A conversation about life according to God and on the words: “Strait is the gate,” etc. (Matthew 7:14), and an explanation of the prayer: “Our Father”

In the “Conversation of life according to God and on the words: “Strait is the gate”, etc. (Matthew 7:14), and the explanation of the prayer: “Our Father” (5 chapters) by St. John Chrysostom shows how the faithful should be attentive to listening to the Gospel. He talks about how little Christians care about their souls, and how much they indulge in caring for the body and earthly pleasures. The saint denounces people for the fact that in prayer they ask God for temporary and transitory blessings, and some rebel against their enemies and beg to send them some kind of punishment. The Lord Himself teaches us how we should pray. The conversation contains praise for the Lord's Prayer and a consistent explanation of its petitions. The year and place of the conversation are unknown. In this conversation, the preacher, having shown how the faithful should be attentive to the broadcasts of the Gospel and, through the texts “strait is the gate and narrow is the way” and “wide is the gate and broad is the way”, indicating how little Christians concern themselves with their soul and heavenly things and how much, on the contrary, they indulge in concerns about the body and earthly objects - after these preliminary reflections, he moves on to prayer, as a subject that actually and is subject to explanation. – The denunciation of most people is that they ask God for temporary and transitory blessings - beauty, wealth, honors, and do not turn to Him with a request for benefits that are the only ones that are truly useful; denounces those vengeful souls who indulge in their vindictiveness with gloating, while God himself condemns vengeance. – Jesus Christ teaches us how we should pray. - Praise of the Lord's Prayer and then the very explanation of this excellent prayer, all the petitions of which are consistently presented with extraordinary grace and simplicity. 1. The reading of all the inspired Scripture imparts to those who are attentive the knowledge of piety, but the venerable Scripture of the Gospel is the most excellent of the highest teachings, because the sayings contained in it are the verbs of the highest King. Therefore, a terrible punishment is threatened for those who do not exactly observe what He said. In fact, if one who transgresses the laws of earthly superiors is subjected to inexorable punishment, then will not one who violates the commands of the Heavenly Lord be subjected to unbearable torment? If there is a great danger from inattention, then let us listen with great care to the words now read to us from the Gospel. What words are these? “Strait is the gate,” says the Lord, “and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few find it”; and again: “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go in through it” (Matthew 7:13–14). Often listening to these words and looking at people’s concerns about empty objects, I am very surprised at the truth of what was said. Truly, everyone follows the broad path, everyone is carried away by present objects and does not think at all about future ones; They constantly strive for bodily pleasures, and leave their souls to be exhausted by hunger, and, receiving countless wounds every day, do not at all feel the disastrous state in which they find themselves; in case of bodily illnesses, they go to doctors and invite them to their home, give them very large rewards, show great patience and endure painful healing in order to restore health to the body; and when the soul suffers, they do not care at all and do not try to restore it to the desired health, although they know well that the body is mortal and perishable and like spring flowers - because, like them, it withers, dries up and indulges in decay - while they know about the soul that it is honored with immortality and created in the image of God, and that the reins of control of this animal (body) are entrusted to it. Truly, what a driver is to a chariot, or a helmsman to a ship, or a musician to a musical instrument - the Creator placed the same soul for this earthly vessel, it holds the reins, moves the rudder, strikes the strings; and when he does it well, he produces the most consonant sounds of virtue; and when he either weakens the sounds too much or strains them more than necessary, he violates both art and euphony. Many people neglect such a soul, not deigning even the slightest care for it, and spend all the time of their lives worrying about the body. Some choose the life of seafarers - and fight the waves and winds, carrying life and death with them and placing the hope of salvation in a few planks; others undertake the labors of agriculture, harnessing working oxen and cultivating the land, now sowing seeds and reaping the harvest, now planting plants and collecting fruits from them, and all their time is spent in these works; others engage in trade and travel for it by land and sea, prefer a foreign country to their own and, leaving their fatherland, relatives, friends, wives and children, lead a wandering life for small benefits. And is it necessary to count all the activities that people have invented for the needs of the body, in which, spending days and nights, they try to preserve the health of their body, while meanwhile the soul, hungry and thirsty, parched and polluted and subjected to countless evils, is left unattended? But after much work and effort, they do not protect the mortal body from death, and subject the immortal soul, along with the mortal body, to eternal torment. 2. Therefore, bitterly mourning the ignorance that envelops the souls of people and the thick darkness that covers them, I would like to find some elevated place from which I could see the entire human race; Would you like to have a voice that would announce all the borders and be heard by everyone living on earth, to stand and cry out and proclaim the words of David: “Sons of men!... how long will you love vanity and seek lies” (Ps. 4:3), preferring earthly things to heavenly things, temporary things to eternal things, and perishable things to immortal things? How long will you close your eyes and block your ears, and not listen to the Divine voice that daily cries: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8)? But since some imperfect people, more inclined towards worldly matters and carried away by carnal thoughts, perform prayers in an inappropriate way, the common Master gave us instructions in prayer when he said: “And when you pray, do not say unnecessary things, like the pagans, for they think that in their many words they will be heard” (Matthew 6:7), calling speeches consisting of many words, but not bringing no benefit. By forbidding much verbiage, the Lord inspires that those praying should not ask for the fleeting and perishing: neither bodily beauty, which fades with time, is erased by illness, disappears at death, because such is bodily beauty, it is a short-lived color, which does not appear for long in the spring of youth, and soon fades with time; and if anyone wants to explore its very essence, then he will be able to despise it all the more, since it is nothing more than moisture, blood, juice and liquid of eaten food, through which the eyes, and cheeks, and nose, and eyebrows, and lips, and the whole body receives fullness; if this tide stops, then the beauty of the face will completely disappear - no monetary wealth, which, like river waters, flows in and out, passes first to one, then to another, flees from those who detain him, and does not remain with those who love him, is exposed to countless disasters from moths, from robbers, from slanderers, from fires, from shipwrecks, from attacks of enemies, from uprisings of the people, from the malice of slaves, from loss of records, from increases and decreases, and from other evils that among those who love wealth come from covetousness - nor the honorable power that also accompanies abundance sorrows, exhausting worries, frequent insomnia, the machinations of envious people, the hostile plans of haters, the eloquence of rhetoricians, concealing the truth with specious words and exposing judges to great danger. There are, indeed, many verbose idle talkers who ask the Almighty God for such and similar things, and do not at all value true blessings. Patients do not teach doctors how to use medicine, but only accept what he offers, even if the method of healing is painful; and the navigators do not order the helmsman to hold the rudder and direct the ship in this particular way and not otherwise, but, sitting on the benches, they trust his knowledge not only during a favorable voyage, but also when they are exposed to extreme danger; and to God alone, who knows exactly what can be given to us with benefit, people who are not sane do not want to betray themselves, but ask Him for what is harmful as if it is useful, acting like that sick person who asks the doctor to give him not what eradicates the disease, but what feeds the substance that produces the disease. The doctor does not listen to the patient’s request, but, even if he saw him crying and sobbing, he follows the law of his art more than bows to his tears; and we call this disobedience not inhumanity, but philanthropy, because by obeying the patient and doing what is pleasing to him, the doctor would act with him as an enemy, but by resisting him and not satisfying his desires, he shows him mercy and philanthropy. Likewise, the Physician of our souls will not give those who ask what will harm them. And child-loving fathers, when small children ask for a knife or hot coals, do not agree to give them, because they know how harmful it is to give it to them. And some of the people who have fallen into extreme madness not only ask the Almighty God for bodily beauty, wealth, power, and the like, but rebel against their enemies, beg to send them some kind of punishment, and the One whom they ask to be merciful and humane towards themselves, they want to make unmerciful and inhumane towards their enemies. The Lord, wanting to prevent this, commands: “Do not say unnecessary things,” and instills in you what you need to say in prayer, teaching every virtue in a few words, because these words contain not only instructions for prayer, but also a guide to a perfect life. 3. And what words these are and what their meaning is, we will study with great care and we will firmly preserve them as the laws of God. “Our Father who art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Oh, what excessive philanthropy! Oh, what a wonderful honor! What word will be able to render gratitude to the One who gives us such blessings? Look, beloved, at the humiliation of your and my nature, delve into its affinity, into this earth, dust, dirt, clay, ashes, because we were created from the earth and again finally decompose into the earth. Having imagined this, marvel at the unsearchable wealth of God’s great goodness to us, according to which you are commanded to call Him “Father,” the earthly – the Heavenly, the mortal – the Immortal, the corruptible – the Imperishable, the temporary – the Eternal, who was yesterday and before dirt – the existing God before the ages. But it is not in vain that you were taught to pronounce this word, but so that, reverently before the name of the Father, pronounced by your own tongue, you imitate His goodness, as it is said elsewhere: be like “your Father who is in heaven, for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Therefore, one who has a brutal and inhuman mood of the soul cannot call the man-loving God his Father, because he does not retain the properties of goodness that the Heavenly Father has, but has changed into a brutal appearance and has lost his divine dignity, according to David: “A man who is in honor and foolish is like animals that perish” (Ps. 49:21). Indeed, when someone attacks like an ox, kicks like a donkey, bears a grudge like a camel, fills the belly like a bear, kidnaps like a wolf, wounds like a scorpion, is cunning like a fox, neighs at women like a wild horse, then how can such a person pronounce the word proper to a son and call God his Father? What can you call such a person? A beast? But animals suffer from one of these defects; and he, combining everything in himself, became more meaningless than the dumb. What am I saying - a beast? Such a person is fiercer than any beast. Those, being fierce by nature, are often made meek by human art; and he, being a man and having the ability to change the ferocity inherent in animals by nature, into meekness that is not characteristic of their nature, what justification will he have when he turns his natural meekness into ferocity that is not characteristic of his nature, and having the ability to make the ferocious by nature meek, makes himself, meek by nature, fierce - when, having the ability to tame a lion and make him tame, he brings his anger to greater ferocity, what about a lion? This beast has two unfavorable circumstances: both the fact that he has no reason, and the fact that he is the most furious of all; however, with the help of God-given wisdom, his brutal nature is tamed. He who conquers nature in animals destroys the goodness of nature and will in himself; he who makes a lion seem like a man allows himself to become a lion from a man; communicates to the lion what is above his nature, but does not retain in himself what is characteristic of nature. How can such a person call God Father? Consequently, one who is meek and philanthropic towards his neighbors and does not take revenge on those who sin against him, but repays offenses with good deeds, can irreproachably call God Father. And delve into the precision of the expression, how He commands us mutual love and unites everyone with a friendly disposition. He did not command to say: “My Father who art in heaven,” but: “Our Father who art in heaven,” so that, having learned to have a common Father, we would show brotherly affection to each other. Moreover, wanting to teach us to leave the earth and earthly things, and not bow down, but take the wings of faith and, flying above the air and rising above the ether, strive for the so-called Father, He commanded to say: “Our Father who art in heaven” - not because God was only in heaven, but so that we, reptiles on the earth, would be disposed to strive for heaven and, illuminated by the beauty of heavenly blessings, turn everything there our desires. 4. Then He added a second saying, saying: “Hallowed be Thy name.” However, let no one have the foolish thought that God is given added holiness with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name”; He is holy and all-holy, and the holiest of holies. And the Seraphim bring Him such a song, constantly crying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: heaven and earth are full of His glory!” (cf. 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 glorify what they have, so we do not communicate to God holiness, as if He did not have it, when we say: “hallowed be thy name”; but we glorify the one who is with Him, because “hallowed” is said here instead of: “let him be glorified.” So, let us learn with this word to lead a virtuous life, so that people, seeing it, glorify our Heavenly Father, as in another place He says: “So let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). After this, we are taught to say: “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10), because, enduring violence from carnal passions and being subjected to countless temptations, we need the Kingdom of God, “let not sin 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” (Rom. 6:12-13). In addition, 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 Eternal, and not to be carried away by the pleasures here, neither by physical beauty, nor by the abundance of wealth, nor by the abundance of acquisitions, nor by precious stones, nor by the splendor of houses, nor by the titles of city rulers and military leaders, nor by the scarlet robe and diadem, nor food, sweets and all kinds of luxury, nor anything else that delights our senses, but, having abandoned all this, constantly seek the Kingdom of God. Thus, having taught us this virtue, the Lord commanded us to say: “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Having awakened in us a love for the future and a desire for the Kingdom of Heaven 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 too desire what You Yourself desire; help our will, which is weakening and although desiring to fulfill Your works, 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, but the flesh burdens it; she quickly strives for the heavenly, and this one gravitates towards the earthly, but with Your help, the impossible will be possible, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” 5. Since He mentioned the earth, and the creatures that came from it and live on it and are clothed with an earthly body need appropriate food, then He necessarily added: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). He commanded to ask for “daily bread” not for gluttony, but for nutrition, replenishing what was wasted in the body and averting death from hunger - not luxurious tables, not various dishes, the creations of cooks, the inventions of bakers, delicious wines and other things like that, which delight the tongue, but burden the stomach, darken the mind, help the body to rebel against the soul and make this foal disobedient to the driver. This is not what the commandment asks us to do, 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 worry about tomorrow for someone who, perhaps, will not see tomorrow, who undertakes labor and does not reap the fruit? Trust in God, who “gives food to all flesh” (Ps. 136:25). The One who gave you a body, breathed a soul, made you a rational animal and prepared all good things for you before he created you, how will he despise you created if “he commands his sun to rise on the evil and 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, just as blessed David says: “Cast your worries on the Lord, and He will support you” (Ps. 54:23). Having thus taught high wisdom with these words and knowing that it is impossible for us, as people clothed with a mortal body, not to fall, He also taught us to say: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). With these words, three blessings are delivered together: He teaches those who have reached the heights of virtues humility and exhorts them not to rely on their 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 was constantly mindful of his deeds. So, to those who have reached the heights of virtue, the Lord provides with these words security in humility, and to those who have fallen after the grace of holy Baptism, He does not allow them to despair of their salvation, but teaches them to ask the Physician of souls for forgiveness. In addition, these words teach humanity. The Lord wants us to be meek towards the guilty, unforgiving towards those who sin against us, by forgiving them we gain forgiveness for ourselves and prepare for ourselves a measure of love for mankind, because we ask for as much to be given to us as we ourselves give to our neighbors, and we ask for the same forgiveness for ourselves as we grant to our debtors. Moreover, we are commanded to say: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). Truly, many sorrows are caused to us from the devil, and many from people either openly insulting or secretly plotting 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 different disasters attack us from many sides, and we are taught to ask God for all sorts of deliverances from them, because with His prohibition, all confusion ceases, the storm turns into silence and the ashamed evil one leaves, as once, leaving people, he withdrew into swine, not even daring to do this without an order (Matthew 8:31). And who does not have power even over pigs, how can he take possession of people who are awake and attentive, protected by God and recognizing Him as their King? Therefore, at the end of the prayer, He expressed the Kingdom and power and glory of God, saying: “For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:13). This, he says, I ask of You because I know that You are the King of all, have eternal power, can do whatever you want, and have inalienable glory. For all this, let us thank Him who has merited us such blessings, since to Him belongs all glory, honor and power, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.