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St. John Chrysostom. Having mentioned this nobility (through sonship), the highest gift, the unity of honor and love between brothers, having drawn the listeners away from earth and placed them in heaven, let us see what Jesus finally commands to pray for. Of course, calling God Father contains a sufficient teaching about all virtue: whoever calls God Father, and the common Father, must necessarily live in such a way as not to be unworthy of this nobility and show zeal equal to a gift. However, the Savior was not satisfied with this name, but added other sayings.
St. Gregory of Nyssa. The law, “having a shadow of the good things to come” (Heb. 10:1), and proclaiming the truth with certain educational fortune-telling, when it introduces a priest into the sanctuary to offer prayer to God, first cleanses the one entering with certain purifying sacrifices and sprinklings, then, adorning him with priestly clothing, splendidly speckled with gold, crimson and paints of other colors, lays it on him a confidant and withered, attaching bells with buttons to the edges of his clothes, and fastening his outer clothes on the ramens and decorating his head with a diadem, pouring copious amounts of myrrh on his hair, he finally leads him into the sanctuary to perform mysterious sacred rites.
The spiritual lawgiver - our Lord Jesus Christ, stripping the law from its bodily veils and bringing to clarity the divinatory meaning of the prototypes, firstly, he not only selects one from the whole people, brings him into conversation with God, but equally bestows dignity on everyone, offering those who wish the common grace of the priesthood, and then, with unborrowed decoration, found in some kind of paint and weaving trick, he gives artificial beauty to the priest, but puts on the decoration characteristic and akin to him instead of variously speckled clothes, making him flowery with the pleasantries of virtues; and decorates the chest not with earthly gold, but with an immaculate and clear conscience, giving beauty to the heart. The brilliance of precious stones also adapts to this fading, and this, in the opinion of the Apostle, corresponds to the brightness of the holy commandments. Yes, and the parts that are decorated with this type of attire are protected from damage; Of course, you don’t know that decorating such a part is a veil of chastity.
He attached spiritual “bells” and “buttons” and “flowers” to the “cassocks” of life (Ex. 28:34), and by them others can rightly mean what is visible in a virtuous life, so that the passage of this life becomes glorious, and therefore, instead of a bell, he gave these cassocks the euphonious word of faith, and instead of a button - an intimate readiness for hope for the future, covered by a harsh life, and instead of flowers - the benign beauty of paradise; Thus he leads him into the sanctuary and the interior of the church. The sanctuary is not inanimate and not made by hands, but the hidden church of our heart, if indeed it is impenetrable to vice and inaccessible to evil thoughts. The head is decorated with heavenly wisdom, not by inscribing the image of letters on a golden tablet, but by depicting God himself in a sovereign mind. And he pours myrrh onto his hair, the soul within himself composed of virtues, and prepares it to be offered to God in a mysterious sacred rite, as a fragrance and sacrifice not of anything else, but of himself.
Thus, raised by the Lord to the priesthood, having put to death carnal wisdom with the sword of the spiritual, “which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:17), then, remaining in the sanctuary, he propitiates God, consecrating himself with such a sacrifice and presenting his body “as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1).
How one who is being dedicated should prepare himself is sufficiently shown by the word in what has been studied before, but it remains to consider the petition itself, which the Lord commanded the one staying inside the sanctuary to offer to God.
1st petition: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
St. Gregory of Nyssa. It seems to me that those who simply present the words of the prayer do not, at first glance, give us an understandable meaning. It is said: “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come.” How does this relate to my need? - another person will say, either punishing himself for sins with repentance, or, in order to flee from prevailing sin, calling on God for help, because he is always in front of his eyes, struggling with temptations. Here irritability takes the mind out of an orderly state; there the desires of the inappropriate weaken the strength of the soul; at other times, covetousness, arrogance, pride, hatred and the rest of the crowd opposing us, like some horde around surrounding enemies, bring blindness to the vigilance of the heart, and at the very extreme plunge the soul into danger. After this, for someone who is trying, with good assistance, to get rid of these evils, what words are most convenient to use? Isn’t it the same ones that the great David used when he said: “Let me get rid of those who hate me” (Ps. 68:15), and also: “Let them turn back...
plotting evil against me" (Ps. 34:4), and also: "Give us help from sorrow" (Ps. 59:13), - and others similar to this, with which we can raise up God's assistance against our enemies? Now, what does the law of prayer say? “Hallowed be Thy name.” Even if this is not said by me, is it really possible for the name of God not to be holy?! “Thy kingdom come.” What has been taken away from the power of God, Who, as Isaiah says, embraces the whole heaven with his hand, the whole earth with a handful, holds the moist nature with his hand, carries in his arms all creation, both of this world and the worldly (Is. 40:12). Therefore, if the name of God is always holy, nothing escapes the power of God’s dominion, but possesses everyone, does not require additions in holiness, is abundant and perfect in everything - which is expressed by the prayer with the words: “Hallowed be the name.” Yours, Thy kingdom come"?
St. Cyprian answers this way: “we say, “Hallowed be Thy name,” - not in the sense that we wish to God that He may be hallowed by our prayers; but we ask Him that His name may be sanctified in us. For from whom will God, who himself sanctifies everyone, be sanctified?”
Tertullian adds: “We prayed thus not so that it would be fitting for people to wish God well, as if there were something else that could be wished for Him, and in which He will be lacking if we do not wish Him that. But since it is fitting for us to bless God (Ps. 102:22) in every place and at every time, always remembering His great benefits to us, this word (“hallowed be thy name”) stands here instead of blessing (i.e., instead of “let him be blessed”). - Moreover, when is the name of God not holy and when is it not holy in itself, when He sanctifies everyone from Himself? But since His present host of Angels incessantly cries: “holy, holy, holy” (Is. 6:3; Apoc. 4:8); then we, candidates for the rank of Angels, are still learning to send the same heavenly voice to God, here still getting used to the future triumph. So, the first thought here is the thought of the glory of God.
St. John Chrysostom. “Hallowed be Thy name,” He says. To ask for nothing before the glory of the Heavenly Father, but to esteem everything below His praise - this is a prayer worthy of one who calls God Father! …God has his own glory, full of all greatness and never changing. ...Contemplating it, the seraphim, glorifying God, cry out like this: “holy, holy, holy” (Is. 6:3).
It's him. Let no one have the unreasonable thought that God is given the addition of holiness with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name.” He is holy and all-holy and holier than all saints. And the Seraphim bring Him such a song, constantly crying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! the whole earth is full of His glory” (Is.6:3). Just as those who bring praise to kings and call them kings and autocrats do not give them what they do not have, but praise what they have; so we do not communicate to God holiness that is not already with Him, when we say: “Hallowed be thy name,” but we glorify what is with Him; for “hallowed be he” is said here instead of “let him be glorified.”
St. Cassian. Having reached such a high degree of sons of God, we cannot help but burn with the love inherent in good deeds, which will force us in everything to seek not our own benefit, but the glory of our Father. Therefore we say: “Hallowed be thy name,” by which we testify that our hope, our joy, is the glory of our Father, following Him who said: “Whoever seeks the glory of Him who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (John 7:18).
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. “Hallowed be the name,” that is, let your name be glorified, says Saint John Chrysostom. This means that we should not seek anything other than the glory of God. A worthy prayer, says Chrysostom, who calls God the Father, is not to ask for anything before the glory of God, but to prefer His praise to everything. The name of God is holy and glorious even without our glorification, but we must try so that it is glorified in us too.
Collector (St. Theophan the Recluse). The second thought in the word “hallowed be” is - let it be reverently honoured. For what is sacred, we surround with all reverence, we always stand in awe of it, and we treat it with due fear. “Hallowed be Thy name” will be the same: plant Thy fear in the hearts of us who praise You! – And it is fitting for this petition to come first: for the reverent fear of God is the source of spiritual wisdom and a godly life. Whoever has it has a leader, a motivator and a reinforcer. As long as it exists, the soul is filled with indestructible strength against all sin and for all good. Because in this way he is the first thing in spiritual life about him and the first prayer.
Blazh. Augustine. It is said who is the One to whom we turn with prayer and where He dwells. (This is in the words: “Our Father who art in heaven”). Now let's see what we should pray to Him for. The first of all that is asked is: “Hallowed be Thy name.” We ask this not in the sense that the name of God is not holy, but in the sense that it may be holy among people; those. so let God know them, so that they do not consider anything else more holy and that they would be more afraid of offending His name. Likewise, when it is said: “God is known in Judea; His name is great in Israel” (Ps. 75:2), then this should not be understood as if in one place God was less great, and in another more; but there His name is great, where it is named according to the greatness of its greatness. Thus, the name of God is named there as a shrine, where it is named with reverence and fear of offending Him.
Why do you ask, that the name of God may be hallowed? - It's holy. What can we ask for, that what is already holy be holy? - Besides, when you ask, hallowed be His name, are you not asking Him for Him, and not for yourself? - But understand (as the meaning of the word should mean, and you will see) what you are asking for yourself. For this is what you ask, so that what is always holy in itself may be holy in you. What does “hallowed be” mean? Let the saints have it, let it not be despised. Do you see now that you wish for the best for yourself when you wish for it? For it is harmful for you when you despise the name of God, and not for God.
When we say: “Hallowed be Thy name,” we convince ourselves to desire and seek so that His name, which is always holy within itself, may be holy among people, i.e. was not despised; what is not necessary for God, but saving for people.
Collector (St. Theophan the Recluse). To these two thoughts, as an addition and application, you can add the following two.
First. The name of God is glorified and reverently revered when the ineffable all-perfection of God and His greatness are known with incorruptible truth and judgment, surpassing the measure of our comprehension. One can achieve knowledge of this by one’s own reflection under the guidance of divine revelation. And the humble God-Thinker cannot help but conclude his thoughts on God - either by praising God, marvelous in His perfections, or by falling before Him in fear and trembling, at the presentation of His immense greatness and His terrible truth and incorruptible judgments. But such manifestations of praise and reverence, arising from the measure of comprehension of God’s properties and greatness, do not themselves rise above this measure, and are far from the measure of God. Moreover, they appear as a result of pressure from the mind on the heart, which is why they are superficial. Real verbiage and reverence well up from the heart, causing the mind to only be amazed. This is accomplished by the action of God's grace. It gives the senses a taste of how good and great the Lord is, and behind the heart it leads the mind into contemplation of this.
And then there is true praise and reverence in the depths of the soul. It also happens that once it is planted in them, it never leaves them. And it is about this beneficial influence that the words of the prayer say: “Hallowed be Thy name.” Grant, Lord, by Your grace our hearts to taste how good You are, wonderful and great, and for our minds to enter into the contemplation of this, so that our praise and reverence, at least a little, fit into Your measure and, having settled inside us, never leave us! “Isn’t that why the Lord commanded to say: “Let us be holy,” and not: “Let us hallow,” because the grace-filled praise and fear of God, when they come, act on their own, leaving our spirit to be only a cognizant of what is happening and a taster of it.
Second. May Your name be glorified and reverently revered by all people. Those who pray for this, of course, themselves glorify God and revere Him, realizing their duty to this. Children naturally honor and glorify their father. But the very love for their father will not allow them to be content with the glory and veneration of their father only in their own circle; they desire and seek that their father be glorified and revered by all. So in relation to God, those who call Him their Father cannot be content only with their glorification and honor of Him; but they want all people to glorify Him and revere Him. Since this cannot be fulfilled otherwise than by the spread of true knowledge of God, through the spread of divine revelation; then the desire for everyone to glorify and honor God our Father naturally expresses the desire for the gospel of God to spread and for everyone to know His name. For our God is such that as soon as you know Him, you will no longer be able to help but glorify Him and revere Him. Blazh.
Augustine, having expressed the idea that the word “hallowed be” contains a prayer that the name of God may be reverently venerated, added: “and this is what the Gospel, proclaimed to all nations, does now!” - St. Cassian, after the above words about the desire for glory to the Heavenly Father on behalf of the children, driven by love for Him, adds: “the chosen vessel, being filled with these feelings, desires to be “excommunicated from Christ” (Rom. 9:3), in order only to acquire for Him a large family, and to add to the glory of its Father the salvation of all Israel.” – Tertullian expresses the same thought: “we pray that the name of God may be hallowed not only in us, who have already been appropriated to Him, but also in other people for whom God’s grace still awaits. We obey the commandment, which commands us to pray for everyone, and even for our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Without saying: hallowed be the name of God only in us, we thereby say: hallowed be it in all.”
Thus, praying: “hallowed be...”, we pray that the true knowledge of God may spread throughout the entire human race, so that from all people there will be one family of God, calling God their Father, glorifying Him and reverently honoring Him.
There is also a third thought - in the word: “let it be sanctified...” - which can be recognized as additional, like the two proposed before, and accepted as the direct thought of the prayer namely: may God be glorified by our life. This idea is predominantly instilled by all the holy fathers.
St. Cassian. The words: “hallowed be thy name” can rightly convey the idea that the sanctification of God is perfection. Therefore, when we say to him: “Hallowed be Thy name,” we say, as it were, the following: “Father,” make us such that we can understand the greatness of Thy holiness, or be worthy of receiving it, or better yet, let Thy holiness be revealed in our spiritual life.” And this is only truly fulfilled when people “see... our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
St. Cyprian of Carthage. Since God said: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16), we ask and pray that, sanctified in baptism, we may remain as we began to be. And we pray about this daily, because we need daily sanctification, so that our daily sins can be cleansed by constant sanctification. What kind of sanctification is given to us by God according to His goodness? The apostle explains this, saying: “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor wicked people, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11). He calls us sanctified by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God; and we pray that such sanctification may be in us.
And since Our Lord and Judge threateningly commanded the one healed by Him and revived not to sin again, so that it would not be worse for him (John 5:14), then we beg with unceasing prayer, day and night, that the sanctification and revival that we have received from God’s grace be preserved in us by divine protection.
St. Gregory of Nyssa. Scripture, under the guise of prayer, perhaps teaches something like this: human nature is weak to acquire anything good, and therefore, no matter what good we care about, we would not achieve it if God’s cooperation did not accomplish this in us. And the most important thing for me of all the blessings is that the name of God is glorified by my life.
This meaning will become more intelligible for us through the assumption of the opposite. I hear that the Holy Scriptures somewhere condemn those who become the perpetrators of blasphemy against God. For it is said: woe to those because of whom “My name is blasphemed among the heathen” (Is. 52:5). And this means: those who have not yet believed the word of truth look at the life of those who have accepted faith in the sacrament, and therefore, when others bear the name of faith, and their life contradicts the name, or by idolatry through covetousness, or by riotous drunkenness and feasting, or like pigs wallowing in the mire of debauchery; then the unbelievers are immediately ready to respond, condemning not the arbitrariness of those who make bad use of life, but the sacrament, as if it teaches to act in this way, and as if such and such a person, initiated into the divine sacraments, would not have become either slanderous, or covetous, or a predator, or subject to some other vice, if it were not lawful for them to sin. threat, saying: Woe to those because of whom “My name is blasphemed among the heathen.”
If this is clear to us, then it would be timely to pay attention to what is being said from the other side. For first of all, I think, it is necessary to pray and make the main subject of prayer so that through my life the name of God is not blasphemed, but glorified, and so that faith in the sacrament is sanctified. Therefore, in me, says the one praying, hallowed be the name of Your dominion that I call upon, so that people may see “good deeds and glorify the Father... in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
And who is so bestial and unreasonable that, in those who believe in God, he sees a pure life, successful in virtue, free from all the defilements of sin, alien to any suspicion of evil, shining with chastity, worthy of respect for prudence, courageously repelling the attacks of the passions, in no way weakened by bodily voluptuousness, most of all moving away from amusements, bliss and arrogant vanity, so much enjoying everyday, as much as necessary, only touching the earth with the tips of her toes; during her stay on earth, she does not drown in the pleasures of this earthly life, but stands above all sensual seduction and in carnal life competes with the life of the disembodied, recognizing the only wealth is the acquisition of virtue, the only nobility is the assimilation of oneself to God, the only dignity and the only dominion is the possession of oneself and non-slavery to human passions, burdened the duration of life in the material age and, like those in distress at sea, hastening to the pier to find peace there - who, seeing all this like this, will not glorify the name called by such a life?!
Therefore, whoever says in prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name,” - according to me, according to the power of the words he utters, he prays for the following: “With the assistance of Your help, may I become blameless, just, pious, abstain from every evil deed, speak the truth, do the truth, walk in righteousness, be distinguished by chastity, adorn myself with incorruption, philosophize about heavenly things, despise earthly things, shine forth angelic life." This and similar ones contain this short petition, in prayer crying out to God: “Hallowed be thy name.” For there is no other way for God to be glorified in a person than when his virtue testifies that the cause of goodness is in God’s power.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem. "Hallowed be Thy name." The name of God is holy by nature, whether we say it or not. But since sometimes it occurs in those who sin and is desecrated, according to what has been said: “Because of you, My name is always blasphemed among the heathen” (Is. 52:5); then we pray that the name of God may be sanctified in us; not because He is made holy from something unholy, but because it becomes holy in us when we are sanctified and do what is worthy of what is holy.
St. John Chrysostom. So, “let him be holy” means “let him be glorified.” Vouchsafe us, as the Savior teaches us to pray, to live so purely, so that through us everyone will glorify You. To display a blameless life before everyone, so that each of those who see it exalts praise to the Lord - this is a sign of perfect wisdom.
St. Maximus the Confessor. We sanctify the name of our heavenly Father by grace when we mortify the lust attached to matter and cleanse ourselves from corrupting passions. For sanctification is complete immobility and mortification of sensual lust. Being in this state, we calm down the obscene howl of rage, no longer having lust that excites it, and also incites it to fight for its pleasures. And therefore, lust, thanks to holiness consistent with reason, is mortified in us. After all, rage, by its nature, carrying within itself retribution for lust, usually ceases to rage when it sees lust mortified.
Blazh. Theophylact. "Hallowed be Thy name." That is, make us holy, so that through us Your name may be glorified. For just as God is blasphemed by my bad deeds, so He is sanctified by my good deeds, i.e. glorified as a saint.
“Let him be holy,” - instead of let him be glorified, i.e. arrange our lives so that it is for Your glory. For just as the name of God is blasphemed by the wicked, so is it glorified by those who lead a good life.
Simeon of Thessalonica. "Hallowed be Thy name." Since You are holy, sanctify Your name in us, so that, having become related to You, we sanctify Your name, and so that, being preached by us as holy, it will be glorified through us, and not blasphemed because of us.
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. The name of God is glorified when His word is preached purely, and we correct our lives according to His word, as Christ says: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). We cannot do this ourselves, without God’s grace. Therefore, we ask Heavenly Father to graciously give this to us. This shows our weakness, that without God we cannot do any good, as Christ says: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). If we ask that the name of God may be sanctified and glorified, then we should not seek glory from good deeds for our own name. Whoever teaches or lives differently from what the word of God teaches does not glorify the name of God. Therefore, so that God Himself does not allow us to do this, we pray to Him: “Hallowed be thy name.”
2nd petition: “Thy kingdom come.”
Collector (St. Theophan the Recluse). This kingdom is directly the future kingdom of heaven, which will open at the end of the world and the terrible judgment of God. But in order to sincerely desire the coming of this kingdom, we must be sure that we will be awarded it along with those to whom it will be said: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Worthy of this is the one in whom the reign of sin, passions and the devil has been stopped in this life. The suppression of this kingdom is accomplished by the action of grace through faith in the Lord Savior. The believer surrenders himself to the Lord, promising Him to live holy and blameless. For this, in the sacrament of baptism, the grace of the Holy Spirit is given, reviving him to new life; from that moment it is no longer sin that reigns in him, but grace, teaching him every good thing and strengthening him to do it. This is the kingdom of grace, about which the Lord said: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). The future kingdom is the kingdom of glory, and this spiritual kingdom is the kingdom of grace. Prayer embraces both kingdoms together.
Otherwise, he who desires the speedy coming of the future kingdom, without becoming a son of the kingdom of grace, will desire; so that the end of the world will come sooner, and the terrible judgment, in which he will inevitably be on the side of those who hear: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). The Holy Fathers and teachers also take into account both kingdoms together; but sometimes there is only one thing, the more recent one.
Tertullian. The kingdom that we ask from the Heavenly Father is the future kingdom after the end of the world. We pray to Him for the speedy coming of this kingdom, so that we can quickly enter it and not be detained for a long time in slavery, trying to “enter into that rest” (Heb. 4:11). In the Apocalypse, souls under the altar cry out to the Lord: “How long, O Lord, Holy and True, do you not judge and take revenge on those who live on earth for our blood?” ( Rev. 6:10 ) - So, we pray: quickly, Lord, “Thy kingdom come” - this is the desire of Christians, the confusion of the pagans, the triumph of the Angels, for which we suffer and which we irresistibly desire.
St. Cyprian of Carthage. We ask for the Kingdom of God to come to us in the same sense in which we pray to God that His name may be sanctified in us. For when does God not reign or when to begin His Kingdom, which has always been with Him and does not cease to be? We ask that our Kingdom come, promised to us by God, acquired by the blood and suffering of Christ; We ask that we, who have served in this age, may then reign with the Lord Christ, as He Himself promises this, saying: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). ...And we rightly ask for the Kingdom of God, i.e. Kingdom of Heaven; for there is also an earthly kingdom. But whoever has already renounced the world is above worldly honors and the kingdom. Thus, he who devotes himself to God and Christ desires not the earthly, but the Heavenly Kingdom. And at the same time, constant prayer and supplication is necessary, so that we do not fall away from the Kingdom of Heaven in the same way as the Jews, to whom it was promised before, fell away.
The Lord clearly says: “Many will come from the east and the west and lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven; and the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12). He shows that the Jews were formerly sons of the Kingdom until they ceased to be sons of God; Then, with the abolition of the name of the Father, the Kingdom was also abolished. That is why we, Christians, who began to call God Father in prayer, ask that the Kingdom of God come to us.
St. Gregory of Nyssa. The following words contain a prayer for the Kingdom of God to come. Is it really now only desirable for the King of the Universe to become king, always the same as He is, immutable for any change? Who is it impossible to find something better, something that could change into? Therefore, what does prayer calling for the Kingdom of God mean? But the true concept of this is known to those to whom the Spirit of truth reveals hidden secrets, and we have the following understanding of this saying: above all, there is one true power and force that rules and reigns in the Universe, not by some kind of violence, not by arbitrary power, not by fear, not by coercion leading into submission, which is submissive to it, because virtue must be free from all fear, not by cruel dominion over itself, but by voluntary reasoning to choose the good, and the main thing in all good is to be under life-giving authority.
Therefore, since human nature was deceived by deception in judging the good, then in our will there was an inclination towards the opposite, human life has everything bad, because death intervened in nature in thousands of ways; every kind of sin becomes like a path to death for us. Therefore, since under such arbitrariness we are, as it were, some kind of executioners or enemies, enemies of the passions enslaved to death, we pray well that the Kingdom of God will come to us. For it is impossible otherwise to overthrow the evil dominion of corruption until the life-giving power again assumes dominion over us.
Therefore, if we ask for the Kingdom of God to come to us, then in reality we beg God for the following: “May I be delivered from corruption, may I be freed from death, may I be freed from the bonds of sin, may death no longer reign over me, may the arbitrariness of vice be no longer valid over us, may the enemy not possess me, may I not be led captive, enslaving me to sin; but may “Thy Kingdom” “come” upon me so that I may retreat from me, or, better to say, the prevailing and reigning passions now turned into nothing “As smoke disappears, let them disappear; As wax melts by fire, so... let them perish” (Ps. 67:3). And the smoke, having spread in the air, does not leave behind any sign of its own nature, and the wax abiding in the fire will no longer be found. But the wax, having saturated the flame, turned into steam and air; and the smoke came to complete destruction.
So, when the Kingdom of God comes to us, then everything that now possesses us will turn into nothing, because darkness does not tolerate the presence of light, illness does not remain after the return of health, passions do not act when dispassion appears, death is ineffective, corruption disappears when life reigns in us and incorruption begins to prevail.
"Thy kingdom come." What a sweet saying! To them we clearly offer the following prayer to God: “May the opposing force be scattered, may the squad of foreigners be destroyed, may the struggle of the flesh with the spirit cease, may the body not serve as a refuge for the enemy of the soul, may royal dominion, an angelic hand, thousands of correctors, darkness helping appear on me from the right hand, so that the darkness of those at war will fall on the opposite side.” The opponent is strong, but terrible and insurmountable for those deprived of Your help, while the one he overcomes is alone. And as soon as Your Kingdom opens, “sorrow and sighing will be removed” (Is. 35:10), and life, peace, and joy will take their place.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem. It is characteristic of a pure soul to say with boldness: “Thy kingdom come.” For whoever listened to Paul, who said: “Let not sin reign in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12), and purified himself in deed, and in thought, and in word, he will say to God: “Thy kingdom come.”
St. Cassian. With the second petition, the mind, which has reached the highest degree of purity, begs that “may the Kingdom” of its Father come as soon as possible, meaning by this the everlasting reign of Christ in the saints, which comes when, after the destruction of the stinking vices from our hearts, the power of the devil ceases and God, due to the fragrance of virtues, begins to rule in us, when, instead of the conquered carnal lust, purity reigns in our mind, instead of suppressed anger, calmness, instead of trampled pride - humility, or that Kingdom, which at a predetermined time is promised to all who have generally achieved perfection and become sons of God, when Christ says to them: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). The gaze, desires and expectations of a pure soul are directed and, as it were, nailed to this Kingdom when it calls out to God: “Thy Kingdom come!” For she is firmly convinced by the testimony of her conscience that she will immediately inherit this Kingdom as soon as it opens.
On the contrary, none of the wicked will dare to desire this; for he, of course, will not want to see the Throne of the Judge, who knows that on the day of His Coming he will receive for his deeds not a crown and reward, but punishment.
St. John Chrysostom. "Thy kingdom come." And these words are appropriate for a good son, who is not attached to what is visible, and does not consider present blessings to be something great, but strives for the Father and desires future blessings. Such prayer comes from a good conscience and a soul free from everything earthly. This is what Paul desired every day, which is why he said: “We ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption as sons, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). He who has such love can neither become proud among the blessings of this life, nor despair among the sorrows; but, as one who lives in heaven, he is free from both extremes.
We are taught to say in prayer: “Thy kingdom come”; because, enduring violence from carnal passions and being subjected to countless temptations, we have need of the kingdom of God, “let sin not reign in your mortal body, so that you obey it in its lusts; And do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness” for the God of ages (Rom. 6:12-13). Moreover, we learn not to cling too closely to present life, but to despise the present and desire the future as permanent, and to seek the kingdom of heaven and the eternal, and not to be carried away by the pleasures here, neither by physical beauty, nor by the abundance of wealth, nor by the multitude of acquisitions, nor by the precious stones, nor by the splendor of houses, nor by the titles of city rulers and military leaders, nor by the scarlet robe and the crown, nor by the dishes, sweets and all kinds of luxury, nor any other item that delights our senses, but having abandoned all this, constantly seek the kingdom of God.
Blazh. Augustine. "Thy kingdom come." Who are we telling this to? – God is always the King. He is always invested with royal power when every creature serves Him. What kind of kingdom are we praying for? About the one that will be revealed at the end of the world, and about which it is written in the Gospel: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). This is the kind of kingdom we think about when we say: “Thy kingdom come.” But if we don’t ask, will this kingdom really not come? Of course he will. But what good is it if we then find ourselves standing on the left? Therefore, by praying this way, we express the desire that the kingdom come for us, so that we too will find ourselves in it, and not outside of it. This is what you desire, this is what you seek when you pray, so that you may live so that you too may belong to the Kingdom, which will be given to all the saints. Therefore, when you say: “Thy kingdom come,” you pray that you may live well. - May we belong to Your kingdom, Lord, may it come for us, having it come for Your saints and righteous.
We wish that the kingdom of God will come. It will come, even if we don’t want it. But to wish and pray that the kingdom may come is nothing more than to wish that our heavenly Father will make us worthy of His kingdom, so that it does not happen - which may not happen - that it will come, and not for us. For for many this kingdom that is to come will not come. For those will come to whom it will be said: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). But it will not come to those who hear: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41). So, when we say: “Thy kingdom come,” we pray that it may come for us. What does it mean, may it come for us? - May he find us good. Therefore, we pray that the Lord will make us good: for then His kingdom will surely come to us.
By saying: “Thy kingdom come,” which will undoubtedly come, whether we desire it or not, we arouse in ourselves the desire for that kingdom so that it will come for us and we will be worthy to participate in it.
Blazh. Theophylact. “Thy kingdom come,” i.e. the second coming: for a person with a clear conscience boldly prays for the coming of resurrection and judgment. The sinner does not pray for the kingdom of God; for he does not want his coming, because of the punishments awaiting him there. On the contrary, the righteous man prays for it to come soon, so that he can be freed from the temptations here and calm down.
Simeon of Thessalonica. "Thy kingdom come." Be Thou the King over us through good deeds, not Thy enemy through evil deeds. And may Your kingdom come, the last day, when You will reign over everyone and over Your enemies themselves, and Your kingdom will be forever, as it is. But this (it is proper to speak in prayer) is worthy and prepared for that time.
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. According to the teachings of St. John Chrysostom, the kingdom here is of course heavenly - the kingdom that true Christians expect and pray: “Thy kingdom come.” And this, he says, is the word of a prudent son, who does not cling to what is visible and does not consider the present to be great, but hurries to his father and strives for the future. Whoever desires the kingdom of heaven and prays: “Thy kingdom come,” must despise the earthly kingdom, glory, honor, pleasures and wealth. Otherwise, it is in vain, he says, and prays: “Thy kingdom come.” One must first despise earthly things, and then desire heavenly things. He needs to have a clear conscience, or cleanse it with repentance, and then pray: “Thy kingdom come.” Otherwise, he cannot wish for this and ask for it, when the conscience, defiled by sins, threatens with the judgment of God and eternal torment. For how can one pray and say: “Thy kingdom come,” but his conscience is troubled by the expectation of eternal torment?
So, it is absolutely required that those who want and ask for the kingdom of God to come leave their sins and cleanse them through repentance, regret and faith. For the kingdom of God is prepared for the righteous and holy, and will certainly come, but those defiled by sins await it in vain. This desire comes from a clear conscience, says Chrysostom, and from a soul removed from earthly things.
3rd petition: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Collector (St. Theophan the Recluse). The will of God is our “holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). God wants that by fulfilling His holy will, expressed in the commandments, we all become saints, and thus be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). Praying, “Thy will be done,” we ask that our heavenly Father will give us to understand His holy will, which is good, acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2), and provide us with the strength to do everything “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy” (Phil. 4:8), so that we may appear as perfect on earth as The angels of God are perfect in heaven, “mighty in strength, always doing the will of God” (Ps. 102:20-21). Of the previous two petitions, the first, with the fear of God, awakens from sleep, the second, with the desire for the kingdom, awakens energy, and this, the third, indicates the very thing to which the awakened and intense forces should be directed. Because all this is from the Lord; then we pray that He will accomplish all this in us, according to His good pleasure, surrendering ourselves entirely to His omni-action and control.
Tertullian. We cry, “Thy will be done,” not because anyone can interfere with the will of God, but we pray that His will be fulfilled in all of us. But what else does God want if not for us to walk according to His commandments? Therefore, we pray that He will show us His will and give us the strength to fulfill it, so that we may appear saved both in heaven and on earth. For the essence of His will is the salvation of those whom He adopted as sons. And that is the will of God, which the Lord accomplished through preaching, deeds and suffering. So He himself said that he does not his own will, but his Father’s will (John 6:39). And there is no doubt that everything that He did, He did according to the will of the Father. And now He invites us to follow His example and remain in the will of God even until death. But in order for us to fulfill this, we need the will of God (His favor and help). Why, when we say: “Thy will be done,” we express the desire that it be accomplished in us, in the confidence that in the will of God there is nothing bad for us, even if we have to suffer for its sake.
And the Lord, before the onset of suffering, wanting to show the weakness of human flesh and in His flesh, said: “Father! Oh, if only You would deign to carry this cup past Me!” (Luke 22:42). But he immediately added: “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.” He Himself is the will and power of the Father, and yet He deigned to surrender Himself to the will of the Father, as a demonstration of the necessity of the suffering that lay ahead.
St. Cyprian of Carthage. Saying: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” not so that God, as a result of our prayer, will do whatever He wants, but so that we can do what pleases Him. For who will prevent God from doing what is pleasing to Him? But since the devil puts obstacles in our way of showing complete obedience to God in spirit and body, we ask and pray that God’s will be done in us. And for it to exist, the will of God is necessary, i.e. God's help and protection; because no one is strong in his own strength, and everyone finds security only in God's condescension and mercy. And the Lord, showing the human weakness that He carried within Himself, said: “My Father! if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me,” and then, setting an example for the disciples so that they do not their own will, but God’s, he added: “Nevertheless, not as I want, but as You want” (Matthew 26:39). And in another place he says: “I came down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 6:38). If the Son obeyed in such a way that he fulfilled the will of the Father, then should not the slave obey and do the will of his Lord much more?
John in his Epistle exhorts and instructs us to do the will of God: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father. For everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world. And the world passes away, and so does its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17), just as God abides forever. So, desiring to abide forever, we must do the will of God, Who is eternal. The will of God is indicated to us in the works and teachings of Christ.
Humility in behavior, steadfastness in faith, modesty in words, truth in actions; in deeds - mercy, in morals - decorum; inability to cause offense, ability to endure offense caused to us; keep peace with brothers; love God with all your heart, love Him as a Father, fear Him as God; to prefer nothing to Christ, just as He did not prefer anything to us; to stand courageously and faithfully at His cross when they argue about His name and honor, to express in speech the constancy of confession, during interrogation the courage with which we enter into battle, in death the patience with which we are crowned - this means wanting to be a joint heir with Christ! This means - to do the commandment of God, to fulfill the will of the Father!
St. Gregory of Nyssa. Health for the soul is the fulfillment of the Divine will, as well as vice versa: falling away from good will is a disease of the soul that ends in death. Therefore, since we became weak, when in paradise, leaving a good way of life, we tasted the poison of disobedience without measure, and therefore a cruel and fatal illness prevailed in our nature, then the true Doctor came, who, according to the law of the medical art, heals evil contrary to it, and those possessed by illness because they have deviated from God’s will, frees them again from illness by unity with God’s will. For the words of prayer serve as a cure for the illness that has befallen the soul. Whoever’s soul is possessed, as it were, by some kind of illness, prays, saying: “Thy will be done.” And God’s will is the salvation of people.
Therefore, when we come to the point of saying to God: “Thy will be done” on me, then it is absolutely necessary to first condemn that life that was not in agreement with God’s will, and express this by confession: “Since during the past life, Thy will, contrary to me, acted in me to harm me, I became a servant of the evil tormentor and, as it were, an executor of execution, carrying out the enemy’s sentence on myself, therefore, aroused by pity for my destruction, grant that over time Thy will may be accomplished in me. For, just as in dark caves, when light is brought in, the darkness disappears, so when Your will is done in me, every crafty and inappropriate movement of arbitrariness will turn into nothing.
Chastity will quench the intemperate and passionate desire of the mind, humility will destroy arrogance, modesty will heal the disease of pride, and the kindness of love will drive out from the soul a numerous host of opposing evils; may hatred, envy, indignation, angry movement, irritable mood, maliciousness, pretense, remembrance of grief, thirst for revenge, boiling of blood in the atrium, an unkind eye flee from it - all this herd of such evils may be destroyed by a loving disposition.” Thus, the effectiveness of God’s will drives away pure idolatry; I call it serious, as a frantic devotion to idols, and the lust for silver and gold - these, as the prophetic word called them, idols of the “pagans” (Ps. 113:12). Therefore, “Thy will be done,” so that the will of the devil becomes invalid.
But why do we ask God to make our will good? Because human nature, once weakened by vice, is weak for good. For a person does not, with the same ease with which he reaches the bad, return from it again to the good, as we can notice a similar law in bodies, because unequally, not with equal convenience, a healthy body becomes sick and a sick one recovers. Anyone who had hitherto enjoyed health often fell into extreme danger from a single wound, and one turn or attack of fever destroyed all the strength in the body, a small dose of poison either completely destroyed the body, or did it gradually, and the bite of a reptile, or the sting of one of the poisonous animals, or the crawling of the leg, or a fall, or eating with greed something beyond one’s strength, or something else, the like, was immediately followed by illness or illness. or death; If liberation from an illness ever happens, then with how many ideas, difficulties and artificial medical means is achieved?
Therefore, when the desire for evil operates in us, there is no need for a co-operator, because vice itself completes itself in our will. If there is an inclination for the better, then it is necessary that God fulfill the wish. Therefore we say: since chastity is Your will, “the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14), then by Your power may this good will succeed in me. We say the same about justice, about piety, about alienation from passions. The word “will” embraces all virtues in general, while the words “will of God” mean individually everything understood under the name of good.
But what does this addition mean: “and on earth as it is in heaven”? This word, it seems to me, points, perhaps, to one of the deeper dogmas and constitutes the teaching of godly understanding when looking at creation. The meaning of what I am talking about is this: all rational creation is divided into an incorporeal nature and one endowed with a body. The disembodied nature is angelic, and another type of nature is us, people. Therefore, the first - spiritually, as detached from the burdensome body (I mean this body is rough and gravitating towards the earth), passes through the heavenly lot, due to the lightness and mobility of nature, staying in the countries of the light and ethereal. And the other, due to the affinity of our body with the earthly one, necessarily received as its lot a kind of sediment of dirt, earthly life.
I don’t know what God’s will arranged by this - maybe it was to bring all creation closer together, so that the earth’s lot would not be indifferent in the heavenly heights and the sky would not be completely indifferent to what is on earth, but as a result of the formation of human nature from both elements, some kind of communication occurred between what was seen in both elements, since the spiritual part of the soul, which, apparently, is something akin and of the same tribe with heavenly forces, dwells in earthly bodies, and this flesh, earthed, with the change of the corruptible and the rapture of the righteous, together with the soul, will move to the heavenly region. For “we will be caught up,” as the apostle says, “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). Therefore, this or that other thing that God’s wisdom arranged for this - all rational nature, according to this twofold life, is divided into parts, and the incorporeal nature accepted heavenly bliss into its lot, and the other, because of the flesh, lives on earth due to its affinity with it.
Although the desire for the beautiful and the good is equally fulfilled in both natures and the Ruler of the Universe in both has made self-government, autocracy and freedom from all necessity equal, so that everything gifted with word and understanding disposes of itself according to some kind of self-lawful arbitrariness, yet heavenly life in everything keeps itself pure from vice and nothing that seems opposite is incompatible with it, but every passionate movement and disposition to which the human race is subject leads to whirling earthly life. Therefore, the Divinely inspired word recognizes the life of the holy powers in heaven as having no admixture of vice and pure from all sinful defilement. However, everything that, through the intention of evil and deviation from good, turns into evil, like some kind of sludge or dirt, flows into this ordinary life, and the human race is desecrated, finding in this darkness an obstacle to seeing the Divine light of truth.
Therefore, if the higher life is dispassionate and pure, and the calamitous life here is immersed in all sorts of passions and suffering, then it is clear that the higher life, as pure from all evil, succeeds in the good will of God, for where there is no evil, there, of all necessity, there is good. And our life, having lost fellowship in goodness, has fallen away from God’s will. Therefore, we learn in prayer to cleanse our lives from evil to such an extent that, as in Heavenly residence, God’s will rules unhindered in us, so that we can say to others: “Just as in thrones, principalities, authorities, dominions, and in every supreme power, Your will is done and no vice hinders the action of good, so let good be done in us, so that after every vice is destroyed in in our souls Your will was successfully fulfilled in everything.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The divine and blessed Angels of God do God's will, as the Psalmist David said: “Bless the Lord, all His Angels, mighty in strength, who do His word” (Ps. 103:20). Therefore, when you pray: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” mentally say: as Thy will is done in the Angels, Master, so may it be done in me on earth.
St. John Chrysostom. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Do you see the beautiful connection? He first commanded to desire the future and strive for one’s fatherland; but until this happens, those living here should try to lead the kind of life that is characteristic of the celestials. One must desire, He says, heaven and heavenly things. However, even before reaching heaven, He commanded us to make the earth heaven and, living on it, to behave in everything as if we were in heaven, and to pray to the Lord about this. Indeed, the fact that we live on earth does not hinder us in the least from achieving the perfection of the heavenly forces. But it is possible, even if we live here, to do everything as if we were living in heaven. So, the meaning of the Savior’s words is this: just as in heaven everything happens without hindrance and it does not happen that the angels obey in one thing and disobey in another, but in everything they obey and submit (because it is said: “mighty in strength, doing His word” (Psalm 102:20), so do you grant us, people, not to do Your will half-heartedly, but to do everything as You please. Do you see?
Christ taught us to humble ourselves when He showed that virtue depends not only on our zeal, but also on heavenly grace, and together He commanded each of us, during prayer, to take care of the universe. He did not say: “Thy will be done” in me, or in us, but on the whole “earth” - that is, so that all error would be destroyed and the truth would be implanted, so that all malice would be driven out and virtue would return and so that, in this way, there is no difference between heaven and earth. If this is so, He says, then the earthly will not be distinguished in any way from the heavenly, although they are different in properties; then the earth will show us other angels
Having previously awakened in us a love for the future and a desire for the kingdom and pierced us with this desire, He commands us to say: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Grant us, Lord, he says, to imitate heavenly life, so that we also desire the same thing that You Yourself desire; help our will, which is weak and although it desires to do Your works, it is restrained by the weakness of the flesh; stretch out your hand to those who strive to walk, but are forced to limp; the soul is light (the spirit is cheerful), but the flesh burdens it; that one quickly strives for the heavenly, and this one gravitates towards the earthly; but with Your help even the impossible will be possible; “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
St. Cassian. There can be no higher prayer than that with which we desire that earthly things may be worthy of comparison with Heavenly things. For what do the words mean: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” if not that “let people be like the Angels, and just as these do the will of God in Heaven, so let all who live on earth do not their own, but His will. (Another thought) And no one can pronounce this petition with full feeling, except one who believes that God arranges everything that seems to us misfortune or happiness for our benefit, and that He provides more and cares for our salvation and good than we do for ourselves.
Blazh. Augustine. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Angels serve You in heaven, so may we also serve You on earth. The angels in heaven do not insult You, and let us not insult You on earth. How they do Your will; let us do the same. “And what are we praying for here, if not to be kind to us?” For the will of God then happens in us when we do it; and this means being kind.
When we say: “Thy will be done,” we ask ourselves from the heavenly Father for obedience to His will, so that it may also be fulfilled by us, as it is fulfilled in heaven by His Angels.
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”; that is, just as in relation to the Angels who are in heaven, it is Thy will that they should cleave to You in every possible way and enjoy You, so that no cloud of error obscures their wisdom and no sorrow disturbs their bliss: so be it also in Thy saints who are on earth, having been created in body from the earth and although into a heavenly dwelling, but from the earth having to be taken. - “Thy will be done” can also be understood this way: let there be obedience to Your commandments; a: “and on earth as in heaven” - so: both by Angels and by people. For that then the will of God happens when His commandments are fulfilled, the Lord himself shows when he says: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34). And again: “I came down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 6:38). So, those who do the will of God, this will happens in them; because they do what God wants, i.e. act according to His will.
St. Maximus the Confessor. He who mysteriously brings service to God with one rational power (his own), detached from lust and rage, he on earth, like the ranks of angels in heaven, fulfills the will of God. (He has already) become a co-servant and cohabitant of the Angels, as the great Apostle says: “But our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). Such (people) have neither lust, which relaxes the tension of the mind with pleasure, nor rage, which rages and barks shamelessly at what is related to itself. There remains only one single mind in them, which naturally leads rational beings to the first Mind. ...But the holy Angels in heaven bring nothing to God except reasonable service. Desiring the same from us, (the Lord) teaches those praying to say: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So let our minds rush to the search for God, and let the power of desire become an attraction to Him, just as let the fierce beginning enter into the struggle to preserve Him. Or, more precisely, let [our] whole mind extend to God, prompted, as if by a certain voice, by the tension of passion and inflamed by the utmost impulse of the power of desire.
Imitating in this way the heavenly Angels, we will always be servants of God and on earth we will demonstrate an equal life with the Angels, and therefore, along with the Angels, we will have a mind completely indifferent to what is lower than God.
Blazh. Theophylact. “Thy will be done,” both in heaven with the Angels and with us people on earth. As the Angels fulfill Your will, so grant us to do it. For Angels always and in everything act according to the will of God.
Simeon of Thessalonica. Set us up like the Angels, so that Your will may be in them and in us, and done by us. Let our will not be passionate and human, but Your will be dispassionate and holy. Just as You deigned to unite the earthly with the heavenly, so deign that in us who exist on earth there will be heavenly things (life, service, action).
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. The will of God happens without our asking. Therefore, we do not ask God to do what He wants, but we ask that we can do what His will wants. From this we see that we cannot do the will of God without God. The will of God is fulfilled when we keep piety intact and remain in it to the end, according to what is said: “be faithful until death” (Rev. 2:10), and also when sinners renounce their sins and repent. “God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). In order for this to happen, we ask God: “Thy will be done.” And let it be “on earth as it is in heaven.” That is, just as the Angels in heaven fulfill the will of God and live among themselves lovingly, peacefully, in harmony, so we, imitating them on earth, may be able to do His will and live holy, pure, peacefully, lovingly and accordingly. When we pray: “Thy will be done,” we must renounce our will and abandon it.
Collector (St. Theophan the Recluse). In the words: “Thy will be done,” one can also see an expression of devotion to the will of God. This is hinted at by some words of St. Casciana and St. Cypriana. Fulfillment of God's will as expressed in the commandments cannot be achieved in perfection without this devotion, because it is associated with hardships, sometimes very great, and with suffering, sometimes very sensitive. The transference of both is inevitably mediated by surrendering oneself to one’s fate and all one’s work to the will of God. Fulfillment of the commandments, mediated by devotion to the will of God, strengthens and elevates this very devotion. And complete devotion is the height of Christian moral perfection.
4th petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Collector (St. Theophan the Recluse). With the fourth petition, the turn of the prayer begins: then all were petitions for the internal structure of spiritual life, which, arising under the influence of the Fear of God, and inspired by the hope of the kingdom of heaven, flows along the path of God’s commandments; now there will be petitions for the inevitable connections of this life. How limited we are, we need food not only for the body, but also for the soul; how often those who fall through weakness need confession and forgiveness; as surrounded by temptations and always by the evil enemy, those who are slandered need protection and protection. We pray about all this in the following four petitions, which are all directed to the fact that our heavenly Father will arrange a course of events in our lives, both external and internal, favorable for spiritual life.
The bread for which we pray in the fourth petition is material bread necessary to support bodily life; whereby it can be understood as asking for other needs, without which one cannot live, such as clothes, housing. But just as the soul has a need for spiritual nutrition to maintain spiritual life, bread can here also be understood as spiritual food for the soul. Its food is the “Word of God,” which nourishes the soul with the knowledge of divine truths and introduces it to the contemplation of the invisible treasures of God, the mere mental vision of which is nourishing and delightful, and the grace of God descends through the sacraments into the soul, filling and satiating it. According to the flow of our life, these Sacraments are: repentance, and moreover, communion of St. The Mysteries of Christ, which the Lord himself called the only nutritious bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. It is appropriate to keep the thought of all this in your soul, saying the words of prayer: “Give us our daily bread for this day.”
Tertullian. What a wonderful order divine wisdom gave to prayer petitions - when after the heavenly, i.e., the name of God, the kingdom of God, the will of God, it gave place to the petition for earthly needs, although the Lord said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). However, the words: “Give us this day our daily bread” will be understood in a more spiritual sense. For Christ is our bread: He is life and the bread of life, as He Himself says: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48); and a little higher: “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" ; and then: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:32–33, 51); so that His body is and is received in the bread. “This is My body” (Luke 22:19) He says. About those who eat His body and drink His blood, He said that they abide in Him, and He in them (John 6:56). Thus, asking for our daily bread, we pray for unceasing abiding in Christ, through the communion of His body.
– But even if you do not accept these words in a spiritual sense, even then it will not be alien to spiritual edification. For it is commanded to ask only for bread, which alone is considered necessary for the faithful; about everything else it is said: “the pagans seek all these things” (Matthew 6:32). This is what the Lord confirms with examples and in parables when He says: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26). Also: “who would give... a stone” to a son asking for bread? (Matthew 7:9) – For here it is indicated what children expect from the Father. But that night-time petitioner asked only for bread (Luke 11:5). – The Lord wisely added: “Give us this day,” since He had already inspired before: “Do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). To which he adapted a parable about a man who “had a good harvest in the field,” who, while planning to live a long time in safety and contentment, died that same night (Luke 12:16-20).
St. Cyprian of Carthage. Continuing the prayer, we say the following petition: “Give us our daily bread for this day.” This can be understood both in a spiritual and in a simple sense, because both, by divine gift, are equally conducive to salvation. Christ is the bread of life, and this bread is not for everyone, but only for us. Just as we say: “Our Father,” because God is the Father of those who know Him and believe, so we call Christ our bread, because He is the bread of those who touch His Body. We ask daily that this bread may be given to us, so that we, who remain in Christ and daily receive the Eucharist as food of salvation, being separated from communion due to some grave sin and deprived of heavenly bread, will not be separated from the Body of Christ, as the Lord says for our instruction: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; And the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
When He says that whoever eats His bread will live forever, this shows that those who touch His Body live and receive the Eucharist by right of communion. So, we must fear and pray, so that no one will be separated from the Body of Christ, subjected to prohibition, and will not be removed from salvation, as the Lord threatens, saying: “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you” (John 6:53). That is why we ask daily, that our bread may be given to us, so that we, who abid and live in Christ, may not be removed from sanctification and from His Body.
This can be understood this way: having renounced this age and, by faith of spiritual grace, renouncing its riches and honors, remembering the instruction of the Lord, Who says: “Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33), we ask only for food and sustenance. Whoever has become a disciple of Christ, according to the word of the Teacher, renouncing everything, must ask only for daily food and in prayer not extend beyond his desires, bearing in mind the commandment of the Lord, who said: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of its own: enough for each day is its own care” (Matthew 6:34). So, the disciple of Christ, who is forbidden to worry about tomorrow, righteously asks for his daily food: it would be a contradiction and incongruity if we were looking for food for a long time in this century, when we ask for the speedy coming of the Kingdom of God. The blessed apostle, teaching and confirming the strength of our hope and faith, gives us the following reminder: “we have brought nothing into the world; It’s obvious that we can’t take anything out of it.
Having food and clothing, we will be content with that. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people into disaster and destruction; for the love of money is the root of all evil, which, having given themselves over, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:7-10). This teaches that not only must we despise riches, but that they are also dangerous: they are the root of flattering evils that deceive the blindness of the human mind with hidden deceit. That is why God denounces the crazy rich man who thought about worldly wealth and boasted about the extraordinary abundance of fruits. “You fool!” He says to him, “this night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared?” (Luke 12:20). Mad, he rejoiced at the profit on the night on which he was supposed to die; the one who had little time left to live thought about the abundance of fruits.
On the contrary, the Lord teaches that he is completely perfect who, having sold all his property and distributed it to the poor, prepares for himself treasure in heaven; he, according to the Lord, can follow Him and imitate the glory of the Lord’s suffering, who, in his readiness and desire, is not delayed by any household nets, but, having presented his property to God, detached and free, goes there himself (Matthew 19:21). This is how everyone learns to pray, in order to prepare himself for the same; From the law of prayer, let everyone understand what prayer should be! Meanwhile, for a righteous person there can never be a lack of daily food, according to Scripture: “The Lord will not allow the soul of the righteous to suffer hunger” (Proverbs 10:3). And again: “I was young and old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants asking for bread” (Ps. 36:25). The Lord promises the same thing, saying: “Do not worry and do not say: what shall we eat? or what to drink? or what to wear? because the pagans seek all this, and because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33). He promises that to those who seek the Kingdom and Truth of God all things will be added: after all, all things are God’s; therefore, he who has God will lack nothing, provided he himself does not fall behind God. Thus, for Daniel, when he was thrown into the lion’s den at the command of the king, a meal is prepared by God’s Providence and the man of God is satisfied among the hungry beasts, but who spare him (Dan. 14: 30–39). Thus, Elijah feeds while fleeing: pursued, he receives food in the desert from the ravens that serve him, from the birds that bring him food.
St. Gregory of Nyssa. But someone will object: is it possible for those who have been given life in the flesh to succeed in the purity that is found in ethereal forces, when the soul, due to bodily needs, is immersed in the darkness of worries? Therefore, it seems to me that, as if eliminating such an impossibility, the Lord in the following words resolves the seemingly difficult thing in the upcoming matter. For with these words, in the command to ask for our daily bread, we are offered, I think, the teaching that contentment with little and moderation according to the law of dispassion is equal to not having a need for anything by nature. An angel does not ask God in his prayers to give him bread, because he is gifted with a nature that has no need for anything like that, but a person is commanded to ask, because what becomes empty certainly needs something that fills it. The composition of human life is fleeting and transitory; instead of what has been separated, it requires renewal.
Therefore, whoever, in serving nature, is not carried away beyond necessity by vain worries, is not much lower than the rank of angels in life, imitating the angels, who have no need for anything, in contenting themselves with little. Therefore, he commanded us to seek only what is sufficient to preserve our bodily essence, saying to God: give us bread, i.e. give not amusements, not wealth, not good-colored scarlet garments, not gold jewelry, not the shine of stones, not silver vessels, not vast estates, not military command, not possession of cities and nations, not herds of horses and oxen and a great variety of other livestock, not an abundance of slaves, not celebrity in the marketplace, not monuments, not images, not silk fabrics, not entertainment with music and not anything similar to this, by which the soul is distracted from Divine and more honorable care - but give me bread.
Do you see this breadth of wisdom? How many teachings are contained in this short statement? With the word bread, it is as if the Lord calls out to those who listen: “Stop, people, being exhausted by the desires of vain things! Stop multiplying your own reasons for toil! Your natural duty is small: you are obliged to get food for your flesh - a small and easy matter, if you have a need in mind. Why are you multiplying your duties? Why do you put a yoke on yourself, carrying so many debts, mining silver, digging up gold, searching for a transparent substance? Is it so that with all these things you can please this ever-present tax collector—the belly, which needs only bread that satisfies what the body needs?” And you go to the Indians, suffer troubles on a foreign sea, set sail for whole years in order to sweeten your food with the purchases you bring from there, not paying attention to the fact that the sensation of sweets has its limit in the palate of the mouth, and also that the beautiful, the fragrant, and the delighting taste gives the feeling some kind of fleeting and instantaneous pleasantness.
Apart from the palate, in the mouth the difference between what is put into the larynx is indistinguishable, because by nature everything is equally transformed into a stench. Do you see the end of the art of cooking? Do you see the consequences of the chef's tricks? Ask for bread for the needs of life - for this nature has made you a debtor to the body. And what is beyond this is invented by the delicacy of the luxurious, then from among the chaff that has been scattered. The owner's sowing is wheat, and from the wheat bread is made; luxury is tares, they are sown among the wheat by the enemy. But people, having ceased to serve nature with what is necessary, indeed, as Scripture says somewhere (Mark 4:7), are suppressed by concern for vanity and remain unripe, because the soul constantly occupies itself with these vanities. Limit yourself to what is necessary. Let the limit of your care for life be to satisfy your needs with what you have.
If Evin’s adviser enters into a conversation with you about what is beautiful to the eye and pleasing to the taste, and with bread you begin to look for such and such food, prepared with such and such seasonings, and then, as a result of this, you extend your desire beyond the necessary limits, then you will see how the reptile will then quietly creep into covetousness. For, having moved from necessary food to tasty foods, he will also move on to what is pleasing to the eyes, he will covet light vessels, beautiful servants, silver beds, soft beds, transparent bedspreads covered with gold, thrones, tripods, baths, bowls, horns, refrigerators, ladles, tubs, lamps, incense burners. And through this the lust of covetousness enters and covets such things, but so that there is no shortage in their procurement, income is required to purchase what is required. Therefore, it is necessary for others to be in sorrow, those who live together to shed tears, for many to become poor, having lost their property, so that as a result of their tears there will be splendor at this person’s table.
And when the serpent wraps itself around this and fills the belly with what was desired, then following this, through satiety, the person is more and more drawn into the frenzy of lewdness - and this is the extreme of human evils.
Therefore, to prevent anything like this from happening, limit your prayer to asking for this benefit - bread, looking for food, seasoned for you by nature itself. And this seasoning is a good conscience, which, when used correctly, makes bread most enjoyable. And if you want to sweeten the sensation of the larynx, then let poverty be your seasoning, let satiety not be added to satiety, let the urge to eat food not be dulled by drunkenness, but let it be preceded by the shedding of sweat according to the commandment. “In sweat and toil you will eat bread” (Gen. 3:19). Do you see what the first seasoning of food is, according to Scripture? It is enough for you to occupy your thoughts only with this need – it would be better to say, before that, just bind your soul with concerns about bread. But tell Him who brings “bread from the ground” (Ps. 103:14), tell Him who feeds ravens (Ps. 147:9), “gives food of all kinds.” flesh" (Ps. 135:25), opens the hand and satisfies "every living thing with good pleasure" (Ps. 144:16): "From You is my life, from You may You also give me bread, that is, grant me food from righteous labors."
The addition of the word “day” is also beautiful. For it is said: “Give us this day our daily bread.” This word contains another wisdom; saying this, you must realize that human life is one day. Everyone’s property is only the present, and hope for the future remains unknown; “We don’t know what that day will give birth to?” (Prov.27:1). Why do we torment ourselves with the unknown, torment ourselves with worries about the future? It is said: “Enough for each day is its own care” (Matthew 6:34), where suffering is called care. Why do we care about “tomorrow”? Therefore, the Lord, by commanding you to say “day,” forbids you to worry about “tomorrow,” as if instilling in you the following with this word: “Whoever gave you the day will also give you what you need for the day. Who “commands the sun... to rise” (Matthew 5:45); Who destroys the darkness of the night; Who shows you a ray of light; Who rotates the sky so that there is light above the earth; Who gives you this and much more, does He really need your cooperation in order to satisfy your flesh, providing it with what it needs?
What kind of thoroughness about one’s own life does the nature of the dumb bring from itself? What arable lands do ravens have, what granaries do eagles have? Doesn’t everyone have one guardian of life – God’s will, which contains everything? An ox, or a donkey, or some other dumb thing, without learning, by nature has wisdom and is well disposed of the present; about what will happen after, they have no concern.”
Do we really need advisers to understand this short-term and one-day nature of carnal life? Are we not enlightened by what happens to others? How can we not be wise with our own lives? What was the use of large preparations for the rich man who deluded himself with unrealistic hopes, ruined, built, collected, lived luxuriously; what would have been enough for many years, then in the vanity of hopes he locked it in granaries? Wasn’t it one night that exposed all this dreaminess of hope as a vain dream about something not worth attention? Corporeal life is limited to the present, and the life provided by hope is the property of the soul. But human foolishness makes the mistake of using both, thinking to prolong physical life with hopes, and spending spiritual life in the pleasures of the present. That is why the soul, occupied with the visible, of necessity becomes alien to essential and real hope, relying on the fragile in hope, and does not master this, and does not have what it hoped for.
Therefore, let us learn from this advice what we should ask for today and what later. Bread is a present need, and the Kingdom is a hoped-for bliss. Having spoken about bread, Scripture means by this a bodily need. If we begin to ask for this, it will be clear to the mind of the person praying that his concern is for one day. If we ask for something from the blessings of the soul, then it is clear that the petition means always abiding and endless, which the Lord commands those who pray to look at most, as the most important thing, satisfying the first need. “Ask,” He says, “the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
St. Cyril of Jerusalem. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Ordinary bread is not daily bread, but this holy bread (the body and blood of the Lord) is daily bread, i.e. having an effect on the essence of the soul. This bread is communicated to your entire composition, for the benefit of soul and body. And the word “day” is used instead of daily, just as Paul said: “as long as we can say, ‘today’” (Heb. 3:13).
St. John Chrysostom. What is “daily bread”? Everyday. Since Christ said: “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” and He talked with people clothed in flesh, who are subject to the necessary laws of nature, and cannot have angelic dispassion, then, although he commands us to fulfill the commandments as the angels fulfill them, he nevertheless condescends to the weakness of nature, and seems to say: I demand from you the strictness of life equal to the angels, however, without demanding dispassion, since your nature, which has a necessary need for food, does not allow it. Look, however, how there is a lot of spirituality in the physical! The Savior commanded us to pray not for wealth, not for pleasures, not for valuable clothes, not for anything else like that, but only for bread, and, moreover, for everyday bread, so that we would not worry about tomorrow, which is why he added: “daily bread,” that is, everyday bread. He was not even satisfied with this word, but then added another: “Give us this day,” so that we would not overwhelm ourselves with worry about the coming day.
In fact, if you don’t know whether you will see tomorrow, then why bother yourself with worrying about it? This is what the Savior commanded and then later in His sermon: “Do not worry,” he says, “about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). He wants us to always be girded and inspired by faith, and to yield no more to nature than necessary needs require of us.
Since He mentioned the earth, and the creatures that came from it and lived on it, and were clothed with an earthly body, needed appropriate food, then, out of necessity, He added: “Give us this day our daily bread.” He commanded to ask for daily bread, not for overeating, but for food that replenishes what is spent in the body and averts death from hunger - not luxurious tables, not various dishes - the creations of cooks, the inventions of bakers, delicious wines and other things like that that delight the tongue, but burden the stomach, darken the mind, help the body to rebel against the soul and make this stallion disobedient to the driver. This is not what the commandment teaches us to ask for, but “daily bread,” i.e. turning into a being of a body and able to support it. Moreover, we are commanded to ask for it not for a great number of years, but for as long as we need for the present day. “Do not worry,” said the Lord, “about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). And why bother about tomorrow for someone who may not even see tomorrow, who undertakes labor and does not reap the fruit?
Trust in God, who “gives food to all flesh” (Ps. 135:25). He who gave you a body, breathed a soul, made you a rational animal and prepared all good things for you before he created you, as he despises the created you, “for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). So, trusting in Him, ask for food only for this day, and leave the concern for tomorrow to Him, as blessed David says: “Cast your sorrow on the Lord, and He will feed you” (Ps. 54:23).
St. Cassian, meaning by bread the Lord Jesus Christ and His most pure body with the Life-giving Blood, says: “our bread, i.e. daily, or, according to another Evangelist, “daily, give us this day.” The first word signifies its essential dignity, by which it exceeds all essences and surpasses all creatures with its high holiness, and the second expresses its natural use and benefit. For when it is said: “daily,” this shows that without it we cannot continue our spiritual life for a single day; and when it is said: “day,” this shows that it is necessary to take it daily and that eating it yesterday is not enough if it is not given to us in the same way now. Since there is no day on which it would not be necessary to strengthen the heart of our inner man by accepting and eating this “bread,” such a daily need for what is due forces us to pray for it at all times.
However, the word “day” can also be taken in relation to present life, that is: “Give us this bread while we are in this age, for we know that in the Future Life you will give it to those who deserve it, but we ask you to give it to us another “day”, for whoever is not worthy to receive it in this life will not be able to partake of it in the Future.”
Blazh. Augustine, in his treatise on the Lord’s Discourse on the Mount, says that “bread” can have three meanings: it can mean material bread with everything else necessary for life and the sacrament of the body of Christ, which we receive every day (as it was then), and spiritual food, about which the Lord said: “Do not strive for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27). And in another place: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:34). Of these three meanings, he sometimes talks primarily about one, sometimes about the other, but always has all three in mind.
“Everyday bread is to be taken here in the sense of spiritual bread, i.e. divine commandments, which we must learn from and which we must fulfill in practice every day. For the Lord meant them when he said: “Be careful not to eat perishable food.” This is called daily bread because our temporary life is spent in succession of days, from which one departs and another comes. The task of each of them should be to fulfill the commandments. Since the disposition of our spirit either rises up or falls down, i.e. sometimes he turns to the spiritual, sometimes to the carnal, just as the body is sometimes satisfied with food, sometimes feels hungry; then he needs this spiritual food every day, with which he would be strengthened and rise again every time he falls. Like our body in this life, before, i.e. future life, which is not subject to change, is supported by food when it feels exhausted: so the spirit, since, due to temporary passions, is subject to exhaustion in its aspiration to God, must be strengthened every day with food of the divine commandments.
– It is said: “Give us this day,” i.e. “How long can we say, ‘Today’” (Heb. 3:13), the same as in this present temporary life. For after this life, in the life to come, we will be satisfied forever with spiritual food, and then it will no longer be called daily bread. Then there will not be this flow of time in which days follow days and produce everydayness. So, in what sense is it said: “if only you would now listen to His voice” (Ps. 94:7), - which “now” the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews interprets as follows: “how long can we say: ‘today’”: in this we must also accept: “give us this day.” – If anyone wants to take “bread” here in the meaning of necessary bodily food, or in the meaning of the sacrament of the Lord’s body, then let him take it together in all three meanings, i.e. both as daily bread necessary for the body, and as the mysterious visible bread, and as the invisible mental bread of the word of God.
You can simply understand that we are pouring out this prayer for our daily content, so that we have it in abundance, or if not in abundance, at least there is no shortage of it. “Essential” - daily said in the sense - in this life, i.e. “How long can we say, ‘Today’” (Heb. 3:13). Daily we rise, daily we hunger, daily we are filled. And we pray that our Father will grant us heavenly bread every day. - Why didn’t he say: and cover. All we need is: maintenance - food and drink, and cover - clothing and shelter. The Apostle does not wish for more than this when he says: “We have brought nothing into the world; It’s obvious that we can’t take anything out of it. Having food and clothing, we will be content with this” (1 Tim. 6:7-8). Since this also belongs to our necessary needs, it is not inappropriate to mean these objects when we say: “Give us this day our daily bread.” And there is nothing to be surprised if by calling one bread we mean other necessary needs, just as Joseph, when he invited his brothers, said: “These people will eat bread with me at noon” (Gen. 43:16).
Did they eat only bread at this meal?! “But bread also meant everything else.” So when we pray for our daily bread, we also ask for everything that our flesh needs on earth. – By bread we can also mean divine communion, saying, as it were: give us divine communion every day, like our daily bread. Believers know what they are accepting, and it is good for them to accept this daily bread, so necessary in this life. But since not everyone always turns out to be worthy of this, they pray that they will always be granted to remain good, i.e. faithful to faith and blameless in life. This is what they desire, this is what they are asking for! “For if they do not remain so, they will be separated from this daily bread.” What, with this understanding of the word “bread”, will mean: “give us our daily bread this day”? Grant us to live in such a way that we will never be separated from Your altar. – And the word of God, which is proclaimed to you daily, and in some way broken for you, is your daily bread. And his mind hungers like a belly for material bread. This is what we ask for in the Lord’s Prayer.
Thus, by daily bread we mean everything necessary for the soul and body in this life.
St. Maximus the Confessor, having mentioned in passing at the end of the interpretation of the previous petition that “bread” here means the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:33), continues: “The word “day,” as I think, means the present age. Or, to interpret this passage of prayer more clearly, we can say: our bread, which You prepared in the beginning for the immortality of nature (human), give us a day, in this mortal life, so that eating the bread of life and knowledge will overcome sinful death - that bread, the communion of which was deprived by the crime of the Divine commandment by the first man. After all, if he had been satisfied with this Divine food, he would not have been taken captive by the death of sin.
However, the one who prays to receive this daily bread does not receive it entirely as it is, but receives only as much as the recipient himself can (perceive it). For the Bread of Life, as a Lover of Mankind, although He gives Himself to all who ask, does not give Himself equally to everyone: to those who have done great deeds He gives more, but to those who have done lesser deeds He gives less, that is, He gives to everyone as much as he can accept his spiritual dignity.
The Savior (Himself) led me to this understanding of this saying (prayer), commanding His disciples not to worry at all about sensual food, telling them: “Do not worry about your soul, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear” (Matthew 6:25), “because the people of this world seek all these things” (Luke 12:30), but you “seek first the Kingdom of God and righteousness.” Him, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). How does (the Lord) teach in prayer not to seek what He (Himself) previously commanded? - It is clear that in prayer He did not order to ask for what He did not command in His commandment (He did not command), for in prayer we must ask for what we should seek according to the commandment. And what (the Lord) does not allow us to seek, it is unlawful to pray for. If the Savior commanded to seek one Kingdom of God and truth, then He encouraged those seeking Divine gifts to ask for the same thing in prayer, so that, through this prayer, having confirmed the grace of those sought by nature (goods), to unite and identify through relative unity the will of those asking with the desire of the Giver of grace.
If prayer commands us to ask for that everyday bread that naturally supports our present life, then this is so that we do not go beyond the boundaries of prayer, covering whole periods of years in thought, and do not forget that we are mortal and have (here) life, like a passing shadow, but so that, without being burdened by unnecessary worries, we ask in prayer for bread for the day. And let us show that we wisely, according to Christ, turn (our earthly) life into a meditation on death, by our own will forestalling nature and, before death, cutting off the soul’s care for the body, so that it does not cleave to the corruptible and does not pervert (by attraction to) matter the natural use of (its) desire (for God), becoming accustomed to covetousness, which deprives the wealth of Divine blessings.
So, let us avoid, as far as possible, love for matter and wash away, like dust, from our mental eyes (our) the very connection with it; Let us be content only with what supports our life, and not with what gives it pleasure. Let us pray to God, as we have learned, so that our soul does not fall into slavery and not, for the sake of the body, fall under the yoke of visible (things). Then it will be clear that we eat in order to live, and do not live in order to eat, since the first is characteristic of rational nature, and the second - of irrational nature. Let us be strict guardians of this prayer, showing by our very deeds that we firmly adhere to one and only life - life in the Spirit, and to acquire it we use (our entire) real life. Let us prove in practice that for the sake of spiritual life we only endure this [mortal life], supporting it with one bread and keeping it, as far as possible, in a healthy state, only so that we do not (just) live, but live for God.”
Blazh. Theophylact. The Lord teaches us to ask for only “daily” bread, that is, useful for our existence and for maintaining life, not at all superfluous, but necessary.
“Daily” bread is the bread that is sufficient to preserve our nature in strength. The word “day” eliminates concern for tomorrow. – And the body of Christ is our daily bread, for whose uncondemned communion we must pray.
Simeon of Thessalonica. Before this we asked for heavenly things; but being mortal, and having a need for bread to support life, we ask for it as men, knowing that it too is in Thy right hand, Our Father, and that You alone are not meager, but we are all meager. However, when asking for bread, we do not ask for too much of it, but for as much as is required for consumption “day”: for we are taught not to worry about tomorrow, because You, Father, as you are our Provider now, so tomorrow and always will be. “And again,” when we pray for our daily bread, we also pray for the living bread of heaven, the all-holy body of the living Word, whoever does not eat which will not live. And He is our daily bread, as He strengthens and illuminates soul and body. He who does not eat it has no life in himself, but he who eats it “will live forever” (John 6:43, 58).
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. Daily bread, according to the understanding of St. John Chrysostom, means everyday bread. Here we mean not only bread, but also everything necessary for this temporary life, for example, drink, clothing, rest, home, etc., as some interpret. We do not ask for wealth, but we ask for what is necessary to support this life. It is commanded to pray not for money, not for luxury, nor for valuable clothing, nor for anything like that, but only for bread, and for everyday bread, so that they do not worry about tomorrow, says Saint Chrysostom. It follows that a Christian should not care about wealth, expensive clothing, rich houses, rich food, and so on. For a Christian must always be ready for the Lord to call him, and then he will be forced to leave all this. The Lord calls everyone to Himself through death. He wants, says St. John Chrysostom, for us to always be ready and be content with what our nature needs.
When we pray: “Give us bread,” we confess that we are poor, needy and needy, and therefore we must ask God for everything, and whatever we have, we must attribute to His goodness, as the Psalmist sings: “The eyes of all trust in You, and You give them their food in due season; You open Your hand and satisfy all living things according to your good pleasure” (Ps. 144:15-16). When we say: “Give us our bread,” we show that we are asking not only for our own food, but also for others, out of Christian love. For Christian love requires that we take care not only of ourselves, but also of our neighbors. It is known that God, since He is generous, gives temporary blessings not only to Christians, but also to those who do not know Him. But Christians must ask Him with all their faith, like sons from a father, and thereby show that all that is given. neither have what is necessary for life - God's good, and so, accepting a benefit, thank the Benefactor.
5th petition: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Tertullian. After appealing to divine generosity, one must also ask for His mercy. Food does not provide everything we need and benefit from. The Lord knew that He alone was always sinless. Why does he teach us to pray for the forgiveness of our debts? This is a confession, asking for forgiveness. He who asks for forgiveness confesses sin. This proves that God also accepts repentance; He desires it more than “the death of the sinner” (Ezek. 33:11). Debt in Scripture is an image of sin; and is subject to judgment and torture, from which the tortured will not escape until he repays everything, as the Lord depicted in the parable (Matthew 18:23–34). The entire parable relates to the interpretation of the meaning of the present petition. For the fact that there, in the parable, the slave, pardoned by the master, did not spare his debtor for this sake, and for this, upon reporting this to the master, he was handed over to the torturer to collect the debt from him to the last coin, i.e. to the slightest remnant of it, it leads to this in order to dispose us to forgive our debtors, to receive forgiveness from the Lord. For the same purpose, the Lord commanded in another place: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).
And when Peter asked Him whether to forgive up to seven times, he said: “I don’t say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy-seven * times” (Matthew 18:22).
St. Cyprian of Carthage. By asking for food, forgiveness of sins is asked, so that a person, fed by God, lives in God, and cares not only about temporary, but also about eternal life - and this can be achieved if sins are forgiven, which the Lord in His Gospel calls debts, saying: “I forgave you all that debt, because you asked me” (Matthew 18:32). And how necessary, how insightful and salutary is the reminder by which we sinners are encouraged to pray for sins, so that, asking God for mercy, the spirit comes to self-consciousness! To eliminate contentment with ourselves, as if innocent, to avoid the danger of perishing through arrogance, we are commanded to pray daily for sins and thereby are given a reminder and instruction that we sin daily. John points out the same thing in his Epistle, saying: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:8-9).
In his Message, he explained both that we must ask for sins and that we will receive forgiveness if we ask. For he called the Lord faithful, i.e. faithfully fulfilling their promise; and He who taught us to pray for our sins and debts promised us the Father’s mercy and subsequent forgiveness. To this the Lord clearly added and added a law limiting us with a certain condition and vow, according to which we must ask that our debts be forgiven in the same way as we leave our debtors, knowing that we cannot receive remission of sins if we do not do the same for our debtors. That is why in another place He says: “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). And the slave, who did not want to forgive his comrade when the master forgave him the entire debt, was imprisoned; he lost the leniency shown to him by the Lord because he did not want to show leniency to his comrade (Matthew 18:27-34). The Lord sets forth this even more powerfully and with greater severity of His judgment in His commandments.
“And when,” he says, “you stand in prayer, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Heavenly Father may forgive you your sins. If you do not forgive, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:25-26). So, there is no excuse left for you on the day of judgment: you will be judged by your own verdict, they will do to you as you yourself will do to others.
God commands that only peaceful, concordant and unanimous people should live in His house. He wants those regenerated to remain such as He made them by the second birth; so that those who become sons of God may abide in the peace of God; so that we, who have one spirit, may have one heart and feeling. He does not accept sacrifices from someone who is in enmity, and commands him to return from the altar and first make peace with his brother, so that he can then appease God with peaceful prayers. For God, a great sacrifice is our peace and fraternal harmony, a people united in the unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. At the first sacrifices made by Abel and Cain, God did not look at their gifts, but at their hearts, so that those who pleased Him with gifts pleased Him with their hearts. Peaceful and righteous Abel, having made a sacrifice to God in innocence, gave a lesson to others bringing the gift to the altar - to come there with the fear of God, with a simple heart, with the law of truth, with peace of harmony.
Having made a sacrifice to God with such a disposition, he then himself became a sacrifice to God: the keeper of the Lord's truth and peace, he was the first, having endured martyrdom, to begin the Lord's suffering with the glory of his blood. Such people are finally crowned by the Lord! Such will be judged with the Lord on the day of judgment! On the contrary, whoever is in enmity and disagreement, who does not have peace with his brothers, he, according to the testimony of the blessed Apostle and Holy Scripture, even if he suffered death for the name of Christ, will still remain guilty of fraternal enmity (1 Cor. 13:3); and the Scripture says: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15), but a murderer can neither reach the Kingdom of Heaven nor live with God. One who would rather be an imitator of Judas than of Christ cannot be with Christ. What kind of sin is this that is not washed away by the baptism of blood? What is a crime that cannot be atoned for by martyrdom?
St. Gregory of Nyssa. The Word, stretching forward, entered the very top of virtue. For with the words of prayer he depicts what he demands to be like when approaching God; shows that he is already beyond the limits of human nature and is likened in virtue to God Himself, so that, doing what is peculiar to one God to do, apparently, he himself becomes a second god. For leaving debts is God’s property, and a predominant property, - it is said: no one “can forgive sins except God alone” (Luke 5:21). Therefore, if someone in his life has become like the distinctive features of God’s nature, then in some way he himself becomes the same with whom he showed the similarity in himself by exact likening.
So, what does this word teach? Firstly, with the boldness to which one has acquired the right in one’s previous life, recognize in oneself the likeness of God, and then dare to call God one’s Father and ask for forgiveness for past sins, because not everyone who asks can receive what he wants, but one who has acquired the right to ask with boldness by deeds. For this is directly instilled in us by the Lord in this saying, namely, when approaching a benefactor, be a benefactor yourself; when starting to do good, be kind; when approaching the truthful, be truthful; when approaching something tolerable, be patient; approaching the philanthropic, be philanthropic, and also be everyone else, approaching the kind-hearted, the benevolent, the sociable in good things, the merciful to everyone, and if anything else is seen that is divine, in all this being likened to will, thereby acquiring for yourself the boldness to pray.
Therefore, just as it is impossible for the evil one to become comfortable with the good and for those covered with unclean filth to have fellowship with the pure and undefiled, so those who approach God’s love for mankind are separated from him by hardness of heart. Therefore, whoever holds a person in his power because of debts and treats him cruelly, by his disposition he has removed himself from God’s love for mankind. For what kind of communication does philanthropy have with brutality, a loving disposition with ferocity, and everything else that is opposite to evil, with what belongs to the opposite side and is in such irreconcilable resistance to it that those who are devoted to it are necessarily removed from the opposite? Just as one who has become the prey of death is no longer alive and one who enjoys life is removed from death, so it is absolutely necessary for one who approaches God’s love for mankind to be alien to all cruelty. And whoever has become alien to everything understood under the name of vice, in some way, by such disposition, becomes a god, bringing to success in himself what reason recognizes about the Divine nature.
Do you see to what greatness the Lord elevates the listeners with the words of this prayer, in some way transforming human nature into divine nature and legitimizing that those who approach God themselves become gods? “Why,” He says, “do you, stricken with fear, scourged by your conscience, servilely come to God? Why do you block yourself from the boldness contained in the freedom of the soul and which originally essentially belongs to nature? Why do you flatter the Unflattering One with your words? Why do you turn with obliging and obsequious speeches to the One who looks at deeds? You, gifted with freedom and prudence, can with authority have every good that is given from God. Be your own judge. Give yourself a saving sentence. Do you want God to forgive you your debts? Let go yourself; God pronounced judgment; your judgment over your fellow tribesman, in which you have power, whatever it may be, is also your verdict. What you know about yourself is confirmed about you by God’s judgment.”
But how can anyone adequately reveal all the greatness of God’s word? The thought contained in it surpasses verbal interpretation. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” I should boldly keep the thought that comes to my mind at the same time, and even more boldly reveal it in words. For what is said? Just as God is shown to be successful in imitation, according to the words of the Apostle: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), so, on the contrary, it is required that your disposition to good become a model for God, the order changes in some way and we dare to hope that, just as good things are accomplished in us by imitation of God, so God will imitate our deeds when we succeed in something good, and you will be able to say to God: “What I did it, do you too; imitate your servant, O Lord; to the poor and needy - You, who reign over everything; I have forgiven my debts, don’t collect them either! I respected the petitioner, do not reject the one who asks! I sent my debtor away cheerful, so let your debtor be! Don't make yours sadder than mine!
Let both equally thank those who show mercy! Let the mediators of both confirm equal remission to both my and Your debtor! My debtor is so-and-so, and Yours is me; whatever decision I made about my debtor, let the same be valid with You; I allowed it, let you too! I let go, let you go too! I have shown great mercy to my fellow tribesman, and You, Lord, imitate the love of Your servant for mankind.”
“But my sins before You are greater than those committed before me by my debtor. I admit this too; Consider also how much You excel in all good. It is right for You to grant us, who have sinned, mercy commensurate with the excess of Your power. I showed little love for mankind, because my nature cannot accommodate more, and no matter how much You wish, your power will not hinder Your generosity.”
But let us understand with greater care the present utterance of the prayer; consideration of its meaning, perhaps, will serve for us as a kind of guide to a high life. Therefore, let us examine what those debts are that human nature is guilty of, and also what those debts are, the remission of which is in our power; knowledge of this will give us a sufficient understanding of the abundance of God's blessings. Therefore, we will make a list of human sins before God here. Man began to be subject to punishment from God, firstly, because he retreated from the Creator and surrendered to the enemy, becoming a fugitive and an apostate from the One who is his Master by nature; secondly, because he exchanged autocratic freedom for evil slavery to sin and preferred to be under the arbitrariness of a corruptive force to coexistence with God. And even this - not to look at the beauty of the Creator, but to turn one’s face to the vileness of sin - can this be recognized as any second of the evils? And what kind of punishment should despise the Divine blessings, and prefer the baits of the evil one, be considered worthy?
The defacement of the image, the damage to the Divine traits imprinted on us at the beginning of creation, the loss of the drachma, the removal from the Father's table, the familiarity with the fetid life of pigs, the waste of precious wealth and all such sins that can be seen with the help of Scripture and reason, can any word count?
So, since the human race must suffer punishment from God for such guilt, it seems to me that therefore the word of God, through the teaching set forth in prayer, instructs us to have a prayerful conversation with God, even if one of us and all of us is farther from human sins, never to approach with such boldness as if he had a clear conscience. For another, perhaps, like that rich young man, having formed his life according to the commandments, has the right, like that one, to boast of his life and say to God: “I have kept all this from my youth” (Matthew 19:20) - and even assume about himself that for him, as he has not sinned in anything against the commandments, it is extremely indecent for him to ask for the remission of debts, which is suitable only for those who have sinned. He will say that such words are appropriate for someone defiled by fornication, or for covetousness, for someone accused of idolatry, it is necessary to ask for forgiveness, and in general, anyone who has wounded the conscience of a soul through some sin should resort to mercy in an excellent and appropriate manner.
And if he is the great Elijah, or acts “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17), or is great “of those born of women” (Matthew 11:11), or Peter, or Paul, or John, or any other of those whose excellence is attested by the Divine Scriptures, then why use such words, which ask for the forgiveness of debts to someone who has no sinful debt? So that someone else, having something similar in mind, does not fall into arrogance, like that Pharisee, who did not know what he was by nature. For if he knew that he was a man, then, of course, he would have learned from the Holy Scripture not to imagine his nature as pure from defilement, which says: “You will not find among people that he could live a single day without defilement” (Job 14:4-5). Therefore, so that someone who approaches God with prayer does not have something similar happen to his soul, the word of God commands not to look at success, but to bring to mind the common debts of human nature, in which everyone, without a doubt, himself participates, as a participant in nature, and to beg the Judge to grant forgiveness of sins.
For since Adam lives in us and each of us is a man, then while we see in our nature these leather tunics and the soon withering leaves of this material life, which, having been stripped of the eternal and bright vestments, we sewed to our own harm, instead of Divine clothes we clothed ourselves in fun, glory, one-day honors, murderous pleasures of the flesh - and while we look at this carnal abode, in which We are condemned to dwell as soon as we turn to the east (not only because God sees for us there, Who, as omnipresent, is not encompassed by any place exclusively, but still contains, but because in the east is our original fatherland, I mean being in paradise, from which we are expelled - “the Lord God planted paradise in Eden in the east” (Gen. 2:8)); therefore, as soon as we turn our gaze “to the east” and mentally bring to mind the expulsion from the bright and eastern countries of bliss, then we rightly add these sayings and we, canceled by the unkind fig tree of life, rejected from the eyes of God, willfully surrendered to the snake that eats the earth and crawls along the earth: walks on its chest and on its belly and advises us to do the same - to indulge in earthly things pleasures, creeping on the earth and dragging thoughts to occupy your heart and walk on your belly, i.e.
to take care of the voluptuous life, therefore, in this state, like that prodigal son, after the long misery in which he was, herding pigs, as soon as we come, like him, to ourselves and bring to ourselves the thought of the Heavenly Father, then we perfectly use these sayings: “Forgive us our debts.”
Therefore, even if someone was Moses and Samuel and others who were famous for virtue, nevertheless, since he is a man, he considers these words decent for himself, as a participant in Adam’s nature, a participant in his fall. Since, as the apostle says, “as in Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22), then the saying that is appropriate for Adam at repentance should be common to all those who died with him, so that when we are granted forgiveness of sins again, as the apostle says, we can be saved by the grace of the Lord (Eph. 2:5). But it is said that another, when looking at the more general, can understand what is proposed in the word. If anyone seeks the true meaning in the saying, then, I think, we will not be required to elevate the concept to a general view of nature, because conscience is enough to make a petition for pardon necessary in the consideration of every action in life.
Since in this world our life, as I think, is subject to diverse influences, both in the soul and mind, and in bodily feelings, it is difficult or even completely impossible not to be carried away into sin by at least one passion. For example, this pleasure-loving life, in relation to the body, is divided according to our feelings, and in relation to the soul, it shows itself in the striving of reason and in the movement of arbitrariness - who is so exalted and gifted with such prudence that in both lives he can avoid all the filth of vice? Who is without sin with his eye? Who is innocent by rumor? Who is alien to this bestial pleasure of the larynx? Who is clean from touching sin by touch? Who does not know this riddle offered by Scripture: “death enters our windows” (Jer. 9:21)? For the senses, through which, communicating with external objects, the soul electively engages with them, Scripture called windows, which, according to the word of Scripture, pave the way for the entrance of death.
Indeed, the eye is often the entrance to many deaths: it sees someone who is irritated and is himself aroused to the same passion, or he sees someone who is prosperous beyond their true worth and is inflamed with envy; or sees someone who is proud and falls into hatred; or he sees some good-colored substance, a beautiful arrangement of a face, and is completely immersed in the lust of the one he likes. And the ear opens the windows of death, along with what it hears, it receives many passions into the soul: fear, sadness, irritation, pleasure, lust, immoderate laughter and the like. And the pleasure of taste, as someone else will say, is the mother of all evils. For who does not know that the root of almost all errors in life is concern for the larynx? Luxury, drunkenness, gluttony, disorderly behavior, gluttony, satiety, riotous life, bestial and unreasonable descent into the passion of dishonor depend on it.
Likewise, the sense of touch constitutes the extreme limit of all sins; everything that is done for the body by sensualists belongs to the number of ailments of tactile sensation, a detailed description of which would be lengthy; and it is indecent to mix into important objects everything that serves as a reproach to the sense of touch. Is the whole swarm of errors of the soul and arbitrariness even capable of being counted in a single word? It is said: “evil thoughts come from within” (Matthew 15:19) - and a list of those who defile us with thoughts is added. So, if the nets of sins are spread out everywhere for us with all the senses and heart movements of the soul, then “who can boast,” as Wisdom says, “that they have a pure heart” (Prov. 20:9)? "Who... is clean... from filth?" - as Job testifies to this (Job 14:4). And defilement for spiritual purity is pleasure in many forms and in many ways mixed into human life both in soul and body, thoughts and feelings, intentional movements and bodily actions. So, whose soul is clean from this filth? Who hasn't been struck by arrogance?
Who has not been trampled under the foot of pride? Who has not been shaken by the hand of sin? Whose foot has not rushed to vice? Who has not been defiled by an unruly eye, thrown into uncleanness by an ignorant ear, or occupied by taste? Whose heart remained inactive for vain movements?
Since we have all this in us, and in those who live bestially it is very bad and unbearable, but in those who are more attentive to themselves it is more bearable, but everyone who is of the same nature with us always certainly participates in the errors of nature, then, falling in prayer to God, we therefore ask you to leave us our debts. But such a voice is not accepted and does not reach the Divine ear unless our conscience also cries out that sharing the grace shown with others is a wonderful thing. For whoever argues that love for mankind is decent to God (and if he did not recognize it as decent, he would not ask God for the indecent and inappropriate), justice requires him to confirm his judgment about a wonderful deed with his own deeds, so as not to hear from the righteous Judge: “Heal yourself to the doctor.” You beg me for philanthropy, which you do not share with your neighbors. You ask for forgiveness of debts - why are you torturing the debtor? Do you beg for your handwriting to be blotted out, while you carefully keep contracts with those who borrow from you? You ask for a reduction in your debt count, but you add more than what you owe?
Your debtor is in prison, and you are in the house of prayer. He suffers for his debts, and you ask for forgiveness of the debt? Your prayer is not heard because the voice of the sufferer drowns it out. If you resolve your bodily debt, your spiritual ties will be resolved. If you forgive, you will be forgiven; You will be your own judge, you will prescribe the law for yourself, by disposition towards him who lies at your feet, pronouncing a sentence on yourself from above.”
Therefore, if we intend to bring a prayer to God for mercy and forgiveness, then let us prepare the boldness of our conscience, let us present our life as an intercessor for the prayer we are saying, so that we can truly say: “Just as we” have forgiven “our debtors.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem. “And forgive us our debts...” For we have many sins; We fall in word and thought, and we do a lot of things worthy of condemnation. Why “if we say that we have no sin,” then we will say as John says (1 John 1:8). “Just as we forgive...” And we enter into an agreement with God, begging Him to forgive our sins, just as we forgive the debts of our neighbors. Therefore, imagining in our minds what we receive in return, we will not wait and hesitate to mutually forgive each other. The actions taken against us are small, unimportant, and easy to atone for; and the sins we have committed against God are great and require the love of mankind characteristic of God alone. Therefore, be careful and, due to unimportant and small sins against you, do not block your opportunity to receive forgiveness from God for the most serious sins.
St. John Chrysostom. Further, since it happens to sin even after the font of rebirth, the Savior, wishing in this case to show His great love for mankind, commands us to approach the man-loving God with a prayer for the forgiveness of our sins, and thus say: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Do you see the abyss of God's mercy? After taking away so many evils, and after the inexpressibly great gift of justification, He again deigns to forgive those who sin. And that this prayer belongs to the faithful is shown both by the statutes of the Church and by the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer itself. One who is not enlightened by faith cannot call God Father. If the Lord's Prayer belongs to the faithful, and if it commands them to pray for the remission of sins, then it is clear that even after baptism the beneficial use of repentance is not destroyed. If Christ had not wanted to show this, he would not have commanded to pray in this way.
When He mentions sins, and commands us to ask for their forgiveness, and teaches us how we can receive this forgiveness, and thereby makes the path to receiving it easy for us, then, without a doubt, He gave this law of prayer because He himself completely knew, and wanted to instill in us, that even after baptism one can wash away sins. By reminding us of sins, He inspires us with humility; the command to let others go destroys rancor in us; and with the promise of forgiveness for us for this, he confirms good hopes in us and teaches us to reflect on the ineffable love of God. What is especially worthy of note is that in each of the above petitions He mentioned all the virtues, and with this last petition He also includes rancor. And the fact that the name of God is sanctified through us is an undoubted proof of a perfect life; and the fact that His will is done shows the same thing; and the fact that we call God the Father is a sign of an immaculate life.
All this already implies that we should leave anger at those who insult us; however, the Savior was not satisfied with this, but, wanting to show how much concern He has for eradicating rancor among us, he especially speaks about this, and after prayer he recalls not another commandment, but the commandment of forgiveness, saying: “If you forgive people their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). Thus, this remission initially depends on us, and the judgment pronounced on us lies in our power. So that none of the unreasonable, being condemned for a great or small crime, has the right to complain about the court, the Savior makes you, the guilty one, a judge over Himself, and, as it were, says: what judgment you pronounce about yourself, the same judgment I will pronounce about you; if you forgive your brother, then you will receive the same benefit from Me, although this latter is actually much more important than the first.
You forgive another because you yourself need forgiveness, and God forgives without needing anything; you forgive your fellow servant, and God forgives your slave; you are guilty of countless sins, but God is sinless. On the other hand, the Lord shows His love for mankind by the fact that even though He could forgive you all your sins without your doing, He wants to benefit you in this too, in everything He provides you with occasions and incentives to meekness and love of mankind; drives out bestiality from you, quenches your anger and in every possible way wants to unite you with your members. What do you say to this? Is it that you have unjustly suffered some evil from your neighbor? If so, then, of course, your neighbor has sinned against you; and if you have suffered in truth, then this does not constitute sin in him. But you also approach God with the intention of receiving forgiveness for similar and even much greater sins. Moreover, even before forgiveness, how much did you receive, when you have already been taught to preserve the human soul within yourself and have been taught meekness?
Moreover, a great reward will await you in the next century, because then you will not be required to account for any of your sins. So, what kind of punishment will we deserve if, even after receiving such rights, we ignore our salvation? Will the Lord listen to our requests when we ourselves do not spare ourselves where everything is in our power?
With the words: “Our bread... give... for this day,” having taught us high wisdom (to cast our sorrow on God, in the confidence that He cares for us), and knowing that it is impossible for us, as people endowed with a mortal body, not to fall, the Lord also teaches us to say in prayer: “and forgive us our debts...” With these words, three blessings are delivered together: those who have reached the heights of virtues, He teaches humility and admonishes not to rely on one’s own exploits, but to fear, tremble and remember past sins, as did the divine Paul, who after countless exploits said: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first” (1 Tim. 1:15). He did not say: “I was,” but “is,” expressing that he constantly remembered his sins. So, to those who have reached the heights of virtue, the Lord provides with these words security in humility; and he does not allow those who have fallen after the grace of Holy Baptism to despair of their salvation, but teaches them to ask the doctor of souls for forgiveness. In addition, these words teach humanity.
He wants us to be meek towards the guilty, unforgiving towards those who sin against us, by forgiving them to gain forgiveness for ourselves and to prepare for ourselves a measure of philanthropy. For we ask to be given to us as much as we give to our neighbors and we ask for the same forgiveness for ourselves as we give to our debtors.
St. Cassian. God's indescribable mercy! It not only conveyed to us the image of prayer, not only set out for us the rules of morality, through the fulfillment of which we can please God, and not only plucks out the very roots of anger and despondency by the power of the prescribed image of unceasing prayer, but even gives those praying a means of gaining mercy and love for themselves on the Day of revelation of God's Judgment and in some way gives us the power to soften the definition of our Judge and, as it were, oblige Him to forgive our sins by the example of our own forgiveness: “Forgive us,” we say to Him, “as we forgive.” So, in the hope of this prayer, anyone who has only forgiven his debtors, but not the debtors of his Lord, can boldly ask for remission of sins. For some of us (what is worst of all) are usually merciful and very lenient towards those actions that offend God, even if they were great crimes, and, on the contrary, are cruel and inexorable avengers for their own slightest insults.
Therefore, whoever with all his heart does not let go of his brother who sins against him, with this prayer he will ask for himself not mercy, but condemnation, and by his own confession he calls upon himself a strict judgment, saying: “Forgive me, as I have forgiven.” For if this prayer of his is heard, then, in accordance with his example, what else should follow but inexorable anger and an indispensable determination of punishment. So, if we want to be judged mercifully, then we ourselves must be merciful to those who have sinned against us; for as much will be forgiven us as we forgive those who have caused us any harm with their anger. Some, fearing not to show that by pronouncing these words of prayer they are blaming themselves more than excusing them, silently let them pass, while the whole people sings them in church.
But in vain they try to use these tricks before the Judge of all, Who wanted to show His defendants in advance how He will judge them, that is, He showed us such an image of judgment according to which He does not want to appear strict and unforgiving, but just as we want to be judged by Him, so should our brothers be judged if they sin against us in any way: “For judgment without mercy will be to those who have not shown mercy” ( James 2:13).
Blazh. Augustine. Debts, obviously, mean sins here, as on another occasion, when they spoke about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with the sacrifices and about the eighteen who were beaten by the fallen pillar of Siloam, the Lord said: “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the Galileans, that they suffered so much?” And then he added: “unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way” (Luke 13:2-3). So here we are not forced to leave money to debtors, but what others have sinned against us. The commandment stated above commands us to leave money: “And whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your outer clothing too” (Matthew 5:40). But here, too, it is not necessary for every financial debtor to leave the debt, but for those who do not want to repay with such reluctance that they are even ready to compete: “But the servant of the Lord must not quarrel,” as the Apostle says (2 Tim. 2:24). So, when someone, either willingly or out of conviction, does not want to give the due money, he should be left with it. For if he does not want to give, then he does it for two reasons, either because he does not have it, or because he is stingy and greedy for someone else’s.
But both expose poverty: the first is worldly, and the second is spiritual. Why would someone forgive such a debt, forgive the poor and do a Christian thing? However, if someone, holding in his heart the readiness to leave what someone owes him, with meekness and friendliness so influences his debtor that he will repay the debt, not so much worrying about returning the money as about correcting this person, for whom, of course, it is harmful to have something to give and not pay; then he not only will not sin, but will also do something useful, so that he, having appropriated other people’s money, will not suffer mental harm, with which no other can be compared. From this we can, however, conclude that in this fifth petition, although it is not directly about money, but about everything that someone sins against us, this can also mean a monetary debt. For whoever does not give you the money you owe, when he has money to give, sins against you. And if you do not forgive this sin, then you cannot say: “Forgive us, as we forgive.”
We ask you to release our debts; because we are all debtors to God, not with money, but with sins. You might say: you too? – I answer: us too. And you, holy bishops, are debtors? Yes - and we are debtors. Really you too? It cannot be, my Lord; Don't tell lies about yourself. I’m not telling lies about myself, but telling the truth: we are debtors. And “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). We are both baptized and debtors. Not because anything remains behind us that would not have been released in baptism; but because, while living, we collect what needs to be released every day. Those who, having just been baptized, depart (from this life), without any duty ascend (grief) and pass (to the heavenly abodes). And those who, having been baptized, remain to live in this life, those, due to moral weakness, gather into themselves a lot of things that, although they do not cause wreck (the ship of life), must nevertheless be cleansed (pumped out). Because if you don’t clean it out (pump it out), then little by little it will find so much inside that the whole ship will sink.
To pray in the manner shown means to cleanse oneself (pump out what has surging out of oneself). And if it had not been given to us to cleanse ourselves in this way every day with holy prayer, then we would have been put in great extremes, despite the fact that all our sins have been washed away in the bath of rebirth. But behold, thanks be to the Lord! Alms and prayers cleanse our sins, as long as we do not commit such sins for which we should be deprived of our daily bread (holy communion) - as long as we avoid those that subject us to strict condemnation.
Let none of you consider himself righteous who does not need to say: “Forgive us our debts.” May you be far from idolatry, from stargazing, from sorcery; let heresies and schisms not be involved; let you turn away from murder, fornication, rapacity, false witness, and all such lewdness; but besides this, there are many things that a person sins with. Looking with lust at what is wrong, he sins. But who will keep the speed of the eye? “However, you can close your eye right away if you want; but you cannot always close your ear, and against your will it receives shameful, unclean, seductive, slanderous and blasphemous speeches. When you hear effeminate things, don’t you sin with your ears, even though you don’t do it? And how many sins does the tongue commit, often those for which one should be removed from the cup? Idle talk, gossip, slander, blasphemy are his business. But let the hand not do anything evil, the foot not lead to evil, the eye not be guided by lust, the ear not receive indecent things, the tongue not speak unbecoming: who can keep his thoughts, tell me?
Doesn’t it often happen, my brothers, that when we pray, our thoughts wander, not knowing where, forgetting before Whom we stand and before Whom, prostrated, we lie down? – If all these things are put together, shouldn’t it really weigh on the conscience, although each separately is a small thing? What difference does it make whether lead crushes you or sand? - Lead crushes in mass, but grains of sand crush in quantity. Each one is insignificant, and when many of them gather, they can also crush, like lead. - Small sins! “Don’t you see how rivers are formed from drops?” Small, but numerous.
So let us always cry and cry sincerely: “forgive us our debts,” fulfilling in action what follows: “just as we forgive our debtors.” God is pleased to enter into an agreement with us. Thus says the Lord Your God: “Let me go, and I will let you go. You didn’t let go: you are going against yourself, not I.” - So, let go of everything that anyone has in his heart against another. Let go from your heart - be sure that at the same time all your sins, committed in word, deed and thought, are forgiven. Who can live on this earth and not have an enemy? But try to love them. Your most ardent enemy cannot cause you the same harm that you cause yourself if you do not love your enemy. He can harm your fields, or your livestock, or your house, or your servant, or your maidservant, or your son, or your wife, or - most of all, if power is given to him - your flesh. Is all this as destructive as when you (by not forgiving him) cause harm to your soul? Strive, beloved, to such perfection, I beg you.
And don’t think that this is impossible: I know, I knew, I actually saw Christians who love their enemies. In order for us to succeed in this, believe that this is possible, and pray that God’s will be done in you and in this regard. -What irritates you about your enemy? Of course not human nature. Is it really because you have him as an enemy because he has soul and body? “For it is the same with you: you have a soul, and he has a soul, you have a body, and he has a body.” He is your fellow-natural being: both were created from the earth and given life by the Lord. He is the same as you: see in him your brother. The first two, Adam and Eve, were our parents: he is the father, she is the mother. Therefore, we are brothers. But let us leave this our first principle; God is our Father, the church is our mother. It became - we are brothers. Yes, my enemy is a pagan, a Jew, a heretic, you say. But pray, and he will become the same as you, and along with everything else, your enmity will disappear.
And you all say: who can do this? Who does this? - May God do this in your hearts. – And I know that few do this: but those who do are great, they are truly spiritual. Is this really how all the faithful in the church come to the altar and receive the Body and Blood of Christ? Are they all like that? “And yet everyone says: “Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors.” God will righteously tell them that you ask me to do what I promised, when you yourself do not do what I commanded? What did I promise? - Forgive your debts. What did he command? - So that you too forgive your debtors. But how can you say that you are doing this when you do not love your enemies? - What should we do, brothers? How small is the flock of Christ reduced? If only those should say: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” who love their enemies; I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to say. I would tell you: if you do not love your enemies, then do not pray. But I don’t dare, but rather I say: pray to love.
Should I not say to you: if you do not love your enemies, then do not say this petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”? “But if you don’t say this, your sins will be on you.” And it turns out: if you don’t speak, they won’t be forgiven, if you speak and don’t do, they won’t be forgiven either. There is only one thing left: to say and do so that you will be forgiven.
“Forgive, and you will be forgiven,” said Christ the Lord (Luke 6:37). And what do you say in prayer? - “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” So forgive, Lord, as we forgive. Do you say: then forgive us, Father who art in heaven, our debts, just as we forgive our debtors? - This is what you should do; and if you do not do it, you will perish. When an enemy asks for forgiveness, forgive him immediately. And this seems like too much for you? - It would be a lot to love an enemy when he is malicious and evil. But is it really too much for you to love a person who turns to you with a humble prayer? But I would like you to look at him favorably even then (when he was angry); I would like that, while enduring his anger, you would remember the Lord who said: “Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This is what I would most like: that even at a time when the enemy is plotting against you, you would look to the Lord Your God, who spoke such words.
Perhaps you will say: He did so, as the Lord, as Christ, as the Son of God, the Only Begotten, as the Word, made flesh; Where can I, a thin and weak person, go? - If it is too much for you to imitate your Lord, bring your fellow servant to mind. St. Stephen was stoned, and under the blows of the stones, he knelt down and prayed, saying: “Lord! Do not count this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). Those stones they threw at him did not ask for forgiveness; and he prayed for them. I wish you to be like that. Go up a little. Why are you always dragging your heart along the ground? Do you hear: “Let us direct our hearts to Heaven”? Rise up, love the enemy. If you cannot love when he is angry, at least love when he asks for forgiveness. Love the person who says: brother, I have sinned, forgive me. If you don’t forgive at this time, then I don’t say that you are driving prayer out of your heart; - but that you exclude yourself from the book of life.
So, when an enemy asks for forgiveness, forgive him - let go of hostility towards him from your heart: let go of hostility, I say, from your heart, and not just debt collection. “You might say: he’s pretending, he’s deceiving.” - Oh, judge of someone else's heart! Tell me the thoughts of your father, tell me your own thoughts of yesterday. Begs, asks for forgiveness; I'm sorry, I'm completely sorry. If you don’t forgive, you won’t hurt him, but yourself. You will not forgive, fellow servant; so he will go to the Lord - his and yours - and say to Him: My Lord! I asked my fellow servant to forgive me; didn't want to forgive. I'm sorry! - And He will certainly forgive. Thus, he will depart from his Lord permitted, but you will remain bound. How connected? The time for prayer will come, the moment will come when you say: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”: and the Lord will answer you: “You evil servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you?” (Matthew 18:32–33). These words are from the Gospel, not from my heart.
But if you, being begged, forgive the one asking for forgiveness; then you can safely say that prayer. Although you are not yet strong enough to love your enemy; but you can say this prayer: “Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors.”
“Forgive us our debts,” we say, and we will say: for we speak the truth. Who among those living in this flesh has no debts? Which person lives in such a way that he does not need this prayer? He can become arrogant like that; but in truth it cannot be like that. “It is better for us to imitate the publican, and not to be arrogant, like the Pharisee, who, having entered the church, boasted of his merits and covered his wounds.” But he knew better why he entered the church, who said: “God! be merciful to me, a sinner! (Luke 18:10–14). - Reason, my brothers. This is how the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray—those great first Apostles, our leaders. If our leaders pray for the remission of their sins, shouldn’t we do the same? – And in the Creed, among other benefits of the economy of salvation, you also name the remission of sins (through baptism). One kind of remission of sins is that which is given once, the other is that which is given every day. That, once given, is given in St. Baptism, and this, every day, is asked in the Lord’s Prayer while we live here.
That’s why we say: “forgive us our debts.”
God entered into a covenant and agreement with us, sealing it with strong handwriting, when he taught us to say in prayer: “just as we forgive our debtors.” Whoever wants the words “forgive us our debts” to be effective, let him make the words true: “just as we forgive our debtors.” But if he either does not say these last words, or speaks falsely; then the first ones say in vain. That’s why I constantly inspire you: forgive everything that you have in your hearts against anyone; forgive where God sees. It happens that someone forgives with his lips, but holds back with his heart: he forgives with his lips for the sake of people, but holds back with his heart, not fearing the eyes of God. Forgive me completely. Whatever you have held back until now, forgive everything now. The sun should never have set on your anger; how many times did it go this way? Don't think that anger is nothing. “My eye is troubled,” says the prophet, “with wrath” (Ps. 6:8). But one whose eye is confused cannot see the sun; neither can one whose eye of the mind is confused by anger cannot see the intelligent Sun. What is anger? Thirst for revenge.
Sinful man thirsts for vengeance, while Christ the Lord was not avenged, and St. the martyrs were not avenged! God's patience still awaits, that the enemies of Christ may be converted, that the enemies of the martyrs may be converted. Who are we that we seek revenge? – If God wanted to take it from us, where would we go? But He, innocent of anything, does not seek revenge; and we, guilty of everything, and daily insulting God, are looking for him. So, farewell, farewell from the heart. If you are angry, do not sin, as the Prophet teaches: “When you are angry, do not sin” (Ps. 4:5). You become angry, like people who are overcome by irritation; but do not sin by holding anger within yourself. If you hold back, you will reach hatred, which is old anger. Anger, when it becomes old, is called hatred, and it is. What was anger when it was new became hatred when it was old. Anger is a spoke; and hatred is a log. If, while condemning someone who is angry, we ourselves hold hatred in our hearts; then the words of the Lord apply to us: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not feel the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).
How did the knitting needle grow to become a log? Because it was not immediately torn out. By allowing the sun to rise and set so many times in your anger, you have made it obsolete. Having gathered a lot of crafty suspicions into anger, you watered the knitting needle, and watered it; having nourished it, it grew and made it into a log. Fear at least the following sentence: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). Let you not draw your sword, strike, or make wounds on your brother’s body; but since there is a thought of hatred in your heart, for its sake alone you are considered a murderer. You are so guilty before God. Brother and alive; but you are still a murderer. You have already killed in yourself the one you hated. Correct yourself, cleanse yourself. If scorpions get into your house, how much do you work to cleanse your home of them and live in a sense of security? – How many people do you become angry with, and leave these angers to grow old in your hearts; You have so many hatreds, so many scorpions and snakes. Why are you not trying to cleanse your heart from this house of God?
Act as you say, “Just as we forgive our debtors,” so that you can also say with confidence, “Forgive us our debts.” We cannot live on earth without debts. But some of them are those great sins that are washed away by baptism, and from which you must always be alien; and others are everyday sins, without which a person cannot live, and for the sake of which this daily petition with a condition attached to it is necessary.
St. Maximus the Confessor. He who lives in God and feeds on Him as his daily bread is filled with long-suffering. ...He appears before God as an example of virtue and, so to speak, calls on the Inimitable to imitate himself, saying: “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” he prays to God to be what he himself was in relation to his neighbors. For if he wishes that God would forgive him in the same way as he himself forgave the debts of those who sinned against him, that just as God dispassionately forgives those whom he forgives, so he forgives those who have sinned, remaining dispassionate to what happens to him, and therefore does not allow his mind to be imprinted with memories of previous sorrows, showing himself to be a person who is not separated from other people and does not dismember (the one) nature (human). For when the will is united in this way with the logos of nature, then the reconciliation of God with (human) nature usually occurs, since it is impossible otherwise for nature, which voluntarily rebels against itself, to accept the ineffable condescension of the Divine.
And, of course, the Lord desires our reconciliation with each other not in order to learn from us to reconcile with those who have sinned and agree to redress many and terrible grievances, but He desires this in order to cleanse us of passions and show that our state of mind is closely connected with grace. And it is clear that when the will has united with the logos of nature, the free will of the people who do this will no longer rebel against God.
Blazh. Theophylact. Since we sin even after baptism, the Lord commands us to pray that He will forgive us our sins, just as we forgive others. For if we bear a grudge, He does not forgive us. God sets us up as an example to Himself; so that as we deal with others, so He deals with us.
Simeon of Thessalonica. This is the whole meaning and the whole power of the divine Gospel. Ибо для того, чтобы прощены были нам беззакония наши и грехи, Бог – Слово снизошел на землю и, воплотившись, кровь Свою излил. For the forgiveness of sins, He instituted the divine sacraments. He Himself did everything for this purpose; and requires only one thing from us, that we forgive others. Why did he lay down the law: “forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). И Петру, вопрошавшему, сколько раз в день прощать согрешающему, – прощать ли до семи раз, сказал, что надо оставлять семьдесят семь раз, – вместо – непрестанно. Таким образом, критерием успеха молитвы поставил Он самого молящегося: так что если он прощал, и ему прощено будет; если сам отпускал, и ему отпущено будет, и как сам прощал, так и ему прощено будет. What is done to a brother is traced back to Him who created us: for in him is the image of God. And among ourselves we are all equal in nature, still slaves of God. We all sin a lot before Him, and we don’t sin a lot before each other. Но оставляя это немногое, получаем во много раз больше, когда, прощая людям, сподобляемся прощения от Бога
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. “And forgive us our debts.” Debts here mean sins - words, deeds and thoughts that are contrary to the law of God. That is why Saint Luke wrote in his Gospel: “forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). Sins are called debts because, just as in civil life it happens that debts oblige the debtor to repay the creditor, and if the debtor does not repay the debts, then he is imprisoned for debts and kept until he repays the debts, so sins oblige us to satisfy the truth of God (for every sin is against the truth of God), and when we have nothing to satisfy, they imprison us in eternal prison. We cannot pay these debts ourselves, therefore we resort to Christ’s merits and God’s mercy, so that he may leave them to us freely, and we ask Him about this: “forgive us our debts.” When we ask: “forgive us our debts,” this shows that we should not only pray for ourselves, but also for each other, and should ask each other for remission of sins.
This word: “forgive us our debts,” clearly shows that the saints themselves sin, and therefore must ask for remission of sins, as it is written: “For this - that is, for the remission of sins - every righteous person will pray to You at the time of need" (Ps. 31:6). Since this is the prayer of the saints, for whoever calls God Father truly and from the heart, he must be a holy child of God and have the Spirit God, living in themselves, about whom the faithful cry out: “Abba Father!” (Gal.4:6). The sins here are not understood to be those that occur voluntarily and deliberately, such as: fornication, theft, theft, malice, wickedness, flattery, etc. - the saints avoid these sins - but we understand weaknesses from which, due to their weakness, they cannot protect themselves, although they try to do so. The saints pray for these sins: “Father! forgive us our debts.”
It is said: “just as we forgive our debtors.” With this word we learn that we ourselves may forgive the sins of our neighbors when we ask God and receive forgiveness of sins. He forgives us our sins out of mercy - and we must, imitating Him, forgive the sins of our brethren out of mercy. When we forgive the sins of our brothers, God also forgives us our sins. We do not forsake - God does not forsake us either, as Christ says: “If you forgive people their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Whoever of the sinners who remain in sins and do not forsake them, wants to pray and ask God for forgiveness of sins, he must first forsake his sins himself, and having left, ask God to leave them with His grace and deliver him from the execution with which a sinner is handed over for sins. For God does not forsake us sins when we ourselves do not forsake them. And when our sins are not forgiven, then nothing other than execution for sins will follow. This happens to a debtor to whom the lender does not leave the debt, because he imprisons him and holds him until he pays off his debt. So the sinner, whose sins are not forgiven, will be imprisoned by the judgment of God in eternal prison, and will pay the justice of God for sinful debts with execution, but will never pay. For having angered and offended the Eternal and Infinite God, eternal and infinite punishment is righteously rewarded. For the truth of God demands that the unrepentant sinner accept a worthy punishment.
But the destruction of the eternal law of God and thereby the insult to the infinite majesty of God cannot be satisfied with anything other than eternal execution and suffering. That those who repent, stop sinning, regret their sins and ask for forgiveness, have their sins forgiven by God, God does from His mercy alone and for the sake of Christ’s merits, for the sake of which in His word He promised to grant remission of sins to all who repent and believe in Christ, as this mercy of God is depicted in Psalm 103: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.”
But anyone who wants to repent and for the sake of the suffering and death of Christ receive remission of sins must certainly forsake his sins. For where there is no remission of sins, there is no true repentance. Where there is no true repentance, there the merits of Christ have no place. Where Christ's merits have no place, there is no remission of sins. Where there is no remission of sins, there follows condemnation and eternal suffering in hell for sins. And so the sinner, when his sins are not forgiven (they will not be forgiven him, since he himself does not want to leave them), as a debtor for debts, for all those sins with which he sinned before God, he will be tortured, and since he has nothing to atone for, he will pay with eternal death. So, one who wants to repent and be saved from sins must leave behind, and resort to God’s mercy, confess himself with humility and regret as guilty before God, ask for forgiveness for the sake of the shed Blood of Christ, which is shed for every sinner, and cleanses every sin.
It is necessary to leave a foreign, lawless country with the prodigal son, and return to the Father with regret and self-abasement, casting oneself as unworthy before His merciful eyes and admitting: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before You and am no longer worthy to be called Your son; accept me as one of Your hired servants" (Luke 15:18-19). Have mercy on me with the grace and love of Your Only Begotten Son, Who shed His Blood and died for me, a sinner. he who confesses his sins with regret and asks for mercy, without a doubt, the Heavenly Father will forgive all his debts, not because of any of his merits, but by grace alone. For the very Blood of the Son of God, shed for the sake of the sinner, cries out that all his debts will be forgiven and will no longer be remembered by such a sinner, just as the returning prodigal son recognized mercy on himself. his most merciful father.
The Heavenly Father will see such a sinner who has come to Him, and will look at him with His merciful eyes, and will take pity on him. He will not hear from the Father a reprimand for self-will, withdrawal and a corrupt life, but will hear one voice of the Most Merciful Father: “Bring the best clothes and dress him, and give a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf, and kill it; Let's eat and have fun! For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:22–24). And so, according to the word of Christ, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7).
But a sinner who has received such great mercy from God must himself show mercy to his neighbor and forgive his sins, so as not to learn for himself what the gospel debtor learned, who owed his king ten thousand talents, who, having received mercy from his king, did not want to have mercy on his comrade, and, having been freed from a great debt by the mercy of his king alone, did not want to leave a small debt to his brother - and therefore fell under the anger of the king, he received his heavy debt again, but with a reprimand: “Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you?” . And, angry, his sovereign handed him over to the torturers until he paid him all the debt. “So,” Christ ends the parable, “my Heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart for his sins” (Matthew 18:32–35).
6th petition: “And do not lead us into temptation.”
Tertullian. To supplement such a saving prayer (“forgive us”) the Lord added: “do not lead us into temptation,” teaching us not only to pray that our sins would be forgiven us, but also that they would be completely prevented. “Lead us not into temptation” means do not allow us to be led into temptation by those who tempt. Let us not think that God is tempting, neither in the sense of recognizing our faith as if he did not know it, nor, even more so, in rejoicing at our fall: ignorance and malice are the attributes of the devil. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son not to learn his faith, but to demonstrate it, in order to give us in him an example of obedience to the command of God, as soon as it was received, without putting our own blood more dear to God. The Lord, having allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil, indicated to those who are the chairman and artist of all temptation. He confirmed this when he later said: “Pray so as not to fall into temptation” (Luke 22:40). They were already tempted because they left the Lord (to pray alone), desiring it (adversity) more than prayer.
The conclusion of the prayer corresponds to this: “but deliver us from evil,” interpreting who is leading into temptation.
St. Cyprian of Carthage. Further, the Lord gives us as a necessary instruction to say in prayer: “and do not lead us into temptation.” This shows that the enemy has no power over us unless there is first permission from God. That is why all our fear, all reverence and attention must be turned to God, since the evil one cannot tempt us unless he is given power from above. The proof is the words of Divine Scripture: “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand” (Dan.1:1-2). The evil one is given power over us because of our sins, as the Scripture says: “Who delivered Jacob to destruction, and Israel to the robbers? Is it not the Lord against whom we have sinned? They did not want to walk in His ways and did not listen to His law. And He poured out the fury of His anger on them” (Is. 42:24-25). Also about Solomon, when he betrayed himself and strayed from the commandments and ways of the Lord, it is said: “And God raised up another adversary against Solomon” (1 Kings 11:23).
However, power over us is given for a twofold purpose: either for punishment when we sin, or for glory when we are tested, as was done regarding Job, according to the clear instructions of God, who says: “Behold, all that he has is in your hand; only do not stretch out your hand against him” (Job 1:12). Also, during His suffering, the Lord says in His Gospel: “You would not have any power over Me if it had not been given to you from above” (John 19:11). Meanwhile, when we ask that we not be subjected to temptation, then by such a request we are brought to the consciousness of our weakness and infirmity so that no one would be arrogant about himself, so that no one would appropriate anything to himself with pride and arrogance and would not attribute to himself the glory of confession or suffering, then, as the Lord himself, teaching humility, said: “Watch and pray, so as not to fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). Thus, it is necessary to first have a humble and submissive consciousness and submit everything to God, so that what is humbly asked of Him with the fear of God and reverence is granted by His goodness.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem. “And lead us not into temptation,” Lord. Does the Lord really teach us to pray so as not to be tempted at all? As it is said in another place: “he who has not been tempted knows little” (Sir.34:10), and again: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various temptations” (James 1:2) - But perhaps entering into temptation means getting bogged down in temptation? For temptation is like a kind of stream that is difficult to cross. Therefore, some, without getting bogged down in temptations, bypass them, as if becoming some kind of skilled swimmers, and not being carried away by them in the least. But others are not like that - they enter and get bogged down. Like, for example, Judas, having entered into the temptation of the love of money, did not swim across the abyss, but was mired and perished physically and spiritually. Peter entered into the temptation of renunciation, but, having entered, he did not get bogged down, but bravely swam across the abyss and got rid of the temptation. Listen also to how in another place the face of the saints who have reached perfection gives thanks for deliverance from temptation: “You have tested us, O God, you have refined us, as silver is refined.
You brought us into a snare, you placed sorrows on our backs, you placed a man on our heads. We have gone through fire and water, and You brought us out to rest” (Ps. 65:10-12). Do you see with what boldness they say that they overcame temptation and did not faint? It is said: “And You brought us into rest.” To enter into peace means to get rid of temptation.
St. Gregory of Nyssa. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 16:13). What, brethren, is the power of what was said? The Lord, it seems to me, names the evil one in many different ways according to the variety of evil forces, calling him by many names: the devil (Matthew 13:39), Beelzebub (Matthew 10:25), mammon (Matthew 6:24), prince of peace (John 14:30), murderer (John 8:44), the evil one, the father of lies (John 8:44) and other similar names. Therefore, perhaps, one of the names understood about it is this: temptation. And our guess is confirmed by the very phrase in what was said, for the Lord, after the words: “Do not lead us into temptation,” adds a petition for deliverance from the evil one, as if both meant the same thing. If someone does not enter “temptation,” he is certainly outside the power of the evil one, and whoever is “in temptation” is necessarily in the power of the evil one, therefore, “temptation” and the evil one are one and the same in meaning. What does this teaching of prayer inspire us with? To stand apart from what is seen in this world, as he tells his disciples in another place, that “the whole world lies in evil” (1 John 5:19).
Therefore, whoever wants to become outside the power of the evil one must, of necessity, migrate from the world. For “temptation” has no opportunity to touch the soul if this worldly concern, like some kind of bait, baited with an insidious bait, is not extended to the greedy. But this idea will become much clearer to us from other examples. The sea is often scary with its waves, but not for those who live far from it. Fire is destructive, but only for the substance added to the fire. War is terrible, but only for those who joined the military. He who avoids the disasters that befall one in war prays so as not to fall into the need to fight. He who fears fire prays not to be in the fire. He who trembles the sea prays that he will not need to set out on a voyage. So let him who fears the attacks of the evil one pray so that he will not be in the power of the evil one.
And since, as we said before, according to the word of Scripture, “the world lies in evil” and in worldly affairs there are reasons for “temptations,” then the one who prays for deliverance from the evil one acts well and appropriately when he asks, so as not to come to him “into temptation.” For without greedily attracting the bait, it is impossible for anyone to swallow the hook on a fishing rod.
St. John Chrysostom. “And lead us not into temptation.” Here the Savior clearly shows our insignificance and overthrows pride, teaching us not to abandon exploits and not to arbitrarily rush to them; Thus, for us, victory will be more brilliant, and for the devil, defeat will be more painful. As soon as we are involved in a struggle, we must stand courageously; and if there is no call to it, then we must calmly wait for the time of exploits in order to show ourselves both unconceited and courageous.
"Lead us not into temptation." Indeed, many sorrows are inflicted on us from the devil, and many from people who either openly insult or secretly plot evil. And the body, sometimes rebelling against the soul, causes grave harm; and sometimes being exposed to various diseases, it causes us sorrow and suffering. Therefore, since many and various disasters attack us from many sides, we are taught to ask God for deliverance from them all. For when it is prohibited, all confusion ceases, the storm turns into silence and the ashamed evil one withdraws; as once, leaving the people, he withdrew into the swine, not even daring to do this without orders (Matthew 8:31). And who does not have power even over pigs, how can he take possession of people protected by God?
St. Cassian. This raises an important question. If we pray that we will not be tempted, how can we prove the strength of our virtue that the Holy Scriptures require? ““He who has not been tempted,” it says, “knows little.” “(Sir.34:10). And again: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation” (James 1:12). So, the words of the prayer: “Do not lead us into temptation” do not mean that “Do not allow us to ever be tempted,” but “Do not allow us to be overcome by temptation.” I was tempted Job, but was not led into temptation, for “he did not utter anything foolish about God” (Job 1:22) - and did not defile his lips with blasphemy, to which the tempter wanted to draw him. Abraham was tempted, Joseph was tempted, but neither one nor the other of them was led into temptation, for neither fulfilled the will of the tempter.
Blazh. Augustine. It is not God Himself who leads into temptation, but He allows the one whom He deprives of His help to be led into it, according to His deepest intentions, because he deserves it. However, for obvious reasons, God considers something else worthy of His abandonment and allowing Him to be led into temptation. But there is another thing - to be led into temptation, and another thing - to be tempted. Without temptation, no one can become tested, neither of himself, as it is written: “Whoever has not been tempted knows little” “(Sir.34:10)” or to another as the Apostle says: “You did not despise my temptation in my flesh” (Gal.4:14): for from this the Apostle knew how strong they were, when by those temptations that happened to him in the flesh, they were not cut off from love to him. We are led to God before any temptation, because He knows everything before the event.
– What is written: “The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 13:3); then here the words: “to find out” are put instead: let him let you see, just as we call some days joyful, because it makes us joyful, cold - lazy, because it makes us lazy; - and there are many similar expressions found in simple speech, and in the speech of scientists, and in the Scriptures of the Saints. What the heretics do not understand is that they turn away from the Old Testament, believing that with the words: “The Lord your God is tempting you,” ignorance is attributed to God; as if they do not know what is written in the Gospel about the Lord: “He said this, testing him; for He Himself knew what He wanted to do” (John 6:6). If He knew the heart of the one he was tempting, then what did He want to see when tempting him? Obviously, this was done so that the one who was tempted would recognize himself and condemn his hopelessness, seeing how such a multitude of people were satisfied from the hands of the Lord with a few loaves when he thought that they would have nothing to eat.
We pray not so as not to be tempted, but so as not to be led into temptation: since, for example, someone, having been forced to be tested by fire, prays not so that the fire will not touch him, but not to be burned. "Clay vessels are tested in the oven"; and righteous people - to adversity (similar to Sir.27.5). Joseph was tempted by the deceit of the prodigal, but was not led into temptation. Susanna was tempted, but she also was not led into temptation. And many others of both sexes were also tempted, but were not led into temptation: especially Job. Many are tempted by the fact that Satan asks to tempt Job. But isn’t something similar written in the Gospel: “Behold, Satan asked that he might sow you like wheat” (Luke 22:31)? – This means that Satan has no power to tempt anyone; and if he tempts, he tempts by God’s permission. God's permission is either to punish people for their sins, or to teach them and give them experience. And there is a big difference in what kind of temptation someone falls into.
Judas, who sold the Lord, did not fall into the same temptation as Peter fell into when he denied Christ the Lord out of fear. But whatever the temptation, there is one law for everyone, as the Apostle writes: “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also give you the way to escape, so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). - With this saying the Apostle clearly shows that we should pray not so as not to be tempted, but so as not to be led into temptation. We are led into temptations when things happen to us that we cannot bear. But as dangerous temptations into which it is harmful to fall; happen because of happiness or unhappiness in temporary things: then none of those who have no attachment to the temporary are broken by their weight.
In the book of Job we read: “Is not the life of man on earth a temptation?” (Job 7:1). What do we pray for when we say: “lead us not into temptation”? About what? - Listen. The Apostle James says: “When tempted, let no one say: God is tempting me” (1:13). There is a temptation for evil when someone, having been deceived, falls into sin and submits to the devil. In this sense, the Apostle says that God does not tempt anyone. But there is another temptation, which is called a test. It is written about him: “The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love the Lord your God.” This “to know” is also that: let him make you know: for He Himself knew it. God does not tempt anyone with such a temptation that someone is deceived and falls. But it happens that, according to His highest and hidden judgments, He leaves someone else. And when he leaves someone, then the tempter finds an opportunity to do something to him: for in this case he no longer meets an opponent, but a submissive obedient in the one whom God has left. So, so that God does not leave us, we pray “do not lead us into temptation.”
“Everyone is tempted, being carried away and enticed by his own lust,” says the same Apostle James. “But lust, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is committed gives birth to death” (James 1:14,15). What does this teach us? So that we fight our lust. In holy baptism all sins are forgiven; but lusts remain so that, once you are reborn, you fight against them. There remains a clash within yourself. There is nothing to fear from an external enemy: defeat yourself, and the world is defeated. What can an external tempter, the devil, or a servant of the devil, do to you? Let, for example, someone offer you some benefit in order to deceive you and persuade you to do something bad, what will he do to you when there is no place for covetousness in you? But if there is a place for covetousness in yourself; then, having seen profit, you will be inflamed with lust for it and will be captivated by the snares of sinful food, which snares will lie in vain stretched out before you if you are intractable to covetousness. Let the tempter also bring the most beautiful woman to tempt you.
If the love of chastity is implanted within you, then you will easily overcome this external attack, so that the lure of the beauty of an alien wife does not captivate you, overcome your lust within yourself; You do not feel your enemy, but you feel your lust. Conquer inside what you feel there. Fight and you will win. He who revived you is your Judge: He has proposed a contest for you, and is preparing a crown. But how undoubtedly you will be defeated if you do not have Him as your helper when He leaves you; For this reason, you were taught to cry in prayer: “do not lead us into temptation.” – Some were given over by the wrath of the Judge to their lusts, as the Apostle says: “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness” (Rom. 1:24). How did you betray? Not by forcing, but by leaving them.
"Lead us not into temptation." Forgive us the sins we have committed, and do not let us fall into others of the same kind: for whoever is overcome by temptation falls into sin. The Apostle James says: “Everyone is tempted, being drawn away and enticed by his own lust; But lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin” (James 1:14,15). In order not to be carried away by lust, do not agree with it. There is no place for her to conceive like from you. He agreed: the same thing - he slept with her in his heart. Lust has arisen: deny yourself to it, do not follow it. It is obscene, corrupt, shameful, and alienates you from God. Do not give her the embrace of consent, so as not to mourn the offspring from it: for if you agree, that is, take her into your embrace, she will conceive. But “lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin.” Aren't you afraid of this? “Sin committed gives birth to death.” At least be afraid of death. If you are not afraid of sin, be afraid of where sin leads. Sin is sweet, but death is bitter. She is the extreme misfortune of people, for which reason they sin, when they die, they leave them here, and take their very sins with them. You sin because of money: you will leave it here. You sin because of other acquisitions: you will leave them here.
You sin because of your wife: you will leave her here. And whatever it is for which you sin, closing your eyes to death, you will leave everything here, and you will take with you only the very sins you committed because of it.
St. Maximus the Confessor. With these words, Scripture shows that whoever has not completely reconciled with those who sin (against him) and has not presented to God a heart pure from sorrow and enlightened by the light of reconciliation with neighbors, he will not only not receive the grace of those benefits for which he prayed, but will also be handed over by righteous judgment to temptation and the evil one, so that he can learn to be cleansed of sins, eliminating his complaints against others. Temptation is the law of sin - the first man brought into being (by God) did not have it, and by “the evil one” is meant the devil, who mixed this (law) into human nature and deceived a person into directing (all) the aspirations of (his) soul to the unlawful instead of the permitted, and thereby inclined to violate the Divine commandment, as a result of which he lost the incorruptibility given to him by grace. Or in other words: “temptation” is the voluntary disposition of the soul towards carnal passions, and “evil” is the way of actively fulfilling the passionate mood of the soul.
No righteous Judge will deliver from them the one who did not forgive debts to (his) debtors, but only asked about it in prayer. Such (a person), cruel and harsh in heart, (the Lord) allows him to be defiled by the law of sin and leaves him in the power of the evil one, since he preferred the passions of dishonor, the seeds of which are sown by the devil, to nature, the Creator of which is God (Himself). And indeed, (the Lord) does not hinder him when he is inclined by will to carnal passions, and does not deliver him from the (many different) ways of actively realizing the passionate moods of the soul, since, considering nature lower than passions that do not have an independent existence, he, due to the care of these passions, did not know the logos of nature. And (man) must learn what the law of nature is and what the tyranny of passions is, not naturally, but randomly invading him due to his free consent.
And he must preserve this (law of nature), observing it in an activity consonant with nature, and expel the tyranny of passions from his will and (by the power of) reason preserve (immaculate) his nature, in itself pure, untainted and free from hatred and discord. Then he must make his will, which should not bring in anything that the logos of nature does not bestow, a companion to nature. And therefore, he should remove (from himself) all hatred and all discord towards those close to him by nature, so that God would hear him when he says this Prayer, and instead of one would give him double grace: forgiveness of past sins, and protection and deliverance from future ones; and so that he would not allow him to fall into temptation and become a slave of the evil one - (all this) for the sole reason that he readily forgives debts to his neighbors.
Therefore, when we return, we will briefly repeat the essence of what was said. If we want to get rid of the evil one and not fall into temptation, let us believe in God and forgive the debts of our debtors. “But if you do not forgive people their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15). Then we will not only receive forgiveness of the sins we have committed, but we will also overcome the law of sin itself, (since the Lord) will not allow us to experience it, and we will trample on the parent of sin, the evil serpent, for deliverance from whom we pray. And our Commander will be Christ, who has conquered the world; He equips us with the laws of the commandments, and in accordance with these laws, through the rejection of passions and through love, he binds nature (human) together. As the Bread of life, wisdom, knowledge and truth, He draws to Himself our insatiable desire; in fulfillment of the Father’s will, He makes us co-servants of the Angels, so that even in this life we, imitating (the Angels), demonstrate in our lives heavenly pleasure (to God).
Then He raises us to the highest levels of the Divine, leading to the Father of lights (James 1:17) and makes us, through grace-filled communication with the Holy Spirit, partakers of the Divine nature, thanks to which we will all be called children of God without limitation and will most pure bear (within ourselves) the whole Son of God by nature - the very Perfecter of this grace, from Whom, through Whom and in Whom we have and will have being, and movement, and life.
So, let the purpose of this Prayer be for us to contemplate the sacrament of deification, so that we may know in place of what and what the exhaustion through the flesh of the Only Begotten has made us, and also from where and where we, who occupied the lowest place in the universe, into which the weight of sin cast us, (the Lord) raised us up by the power of (His) humane hand. And let us love even more the One who so wisely prepared this salvation for us. Let us show by our deeds that this Prayer is fulfilled and we will be preachers of God – the true Father (ours) by grace. And let us not have the passions of dishonor, which show that we have the evil one as the father of our life, always attempting to tyrannically control (human) nature. And we will not exchange life for death without noticing it. For each of them is in the habit of rewarding those who join him. One gives eternal life to those who love Him, and the other, through the instillation of voluntary temptations, brings about death in those who approach (him).
For temptations are, (as can be seen) from the Holy Scriptures, of two kinds: one kind is pleasant, and the other is painful; one is voluntary and the other is involuntary. The first of these is the parent of sin, and therefore we must pray so as not to be subject to it, according to the instructions of the Lord, who says: “And lead us not into temptation” and “Watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). And the second (type of temptation), punishing love of sin by inducing involuntary suffering, is the punisher of sin. If anyone endures such (temptation) and if he is not nailed down by the nails of vice, he will hear the great James clearly crying: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance; But patience must have its perfect work” (James 1:2–4). The evil one maliciously watches these and other temptations: voluntary and involuntary. In the case of the first, he, sowing seeds of bodily pleasures in the soul and irritating it with them, plots to distract it from the desire for Divine love.
Temptations of the second kind he himself (sometimes) slyly asks for, wanting through torment (and sorrow) to destroy nature (human) and to force the soul, exhausted in suffering, to raise its thoughts to enmity with the Creator.
But we, knowing the plans of the evil one, abhor free temptation, so as not to distract our desire from Divine love; and we will bravely endure an involuntary (temptation that happens by God’s permission) in order to show that we prefer the Creator of nature to nature itself. And let all of us who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ get rid of the present pleasures that come from the evil one, and avoid future torments, becoming partakers of the visible essence of future blessings, revealed to us in Christ our Lord Himself, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, glorified by all creatures. Amen.
Blazh. Theophylact. Not entering into temptation means not rushing into temptation. For we must pray to God not to send temptation upon us, but to turn it away: and if it befalls us, we must endure it with courage. It must be said that there are two types of temptations. Some are arbitrary, for example: drunkenness, murder, adultery, and other passions. For we ourselves fall into these temptations arbitrarily. Other temptations are involuntary, to which rulers and the powerful expose us. From arbitrary temptations, i.e. We must run away from passions, pray for deliverance from them and say: “do not lead us,” do not let us fall “into temptation,” i.e. into arbitrary passion.
We are weak people, therefore we should not expose ourselves to temptations; but if we have fallen into temptation, we must pray that it does not consume us and that God will grant us help and patience. For only he who is defeated is drawn into the abyss of adversity; but he who fell into temptation and overcame it is worthy of crowns and glory.
Simeon of Thessalonica. “And lead us not into temptation.” For there are many slanderers, full of envy and always hostile, and many temptations from demons, from people, from the body, from the inattention of the soul, which meet everyone - both those who strive zealously and those who are careless - only the temptations of the righteous turn for their benefit, serving to test them and succeed. And the righteous “need patience” (Heb. 10:36); because “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). From such temptations as, for example, if you despise your brother, or offend him, or cause him grief, or despise the divine, or neglect him, who is free? – Why, when we pray for forgiveness of what we sin against God and our brother, because we ourselves forgive and have mercy, we also righteously pray that we may not enter into temptation. Even if someone is righteous, he should not think about himself; for to humble yourself, to have mercy and to forgive is righteousness.
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. Temptation can come to us for good or for evil. The temptation to do good is from God; David and other saints ask to be tempted by it. “Test me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my ways” (Ps. 139:23). This is how Abraham was tempted (see Gen. 22). This kind of temptation is not what we are talking about here. Temptation to evil, or deception, comes either from the devil, who tries in every possible way to catch us, seduce us, lead us to sin and destroy us, or from the flesh, which fights us with passions and lusts, or from the world, which encourages us to evil with its charms, vanity and temptations. There is a word about such temptation here. God, since He is Good, does not tempt anyone to evil. “When tempted, no one should say: ‘God is tempting me’; because God is not tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone Himself, but everyone is tempted by being carried away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:13-14).
With this word: “do not lead us into temptation,” we pray to God that He may preserve us from the temptation of the world, the flesh and the devil by His grace. And although we fall into temptations, we ask that he will not allow us to be overcome by them, but will help us to overcome and conquer them. From this it is clear that without God's help we are powerless and weak. If we ourselves could resist temptation, we would not be commanded to ask for help in this. By this we learn, as soon as we feel a temptation coming upon us, to immediately pray to God and ask Him for help. From this we learn not to rely on ourselves and our own strength, but on God. When we pray: “lead us not into temptation,” we must not lead ourselves into temptation. “When,” says St. John Chrysostom, “we are called to heroic deeds, we must stand courageously, and those who are not called must remain silent and wait for the time of heroic deeds, so that we may show both the reluctance of vain glory and courage.”
7th petition “But deliver us from evil.”
St. Cyprian of Carthage. After all, at the end of the prayer there comes a conclusion, briefly expressing all our prayers and petitions. At the end we say: “but deliver us from evil,” meaning by this all sorts of troubles that the enemy is plotting against us in this world and against which we will have faithful and strong defense if God delivers us from them, if, at our request and prayer, He grants us His help. Then, after the words: “deliver us from the evil one,” there is nothing more to ask for: we ask for God’s protection against the evil one, and having received such protection, we are already safe and protected from all the snares of the devil and the world. Indeed, why should anyone who has God as their protector in this world be afraid of the world?
St. Gregory of Nyssa. Having risen, let us say to God: do not lead us “into misfortune,” that is, into the misfortune of this life, “but deliver us from the evil one” that has gained power in this world, from which may we also be delivered by the grace of Christ the Lord.
St. John Chrysostom. Here Christ calls the devil evil, commanding us to wage irreconcilable warfare against him, and showing that he is not such by nature. Evil does not depend on nature, but on freedom. And the fact that the devil is primarily called evil is due to the extraordinary amount of evil that is found in him, and because he, without being offended by anything from us, wages an irreconcilable battle against us. That is why the Savior did not say: “deliver us” from the evil ones, but: from “the evil one,” and thereby teaches us never to be angry with our neighbors for the insults that we sometimes suffer from them, but to turn all our enmity against the devil, as the culprit of all evils.
St. Cassian. Finally it follows: “but deliver us from evil,” that is, do not allow us to be tempted by the devil beyond our strength, but “with temptation, give us relief, so that we can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
Blazh. Augustine. “But deliver us from evil” may belong to the same previous petition, since in both cases the same thing was asked. Why is the particle “but” added to show that this whole saying: “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” expresses the same thought. How? Here's how: by delivering us from the evil one, the Lord does not lead us into temptation, and without leading us into temptation, He delivers us from the evil one.
But, beloved, we have one terrible temptation in this life - a temptation in which the very thing through which we can earn forgiveness for ourselves if we fall from other temptations is exposed to danger and temptation. This temptation is terrible because it takes away from us that through which we can be healed from wounds caused by other temptations. I see that you don't understand me. But listen and you will understand. - Let us assume that someone is defeated by some temptation: for even a good fighter receives wounds. For example, stinginess defeated someone (even though he was a good fighter), and he did something for the sake of self-interest. But the passion has passed, the sin has been recognized, and he prays: “forgive.” If he himself forgives others, he is immediately forgiven. Or, someone looked at his wife, accepted lust and enjoyed it. But he came to his senses in time and tamed his lust. It didn’t come to sin; but by the very fact that carnal pleasure is allowed, something sinful is committed, which puts him in the need to pray: “forgive.” And here, too, if he himself forgives others, he is immediately forgiven. So it is with all other temptations.
As soon as someone forgives others, then no matter what temptation he stumbles in, if in repentance he turns to God and calls out: “forgive”, he will immediately be forgiven, but if he does not forgive others, then even the slightest sin will not be forgiven him. And this is the terrible and destructive temptation that I am talking about - when the evil one, the source of evil, manages to sow anger into our hearts, ignorant of forgiveness and demanding vengeance. And from this we pray most to be delivered when we say, “Deliver us from evil.” For through this you are deprived of that through which you could receive forgiveness for all other sins. No matter what feelings, wishes and deeds you sin, you would receive forgiveness from everyone if you forgave yourself. But the evil one sets you on fire for vengeance, and takes away from you not only the opportunity to receive forgiveness, but also the boldness to say in prayer: “just as we forgive our debtors.” And when you have lost it, then everything remains with you, nothing is forgiven.
Look, my brothers; look, my children; look, children of God; look, I beg you. Fight with your heart and in your heart with the evil one, as much as you can. When you see that anger has risen in you and anger is consuming your heart, pray to God against them, may He make you conquerors of this temptation and deliver you from the evil one working in you. Leave external enemies; fight with the inner ones and pray. The Lord is near, and His help is ready. Call and deliver.
After we say: “and do not lead us into temptation,” it follows: “but deliver us from the evil one.” He who desires to be delivered from the evil one testifies by this that he is engulfed in evil. Why does the Apostle say: “Value the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). But “does a person want to live and does he love long life in order to see good?” - When every person who wears flesh has evil days, then who is there who does not want this? If you want, then do what follows: “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful words. Avoid evil and do good; seek peace and follow it” (Ps. 33:13-15). Do this; and you will cut off the days of evil, and it will be fulfilled on you: “Deliver us from evil.”
We need to pray not only so that we are not led into temptation for evil: which we ask for in the sixth petition, but also that we be delivered from what we have already been led into. And when this is received, then there will be nothing left dangerous for us and there will be nothing to fear from any temptation. Which, however, cannot be expected in this life, in which we remain surrounded by passion, from the moment the serpentine charm cast us into it. However, one must hope that there will be no time. And this is the subject of expectation of what we do not see, as the Apostle says: “But hope when it sees, is not hope” (Rom. 8:24). But in wisdom, as it is available even in this life, God’s servants should not despair. It consists in avoiding with the strictest attention that which, as we understand from the Divine Revelation, we must flee, and with fiery love in desiring that which, as we understand from the same Divine Revelation, we must desire.
In this way, when in death itself we lay aside all the burden of mortality, we will be worthy to enter into all-round, indestructible bliss, the beginnings of which are already due in this life, kindling an all-zealous desire to be worthy of it, in all its fullness, once there.
Blazh. Theophylact. “But deliver us from evil.” For he brings involuntary and voluntary temptations. Therefore, when you unwittingly suffer temptation from a person, do not consider this person to be the culprit of your temptation, but the evil one. For he incites man to rage against you and rage.
He did not say deliver us from evil people: for it is not they who do evil to us, but the evil one provokes them to do this and does evil to us and to them. Therefore, it is not people, but evil spirits that we should hate and curse.
Simeon of Thessalonica. “But deliver us from evil.” For he is Your and our enemy, indomitable, vigilant, burning with anger. We are powerless to resist him, because he is of a subtler nature than we are, he is cunning and does not know sleep, inventing and weaving countless intrigues against us. And if You, the Creator and Lord of all things, and this devil himself with his minions, as well as the Angels and us, if You do not devour us, then who is able to get rid of him? We do not have the strength to fight the insubstantial, and, moreover, the angry, envious and all-insidious.
St. Tikhon Zadonsky. According to the teachings of Saint Chrysostom, the evil one here means the devil. “The Evil One,” he says, “here means the devil, commanding us to have constant warfare with him.” He is so called because of his superiority, because of his great malice, since he constantly arms himself against us and tries to bring all sorts of troubles, both physical and spiritual, upon us, as the apostle says: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). With this we pray to the Heavenly Father to protect us from him, because we cannot save ourselves from him. Finally, so that at the hour of our death, when he especially struggles against the faithful, he would save us from him, and after his blessed death he would take our souls to the heavenly Fatherland, and both from him and from all the troubles that he restores, having delivered him, he would give us eternal bliss, which he promised to believers in His name. With this word: “Deliver us from the evil one,” our Savior stirs us up to prayer, and through prayer teaches us to get rid of it.
“Remembering the enemy,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “prepares us for heroism, and cuts off laziness from us.” Praying: “lead us not,” and not me, “into temptation, but deliver us,” and not me, “from the evil one,” we learn and are admonished to pray for each other and ask each other from God for help, protection, deliverance and salvation.
In Scripture it is not 77, but 7x70. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith”
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