The Way of a Pilgrim
or, A Humble Pilgrim Finds the Gift of Noetic Prayer
The Way of a Pilgrim is a breath of fresh air for those looking for practical advice on prayer. This goes double if you have ever asked the question, ‘How do I pray without ceasing?’
How can one be constantly in prayer? I have to work, I have to drive, I have to talk to people. Am I to be praying at all times during these everyday interactions?
I recently finished reading The Way of the Ascetics, which was a tour de force on practical advice for living a Christian life. The book has four chapters titled, ‘On Prayer,’ and one of the chapters specifically goes over ‘prayer without ceasing,’:
“From the foregoing we understand that by prayer the holy Fathers are not referring to the occasional prayer, morning and evening devotions and grace at meals, but for them prayer is synonymous with unceasing prayer, the life of prayer. Pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17) is to be taken as a literal command. (Colliander 59)1.
Indeed, the Holy Fathers command us to pray without ceasing. It sounds impossible at first, even crazy, but once you being to experience the effects, that is, communion with God, you’ll want to pray more and more.
“Understood in this way, prayer is the science of scientists and the art of artists. The artist works in clay or colours, in word or tones; according to his ability he gives them pregnancy and beauty. The working material of the praying person is living humanity. By his prayer he shapes it, gives it pregnancy and beauty: first himself and thereby many others.” (Colliander 59).
“…the man of prayer presses through to the Creator of created things.” (Colliander 60)
As it turns out, The Way of a Pilgrim begins the same exact way I began my google search - with a simple question:
“…I began to wonder how one could pray unceasingly, since each man must occupy himself with other matters as well, in order to make a living. I checked in the Bible and read with my own eyes that which I had already heard: namely, that one should “pray without ceasing,” “pray at all times in the Spirit” [Eph. 6:18], and “in all places pray with uplifted hands” [1 Tim. 2:8]. I thought about this for some time but was unable to understand it…” (Savin 12)2
Side note: One of the things I gave up for Lent was buying stuff online, specifically Amazon being a hard no. Therefore, I couldn’t buy this book on Amazon however, I did find a free pdf which you can access here. Also, I did not read the second book, The Pilgrim Continues His Way.
The Simplicity of the Pilgrim
Reading a couple of reviews, I noticed a lot of people seemed to overlook the simplicity of the Pilgrim’s life and focus solely on The Jesus Prayer. The pilgrim in the story is not really a monk, he’s a homeless vagrant roaming around somewhere in Russia, looking for deeper meaning:
BY THE GRACE OF GOD I am a Christian man, by my own actions a great sinner, and by calling a homeless wanderer of the humblest origins, roaming from place to place. My worldly belongings consist of a knapsack on my back, containing some dried bread, and a Holy Bible in my breast pocket. That is all. (Savin 12)
I found this to be particularly inspiring, especially during my time of Lent. When I returned to the faith, I found myself in a bit of an internet Orthodox sales funnel. I don’t mean any disrespect by this statement, nor do I think that you shouldn’t buy these things but…
It just seemed like I always needed something more to enhance my spiritual life and improve my relationship with God: prayer rope, cross necklace, icons, books, icons, books, prayer books, missals, a flag of Christ (ok, it’s awesome), more books, prayer bracelet, book club subscription (hehe), etc.
Of course, this is my own thinking, nobody was forcing me to buy anything. Yet if something came up that seemed interesting, I added to cart and bought it. In the case of Amazon, I just pressed ‘buy now.’
Through the first weeks of Lent alone, and reading this book, I’ve come to realize that not much is needed to have a relationship with Christ. If you can pray, read a bible and go to Church, you are in a good place to begin.
And it was the simplicity of the pilgrim’s life that led me to this conclusion. Of course, he ended up reading the Philokia as well but, more on that later.
The Simplicity of the Jesus Prayer
Eventually the pilgrim meets a starets, which, if you don’t know what that is (I did not know), I will save you the google search with this photo:
The starets quickly became the pilgrim’s spiritual father and taught him everything he would know about The Jesus Prayer through both his experience and through specific readings, i.e The Philokia:
“The unceasing interior Jesus Prayer is the uninterrupted, continual calling upon the divine name of Jesus Christ, with the lips, the mind, and the heart, while calling to mind His constant presence and beseeching His mercy, during any activity one may be occupied with, in all places, at all times, and even while sleeping. The words of this prayer are as follows: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!’ If one makes a habit of this supplication, one will experience great comfort and a need to repeat this prayer unceasingly, so that eventually one will not be able to live without it and the prayer will flow of its own accord. (Savin 19)
Not only that, but he teaches the pilgrim how to say the prayer as well:
“Now listen, I will read to you about how to learn unceasing interior prayer.” The starets opened the Philokalia, selected a passage from Saint Simeon the New Theologian, and began to read: “‘Find a quiet place to sit alone and in silence; bow your head and shut your eyes. Breathe softly, look with your mind into your heart; recollect your mind—that is, all its thoughts—and bring them down from your mind into your heart. As you breathe, repeat: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”—either quietly with your lips, or only in your mind. Strive to banish all thoughts; be calm and patient, and repeat this exercise frequently.’” (Savin 20)
Compared to the prayers I’ve been reading every morning and every night from the Jordanville Prayer book, the Jesus Prayer was particularly simple. In fact, after one time saying the prayer, you’ll have it remember whereas I still do not have any of the prayers from the book memorized with one exception, the Publican prayer (ironically, it is almost identical to the Jesus Prayer). But back to the book.
The Importance of a Spiritual Father
The starets then gives the Pilgrim a chotki (prayer rope), tells him to start saying the Jesus Prayer 3,000 times per day without fail, and sends him on his way.
“So this is what the holy Fathers prescribe in such cases,” said the starets. “Therefore, you must accept this teaching now with complete trust and repeat the Jesus Prayer as often as possible. Take this chotki* and use it while you repeat the prayer, at least three thousand times a day to begin with. Whether you are standing, sitting, walking, or lying down, continue to repeat: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!’ Do not be loud or rush the prayer, but without fail repeat it three thousand times each day, neither increasing nor decreasing this number on your own. Through this exercise God will help you to attain to the unceasing prayer of the heart.” (Savin 21)
3,000 times per day is quite a lot. The pilgrim in the story is actually quite advanced in his faith despite being a homeless bum. It’s important for me to reiterate to anyone who may be inspired by reading this article that the pilgrim is doing this under the guidance of a spiritual father:
“When we were parting, the starets blessed me and said that while learning the prayer, I should come to see him and reveal and confess all to him honestly and openly, for it is difficult and futile to live an inner spiritual life properly, without the guidance of a spiritual director.” (Savin 20)
Following the guidance of both this book, and the Holy Fathers, I, myself, have started saying the Jesus Prayer. My experience has been positive so far but I know not to trust myself, my emotions and any ‘experiences’ so I’ll leave it at that.
However, saying the prayer has encourage me to deepen my faith and to seek out a spiritual father. I find myself eager to go to Church tomorrow, eager to confess (relatively speaking) and eager to participate more in the faith. Don’t worry, I’ll start by just asking my priest about things, lol.
On the bright side, the prayer rope and the prayer bracelet I purchased are no longer just ornaments in my office but tools that bring me closer to God.
…There were days when I covered forty-seven miles or more, and I didn’t even feel the effort of walking. The prayer alone filled my consciousness. When it was bitterly cold, I would pray more fervently, and soon I’d feel warm all over. If hunger threatened to overcome me, I would call upon the name of Jesus Christ with renewed vigor, and soon my hunger was forgotten. If I felt ill and pain racked my back and legs, I would give myself over to the prayer and soon was deaf to the pain. If someone offended me, I needed only to remember the sweetness of the Jesus Prayer, and all hurt and anger vanished, all was forgotten. It was as if I’d become a half-wit, for I had no cares about anything, nothing interested me. I cared not for the vain concerns of this world and longed only for solitude. I was now used to desiring only one thing: to pray unceasingly, for that filled me with joy. God alone knows what was happening to me! Yet of course, all these feelings were sensual, or, as my late starets would say, a natural consequence of habit. (Salin 26)
Unfortunately, I read this book so fast that I didn’t take any notes. It was in PDF format and I read it while at the office. I found it so easy to read that it basically beckoned or begged me to keep reading.
The pilgrim goes on for days, months and maybe even years on his quest. He gets assaulted multiple times, attacked by a wolf, robbed, etc. but ends up seeing everything as a gift from God. When you are always in prayer, I’d imagine, it is hard to see otherwise.
The pilgrim also meets tons of people on his quest. Some good, some bad but each brings a different lesson to the story. Some are sinners that returned to God, others are doubters who don’t believe a thing the pilgrim says. He has no ill will towards anyone and only wants to spread his love for Christ.
On trials:
A rod had taught the boy to pray and it even served as a means of acquiring consolation! Could it not be that the very grief and sufferings that we encounter on the path of prayer are, in fact, God's own 'rod"? If so, why is it that we are so afraid and distraught when these are sent our way by the very hand of our Heavenly Father, Who is filled with such boundless love, and when these 'rods' teach us to be more attentive to our prayer inexpressible consolation?" (Savin 107)
On distractions during prayer:
“Even my late starets of blessed memory would tell me that obstacles to the prayer of the heart come from two sources: from the left and from the right. This means that if the enemy fails to prevent us from praying, through vain thoughts and sinful imaginings, then he stirs within us memories of all sorts or edifying things, or he entices us with pleasant thoughts-anything at all-just to lure us away from prayer.” (Savin 73)
Hell on Earth (guilt over sins):
“They all continuously reproached me, robbing me of all my peace until I could no longer sleep or eat or do anything at all. I became so utterly exhausted that my skin stuck to my very bones. No matter what cures they attempted, not even the most experienced doctors could help me. I went abroad to try new cures, but after six months my condition had not improved in the least. The tormenting apparitions mercilessly grew worse and worse, and I was brought home barely alive. Indeed, my soul experienced the fullest measure of the torments of hell, before it had even left my body. It was then that I was convinced of the existence of hell and what it is really like. In this tormented state l acknowledged my sins.” (Savin 85)
On good judgment or stupidity:
“The fact is that we are far removed from our own real self, and we have little desire to confront that self. Instead, we run from any encounter with our real self, choosing aimless trifles over the truth. Then we try to convince ourselves that we'd be more than glad to live the spiritual life and take up praying, but there's never enough time for it, because all the cares and worries of our lives take up all our time. And yet, what is more important: the redemptive eternal life of the soul, or the short-lived life of the body, which we spend so much time attending to? It is this, which I spoke of, that leads people either to good judgment or to stupidity.” (Savin 84)
If you are interested in learning more about the Jesus Prayer then The Way of a Pilgrim is a must read. Indeed, I’m going to read it again, and again, and again. Because of this book, I simplified my life as well with the soul aim of being a better Christian.
Buy the book: The Way of a Pilgrim
Free version: The Way of a Pilgrim
PS - To anyone who read this book, especially as fast as I did, you probably have some more questions. For further reading, I suggest these articles: Prayer of the Heart for the Faithful Living in the World, Practicing the Jesus Prayer, and Concerning the Jesus Prayer. As always, consult with your priest!
Tito Colliander, et al. Way of the Ascetics : The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth. Crestwood, Ny St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003.
Savin, Olga. The Way of a Pilgrim. Boulder, Shambhala, 2019.