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

his preeminence, and stretching forth "the right hand" and giving "to Judas a golden sword," to whom another saint who had fallen asleep testified, saying: "This is he who prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah the prophet of God." 11.2 For it is absurd, when knowledge is manifested to the worthy in the present "through a glass" and "darkly," but "then face to face" it is revealed, not to understand the analogous thing also in the case of the other virtues, <τό>then those things prepared beforehand in this life are properly perfected. But one of the most sovereign virtues according to the divine word is love for one's neighbor; which one must understand to be present much more in the saints who have fallen asleep towards those struggling in life than in those who exist in human weakness and struggle together with the more needy, not only here where "if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; and if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it" is present in those who love their brothers; for it is fitting also for the love of those outside the present life to say: "the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?" and this while Christ confesses that in each of the weak saints he is likewise weak and is "in prison" and is naked and a stranger and hungry and thirsty; for who of those who encounter the Gospel does not know that Christ considers the things that happen to the believers to be his own sufferings by referring them to himself? 11.3 But if "angels" of God came to Jesus and "ministered to him," and it is not fitting for us to think that the ministry of the angels to Jesus happened for a short time during his bodily sojourn among men, and he is still "in the midst" of the believers not as one who reclines but as one who serves; how many angels is it likely minister to Jesus, who wishes to gather "the sons of Israel" "one by one" and to assemble those from the dispersion and to save those who fear and call upon him, cooperating more than the apostles in the growth and increase of the church, so that some are even called angels presiding over the churches by John in the Revelation? For not in vain do the angels "of God" ascend and descend "upon the Son of Man," being seen by eyes enlightened with the light of "knowledge." 11.4 And so, at the very time of prayer, being reminded by the one who prays of the things the one praying needs, they accomplish what they can, having received it as a universal command. But for this discourse, we must use some such image in order to accept what has been understood by us. Let some physician of righteousness be present, caring for one who is sick and praying for his health, having knowledge of the way he must treat the disease about which so-and-so offers the prayer; it is clear indeed that this one will be moved to heal the one who prayed, perhaps not wrongly supposing that this very thing came into the mind of God, who heard the prayer of the one who prayed for release from the disease to come to him. Or let one of those who possesses more of the necessities of life and is charitable hear the prayer of a poor man who is offering a petition to God concerning his needs; it is clear indeed that this one also will fulfill the things of the prayer for the poor man, becoming a servant of the fatherly will <τοῦ> of him who brought together at the time of the prayer the one who is able to provide with the one who is praying, on account of the rightness of his purpose, being unable to overlook the one who is in need of certain things. 11.5 Therefore, just as these things must not be considered to happen by chance, when they do happen, since he who has numbered all the hairs of the saints' heads harmoniously brought together at the time of prayer the one who will be a servant to the one who needs beneficence, hearing him from himself, to the one who has faithfully been in need; so it must be supposed that at some time the presence of the angels who oversee and minister to God is brought together to some one of those who pray, so that they may cooperate in what the one praying has asked. But also of each one

αὐτὸν ὑπεροχὴν, καὶ προ τείνοντος «τὴν δεξιὰν» παραδιδόντος τε «τῷ Ἰούδᾳ ῥομφαίαν χρυ σῆν,» ᾧ ἐμαρτύρει ἄλλος ἅγιος προκεκοιμημένος λέγων· «οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ προσευχόμενος πολλὰ περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως, Ἱερεμίας ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ προφήτης.» 11.2 καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον, τῆς γνώσεως «δι' ἐσόπτρου» καὶ «ἐν αἰνίγματι» ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος τοῖς ἀξίοις φανερουμένης «τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον» ἀποκαλυπτομένης, μὴ τὸ ἀνάλογον καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρετῶν νοεῖν, <τό>τε κυρίως τῶν προπαρεσκευασμένων ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ τελειουμένων. μία δὲ κυριωτάτη τῶν ἀρετῶν κατὰ τὸν θεῖον λόγον ἐστὶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἀγάπη· ἣν πολλῷ μᾶλλον προσεῖναι τοῖς προκεκοιμημένοις ἁγίοις πρὸς τοὺς ἐν βίῳ ἀγωνιζομένους ἀναγκαῖον νοεῖν παρὰ τοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ἀσθε νείᾳ τυγχάνοντας καὶ συναγωνιζομένους τοῖς ὑποδεεστέροις, οὐ μόνον ἐνταῦθα τοῦ «εἰ πάσχει μέλος ἓν, συμπάσχει πάντα τὰ μέλη· καὶ εἰ δοξάζεται μέλος ἓν, συγχαίρει πάντα τὰ μέλη» τοῖς φιλαδέλφοις ἐγγινομένου· πρέπον γάρ ἐστι καὶ τῇ τῶν ἔξω τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ἀγάπῃ λέγειν· «ἡ μέριμνα πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν. τίς ἀσθενεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι;» καὶ ταῦτα τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁμολογοῦντος καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἀσθενούντων ἁγίων ἀσθενεῖν ὁμοίως καὶ «ἐν φυλακῇ» εἶναι καὶ γυμνιτεύειν ξενιτεύειν τε καὶ πεινᾶν καὶ διψᾶν· τίς γὰρ ἀγνοεῖ τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τῇ ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν ἀναφορᾷ τῶν συμβαινόντων τοῖς πιστεύ ουσι λογιζόμενον τὸν Χριστὸν ἴδια εἶναι παθήματα; 11.3 εἰ δὲ «ἄγγελοι» τοῦ θεοῦ προσελθόντες τῷ Ἰησοῦ «διηκό νουν αὐτῷ,» καὶ μὴ πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμᾶς πρὸς ὀλίγον χρόνον νοεῖν γεγονέναι τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν διακονίαν τῆς σωμα τικῆς αὐτοῦ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἐπιδημίας, καὶ αὐτοῦ ἔτι «ἐν μέσῳ» τῶν πιστευόντων οὐχ ὡς ἀνακειμένου ἀλλὰ ὡς διακονοῦντος· πόσους εἰκὸς ἀγγέλους διακονοῦντας τῷ Ἰησοῦ, βουλομένῳ συνάγειν «τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ» «κατὰ ἕνα ἕνα» καὶ ἀθροίζειν τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς διασπο ρᾶς τούς τε φοβουμένους καὶ ἐπικαλουμένους σῴζοντι, μᾶλλον τῶν ἀποστόλων συνεργεῖν τῇ αὐξήσει καὶ τῷ πληθυσμῷ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ὡς καὶ προεστῶτάς τινας τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἀγγέλους λέγεσθαι παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει; οὐ γὰρ μάτην οἱ ἄγγελοι «τοῦ θεοῦ» ἀναβαίνουσι καὶ καταβαίνουσι «ἐπὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου,» ὁρώ μενοι τοῖς τῷ φωτὶ τῆς «γνώσεως» πεφωτισμένοις ὀφθαλμοῖς. 11.4 καὶ παρ' αὐτὸν οὖν τὸν καιρὸν τῆς εὐχῆς ὑπομιμνησκόμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ εὐχομένου, ὧν δεῖται ὁ εὐχόμενος, ἃ δύνανται ὡς καθολικὴν εἰληφότες ἐντολὴν ἐπιτελοῦσι. χρηστέον δὲ εἰκόνι τινὶ τοιαύτῃ εἰς τὸν λόγον τοῦτον πρὸς τὸ παραδέξασθαι τὸ νενοημένον ἡμῖν. παρ έστω τις ἰατρὸς δικαιοσύνης πεφροντικὼς εὐχομένῳ κάμνοντι περὶ τῆς ὑγείας, ἐπιστήμην ἔχων τοῦ ὃν δεῖ τρόπον θεραπεῦσαι περὶ οὗ ὁ δεῖνα ἀναφέρει τὴν εὐχὴν νοσήματος· φανερὸν δὴ ὅτι κινηθήσε ται οὗτος πρὸς τὸ ἰάσασθαι τὸν εὐξάμενον, τάχα οὐ μάτην ὑπο λαβὼν ὅτι τοῦτ' αὐτὸ γέγονεν ἐν νῷ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐπακούσαντος τῆς εὐχῆς τοῦ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τῆς νόσου γενέσθαι αὐτῷ εὐξαμένου. ἢ τῶν κεκτημένων τις τὰ τῆς τοῦ βίου χρείας ἐπὶ πλεῖον καὶ κοι νωνικὸς ἀκουέτω εὐχῆς πένητος καὶ περὶ τῶν χρειῶν ἀναφέροντος ἔντευξιν τῷ θεῷ· δῆλον δὴ ὅτι καὶ οὗτος τὰ τῆς εὐχῆς ἐκπληρώσει τῷ πένητι, ὑπηρέτης γινόμενος τῆς πατρικῆς βουλῆς <τοῦ> συνα γαγόντος κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς εὐχῆς τὸν παρασχεῖν δυνάμενον ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τῷ εὐξομένῳ, διὰ τὸ δεξιὸν τῆς προαιρέσεως μὴ δυνάμενον παρορᾶν τὸν δεδεημένον τῶνδέ τινων. 11.5 ὥσπερ οὖν ταῦτα οὐ κατὰ συντυχίαν νομιστέον γίνεσθαι, ὅτε γίνεται, τοῦ ἠριθμηκότος πάσας τὰς τρίχας τῆς τῶν ἁγίων κε φαλῆς ἁρμονίως συναγαγόντος παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς εὐχῆς τὸν ὑπηρέτην ἐσόμενον τῷ δεομένῳ τῆς εὐποιΐας τῆς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ εἰσα κούοντα, τῷ πιστῶς δεδεημένῳ· οὕτως ὑποληπτέον συνάγεσθαί ποτε τῶν ἐπισκοπούντων καὶ λειτουργούντων τῷ θεῷ ἀγγέλων παρου σίαν τῷδέ τινι τῶν εὐχομένων, ἵνα συμπνεύσωσιν οἷς ὁ εὐχόμενος ἠξίωσεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ἑκάστου