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 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 said must be established from the divine scriptures in this manner. The one who prays must lift up "holy hands" by forgiving each of those who have sinned against him, having banished the passion of anger from his soul and being angry with no one. Again, so that the mind may not be disturbed by other thoughts, one must forget everything outside the prayer at the time one prays, (and how is it not most blessed to be like this?) as Paul teaches in his first letter to Timothy, saying: "I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputings." But in addition to these things, a woman, especially when praying, must have composure and modesty in soul and body, more than anything else and especially when she prays, reverencing God and having banished from her governing faculty every licentious and womanish thought, and adorned not "with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire" but with what is proper for a woman professing godliness (and I wonder if anyone would hesitate to declare blessed, from such a disposition alone, the woman who has presented herself in such a way to pray), as Paul taught in the same epistle, saying: "Likewise also, that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but, which is proper for women who profess godliness, with good works." 9.2 And the prophet David says that the holy one has many other things when praying; and these things must be set forth not unseasonably, so that the disposition and preparation for prayer of the one who has dedicated himself to God may become clear to us, which brings the greatest benefits, even if it is only understood. For he says: "To you I have lifted up my eyes, who dwell in heaven," and "To you, O God, I have lifted up my soul." For when the eyes of the intellect are lifted up from dwelling on earthly things and being filled with images from more material things, and are so exalted as even to transcend created things and to be concerned only with the thought of God and to converse reverently and fittingly with him who hears, how have they not already benefited those very eyes in the greatest degree, beholding "with unveiled face the glory of the Lord" and being transformed "into the same image" "from glory to glory?" For then they partake of a certain more divine, intelligible emanation, which is indicated by: "The light of your countenance, O Lord, has been signed upon us." And the soul, being lifted up and following the spirit, separated from the body, and not only following the spirit but also becoming in it, which is indicated by: "To you I have lifted up my soul," how does it not, putting away its being as a soul, already become spiritual? 9.3 And if forgiveness of injuries is the greatest achievement, as according to the prophet Jeremiah, who says that the whole law is summed up in this: "I did not command these things to your fathers when they came out of Egypt, but I commanded this: 'Let each one not remember evil against his neighbor in his heart,'" and if, coming to prayer from a state of forgiveness, we keep the Savior's commandment, who says: "And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone," it is clear that by standing to pray in such a way we have already acquired the best things. 10.1 And these things have been said hypothetically, and if nothing else should follow for us as we pray, we gain the best things by having understood and achieved the way one ought to pray. But it is clear that one who prays in this way will be heard while still speaking, perceiving by the power of the one who hears the words, "Behold, I am here," having cast off, before praying, all displeasure toward providence. For this is what is indicated by: "If you take away from you the yoke and the stretching out of the hand and the word of murmuring," of the one who is well-pleased with what happens, having been made free from every bond and not voting against it

εὐχῆς ὀνίνησι τοὺς πείσαντας ἑαυτοὺς ὅτι παρόντι καὶ ἀκούοντι παρεστήκασι καὶ λέγουσι θεῷ; 9.1 Κατασκευαστέον δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν θείων γραφῶν τὰ εἰρημένα τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον. ἐπαίρειν δεῖ «ὁσίας χεῖρας» τὸν εὐχόμενον διὰ τοῦ ἀφιέναι ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πεπλημμεληκότων, τὸ τῆς ὀργῆς πάθος ἐξαφανίσαντα ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ μηδενὶ θυμούμενον. πάλιν τε δεῖ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ἐπιθολοῦσθαι τὸν νοῦν ὑπὸ ἑτέρων λογισμῶν πάντων ἐπιλελῆσθαι τῶν ἔξω τῆς εὐχῆς κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν, ἐν ᾧ τις εὔχεται, (τοιοῦτον δὲ εἶναι πῶς οὐκ ἔστι μακαριώτατον;) ὡς διδά σκει Παῦλος ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ πρὸς Τιμόθεον λέγων· «βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμῶν.» ἀλλὰ πρὸς τούτοις τὴν γυναῖκα χρὴ ἔχειν μάλιστα εὐχομένην τὸ κατεσταλμένον καὶ τὸ κόσμιον ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι, πάντων μᾶλλον ἐξαιρέτως καὶ ὅτε εὔχεται αἰδου μένην τὸν θεὸν καὶ πᾶσαν ἀκόλαστον καὶ γυναικείαν ὑπόμνησιν ἐξορίσασαν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ καὶ κεκοσμημένην οὐκ «ἐν πλέγμασι καὶ χρυσῷ ἢ μαργαρίταις ἢ ἱματισμῷ πολυτελεῖ» ἀλλ' οἷς πρέπον ἐστὶ κεκοσμῆσθαι γυναῖκα θεοσέβειαν ἐπαγγελλομένην (θαυμάζω δὲ εἰ διστάξαι τις ἂν μακαρίαν ἐκ μόνης τῆς τοιαύτης καταστάσεως ἀποφήνασθαι τὴν εἰς τὸ εὔχεσθαι τοιαύτην ἑαυτὴν παραστήσασαν), ὡς ἐδίδαξεν ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπιστολῇ ὁ Παῦλος λέγων· «γυναῖκας ὡσαύ τως ἐν καταστολῇ κοσμίῳ, μετὰ αἰδοῦς καὶ σωφροσύνης κοσμεῖν ἑαυτὰς, μὴ ἐν πλέγμασι καὶ χρυσῷ ἢ μαργαρίταις ἢ ἱματισμῷ πο λυτελεῖ ἀλλὰ, ὃ πρέπει γυναιξὶν ἐπαγγελλομέναις θεοσέβειαν, δι' ἔργων ἀγαθῶν.» 9.2 καὶ ὁ προφήτης δὲ ∆αυῒδ πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα φησὶν ἔχειν εὐχόμενον τὸν ἅγιον· καὶ ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἀκαίρως παραθετέον, ἵνα φανερὰ ἡμῖν γένηται τὰ μέγιστα ὠφελοῦσα, κἂν μόνη νοηθῇ, ἡ σχέσις καὶ εἰς τὸ εὔχεσθαι παρασκευὴ τοῦ ἀνατεθεικότος ἑαυτὸν τῷ θεῷ· φησὶν οὖν· «πρὸς σὲ ἦρα τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, τὸν κατοικοῦντα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ,» καὶ «πρὸς σὲ ἦρα τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὁ θεός.» ἐπαιρό μενοι γὰρ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ τοῦ διανοητικοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσδιατρίβειν τοῖς γηΐνοις καὶ πληροῦσθαι φαντασίας τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ὑλικωτέρων καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὑψούμενοι, ὥστε καὶ ὑπερκύπτειν τὰ γεννητὰ καὶ πρὸς μόνῳ τῷ ἐννοεῖν τὸν θεὸν κἀκείνῳ σεμνῶς καὶ πρεπόντως τῷ ἀκούοντι ὁμιλεῖν γίνεσθαι, πῶς οὐχὶ τὰ μέγιστα ἤδη ὤνησαν αὐτοὺς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, «ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν κυρίου» κατοπτριζομένους καὶ «τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα» μεταμορφουμένους «ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν;» ἀποῤῥοῆς γὰρ νοητοῦ τινος θειοτέρου μεταλαμ βάνουσι τότε, ὅπερ δηλοῦται ἐκ τοῦ· «ἐσημειώθη ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου σου, κύριε.» καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ δὲ ἐπαιρομένη καὶ τῷ πνεύ ματι ἑπομένη τοῦ τε σώματος χωριζομένη καὶ οὐ μόνον ἑπομένη τῷ πνεύματι ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένη, ὅπερ δηλοῦται ἐκ τοῦ· «πρὸς σὲ ἦρα τὴν ψυχήν μου,» πῶς οὐχὶ ἤδη ἀποτιθεμένη τὸ εἶναι ψυχὴ πνευματικὴ γίνεται; 9.3 εἰ δὲ μέγιστόν ἐστι κατόρθωμα ἀμνησικακία ὡς κατὰ τὸν προφήτην Ἱερεμίαν, πάντα ἀνακεφαλαιοῦσθαι τὸν νόμον ἐν αὐτῷ λέγοντα· «οὐ ταῦτα ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν ἐκπορευομένων αὐτῶν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἐνετειλάμην· ἕκαστος τῷ πλησίον ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μὴ μνησικακείτω,» ἀπὸ μνησικακίας δὲ ἥκοντες ἐπὶ τὸ εὔχεσθαι τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος φυλάσσομεν ἐντολὴν, λέγοντος· «ἐὰν στήκητε προσευχόμενοι, ἀφίετε εἴ τι ἔχετε κατά τινος,» δῆλον ὅτι τοιοῦτοι ἱστάμενοι πρὸς τὸ εὔξασθαι τὰ κάλλιστα ἤδη κε κτήμεθα. 10.1 Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὡς καθ' ὑπόθεσιν εἴρηται, καὶ εἰ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἡμῖν ἐπακολουθήσει εὐχομένοις, ὅτι τὰ κάλλιστα κερδαίνομεν, τὸ καθὸ δεῖ εὔχεσθαι νενοηκότες καὶ κατορθοῦντες· σαφὲς δὲ ὅτι ὁ οὕτως εὐχόμενος ἔτι λαλῶν ἀκούσεται, τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ ἐπακού οντος ἐνορῶν, τὸ «ἰδοὺ πάρειμι,» πᾶσαν τὴν πρὸς τὴν πρόνοιαν δυσαρέστησιν, πρὶν εὔξασθαι, ἀποβεβληκώς. τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι δηλού μενον ἐκ τοῦ· «ἐὰν ἀφέλῃς ἀπὸ σοῦ σύνδεσμον καὶ χειροτονίαν καὶ ῥῆμα γογγυσμοῦ,» τοῦ εὐαρεστουμένου τοῖς γινομένοις ἐλευθέρου ἀπὸ παντὸς δεσμοῦ γεγενημένου καὶ μὴ ἀντιχειροτονοῦντος