It seems to us that we pray very well. Some schema-monks actually say many prayers, only it is not worth a thing. It is a "castrated" work; in reality it goes nowhere. And if this is not so, then how can one explain that a priest can stand thirty-odd years before the throne of God - he should have become a wonderworker or a clairvoyant long ago. However, not only is he unable to see what goes on within another's soul, but he does not even understand his own. Perhaps we shall accuse God of favoritism? No. The fact of the matter is that God bestows these gifts not for the sheer labor of such a one, but for humility. The latter quality is acquired only through pure prayer, and pure prayer only through humility.
+Bishop Barnabas (Belyaev), from New Confessors of Russia by Archimandrite Damascene (Orlovsky), chapter 7.
