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Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty · Catechism · 950

Faith Q&A › Catechism › 5. Prayer of the Mind and Contemplation

Why does St. Basil the Great insist on the prayer of the mind, especially for monastics?

The answer

St. Basil wants the monk to attain to the vision of God and union with Him. Then the monk’s life — despite the intrusions of work and toil — is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, hovering over him every minute and every hour. Then prayer becomes the air he breathes and the food that nourishes him. Theophan the Recluse says, “I remember that St. Basil the Great solved the question how the Apostles could pray without ceasing, in this way: in everything they did, he replied, they thought of God and lived in constant devotion to Him. This spiritual state was their unceasing prayer.”271

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty

Notes

271 Chariton of Valamo (Igumen), The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, trans., E. Kadloubovsky and E. M. Palmer, ed., Timothy Ware (Faber & Faber, 1966): p. 83.

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Catechism of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Volumes 1 and 2, Books 1–7. First English Edition, 2023. Published by St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, Sporting, Alexandria, and Queen St. Mary & Prince Tadros Coptic Orthodox Church, South Brunswick, NJ. Copyright © 2023. Translation and Editing: Youth of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Arabian Gulf, and Egypt.