Saint Paul exhorts us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). Most people pray, and some pray often, but how can we pray unceasingly? One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the Jesus Prayer. This prayer is very simple: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." And yet it is very powerful: perhaps the best means of communion with God outside the Eucharist.

First of all, it is firmly rooted in Scripture. It is based on the prayer of the blind man: "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me," and that of the repentant Publican: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." In addition, it invokes the Most-Holy Name of Jesus: "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12), and "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth" (Phil. 2:9,10). The apostle also tells, "No man can say, Lord Jesus, except by the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor. 12:3).

Furthermore, this prayer is awesome in its simplicity, consisting of only a dozen words. It is at once an affirmation of faith and repentance. When said in full diligence, humility and sincerity, avoiding vain repetition, the words and message of this beautiful prayer will engrain themselves in our being; as Saint Theophan the Recluse put it so beautifully, the Prayer becomes "a murmuring stream within our souls."

This book is an anthology by Igumen Chariton of Valamo, based on the notes he took out of the works of Sts. Theophan, Ignatii Branchianinov, the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and of course, the Philokalia. Herein we learn what true prayer must be, its fruits, how to overcome the sins and passions in our hearts, and achieve union with Christ. Although he dedicated most of his life to prayer, Igumen Chariton in his humility attributed nothing within this book to himself. He understood that he merely drew from the deep well that is the wisdom of God.

We can be sure that within we also will find that which will be of great help in our search for fulfillment in Christ, a sure guide up the narrow path of salvation. In an age where spiritual hedonism (vis-à-vis Deepak Chopra) and the illicit search for self-gain (T.D. Jakes, "Prayer of Jabez") pervade most devotional works; we can be confident that within this book we will truly find Christian perfection.

If you want answers to the questions? WHAT IS PRAYER? WHAT IS ITS ESSENCE? HOW CAN WE LEARN TO PRAY? WHAT DOES THE SPIRIT OF THE CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AS HE PRAYS IN HUMILITY OF HEART? pg. 51. Then read this book. I even bought a copy and gave it to a Pentacostal friend of mine, for his birthday. This book is unquestionably destined to become equal to the Philikolia.

Being interested in true prayer and it's purpose to and through
God and in a format for the layman to grasp and understand, this source has been a blessing to me. I have recommended it to other Christians and will place it in our church library. There is an extensive bibliograpy for further study. I highly recommend to Christian and non-Christian. To the Easterm Othodox " a must read"

This is a very funny book! Also check out Everything Texans Need To Know About The Other 49 States (Brook & Julie Syers).

One of the funniest books about sayings used in Texas that I have ever read. It is priceless!

just returned from visiting the alamo and want to read this boo

I first time I read this book was 5 years ago. I still use phrases and words from this book that others find hillarious. If you are in sales, management, or just a person who needs a new twist on everyday phrases this is the book for you. I also recommend this book for all those who are moving to Texas, it will help you to understand the people and the culture better.

It would be difficult for anyone to NOT find something of interest to them in this book. If you enjoy reading about famous, unresolved events, this is the book for you. If you enjoy reading about obscure, unresolved events, this is the book for you. Written in a very folksy, down to earth style, the book explores several events from Texas' past which remain a mystery today. When you pick it up, make sure you have lots of free time, because you won't want to put it down until its' finished! I'm ready for volume II!

Mr Chariton's research seems to have surpassed his ability to compile and present it in an entirely satisfactory way.In respect to the presentation of the sequence of sightings, particularly in Texas - the focus of this work, a more methodical format would have worked better. I think a chronology of sightings with respective maps would have helped a great deal in communicating just how peculiar these sightings were, and how they played out and fit together withinthe few months of 1897.Likewise, I found myself wondering more about how previous newspaper accounts were likely to have influenced later sightings - something the author makes mention of with less than adequate thoroughness.Thus, my central criticism:obvious dedication to ALL facets of this truly important and underevaluated series of UFO sightings, somehow hamstrung in its presentation (publisher's fault, perhaps?) by an over-reliance on anecdotal information. I wound up wishing that Mr. Chariton had spent more time thinking through everything he had gathered together about the airships before finally deciding what to write.In any case, he deserves praise and respect for avery decent and worthwhileattempt at so obscure a subject.One final suggestion:Has anyone attempted to search for any mysterious explosions that might have occured soon after these sightings? If there really was a mysterious inventor named Wilson in NY or Iowa or wherever, perhaps his lab was destroyed in an accident that might have been recorded subsequently.

Wallace O. Chariton has written a wonderful resource, (and one of the few resources), about a great American mystery. Between 1896-1897, mostly in the west and midwest and Texas, came a flurry of reports about a cigar-shaped Airship, complete with crew, long before successful aircraft existed...or so we have thought. While some details of the Aircraft varied from report to report, there were startling similarities, this long before TV and radio. Chariton writes about this great mystery with a sense of fun, awe and intrigue. He also provides a fascinating window on what life was like in the late 1890's. What is fascinating about the book are the startling parallels between the Airship reports and our own Flying Saucer reports and the almost painful see-sawing between outright sceptical dismissal and credulity. Chariton provides his reader with a chronology of events, maps and excerpts from the newspapers of the day and places you right in the middle of the events, as if you were there, one of the befuddled witnesses. So what was the Great Airship? You'll have to read this book and decide for yourself! And I highly recommend it; this book was a fun and adventurous read and will leave you wondering...

This lively and fluently written story contains all the ingredients of a modern bookstall love story: jealousy, apparent death, kidnapping, war, slavery, assault on chastity and ultimately ... true love and a happy marriage.

Callirhoe: My damned beauty is the cause of my misfortune.

Like most of the theatre plays in the Ancient World, novels like this one were an evasion out of the difficult and dangerous living conditions. It is clear that kidnapped beautiful girls didn't have the same ultimate fortune of Callirhoe.
New here is that her jealous husband is the cause of her misfortune, whereas normally it are the parents or another member of the family.
This book is still a worth-while read and gives a good picture of the living conditions at that time. The psychology is more than just a black and white portrait.

Chariton is another writer who is obsessed with the Alamo and this takes away from what this book could have been. Chariton is DETERMINED TO PROVE that Crockett fell fighting ala John Wayne/Fess Parker and this takes up a good portion of the book. Wallace, GET OVER IT ! Chariton even has a photo of Wayne taken from the film THE ALAMO and tries to compare Wayne and Crockett ! This gives you an idea of the mentality of the writer and this book ! If he had left out these silly comparisons, this would be a more readable work. Historians of the Mexican side of the Texas War will notice how Chariton seems to ignore or even discredit the Mexican sources. Ahem, Mr. Chariton, do I detect a bit of "anti-Mexican" sentiment here ? Yes, we KNOW you are a "NATIVE TEXAN" Mr. Chariton, you remind us constantly. But if you wanted to make this a BETTER book, you should have spent more time in FACT, not opinion. And just a little reminder, THE MEXICANS WON AT THE ALAMO !

How many men came with David Crockett to the Alamo? Did Crockett and some of his men surrender and were then executed when Santa Anna said, "I said take no prisoners"? Did a flag fly over the Alamo and what did it look like? Did Travis really draw a line in the sand and tell everyone that wanted to stay to step over it? Or did he say everyone that wanted to go to step over the line? These are just a few of the unanswered questions about the battle at the Alamo that Wallace Chariton tries to learn more about following years of research. And what makes this a special treat is that he tries to answer these and other questions with a sense of Texas humor. Not in a disrespectful way for these true patriots of Texas independence but in a manner that makes the reader want to turn the page and see what the next facts were that have been lost to the years. Chariton does a very balanced analysis on many portions of the legends of the Alamo that most people just take for granted. This book is a very enjoyable read for any person interested in Texas history...something in which every Texan should be interested.