Abstinence must have higher aims; therefore it is sustained by prayer. Yet prayer itself is sustained by sobriety of mind, lightness, and purity of consciousness, which abstinence grants us.
“With fasting, prayer must always be joined,” says St. John Chrysostom. They are as though bound together—prayer and fasting. External limitations, as it were, set the soul free; it longs to speak, it seeks spiritual activity. Through fasting, a prayerful disposition—the desire to pray more often and more earnestly—urges us toward converse with God.
Observe the people standing in church. During fasting seasons there are noticeably more at prayer. Some stop in at the evening services on their way home, almost in passing. One desires at least a quarter of an hour to remain in the church.
But there is another relationship as well. St. Macarius of Egypt says, “He who practices abstinence without prayer—how shall he stand without its help?” Indeed, one who fasts without prayer inevitably falls into irritability. In families where not all members are inclined toward the spiritual life, it is precisely during the fast that quarrels and discontent often arise.
Fr. Alexander Elchaninov writes: “Fasting strengthens the spirit in a man. In fasting a man goes out to meet Angels and demons.” During the fast the boundary between the visible and the invisible, between the bodily and the spiritual worlds, grows more subtle. A person becomes more open to spiritual influence. But the spiritual world consists not only of angels and the souls of the saints—it includes demons as well. Therefore frequent confession, Communion, and prayer are especially necessary during the fast.
The meaning of fasting lies in the purification of the body and the purification of the heart. And this is possible only when fasting is united with repentance and prayer.
—Priest Sergiy Nikolaev, “The Joyful Time of the Fast”
On Prayer
Prayer, in its essence, is the abiding and union of man with God; in its action, it is the support of the world, reconciliation with God, the mother and at the same time the daughter of tears, propitiation for sins, a bridge over temptations, a wall against afflictions, the breaking of battles, the work of Angels, the nourishment of all the bodiless powers, future gladness, unending activity, the source of virtues, the cause of gifts, invisible progress, food of the soul, illumination of the mind, an axe against despair, the manifestation of hope, the destruction of sorrow, the wealth of monks, the treasure of the hesychasts, the subduing of anger, the mirror of spiritual growth, the knowledge of advancement, the revelation of the soul’s condition, the herald of future reward, the sign of glory. Prayer, for him who truly prays, is judgment, tribunal, and the throne of the Judge before the dread Judgment.
Let us arise and hear how this sacred queen of virtues cries aloud to us and says, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you… and ye shall find rest unto your souls… for My yoke is easy, and it heals even great sins (cf. Matt. 11:28–30).
We who are about to stand before the King and God, to converse with Him, must not set out upon this path unprepared, lest He, seeing us from afar without the weapons and garments proper to those who stand before a king, command His servants to bind us and cast us far from His face, tearing up our petitions and throwing them back at us.
When you go to stand before the Lord, let the whole garment of your soul be woven of threads, or rather of pledges, of freedom from resentment. If it is not so, you will gain no profit from prayer.
Let the whole fabric of your prayer be simple and without many words; for the publican and the prodigal son won God’s mercy by a single utterance.
—St. John Climacus
“How shall we incline the Lord to mercy?” asks St. John Chrysostom, and answers, “Thus: Let us plant prayer in our heart, and to it add humility and meekness.”
Prayer that proceeds from a pure heart is especially precious to God. God desires precisely our heart. My son, give me thine heart, He cries to man (Prov. 23:26). “That prayer is quickly heard,” writes St. John Chrysostom, “which proceeds from a good heart.”
On Prayer
The chief of the virtues is prayer, and their foundation is fasting. If we sow the seeds of prayer without refining the flesh, then instead of righteousness we will bring forth fruits of sin… If the body is refined by fasting but the soul is not cultivated by prayer, reading, and humble-mindedness, then fasting becomes the father of much chaff—passions of the soul: high-mindedness, vainglory, contempt. If you are busy with social obligations—or if you are a monk, with obediences—and you don’t have the opportunity to give as much time to prayer as you would like, do not be troubled by this… Nothing is more conducive to progress in prayer than a conscience content with God-pleasing activity.
Mercy towards your neighbors and humility before them, together with purity of heart… make up the foundation and power of prayer.
O ye who desire to take up the labor of prayer! Before beginning this work, first of all strive to forgive everyone… who has caused you any kind of evil.
The initial preparation (for prayer) consists in renouncing remembrance of wrongs and condemnation of your neighbors.
When intending to bring prayer to God, turn away all earthly thoughts and cares.
Prayer should be performed with faith, and it should be founded upon guilelessness.
Before praying, cense your heart with the fragrant incense of the fear of God and holy good will… strive to placate the Judge with humility.
The enemy… tries to shake the very foundation of the labor of prayer—guilelessness and meekness.
Preparation for prayer is aided by: an unsatiated belly, cutting off of vain cares by the sword of faith, forgiveness of all offenses with sincerity of heart, gratefulness to God for all sorrowful things in life, banishment from yourself of distraction and daydreaming, and reverent fear. Outward reverent standing in prayer is quite necessary and profitable for anyone who is laboring in prayer, especially for beginners, in which the disposition of soul most corresponds to the position of the body.
Nothing so aids prayer as obedience, which mortifies us to the world and to ourselves.
The awareness of our sinfulness, the awareness of our infirmity and our insignificance is a necessary condition in order that prayer be mercifully accepted and heard by God. In order for prayer to be right, it needs to be pronounced from the heart filled with poverty of spirit, from a heart contrite and humbled. Stand in your prayer as you would stand before God Himself.
From: Readings For Every Day of Great Lent, Ed. N. Shaposhnikova (Moscow: Danilov Monastery, 2025).
