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Tertullian. Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself both by the spirit of God, and by the word of God, and by the wisdom of God: by the spirit with which he acted so omnipotently; the word he taught; the wisdom which He revealed by His coming. And prayer from these three: from the word by which it is spoken; from the spirit that is so strong; from the wisdom that flows from it and is received. John also taught his disciples to pray; but everything of John was pre-arranged for Christ, so that, as He grew, all the work of this pre-organizer would pass to the Lord with the very spirit, as John himself foretold, saying: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). That is why it has not been preserved, in what words John taught us to pray, that earthly things must give way to heavenly things: “He who comes from above is above all; but he who is from the earth is and speaks as he who is from the earth; He who comes from heaven is above all, and what He has seen and heard is what He bears witness to” (John 3:31-32). And what is not heavenly that came from Christ the Lord, like this prayer, or the science of how to pray? Let us delve, blessed ones, into His heavenly wisdom, firstly in the commandment about praying in secret, by which He demanded faith from man, so that he would believe that the eye and ear of Almighty God are present in the most secret and hidden places, and he desired modesty of faith so that he would express his reverent and prayerful feelings before That One, in Whom he saw and heard everywhere; and then in the next commandment, similar faith and modesty requiring the commandment not to talk too much in prayer, so that we do not approach the Lord with a horde of words in prayer, in whom we are confident of extreme care for our own. This is the prayer He established. It's short; but this brevity will provide abundant and delightful food for interpretation. As much as it is compressed in words, it is just as extensive in meaning. For not only does it contain what should be expressed in prayer - reverence before God, the outpouring of petitions to Him, but it embraces the entire teaching of the Lord, and carries out all His lessons and instructions in memory, so that it is truly an abbreviation of the entire Gospel. St. Cyprian of Carthage. The gospel commandments are nothing more, dear brothers, than divine instructions, grounds for the edification of hope, supports for the establishment of faith, food for strengthening the heart, a helm for directing the path, an aid for obtaining salvation: by instructing obedient (faith) minds of believers on earth, they lead to the Kingdom of Heaven. God was pleased to announce and offer many things through His servants - the prophets: how much more important is what the Son says, that He testifies with His own voice - the Word of God, who was in the prophets - not commanding to prepare the way for the future, but Himself coming to open and show us the way, so that we, who wandered in darkness, previously imprudent and blind, being illuminated by the light of grace, would adhere to the path of life under the guidance and control of the Lord! It was He, among His other saving instructions and divine commandments that help people to salvation, He Himself gave a model of prayer, He Himself instructed and taught what we should ask for. He who gave life, according to the goodness by which he was pleased to bestow upon us other gifts, taught us to pray, so that, turning to the Father with that petitionary prayer that the Son taught us, we would be heard all the more easily. He foretold the coming of the time when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and truth, and He fulfilled this in such a way that we, who have received the Spirit and truth from His sanctification, worship truly and spiritually, holding to His tradition. For what prayer could be more spiritual than that which was bequeathed to us by Christ, who also sent down to us the Holy Spirit? What prayer can be more true from the Father, if not the prayer that came from the mouth of the Son, Who is the Truth? Consequently, to pray differently from what He taught is not only ignorance, but also a crime, especially since He himself once remarked: “You have made void the commandment of God by your tradition” (Matthew 15:6). Let us, beloved brothers, pray as the Teacher God taught us. To pray to God according to His instructions, to reach His ears with the prayer of Christ - this is a pleasant and accessible prayer to Him! When we pray, may the Father know the words of his Son. He who dwells within us, in the heart, may he also be in speech. Since He is the Father’s intercessor for our sins, then, when we pray for our sins, we sinners will also use the words of our Intercessor. He says that whatever we ask the Father in His name, He will give it to us (John 16:23); therefore, will we not receive what we ask in the name of Christ all the more surely if we ask through Christ’s prayer? St. Gregory of Nyssa. God's word teaches us a teaching about prayer, in which He sets forth to His worthy disciples, who carefully seek knowledge about prayer, what prayerful utterances should be used to incline God's ear. When the great Moses prepared the people of Israel for the secret teaching on the mountain, then he did not honor them with the Epiphany before he prescribed to the people the law of purification by observing bodily purity and washing. And even after this, the Israelites did not dare to see the manifestation of God’s power, but everything visible terrified them, fire, darkness, smoke, chimneys; and again turning to themselves, they asked the legislator to become their mediator before the divine will, since they did not have sufficient strength to approach God and endure God’s presence. And our lawgiver, the Lord Jesus Christ, intending to lead us to divine grace, shows us in a word not Mount Sinai, covered in darkness and smoking with fire, not the voices of trumpets sounding something inaudible and terrible, and not observing three days of carnal purity, not with water washing away filth, having cleansed the soul, and leaving the entire church at the foot of the mountain, only allows one to ascend to the top, covered darkness concealing the divine glory; but on the contrary, first, instead of a mountain, he raises to heaven itself, making it accessible for people through virtue, then makes it not only spectators, but also partakers of divine power, and in some way introduces those who approach Him into kinship with a higher nature, and does not cover with darkness the all-surpassing glory, so that it is inconceivable for those who seek, but, illuminating the darkness with a clear light teachings, made the pure in heart behold the ineffable glory in complete clarity. He also gives water for sprinkling, not drawn from alien streams, but flowing within ourselves, whether anyone understands by it the springs of the eyes, or the clear conscience of the heart, having legitimized not to allow any mud of vice; and it also provides carnal purity in abstinence, not only from the legal communication of spouses, but also from any material and passionate disposition; and thus through prayer leads one to God. For such is the power of utterances, from which we recognize not any sounds pronounced in syllables from God’s word, but the destiny of the ascent to God, successfully brought to fulfillment by a high life. St. John Chrysostom. Having given a sample of prayer to the disciples, the Lord instills in them what needs to be said in prayer, while teaching in a few words and every virtue; for these words contain not only instruction in prayer, but also teaching for a perfect life. Let us examine their meaning with all care, and let us keep them firmly, as the laws of God. St. Maximus the Confessor sees in this prayer “theology, adoption in grace, equality of (people) with the Angels, communion of eternal life, restoration of (human) nature to its original dispassionate state, the overthrow of the law of sin and the overthrow of the evil one, who has subjected us, through deception, to his tyrannical dominion.” You might be interested in: