Seeking in Prayer

Μόνην ζήτει ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ σου τὴν δικαιοσύνην, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν, τουτέστι τὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα προστεθήσεταί σοι. Δίκαιον, μὴ μόνον περὶ οἰκείας καθάρσεως προσεύχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ παντὸς τοῦ ὁμοφύλου, ἵνα ἀγγελικὸν μιμήσῃ τρόπον.  ̔́Ορα ἐὰν ὰληθῶς Θεῷ̈ παρέστηκας ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ σου, ἢ ἐπαίνῳ ἀνθρώπων ἡττᾶσαι, καὶ τούτων θηρᾷν ἐπείγῃ, ὥσπερ ἐπικαλύμματι κεκρημένος τῇ παρατάσει τῆς προσευχῃς.  Εἴτε μετὰ ἀδελφῶν προσεύχῃ, εἴτε κατὰ μόνας, ἀγώνισαι, μὴ ἔθει, ἀλλὰ αἰσθήσει προσεύχεσθαι. Αἴσθησις ἐστὶ προσευχῆς σύννοια μετ' εὐλαβείας, καὶ κατανύξεως, καὶ ὀδύνης ψυχῆς ἐν εξαγορεύσει πταισμάτων μετὰ στεναγμῶν ἀφώνων.   ̓Εὰν περιβλέπηται ὁ νοῦς σου ἀκμὴν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς προσευχῆς, οὐδέπω ὡς μοναχὸς προσεύχεται, ἀλλ' ἔτι κοσμικός ἐστι, τὴν ἔξωθεν σκηνὴν καλλωπίζων. Εὐάγριος ὁ Ποντικός, Περι Προσευχῆς

In your prayer seek only righteousness and the kingdom, that is, virtue and knowledge, and everything else will be given to you. 1 It is right to pray not only for your own purification, but also for all your own kin, so as to imitate the angelic way. See if you truly stand before God in your prayer, or whether you have lost yourself to human praise and eagerly hunt for it, hiding behind the veil of prayer 2. Whether you pray with  brothers or alone, struggle to pray not in the customary way, but with perception. Perception in prayer is concentration, with reverence and compunction and distress of soul, in admission of  faults amid silent groans. If the mind is  looking around during the time of prayer, it is not yet praying as a monk, but it is still worldly, decorating the exterior tabernacle 3. Evagrius Ponticus, On Prayer 1 Mt 6:33 2 cf. Mt 23:5  3 cf. Mt 23:27