Elder St. Porphyrios on Silent Prayer
“I repeated the prayer,‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, and new , horizons would open up. Tears of joy and gladness would flow from my yt eyes on account of Christ’s love and His sacrifice on the Cross. Insuperable longing! In this the whole greatness is concealed, Paradise itself. Because you love Christ, you repeat this prayer, these seven words, with craving and with your heart. And gradually the words are lost. The heart is so replete that it suffices to say two words,‘My Jesus!’, and ultimately no words at all. Love is better expressed without words. But when a soul truly falls in love with the Lord, it prefers silence and spiritual prayer. The flood of divine love fills the soul with joy and exultation. This soul has previously progressed though, and exercised itself day by day in the Psalter and the service books of the Church. Now words have come to an end. The soul experiences divine humility very profoundly. Christ has descended into it and it senses the divine voice. It is both in the world and out of the world. It is in Paradise, that is, in the Church, in the uncreated Paradise.”
– ‘Wounded by Love’