John Chrysostom, On Prayer

part of life. Straightway, therefore, we have this very great thing to say about prayer, that everyone who prays converses with God; and how great a thing it is for one who is human to speak with God, no one is ignorant; but to express the honor in speech, no one would be able. For this honor surpasses even the magnificence of the angels; which they, knowing well, all appear somewhere in the prophets offering the hymns and the services of worship to the Master with much fear, covering both their faces and their feet out of great reverence, and by their flight and by not being able to remain in stillness showing their great fear; instructing us, I think, also to forget human nature in the time of prayer, and being constrained by zeal and fear, to see nothing of present things, but to consider that we stand in the midst of the angels, and to perform the same worship as they do. For all other things are very separate, both theirs, I say, and ours, both nature, and way of life, and wisdom, and understanding, and everything, whatever one might say; but prayer is a common work of angels and men together; and there is nothing between either nature, at least as regards prayer. This separates you from the irrational creatures, this joins you to the angels; and quickly one will be translated into their 50.780 way of life, and life, and conduct, and honor, and nobility, and wisdom, and understanding, by being zealous to be occupied his whole life in prayers and in the worship of God. For what could be holier than those who converse with God? What more just? What more orderly? What wiser? For if those who speak with wise men, by continuous conversation are quickly brought into a likeness of their wisdom, what is it fitting to say about those who speak with God and pray? With how much wisdom, and with how much virtue, and understanding, and goodness, and temperance, and gentleness of manners does prayer and supplication fill them! So that one would not err, by declaring prayer to be the starting-point of all virtue and righteousness, and that nothing of the things that contribute to piety can enter into a soul destitute of prayer and supplication; but just as an unwalled city would easily fall under the power of its enemies, because of the great lack of anyone to hinder them; so also a soul not fortified by prayers the devil easily makes his own, and easily fills it with all sin. For first, when he sees a soul fenced in by prayers, he does not dare to come near, fearing the strength and the power which prayers provide, nourishing the soul more than food does the body; then, those who pray earnestly do not endure to suffer anything unworthy of prayer, but being ashamed before God, with whom they have just conversed, they quickly thrust away every device of the Evil One, considering within themselves how great an evil it is, having just spoken with God, and having prayed for temperance and holiness, to go over immediately to the devil, and to receive in the soul shameful pleasures, and to give the devil access to the mind, which God has just visited, and to allow the demons to 50.781 enter into souls in which the grace of the Spirit has shown great love for mankind and providence. And how, listen: It is impossible for a man to be able to offer up divine conversation without the working of the Spirit, but it is necessary, with this being present and assisting in the holy struggles, thus to enter, and to bend the knees, and to make supplication, and to pray. For since it is greater than what is human to speak with God, it is necessary for the grace of the Spirit, coming to us, to strengthen, and to embolden, and to teach the greatness of the honor. When therefore you learn that you both speak with God and have received the working of the Spirit, when you are about to converse, you will give no access to the devil to the soul which has been sanctified by the Spirit. For just as those

βίου μέρος. Εὐθὺς τοίνυν ἐκεῖνο μέγιστον περὶ προσευχῆς εἰπεῖν ἔχομεν, ὅτι πᾶς προσευχόμενος τῷ Θεῷ διαλέγεται· ὅσον δέ ἐστιν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα τῷ Θεῷ λαλεῖν, ἀγνοεῖ μὲν οὐδείς· παραστῆσαι δὲ λόγῳ τὴν τιμὴν οὐκ ἄν τις δυνηθείη. Αὕτη γὰρ ἡ τιμὴ καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ὑπεραίρει μεγαλοπρέπειαν· ὃ καλῶς ἐκεῖνοι ἐπιστάμενοι, πάντες φαίνονταί που παρὰ τοῖς προφήταις σὺν πολλῷ τῷ φόβῳ τοὺς ὕμνους καὶ τὰς λατρείας τῷ ∆εσπότῃ προσάγοντες, καλύπτοντες μὲν καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα καὶ τοὺς πόδας ὑπὸ πολλῆς εὐλαβείας, τῇ δὲ πτήσει καὶ τῷ μὴ δύνασθαι μένειν ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ τὸν πολὺν ἐνδεικνύμενοι φόβον· παιδεύοντες, οἶμαι, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι μὲν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἐν καιρῷ προσευχῆς, τῇ δὲ προθυμίᾳ καὶ τῷ φόβῳ συνεχομένους, μηδὲν τῶν παρόντων ὁρᾷν, ἀλλ' ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἑστάναι νομίζειν, καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνοις λατρείαν ἐπιτελεῖν. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα πάντα πολὺ κεχωρισμένα, τά τε ἐκείνων λέγω καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα, καὶ φύσις, καὶ δίαιτα, καὶ σοφία, καὶ σύνεσις, καὶ πᾶν, ὅ τι ἂν εἴπῃ τις· προσευχῆς δὲ κοινὸν ἔργον ἀγγέλων ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων· καὶ οὐκ ἔστι μέσον οὐδὲν ἑκατέρας φύσεως, τά γε εἰς προσευχήν. Αὕτη σε χωρίζει τῶν ἀλόγων, αὕτη συνάπτει τοῖς ἀγγέλοις· ταχέως δέ τις εἰς τὴν ἐκείνων μεταστήσεται 50.780 πολιτείαν, καὶ βίον, καὶ δίαιταν, καὶ τιμὴν, καὶ εὐγένειαν, καὶ σοφίαν, καὶ σύνεσιν, πάντα τὸν βίον ἐν προσευχαῖς καὶ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ λατρείᾳ σπουδάζων ἐσχολακέναι. Τί γὰρ ἂν ὁσιώτερον γένοιτο τῶν ὁμιλούντων Θεῷ; τί δὲ δικαιότερον; τί δὲ κοσμιώτερον; τί δὲ σοφώτερον; Εἰ γὰρ οἱ σοφοῖς ἀνδράσι λαλοῦντες, ὑπὸ τῆς συνεχοῦς ὁμιλίας εἰς ὁμοιότητα τῆς ἐκείνων φρονήσεως καθίστανται ταχέως, τί προσήκει λέγειν περὶ τῶν λαλούντων Θεῷ καὶ προσευχομένων; Ὅσης μὲν σοφίας, ὅσης δὲ ἀρετῆς, καὶ συνέσεως, καὶ καλοκαγαθίας, καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ τρόπων ἐπιεικείας ἀναπίμπλησιν αὐτοὺς ἡ προσευχὴ καὶ ἡ δέησις! Ὥστε οὐκ ἄν τις ἁμάρτοι, πάσης ἀρετῆς καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἀφορμὴν εἶναι τὴν προσευχὴν ἀποφαινόμενος, καὶ μηδὲν δύνασθαι τῶν συντελούντων εἰς εὐσέβειαν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς ψυχὴν προσευχῆς καὶ δεήσεως ἔρημον· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀτείχιστος πόλις ῥᾳδίως ἂν ὑπὸ τοῖς πολεμίοις γένοιτο, κατὰ πολλὴν τοῦ κωλύσοντος ἐρημίαν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ψυχὴν μὴ τετειχισμένην προσευχαῖς ῥᾳδίως ὁ διάβολος ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ποιεῖται, καὶ πάσης ἁμαρτίας εὐχερῶς ἀναπίμπλησι. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ὅταν ἴδῃ ψυχὴν πεφραγμένην προσευχαῖς, οὐ τολμᾷ γενέσθαι πλησίον, δεδοικὼς τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν, ἣν αἱ προσευχαὶ παρέχουσι, μᾶλλον τρέφουσαι τὴν ψυχὴν, ἢ τὰ σώματα σῖτος· ἔπειτα οἱ προσευχόμενοι σπουδαίως, οὐχ ὑπομένουσιν οὐδὲν παθεῖν τῆς προσευχῆς ἀνάξιον, ἀλλ' αἰσχυνόμενοι τὸν Θεὸν, ᾧ διελέχθησαν ἄρτι, πᾶσαν ἀπωθοῦνται ταχέως τοῦ Πονηροῦ μηχανὴν, ἐνθυμούμενοι παρ' ἑαυτοῖς, ὅσον ἐστὶ κακὸν, ἄρτι τῷ Θεῷ λαλήσαντα, καὶ δεηθέντα περὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ ὁσιότητος, εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὸν διάβολον μεταστῆναι, καὶ παραδέξασθαι τῇ ψυχῇ τὰς αἰσχρὰς ἡδονὰς, καὶ δοῦναι τῷ διαβόλῳ πάροδον ἐπὶ τὴν διάνοιαν, ἣν ἄρτι Θεὸς ἐπεσκέψατο, καὶ συγχωρῆσαι τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἐμ50.781 βατεύειν εἰς ψυχὰς, ἐν αἷς ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις πολλὴν ἐπεδείξατο φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ πρόνοιαν. Καὶ ὅπως, ἄκουσον· Ἀμήχανον ἀνθρώπῳ δυνηθῆναι θείαν ἐνεγκεῖν ὁμιλίαν ἄνευ τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἀλλὰ δεῖ ταύτης παρούσης καὶ συνεφαπτομένης τῶν ἁγίων ἀγώνων, οὕτως εἰσελθεῖν, καὶ κάμψαι γόνατα, καὶ δεηθῆναι, καὶ προσεύξασθαι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κρεῖττον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον λαλῆσαι Θεῷ, δεῖ τὴν χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐλθοῦσαν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐπιῤῥῶσαι, καὶ θαῤῥῦναι, καὶ διδάξαι τῆς τιμῆς τὸ μέγεθος. Ὅταν οὖν μάθῃς ὅτι καὶ Θεῷ λαλεῖς, καὶ Πνεύματος ἐνέργειαν ἐδέξω, διαλέγεσθαι μέλλων, οὐδεμίαν δώσεις τῷ διαβόλῳ πάροδον ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἡγιασμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ