Elder Arsenie Papacioc: What is Prayer?

Prayer is our life.

Question:

What is prayer?

Elder Arsenie:

Prayer is everything. Prayer is your heart in God’s heart. You need an education in your prayer life to keep your heart present before God, regardless of what you do. Prayer is deep silence, a state that is beyond our human imagination. It is a state of talking to God, but not with human words. Prayer is necessary. Prayer is our life.

Question:

Can someone acquire prayer without a spiritual father?

Elder Arsenie:

Absolutely. When I was a child, I would see a sheep kicking before it went to sleep, and I would ask my mother: why is the sheep kicking? My mother would say that the sheep is praying and worshipping God. And then I told myself, why shouldn’t I pray and worship God?

God made us only for Him. He had to endow us with something that allows us to connect to Him. Prayer doesn’t mean only talking; prayer is something permanent, just as my name is the same regardless of where I am, on the street or in a forest. Of course, those who persist in prayer go deeper into it. Because, like I told you before, there is a thorn inside us, and we need to take it out, and the only way is with God’s help; this is the only instrument.

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