#MastersofSocialIsolation #13. “The Way of a Pilgrim,” published in Moscow in 1884, recounts the experience of an anonymous pilgrim of peasant origins who undertook a fantastic journey in the midnineteenth century, traversing the whole of Russia and Siberia on foot.
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Seeking from a monk the meaning of St Paul’s instruction to “pray without ceasing” he learned of the ancient Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.” He began to recite this mantra 3000 a day—which required considerable effort.
Mar 29, 2020 · 11:21 AM UTC
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Within weeks the pilgrim had increased the observance to 6K, then 12k times a day. Soon, he wrote, “my whole desire was fixed upon one thing only—to say the Prayer of Jesus. As soon as I went on with it I was filled with joy and relief...I lived as though in a different world.”
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The prayer became his constant companion as he continued on his solitary way. Eventually the prayer had passed from his lips to his heart. He found that he had no further need to repeat the words; they coincided with the rhythm of his own breathing and the beating of his heart.
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Despite his hardships, the pilgrim discovered that through his unceasing “prayer of the heart” he was enabled to see the world by the light of the transfiguration. Not only was he happiest person on earth, “but the whole outside world also seemed to me full of charm and delight.”
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