Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer (2011)
By ANDY WEBSTER
7/4/2011
MOVIE REVIEW
Faces of monastic Christianity are examined at what seems like considerable length in “Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer,” a documentary seeking to shed a light on the beliefs and practices of monks living in cloistered solitude. Leading this spiritual journey are two educators: the Rev. Dr. John A. McGuckin, a priest-theologian of the Romanian Orthodox Church and a professor of Byzantine studies at Columbia and Union Theological Seminary, and Norris J. Chumley, a documentary veteran, columnist at Belief.net and The Huffington Post, and director of media for Columbia’s Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life.
Both men are earnest, understated and profoundly respectful of the lore and ritual of the monasteries they visit, at Mount Sinai in Egypt; Greece; Transylvania in Romania; Kiev, Ukraine; and Russia. But they don’t probe deeply, and the answers they draw from monks (and a nun or two) on camera are largely predictable. (“The greatest enemy of prayer is the Devil,” a wizened cleric says.) Their investigations are not enlivened by the narrators’ somnolent commentary and the persistent droning chants on the soundtrack. At least the sight of centuries-old skeletons in subterranean catacombs and the preserved remains of a monk offer a diverting morbidity.
The most consistent and useful thread running throughout this enervating travelogue is the value of silence as a path to inner peace, a notion to which any Manhattan dweller can surely attest.
MYSTERIES OF THE JESUS PRAYER
Opens on Friday in Manhattan.
Directed by Norris J. Chumley; written by Dr. Chumley and John A. McGuckin; directors of photography, Patrick F. Gallo, Dwight Grimm and John Foster; edited by David Aslan; music by Richard Devletian; produced by Dr. McGuckin and Mr. Aslan; released by Magnetic Arts and Passion River Films. At the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes. This film is not rated.
I purchased the film on iTunes and it was very well done, but unfortunately it is ruined by the comment of insinuating that we share the same God with islam. This takes place during the reference to Abraham. This is tragic, since it eliminates any chance of showing it to my evangelical friends.
Also, the comment that meeting the Patriarch Daniel in Romania was like meeting the pope….another unfortunate reference. If these two references were edited out, then it would be an excellent film.