Prayer as Infinite Creation
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Prayer, as Saint Sophrony said, is ‘infinite creation’ because it opens before man infinite paths to eternity. It abolishes the power of the spirit of evil, which is a spirit of destruction and ruin, and attracts the Presence of the creative Holy Spirit. The Paraclete Spirit endlessly enlarges the heart of man. He renders it into a place of charismatic divine Presence and a temple made without hands, where supplication and intercession are offered for the whole world. The hidden energy of prayer is nothing other than the natural momentum that God placed in the soul when He created man in His image and likeness. This momentum is the almighty attraction of all things to the Lord of glory being lifted up on the Cross. It grants the energy that refashions the soul by the grace of repentance. Prayer then becomes a continuous summoning of the world back to the ontological level of divine eternity.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
Prayer, a Supernatural Endeavour
COMMENTARY ON THE WRITINGS
OF SAINT SILOUAN AND SAINT SOPHRONY
Whosoever Loves God Prays to Him
Spiritual Perfection by the Grace of Prayer
Prayer: co-working with God to become like unto Him
The holy joy of prayer
The diapason of divine love
The prophetic earthquake in prayer
Running to apprehend the One Who has apprehended us
The man of prayer and his spiritual constitution
The transformer of love
The word of God − well-spring of inspiration
God’s bounty is incomparable with the devices of men
Pure prayer
The wings of prayer
Prayer, the converse and union of God and man
Aributes of prayer
Wavering in the struggle for perfection
Prayer and the environment, visible and invisible
Healing and Unifying our Nature in Fervent Prayer
Revealing the division of our spirit
Repentance and regeneration
Surrender to the gift of God
Christ, a model for imitation in every situation
The ‘right’ of self-love, the beginning of death
Self-reproach, the beginning of the Lord’s way
Hypostatic prayer for the whole world
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep
The present: the precious time of salvation
The supernatural and paradoxical life of the man of God
The vision of God deadens and quickens to life
The creation of the sons of God
For many are called, and few are chosen
The faithfulness of God’s friends
The narrow road
The commandments are hard because God has a great purpose for us
Gratitude for the spiritual instruction of our Fathers
Repentance for a lapse in spiritual vision
With true repentance even a fall can become an occasion for greater grace and stability
In the deep heart, man possesses his nature
Prayer, the Wealth of Spiritual Life
Foundations of prayer
The chastisement of God as the shame of prayer
Prayer as a ‘rod and staf’ on the path of the Cross
Prayer as a training for eternity
The knowledge of God through prayer and love
The breadth of the love and knowledge of Christ
BASIC ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES
Man, the Author of his Likeness to Christ
The Fiftieth Psalm: A Cry of Repentance
The Jesus Prayer
Epilogue: ‘God is with us’
INDEX OF SCRIPTUAL REFERENCES
What Readers Say
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All that unfolds in the world testifies to its falsehood; it shows the absence of God, but also the hell in this absence. Each person must judge and choose. If a man has a little spiritual wisdom, he will turn to God in a frenzy, without knowing rest. And perhaps through this uprush of desire for the Lord, he will even overtake those who for years have sluggishly trodden the path that leads to Him. Only this madness of love for God can overcome the world that has already gone astray and heal man from paralysis and the pestilence of despondency.
The more one rubs against the divine energy, the more the veil of the heart is removed. When this energy accumulates, the veil is completely lifted, the deep heart opens and the mind of man finds the place wherein its awesome presentation is performed. The visible world retreats, and the higher spiritual world becomes a tangible reality. The mind ceases to reason and becomes still in extreme attention. The heart is filled with a life-giving reverential fear. The breath contracts and God becomes ‘all in all’.
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About the Author
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou
Father Zacharias studied theology at the Orthodox Theological Institute of Saint Sergius in Paris and at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has translated all the writings of Saint Silouan and Father Sophrony from the original Russian into Greek and he presents their rich theology to the Orthodox world by writing books and articles and taking part in conferences. Moreover, he serves as a spiritual Father and minister of the word of God to his brethren and the people that come to him. Read more…
Emorfia Ryan (verified owner) –
Spiritually edifying books.
The book – Prayer As Infinite Creation is for all who yearn a better understanding of how we work in synergy with God through prayer – His gift to His creation.
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou narrative is a beautiful and comprehensive.
Pages 18 – 19 of the book outline this mystical spiritual union and transformation between God, our creator and His creation.
The blurb on the back of the book is very succinct in expressing the key components of this life giving transformation.
” The more one rubs against the divine energy, the more the veil of the heart is removed. When this energy accumulates, the veil is completely lifted, the deep heart opens and the mind of man finds the place wherein its awesome presentation is performed. The visible world retreats, and the higher spiritual world becomes a tangible reality. The mind ceases to reason and becomes still in extreme attention. The heart is filled with a life-giving reverential fear. The breath contracts and God becomes ‘all in all’.
I am reminded of psalm 46, verse10
” Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Nkjv
Costa Neokleous (verified owner) –
This book is the ultimate in prayer- an eye opener for all Orthodox Christians! We had it for our spiritual book club – we planned for 3 sessions but landed up reading it for 6 sessions! A book full of God’s wisdom to put into daily life! Bless Arch Zacharias!
John Alahouzos (verified owner) –
I thank Father Nephon for introducing me to “Prayer as Infinite Creation.” A great blessing. I have been enlightened and inspired by each page.
Max (verified owner) –
One of the best books I have read
Erin Maria (verified owner) –
‘Prayer as Infinite Creation’ is a beautiful treatise on living life as a continual prayer. Prayer leads one to the innermost chambers of the soul to stand achingly before God, dying daily, indeed hourly, for love of God. It is the crucible of salvation, the glowing charcoal in the depths of the heart, and the longing to give all for all. The beauty and depth of the theology of Saint Silouan as distilled by Saint Sophrony and accessibly rendered by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou could never be overstated. Each succeeding generation brings forth a more generous truth for all who wish to draw near. May God bless us to drink deeply of these words and learn to live them fully in our daily conscious striving to know Him, for prayer that bears fruit can not be a part time effort, but a way of life and constant state of being.
Tony Antoniou (verified owner) –
Excellent, well written and extremely spiritually inspirational the sort of book that you can read again and again
Anna Sen –
I haven’t read the book yet ! But the above reviews excite me …. to buy and read . 5 stars for the reviews guys!!
Anna Sen (verified owner) –
I am reading the book now.
It is awesome!
It touches the deepest part of me …. and as I read every page I see depths of being that are so inspiring.
While I’m doing housework …. I snatch pockets of time and read it ….. it’s a magnet!!
I don’t know how to express it; I simply LOVE it !
Thank you .
Bless you all!
Nicholas Menicou (verified owner) –
Excellent book , a very edifying and spiritual book. Thank you very much Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou for such a special book. May God always inspire you to guide us.
Gaby (verified owner) –
Father Zacharias’s book is a wonderful door opening the understanding of prayer in the teachings of Saints Silouan and Sophrony. This book is a great balm for an aching heart. It gives hope that the Lord can heal the passions and cleanse the heart, even when this seems impossible, because nothing is impossible with God’s help. Thank you for this wonderful book!
“Prayer comes with praying. A door of great prayer will be opened to each person who prepares for it in prayer…Unceasing prayer is a necessary condition for man not to sin, for him to be able to love God and his neighbour, for him to be invested with the unassailable strength of humility and for him to be able to stand steadfast before God.” (pages 50-51)
“The agonising battle lasts as long as man wrestles with sins and passions. But when it is God’s goodwill to cleanse him and heal his infirmity, the wound in his chest is transformed into a luminous charismatic inner sensitivity… The eyes of his heart are now clear and turned to his fellows… He desires and prays for every man to acquire the good portion which he now has received.” (page 126)
“The more the Christian is filled with humility and the desire to give thanks, the greater will be the blessing he receives during his presentation in prayer, the deeper will be his joy and gladness of spirit, and the more abundantly will God’s grace pour out upon him.” (page 236)
“When sins are confessed, the good God forgives immediately. But if man is content with that and loses his humble spirit, ‘his last state is worse than the first’, for ‘God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble’” (page 248)
“In his usual state, fallen man is divided. He thinks something with the intellect, and his heart desires something else, and his senses are attracted to something else…. Through the invocation of the Name, it also happens that the Light that flows from the Name begins to reveal the ‘hideous face’ that man bear within him. Despair envelops him as he discerns the bottomless abyss of perdition that separates him from the holy God, and he has no other way out but to invoke the Name of ‘the only one who is able to save him from eternal death’.” (page 269)
Jean-Loup Goulais (verified owner) –
Je commence la lecture, et je dois dire que dès les premières pages je m’imprègne des enseignements de père Zacharias. J’aimerais que tous ses livres soient traduits en Français. Je considère les livres de père Zacharias comme des enseignements vivants et actuels, pratiques et qui touchent au coeur. Indispensables pour tout chrétien, particulièrement Orthodoxes. J’ai une reconnaissance infinie pour les pères Zacharias et Peter et pour tout le monastère, où j’étais présent début septembre. Gloire à Dieu pour ses et ces dons.