Prayer And Sacrifice

Ἡμεῖς δὲ, φησὶν ὁ ἅγιος Μωῦσης, οῦκ οἶδαμεν τί θύσωμεν Κυρίῳ, ἕως τοῦ πορευθῆναι ἡμὰς ὁδὸν ἡμερῶν τριῶν εἰς τὴν ἔρημος. Παρ' ἡμῖν θυσία ἡ προσευχὴ νοεῖται, ἔρημος δὲ κατάστασίς τίς ἐστιν ἐστερημένη παθῶν ἀλόγων, ὅπερ τελειότητα ὀριζόμεθα εἴναι. Τοιοῦτον ἂν εἴη, φησὶν, ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ὁ Ἀπόστολος· τὸ γὰρ, Τί προσευξώμεθα καθ' ὅ δεῖ, οὐκ οἴδαμεν μέχρι καταστάσεως τῆς ἀπαθοῦς τε καὶ καθαρᾶς. Οὐ γὰρ πάντως καὶ τότε τοιαύτας εὐχὰς, ἢ ἐννοίας ἔξομεν, οἴας νῦν δεοχλούμενοι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων.   Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΖ' Σωσιμιανῳ Μονακῳ

'We do not know what we will sacrifice to the Lord,' said the holy Moses, 'until we have gone three days into the desert.' 1 For us our sacrifice is prayer and the desert state is the waste made by our irrational passions which we strive to bring to perfection. Thus it is with us, says the Apostle, 2  that we do not know what we should pray for until the state of the passions in us has been corrected, for by no means do we have such prayers having our present minds which are now troubled by things opposed to us. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 107, To Sosimianus the Monk 1 Exod 5.3 2 Rom 8.26