This brief treatise is dedicated to the elucidation of three forms of prayer- two of which are insufficient and harmful, and one of which is the will of God for men. Here we find the contours of a true and God-pleasing approach to prayer.  This treatise is one of two of the Saint’s teachings that were selected by the original editors of the Philokalia for inclusion. The great “New Theologian” Symeon (949-1022), was called a “missionary of the mystical life, by the contemporary English editors of the Philokalia.