Métropolite Antoine Bloom

This article is a meditation by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, a major figure of twentieth-century Orthodox spirituality, devoted to the Jesus Prayer — "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" — and to the inner stability it provides. Drawing on the experience of Russian Orthodox monks forced into exile after the 1917 Revolution, the author shows how this prayer, born out of total dispossession, constituted a form of inner monastic life independent of any institution. The article develops a theological analysis of each term of the prayer, bringing out its Trinitarian, Christological and anthropological dimensions, and exploring the meaning of the Greek word *eleos*. It also offers a reinterpretation of the monastic vows — stability, chastity, poverty, obedience — in the light of this radical spiritual experience.