προσευχή
Proseuche
Prayer — from words to the silence beyond words
Proseuche is the tradition's broadest word for prayer — encompassing the entire spectrum from spoken words to the silence beyond all words.
The Philokalia describes many forms: vocal prayer spoken aloud; mental prayer repeated silently in the mind; prayer of the heart that has descended from the mind into the kardia and continues there without conscious effort; pure prayer in Evagrius's sense, prayer beyond all images and concepts in which the nous stands naked before God; and unceasing prayer — the continuous awareness of God's presence that persists through all activities.
The Jesus Prayer is the tradition's primary vehicle for moving through these stages. But proseuche encompasses more than any single formula. At its deepest, prayer is not something you do but something you become: a person whose entire existence is oriented toward and held within the presence of God.