Elder St. Porphyrios imparts words of wisdom.

"Our prayers are not heard because we are not worthy. You must become worthy in order to pray. We are not worthy because we do not love our neighbour as our self. Christ says so Himself: ‘If you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother holds something against you, leave there your gift before the altar and go first be reconciled with your brother and then come and offer your gift’. Go first to be reconciled with your brother and receive forgiveness in order to become worthy. If that is not done, you will be unable to pray. If you are not worthy, you can do nothing.

Once you have set in order all your unsettled business and prepared yourself, then go and offer your gift. Those who desire and crave to belong to Christ and who abandon themselves to the will of God become worthy. It’s a great thing, all-important, to have no will. The slave has no will of his own. And it is possible for us to have no will of our own in a very simple manner: through love for Christ and the keeping of His commandments.”

~ from ‘Wounded by Love’