The Jesus Prayer is simple to say. Learning to pray it with attention, humility, and sobriety is another matter.

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov approaches the prayer not as a technique for producing spiritual experiences, but as a life of repentance centered on the name of Jesus Christ. Drawing upon Scripture and the Orthodox ascetical tradition, he explains how prayer develops from attentive oral invocation toward prayer of the mind and heart, always through grace rather than self-directed force.

In this sustained and practical discourse, readers will learn:

• why attention is essential to prayer
• how repentance and the commandments protect spiritual practice
• the difference between simple invocation and advanced bodily methods
• why imagination, self-confidence, and the pursuit of sensations can lead to spiritual deception
• how watchfulness and remembrance of God shape daily Christian life

Ignatius writes with particular urgency for readers who lack an experienced spiritual guide. His warnings are direct, but so is his encouragement: begin with the prayer itself, keep the mind within its words, return quietly after distraction, and entrust genuine progress to God.

Translated directly from the original Russian, this edition includes explanatory notes, a glossary, and a careful guide for Orthodox readers. These additions clarify historical terminology and pastoral cautions without turning the work into a modern technique manual.

For Orthodox Christians, inquirers, and serious readers seeking a disciplined account of the prayer of the heart, this edition offers both instruction and a necessary call to humility.