Breath as Prayer in Christianity

Introduction

In both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, there is a primordial link between breath and Spirit. The word for Spirit and breath are exactly the same, in both Hebrew and Greek. The breath can attune us to the primordial rhythm that was there in the silence of the Creator, before God said, Let there be light.

In the early Church, this link between breath and Spirit was a concrete practice. But as time went by, Spirit became a mere intellectual concept, and was no longer rooted in the practice of the breath. Let us revive this ancient Christian practice, and meet God’s Holy Spirit in our breath.

I. Biblical Tradition

In Hebrew, ‘Spirit of God’ is ruach elohim, which also means breath of God. The Greek ‘Holy Spirit’ is haggia pneuma, sacred breath. The Hebrew ruach can mean Spirit, breath, or wind, just as the New Testament pneuma means Spirit, breath, or wind.

The Gospel of John even puns on this triple meaning of pneuma. In  John 3:8 Jesus says, “The wind/breath blows where it pleases. You hear the sound of it, but don’t know where it comes from or whither it goes. So it is with all those who are born of the Spirit.” In this pun, Jesus tells us that when we touch the Spirit-Breath, we touch the mystery at the source of creation. We are re-created and reborn.

Note that this passage mentions the “sound” of the Spirit –Breath. Hebrew tradition describes the Word of creation, or Logos, in conjunction with the divine breath. God breathes the Word.

In the very first verses of Genesis, creation is born out of a deep silence vibrating with the breath of God. This vibrant void precedes even the Word. So the first verse of the Bible shows us: “In the beginning, when God was creating heaven and earth, the earth was a formless vacuum (‘tohu wa bohu’) and the breath of God (‘ruach elohim’) was stirring the primordial waters.” It is out of this subtle breath that the Word of creation arises: “And God said, Let there be light.”

This essential relationship between divine Breath and divine Word is carried throughout Hebrew tradition. Psalm 33:6 declares: “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their starry hosts by the Breath of his mouth.” Jesus carries on this tradition, his Word imbued with Spirit-Breath, his breath empowered by the divine Word. In another Johannine pun, the Gospel tells us that Jesus “breathed upon them and said, Receive the holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)

Indeed, the Holy Trinity itself can be seen as the link between Silence, Word, and Breath: Father, Son, and Spirit.

II. The Intellectualizing of Breath

These great Biblical passages point not only to a theology, but to a practice of healing and regeneration through the breath. Tragically, the Biblical relationship between Spirit and Breath was lost as theologians intellectualized pneuma into an abstraction, and lost its connection to the body. When the risen Lord appeared to the disciples at the end of  John’s Gospel, John’s major point was the bodily nature of the resurrection. Jesus was incarnate, and his resurrection is a resurrection of the body. Jesus’ breath not only heals the soul, but the body. When Jesus breathes on them and pronounces his Word, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” John is telling us that we can open our own bodies to the Breath of God.

It is time for the Christian church to recover the bodily roots of prayer. Did Paul the Apostle not write, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit-Breath… Therefore glorify God in your body.” (I Corinthians, chapter 6))

We glorify God in our bodies by inviting Spirit into us through the healing breath.

III. Eastern Orthodox 'Prayer of the Heart' : Writings from the Philocalia

When we turn to the Masters of the Prayer of the Heart in the Orthodox tradition, who collected their teachings as a great book called the Philocalia, we find the primordial practice of prayer as breath, united with word. These teachings give us living proof, from the heart of Christian tradition, that in the early Church, the Spirit was not simply a theological concept, but a breath practice. Indeed, the grace of prayer comes through the breath.

7th C: St John Climacus ('The Divine Ladder')

•"(Prayer is) constant remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, quietly led into the heart by way of breathing and again led out, without any extraneous thought or imagining."

• Monologistos eucharistos, "One-word Prayer"; Iesou euche: "Jesus Prayer": These terms were first used by John Climacus. Prayer was reduced to a single word or phrase, always accompanied by breath (See note below*** )

8th C. - St. Hesychius of Jerusalem, "On Watchfulness and Holiness"

• "Constantly breathing Jesus Christ..."

• “...The heart's silence, unbroken by any thought. In this silence the heart breathes and invokes without ceasing only Jesus Christ, Son of God."

13th C. - Nichodemus of the Holy Mountain (Mt. Athos)

• "Let Jesus be your breath."

14^th C. - The Monks Callistus and Ignatius, Mt. Athos, "Directions to Hesychasts"

* "After sunset, having asked the help of the all-merciful and all-powerful Lord Jesus Christ, sit you down on a low stool in your quiet and dimly lit cell; collect your mind from its customary circling and wandering outside, and quietly lead it into the heart by way of breathing, keeping the prayer... connected with the breath."

20^th C. - Fa. George Maloney (contemporary Orthodox), “Breath of the Mystic”

• "God was meant to be man's breath. Man was meant to be healthy and full of life by breathing in the loving power of God."

*** " 'Have mercy on me' was added by the holy fathers chiefly for those who are still beginners... For the advanced and the holy in Christ are content with any of the shorter forms, 'Lord Jesus', 'Jesus Christ', 'Christ Son of God', or even with one word, 'Jesus', which they kiss and embrace as the complete doing of prayer, sufficient to fill them with ineffable bliss and joy exceeding all mind, all vision and all hearing." (The Monks Callistus and Ignatius, 14th C.)