Open iTunes to preview, buy, and download this movie.
Plot Summary
Christian monks and nuns appear on film describing and demonstrating their personal prayers of the heart and soul, for the first time ever on film. On a spiritual journey from the Holy lands of Egypt, to Mt. Sinai, Mt. Athos in Greece, Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia, Dr. Norris and Father John retrace the steps of ancient pilgrims in search of a word of wisdom from the ancient desert and forest dwellers.
Credits
Director
Producer
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
20%- Reviews Counted: 5
- Fresh: 1
- Rotten: 4
- Average Rating: 4.4/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: Largely predictable.
Rotten: Though initially fascinating, this two-hour travelogue soon becomes repetitive as it forsakes stark desert isolation for icon-festooned churches and overcrowded ceremonies.
Rotten: Tackles the ancient and the unknown with such repetitive and increasingly unenlightening means that the documentary soon morphs into an overlong travelogue.
Rotten: For a film so bent on celebrating the power of silence, Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer has a whole lot of explanatory talking.
Customer Reviews
A Pilgrimage of Prayer
The Jesus Prayer lies at the core of ancient Christianity. Although it has been preserved primarily in the churches and monasteries of the Christian east it is a universal prayer of and for all Christians, lay or ordained, Eastern or Western, monk or married. A beautiful and inspiring movie by Dr. Norris Chumley and Fr. John McGuckin, The Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer, now makes this prayer readily accessible. The scenery is beautiful and the conversations inspiring.
The Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer is not simply a movie, it is pilgrimage of prayer. Dr. Norris Chumley and Fr. John McGuckin take us on a journey to monasteries and churches and at each place they introduce us to holy men and women. Along the way they guide us from the city to the desert, from noise to silence, and from busyness to stillness. We do not go, however, as spectators but as disciples. Their conversations with monks, nuns, and priests are more like spiritual direction than a script or dialog.
At the end of the movie I was left wanting more conversation about the Jesus Prayer, more teaching and instruction. There comes a time, however, when we must stop learning about prayer and simply go pray. “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
The Jesus prayer
What a phenomenal movie, to see the monks and nuns their peaceful and holy faces is a great joy. Every living creature everything that breathes should see this movie. We orthodox go back more than 2 thousand years we have the truth no ands ifs buts about it, it's a blessing a privilege of God. May He have mercy on all
Rita Molfetas
Powerful
An amazing journey into the power and mystery of Eastern Christianity. It will be the best $5 you have spent in a long time.
Viewers Also Bought
- Into Great Silence
- Philip Gröning
- View In iTunes
- Questioning Faith
- Macky Alston
- View In iTunes
- Finger of God
- Darren Wilson
- View In iTunes
- Inside the Koran
- Antony Thomas
- View In iTunes