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

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 things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants”; for “I confess” is equivalent to “I give thanks.” 14.6 Therefore supplication and intercession and thanksgiving it is not out of place to offer also to <holy> men; but the two (I mean intercession and thanksgiving) not only to holy but also to <other> men, but supplication only to saints, if some Paul or Peter might be found, that they might help us, making us worthy to obtain the authority given to them for the forgiving of sins; unless perhaps, even if someone is not holy, and we wrong him, it is granted to us, having become aware of our sin against him, to make supplication to such a one also, that he might grant pardon to us who have wronged him. But if these things are to be offered to holy men, how much more ought thanksgiving to be given to Christ, who has benefited us in so many things by the will of the Father? But also intercession is to be made to him as Stephen said: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and imitating the father of the lunatic we will say: “I beseech,” “Lord, have mercy” on “the son” or on me myself or on whomever. 15.1 But if we understand what prayer is, we must never pray to any created being, not even to Christ himself, but only to the God of all and Father, to whom our Savior himself also prayed, as we have set forth before, and teaches us to pray. For upon hearing, “Teach us to pray,” he does not teach to “pray” to himself but to the Father, saying: “Our Father who art in heaven,” and what follows. For if the Son is other than the Father in essence and substance, as is shown in other places, then one must pray either to the Son and not to the Father, or to both, or to the Father alone. Now, to pray to the Son and not to the Father, absolutely everyone will confess to be most improper and would be said to be contrary to what is manifest; and if to both, it is clear that we would offer our petitions in the plural, saying through our prayers, grant and do good and supply and save, and anything similar to these; which is incongruous in itself, nor can anyone show it being written or said by anyone in the Scriptures. It remains, therefore, to pray only to God, the Father of all, but not without the high priest, who was appointed “with an oath” by the Father according to that which says, “He swore and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” 15.2 Therefore the saints, giving thanks in their prayers to God through Christ Jesus, confess graces to him. And just as one who is precise about prayer ought not to pray to him who prays but to the Father whom our Lord Jesus taught us to call upon in our prayers, so no prayer is to be offered to the Father without him, as he himself clearly shows by saying thus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask my Father for anything, he will give it to you in my name. Until now you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” For he did not say, “Ask” me, nor simply, “Ask” “the Father,” but: “if you ask the Father for anything, he will give it to you in my name.” For until Jesus taught these things, no one had asked “the Father” “in the name” of the Son; and what was said by Jesus, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name,” was true, and also true is, “ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” 15.3 But if someone, thinking it necessary to pray to Christ himself, being confused by the meaning of “worship,” brings forward to us the text “let all the angels of God worship him,” which is admittedly said in Deuteronomy concerning Christ, it must be said to him that also the church Jerusalem named by the prophet is said to be worshipped by kings and princesses, becoming her nurses and guardians, through these words: “Behold, I lift up my hand to the nations, and I will raise my standard to the islands; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and they shall carry your daughters on their shoulders; and they shall be

εὐχαριστίας δὲ παράδειγμα ἡ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν φωνὴ, λέγοντος· «ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, πάτερ, κύριε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἀπέκρυψας ταῦτα ἀπὸ σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν καὶ ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτὰ νηπίοις»· τὸ γὰρ «ἐξομολογοῦμαι» ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ «εὐχαριστῷ.» 14.6 δέησιν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἔντευξιν καὶ εὐχαριστίαν οὐκ ἄτο πον καὶ ἀνθρώποις <ἁγίοις> προσενεγκεῖν· ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν δύο (λέγω δὴ ἔντευξιν καὶ εὐχαριστίαν) οὐ μόνον ἁγίοις ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ <ἄλλοις> ἀνθρώποις, τὴν δὲ δέησιν μόνον ἁγίοις, εἴ τις εὑρεθείη Παῦλος ἢ Πέτρος, ἵνα ὠφελήσωσιν ἡμᾶς, ἀξίους ποιοῦντες τοῦ τυχεῖν τῆς δεδομένης αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίας πρὸς τὸ ἁμαρτήματα ἀφιέναι· εἰ μὴ ἄρα, κἂν μὴ ἅγιός τις ᾖ, ἀδικήσωμεν δὲ αὐτὸν, δέδοται συν αισθηθέντας τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἁμαρτίας τὸ δεηθῆναι καὶ τοῦ τοιούτου, ἵν' ἡμῖν ἠδικηκόσι συγγνώμην ἀπονείμῃ. εἰ δὲ ἀνθρώποις ἁγίοις ταῦτα προσενεκτέον, πόσῳ πλέον τῷ Χριστῷ εὐχαριστητέον, τοσ αῦτα ἡμᾶς βουλήσει τοῦ πατρὸς εὐεργετήσαντι; ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐντευκτέον αὐτῷ ὡς ὁ εἰπὼν Στέφανος· «κύριε, μὴ στήσῃς αὐτοῖς τὴν ἁμαρ τίαν ταύτην»· μιμούμενοί τε τὸν πατέρα τοῦ σεληνιαζομένου ἐροῦ μεν· «δέομαι,» «κύριε, ἐλέησον» ἢ «τὸν υἱὸν» ἢ ἐμὲ αὐτὸν ἢ ὃν δή ποτε. 15.1 Ἐὰν δὲ ἀκούωμεν ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι προσευχὴ, μή ποτε οὐ δενὶ τῶν γεννητῶν προσευκτέον ἐστὶν οὐδὲ αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ ἀλλὰ μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὅλων καὶ πατρὶ, ᾧ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν προσηύχετο, ὡς προπαρεθέμεθα, καὶ διδάσκει ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι. ἀκούσας γάρ· «δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι» οὐ διδάσκει αὑτῷ «προσ εύχεσθαι» ἀλλὰ τῷ πατρὶ, λέγοντας· «πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐ ρανοῖς» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. εἰ γὰρ ἕτερος, ὡς ἐν ἄλλοις δείκνυται, κατ' οὐσίαν καὶ ὑποκείμενόν ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ πατρὸς, ἤτοι προσευκτέον τῷ υἱῷ καὶ οὐ τῷ πατρὶ ἢ ἀμφοτέροις ἢ τῷ πατρὶ μόνῳ. τὸ μὲν οὖν τῷ υἱῷ καὶ οὐ τῷ πατρὶ πᾶς ὁστισοῦν ὁμολογήσει εἶναι ἀτο πώτατον καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἐνάργειαν λεχθησόμενον ἄν· εἰ δὲ ἀμφο τέροις, δῆλον ὅτι κἂν ἀξιώσεις προσενέγκοιμεν πληθυντικῶς, πα ράσχεσθε καὶ εὐεργετήσατε καὶ ἐπιχορηγήσατε καὶ σώσατε, καὶ εἴ τι τούτων ὅμοιον, διὰ τῶν προσευχῶν λέγοντες· ὅπερ καὶ αὐτόθεν ἀπεμφαῖνον, οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ἔχει τις δεῖξαι κείμενον ὑπό τινων λεγόμενον. λείπεται τοίνυν προσεύχεσθαι μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ τῷ τῶν ὅλων πατρὶ, ἀλλὰ μὴ χωρὶς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, ὅστις «μεθ' ὁρκωμοσίας» κατεστάθη ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς κατὰ τὸ «ὤμοσε, καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσε ται· σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ.» 15.2 εὐχαριστοῦντες οὖν οἱ ἅγιοι ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς ἑαυτῶν τῷ θεῷ διὰ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ χάριτας ὁμολογοῦσιν αὐτῷ. ὥσπερ δὲ τὸν ἀκριβοῦντα τὸ προσεύχεσθαι οὐ χρὴ τῷ εὐχομένῳ προσεύχεσθαι ἀλλὰ τῷ ὃν ἐδίδαξεν ἐπὶ τῶν εὐχῶν καλεῖν πατρὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς, οὕτως οὐ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ προσευχήν τινα προσενεκτέον τῷ πατρὶ, ὡς αὐτὸς τοῦτο παραδείκνυσι σαφῶς οὕτω λέγων· «ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἄν τι αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα μου, δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου. ἕως ἄρτι οὐκ ᾐτήσατε οὐδὲν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου· αἰτεῖτε, καὶ λήψεσθε, ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν ᾖ πεπληρωμένη.» οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν· «αἰ τεῖτέ» με οὐδὲ «αἰτεῖτε» «τὸν πατέρα» ἁπλῶς ἀλλά· «ἐάν τι αἰ τήσητε τὸν πατέρα, δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου.» ἕως γὰρ ἐδί δαξε ταῦτα ὁ Ἰησοῦς, οὐδεὶς ᾐτήκει «τὸν πατέρα» «ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι» τοῦ υἱοῦ· καὶ ἀληθὲς ἦν ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ λεγόμενον τὸ «ἕως ἄρτι οὐκ ᾐτήσατε οὐδὲν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου,» ἀληθὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ «αἰτεῖτε, καὶ λήψεσθε, ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν ᾖ πεπληρωμένη.» 15.3 ἐὰν δέ τις, οἰόμενος δεῖν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ προσεύχεσθαι, συγχεόμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ προσκυνεῖν σημαινομένου προσάγῃ ἡμῖν τὸ «προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ,» ὁμολογου μένως ἐν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ περὶ Χριστοῦ εἰρημένον, λεκτέον πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία Ἱερουσαλὴμ παρὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὀνομαζο μένη προσκυνεῖσθαι ὑπὸ βασιλέων καὶ ἀρχουσῶν, γινομένων τιθη νῶν αὐτῆς καὶ τροφῶν, λέγεται διὰ τούτων· «ἰδοὺ αἴρω εἰς τὰ ἔθνη τὴν χεῖρά μου, καὶ εἰς τὰς νήσους ἀρῶ σύσσημόν μου· καὶ ἄξουσι τοὺς υἱούς σου ἐν κόλπῳ, τὰς δὲ θυγατέρας σου ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἀροῦσι· καὶ ἔσονται