The Power of the Name: The History and the Practices of the Jesus Prayer

The Jesus Prayer penetrates everything, freeing us from all the acculturations of the Gospel, re-creating the basis of unity for all Christians and offering them the only possible anchor for a true ecumenism. The Jesus Prayer heals the alienation and distress of humanity, placing its dependence on God alone, substituting the divine life for the little "self" and the interests it must defend. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). Here the incarnation continues and completes itself. This book has grown out of lived experience and not out of theory. The Jesus Prayer has been the foundation of our lives for over forty years. But we have not taken a solitary path. This work is the fruit of twenty years of sharing with hundreds of people through retreats and sessions at Bethanie, a "place of rebirth" which we founded on the foundation of the Prayer. A community has been established there which seeks the dynamism of the first communities witnessed to in the Acts of the Apostles who "lived in the Name of Jesus." The Jesus Prayer is a way of life, making us true ­disciples of Christ. It is a beacon for the people of God, leading them toward the promised land.