Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer

• April 10, 2011

Wednesday, April 13, at 8 p.m.

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Experience the mysteries of God with the ancients in the new full-length feature film and book, "Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer," from SnagFilms and HarperOne.

Leave your busy, stressful world for a moment to discover the ancient and powerful Jesus Prayer. Known by generations of eastern Christians, this mystical prayer has been in use since the Apostles, but remains largely unknown in the west. For the first time on film, desert hermits, monks, and nuns reveal the simple prayer, bringing us into their private cells, caves, and sanctuaries in the Middle East, Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, and Russia.

Travel on film to the far reaches of the east, discovering the Jesus Prayer firsthand with Emmy award winning theologian and author, Dr. Norris J. Chumley, and renowned historian and priest, Very Rev. Dr. John A. McGuckin. Join along as they take a modern exodus to the ancient lands where Christianity and the Church began. Witness the Jesus Prayer directly, still in use today. See some of the world’s oldest treasures of religious art and sacred altars — hidden away in monasteries and chapels — off-limits to the outside world. Until now.

Eight years in the making, "Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer" beings at the oldest surviving monastery and church in the world, St. Antony’s from the 4th century, near the Red Sea in Egypt. Crawl inside St. Antony’s cave where he lived for 46 years.

Meet Father Lazarus, former atheist, now its spiritual leader. Travel to Mt. Sinai where Moses encountered God — to St. Catherine’s Monastery to experience prayers and meditations with the monks, long before daylight. Voyage to holy Mt. Athos, Greece, where only hermits and monks are allowed, joining in continuous prayers and chants for the last 1,000 years. Come along as Father John and Dr. Norris bring you to Transylvania in Romania, encountering Christian sages and mystical masters. Explore caves and hermit monk’s cells from the 13th century in Kiev. Hear the world’s largest bell at Sergiyev Posad Monastery in Russia, heralding the arrival of the Russian Patriarch, His Eminence Kyrill. Join along with hundreds of monks, bishops, angelic choirs, and thousands of devout Russians gathered to celebrate the holy mysteries of the Kingdom of God on Earth.

There has never before been this kind of access to such holy, ancient locations and secret practices. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime trip to the heart of God.