Thank you for this. At first I half expected a sort of empty recitation. But this was a fantastic example of giving Jesus the glory He deserves, as well as a great prayer guide.
Thank you, father John. I have been practicing Jesus prayer in Russian (or rather medieval Russian used in Russian Orthodox church where I belong), but after your video learned it in English, and found it sounding truly wonderful in English too. As our Lord Jesus Christ knows all languages, I started praying in both Russian and English, which turned the prayer into an even more fascinating experience.
Thank you I started the Jesus prayer in 2017 when I picked up the Russian book the way of the pilgrim and the second book in a charity shop. One night I found myself saying it in a dream.
This is the longer version. There are also a short and an intermediate one. The short one is "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me", it's most usual in Greek tradition (Kyrie Iesu Christe, eleison me). Basically it's the ancient prayer Kyrie eleison / Lord have mercy, with some words added, eg. addressing JC as the Lord (Kyrie Iesu Christe) and "me" after eleison / have mercy. The intermediate one is "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me", inserting "Son of God" into the short version. The words "a sinner" are not said in both these versions, they were added at a later time. I personally say the intermediate, but who cares ?
A question I have had for a long time is this: why do we addrrss Jesus when Jesus said to the disciples that they wouldn't need to pray to Jesus but to the Father in his name? John 14:13, 14 also speak of praying to the Father in the name of Jesus. And the original Jesus prayer by the publican says God, not Jesus. I certainly understand that Jesus is God incarnate, but still, the emphasis in scripture, particularly in the gospels, and as taught by Jesus, is on praying to the Father in the name of Jesus. An alteration to the Jesus prayer could be: o heavenly Father, by the Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. Isn't it the Father that shows mercy on us through Jesus Christ?
Jesus never said to not pray to Him, if u keep on reading John 14:13 and verse 14 Jesus asks them to pray to Him. 👉13 Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14.If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.👈 also in Jewish times if someone would ever say that God is their Father it would mean they're saying they're God and would get killed of blasphemy which is why Jesus got killed John 5:18👉For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.👈 now, through baptism we had become adoptive children of God through Jesus, but Jesus is God's only begotten Son (God). How can it be wrong to not pray to God the Son when He told us That if we asked Him anything in His name He will give it to us. Pray means ask/request. So Jesus clearly tells us to pray/ask to Him. Also what ur doing by saying we should pray to the Father and not the Son is seperating The Father from the Son, ur seperating the Trinity. And that would make them 2 different Gods not one. In the Trinity they're 3 distinct (not different) persons that equal 1 God, just like ur soul and spirit are 2 distinct persons that equal 1 you not two, to seperate the persons of the Trinity would make u fall into paganism, implying they're 2 different Gods, or even worse Arianism Hersey, Rejecting Christ's divinity as God and making Him only a creation Of God like the Jehovah witness who came barely 200 yrs ago, or the Muslims who came 500 years after Christianity. Hope this helps:)
