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

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" knows "all things before their generation," and nothing comes to be known by Him for the first time from its present existence when it exists, as if it were not known before this; what need, then, is there to offer up a prayer to one who knows what we need even before we pray? "For the heavenly Father knows what" we have "need of before" we "ask him." And it is reasonable that He, being Father and Creator of the universe, loving "all existing things" and abomina<ting> no one of what he has made, should manage the affairs of each one for their salvation even without prayer, in the manner of a father presiding over infants and not waiting for their request, since they are either completely unable to ask or, through ignorance, often want to receive things contrary to what is beneficial and advantageous. And we humans fall more short of God than very young children do of the mind of their parents. 5.3 It is likely <that> for God things to come have not only been foreknown but also pre-ordained, and that nothing happens to him contrary to what has been pre-ordained. Just as, therefore, if someone were to pray for the sun to rise, he would be thought a fool, for demanding that what would happen even without his prayer should come to be through prayer; so would a man be foolish, who thinks that through his own prayer things happen that would in any case have happened even if he had not prayed. And again, just as he surpasses all madness who, because he is troubled by the sun when it is at the summer solstice and is being scorched, thinks that through prayer the sun will move to the spring signs, so that he may enjoy a temperate air; so if anyone were to think that he would not suffer the circumstances that necessarily happen to the human race because he prays, he would surpass all melancholy. 5.4 But if also "sinners are estranged from the womb," and the righteous man is set apart "from his mother's belly," <and> "though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls," it is said: "the older will serve the younger," in vain do we ask for the remission of sins or to receive a spirit of strength, so that we may "be able to do all things" through Christ who strengthens us. For if we are "sinners," we are estranged "from the womb"; and if we have been set apart "from our mother's belly," the best things will befall us even without our praying. For what prayer did Jacob offer, before he was born, that it was prophesied that he would "be superior" to Esau, and that his brother would "serve" him? And what impious act did "Esau" commit that he is hated before he was born? To what end does Moses pray, as is found in the eighty-ninth psalm, if God is his "refuge" "before the mountains were settled and the earth and the world were formed?" ..................................... ................................................. .............. 5.5 But also concerning all who will be saved, it is written in the letter to the Ephesians that the Father "chose" them "in him," "in Christ," "before the foundation of the world, that" they "should be holy and blameless before him, having predestined" them "in love for adoption as sons through Christ to himself." Therefore, either one is chosen from those "before the foundation of the world," and it is impossible for him to fall from the election, for which reason there is no need of prayer for him; or he is not chosen nor predestined, and he prays in vain, even if he should pray ten thousand times, not to be heard. For "those whom" God "foreknew," them "he also predestined to be conformed to the image" "of the glory" "of his Son." "And those whom he predestined, them he also called; and those whom he called, them he also justified; and those whom he justified, them he also glorified." For why does Josiah labor, or why, praying, is he concerned about whether he will ever be heard or not, having been prophesied by name many generations before and not only foreknown concerning what he would do but also foretold for many to hear? To what end does Judas also pray, so that his prayer becomes "sin," having been proclaimed from the time of David as one who would lose "his office," with another taking it in his place? And this immediately shows, of the unchangeable

πρόνοιαν εἶναι λεγόντων· οὐ γὰρ πρόκειται νῦν ἐξετάζειν τὰ λεγόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν πάντῃ ἀναι ρούντων θεὸν ἢ πρόνοιαν)· «ὁ θεὸς» οἶδε «τὰ πάντα πρὸ γενέσεως αὐτῶν,» καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκ τοῦ ἐνεστηκέναι ὅτε ἐνέστηκε πρῶτον αὐτῷ γινώσκεται ὡς πρὸ τούτου μὴ γνωσθέν· τίς οὖν χρεία ἀναπέμ πεσθαι εὐχὴν τῷ καὶ πρὶν εὔξασθαι ἐπισταμένῳ ὧν χρῄζομεν; «οἶδε γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ὁ οὐράνιος ὧν χρείαν» ἔχομεν «πρὸ τοῦ» ἡμᾶς «αἰτῆσαι αὐτόν.» εὔλογον δὲ πατέρα καὶ δημιουργὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα τοῦ παν τὸς, ἀγαπῶντα «τὰ ὄντα πάντα» καὶ μη<δὲν> βδελυσσόμενον ὧν πεποίηκε, σωτηρίως τὰ περὶ ἕκαστον καὶ χωρὶς τοῦ εὔξασθαι οἰκο νομεῖν δίκην πατέρος, νηπίων προϊσταμένου καὶ μὴ περιμένοντος ἐκείνων τὴν ἀξίωσιν, ἤτοι μηδ' ὅλως δυναμένων αἰτεῖν ἢ διὰ ἄγνοιαν πολλάκις τὰ ἐναντία τοῖς συμφέρουσι καὶ λυσιτελοῦσι θελόντων λα βεῖν. ἀπολειπόμεθα δὲ οἱ ἄνθρωποι πλεῖον τοῦ θεοῦ ἤπερ τὰ κο μιδῇ παιδία τοῦ νοῦ τῶν γεγεννηκότων. 5.3 εἰκὸς <δὲ> τῷ θεῷ οὐ μόνον προεγνῶσθαι τὰ ἐσόμενα ἀλλὰ καὶ προδιατετάχθαι, καὶ μηδὲν αὐτῷ παρὰ τὰ προδιατεταγμένα γί νεσθαι. ὥσπερ οὖν εἴ τις εὔχοιτο ἀνατέλλειν τὸν ἥλιον, ἠλίθιος ἂν νομίζοιτο, τὸ καὶ χωρὶς τῆς εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐσόμενον διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς γενέσθαι ἀξιῶν· οὕτως ἀνόητος ἂν εἴη ἄνθρωπος, ὅστις οἴεται διὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ εὐχὴν γίνεσθαι τὰ καὶ μὴ εὐξαμένου αὐτοῦ πάντως ἐσόμενα ἄν. πάλιν τε αὖ ὥσπερ πᾶσαν μανίαν ὑπερβάλλει ὁ διὰ τὸ ἐνοχλεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου γενομένου ἐν θεριναῖς τροπαῖς καὶ καυσοῦσθαι οἰόμενος διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς μεταστήσεσθαι τὸν ἥλιον ἐπὶ τὰ ἐαρινὰ σημεῖα, ἵνα εὐκράτου ἀπολαύῃ τοῦ ἀέρος· οὕτως τὰ ἀναγκαίως συμβαίνοντα περιστατικὰ τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει εἴ τις οἴοιτο διὰ τὸ εὔχεσθαι μὴ πείσεσθαι, πᾶσαν <ἂν> ὑπερβάλοι με λαγχολίαν. 5.4 εἰ δὲ καὶ «ἠλλοτριώθησαν ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ μήτρας,» καὶ ἀφώ ρισται ὁ δίκαιος «ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς,» <καὶ> «μήπω μήτε γεννηθέν των μήτε πραξάντων τι ἀγαθὸν ἢ φαῦλον, ἵνα ἡ κατ' ἐκλογὴν πρόθεσις τοῦ θεοῦ μένῃ, οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦντος,» λέ γεται· «ὁ μείζων δουλεύσει τῷ ἐλάττονι,» μάτην περὶ ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτημάτων ἀξιοῦμεν ἢ περὶ τοῦ πνεῦμα ἰσχύος λαβεῖν, ἵνα «πάντα» ἰσχύσωμεν ἐνδυναμοῦντος ἡμᾶς Χριστοῦ. εἰ μὲν γὰρ «ἁμαρτωλοί» ἐσμεν, «ἀπὸ μήτρας» ἠλλοτριώμεθα· εἰ δὲ ἀφωρίσθημεν «ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς» ἡμῶν, τὰ κάλλιστα καὶ μὴ εὐχομένοις ἀπαντήσεται. ποίαν γὰρ εὐχὴν προσαγαγὼν Ἰακὼβ, πρὶν γεννηθῆναι, προφητεύεται ὅτι «ὑπερέξει» τοῦ Ἠσαῦ, καὶ «δουλεύσει» αὐτῷ ὁ ἀδελφός; τί δὲ ἀσε βήσας ὁ «Ἠσαῦ» μισεῖται πρὶν γεννηθῆναι; ἵνα τί δὲ εὔχεται Μωϋσῆς, ὡς ἐν ὀγδοηκοστῷ ἐνάτῳ εὕρηται ψαλμῷ, εἰ «καταφυγὴ» αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς «πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι καὶ πλασθῆναι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην;» ..................................... ................................................. .............. 5.5 ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν σωθησομένων ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἐφε σίους ἀναγέγραπται ὅτι «ἐξελέξατο» αὐτοὺς «ἐν αὐτῷ,» «ἐν Χριστῷ» ὁ πατὴρ «πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἰς τὸ εἶναι» αὐτοὺς «ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατ' ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, ἐν ἀγάπῃ προορίσας» αὐτοὺς «εἰς υἱο θεσίαν διὰ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν.» ἤτοι οὖν τις ἐκ τῶν «πρὸ κατα βολῆς κόσμου» ἐστὶν ἐξειλεγμένος, καὶ ἀμήχανον αὐτὸν τῆς ἐκλογῆς ἐκπεσεῖν, διόπερ οὐ χρεία τούτῳ εὐχῆς· ἢ οὐκ ἐξείλεκται οὐδὲ προώρισται, καὶ μάτην εὔχεται, κἂν μυριάκις εὔξηται, οὐκ ἐπα κουσθησόμενος. «οὓς» γὰρ «προέγνω» ὁ θεὸς, τούτους «καὶ προώ ρισε συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος» «τῆς δόξης» «τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ.» «οὓς δὲ προώρισε, τούτους καὶ ἐκάλεσε· καὶ οὓς ἐκάλεσε, τούτους καὶ ἐδικαίωσεν· οὓς δὲ ἐδικαίωσε, τούτους καὶ ἐδόξασε.» τί γὰρ κάμνει Ἰωσίας ἢ διὰ τί εὐχόμενος πεφρόντικε περὶ τοῦ πότερόν ποτε εἰσα κουσθήσεται ἢ μὴ, πρὸ πολλῶν γενεῶν ὀνομαστὶ προφητευθεὶς καὶ περὶ τοῦ ὅ τι ποτὲ πράξει οὐ μόνον προγνωσθεὶς ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ἐπήκοον πολλῶν προῤῥηθείς; ἵνα τί δὲ καὶ Ἰούδας προσεύχεται, ὥστε καὶ τὴν προσευχὴν αὐτοῦ γενηθῆναι «εἰς ἁμαρτίαν,» ἀπὸ τῶν ∆αυῒδ χρόνων προκηρυχθεὶς ὡς ἀπολέσων «τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν,» ἑτέρου ληψομένου ἀντ' αὐτοῦ αὐτήν; αὐτόθεν δὲ ἀπεμφαίνει, ἀτρέπτου