Catholic Review of: Prayer of the Heart

Want to know more about the spirituality of Eastern Christianity? This book is a fine introduction to a rich and ancient tradition of Byzantine Christianity, more specifically, the Greek and Slavic, Orthodox and Catholic parts of the greater "Christian East."

The author, Fr. George Maloney, was a Jesuit priest with bi-ritual faculties. That means he was able to practice his priestly ministry within both the Roman Catholic and Byzantine Catholic traditions. Fr. Maloney was a brilliant scholar and an expert on the East. He authored many books on Eastern Christianity - this is his most well-known and widely read. He was esteemed by both Orthodox and Catholics - an uncommon accomplishment.

While the book purports to be more of a survey, it really focuses mostly on the "Jesus Prayer" aspect of Eastern Christian prayer. This is an excellent staring point since the Jesus Prayer is the most common, or most popular, devotional prayer practice among the faithful of the churches of the Byzantine tradition.  Orthodox and Eastern Catholics frequently pray with a prayer rope, something similar to rosary beads. On the knots of their prayer ropes, they will pray the Jesus Prayer. Fr. Maloney does a superb job of distinguishing between this type of Christian meditative prayer, which is deeply rooted in the ancient Judeo-Christian tradition, and the "mantras" of the Hindus and Buddhists - those are something wholly other and are not "prayer" in any Christian sense.

The books will guide you to an understanding of the basics of Eastern Christian spirituality and help you to appreciate the practices which are rooted in the Scriptures, the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and the Early Church Fathers. To Christians in the West, the Christian East can seem old, really old. Some have described the Eastern churches as akin to "flies in amber" with nearly unchanged Liturgy and Tradition from the very earliest years of the Church.

After a good and general introduction, Fr. Maloney introduces us to Hesychasm - a school of spiritual thought in the East which has its origins wih the desert hermits of the 4th century and which exerts a powerful influence to this day. Moving on from there, he speaks of the need to pull oneself out of the world and seek solitude (which can be many things) in order to enter into the mystical presence of God. He covers the "spiritual combat" which is a common concept in the spiritual theology of both the East and West. Essentially, the struggle for ever-deepening prayer is a "fight" and there are many distractions, temptations and Demons which will stand in our way. The Jesus Prayer is covered in greater detail in its own chapter. Fr. Maloney concludes by introducing us to the "dark desert" (not unlike the dark night of the soul that St. John of the Cross tells us about) and then to the "transforming light" of contemplative prayer and the soul's deep and intimate encounter with God.

I recommend this book and all of Fr. Maloney's works. He passed away some years ago. May his memory be eternal and may he intercede for us before the Almighty.