Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way [Paperback]

Matthew the Poor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2003

Saints who experience the power of prayer say it gives them wings to fly: wings of elation from being in proximity with Jesus Christ and relief from the burden of a sinful conscience. Once engulfed in the grace of the Holy Spirit, the person in prayer experiences death to sin, resurrection in the Spirit, and mystical ascension to the Father. The visible touches the Invisible, and joy wells up in the human heart. This volume evolved experientially: the fruit of fifty-five years of solitude by a contemporary desert monk besieged by prayer. Father Matta's prayer life initially was formed under the direction of the sayings of the Russian Fathers, and later expanded under the direction of other Fathers, both Eastern and Western. He spent whole nights in prayer, reciting one or two passages from these luminaries and begging these saints to enlighten his understanding. Father Matta discloses: Whenever physical hunger turned cruel against me, I found my gratification in prayer. Whenever the biting cold of winter was unkind to me, I found my warmth in prayer. Whenever people were harsh to me (and their harshness was severe indeed) I found my comfort in prayer. In short, prayer became my food and my drink, my outfit and my armor, whether by night or by day.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Father Matta El-Maskeen (Matthew the Poor) is a monk in the Monastery of St Macarius the Great, Wadi El-Natroun, Egypt.

Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: St Vladimirs Seminary Pr (December 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881412503
• ISBN-13: 978-0881412505
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Orthodoxy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fathers guide to contemplative life, January 3, 2004

By 

Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way (Paperback)

Efficacy of the Interior Way:
St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary Press, took again the narrow way of serious fellowship of the heart, to make available to English readership, "Turning the sayings of the Fathers into Prayer." The abbot of St. Macarius, where the serious vocation of unceasing prayer has been practiced in its original version called the 'Arrow Prayer,' continuously to this moment, released his contemplation on "The Paradise of the fathers," authentic, lived, and loved by all Copts old and young, lay and monastic.

A Real Life of Prayer:
Praying life or life of prayer is what preserved Christian life, Christianity is a way of abundant living given to us by our only teacher and role model, Jesus the Christ. Throughout his ministry, our Lord gave us the example of praying in every occasion, and before all decisions; early (Mark 1:35), all night (Luke 6:12), into a mountain (Mark 6:46), in desert places (Luke 5:16), and exhorted us to pray always and not to loose heart.
The desert fathers took this commandment of earnest fellowship in prayer seriously. Abba Matta own mentor, abbot of St. Samuel the confessor, was an example of continuos prayer life. When he was elected Archbishop of Alexandria, in 1959, Abba Kyrillos set his goal to lead the Copts back into prayer. His own life of prayer invited many gifts of the Holy Spirit, true faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, and was a living example for Christians and Moslems alike, that attracted many to life in Christ.

The story of a Book:
Abba Matta reveals how ecumenical is life in Christ, in book's preface. He contemplated on a manuscript by a British pilgrim, who translated sayings of Russian fathers on prayer, together with other Eastern saints. From the single copy of "The Paradise of the Fathers: Original Coptic Apophthegmata Patrum," read aloud during the meals in the refractory of St. Samuel the Confessor, where he received his monastic schema, and later in the rich library of Our Lady of the Assyrians, in Nitria, where Abba Mena found him refuge from ecclesiastical tyranny, he encountered, St. Issac the Syrian, the spiritual master of his patron, in his personal, hand copied four volumes!

The Book and the Author:
I read this book first time, in its first edition, as a young teen half a century ago, meeting the author, after being assigned Patriarchal Vicar in Alexandria. CCR, Coptic church review, a pioneer patristic quarterly describes the book as;
"The first edition of this book had a great impact on the spiritual life of many Coptic and other Arabic speaking Christians, who found in it for the first time (in Arabic), the wealth of the patristic tradition"
The second enlarged edition, 1968, is my favorite, caries in its preface the unity of Byzantine and Copts when contemplation is concerned, in the words of VR George Khedr, Metropolitan of Lebanon;" For the first time(in centuries), do the Byzantine East seeks discipleship through a Coptic book"

A Brief Exposition:
This book is a condensed version of the second edition of its original language in 670 pages, with a preface, an introduction, and an epilogue on Prayer: Access into the Father's Presence.
In three consecutive parts supported and integrated with sayings of the fathers, each of the 16 chapters has a brief introduction by the enlightened abbot. The book treats in a praying tour the nature, aspects of interior activity, and impediments to prayer.
The sayings are very exhaustive, and their selection reflects the spirit of the desert father that Griffith sought in his comment on D. Burton-Christie's "The word in the desert"

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prayer, An Interior Way of Eternal Life, June 10, 2006

By 

John Philoponus "Ortho Arbiter" (Nitria, Virtual Ortho America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way (Paperback)

"We hear from the saints who experienced prayer power that prayer gives wings to humans lifting them up so they can fly." Matthew the Poor



Prayer Life:
Personal prayer exists right at the center of Christian spirituality, above all else, prayer is a conversation with God. The life of prayer, is the backbone of­ spiritual life,­ the life in Christ. Salvation in the interior Orthodox way, follows metanoia (change of thought; repentance) in spiritual ascension, partaking in divine life, through sanctification and theosis. A life of prayer is a journey of spiritual ascent in a prayerful fellowship of the faithful during his/her pilgrim life.
The desert fathers established the three elements of prayer as; the appeal for divine mercy, frequent prayer, a quest for stillness (inner silence). St. Macarius of Egypt said there is no need to waste time with words. It is enough to hold out your hands and say, "Lord, according to your desire and your wisdom, have mercy." If pressed in the struggle, say, "Lord, save me!" or say, "Lord." He knows what is best for us, and will have mercy upon us. Abba Macarius initiated the 'Arrow prayer: Lord have mercy,' which has developed later, by the Hesychasts, as the Jesus Prayer.
In the ascetic monastic rule of St. Pachomius, father of Coenobitic monasticism, one of the canons requires that a novice has to be taught reading and writing by an elder, to assist him in study of Sacred Scripture, and praying the Psalmody. His disciple, Abba Theodore (Theodorus of Thebes), has described praying life: "Neither in our heart nor in our mouth had we anything other than the word of God alone, and we did not feel that we were living on earth, but celebrating in heaven."

Macarian Praying Tradition:
From St. Macarius Monastery, Fr. Robert Taft, SJ, a renowned Byzantine expert, wrote, 'Monastic life has been lived in lower Egypt without interruption since the first half of the fourth century. They still practice the unceasing prayer; in its original monastic way of the arrow prayer.'
The late abbot of St. Macarius Monastery, where prayer never ceased to be uttered, summarized the Macarian Interior way, the Apophatic Coptic tradition. In three parts, guided by and supported with sayings of the Eastern Church fathers, he takes the reader into the mystical world of prayerful living, first introducing prayer and defining its true nature, delving into beyond prayer. Part Two explores and explains the aspects of its interior activity. The Impediments to Prayer, Book's third part, has no parallel in recent similar writings, explaining through his own mentor's favorite mystic, Abba Isaac the Syrian, the three main epidemics of the life of prayer; Spiritual aridity, Spiritual Languor, and Loss of purpose. He concludes gracefully with 'Fruits of Prayer life,' and his last writing epilogue, 'Access into the father's Presence.
With a brief introduction, for each chapter, that reveals the depth of his own pilgrimage in the Macarian Praying Tradition. The book gives the best studied sayings of the Church Fathers, Eastern and Oriental.

In Memoriam:
Fr. Matthew the poor, who adopted the name of a medieval Coptic Patriarch, a modest wonder worker, was himself short listed for the Patriarchy twice. He is the most celebrated biblical exegete, and a profuse Church writer, in Arabic. He rested in the Lord earlier this week. Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way, was his first book and remains the most influential in Arabic.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the real thing: God waits for us to approach Him through prayer, March 14, 2009

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Orianna "never forget" (Midwest USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way (Paperback)

This is the most profound and life changing book I have encountered in my entire life with the sole exception of the Bible. Anyone with the slightest inclination to explore what prayer can reveal to us should read and cherish this book. It is profound in the extreme, insightful and precise. Matthew the Poor shows us that God is waiting for us and the route to Him is through prayer. The author shows what awaits those who are willing to throw their entire heart and soul into prayer - communion with God in an amazing and intimate way. This is the polar opposite of trite and formulaic approach to the spiritual touted by popular culture, this carries the pedigree of centuries of monastic life in the desert, this is real, this is eternal.