§51
WHY do the demons wish to activate in us gluttony, sexual immorality, avarice, anger and memory of injury, and all the other passions? It is in order to coarsen the nous through them, so that it is incapable of praying as it ought. When the passions reign through [our] irrational part, they do not allow [the nous] to move rationally and to seek the Word of God.
§52
WE quest for the virtues because of the logoi (inner meanings) of created things, and for these because of the[ir] subsistent Logos; and He customarily appears in the state of prayer.
§53
THE state of prayer is a habit[ual condition] free from passion (apathēs) that elevates to the highest rapture of loving (eros) the carefully-studious and spiritual nous.
§54
IT is not only indignation (thumos) and desire, (epithumia) that must be ruled by one who wishes to pray truly: one must also be free of every impassioned thought (noema).
§55
ONE who loves God always converses with him as Father, turning away every impassioned thought (noema).
§56
THE attainment of freedom from passion (apatheia) does not [necessarily mean] one is already truly praying: it is possible to have simple thoughts (noemata), but be taken up with [lit distracted by] [investigating] their stories, and thus still be far from God.
§57
EVEN though the nous is not spending time on simple thoughts (noemata) of issues, it has not thereby already reached the place of prayer. For it may be contemplating issues, involved in idly meditating on their logoi (inner meanings). And even if these are simple words, since they are contemplations of issues they stamp [their] impression on the nous, and leading it far away from God.
§58
EVEN if the nous [rises] above the contemplation of corporeal natures, it has still not beheld the perfect place of God: for it may be involved in the knowledge of noetic (intelligible) beings [i.e angels] and thus multiform by [focusing] on the[ir multiplicity].
§59
IF you wish to pray, you need God who gives prayer to the one who prays (1Sam 2:9). Therefore call upon him saying, Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come (Mt. 6:9-10), that is to say, your Holy Spirit and your only-begotten Son. For He taught you this by saying, the Father is worshipped in spirit and truth (Jn 4:23-4).
§60
THE one praying in spirit and truth (Jn 4:23-4) no longer honors the Creator because of [His] creatures, but instead praises Him for His own sake.
§61
IF you are a theologian, you pray truly; and if you pray truly, you are a theologian.
§62
WHEN your nous in great yearning for God gradually withdraws, so to speak, from the flesh; and when it deflects all thoughts (noemata) that come from sensation, or memory or temperament, having become full of reverence and joy, then you may believe it has drawn near the borders of prayer.
§63
THE Holy Spirit, who sympathizes with our weakness (Rom. 8:26), repeatedly visits us even when we are impure; and, if he only finds the nous loving truth [and] praying to, he lights upon [and disposes] it, dispersing the whole battle-array of [tempting-] thoughts (logismoi) and concepts (noemata) circling around it, encouraging it on to the [rapturous] love (eros) of spiritual prayer.
§64
THE others implant [tempting-]thoughts (logismoi), ideas (noemata), or contemplations in the nous by affecting the body. God, however, does the opposite: he himself lights upon [and disposes] the nous and places within it knowledge as he wishes; and through the nous he soothes the body’s disharmony.
§65
NO one yearning (erô) for true prayer who also becomes angry or remembers injuries can be anything but insane: it is like wishing for good eyesight while tearing at your own eyes
§66
IF you long to pray, do none of the things that oppose prayer, so that God will draw near and travel with you on [your] way (Lk 24:15).
§67
DO not give [any] shape to the Divine in yourself when you pray, nor should you permit any form to stamp an impression on your nous: instead, approach immaterially what is immaterial; and you will understand.
§68
GUARD against the snares of the enemies. For sometimes while you are praying purely and undisturbed, suddenly there stands before you some strange and alien form to lead [you] astray into conceit, [by] rashly localizing the Deity in order to persuade you that the Deity is quantifiable: whereas the Deity is not quantifiable and is without shape.
§69
WHEN the spiteful demon is unable to move the memory during prayer, he strikes out against the body’s temperament to create some strange fantasy in the nous, and [thus] shape it. And [the nous] will easily yield to its influence, because it is used to dealing in thoughts (noemata); so when it was pressing on eagerly to immaterial and formless knowledge, it comes to be deceived into accepting smoke instead of light.
§70
“STAND on your guard,” (Hab 2:1) protecting your nous from thoughts (noemata) at the time of prayer: and take your stand on your own [inner] quiet, so that He who suffers with the ignorant (cf. Heb 5:2) will manifest Himself to you too; then you will receive a most glorious gift of prayer.
§71
YOU are not able to pray purely if you are enmeshed in material affairs and shaken about by constant cares, because prayer is [the] putting aside of thoughts (noemata).
§72
IT is not possible one who is chained to run; nor is it possible for the nous to see the place of spiritual prayer while enslaved to passions, for it is carried to and fro by impassioned thought (noemata) and can have no firm standing place.
§73
ONCE the nous is praying purely unwaveringly, and truly, [completely] apart from the [passions], the demons no longer insinuate themselves from the left, but from the right. They set before it the glory of God and shape it in the form of things beloved by the senses, so that [the nous] will believe it has perfectly achieved its goal concerning prayer. An admirable and ascetical (praktikos) man explained that this is caused by the passion of vainglory and by the demon that attaches itself to [a particular] place in the brain and makes the veins pulsate.
§74
I BELIEVE the demon touches that place [thus] manipulating the light surrounding the nous however he wishes; and in this way the passion of vainglory produces a [tempting-]thought (logismos) that shapes the nous so that it will foolishly [try to] localize the divine, essential knowledge. This sort of person is not troubled by carnal and impure passions; rather he seems to stand purely before [God]. So he presumes there is no longer any opposing energy at work within him: and therefore he assumes he sees a divine apparition; one that [actually] comes from the demon who very cunningly manipulates by means of the brain the light conjoined [to the nous], thus shaping [the nous], as we have said. [On the light of the nous and its possible origins: cf. KG 1.35, 1.74; 1.81, 2.29; 3.44, 3.52, 5.15; Sch.258 on Prov. 23.22 ; Prak. 64; Gnost. 45; Prayer 75; Thoughts/Peri.Log. 17, 39, 40, 42; Skem. 2, 4, 23, 25, 27; Letter 39.5; Antiret. 6.16.]
§75
THE angel of God comes and with a single word makes all the opposing activity within us cease, and moves the light of the nous to undeviating activity. [On the light of the nous and its possible origins: cf. KG 1.35, 1.74; 1.81, 2.29; 3.44, 3.52, 5.15; Sch.258 on Prov. 23.22 ; Prak. 64; Gnost. 45; Prayer 75; Thoughts/Peri.Log. 17, 39, 40, 42; Skem. 2, 4, 23, 25, 27; Letter 39.5; Antiret. 6.16.]