Theophan’s Wisdom on Prayer

Theophan the Recluse…is well recognized in Eastern Orthodoxy, specifically the Russian Orthodox tradition. Theophan was a complex and intriguing personality, but today we know him mostly because of his spiritual writings, especially those on prayer. His homilies on prayer, for example, are a treasure of wise and practical teaching. 

I mention him here because I have used a phrase from his teaching for the title of this chapter: “To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the…