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Theoretically we all know what prayer for a spiritual work is. If, however, we are honest, we must confess that in spite of the great amount of literature about prayer currently in circulation, our own prayer in fact remains pale, superficial, lacking in vigor. We are absorbed by action, councils, discussions, technique in general, and "a little prayer" comes second, something like an appendix to a footnote. But our work cannot spread roots in the fertile earth of the "life in Christ" in this way, and so remains bloodless.
It is just at this point that we must be extremely careful. For if those words "without me ye can do nothing" constitute the foundation of every spiritual effort, they should be all the more so of a work that entails a head-on clash with idolatry, where the forces of darkness have reigned for centuries.
Precisely because of this, we must see to it that prayer is placed before every activity of ours, or, more exactly, into every activity of ours. Not just as some spices are mixed in a cake to give it flavor and taste, but as the yeast is mixed with the dough in order to ferment it. We can only hope to achieve something if and when prayer becomes for our work what the heart is for our body: feeding, renewing and vivifying with vital blood the whole organism down to the last cell.
It will require fervent, persistent corporate prayer to push the gate of our missionary tradition wide open, rusty as it is through prolonged immobility and the drizzle of doubt, and to make our way through the many obstacles that have piled up behind it.
The Lord has assured us, however, that such prayer is omnipotent: “Truly I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” (Mt. 18, 19). If this is true of anything, then how much more so of the spreading of His Truth! And if the common prayer of two of the faithful for a certain thing is so effective, what of the common prayer of two hundred or two thousand people?
Before any other form of co-operation or concentration of forces, we must, therefore, launch a prayer campaign for the cause of missions. Every one of us must clearly realize that he must be daily “present” in this battle of prayer; and that he must also mobilize more people for this “call up.” We prefer to use military terms in order to make it perfectly clear that in this case we do not refer to that casual prayer which is said once, by chance, but to a prayer which has grown into a daily “task” and “struggle.”
The members of a future Orthodox missionary effort, before joining in a common promise of a certain contribution, must be united even now by the daily contribution of a “fighting” prayer.
It must be a strong, fervent, vigorous prayer, verging even upon “importunity” (Lk 11, 8). This word, full of meaning, is used by the Lord Himself in the characteristic parable which St. Luke relates in the eleventh chapter of his gospel, and which ends with the dual assertion: “And I say unto you ask and it shall be given unto you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (v. 9, 10). These are chosen and meaningful words: “to him that knocketh, “ not simply, “to him that draweth near the door”; “he who asketh receiveth, “not simply “he who desireth.” We can better understand this meaning of “asketh” when we think of someone who has lost something important which must be found: how absorbed he is in his search, using eyes, hands, thought, his whole self! The Holy Scriptures are full of characteristic passages underlining the importance and power of persistent prayer. We should do well to make them the object of study and contemplation, so that we may understand still better that saying of our Lord: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name he will give you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask and ye shall receive, that our joy may be full" (John 16, 24).
These thoughts have led forty or fifty young people in Athens to make the following decision:
(a) every evening at 10.30 they stop working, wherever they may happen to be, and say a short prayer for the cause of external missions.
(b) each of them tries to recruit at least one or two more, who in their turn undertake to do the same.
The creation of such "prayer groups" within the various local Christian movements is badly needed, if we wish this idea of common prayer for the cause of external missions to become a reality, and to spread roots.
The slogan "campaign of prayer" must not remain simply "a nice idea," which will vanish together with the first enthusiasm.
It must be transformed into an act of fighting spirit, which will strengthen, purify and fire this enthusiasm.
