On Shortened Prayer Rules

Concerning the abbreviation of his rule of prayer, St. Paisius [Velichkovsky] wrote of the extreme difficulty of his life in the beginning on the Holy Mountain. Further he said: “All this I confessed to my spiritual father and other older confessors and told to my confessor. Because in my extreme infirmity I cannot keep to my rule, the thought came to me. I will return to Russia. But my confessor, encouraging me, said: ‘No child, do not leave the Holy Mountain where God called you; endure there a little the will of God. As for your rule of prayer, keep up as much as you can. Only, always thank God, and the Lord will not leave you. And your thanksgiving in infirmity and want will be imputed to you by God in the place of every rule.’ And in accordance with his advice I kept my small rule and lived, rejoicing and thanking God in my infirmity, entreating His mercy, so that He would strengthen me to remain to the end of my life on this Holy Mountain of Athos.” (Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky, p. 89)