"Our Father, Who art in heaven"
OUR Lord Jesus Christ counted the insatiate desire of learning as worthy of all praise, thus saying: "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." For it is right constantly to hunger and thirst after those things, by means of which a man becomes a warm lover of saintly glories, and earnest in every good work. And to all who are thus minded, Christ reveals the way by which they can accomplish their desire. But serviceable is it above all things besides for the religious to salvation, that they know how to pray, and offer not supplications displeasing to Almighty God. For as the wise Paul wrote to us, "We know not what to pray for as we ought." Let us therefore draw near to Christ, the Giver of wisdom, and say, "Teach us to pray." Let us be like the holy apostles, who above all other things asked of Him this profitable and saving lesson.
Now at our last meeting we heard the gospel read, which says of Christ, the Saviour of us all, that "it came to pass, that as He was in a certain place praying by Himself." And we addressed you, explaining as well as we could the dispensation, by reason of which Christ prayed: and when we had carried our argument to this point, we reserved the rest for some fitting occasion. This has now arrived, and is present. Let us then proceed to what follows; for the Saviour said, "When you pray, say, Our Father." And another of the holy evangelists adds, "who is in heaven."
O boundless liberality! O incomparable gentleness, and that befits Him alone! He bestows upon us His own glory: He raises slaves to the dignity of freedom: He crowns man's estate with such honour as surpasses the power of nature: He brings that to pass which was spoken of old by the voice of the Psalmist: "I said, You are gods: and all of you children of the Most High." For lo! He rescues us from the measure of slavery, bestowing upon us by His grace that which by nature we possessed not: and permits us to call God Father, as being admitted to the rank of sons. Of Him have we received this, together with all our other privileges: and the wise John the Evangelist witnesses thereto, thus writing of Him: "He came to His own, and His own received Him not: but to all who received Him He gave power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe in His Name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." For we have been fashioned to the sonship by that birth which is spiritually wrought in us, "not by corruptible seed, but rather by the living and abiding Word of God,'1 as Scripture says. "By willing it He fathered us by the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures;" for so one of the holy apostles declares. And Christ Himself, in a certain place, clearly explained the manner of this birth by declaring; "Verily I say to you, that unless a man be born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Or rather,----for to you it is right to speak even of those things that are mysterious,----He Himself became both the way and the door, and the cause of a grace being bestowed upon us thus glorious and worthy of our gaining by having taken upon Him our likeness. For although in that He is perceived to be, and is God, He is free, yet He took the form of a slave, that He might bestow upon us those things which are His, and enrich the slave with His own excellencies. For He alone is by nature free, because He alone is Son of the Father, even of Him Who is supreme above all, and rules over all, and Who is by nature and truly free. For whatsoever has been brought into existence bows the neck of slavery to Him Who created it. For the Psalmist sings to Him, saying, that "all things are Your slaves:" but inasmuch as in the dispensation He transferred to Himself what was ours, He has given us what was His. And most wise Paul, the minister of His mysteries, is our proof, thus writing: "That when He was rich, He made Himself poor, that we by His poverty might be rich." For our things, by which is meant the condition of human nature, is poverty to God the Word: while it is wealth to human nature to receive what things are His. And of these one is the dignity of freedom,----a gift peculiarly befitting those who have been called to sonship. And this, as I mentioned, is also His gift: for He said to us, "And call no man your Father on earth: for One is your Father, Who is in heaven: and you all are brethren." And again, He Himself too, from His infinite love to mankind, is not ashamed to call us brethren, thus saying; "I will preach Your name to My brethren." For because He became like to us, we thereby have gained brotherhood with Him.
He commands us therefore to take boldness, and say in our prayers, "Our Father." We children of earth and slaves, and subject by the law of nature to Him Who created us, call Him Who is in heaven Father. And most fittingly He makes those who pray understand this also: that if we call God Father, and have been counted worthy of so distinguished an honour, must we not necessarily lead holy and thoroughly blameless lives, and so behave as is pleasing to our Father, and neither think nor say anything unworthy or unfit for the freedom that has been bestowed upon us? And so one of the holy apostles spoke: "If you call Him Father, Who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, let your conversation during the time of your sojourning be in fear." For it is a most serious thing to grieve and provoke a father, by turning aside to those things which are not right. How do earthly fathers act, or what is their feeling towards their sons? When they see them willing to conform themselves to their wishes, and choosing that course of conduct which is pleasing to them, they love and honour them; they open to them their house; they multiply their presents of whatsoever they wish, and acknowledge them as their heirs. But if they are disobedient, and intractable, having no respect for the laws of nature, and indifferent to that affection which is implanted in us, they drive them from their house, and deem them unworthy of any honour, or indulgence, or love: they even refuse to acknowledge them as sons, and do not write them as their heirs.
Mount now, I pray, from things as they are with us to those that transcend us. You call God Father: honour Him with ready obedience: yield submission as that which is His due: live so as He pleases: show not yourself harsh or proud, but, on the contrary, tractable and submissive, and ready without delay to follow His directions, so that He may honour you in return, and appoint you fellow-heir with Him Who is the Son by nature, For if "He gave Him for us, how will He not with Him also give us all things," according to the expression of the blessed Paul. But if you have no regard for yourself, and therefore heed not the bounteous gift that is bestowed, you are proved to be bold, and, so to speak, without salt, loving pleasure more than you love the Father. Fear, therefore, lest of you also God say that which was spoken of the Israelites by the word of Isaiah; "Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten and brought up children, but they have rejected Me." Heavy in every way, my beloved, is the guilt of those who rebel; and most wicked the crime of rejecting (God). Very wisely therefore, as I said, does the Saviour of all grant us to call God Father, that we, well knowing that we are sons of God, may behave in a manner worthy of Him Who has thus honoured us; for so He will receive the supplications which we offer in Christ: by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.
"Hallowed be Your Name."
ALL who desire the sacred words of God, the prophet Isaiah commands, saying; "You who thirst come to the waters:" for whosoever will may draw from the life-giving fountain. And who is this fountain? Plainly it is Christ, and His doctrines. For He has somewhere said to us, "Whosoever thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.'' Let us then once again come as to a fountain: let us fill our souls: let us satiate ourselves of the torrent of pleasure. For the blessed David somewhere in a psalm thus speaks of Him to God the Father: "They shall be satisfied with the fatness of Your house: and You shall make them drink of the torrent of Your pleasure. For with Thee is the fountain of life." For the river of pleasure is richly poured forth for us, and the fountain of life, even that which is in Christ: Who also by one of the prophets has thus spoken concerning us; "Behold, I bend down to them as a river of peace, and as a torrent flooding them with the glory of the Gentiles."
For observe how Christ waters us with rich streams of spiritual blessings. For what will He next teach us? When you pray, He says, say, "Our Father, Hallowed be Your Name." Now see! already we have discoursed to you not without profit, when explaining in what manner it is right for us to say, "Our Father." And you, I think, remember my words, in that you are, as I said, eager after learning. In order, therefore, that we may not say the same things; for that were tedious to attentive listeners, who store up in the treasure-house of their heart whatever they have already understood, and wish constantly to advance to something further, let us proceed to that which follows, namely, " Hallowed be Your Name:" and let us consider in what way this also must be understood.
Do we then pray that additional holiness may accrue to the all-holy God? And how would not this be absolutely absurd? For if indeed there be anything wanting to God over all, in order to his being perfect, and in need of nothing, He may need additional holiness: but if He be full, as He says, and in every respect perfect in and by Himself, and the Giver of holiness to the creation out of His own fulness; what addition can He receive? For all things are His. and He has reached the highest perfection in every good: for this is also an attribute of His by nature. And besides it is a foolish and ridiculous thing for those who pray to imagine that they offer their supplications not on their own behalf but on His. What therefore is the meaning of "Hallowed be Your Name?"
We say then, that men do not supplicate for any addition of holiness to accrue to God over all: for who is greater than He, and able to give Him any increase? "For without all doubt the less is blessed of the greater." But they supplicate rather that this may be granted to them and all mankind. For when it is our settled conviction and belief, that He Who by nature is God over all, is Holy of the Holies, then we confess His glory and supreme majesty: then we receive His fear into our mind, and lead upright and blameless lives, that by thus becoming ourselves holy, we may be able to be near to the holy God. For it is written; "Become you holy: for I am holy." And He once also said to the hierophant Moses, "I will be hallowed in them that draw nigh to Me.'" The prayer therefore is, May Your Name be kept holy in us, in our minds and wills: for this is the signification of the word " Hallowed." For just as one who suffers under a disease in his bodily sight, and is able to see but little, and with difficulty; and prays, saying, 'O Lord of all, grant that the light of the sun's radiance may illuminate me also,' does not, we affirm, make his supplications on the sun's behalf, but, on the contrary, upon his own: so also if a man say, "Our Father, hallowed be Your Name," he is not requesting any addition to be made to God's holiness, but rather asks, that he may himself possess such a mind and faith, as to feel that His Name is honourable and holy. The act therefore is the source of life, and the cause of every blessing: for to be thus affected towards God, how must it not be a thing worthy of the highest estimation, and useful for the salvation of the soul?
But do not imagine, that when those who depend upon His rove are earnest in their supplications towards God, that they ask these things of Him for themselves alone: but know rather, that their purpose is to intercede for all the dwellers upon earth: for those who already have believed; and for those who have not as yet received the faith, nor acknowledged the truth. For for those who already have believed, they ask that their faith may be established, and that they may be able to practise the glories of the more excellent life: while for those who as yet are not believers, they ask that they may be called, and their eyes be opened; even in this following the footsteps of Christ, Who according to the words of John is "the Advocate with the Father for our sins: and not for our's only, but for the whole world." He therefore Who is the Intercessor for the saints, and for the whole world, wills that His disciples be like Himself. When therefore men say to the Father, "Hallowed be Your Name," bear in mind, that among those who have not as yet gained the light of truth, nor received the faith, the Name of God is despised. It does not as yet seem to them to be holy, honourable, and adorable. But no sooner has the light of truth risen upon them, and they have with effort awoke as from some night and darkness, then learning Who and how great He is, they acknowledge Him as Holy of the Holies, and have correspondent sentiments and belief.
But that the phrase, that God is hallowed by us, is a confession of our regarding Him as Holy of Holies, and does not bestow on Him any additional holiness, you may understand hence. One of the holy prophets said, "Hallow the Lord, and He shall be Your fear: and if you trust in Him, He shall be holiness unto you." Do we then make God holy? Is it the act of human nature to bestow ought on God? Does the thing made benefit the Maker? Does any man imagine that He, Who of his fulness richly distributes to the creature His gifts, will Himself receive ought of us, whose place it is to listen to the words of the blessed Paul; "What have you that you have not received? When, therefore, the prophet said, "Hallow the Lord, and He shall be your fear, and holiness to you;" we affirm that what he teaches is, 'Believe that He is holy, for then you will fear Him; and so He will thus be to you the means of holiness.'' And it is written again of Christ the Saviour of us all; "Hallow Him, Who despised Himself." For He did despise Himself, by deeming His life of no account, and laying it down for our sakes. But let Him be hallowed, it says, by you: that is, let Him be acknowledged as holy. For such He is by nature, as being true God, and the Son of God. For to be essentially holy suits not any one whatsoever of those things, which from nonexistence have been brought into being: but only that supreme nature which transcends all. By believing therefore that He is by nature holy;----for this is the meaning of our hallowing Him; ---- we further acknowledge Him to be true God.
For ourselves therefore and not for God let us pray, saying, "Hallowed be Your Name." For if we are thus disposed, and with free mind offer up prayers such as this, God the Father will accept us, and Christ with Him will bless us: by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.
"Your kingdom come."
THOSE who love riches, and whose mind is set on wealth and gain, gather by every means in their power the wished for object, and there is no labour they will not undertake. But their pursuit ends in no happy issue: "For what," as the Saviour says, "is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose himself?" But those who love the Word of salvation, and unrol the divine Scripture as a treasure, and carefully search out the things therein concealed, find the life-giving knowledge which leads them on to every virtuous pursuit, and makes them perfect in the knowledge of the doctrines of truth. Let us search therefore into the sense of the passage set before us. And our object is intelligently to see what the Saviour commanded. For we must, He said, when we pray say, "Your kingdom come." Nevertheless He reigns over all with God the Father: nor can any addition be made to His kingly glory, either as accruing to Him from without, or as given Him by another. Nor did it gather by the course of time, but, so to speak, sprang up with Him without a beginning. For He at all time was and is that which He was. Altogether therefore, and in every way it follows upon His being God by nature and truly, that He must be omnipotent, and that this glorious attribute is, so to speak, His without a beginning, and without end. For one also of the holy prophets said to Him, "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever, and yet." And the divine Psalmist too says, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." And again; "God is our king before the worlds." Since, therefore, God ever reigns, and is omnipotent, with what view do those who call God Father offer up to Him their supplications, and say, Your kingdom come?
They seem, therefore, to desire to see Christ the Saviour of all rising again upon the world. For He will come, He will come and descend as Judge, no longer in low estate like to us, nor in the meanness of human nature; but in glory such as becomes God, and as He dwells in the unapproachable light, and with the angels as His guards. For so He somewhere Himself said, that "the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, with His holy angels." And I think, therefore, that I ought to add this too: that at the consummation of this world He will descend from heaven, but no longer to instruct those on earth, as He did of old, nor again to show them the way of salvation; ----the season for this has passed away;----but to judge the world. And the wise Paul also bears witness to what I say, declaring that "we all must be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ, that every man may be requited for those things that were by means of the body, according to what he has done, whether it be good, or whether it be bad."
Terrible, therefore, is that judgment seat; without respect of persons is the Judge; it is a time of pleading, or rather of trial, and of retribution. The fire is prepared for the wicked, and enduring punishment, and eternal torments:----and how can men pray to see that time? Observe, I pray again, the Saviour's skilfulness, and His admirable management in every particular. For He commanded them to ask in prayer that this dread time may come, to make them know that they must live, not carelessly, nor dissolutely, nor moreover as beguiled into laxity and the love of pleasure; but, on the contrary, as becomes saints, and according to God's will: that so that time may prove the bestower upon them of crowns, and not of fire and condemnation. For for the wicked and impure, in that they lead base and lascivious lives, guilty of every vice, it were in no way fit for them in their prayers to say, Your kingdom come. Rather let them know that in so saying they, as it were, charge God with blame, because the time of their punishment does not quickly arise and manifest itself. Of them one of the holy prophets said, "Woe to those that desire the day of the Lord! What will the day of the Lord be to you? For it is darkness, and not light; and that thick darkness in which is no brightness."
The saints, therefore, ask that the time of the Saviour's perfect reign may come, because they have laboured dutifully, and have a pure conscience, and look for the requital of what they have already wrought. For just as those who are expecting a festival and merriment about forthwith to come, and shortly to appear, thirst for its arrival, so also do they. For they trust that they shall stand glorious in the presence of the Judge, and hear Him say: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world." They were wise and zealous stewards, when their Lord set them over His household, to give them their meat in its season. Well and wisely did they distribute to their fellow servants those things by the receiving of which they had themselves before been made rich; for they remembered Him Who said: "Freely you have received, freely give." When they received of Him the talent, they did not bury it in the earth. They were not like that slothful, and indolent, and careless servant, who drew near, saying, "Lord, I knew that You are a hard man; reaping where others sowed, and gathering where others scattered: and I was afraid, and hid the talent. Behold! You have Your own." They, on the contrary, traded: and so they brought it greatly multiplied, saying, "Lord, Your pound has made ten pounds," and were admitted to yet further honours. They possessed an active, and right hearty, and courageous disposition; they had put on the panoply of God; the breastplate of righteousness; the helmet of salvation; had taken the Spirit's sword: It did not escape them that they had a war, not against blood and flesh, but against magistracies, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the heavenly regions. For many wove for themselves crowns of martyrdom, and by enduring conflicts, even to life and blood, were made "a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men," and were accounted worthy of all admiration. There were others who endured labours and persecutions, eagerly contending for His glory. "Cruel wolves sprang in upon Christ's flocks, not sparing the flock," as the divine Paul declares. "Deceitful workers; false apostles," vomiting forth the gall of the malice of the devil, and "speaking perverse things," such as lead ignorant souls to destruction, and "wound their weak conscience." These, by flattering the powers of this world, brought persecutions and distresses upon the champions of the truth. But they made no great account of what they suffered, for they looked to the hope which they had in Christ. For it was not unknown to them that "by suffering for Him they would reign with Him." They know that at the time of the resurrection, "He will change the body of their humiliation into the likeness of His glorious body." They fully believed what He said about the consummation of the world, that when He shall appear to them again from heaven, "they shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Justly, therefore, in their prayers they say, "Your kingdom come." For they feel confident that they shall receive a recompense for their bravery, and attain to the consummation of the hope set before them.
May it be our lot also to be counted worthy of this great inheritance in Christ; by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.
SERMON LXXIV.
" Your will be done; as in heaven, so on earth."
THE prophet David made his supplications to Christ the Saviour of all, saying, "Lead me to Your truth, and teach me that You are God my Saviour." For all those are taught of God who are in Christ by faith; and among these are we. Of Him, therefore, let us ask the explanation of His words: for whosoever would understand correctly and without error what He wishes to teach, are in need of divine light: but He is the Giver of all wisdom, and sheds His light upon the mind and heart of those that ask Him. For again the Psalmist said, "Open mine eyes, and I shall see Your wonders out of Your law." Let us, therefore, examine this part also of the prayer: for it will profit us in no slight degree to the salvation of the soul. Why then did He command the saints to say to God the Father in heaven, "Your will be done; as in heaven, so in earth?"
Worthy of the saints, and full of all praise is this petition also. For for them to ask that the good-will of God may prevail on earth, what else is it but to ask that all mankind may lead praiseworthy and elect lives, and practise and know all virtue? By so doing, the holy angels, we affirm, dwell in glory in heaven: for it is written; "Bless the Lord all you His powers; His ministers who do His will." For by adhering to the will of their Lord, and fulfilling that righteousness which transcends human things, they preserve their high estate, whereas those who acted otherwise fell therefrom.
But to gather to a head, and, so to speak, collect briefly the meaning of the words, we supplicate, that power may be given to the dwellers upon earth to do the will of God, and imitate the conduct practised above in heaven by the holy angels. Let us see, therefore, as well as we can, in what way the powers above and the ranks of the holy angels successfully perform their duty. How do they honour God? Is it by sacrifices of blood? Is it by perfume and frankincense, as forsooth the Israel after the flesh did? But this I think is altogether incredible both to think and say. For it is rather true to affirm that they fulfil a spiritual and not a material service, ever crowning with lauds and praises the Creator of all, and fulfilling that righteousness which is suitable to holy spirits. Those, therefore, who in their prayers ask that the will of God may be done also on earth, ought necessarily themselves to live blamelessly, and to pay no regard to these earthly things, but free themselves from all impurity, and leap out of the pitfalls of iniquity, and "perfect holiness in the fear of God;" that as Paul also says, even while walking upon earth, "their conversation may be in heaven." And above all others let those who belong to the Jewish multitude, but have been enriched with the righteousness that is in Christ by faith, know that it is altogether fitting for them if they would fulfil the word of God, to cease from the shadows of the law, and abandon the service that consists in semblances and types: and choose rather the service which is spiritual, and pure, and immaterial. For as the Saviour somewhere said, "God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. For such the Father also requires those to be who worship Him."
For that the legal manner of service is not what He requires, is a thing in no respect difficult to see from the prophetic and apostolic writings. For by the word of Jeremiah He says, "Why do you bring Me the frankincense from Sheba; and cinnamon from a far country? Your whole burnt-offering is not acceptable, and your sacrifices please Me not." And by the voice of David, "I will not take bullocks from your house, nor he goats out of your flocks: should I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" And the blessed Paul also shows that the service that is by the law is powerless to justification, thus saying; "For that no man is justified by the law before God is evident." The will therefore of God, that will which we pray may be done upon earth, is not that we should conform to the law, and live according to the grossness of its letter, but that we should endeavour to live by the gospel. And this is effected by a faith correct and free from error, and by a holy life, possessed of the sweet savour of every virtue, and proved by the testimony of good and noble conduct in every thing that is excellent.
And to explain also in another way the sense of what is laid before us, we say, that those who utter to God the petition "Your will be done, as in heaven so on earth," pray that they may see the cessation of sin. For the law of Moses was given to the Israelites to be their schoolmaster; but those who received it paid but slight heed to its commands: they were "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;" and turned aside to follow their own will: for they wandered after the doctrines and commandments of men. For God also somewhere said of them; "This people draws near to Me; with their lips they honour Me, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain fear they Me, while teaching the doctrines and commandments of men." And He also said of them by the word of Jeremiah; "Hear, O earth, see I bring upon this people evils; the fruit of their turning aside: because they have not regarded My Word, and have rejected My law." Such then was the state of the Jews. But that other multitude, spread over the whole earth, was in error in manifold ways. "For they served the creatures instead of the Creator:" and having humbled their mind to submission to unclean spirits, were led by them readily and without understanding, into every thing base, and every kind of wickedness was honoured among them, and "they gloried in their shame," as Scripture says.
The saints therefore supplicate, that both of these, as well Israel as the Gentiles, may be counted worthy of peace from on high, and be comforted in that they were in misery, and caught, so to speak, in the net of sin, without possibility of escape: that having received the righteousness which is in Christ by faith, they may become pure, and skilful in every good work. For this reason they pray, "Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth:" for as I said, the will of God over all is, that the dwellers upon earth should live holily, and piously, and without blame, being washed from all impurity, and diligent in imitating the spiritual beauty of the spirits above in heaven; so that the church on earth, being, as it were, the visible likeness and image of the "church of the firstborn" that is above, may please Christ; by Whom, and with Whom, to God the Father be praise and dominion with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.
