Roots in the Eastern Jesus Prayer
In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Jesus Prayer is traditionally a brief, repeated invocation asking the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, for mercy, used as a continual, meditative practice by monastics and lay believers alike. The version recited within Santo Daime keeps this same core invocation and its repetitions but expands it into a much longer sequence.
A Long Litany of Renunciation and Virtue
The Santo Daime version moves through a lengthy, numbered sequence asking, in turn, to be free of specific faults — among them pride, envy, dishonesty, and despair — paired with requests to be strengthened in corresponding virtues such as humility, patience, faith, and charity. It also includes direct invocations to Saint Michael the Archangel, asking for guidance in guarding the mind, the will, and the heart against temptation.
Structure and Repetition
The prayer is organized around fixed counts of repetition — the name of Jesus and a fuller invocation to Christ are each repeated a set number of times — bracketed by the Glory Be recited to the Trinity, giving the practice a rhythmic, almost meditative quality distinct from the shorter prayers described elsewhere on this site.