By: MARGARET BROWN
HAVING CLAIMED in a previous contribution that personal prayer is something that cannot be taught, I find I am outvoted on several fronts.
After reading from one of Anthony Bloom’s books on prayer it seems that there is much to learn and for many a shortage of devotional time. This Russian child of the Revolution born in the year 1914 became a Monk in 1939 after qualifying as a Doctor. He served in occupied France and was also a Resistance worker during the Second World War.
Coming to London in 1948, he was ordained as Chaplain in the Orthodox Church, later being consecrated as Bishop and then Arch-Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church of Britain and Ireland in 1962.
Doctor of divinity
Raised to the rank of Metropolitan three years later, in 1974 he asked to be released so that he could look to the needs of his ever growing flock in the Diocese of Western Europe. Always available to those who sought help and advice, he was made Doctor of Divinity at Aberdeen University “for preaching the word of god and renewing the spiritual life of this Country”. Metropolitan Anthony died in 2003.
A prolific writer on all aspects of the Christian faith, he has over 70 publications to his name, many printed by St. Stephen’s Press. Currently some members of St. Vincent’s Church in Luz are studying his book on learning to pray, which is where we came in.
It is both a revelation and a source of spiritual indigestion as I try to understand the depths of his teaching and realise the shallowness of my praying. However I am encouraged by the thought that if God designed us according to his universal plan, our prayers will be heard if not always answered.
