[Scriptum compendiosum Psalterii intentionem declarans]

Hence it is read concerning our Lord and Savior that he often spent the night in prayer (Matthew 14 and Luke 5). It is, however, to be known that there is a threefold prayer; namely, vocal, of which the Psalmist says: "I cried to the Lord with my voice"; and mental, of which the Psalmist says: "The Lord has heard the desire of the poor"; and actual, or of work, which is done by working well, as the gloss says on that passage in Luke where it is above: "He does not cease to pray who does not cease to do good." It is read in the Conferences of the Fathers that when Abbot Isaac was asked how that command of the Apostle could be fulfilled, "Pray without ceasing," he replied: "When our mind has been freed from every passion and joined to that supreme good with the most ardent desire, then we shall fulfill that command of the Apostle: 'Pray without ceasing.' Then, indeed, our mind, sublimated as if to angelic purity from earthly filth, whatever it may have received into itself, whatever it may have handled, whatever it may have done, will be called the most pure and most sincere prayer." This is there. It is said in the Lives of the Fathers about Abbot Arsenius that in the evening of the Sabbath, he would leave the sun behind him and extend his hands to heaven, praying until the morning of the Lord's day illuminated his face. In the Conferences of the Fathers, it is also said about the blessed Anthony that when he had lasted one night so much in prayers and the sun had begun to rise,

Anthony exclaimed in the fervor of his spirit, saying: "Why do you hinder me, O sun? For this purpose you now rise, that you may distract me from the clarity of such light." Also, in the Lives of the Fathers about Abbot Bessarion, that his disciple entering his cell often found him standing in prayer, having his hands extended to heaven, remaining doing this continuously for 14 days. Also, it is read about Julian the Apostate that he sent a certain demon to bring him a response from the East, who, passing through the place where the monk Publius was praying, could not pass further but stood immovable, with him continuing in prayer for 40 days. That one, having returned with the business unfinished to Julian, reported that he had been hindered by the praying monk. Then Julian threatened the monk, but was shortly destroyed. Also, about the blessed John the Hermit, who had stood for three years upon one rock, praying continuously without any food except that he communicated the sacred Eucharist on the Lord's Day. An example also about the blessed Nicholas of Tolentino, who was so assiduous in prayer that from compline until cockcrow, and rising a little before matins, and after matins until morning, and after mass, unless occupied with confessions, until the third hour, and after the ninth hour engaged in obediences until vespers,