Prayer: what it is

... and its priority

One of the more counterintuitive convictions of classical Christian tradition – one that has been contested in various places and at sundry times – is that “prayer rightly combined with understanding is superior to every virtue and commandment.” [1] If we pause and consider that statement for just a moment, it might strike us as surprising and even provocative. Surely, prayer motivates us to action, seeks “answers” from on high, exists to serve some “greater good,” and isn’t an end in itself. And perhaps there is some truth in all that. Nonetheless, the quotation above accurately expresses something that the ekklesia has always believed. At the outset, however, it must be said that “prayer rightly combined with understanding” is much more significant than simply “saying prayers,” either by rote or extemporaneously. That qualification should be taken seriously, and it demands to be parsed. The quotation itself comes from the fifty homilies attributed to St. Makarios (Macarius) of Egypt, whose life spanned the fourth century, as they were paraphrased by (probably) St. Symeon Metaphrastis (“Metaphrastis” means “the Translator”) in the eleventh century. In this latter form, it was included in The Philokalia. The assertion, almost offhandedly but straightforwardly, makes prayer the supreme pursuit of the disciple of Christ. Essentially, it might even be inferred that prayer – rightly combined with understanding – comprises discipleship itself. One is reminded of the bold statement of Evagrios (Evagrius) of Pontus, which builds on and might even be said to interpret Jesus’ call to follow him: “‘Go and sell all you have and give to the poor’ (Matt. 19:21); and ‘deny yourself, take up your cross’ (Matt. 16:24). You will then be free from distraction when you pray.” [2] There is, Evagrios is saying, an implicit link between salvation and prayer, and our actions (both charitable and ascetical) contribute to the purity of our prayer rather than the other way around. What, then, we are warranted in asking, is the intrinsic nature of prayer, as presented within the entire spiritual tradition that comes to us from the earliest source (as we will see), that makes it “superior to every virtue and commandment”?