Prayer in Sacred Scripture
Sacred Scripture is imbued with examples of how and why silence and stillness are important. Of the many that can be found in the Old Testament, here we will feature one from Psalms and the other from Job:
"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 45 [46]:11).
"Teach me, and I will keep quiet. Tell me wherein I have erred" (Job 6:24).
It doesn't take much to explain these particular passages, especially because they are so familiar to us. But they are worth noting here because they not only persuade us to stop our noisy and busy activity, but also encourage us to admit our errors and re-learn the ways of the Lord.
When it comes to the New Testament, the first example we would like to note here comes from the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke wherein Zecharias is visited by Gabriel in the Temple.
"And the angel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time'" (Luke 1:19-20).
The instruction here is that we are to listen to the Lord our God in everything that He and His angels and saints tell us. Zecharias doesn't do this and he is made mute (another way to say this is that he is forced to be quiet). At one level, Zecharias is being punished for his lack of faith. At another level, we are being shown how the high priests of the Temple are being silenced in order to make way for the announcement of the coming of the eternal high priest Jesus Christ.
The second example also comes from the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke.
"And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!' But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was" (Luke 1:28-29).
In this verse, Mary takes the time to consider what is being told to her. In modern language we might say that she is "discerning." In fact, other translations of this verse use the word "pondered" instead of "considered," which illustrates the point even better. In order to consider, discern, or ponder something, we naturally become silent to meditate.
Another example of the call to be silent comes during the Transfiguration passages, again in the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke.
"Then from the cloud came a voice that said, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen" (Luke 9:35-36).
In this passage we see God Himself commanding us to be silent so that we may learn to listen to Jesus. And if God is telling Peter, James, and John -- three of Jesus' greatest apostles -- to be silent, then it should make us ponder how desperately we need to learn to be silent and still before the Lord.
The final example from the New Testament teaches us how important silence and stillness are to prayer. "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (Mt 6:6).
So if we connect these passages from Sacred Scripture -- especially this idea of going into quiet and "secret" places to ponder and to pray to God -- we will start to form the basis of a new understanding for how to communicate with God (and love Him).
This is what became known as hesychastic prayer (a Greek word meaning stillness, rest, quiet, silence), which reached its mature expression in the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas (they appear in many other places, but this suffices for now).
References in Sacred Scripture
The following is a list of all the references to prayer in the Old and New Testaments (taken from The Orthodox Study Bible, Copyright (c) 2008 by St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology). *Please see the note below regarding references in the Old Testament. Prayer: Genesis 24:27; Exodus 23:15; Leviticus 2:1; Leviticus 2:13; Leviticus 20:3-7; 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 1:13; 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 2:1; 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 2:9; 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 21:1-6; 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 8:20-9:9; 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 19:11; 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 19:12; 1 Chronicles 17:16; 1 Chronicles 29:10-12; 2 Chronicles 7:14-16; 2 Chronicles 30:1-21; 1 Ezra (2 Esdras) 8:68-92; Nehemiah 3:36; Nehemiah 9:1-38; Tobit 3:11-17; Tobit 8:2-4; Tobit 12:8-14; Tobit 13:1; Esther Introduction; Esther 2:12; Esther 4:17; 2 Maccabees Introduction; 2 Maccabees 10:38; 2 Maccabees 12:42-45; 2 Maccabees 13:12; 3 Maccabees Introduction; 3 Maccabees 1:16-2:1; 3 Maccabees 6:1; Job 9:15; Proverbs 25:4; Wisdom of Sirach 7:10; Wisdom of Sirach 7:11; Wisdom of Sirach 23:1-6; Wisdom of Sirach 35:13-36:4; Wisdom of Sirach 38:9-11; Wisdom of Sirach 39:14; Wisdom of Sirach 48:1-5; Joel 1:19; Jonah 2:3-10; Jonah 3:5-9; Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 1:13; Isaiah 26:20; Isaiah 26:21; Isaiah 29:13; Isaiah 30:31-33; Isaiah 46:10; Isaiah 58:9; Isaiah 63:15; Jeremiah 10:20-11:13; Jeremiah 15:19-21; Baruch 2:14; Baruch 2:15; Lamentations of Jeremiah 5:19-22; Daniel 3:25-50; Luke Introduction; John 14:13-17; John 16:26-28; Romans 8:26; 1 Timothy 2:8 Intercessory Prayer: Joshua 7:6-15; 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel)7:8; 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 23:9; 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 30:7; 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 13:6; 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) 6:17; 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) 20:11; Nehemiah 1:4-11; Nehemiah 2:4-5; 2 Maccabees 3:20; Job 42:7-9; Psalms Introduction; Psalm 15, Psalm 24; Psalm 25; Psalm 37; Psalm 54; Psalm 100; Psalm 101; Wisdom of Solomon 18:20-25; Isaiah 65:3-8; Jeremiah 15:1; Baruch 1:11-15; Baruch 3:4; Daniel 9:3-5; Luke 16:27-31; Luke 23:34; John 2:3-5; John 16:26-28; John 17:1-26; Acts 12:5; Ephesians 1:15-23; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-27; 1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Timothy 2:2; Philemon 1-7; James 5:16-18; 1 Peter 2:9 Jesus' Practice of Prayer: Mark 1:35 Jesus' Teaching on Prayer: Leviticus 25:1; Psalm 1; Psalm 69; Obadiah 15-18; Matthew 6:5-8; Luke 11:1-8 Liturgical Prayer: 2 Maccabees 14:35; 2 Maccabees 14:36; Psalms Introduction and Throughout; Daniel 3:26-45; Acts 2:42; Acts 3:1; Acts 4:24-30; Acts 10:3; Acts 10:9; 1 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:15-23 Perseverance in Prayer: Matthew 26:41; Luke 18:1; Philippians 4:4; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Power of Prayer: Exodus 14:21; Exodus 17:11; 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) 4:32-35; 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) 20:1-6; Matthew 21:21 * There are differences between the Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament, as well as among the Christian Old Testaments. Below, is a primer on this subject. Jewish 24 books, 3 divisions Pentateuch or The Law (5 books): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy The Prophets (8 books; order, not chronology) Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1 and 2), Kings (1 and 2) Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Twelve (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) The Writings (11 books): Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles (1 and 2) Protestant Old Testament 39 books that follow the Hebrew text in content, but the books are rearranged in sequence and division. Orthodox and Catholic Old Testaments 46 books that contain the 39 rearranged books plus 7 others formed from the following 15 books or pieces of books: Tobit, Judith, additions to Esther and Daniel, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, The Prayer of Azariah, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1 & 2 Maccabees Orthodox also include: 1 & 2 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasseh, 3 & 4 Maccabees and Psalm 151. What accounts for the difference is that the Orthodox and Catholics use the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures completed about a century before Christ. The name comes from the tradition that it was the work of 70 or 72 translators. This was the accepted Old Testament compilation for over 1,200 years, and is still in use by Orthodox and Catholics. The Septuagint includes the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, as well as writings from the intertestamental period, which is the time between the last Old Testament book in the 5th century BC and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. Protestants call these writings Apocryphal; Orthodox and Catholics call them Deuterocanonical.