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The Jesus Prayer ((ギリシア語:Η Προσευχή του Ιησού), ''i prosefchí tou iisoú''; , ''Slotho d-Yeshu' '') or "The Prayer" ((ギリシア語:Η Ευχή), ''i efchí̱'' literally "The Wish") is a short, formulaic prayer esteemed and advocated especially within Eastern Churches: (English) (Greek) (Hebrew) (Zulu) (Spanish) (German) (Russian) (Esperanto) (Malay) (Kiswahili) (Romanian) (Latin) (中文) The prayer has been widely taught and discussed throughout the history of the Orthodox Church. It is often repeated continually as a part of personal ascetic practice, its use being an integral part of the eremitic tradition of prayer known as Hesychasm (, ''hesychazo'', "to keep stillness"). The prayer is particularly esteemed by the spiritual fathers of this tradition (see ''Philokalia'') as a method of opening up the heart (''kardia'') and bringing about the Prayer of the Heart (). The Prayer of The Heart is considered to be the Unceasing Prayer that the apostle Paul advocates in the New Testament.〔 St. Theophan the Recluse regarded the ''Jesus Prayer'' stronger than all other prayers by virtue of the power of the Holy Name of Jesus.〔''On the Prayer of Jesus'' by Ignatius Brianchaninov, Kallistos Ware 2006 ISBN 1-59030-278-8 page xxiii-xxiv〕 Oftentimes in Protestant faiths when praying one will breathe in during the first part "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God" and then breathe out saying "have mercy on me, the sinner". While its tradition, on historical grounds, also belongs to the Eastern Catholics,〔See also Rosaries in other Christian traditions.〕 and there have been a number of Roman Catholic texts on the Jesus Prayer, its practice has never achieved the same popularity in the Western Church as in the Eastern Orthodox Church, although can be said on the Anglican Rosary. As distinct from the prayer itself, the Eastern Orthodox theology of the Jesus Prayer enunciated in the 14th century by St. Gregory Palamas was generally rejected by Roman Catholic theologians until the 20th century, but Pope John Paul II called Gregory Palamas a saint,〔((Pope John Paul II, Homily at Ephesus, 30 November 1979 )〕 cited him as a great writer,〔(Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 12 November 1997 )〕 and an authority on theology〔(Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 14 November 1990 )〕〔(Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 19 November 1997 )〕〔(Pope John Paul II, Jubilee of Scientists )〕 and spoke with appreciation of Palamas's intent "to emphasize the concrete possibility that man is given to unite himself with the Triune God in the intimacy of his heart".〔Pope John Paul II's (Angelus Message ), 11 August 1996.〕 In the Jesus Prayer can be seen the Eastern counterpart of the Rosary, which has developed to hold a similar place in the Christian West.〔Rosarium Virginis Mariae ()〕 The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "The name of Jesus is at the heart of Christian prayer. All liturgical prayers conclude with the words 'through our Lord Jesus Christ'. The Hail Mary reaches its high point in the words 'blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus'. The Eastern prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer, says: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Many Christians, such as St Joan of Arc, have died with the one word 'Jesus' on their lips."〔(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 435 )〕 ==Origins== The prayer's origin is most likely the Egyptian desert, which was settled by the monastic Desert Fathers in the 5th century.〔Antoine Guillaumont reports the finding of an inscription containing the Jesus Prayer in the ruins of a cell in the Egyptian desert dated roughly to the period being discussed – Antoine Guillaumont, ''Une inscription copte sur la prière de Jesus'' in ''Aux origines du monachisme chrétien, Pour une phénoménologie du monachisme'', pp. 168–83. In ''Spiritualité orientale et vie monastique'', No 30. Bégrolles en Mauges (Maine & Loire), France: Abbaye de Bellefontaine.〕 A formula similar to the standard form of the Jesus Prayer is found in a letter attributed to John Chrysostom, who died in 407. This "Letter to an Abbot" speaks of "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy" and "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us" being used as ceaseless prayer.〔(''Epistula ad abbatem'', p. 5 )〕 However, some consider this letter dubious or spurious and attribute it to an unknown writer of unknown date.〔Nikolopoulos, 1973〕 What may be the earliest explicit reference to what became the standard version of the Jesus Prayer is in ''Discourse on Abba Philimon'' from ''The Philokalia''. Philimon lived around AD 600.〔〕 But while the prayer itself was in use by that time, John S. Romanides writes that "We are still searching the Fathers for the term 'Jesus prayer.〔(John S. Romanides, ''Some Underlying Positions of This Website'', 11, note )〕 The earliest known mention is in ''On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination'' of St. Diadochos of Photiki (400-c. 486), a work found in the first volume of the ''Philokalia''. The Jesus Prayer is described in Diadochos's work in terms very similar to St. John Cassian's (c. 360-435) description in the ''Conferences'' 9 and 10, which gives, as the formula used in Egypt for repetitive prayer, not the Jesus Prayer, but "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me."〔(John Cassian, ''Conferences'', 10, chapters 10-11 )〕〔(Laurence Freeman 1992 )〕 St. Diadochos ties the practice of the Jesus Prayer to the purification of the soul and teaches that repetition of the prayer produces inner peace. The use of the Jesus Prayer is recommended in the ''Ladder of Divine Ascent'' of St. John Climacus (c. 523–606) and in the work of St. Hesychios the Priest (ca. 8th century), ''Pros Theodoulon'', found in the first volume of the ''Philokalia.'' Ties to a similar prayer practice and theology appear in the 14th century work of an unknown English monk ''The Cloud of Unknowing''. The use of the Jesus Prayer according to the tradition of the ''Philokalia'' is the subject of the 19th century anonymous Russian spiritual classic ''The Way of a Pilgrim''. Though the Jesus Prayer has been practiced through the centuries as part of the Eastern tradition, in the 20th century, it also began to be used in some Western churches, including some Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jesus Prayer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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