COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
The reports to the Limerick and Killaloe Diocesan Synod include the reports on ministry training and education and the report on the Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Project (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
Patrick Comerford
I have spent much of the day taking part in the Diocesan Synod of the United Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert. As the pandemic restrictions were being rolled back slowly, there were hopes that this meeting might have taken place in person, wither in Villiers School, Limerick, or in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick. However, uncertainty about regulations denied this hope, and instead, many of us spent the day online, taking part in the synod proceedings through Zoom.
This was the last diocesan synod for Bishop Kenneth Kearon before he retires at the end of October, and the last diocesan synod for these dioceses in this configuration before the planned amalgmation with the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry.
The elected synod members from the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes are: Victor Gardiner, Trixie Slagle, Joseph Gleeson and Niall West.
During the day’s proceedings, I presented two reports. As Director of Education and Training for clergy and readers in the diocese, I presented the report on Continuing Ministerial Education (CME), on p 80 of the Synod Reports, which was seconded by the Dean of Killaloe, the Very Revd Rod Smyth. I also presented my report on the Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Project, on p 77 of the Synod Reports, which was seconded by Niall West of Rathkeale Parish.
Continuing Ministerial Education (CME):
Report to Diocesan Synod
The pandemic restrictions and lockdown have brought an inevitable suspension of the monthly ‘training days’ organised as part of the CME programme in the diocese.
Nevertheless, a full CME programme has continued, and clergy and readers in Limerick and Killaloe and Tuam, Killala and Achonry, receive by email and online a package of resources tailored to the needs of the following Sunday.
These resources include commentaries on and links to the readings, downloadable versions of the propers (Collects, Prefaces, Post-Communion Prayers and Blessings), recommended hymns, and images suitable for on-screen presentations or parish leaflets, notices and noticeboards.
These resources have been expanded to include the Paired Readings as well the Continuous Readings, and to include all the major feast days so that appropriate resources are available for mid-week services.
The statistics for ‘hits’ on these regular postings indicate how the lockdown has had an impact on planning for weekly services. For example, the highest number of monthly ‘hits’ are 2,764 (December 2019), and 2,414 (July 2020), when the lockdown restrictions were first eased last year; but this figure had dropped to 1,190 in February 2021.
The reopening of churches in recent months is reflected in the rise in ‘hits’ in recent months: (1,904, July 2021). The most popular postings include Harvest resources, resources for reopening churches after Covid-19 closures, and resources for major occasions, including Easter, Christmas, Lent, Advent, and Remembrance Sunday.
The resources are made available early each Monday morning, and a week in advance of major feasts and festivals on https://cmelimerick.blogspot.com/. A mailing list of almost 90 people – mainly in these dioceses, but in other dioceses and places too, from Spain to the US – receives email notifications of new postings. The postings are also shared through other social media platforms and forums, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. If you would like your name to be added to this mailing list, please let me know.
Happily, now that the vaccine rollout is delivering results and larger indoor gatherings become possible, plans are in place to resume the monthly ‘training days,’ with programmes designed for both clergy and ordinands in the diocese.
Patrick Comerford,
The Rectory, Askeaton
The Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Project
Report to Diocesan Synod, 2021
The past two years have been trying and difficult for the Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Project, with the pandemic restrictions limiting opportunities for promoting community co-operation and bring a disparate community together.
The project is an initiative of the three Churches in the Rathkeale area, the Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church, and all three churches are represented on the management committee.
The last public ecumenical event was a carol service at the community Christmas tree in Rathkeale at the end of 2019. But as this report is being prepared, an ecumenical service is being planned for Saturday afternoon, 4 September 2021, in the abbey ruins in Rathkeale.
The past 24 months have seen a number of changes in personnel. Salters Sterling (Birr Parish) has been succeeded in the chair by Gordon Milne, a former partner in PwC, on the nomination of the two bishops of Limerick. Father Robbie Coffey now represents the Roman Catholic Church on the management committee. Denis Robinson, after a time at Limerick Institute of Technology, has returned as the Project’s Community Development Officer.
Throughout the pandemic, the committee continued to meet virtually. But trust in the community was often made difficult by social media accounts of parties, Garda raids on supposed ‘shebeens’ and traffic and travel at a level that seemed to breach public guidelines.
At a positive level, the project received the ‘Pride of Place Award’ in the category of towns with populations between 1,000 and 2,000. The prize fund has been used to make grants to all schools in Rathkeale to promote social cohesion and access to education among school-goers.
Trust between the communities is being restored once again, and the return of Denis Robinson has already had a positive impact on life in Rathkeale.
Patrick Comerford,
Rathkeale Group of Parishes
During the synod, we wecolmed the new Diocesan Secretary, Lorna Sharpe, and we were remined of the deaths of Yvonne Blennerhassett, Archdeacon Wayne Carney, Canon Marie Rowley-Brookes, Canon Trevor Sullivan, Canon Alan Shaw and the Revd Martha Grey-Stack.
I also contributed to the debate on the report of the Diocesan Council of Mission, and we discussed the legislation coming before General Synod next week on the amalgamation of the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe and the Diocese of Tuak, Killala and Achonry.
Meanwhile, in the elections preceeding the synod meeting, the Dean of Limerick, the Very Revd Niall Sloane, were elected to the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland.
I remain a member of the General Synod, the Diocesan Council, the Episcopal Electoral College, the Diocesan Board of Education, and the Committee on Elections.
The CME training day looked at resources available for Lent 2020 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)
Lent is a little late this year, with Ash Wednesday falling on 28 February.
Preparing for Lent was the topic of the first Ministry Training Day of the year for priests and readers in the diocese.
Priests and readers from throughout the dioceses took part in the training day in the Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick on 14 January. They looked at preparing for Lent, organising Bible studies and study groups, preparing for Ash Wednesday and Holy Week, and the lectionary readings for Lent and Holy Week.
The workshop also discussed Lenten resources available this year from the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the Biblical Association of the Church of Ireland, Christian Aid Ireland and other agencies.
Some of these resources look forward to this year’s Lambeth Conference, others relate to the growing problems created by climate change, as well as the Five Marks of Mission in the Anglican Communion.
The next training day takes place in Askeaton Rectory on Tuesday 18 February, when the Diocesan Communications Officer, Mr Stephen Fletcher, looks at communications, including the use of social media, radio and television.
Training days begin at 10.30 a.m. and are timed to finish by 3.30 p.m.
Meanwhile, Sunday liturgical and preaching resources for clergy and readers are provided online each week by Canon Patrick Comerford on the Limerick and Killaloe CME website, https://cmelimerick.blogspot.com/
Links to these resources are available by email each Monday morning. Further details are available from Patrick Comerford.
The resources for Lent presented at last month’s training day are available HERE.
Stephen Fletcher, the Revd Rod Smyth and Bishop Kenneth Kearon at the recent new liturgies workshop in Limerick
A bewildering array of new services have been authorised for use in the Church of Ireland. These include new forms of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, blessing, prayers and naming ceremonies in cases of early infant and prenatal deaths, new Collects of the Word, and Holy Communion by extension.
The Revd Rod Smyth of Nenagh recently introduced the new services to clergy and readers from the Dioceses of Limerick and Killaloe and Tuam, Killala and Achonry at a one-day workshop at the (Roman Catholic) Diocesan Centre at Saint Munchin’s College on Corbally Road, Limerick.
Finding our way through them may be puzzling for clergy and readers, and even more difficult for parish congregations.
Rod Smyth described how the new forms of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer for Sundays were designed to be more user friendly, yet with a clearly defined structure, embedded in the Lectionary, and easier to make relevant to seasons in the Church Year.
The workshop was part of a roll-out of seminars requested by the Liturgical Advisory Committee for each diocese in the Church of Ireland.
During the one-day workshop, the diocesan secretary, Mrs Yvonne Blennerhassett, also spoke on parish administration.
The next workshop for clergy and readers looks at ‘Preparing for Christmas.’ This is on Tuesday 3 December in the Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick from 10:30 to 3:30. An evening programme from 7 p.m. is also available.
This half-page news report is published in the December 2019 edition of 'Newslink,' the magazine of the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe (p 12)
TS Eliot … is there an Anglican culture? And is there more to it than poetry and another cup of tea?
Is there something unique about ‘Anglican culture’?
When it comes to television sit-coms, we all know what is meant in a scene characterised by the question: ‘More tea vicar?’ It is a question that has lost known of its Anglican relevance, despite its hijacking by Mrs Doyle in the Father Ted sketches.
But, from the Barchester Chronicles to the novels of Catherine Fox, and the insights found in the poetry of TS Eliot and John Betjeman, there has been a unique contribution to culture on this islands that is inseparable from Anglican identity.
It ranges from the music of Taverner, Tallis and Marbeck and phrases in the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible that have passed into everyday language.
Nor is it just an English experience: TS Eliot had family connections in Dun Laoghaire, John Betjeman worked for many years in Dublin, and the Anglicans among great Irish cultural figures include Jonathan Swift, Sean O’Casey, George Bernard Shaw, WB Yeats and Samuel Beckett.
In May, the training day and workshops for clergy and readers take place in Askeaton Rectory on Monday 13 May. This day offers an opportunity to explore and enjoy ‘Anglican culture’ – and to ask whether it has more to offer than another gin and tonic … or more tea, vicar?
The day begins with tea (and coffee) in the Rectory in Askeaton, at 11 a.m., and a shorter, evening version is offered for those with day-time working commitments, starting at 7 p.m.
This half-page news report is published in the May 2019 edition of ‘Newslink’ the magazine of the Church of Ireland United Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert (p 9)
An icon of Christ seen in an antique shop in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
11 February 2019,
Ministry Education Workshop,
‘Praying with icons and the Jesus Prayer’
Saint Mary’s Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick,
1.30 p.m.: Part 2, Praying with the Jesus Prayer
Reading: Luke 18: 9-13.
Introduction:
The Jesus Prayer … an image from Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ,
Υἱὲ Θεοῦ,
ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλό
There is a dictum in The Philokalia, ascribed to the Desert Father Evagrios the Solitary (Evagrios Pontikos), that says: ‘If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray truly, you are a theologian’ [Treatise on Prayer, 61].
To pray truly, we can learn from the traditions of others. There are rich treasures in each and every Christian tradition that we can draw on without compromising our own Christian tradition, experience and spirituality. The Orthodox insights into and traditions about prayer have influenced many Anglicans, including Archbishop Michael Ramsey, Archbishop Rowan Williams and Bishop Simon Barrington-Ward. Many in the Western world have been helped to pray through the books of Metropolitan Anthony Bloom.
To pray does not mean to think about God to the distraction of thinking about other things, or to spend time with God in competition with spending time with our families and friends. To pray means to think and live our entire life in the presence of God. The Russian theologian, Paul Evdokimov (1900-1969), the biographer of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, remarks: ‘Our whole life, every act and gesture, even a smile must become a hymn or adoration, an offering, a prayer. We must become prayer – prayer incarnate.’
The practice of the Jesus Prayer (Η Προσευχή του Ιησού) is one of the rich treasurers of the Orthodox tradition that can help each of us to develop our own practice of prayer.
The Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is one of the best-known traditions within Orthodoxy. Its words say simply:
Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ,
Υἱὲ Θεοῦ,
ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλό
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
have mercy on me the sinner.
The Jesus Prayer is a short, simple prayer that has been widely used, taught and discussed throughout the history of Eastern Christianity.
In order to enter more deeply into the life of prayer and to come to grips with the Scriptural challenge to pray unceasingly, the Orthodox tradition offers the Jesus Prayer – which is called the ‘Prayer of the Heart’ (Καρδιακή Προσευχή) by some Church Fathers – as a means of concentration and as a focal point for our inner life.
The exact words of the prayer have varied from the most simple possible involving the name ‘Jesus,’ or ‘Lord have mercy,’ to the more common extended form: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
For the Eastern Orthodox, the Jesus Prayer one of the most profound and mystical prayers and it is often repeated continually as a part of personal ascetic practice.
Theology and practice
‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’ … the Jesus Prayer is recommended by Saint John Klimakos
The practice of repeating the prayer continually dates back to at least the 5th century. A formula similar to the standard form of the Jesus Prayer is found in a letter attributed to Saint John Chysostom, who died in 407. In this Letter to an Abbot, he mentions two prayers being used as ceaseless prayers: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy,’ and ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.’
However, the earliest verifiable mention of the Jesus Prayer is in the writings of Saint Diadochos of Photiki (400-486), a work found in the first volume of The Philokalia (Η Φιλοκαλία), a collection of texts on prayer compiled between the 4th and the 15th centuries. In that collection, Saint Diadochos ties the practice of the Jesus Prayer to the purification of the soul. He also teaches that repetition of the prayer produces inner peace.
The Jesus Prayer is also described by Saint John Cassian (died 435) in his account of the repetitive use of a passage of the Psalms.
The use of the Jesus Prayer is recommended by Saint John Klimakos (Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος, 525-606), a monk of Mount Sinai, in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, and in the work of Saint Hesychios (?8th century), Pros Theodoulon, found in the first volume of The Philokalia.
Later, the theology of the Jesus Prayer was most clearly set out by Saint Gregory Palamas (1296–1359). Its practice became an integral part of Hesychasm, and the subject of The Philokalia. Today, Mount Athos is a centre of the practice of the Jesus Prayer.
Introduction to the West
The life of an Orthodox Christian is one of prayer ... inside the monastery church in Arakadi, south of Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The use of the Jesus Prayer according to the tradition of The Philokalia is the subject of the Russian classic, The Way of a Pilgrim. The Russian pilgrim in The Way of the Pilgrim discovers the Jesus Prayer and with it finds the answers to many of his questions in that key compendium of Orthodox spirituality and prayer.
In The Way of a Pilgrim, the anonymous pilgrim recounts his desperate longing ‘to pray without ceasing.’ He wanders, with a Bible in hand, in search of someone who can teach him. Eventually, the pilgrim finds a wise monk who becomes his spiritual father or staretz (стáрец). This monk instructs the pilgrim in prayer, and gives him The Philokalia to read.
The pilgrim recalls the conversation: ‘Read this book,’ he said. ‘It is called The Philokalia, and it contains the full and detailed science of constant interior prayer, set forth by 25 Holy Fathers. The book is marked by lofty wisdom and is so profitable to use that it is considered the foremost and best manual of the contemplative spiritual life …’
‘Is it then more sublime that the Bible?’ I asked.
‘No, it is not that. But it contains clear explanations of what the Bible holds in secret and which cannot be easily grasped by our short-sighted understanding.’
The staretz compares the Bible to the Sun and The Philokalia to a small piece of glass that allows a person to view its rays, and he reads to the pilgrim instructions from Saint Simeon the New Theologian quoted in The Philokalia:
‘Sit down alone and in silence. Lower your head, shut your eyes, breathe out gently, and imagine yourself looking into your own heart. Carry your mind, that is, your thoughts, from your head to your heart. As you breathe out say, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” Say it moving your lips gently, or simply say it in your mind. Try to put all other thoughts aside. Be calm, be patient, and repeat the process very frequently.’
At first, the pilgrim is bored, is sleepy and is distracted by other thoughts. The staretz encourages him to persevere, gives him a prayer rope (Greek κομποσχοίνι, komboschini; Russian чётки, chotki), and tells him to use it as a counter as he repeats the Jesus Prayer. He tells him to repeat the Jesus Prayer 3,000 times a day, ‘quietly and without hurry … without deliberately increasing or diminishing the number. God will help you, and by this means you will reach also the unceasing activity of the heart.’
After the first few days, the pilgrim no longer finds that he has been set a hard task, but soon finds that he is praying again, both ‘easily and joyfully.’ His spiritual father increases the number to 6,000 and then to 12,000, so that the pilgrim reaches the point where the prayer wakes him up early in the morning. Now his whole desire is fixed on saying the Jesus Prayer and he is filled with joy.
The use of the Jesus Prayer is the subject of the Russian classic, ‘The Way of a Pilgrim’
The Pilgrim, the anonymous author of The Way of the Pilgrim, reports that the Jesus Prayer has two very concrete effects upon his vision of the world:
1, Firstly, it transfigures his relationship with the material creation around him. The world becomes transparent, a sign, a means of communicating God’s presence. He writes: ‘When I prayed in my heart, everything around me seemed delightful and marvellous. The trees, the grass, the birds, the air, the light seemed to be telling me that they existed for man’s sake, that they witnessed to the love of God for man, that all things prayed to God and sang his praise.’
2, Secondly, the Jesus Prayer transfigures his relationship to his fellow human beings. His relationships are given form within their proper context: the forgiveness and compassion of the crucified and risen Lord. ‘Again I started off on my wanderings. But now I did not walk along as before, filled with care. The invocation of the Name of Jesus gladdened my way. Everybody was kind to me. If anyone harms me I have only to think, “How sweet is the Prayer of Jesus!” and the injury and the anger alike pass away and I forget it all.’
The Scriptural foundations
This story in The Way of the Pilgrim became familiar to many readers in the west in the 1960s through the popularity of JD Salinger’s novel, Franny and Zooey, when the distressed young woman describes the Jesus Prayer to her boyfriend over lunch in a restaurant.
But what are the Scriptural and theological foundations of the Jesus Prayer?
Saint Paul preaching in Thessaloniki … a fresco in the Cathedral Church of Saint Gregory Palamas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Apostle Paul urges the Christians of Thessaloniki to ‘pray without ceasing’ (I Thessalonians 5: 1). In his letter to Rome, he instructs the Christian community there to ‘be constant in prayer’ (Romans 12: 12). He not only demands unceasing prayer on the part of the Christians in his care, but he practices it himself. ‘We constantly thank God for you’ (I Thessalonians 2: 13), he writes, and he comforts Timothy with the words: ‘Always I remember you in my prayers’ (2 Timothy 1: 3).
Whenever the Apostle Paul speaks of prayer in his letters, two Greek words appear repeatedly: πάντοτε (pantote), which means always; and αδιαλεπτος (adialeptos), meaning without interruption or unceasingly.
Prayer, then, is not merely a part of life which we can conveniently lay aside if something we deem more important comes up. Prayer is all of life, must be all of life. Prayer is as essential to our life as breathing. But how can we be expected to pray all the time? How can we fit more time for prayer into our already overcrowded lives?
The Jesus Prayer, in its simplicity and clarity, is rooted in the Scriptures, and its words are based on:
● the cry of the blind man at the side of the road near Jericho, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’ (Luke 18: 38);
● the cry of the ten lepers who called to him, ‘Jesus, Master, take pity on us’ (Luke 17: 13);
● the cry for mercy of the publican, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’ (Luke 18: 14);
● and the sentiments of the cry of the penitent thief on the cross (Luke 23: 42).
Listening:
Let us listen to a similar theme in The Cry of the Thief Crucified by the Russian composer Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (1877-1944), who suffered greatly under Stalin – when the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, where he was the last choirmaster, was torn down, he stopped writing altogether. The tenor singing here is the Russian Evgeny Akimov (1910-1949).
Play: ‘The Cry of the Thief Crucified’ by Pavel Chesnokov (Track 13, Authentic Russian Sacred Music).
Three levels of praying the Jesus Prayer:
Saint Theophan the Recluse … distinguishes three levels in the saying of the Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is a prayer in which the first step taken on the spiritual journey is recognising my own sinfulness, my essential estrangement from God and the people around me.
The Jesus Prayer is a prayer in which I admit my desperate need of a Saviour. For ‘if we say that we have no sin in us, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’ (I John 1: 8).
In order to offer some broad, general guidelines for those interested in using the Jesus Prayer to develop their inner lives, Saint Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894), a 19th century Russian spiritual writer, distinguishes three levels in the saying of the Jesus Prayer:
1, It begins as oral prayer or prayer of the lips, a simple recitation which Saint Theophan defines as prayers’ ‘verbal expression and shape.’ Although it is very important, this level of prayer is still external to us and is only the first step, for ‘the essence or soul of prayer is within a man’s mind and heart.’
2, As we enter more deeply into prayer, we reach a level at which we begin to pray without distraction. Saint Theophan remarks that at this point, ‘the mind is focused upon the words’ of the Jesus Prayer, ‘speaking them as if they were our own.’
3, He describes the third and final level as prayer of the heart. At this stage, prayer is no longer something we do but who we are. Such prayer is a gift of the Spirit, and is to return to the Father as the Prodigal Son did (Luke 15: 32). The prayer of the heart is the prayer of adoption, when ‘God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit that cries that cries “Abba, Father!”’ (Galatians 4: 6).
This return to the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit is the goal of all Christian spirituality. It is to be open to the presence of the Kingdom in our midst.
The practice of the Jesus Prayer
The Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Tolleshunt Knights … the Jesus Prayer is a communal practice for four hours each day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
There is a very great emphasis on humility in the practice of the Jesus Prayer. There are many warnings about the disaster that will befall those who would use it in pride, arrogance or conceit. And in many texts, it is said that those who use the Jesus Prayer must only be members of the Orthodox Church in good standing.
When it is practised on a continuing basis, the Jesus Prayer becomes automatic.
In the Eastern tradition, the Jesus Prayer is said or prayed repeatedly, often with the aid of a prayer rope (Greek κομποσχοίνι, komboschini; Russian чётки, chotki). It may be accompanied by prostrations and the sign of the cross, and sometimes it is integrated into the liturgical life of monasteries.
I try each year to spend a day in prayer at a monastery. Last year, this included visits to Mount Athos, to the Monastery of Vlatadon in Thessaloniki, and to the Monastery of Saint George in Karydi in western Crete. But for many years, this was an annual visit to the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights, near Maldon in Essex. It involved an early start, catching a bus from Cambridge at 6 a.m. to be there in time for the Divine Liturgy.
The community was founded in an old Anglican rectory in 1958 by Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (1896-1993), with the help of Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom). When he was founding the monastery, Father Sophrony wanted to be sure his community would not just have outward conformity, but also focus on inner asceticism. The typicon of the monastery consists of the repetition of the Jesus Prayer about four hours a day (from 6 to 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 to 8 p.m.), as well as the serving of the Divine Liturgy three or four times a week.
The monastery was founded by is found inspiration in Elder Sophrony, and he was inspired to introduce this practice of the Jesus Prayer from his experiences as a monk on Mount Athos monk, and by the lives of Saint Silouan, Saint Nicodemus and Saint Paisius Velichkovsky.
The American Orthodox blogger and writer, Frederica Mathewes-Green, gives a vivid and realistic example of how the person who uses the Jesus Prayer constantly prays throughout the day and deals with ordinary, everyday thoughts and distractions.
The person praying the Jesus Prayer never treats it as a string of syllables whose ‘surface’ or overt verbal meaning is secondary or unimportant. He/she considers a bare repetition of the Jesus Prayer as a mere string of syllables, perhaps with a ‘mystical’ inner meaning beyond the overt verbal meaning, to be worthless or even dangerous.
While s/he maintains this practice of the Jesus Prayer, which becomes automatic and continues 24 hours a day, seven days a week, s/he rejects all tempting thoughts, paying extreme attention to the consciousness of his/her inner world and to the words of the Jesus Prayer, not letting his/her mind wander in any way at all.
The practice of the Jesus Prayer is in the mind in the heart, free of images. The stage of practice known as ‘the guard of the mind’ is a very advanced stage of ascetical and spiritual practice. But attempting to accomplish this prematurely can cause very serious spiritual and emotional harm.
To pray does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God in contrast to spending time with our family and friends. To pray means to think and live our entire life in the Presence of God. The practice of the Jesus Prayer is one of the rich treasurers in the Orthodox tradition offers to those who would pursue the task of developing their own practice of prayer.
As Paul Evdokimov (1901-1970) says: ‘Our whole life, every act and gesture, even a smile must become a hymn or adoration, an offering, a prayer. We must become prayer – prayer incarnate.’
In his Ages of the Spiritual Life, Paul Evdokimov writes:
‘In a special manner the invocation of the name of Jesus makes the grace of his Incarnation universal, allowing each of us our personal share and disposing our hearts to receive the Lord … When the divine Name is pronounced over a country or a person, these enter into an intimate relationship with God … The “prayer of the heart” frees and enlarges it and attracts Jesus to it … In this prayer … the whole Bible with its entire message is reduced to its essential simplicity … When Jesus is drawn into the heart, the liturgy becomes interiorised and the Kingdom is in the peaceful soul. The Name dwells in us as its temple and there the divine presence transmutes and Christifies us …’
Here, as with Saint Seraphim of Sarov, the prayer of the heart is much more than an arcane spiritual practice. Rather, its genius is that it summarises all that the scriptures say, the whole of life is to be ‘in Christ’ and the Spirit.
A note on the Hesychast tradition
The shrine of Saint Gregory Palamas in the Metropolitan Cathedral Church in Thessaloniki … he defended the practice of the hesychasts (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The practice of the Jesus Prayer is integrated into the mental ασκήσεις (ascésis) undertaken by the Orthodox monk in the practice of Hesychasm. This mental ascesis is the subject of The Philokalia.
Monks often pray this prayer many hundreds of times each night as part of their private cell vigil. Under the guidance of an Elder (Greek γεροντας, gerontas; Russian starets), the monk aims to internalise the prayer, so that he is praying unceasingly, thereby accomplishing the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians to ‘pray without ceasing.’
And so, perhaps, a brief note on the Hesychast tradition may be helpful.
Hesychasm (Greek ἡσυχασμός hesychasmos, from ἡσυχία hesychia, ‘stillness, rest, quiet’) is an eremitic tradition of prayer in Eastern Orthodoxy, practised (Greek: ἡσυχάζω, hesychazo, ‘to keep stillness’) by the Hesychast (Greek: Ἡσυχαστής, hesychastes).
The tradition dates back to both the Cappadocian Fathers and the Egyptian anchorites in the Western Desert, although the traditions strongest roots can be traced from the 6th to 8th centuries and The Ladder of Divine Ascent written by Saint John of Sinai (523–603).
The term Hesychast is particularly associated with the integration of the continual repetition of the Jesus Prayer into the practices of mental ασκήσεις (ascésis) already used by hermits in Egypt. By the 14th century on Mount Athos, Hesychasm refer to the practices associated with the Jesus Prayer. The books used by the Hesychasts include The Philokalia, a collection of texts on prayer and solitary life written from the 4th to the 15th centuries; The Ladder of Divine Ascent; the collected works of Saint Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022); and the works of Saint Isaac the Syrian (7th century or 8th century).
Hesychastic practice may involve specific body postures and be accompanied by very deliberate breathing patterns. However, these bodily postures and breathing patterns are treated as secondary both by modern Athonite practitioners on Mount Athos and by the more ancient texts in The Philokalia, the emphasis being on the primary role of Grace.
Hesychasts are fully inserted into the liturgical and sacramental life of the Orthodox Church, including the daily cycle of the Divine Office and the Divine Liturgy. However, Hesychasts who are living as hermits may have a very rare attendance at the Divine Liturgy and might not recite the Divine Office except by means of the Jesus Prayer, which often happens on Mount Athos.
The Hesychast practices acquiring an inner stillness, ignoring the physical senses and rejecting tempting thoughts. In solitude and retirement, he repeats the Jesus Prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ He prays the Jesus Prayer ‘with the heart’ – with meaning, with intent, ‘for real.’ He never treats the Jesus Prayer as a string of syllables whose ‘surface’ or overt verbal meaning is secondary or unimportant. He considers bare repetition of the Jesus Prayer as a mere string of syllables, perhaps with a ‘mystical’ inner meaning beyond the overt verbal meaning, to be worthless or even dangerous.
While he maintains his practice of the Jesus Prayer, which becomes automatic and continues 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Hesychast rejects all tempting thoughts, paying extreme attention to the consciousness of his inner world and to the words of the Jesus Prayer, not letting his mind wander in any way at all.
The practice of the Jesus Prayer is in the mind in the heart, free of images. The stage of practice known as ‘the guard of the mind’ is a very advanced stage of ascetical and spiritual practice, and attempting to accomplish this prematurely can cause very serious spiritual and emotional harm to the would-be Hesychast. ‘The guard of the mind’ is the condition in which the Hesychast remains as a matter of course throughout his day, every day until he dies. It is from the guard of the mind that he is raised to contemplation by the Grace of God.
The Hesychast usually experiences the contemplation of God as light, the Uncreated Light of the theology of Saint Gregory Palamas. The Hesychast, when he has by the mercy of God been granted such an experience, does not remain in that experience for a very long time, but he returns ‘to earth’ and continues to practise the guard of the mind.
The Uncreated Light that the Hesychast experiences is identified with the Holy Spirit. Experiences of the Uncreated Light are allied to the ‘acquisition of the Holy Spirit.’ The highest goal of the Hesychast is the experiential knowledge of God. In the 14th century, the possibility of this experiential knowledge of God was challenged by a Calabrian monk, Barlaam, who asserted that our knowledge of God can only be propositional. However, the practice of the Hesychasts was defended by Saint Gregory Palamas.
It must be said that there are many warnings that seeking after unusual ‘spiritual’ experiences can itself cause great harm, ruining the soul and the mind of the seeker. Such a seeking after ‘spiritual’ experiences can lead to spiritual delusion in which a person believes himself or herself to be a saint, has hallucinations in which he or she ‘sees’ angels, Christ, etc. This state of spiritual delusion is in a superficial, egotistical way pleasurable, but can lead to madness and suicide, and, according to the Hesychast fathers, makes salvation impossible.
A note on the Athonite and monastic tradition today
The domes of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos … two monks of the monastery – Saint Silouan the Athonite and Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov – were influential in introducing the Jesus Prayer to Western spirituality (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Mount Athos is a centre of the practice of Hesychasm, and the most important centre of monastic life in the Orthodox world today. There has been a recent revival in the fortunes of many of the monasteries on the Holy Mountain, with new monks arriving from Cyprus, Romania, Russia and Australia.
But the mountain is loved among the Orthodox for nurturing great writers in spirituality and on the life of prayer. Three of the better known of these writers in the 20th century were Saint Silouan (1866-1938), his disciple Archimandrite Sophrony (1896-1993), and Father Joseph (died 1959).
Although some of these great writers also lived the lives of hermits, they gathered many followers, and were particularly known for their practice of the Jesus Prayer.
Additional notes of the prayer rope:
A prayer rope is often used as an aide to praying the Jesus Prayer (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
A prayer rope is a loop made up of complicated knots, usually made of wool, used by Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Rite Catholics to count the number of times they have prayed the Jesus Prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Historically it typically had 100 knots, although prayer ropes with 50 or 33 knots can also be found in use today – with the number 33 signifying the years of Christ’s earthly life. There is typically a knotted cross at one end, and a few beads at certain intervals between the knots. Longer prayer ropes frequently have a tassel at the end; its purpose is to dry the tears shed because the deep sorrow for one’s sins.
It is said that the Prayer Rope has its origins from the Father of Orthodox monasticism, Saint Anthony. He started by tying a leather rope for every time he prayed his Kyrie Eleisons, or Lord have Mercies, and the Devil came and would untie it to throw his count off. He then devised a way, inspired from a vision by the Theotokos (Mother of God), of tying the knots so that the knots would constantly make the shape of the cross. That is why Prayer Ropes today are still tied by seven little crosses being tied over and over. The Devil could then not untie it because the Devil is vanquished by the sign of the Cross.
Others attribute its origin to Saint Pachomius in the 4th century as an aid for illiterate monks to accomplish a consistent number of prayers and prostrations. Monks were often expected to carry a prayer rope on their left wrist almost constantly, to remind them to pray constantly in accordance with the Apostle Paul’s injunction: ‘Pray without ceasing’ (I Thessalonians 5: 17).
In some Russian Orthodox service books, certain liturgies can be replaced at need by praying the Jesus Prayer a specified number of times, anywhere from 300 to 1,500 times, depending on the service being replaced. In this way prayers can still be said even if the service books are unavailable for some reason. The use of a prayer rope is a very practical tool in such cases, simply for keeping count of the prayers said.
In the Silence:
The Pantocrator in the Dome of the Church of Analipsi in Georgioupoli, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
In the silence, we have opportunities to:
1, pray, using the Jesus Prayer, or adapting it to our needs – feel free to walk in the garden or find your own quiet corner in one of the rooms on this floor in the Rectory, or on the landing upstairs;
2, there are some icons placed around the Rectory that you might like to use to help you in your prayer;
3, you may want to sit silently and meditate on some of the Scripture passages we have been discussing.
Closing Prayers:
1, The Collect of the Day:
O God,
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
Grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
2, The Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father …
3, The Jesus Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.
Selected readings:
(Metropolitan) Anthony Bloom, Living Prayer (Springfield IL: Templegate, 1966), pp 84-88.
Paul Evdokimov, Ages of the Spiritual Life (Crestwood NY: Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998).
RM French (translator), The Way of a Pilgrim (London: SPCK, 1977).
(Father) Lev Gillet (‘A Monk of the Eastern Church’), The Jesus Prayer, with a foreword by Kallistos Ware (Crestwood NY: Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987).
Frederica Mathewes-Green, Facing East (San Francisco: Harper, 2006), pp 144-145.
Frederica Mathewes-Green, The Jesus Prayer: the ancient desert prayer that tunes the heart to God (Brewster MA: Paraclete Press, 2009/2010).
E Kadloubovsky, GEH Palmer (eds), Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart (London: Faber and Faber, 1992).
GEH Palmer, Philip Sherrard, (Metropolitan) Kallistos Ware (eds), The Philokalia (London: Faber and Faber, 1979, 4 vols).
(Brother) Ramon SSF, Praying the Jesus Prayer (Basingstoke: Marshall Pickering, 1988).
JD Salinger, Franny and Zooey (various editions).
(Father) Sophrony, On Prayer (Crestwood NY: Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998).
(Bishop) Simon Barrington-Ward, The Jesus Prayer (Oxford: BRF, 2007 ed).
(Bishop) Simon Barrington-Ward and (Brother) Ramon SSF, Praying the Jesus Prayer Together (Oxford: BRF, 2001).
(Metropolitan) Kallistos Ware, The Power of the Name: the Jesus Prayer in Orthodox Spirituality (London: Marshall Pickering, 1989).
The Revd Anne-Marie Stuart (centre) with participants in the January workshop on ‘Celtic Spirituality’ at the Rectory in Askeaton
Continuing Ministerial Education
The Revd Anne-Marie Stuart, of Kilcolman Union of Parishes, led a day of workshops on ‘Celtic Spirituality’ in the continuing education programme for all clergy and readers in the diocese resumes in January.
Readers and clergy from across the diocese took part in these workshops in the Rectory in Askeaton, and were joined by two visitors who had travelled from Germany to learn more about Celtic Spirituality.
The February programme, on Monday 11 February, looks at the practice of the Jesus Prayer and using icons in prayer. These programmes are offered at the Rectory in Askeaton in two sessions: from 11 am to 3.30 for day-time participants, and from 7 pm to 9.30 pm for people in ministry who are also in secular ministry.
Tea/coffee/biscuits are provided, but participants are asked to bring sandwiches.
On 4 March, the Revd Anne-Marie Stuart returns to facilitate a morning workshop on 4 March on ‘The Adventure of Prayer’ and a second workshop in the afternoon on ‘Faith Development.’
Meanwhile, Canon Patrick Comerford publishes online resources every Monday morning that are suitable for clergy and readers planning services the following Sunday. These are available online at: https://cmelimerick.blogspot.com/
This news report is published in the February 2019 edition of ‘Newslink’, the Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert diocesan magazine, pp 10-11
Saint Patrick’s Breastplate on a wall in a side chapel in Glenstal Abbey … the training day in Askeaton on 14 January explores Celtic Spirituality (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The continuing education programme for all clergy and readers in the diocese resumes in January, with workshops on Celtic Spirituality in the Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Monday 14 January 2019. These workshops are being facilitated by the Rev Ann-Marie Stuart and the Revd Isabel Keegan.
The February programme, on Monday 11 February, looks at the practice of the Jesus Prayer and using icons in prayer.
These programmes are offered in two sessions: from 11 am to 3.30 for day-time participants, and from 7 pm to 9.30 pm for people in ministry who are also in secular ministry.
Tea/coffee/biscuits are provided, but participants are asked to bring sandwiches.
In November, the Revd Rod Smyth of Nenagh introduced a workshop on the choice of hymns, canticles and music, which is often a difficult task for clergy and readers alike.
Rod tackled the thorny problems faced by people who have difficulty in selecting hymns for Sundays, and offered advice about appropriate hymns for Advent, as well as Baptisms, weddings and funerals.
Meanwhile, Canon Patrick Comerford publishes online resources every Monday morning that are suitable for clergy and readers planning services the following Sunday. These are available online at: https://cmelimerick.blogspot.com/
This news report is published in the December 2018/ January 2019 edition of ‘Newslink’ the magazine of the Church of Ireland Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert
The War Memorial in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Sunday 11 November marks the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that brought an end to World War I.
All clergy and readers in the united dioceses are invited to a working day in the Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Monday 15 October to look at resources and planning for Remembrance Day on this year’s centenary.
Where do I find resources and readings?
How can we be sensitive to a diversity and variety of views and the challenges this day poses in a parish?
Once again, this programme is offered in two workshops: from 11 a.m. to 3.30 for day-time participants, and from 7 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. for people in ministry who are also in day-time or secular employment.
The programme in September was a working day on bringing Spiritual Tourism to our parishes. The day was facilitated by Archdeacon Simon Lumby and Canon Patrick Comerford, and included a field trip to a number of sites in Askeaton linked to potentials in Spiritual Tourism, including the Templar Tower, the Famine grave, the
grave of the poet Aubrey de Vere, and the ruined cloisters of the Franciscan Friary.
Although these days are designed for priests and readers, spouses, partners and friends are always welcome. Further details are available from Patrick Comerford.
Meanwhile, ministerial and liturgical resources, including sermon ideas, readings, collects, post-communion prayers, hymn suggestions and illustrations are published
each Monday morning by Patrick Comerford on the web at: https://cmelimerick.blogspot.com/
This half-page report is published in the October 2018 edition of ‘Newslink,’ the diocesan magazine of the United Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Aerdfert [p 11]
The cloisters in the ruins of the Franciscan Friary in Askeaton … being visited on the September training day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford
The following report is published in the current edition [September 2018] of ‘Newlink’, the Diocesan Magazine for the United Dioceses (page 12):
Continuing Ministerial Education
The training days for people in ministry in the dioceses resume after the summer break with workshops in Askeaton Rectory on the topic of Spiritual Tourism and preparing for Remembrance Day.
Spiritual Tourism
On Monday 3 September, Canon Patrick Comerford and Archdeacon Simon Lumby are leading a working day on bringing spiritual tourism to our parishes. This day includes a field trip to two or three sites in Askeaton linked to Spiritual Tourism, including the ruined Templar Tower at Saint Mary’s Church and the cloisters in the ruins of the 15th century Franciscan Friary. Participants are asked to bring with them examples two opportunities for spiritual tourism they have experienced during their summer holidays: one positive and one negative. The programme is offered in two sessions: from 11 am to 3.30 for day-time participants, and from 7 pm to 9.30 pm for people in ministry who are also in secular ministry.
Preparing for Remebrance Day
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and Remembrance Day this year falls on a Sunday, Sunday 11 November 2018. A working day in the Rectory in Askeaton on Monday 15 October looks at how to plan for Remembrance Day on this year’s centenary. Where do I find resources and readings? What is appropriate in a parish church on this Sunday? How can we be sensitive to a variety of views and challenges to this day in a parish? Once again, this programme is offered in two sessions: from 11 am to 3.30 for day-time participants, and from 7 pm to 9.30 pm for people in ministry who are also in secular ministry.
Although these days are designed for priests and readers, spouses, partners and friends are always warmly welcome. Further details are available from Patrick Comerford.
Revd Michael Cavanagh cuts his birthday cake at the training day in Askeaton Rectory (photo: Patrick Comerford)
Prayer was at the heart of the March training day for clergy and readers in the diocese, when two groups met at the Rectory in Askeaton to discuss personal prayer, prayers in the life of the church, praying for others, and teaching others to pray. The two groups met on 12 March. We looked at different styles of prayer and discussed how we need to develop a life of prayer that suits our own needs and personality, while also helping others to develop an approach to prayer that meets their own personality types.
These monthly training days are designed for clergy and diocesan and parish readers, but are open to others who are interested.
Each week, sermon ideas for the following Sunday are posted on the CME site at: https://cmelimerick.blogspot.ie/. Each week’s posting includes reflections on the Sunday readings, collects, prefaces, post-communion prayers and other liturgical resources, as well as suggested hymns and appropriate photographs that can be used in parish newsletters and service sheets.
The next two training days are in April and May, looking at the place of cathedrals in the life of the Church, and discussing different styles of public worship.
On Monday 30 April, Canon Patrick Comerford will lead a ‘field trip’ to the three working cathedrals in the diocese, beginning at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, moving on to Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, Co Clare, and finishing in the afternoon at Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert, Co Galway.
On Monday 28 May, participants are invited to consider different approaches to liturgy and worship. This programme, in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, and is being led by the Revd Michael Cavanagh and Canon Patrick Comerford.
Further details are available from Patrick Comerford.
This half-page news report is published in the April 2018 edition of ‘Newslink,’ the magazine of the Church of Ireland United Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert
Preparing for Harvest – a photograph on the new CME website (Patrick Comerford)
This half-page news report (p 7) is published in the October 2017 edition of Newslink, the magazine of the Church of Ireland United Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert:
Harvest resources for parishes
on new CME website
Are you planning a Harvest Thanksgiving service? Are you stuck for resources, wondering where to find the readings or trying to select appropriate hymns?
Are you wondering what new things are can be said about Harvest this year that is relevant to children, mission and aid? Would you like photographs to illustrate your Harvest service sheet or parish notices?
A new set of resources for clergy, readers, schools and all in ministry in the United Dioceses is going online. The new website, CME Limerick & Killaloe, is in a blog format and is being produced by Canon Patrick Comerford of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes, who is also Director for Education and Training in these dioceses. CME stands for Continuing Ministerial Education.
The page includes readings for Harvest, suggested hymns linked to the Harvest theme and the readings, and links to Harvest resources available from the Children’s Ministry Network, USPG and Christian Aid, as well as Harvest photographs that parishes and schools can use.
Meanwhile, details of the first in a series of training days for clergy and readers in the diocese have been announced.
The Diocesan Communications Officer, the Revd Michael Cavanagh, Priest-in-Charge of the Kenmare and Dromod Union of Parishes, the Editor of Newslink, Joc Sanders, and Canon Comerford, a former journalist, are facilitating a training day in Killarney on parish communications on Monday 23 October.
The topics for discussion include working with local radio stations, newspapers and the diocesan magazine, how to use social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and websites, in your parish, and producing parish newsletters and hand-outs.
The day begins at 11, is open to all clergy and diocesan and readers in the united diocese, and ends at 3 p.m.
The planned dates and topics for further training days are:
● 20 November, Preparing for Advent and Christmas (Saint Mary’s Rectory, Askeaton).
● 22 January, Preparing for Lent and Easter.
● 12 February, Relating to other faiths (meeting Jews and Muslims in Limerick).
● 12 March, A life of prayer: personal prayer and leading intercessions.
