Pray gently and calmly, sing with understanding and rhythm; then you will soar like a young eagle high in the heavens. Psalmody calms the passions and curbs the uncontrolled impulses in the body; and prayer enables the [nous] to activate its own energy.
External works are not effective without inner work – Sts Barsanuphius and John
Unless a man is assisted by inner work according to the will of God, he labours in vain at what is external.
Work at prayer, to clear your mind for Christ – St John of Karpathos
Much labour and time is needed in prayer, in order painfully to achieve a state of mind free from all disturbance — that new heaven of the heart in which Christ dwells, as the Apostle says: ‘Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ dwells in you?’ (2 Cor. 13:5)
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