I've just started to read the way of a pilgrim and have some questions:
1. is this the spiritulity that all russian monks practise? or are there other spiritual practices?
2. why is saying the prayer so important that his spiritual father never talk with him about the divine office. i mean, in the benedictine spirituality the say the full divine office. does russian monks say the divine office or do they give so much importants to the jesus prayer that they have no time or will to say the divine office.
3. why did this man so often pray in solitude. i mean, jesus spent a lot of time with sinners. so why does the pilgrim live in solitude?
4. is it true that too many people in the church just talk about prayer instead of learning people how to pray?
1. What do you mean? The Prayer of Jesus in particular or solitude or hesychasm? The Prayer of Jesus was very popular among the Sinai ascetics but was somewhat of a lost art until Russian monks started to bring it back into use. I believe the monks of Holy Athos use it also.
2. The Prayer of Jesus sums up the whole of the Gospel into one phrase. When you don't have books and the internet you need something simple to give to people. You can be unlearned and come to salvation with it's use; it is a prayer for all people. But it also has all the depth of the Gospel so those who seek a more intimate experience can after much practice and guidance. It's power comes from the name of Jesus used at the beginning. Paul's charge to pray unceasingly (1 Thess 5:17) can also be attained through use of the prayer. I wouldn't make a blanket statement about Russian monks' use of the Divine Office, but the Fathers teach us that the whole of the Gospel in contained in the Prayer of Jesus so the DO may not be necessary.
3. Solitude allows us to concentrate the mind and free it of thought so that one can take the mind and descend into the heart where real prayer takes place. Jesus says to go into your closet to pray and solitude reflects that charge. (Mat 6:6) With all the distractions of the world and regular life, it is very very heard to achieve this living a regular life. Yes Jesus did but first He went into the desert for 40 days to fight Satan and free himself. Not everyone is called to seclusion, yet not everyone is called to evangelism.
4. The answer to that is subjective. The only teacher of true prayer is Christ. We can take advice from holy people but at the end of the day we must find quiet and seek God and His knowledge through prayer.
