"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." These are the simple words of the Jesus prayer, used since the earliest Christian times as a means of quieting the mind, stilling the body, and opening the heart to God. This ancient prayer is now the subject of a new two-hour documentary, eight years in the making, by priest-historian Very Rev. John McGuckin and author-filmmaker Dr. Norris Chumley. "Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer" traces the steps of the two men as they visit hermitages, monasteries, and churches in five Orthodox countries, seeking spiritual insights from the monastics who have practiced the prayer for many decades.

The film opens in the Egyptian desert and shows us the tiny cave of St. Anthony, the third-century monk considered the father of Christian monasticism, and the oldest practicing monastery in the world named for him. It continues to the spectacular St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai and journeys to Greece, Romania, Ukraine, and the majestic Holy Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius in Moscow. Along the way we meet several monks and nuns who reflect on the Jesus prayer, monasticism, and the Christian life. They include a young Ukrainian raised Communist and now eagerly serving the church as a priest, a widely esteemed Romanian elder, blind since birth and author of numerous theological books, who passed away shortly after he was interviewed for the film, and a young nun at an "urban" monastery in Kiev, Ukraine, who touchingly described sensing God's presence right next to her during prayer.

Richly photographed and enhanced by Byzantine and Slavic chanting, the film beautifully portrays the splendor of Orthodox worship and spirituality.