyone, we are not like Christ who was free from all – and when someone has a pressing problem with his child, with the wife, you say, “God, help me! God, don’t leave me!” But even then you have to detach a little, like the Savior said when He was in His moment of pressure, in the moment of sin because He was going to communicate with sin. The Savior was sinless, but for our salvation He had to communicate with sin, namely the cross. And He said: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me;” because He was going to assume all human sin, but then what did the Savior say He said, “…nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Do you understand?
“So right now, Lord, solve this problem, but not as I want, but as You want!” And we always leave a door open for God. Who said of Sun Tzu that [he said one should] always leave a golden bridge on which to retreat. Well, if you leave a golden bridge for your enemies to retreat, leave a golden bridge for God to retreat a little, so He may have His will done a little bit. When factor in that God is also perfect among other things, all-powerful among other things. Alright. That’s about it…
Any other questions? Or did we exhaust the subject? We exhausted it. Alright. Let’s close. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen.
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