What are the effects of prayer?

First: The soul is inflamed with the love of God . St. Basil the Great says, “Prayers, too, following reading, take hold upon a fresher and more vigorous soul already stirred to a longing for God. And prayer which imprints in the soul a clear conception of God is an excellent thing. This abiding of God in our memory is the indwelling of God. Thus we become in a special manner the temples of God when earthly thoughts cease to interrupt our continual remembrance of Him.”⁵⁴

51 St. Augustine of Hippo, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 81.4 (NPNF I/7:346) amended.

52 St. John Cassian, The Conferences 9.34 (NPNF II/11:399).

53 Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies , trans., Dom David Hurst (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1990) 27: pp. 216–217.

54 St. Basil of Caesarea, Letters 1–185 2.4 (FOTC 13:9).

Tertullian says, “Prayer is alone that which vanquishes God [cf. Gen. 32:22–30; Matt. 11:12]. But Christ has willed that it be operative for no evil: He had conferred on it all its virtue in the cause of good. And so it knows nothing save how to recall the souls of the departed from the very path of death, to transform the weak, to restore the sick, to purge the possessed, to open prison-bars, to loose the bonds of the innocent. Likewise it washes away faults, repels temptations, extinguishes persecutions, consoles the faint-spirited, cheers the high-spirited, escorts travelers, appeases waves, makes robbers stand aghast, nourishes the poor, governs the rich, upraises the fallen, arrests the falling, confirms the standing. Prayer is the wall of faith: her arms and missiles against the foe who keeps watch over us on all sides. And, so never walk we unarmed. By day, be we mindful of Station; by night, of vigil. Under the arms of prayer guard we the standard of our General; await we in prayer the angel’s trump … What more then, touching the office of prayer? Even the Lord Himself prayed; to whom be honour and virtue unto the ages of the ages!”⁵⁵

St. Hesychius of Jerusalem says, “‘Oh, that I my request may be fulfilled before the Lord.’ Should my prayers ascend on high, my enemies would perish, and the righteous person would stand firm (Wisd. of Sol. 5:1); the net would be broken, and the bird would be liberated and fly freely (Ps. 124:7); the oppressors would bow their heads, and the oppressed would rejoice (Matt. 5:10–12).”

Second : Prayer propagates the spirit of inner joy. St. Cyril the Great says, “For it is, I affirm, the duty of those who set apart their lives for His service, not to be sluggish in their prayers, nor again to consider it as a hard and laborious duty: but rather to rejoice, because of the freedom of access granted them by God; for He would have us converse with Him as sons with a father. Is not this then a privilege worthy of being valued by us most highly? For suppose that some one of those possessed of great earthly power were easy of access to us, and were to permit us to converse with him with full license, should we not consider it as a reason for extraordinary rejoicing? What possible doubt can there be of this? When therefore God permits us each one to offer our addresses unto Him for whatever we wish, and has set before those who fear Him an honor so truly great and worthy of their gaining, let all slothfulness cease that would lead men to an injurious silence therein; and rather let us draw near with praises, and rejoicing that we have been commanded to converse with the Lord and God of all, having Christ as our Mediator, who with God the Father grants us the accomplishment of our supplications. For the blessed Paul somewhere writes, ‘Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 1:2). And He somewhere Himself said to the holy apostles, ‘Hitherto you have asked nothing in My Name: ask, and it shall be given unto you’ (John 16:24). For He is our Mediator, our Propitiation, our Comforter, and the Bestower of every request.”⁵⁶

55 Tertullian, On Prayer 29 (ANF 3:691).

56 St. Cyril of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel According to St. Luke: Part II , trans. R. Payne Smith (Oxford University Press, 1859) 119: pp. 551–552 amended.

St. Nilus of Sinai says, “Prayer is a remedy against grief and depression.”⁵⁷ “Do not grieve if you do not at once receive from God that which you ask. He wishes to benefit you still more by making you persist longer in your patient prayer before Him. For what can be higher than to address one’s converse to God and be in communion with Him?”⁵⁸

St. Hesychius of Jerusalem says, “If you offer your prayers with a pure and blameless heart on behalf of any inappropriate act, and if you offer groanings for yourself before Him, you will encounter God. Instead of sorrow, you will have joy; instead of misfortunes, you will receive blessings; and the expressions on your face will be bright, like pure water … You will no longer fear other defects, for God will cast them away from you. You will find rest from your troubles and thanksgiving for the calmness which will overshadow you. You shall not fear temptations, for you will be like one who found rest in a safe harbor; you will fear no billows, for the sea is not able to harm you.”

Third : By prayer, the divine commandments are fulfilled. St. John of Dalyatha says, “Our Lord said to Simon, chief of the Apostles: I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven , that you may close and open to all whom you wish (Matt. 16:19) … [prayer] wears itself out giving rest to the weary and when they have been refreshed sees that they not become weary again.”⁵⁹

“Sanctify your bed by the descent of the Spirit over you and the fragrance of your members will be wafted like perfume.”⁶⁰

“Through prayer, the mind is mingled with God. Through prayer, one can open the treasures of God and divide His spoils. Through prayer, one is made worthy of the vision of of God, of entering within the clouds of the light of His greatness in the country of the spiritual beings. Through prayer, a person becomes the dwelling of God. Through prayer, the soul is united with Christ, and beholds the radiance of His great glory. Through prayer, the fire of Christ’s love is kindled in the soul and the heart burns with desire for God; this desire that burns away every lustful desire of one’s members. Through prayer, the soul exults in love and goes beyond her rank, and the world is cast out from her heart.”⁶¹

Fourth : Prayer expels foolish ideas from our thoughts. The biography of Amma Syncletica of Alexandria, the disciple of St. Athanasius, says, “Therefore we must clean our house continuously and look around, lest any of the soul-destroying insects might penetrate into the treasuries of the soul; make holy through sacrificial fire the places with the divine

57 Ward, Benedicta. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection , trans., Benedicta Ward (Liturgical Press, 1984) Nilus 3: p. 153.

58 Nilus of Sinai, “153 Texts on Prayer” in Early Fathers from the Philokalia , trans., E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer (Faber and Faber Ltd., 1954) 34: p. 132.

59 St. John of Dalyatha, The Letters of John of Dalyatha , trans., Mary T. Hansbury (Gorgias Press, 2006) 12.2, 12.1: p. 54.

60 St. John of Dalyatha, The Letters of John of Dalyatha , trans., Mary T. Hansbury (Gorgias Press, 2006) 13.2: p. 64.

61 Fr. Paphnutius el-Souriany (Arabic), pp. 35–36.

incense of prayer. For just as one casts out the poisonous animals with the more piercing quality of medicine, just so prayer with fasting chases away foul thought.”⁶²