On the Lord’s Prayer 1 part 3/4

But since not being unbegotten is common to the Son and the Spirit, lest any confusion be observed concerning the underlying subject, it is again possible, without mixture, to find the difference in their distinguishing properties, so that both the common element may be preserved, and the particular not be confused.

and up to this point our discourse establishes for him his distinguishing property.

But the Holy Spirit is said to be both from the Father, and is also attested to be of the Son;

"for if anyone," it says, "does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him."

Therefore the Spirit, which is from God, is also the Spirit of Christ;

but the Son, being from God, is neither also of the Spirit, nor is he so called;

nor does this relational order reverse, so that the statement could, by an equal inversion, be turned about, and just as we say "the Spirit of Christ," so also name Christ "of the Spirit."

Since, then, this distinguishing property clearly and without confusion distinguishes the one from the other, while the identity of activity bears witness to the commonality of nature, the pious understanding concerning the divine is strengthened by both — so that the Trinity is both numbered by its hypostases, and is not divided into parts of differing nature.

Speaking of the Father, they say, "Why does this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" If, then, God forgives sins, and the Son takes away the sin of the world, and the Holy Spirit cleanses from the stains of sin those in whom it comes to dwell, what will those say who wage war against their own life? But let the Holy Spirit come upon us, and cleanse us, and may he make us receptive of the lofty and God-befitting thoughts shown to us through prayer by the voice of the Savior — to whom be glory unto the ages of ages.

{ORATIO IV.} {"Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

Give us this day our daily bread."} I have heard a certain physician speaking in technical terms about the nature of health;

and perhaps what was said might not be beside the point for us also, with regard to the well-being of the soul.

For he defined the deviation of some one of the elements within us from due measure as the origin and cause of the constitution of disease, and conversely he affirmed that the restoration of what had been wrongly disturbed to its proper and natural state was the cure of the morbid cause.

And for this reason he thought it necessary to observe which, above all, of the elements moving in disorder within us, through its own predominance, weakens the corresponding contribution of its counterpart toward health;

so that, if heat should predominate, one ought to bring aid to that which is being overpowered, and to moisten what is being dried out, lest, the moisture failing, the heat should be utterly withered and extinguished in itself, consuming itself about itself; and likewise, if any of the other elements observed in us in the opposite condition should exceed its proper limit, one ought to apply the assistance of art to what is diminished, so as to stand against what is in excess; and when this has taken place, and nothing hinders the equal balance of the elements, health is restored to the body, nature no longer being irregular in its mixture.

What, then, does this long preamble to my discourse intend? Perhaps the observation is not beside the point, nor has it been set at any great distance from the subject now before us;

For set before us for contemplation is the phrase, 'Thy will be done.'

Humanity was once in a spiritual health, when, as it were, certain elements — I mean the movements of the soul — were mixed in us in equal balance according to the principle of virtue.

But when the desiring faculty grew strong, the disposition conceived as its opposite — self-control — was overpowered by the excess, and there was nothing to restrain the immoderate movement of desire toward what is not fitting; from this the deadly disease, sin, arose in human nature.

The true physician of the sufferings of the soul, therefore, who came into the life of men for the sake of those who were sick, by the thoughts contained in prayer loosens the disease-causing cause and leads us back to spiritual health.

Now the health of the soul is the good success of the divine will, just as, conversely, falling away from the good will is a disease of the soul ending in death.

Since, then, we grew weak when we abandoned the good regimen in paradise, when we drank in utterly the poison of disobedience, and through this our nature was overpowered by this evil and deadly disease, the true physician came, healing the evil, according to the law of medicine, by means of opposites.

And those who for this reason had fallen into sickness, because they were separated from the divine will, he again frees from the disease by union with the will of God.

For the words of the prayer are a remedy for the sickness that has arisen in the soul;

for one who says, 'Thy will be done,' prays as one gripped by, as it were, certain pains in his soul.

Now the will of God is the salvation of mankind.

Whenever, then, we come to the point of saying to God, 'Let thy will be done in me also,' it is altogether necessary first to accuse that former life which was outside the divine purpose, and to go through this in confession, saying: 'Since the opposing will worked evil in me through my past life, and I became a servant of the evil tyrant, like some executioner carrying out the sentence of the enemy against myself, therefore, taking pity on my perdition, grant that thy will also may come to be in me.'

For just as, when light is brought into the dark places of caves, the darkness vanishes, so too, when thy will comes to be in me, every evil and improper movement of the will passes into non-being.

For self-control will quench the unrestrained and passionate impulse of the mind; humility will consume vainglory; moderation will heal the disease of pride; and the good of love will drive away a great array of evils that are ranged against the soul;

for before this hatred withdraws, envy, wrath, the movement of anger, the disposition to rage, plotting, hypocrisy, the memory of grievances, the desire for retaliation, the boiling of the blood around the heart, the bitter eye — the whole herd of such evils vanishes before the loving disposition.

Thus the working of God's purpose casts out the twofold idolatry;

by 'twofold' I mean both the madness for idols and the desire for silver and gold, which the word of prophecy named 'the idols of the nations.'

Let thy will be done, therefore, that the will of the devil may be quenched.

For man does not come to evil with the same ease with which he returns again from it to the good, just as one may also observe the same principle in the case of bodies: it is not in the same way, nor with equal facility, that what is healthy falls into sickness and that what has been sick is restored to health.

through gluttony, or through some other such thing, sickness or death immediately follows;

but deliverance from the sickness comes about through many devices and difficulties and medical arts — if indeed it comes about at all.

But if the inclination is to turn toward the better, there is need of God to bring the desire to fulfillment.

so too righteousness, piety, and estrangement from the passions —

for the word 'will' comprehends generically all the virtues, and each of the particulars conceived within the good is contemplated within the will of God.

But what does the addition of the words, 'as in heaven, so also on earth,' intend? It seems to me that the text perhaps hints at some of the deeper doctrines, and provides a certain teaching, worthy of God's understanding, in the contemplation of creation.

All rational creation is divided into the incorporeal and the corporeal nature.

The incorporeal is the angelic, and the other kind is we human beings.

The intelligible nature, then, being separated from the burdensome body — I mean this resistant body that weighs down toward the earth — travels on to the region above, dwelling in the light and ethereal regions, its nature being light and easily moved;

but the other kind, on account of our body's kinship with the earthly, has of necessity been allotted this earthbound life, as it were a kind of sediment of mire; and I do not know just what the divine purpose is arranging through this — whether it is making all creation akin to itself, so that neither the lower portion should be deprived of the heights of heaven, nor heaven as a whole be deprived of the things on earth, so that through the human creature there might come about a certain sharing between each of the elements of what is conceived in the other — the intellectual part of the soul, which seems akin and of the same kindred as the powers in heaven, dwelling in earthly bodies, and this earthy flesh, at the restoration of all things, being made to migrate together with the soul into the heavenly region (for we shall be caught up, as the apostle says, in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord) — whether, then, this is the reason, or whether the wisdom of God is arranging something else besides this, the whole rational nature, divided in this twofold life, has been split: the incorporeal part having obtained the heavenly blessedness as its lot, the other, through flesh, being turned back toward the earth on account of its kinship with it.

The desire for the beautiful and the good, however, has been implanted with equal honor in each of the two natures, and the Master of all has made self-mastery, self-determination, and freedom from all necessity equal in both, so that everything that is honored with reason and understanding might be governed by a certain self-determining choice.

But the life above is altogether pure of evil, and none of the things conceived as its opposite has any part in their common life;

but every passionate movement and disposition ranges about the life below, among which is the human.

And all the evil that has come into subsistence outside the good, by the very withdrawal from it, has flowed together around this low-lying life like some dregs and mire, by which the human is defiled, being hindered by such darkness from beholding the divine light of truth.

But as if someone were to object, 'And how is it possible for the purity found in the incorporeal powers to be achieved by those who have been allotted life through flesh, when the soul is plunged into countless cares because of bodily needs?' — for this reason it seems to me that, as if resolving such a perplexity, the text proceeds in what follows to loosen what seems difficult with respect to the concern at hand.

For the angel does not ask God in prayers for the supply of bread, because his nature possesses no need of such things; but man has been directed to ask, because that which is emptied is altogether in need of that which fills it up.

For the constitution of human life is fluid and transient, ever seeking that which is renewed in place of that which has been spent.

He, therefore, who looks to the service of nature, and is not dragged by vain cares beyond what is necessary, will not fall much short of the angelic way of life, imitating in himself, by his contentment with little, their freedom from need.

...vessels — not abundance of land, not command of armies, not rule over cities and nations, not herds of horses and oxen and great numbers of other cattle, not an abundance of slaves, not renown in the marketplaces, not statues, not portraits, not fabrics of silk, not the entertainments of music, nor anything else of the kind by which the soul is dragged away from divine and more honorable concern — but bread.

Do you see the breadth of this philosophy? How many teachings are comprehended in this brief phrase? It all but cries out plainly through the word to those with ears to hear: 'Cease, O men, from being dissipated in your desires over vain things; cease from multiplying against yourselves the occasions of your toils.'

Small is the debt owed to nature;

you owe nourishment to your flesh — a modest thing and easily obtained, if you look only to what is needed.

Likewise, what is pleasing to the eye, fragrant, and savory to the taste, provides the senses with a gratification that is fleeting and momentary;

but once past the palate, the difference among the things ingested is indistinguishable, nature alike changing all things into foulness.

Do you see the end of fine cookery? Do you see the outcome of the sorcery of seasoning? Ask for bread on account of the need of life; nature has made you a debtor of this to the body.

But whatever has been devised by the inventions of those who live in luxury belongs to the sowing-alongside of tares.

It is wheat, and from wheat bread is made.

But luxury is the tare, which was sown alongside the wheat by the enemy.

But men, having abandoned the service of nature through necessary things, are truly choked, as the word says somewhere, by their pursuits of vain things, and remain unfruitful, since the soul continually occupies itself with these things.

It seems to me that Moses too philosophizes about something of this sort through riddles, presenting the serpent to Eve as counselor of the pleasure that comes through taste.

For they say that this creature, the serpent, if it should insert its head into the crevice into which it creeps, cannot easily be drawn back out from the tail by those pulling against it, since its naturally rough scale resists in the opposite direction against the force of those dragging it;

and where the passage forward is unimpeded, since the smooth part of the scale slides through, there withdrawal from behind is impossible, being resisted by the projections of the scales — the account showing, I think, that one must guard against pleasure as it enters and creeps into the spine of the soul, and must block up, as far as possible, the crevices of life.

For thus human life would be kept pure from intercourse with wild beasts.

But if it should gain some passage against us, once the well-jointed life in us has been dissolved, the serpent of pleasure will nest through these openings, becoming, by means of its scales, hard to expel from the recesses of the mind.

But when you hear 'scales,' understand through this riddle the manifold occasions of pleasures;

for the passion of pleasure is, in generic terms, one single beast, but the various and manifold forms of pleasures, which have been mingled into human life through the senses — these are the scales upon the serpent, mottled with the variety of the passions.

If, then, you flee cohabitation with the beast, guard the head — that is, the first assault of evil;

for to this points the riddle of the Lord's commandment: 'He shall guard your head, and you shall guard his heel.'

Do not give passage to the creeping thing as it crawls inward, bringing in with it, from the very first beginning, its whole trailing length.

Let the boundary of your concern for living be the filling of what is lacking by means of whatever is at hand.

But if the counselor of Eve should converse with you also about what is beautiful to the eye and sweet to the taste, and you should seek, besides bread, some relish of such-and-such a kind, prepared with such-and-such seasonings, and then, through these, lead your desire outside the necessary bounds, then you will see the creeping thing secretly creeping further, in step, toward covetousness.

For having crept from necessary nourishment to gourmandizing, it will pass on to what is pleasing to the eyes, seeking bright vessels, and dainty attendants, and silver couches, soft bedding, transparent and gold-sprinkled coverlets, thrones, tripods, basins, mixing-bowls, drinking-horns, wine-coolers, wine-pitchers, ewers, lampstands, censers, and seeking after such things.

For in order that the provision for such things not be lacking, there is need of revenues, by which the things sought will be furnished.

So then, such-and-such a man must weep, and his housemate must wail, and many must become pitiable, falling from their own possessions, so that through those tears the tragedy at this man's table might be made splendid.

And once the serpent has coiled itself into these things too, and has filled the belly with what suits its purpose, then consequently, after such satiety, writhing onward, it drags him down into unrestrained frenzy.

And this is the last of human evils.

So that none of these things may come to pass, then, confine your life to the sufficiency of bread, seeking as relish that which nature itself prepares for you.

And this is, above all, a good conscience, which sweetens the bread through righteous partaking.

But if you should wish also to gratify the sense of taste in the throat, let want become your relish, and do not pile satiety upon satiety, nor blunt your appetite through overindulgence;

but let the sweats of the commandments go before your nourishment.

'In sweat and toil shall you eat your bread.'

...a seasoning of the word? It is enough for you to occupy your mind only up to this need;

Rather, do not bind your soul even to this extent with anxieties about bread, but say to him who brings the bread forth from the earth, say to him who feeds the ravens, to him who gives food to all flesh, to him who opens his hand and fills every living thing with good pleasure: ‘From you comes my life; from you also let the means for life come.’

Do you give the bread — that is, may I obtain my food from righteous labors.

For if God is righteousness, then he who has his food from greed does not have his bread from God.

You yourself are the master of this prayer — if your abundance is not from what belongs to others, if your income is not from tears, if no one has hungered on account of your surfeit, if no one has groaned on account of your fullness.

Such bread, above all, is the bread of God — the fruit of righteousness, the ear of peace, unmixed and unstained by the seeds of the tares.

For the fruit that comes from injustice is borne by the opposing nature.

He who is zealous for righteousness receives his bread from God;

but he who cultivates injustice is fed by the benefactor of injustice.

Looking, then, to your own conscience, in this way bring your petition concerning bread before God, knowing that Christ has no fellowship with Belial.

And even if you bring gifts from injustice, the gift is the price of a dog and the wages of a harlot;

and even if you make your offerings splendid through lavish generosity, you will hear the prophet abhorring the contribution that comes from such things:

‘What are your many sacrifices to me?’ says the Lord;

‘I am full of the whole burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats;

incense,’ he says, ‘is an abomination to me.’

Elsewhere, he who sacrifices a calf is reckoned as one who slays a dog.

If, then, you have your bread from the Lord — that is, from righteous labors — it is possible for you also to offer him first-fruits from the fruits of righteousness.

Good also is the addition of ‘today’;

for it says, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’

This saying is another kind of philosophy, so that you might learn, through what you yourself say, that human life is a thing of a single day.

The present alone belongs properly to each person, while the hope of what is to come remains uncertain;

for we do not know what the next day will bring forth.

Why, then, do we wear ourselves out over things uncertain, why do we suffer hardship with cares over things to come? ‘Sufficient for the day,’ he says, ‘is its own trouble’ — calling hardship ‘trouble.’

Who makes the sun rise? Who makes the darkness of the night vanish? Who shows you the ray of light? Who turns the heaven around, so that the light-bearer comes to be above the earth? Does he who gives you these things, and things so great, have need of your cooperation in order to supply what is lacking to your flesh’s need? What zeal does the nature of irrational creatures bring to bear for their own life? What fields do the ravens have? What storehouses do the eagles possess? Is it not one and the same provision for living — the divine will, by which all things are held together — that is given to all alike? Then again, an ox, or an ass, or some other irrational creature, possesses by nature, self-taught, a philosophy of its own, and orders the present well, while it has no care at all for what comes next;

but we need counselors in order to understand this precarious and day-bound character of life according to the flesh.

— to the body alone; while what is stored up through hope belongs properly to the soul.

But the folly of human beings goes astray concerning the use of each: extending the bodily life by means of hopes, while dragging the soul’s life down to the enjoyment of present things.

Bread belongs to today’s need; the kingdom belongs to the blessedness that is hoped for.

By saying ‘bread,’ he includes every bodily need.

If we ask for these things, it will be clear to the mind of the one who prays that his concern is with what belongs to a single day;

but if it is something belonging to the goods of the soul, it will be clear that his petition looks toward what is continuous and unending — that toward which he especially bids those who pray to look, since, when the greater need is secured, the first need is thereby secured together with it.

'Ask,' he says, 'for the kingdom and righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you' — in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever.

{ORATION V.} {‘Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’} Our discourse, advancing, has now come to the very summit of virtue.

For through the words of the prayer he traces out what sort of person he wishes the one who approaches God to be — one who is no longer, so to speak, shown to be within the bounds of human nature, but who is made like to God himself through virtue,

so that he seems to be another kind of being, in doing those things which belong to God alone to do.

For the forgiveness of debts is a property of God, and belongs to him alone;

for it has been said, ‘No one can forgive sins but God alone.’

If, then, someone should imitate in his own life the distinguishing marks of the divine nature, he becomes, in a certain manner, that very one whose imitation he has displayed through exact likeness.

What, then, does this saying teach? First, to acknowledge in ourselves, by the boldness that comes from a well-lived life, our likeness to God; and then to be confident enough to call God our own Father, and to ask amnesty for our past transgressions — since obtaining what one asks for does not lie with the one who asks, but with the one who, through his own deeds, has granted himself the boldness of his petition.

For this present utterance speaks to us directly, saying that he who draws near to the Benefactor should himself be a benefactor; he who draws near to the Good should be good; to the Just, just; forbearing to the Forbearing; and loving toward mankind to the one who loves mankind; and, likewise, in all other respects, toward the one who is kind and equitable and generous in sharing his goods, and who dispenses mercy to all — and whatever else is observed concerning the divine, let him, being made like to it in each respect through his own choice, thus secure for himself the boldness of prayer.

As, then, it is not possible for what is evil to be made akin to the good, nor for one defiled by unclean stains to have fellowship with the pure and undefiled, so also harshness separates from the loving-kindness of God the one who approaches him.

He, then, who holds in bitterness the one subject to him on account of debts, by his own manner of conduct cuts himself off from the divine loving-kindness.

For what fellowship is there between loving-kindness and cruelty, between a loving disposition and savagery, and all the other things that are conceived by contrast to the good, in opposition to evil — things whose opposition admits no mixture, in which he who is seized by the one is altogether separated from the other? For just as he who has come to be in death is not in life, and he who partakes of life is separated from death, so it is altogether necessary that the one who draws near to the loving-kindness of God should be outside all harshness,

being outside all things conceived under vice, and, having in a certain manner become god through such a disposition, he thereby achieves for himself that very thing which our argument discerns concerning the divine nature.

Do you see to how great a height the Lord raises those who hear him through the words of the prayer, transforming human nature, in a certain manner, toward the more divine, and legislating that those who draw near to God should become gods? ‘Why,’ he says, ‘do you approach God like a slave, cowering in fear, and scourged by your own conscience? Why do you shut out from yourself the boldness that resides in the freedom of the soul, the boldness that has from the beginning been united in substance with your nature? Why do you flatter with words the one who cannot be flattered? Why do you bring words of service and cajolery to the one who looks to deeds? It is possible for you, with a free and noble disposition, to have authority over everything that is good and comes from God.’

Be yourself your own judge;

give yourself the saving verdict.

You seek from God that your debts be forgiven you;

do you forgive, and God has already cast his vote.

For the judgment concerning your kinsman, of which you are master, becomes your own vote, whatever sort it may be;

for whatever you decide concerning yourself, this is ratified for you through the divine judgment.

But how could anyone worthily unveil the grandeur of this divine utterance? The thought surpasses any interpretation drawn from mere words.

‘Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.’

For the thoughts that occur to me concerning this saying are bold indeed even for the mind to grasp, and bold too to unveil in words.

For what is being said? Just as God is set before those who accomplish the good as a model for imitation (as the apostle said, ‘Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ’), so, conversely, he wishes your own disposition to become, in turn, a model of goodness for God; and the order is, in a manner, reversed, so that one might dare to hope — just as in us the good is accomplished through imitation of the divine — that likewise God might imitate what is ours, whenever we accomplish some good thing, so that you too might say to God, ‘What I have done, do you also do:

imitate your servant, O Lord; imitate the poor and needy man, O King of all;

I have forgiven the debts; do not you demand them back;

I had regard for the suppliant; do not you reject the one who supplicates you;

I sent my debtor away rejoicing; let yours also become such;

do not make your debtor more sorrowful than mine;

perhaps the two debtors should give thanks alike to those who might have exacted repayment;

let the forgiveness granted by both of us to our debtors — mine and yours — be established as equal.’

My debtor is so-and-so; but yours is I myself;

the judgment which I held concerning him, let that same judgment prevail also with you concerning me;

I have shown great mercy to my fellow man; imitate, O Lord, the loving-kindness of your servant.’

‘But the offenses committed against you are heavier than those committed against me by this man.’

‘I say so too; and consider this — how greatly you surpass in every good thing;

for it is just for you, in proportion to the abundance of your power, to grant to us who have sinned a mercy that corresponds to it.’

‘I have shown but a small loving-kindness, for my nature could not contain more; but you may show as much as you wish, since your power places no obstacle to great generosity.’

But let us examine with still greater diligence the clause of the prayer now before us, in the hope that, through contemplation of its meaning, some guidance toward the exalted life may come to us as well.

Let us therefore examine what kind of debts human nature is liable for, and again what kind are those whose remission lies within our own power.

For from knowing these things there might come to us a certain moderate understanding of the abundance of the divine blessings.