De oratione

 Therefore, the one of these, I mean the 'what we should pray for,' is the words of the prayer, but the 'as we ought' is the state of the one praying

 we are more than conquerors.” It is likely that “intercedes” only concerns those who are not so great as to be more than conquerors, nor again such as

 God be with me, and keep me in this way that I go, and give me bread to eat and a garment to put on, and bring me back with safety to my father's hous

 of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying: This is the word, which the Lord commanded: A man, who shall vow a vow to the Lord or swear an oath with

 of those who say there is providence for it is not our present purpose to examine the sayings of those who entirely deny God or providence) God kn

 since God exists and has comprehended the whole universe and abides in His pre-arranged decrees, to pray, supposing that by his prayer he will alter G

 and from what is in our power, which will be enacted according to our impulse. For even if, hypothetically, God did not know the future, we would not

 “let him not boast” “before” me but let him say: “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God,” and perceiving my

 of prayer benefits those who have persuaded themselves that they have stood before and are speaking to a present and hearing God? 9.1 What has been sa

 to God, who ordains what he wills for our training, but not even murmuring in the secret of our thoughts without a voice audible to men which murmuri

 his preeminence, and stretching forth the right hand and giving to Judas a golden sword, to whom another saint who had fallen asleep testified, sa

 an angel, «of the» in the church «little ones,» «always» seeing «the face of the Father» «who is in heaven» and beholding the divinity of the one who

 the prayer of Holofernes with God prevails and one woman of the Hebrews brought shame to the house of Nebuchadnezzar But 'Ananias' 'and Azarias and M

 suffering from a basilisk, because through Christ he has stepped upon them and has trampled “lion and dragon,” having used the good authority given by

 doxology for greater things, offered up more magnificently by someone, and intercession, a request to God concerning certain things by one having a ce

 And an example of thanksgiving is the voice of our Lord, saying: “I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these thing

 kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their princesses your nurses they shall bow down to <you> with their face to the ground, and shall lick the

 with him the intelligible blessing reaching all the saints, spoken by Isaac to Jacob, namely: «May God give you of the dew of heaven,» to have come to

 of things truly and genuinely great and heavenly, and matters concerning the shadows that follow the preceding things must be entrusted to God, who kn

 For it is the work of hypocrites to want to put on airs before men for the sake of piety or for social reasons. But it is necessary, remembering the s

 20.2 And we must listen carefully to that they may be seen, since nothing that is merely apparent is good, as if existing in appearance and not in t

 It is not that God has not been called 20father20, or that those who are considered to have believed in God have not been named sons of God but rathe

 he has imitated the image «of the invisible God» and has become «according to the image of the one who created him,» who makes «his sun» rise «on the

 20Father20» let him go. And let us seek to understand more mystically the saying at the end of the Gospel according to John: «Do not touch me, for I h

 in order to persuade the reader from every side, according to the power given to us, to hear the divine scripture in a higher and more spiritual way,

 to exalt «0the name20» of God «at the same time,» is <when> someone, having partaken of an emanation of divinity by being taken up by God and having p

 We are commanded by Paul no longer to be subject to sin which wants to rule over us, and indeed we are ordered through these words: Let not sin there

 for us «0on earth20» likewise to them in all things “the 20will20” of God should be done which will happen, when we do nothing contrary to His «0will

 to divinity and being united with it. 26.5 But since the second point does not yet solve the difficulties about how «0the will20» of God is «0in heave

 we will set these things forth from more numerous sources. He says in the Gospel according to John to those who had come to Capernaum to seek him: “Tr

 nor are you able even now for you are still of the flesh” and in the one to the Hebrews: “and you have come to need milk, not solid food. For everyon

 being set apart, but is subject to every quality just like a prepared place. And by qualities they mean dispositively the activities and productions i

 by a demonstration of the angels and their becoming more ready to cooperate in every way and henceforth to concur in the apprehension of more and grea

 in the psalms thus: a thousand years in your eyes are as yesterday, which has passed (which is the famous millennium, which is likened to the yeste

 «0today20» but also in a way of the «0daily20» he who prays for «0today20», from the one who is able to grant «exceedingly abundantly above all that w

 and we are in a theater of the world and of angels and of men, it must be known that, just as the one in the theater is a 20debtor20 to say or do cert

 heavenly Father will do, unless you 20forgive20 each his brother from your hearts.” They say, however, that we 20must forgive20 those who have sinned

 they conceived a thought against God” for he offers the sacrifice concerning things of which it is doubted whether a sin has been committed, and this

 which our Lord taught concerning prayer. But when has anyone considered men to be outside of 20temptations20, whose word he knew he had fulfilled? And

 every time is one of 20temptation20 for men, even these things not even he who meditates on the law of God «day and night» and practices to fulfill w

 Finding such things in the law and the prophets, they stumbled as at one who was not good, who uttered such words but for us, on account of the diffi

 having desired generation, pray again to obtain twice what you desire, having come to hate the thing desired, and then thus to return to the good thin

 of our own evils and let us give thanks for the good things revealed to us through 20temptations20. But that the 20temptations20 which happen are for

 to put on (for he has received), but by in all that befell him not to have sinned at all before the Lord but to be shown to be righteous of the o

 to pray, stretching out the soul, as it were, before the hands, and stretching the mind toward God before the eyes, and before standing, arousing the

 which is possible, unless one gives himself to this by agreement for a time, that perhaps also concerning the place, if it is permissible, it must b

 It seems to me that these things have necessarily been said, while examining the place of prayer and representing what is exceptional as in a place at

 for the sake of magnifying you, my Lord, Lord.” 33.4 An example of confessions: “Deliver me from all my iniquities,” and in other places: “My wounds h

we are more than conquerors.” It is likely that “intercedes” only concerns those who are not so great as to be more than conquerors, nor again such as to be conquered, but are conquering. 2.4 Connected to what we ought to pray for, “as we ought we do not know, but the Spirit with unutterable groanings intercedes with God,” is the saying “I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the Spirit, I will sing <also> with the mind also.” For our mind cannot pray, unless the Spirit has prayed before it, as it were in its hearing, just as it cannot sing psalms rhythmically and melodiously and metrically. And to praise the Father in Christ in harmony, unless "the Spirit" who searches "all things," "even the deep things of God," first praises and hymns Him, whose "deep things" it has searched and, as it was able, apprehended. But I think that one of Jesus' disciples, being conscious of human weakness, failing in the manner one ought to pray, and having realized this especially, when he heard scientific and great words being uttered by the Savior in His prayer to the Father, said to the Lord when he had stopped praying: “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” And the whole context of the saying is as follows: “And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples to pray’” ......................................... ........................................................... ................................... For was a man, brought up in the instruction of the Law and in the hearing of the prophetic words and not absenting himself from the synagogues, not able to pray in some way, until he saw the Lord praying “in a certain place?” But it is absurd to say this; for he used to pray according to the customs of the Jews, but he saw that he himself needed greater knowledge in the matter of prayer. And what did “John teach his disciples” about prayer, who came from Jerusalem and all Judea and the surrounding region to be baptized by him, unless he perceived something concerning prayer according to his being “more than a prophet,” which it is likely he did not deliver to all who were baptized but to those being discipled for baptism he delivered in secret? 2.5 But such prayers as are truly spiritual, with the Spirit praying in the hearts of the saints, have been written down, filled with secret and wonderful doctrines; for in the first of Kingdoms, that of Anna in part (for the whole, “when she multiplied her prayer before the Lord,” speaking “in her heart,” was not † recorded in writing), and in the Psalms the sixteenth psalm is inscribed “a prayer of David,” and the eighty-ninth “a prayer for Moses, the man of God,” and the one hundred and first “a prayer for the poor, when he is faint and pours out his supplication before the Lord”; which prayers, since they were truly prayers made and spoken by the Spirit, and are filled with the doctrines of the wisdom of God, so that one might say concerning the things promised in them: “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?” 2.6 Since, therefore, it is such a great thing to discourse on prayer, as to require the Father who enlightens us in this matter, and His firstborn Word to teach us, and the Spirit working in us to understand and to speak worthily of such a great subject, having prayed as a man (for I do not grant myself the capacity for prayer), I ask to obtain the prayer of the Spirit before my discourse, so that a most full and spiritual discourse may be granted to us, and the prayers recorded in the Gospels may be clarified. Therefore it is time to begin the discourse on prayer. 3.1 First, then, as far as I find it in my observation, the name of prayer is used, when Jacob, having become a fugitive from the wrath of his “brother” Esau, went away “to Mesopotamia” according to the instructions of Isaac and Rebecca. For the text runs thus: “And Jacob vowed a vow, saying: If the Lord is

ὑπερνικῶμεν.» εἰκὸς δ' ὅτι «ἐντυγχάνει» μόνον περὶ τῶν οὐ τηλικούτων μὲν, ὡς ὑπερνικᾶν, οὐ τοιούτων δὲ πάλιν, ὥστε νικᾶσθαι, ἀλλὰ νικώντων. 2.4 ἐχόμενον δὲ τοῦ τί δὲ δεῖ προσεύξασθαι «καθὸ δεῖ οὐκ οἴδα μεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πνεῦμα στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις ὑπερεντυγχάνει τῷ θεῷ» τὸ «προσεύξομαι τῷ πνεύματι, προσεύξομαι δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ· ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι, ψαλῶ <δὲ> καὶ τῷ νοΐ.» οὐδὲ γὰρ δύναται ἡμῶν ὁ νοῦς προσεύξασθαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρὸ αὐτοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα προσεύξηται οἱονεὶ ἐν ὑπηκόῳ αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ψᾶλαι καὶ εὐρύθμως καὶ ἐμμελῶς καὶ ἐμμέτρως. καὶ συμφώνως ὑμνῆσαι τὸν πατέρα ἐν Χριστῷ, ἐὰν μὴ «τὸ πνεῦμα» τὸ «πάντα» ἐρευνῶν, «καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ,» πρότερον αἰνέσῃ καὶ ὑμνήσῃ τοῦτον, οὗ «τὰ βάθη» ἠρεύνηκε καὶ, ὡς ἐξίσχυσε, κατείληφεν. ἐγὼ δὲ οἴομαι συναισθόμενόν τινα τῶν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μα θητῶν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας, ἀπολειπομένης τοῦ ὃν τρόπον εὔχεσθαι δεῖ, καὶ μάλιστα τοῦτ' ἐγνωκότα, ὅτε ἐπιστημόνων καὶ με γάλων λόγων ἤκουεν ἀπαγγελλομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εὐχῇ, παυσαμένῳ τοῦ προσεύχεσθαι τῷ κυρίῳ εἰρηκέ ναι· «κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδί δαξε τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ.» ὅλος δὲ ὁ εἱρμὸς τοῦ ῥητοῦ οὕτως ἔχει· «καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν προσευχόμενον ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπέ τις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· κύριε, δί δαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξε προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ» ......................................... ........................................................... ................................... ἆρα γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ἐντε θραμμένος τῇ νομικῇ κατηχήσει καὶ τῇ ἀκροάσει τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων τῶν τε συναγωγῶν μὴ ἀπολειπόμενος, οὐκ ἠπίστατο ὁπωσ δήποτε εὔχεσθαι, μέχρις οὗ ἴδῃ τὸν κύριον εὐχόμενον «ἐν τόπῳ τινί;» ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἄτοπον φάσκειν· ηὔχετο μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὰ Ἰου δαίων ἔθη, ἑώρα δὲ μείζονος ἐπιστήμης ἑαυτὸν δεόμενον εἰς τὸν περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς τόπον. τί δὲ καὶ ὁ «Ἰωάννης ἐδίδασκε τοὺς μαθη τὰς» περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων καὶ πάσης τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ τῆς περιχώρου ἐρχομένους βαπτίζεσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν, εἰ μή τινα κατὰ τὸ «περισσότερον» εἶναι «προφήτου» ἔβλεπε περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, ἅπερ εἰκὸς ὅτι οὐ πᾶσι τοῖς βαπτιζομένοις ἀλλὰ τοῖς πρὸς τὸ βαπτίζεσθαι μαθητευομένοις ἐν ἀποῤῥήτῳ παρεδίδου; 2.5 αἱ τοιαῦται δὲ εὐχαὶ αἱ ὄντως πνευματικαὶ, προσευχομένου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ πνεύματος, ἀνεγράφησαν, πεπληρωμέναι ἀποῤ ῥήτων καὶ θαυμασίων δογμάτων· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Βασι λειῶν ἐκ μέρους ἡ τῆς Ἄννης (ὅλη γὰρ, «ὅτε ἐπλήθυνε προσευχο μένη ἐνώπιον κυρίου,» λαλοῦσα «ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς,» οὐκ † ἐχάρη γραφῇ), ἐν δὲ ψαλμοῖς ὁ ἑκκαιδέκατος ψαλμὸς «προσευχὴ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ» ἐπιγέγραπται, καὶ ὁ ἔνατος καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὸς «προσευχὴ τῷ Μωϋσεῖ, ἀνθρώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ,» καὶ ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ἑκατοστὸς «προσευχὴ τῷ πτωχῷ, ὅταν ἀκηδιάσῃ καὶ ἐναντίον κυρίου ἐκχέῃ τὴν δέησιν αὐ τοῦ»· αἵτινες προσευχαὶ, ἐπεὶ ἀληθῶς ἦσαν προσευχαὶ γινόμεναι πνεύματι λεγόμεναί τε, καὶ τῶν δογμάτων τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας πε πλήρωνται, ὥστε εἰπεῖν ἄν τινα περὶ τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ἐπαγγελλομέ νων· «τίς σοφὸς, καὶ συνήσει ταύτας; καὶ συνετὸς, καὶ ἐπιγνώσεται αὐτάς;» 2.6 ἐπεὶ τοίνυν τηλικοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς διαλαβεῖν, ὡς δεῖσθαι τοῦ καὶ εἰς τοῦτο φωτίζοντος πατρὸς καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πρωτοτόκου λόγου διδάσκοντος τοῦ τε πνεύματος ἐνεργοῦντος εἰς τὸ νοεῖν καὶ λέγειν ἀξίως τοῦ τηλικούτου προβλήματος, εὐξάμενος ὡς ἄνθρωπος (οὐ γάρ που ἐμαυτῷ δίδωμι χωρεῖν τὴν προσευχὴν) τοῦ πνεύματος πρὸ τοῦ λόγου τυχεῖν τῆς εὐχῆς ἀξιῶ, ἵνα λόγος πληρέστατος καὶ πνευματικὸς ἡμῖν δωρηθῇ, καὶ αἱ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγε λίοις ἀναγεγραμμέναι σαφηνισθῶσιν εὐχαί. ἀρκτέον οὖν ἤδη τοῦ περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς λόγου. 3.1 Πρῶτον δὴ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς εὐχῆς ὅσον ἐπὶ παρατηρήσει τῇ ἐμῇ εὑρίσκω κείμενον, ἡνίκα ὁ Ἰακὼβ, φυγὰς γενόμενος τῆς ὀρ γῆς «τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ» ἑαυτοῦ Ἠσαῦ, ἀπῄει «εἰς τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν» κατὰ τὰς ὑποθήκας Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ῥεβέκκας. οὕτω δὲ ἔχει ἡ λέξις· «καὶ ηὔξατο Ἰακὼβ εὐχὴν, λέγων· ἐὰν ᾖ κύριος ὁ