Night Prayer
April 12
(A Homily of Saint John Chrysostom on how to rise at night to pray.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
April 12
(A Homily of Saint John Chrysostom on how to rise at night to pray.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
We usually pray every day in the morning and in the evening. During the day, few among present-day Christians pray, and at night even fewer. Yet, according to the word of the Apostle, who commands us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17), it would be good to set aside some time for prayer during the day — and at night as well. Let us now speak about the night.
A worthy example of night prayer is found already in the Old Testament. “At midnight,” says David, “I arose to give thanks to You for the judgments of Your righteousness” (Ps. 118:62). We also find it in the New Testament, among the Apostles. “At midnight,” we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25). The Lord Himself, our Savior, loved during the night to withdraw into solitude for prayerful communion with God His Father. All the saints prayed at night. The Holy Fathers also command us to practice night prayer. Let us take, for our instruction, Saint John Chrysostom.
“Not for this, brethren,” he says, “was the night given to us — that we should spend it entirely in sleep or idleness — but it should be divided into two parts: one for work and the other for rest. At night craftsmen rise, farmers rise, merchants rise. You also rise at night, and before all your tasks, offer prayer to God, that He may grant you His mercy… At night the mind can be lifted more freely to God, and night prayers will lead you to repentance, and God will hear them even more than those of the day. If you go outside at night, you will notice a general stillness; and your soul at that time becomes purer, and your mind more ready for prayer. Therefore, beloved, rise at night, bend your knees, and fall down before God in prayer, and the Lord will incline His ear to you.
Remember David, who says: ‘Seven times a day I praised You.’ And again: ‘At midnight I arose to give thanks for the judgments of Your righteousness.’ And: ‘I am weary with my groaning; every night I wash my bed, with my tears I drench my couch.’ Consider, brethren: if a king, who had so many cares, acted thus every night, what answer shall we give to God for our laziness? I tell you, brothers and sisters: let us rise at night to entreat God for the forgiveness of our sins and to confess to Him. At night no idle talk disturbs the mind; no one is watching us, no one hinders us. Can prayer be so convenient during the day, when our mind is often filled with distracting thoughts? Therefore, however much you try, you cannot pray during the day as you can at night.
And let your home at night be a domestic church, consisting of men and women. Did not the Lord say: ‘Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in their midst’ (Matt. 18:20)? And if any of you have children, wake them so that they may pray to God at night, and teach them always to do so. Nothing is more beautiful than that domestic church in which night prayers are offered. Hear what the Prophet says: ‘I remembered You upon my bed; at dawn I meditated on You.’ Let us therefore, brethren, strive to pray every night, that we may loosen the bonds of sin.”
Therefore, brethren, even upon our beds at night let us seek the Lord (Song of Songs 3:1), and in the solitude of the night let us strive to do not the works of darkness, but of light. For if the Lord Himself watches over us at night, if His love knows no rest for us even in the night, and He keeps vigil over us as a mother over her infant in the cradle — shall we not also, like children, respond to this love of the Lord, and devote at least a little time in the night to converse with Him?
To this conversation — indeed for our own benefit — He Himself calls us. “Why do you sleep?” He says. “Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Luke 22:46). Therefore, let our heart and mind also be watchful in the night, and attentive to how the sweet voice of the Lord, calling us to converse with Him, knocks at the doors of our souls (Song of Songs 5:2). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
