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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion pp 1–3Cite as

The Jesus Prayer

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The Jesus prayer (or the prayer of the Heart and Mind) is a short prayer used mainly in the Eastern Christian Tradition for the purpose of achieving deification and, thus, salvation. This prayer involves the constant repetition of the divine name of Jesus Christ and its most common form consists of seven words: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” The basic idea is that by continuously repeating this small phrase one is able to achieve the stage of unceasing prayer, as suggested by Saint Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. This process works miracles, according to the teachings of Hesychasm, which is a mystical tradition found within the realms of the Orthodox Church, because of invocation of the Holy Name of Jesus Christ that has the power to fight demons and to spiritually cleanse the practitioner (Mathewes-Green 2009). The practice Jesus Prayer is said to consist of five stages: Firstly it is said out loud. Secondly, after some period of time, the practitioner can repeat the prayer...

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Bibliography

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Theology, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Georgios N. Maragkoudakis

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  1. Georgios N. Maragkoudakis
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Correspondence to Georgios N. Maragkoudakis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rhinebeck, NY, USA

    David A. Leeming

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Maragkoudakis, G.N. (2019). The Jesus Prayer. In: Leeming, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200224-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200224-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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