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

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 dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the Lord and you shall not be ashamed.” 15.4 And how is it not in accord with the one who said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, God the Father,” that one might say: Why do you pray to me? It is necessary to pray to the Father alone, to whom I also pray; which you learn through the holy scriptures. For you ought not to pray to the high priest appointed for you by the Father and who received from the Father the being of an advocate, but through a high priest and advocate, who is able to sympathize “with your weaknesses,” having been tempted “in every way” like you, but through the Father who gave me the gift of being tempted “without sin.” Learn then how great a gift you have received from my Father, having received through the regeneration in me the “spirit of adoption,” so that you might be called “sons of God,” and my brothers. For have you not read the word spoken by me through David concerning you to the Father: “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” But for those deemed worthy of their one Father to pray to a brother is not reasonable; for it is to the Father alone that you must offer up prayer with me and through me. 16.1 Therefore, hearing Jesus say these things, let us pray to God through him, all saying the same thing and not being divided about the manner of prayer. Or are we not divided, if some of us pray to the Father and others to the Son, those who pray to the Son committing a sin of ignorance out of great simplicity because it is unexamined and uninvestigated, whether with the Father or without the Father? Let us pray therefore as to God, let us entreat as a father, let us ask as of a lord, and let us give thanks as to God and Father and Lord, not in every case to a lord who is master of a slave; for the “Father” might reasonably be considered also Lord of the Son and Lord of the sons who came to be through him; and just as “he is not God of the dead but of the living,” so he is not Lord of ignoble slaves but of those who at first are ennobled by fear on account of their infancy, but after this according to love serving a more blessed servitude than that in fear; for there are also in the soul, manifest only to him who sees the heart, characteristics of slaves of God and of his sons. 16.2 Everyone therefore who asks from God for “earthly things” and “small things” disobeys the one who commanded to ask for “heavenly things” and “great things” from the God who knows not to bestow anything earthly or small. But if someone should object with the bodily things granted to the saints from prayer, and also with the word of the gospel, which teaches that “earthly things” and “small things” are added unto us, one must answer him that, just as it must not be said, when someone gives us some body or other, that so-and-so gave us the shadow of the body (for he did not give the body intending to grant two things, a body and a shadow, but the intention of the giver is to give a body, and our receiving its shadow follows upon the gift of the body), so also, if we should understand with our mind having become more magnificent the gifts primarily given to us by God, we will say most appropriately that bodily things are consequences of the great and heavenly spiritual gifts, given to “each” of the saints “for the common good” or “in proportion to faith” or “as he wills,” who gives; and he wills wisely, even if we are not able to state for each of the things given a cause and reason worthy of the giver. 16.3 Therefore the soul of Hannah had borne more fruit, having been transformed from a certain barrenness, than her body, which conceived Samuel; and Hezekiah had begotten divine children of the mind more than of the body, though they were begotten from his bodily seed; and to a greater degree were Esther and Mordecai and the people delivered from spiritual plots than from Haman and his conspirators ....... she had cut off the power of the ruler who wished to corrupt her soul, more than that of Holofernes. And who would not acknowledge to Ananias and those

βασιλεῖς τιθηνοί σου, αἱ δὲ ἄρχουσαι αὐ τῶν τροφοί σου· ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς προσκυνήσουσί <σοι>, καὶ τὸν χοῦν τῶν ποδῶν σου λείξουσι· καὶ γνώσῃ ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσῃ.» 15.4 πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἔστι κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα· «τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεὸς, ὁ πατὴρ» εἰπεῖν ἄν· τί ἐμοὶ προσ εύχῃ; μόνῳ τῷ πατρὶ προσεύχεσθαι χρὴ, ᾧ κἀγὼ προσεύχομαι· ὅπερ διὰ τῶν ἁγίων γραφῶν μανθάνετε. ἀρχιερεῖ γὰρ τῷ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν κατασταθέντι ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ παρακλήτῳ ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι λαβόντι εὔχεσθαι ὑμᾶς οὐ δεῖ ἀλλὰ δι' ἀρχιερέως καὶ παρα κλήτου, δυναμένου συμπαθεῖν «ταῖς ἀσθενείαις ὑμῶν,» πεπειρασ μένου «κατὰ πάντα» ὁμοίως ὑμῖν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν δωρησάμενόν μοι πατέρα πεπειρασμένου «χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας.» μάθετε οὖν, ὅσην δωρεὰν ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου εἰλήφατε, διὰ τῆς ἐν ἐμοὶ ἀναγεννήσεως τὸ τῆς «υἱοθεσίας πνεῦμα» ἀπειληφότες, ἵνα χρηματίσητε «υἱοὶ θεοῦ» ἀδελφοὶ δὲ ἐμοῦ. ἀνέγνωτε γὰρ τὴν διὰ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ὑπ' ἐμοῦ εἰρη μένην περὶ ὑμῶν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα φωνήν· «ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε.» ἀδελφῷ δὲ προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς κατηξιωμένους ἑνὸς αὐτῶν πατρὸς οὐκ ἔστιν εὔλογον· μόνῳ γὰρ τῷ πατρὶ μετ' ἐμοῦ καὶ δι' ἐμοῦ ἀναπεμπτέον ἐστὶν ὑμῖν προσευχήν. 16.1 Ταῦτ' οὖν λέγοντος ἀκούοντες Ἰησοῦ τῷ θεῷ δι' αὐτοῦ εὐχώμεθα, τὸ αὐτὸ λέγοντες πάντες μηδὲ περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς εὐχῆς σχιζόμενοι. ἢ οὐχὶ σχιζόμεθα, ἐὰν οἱ μὲν τῷ πατρὶ οἱ δὲ τῷ υἱῷ εὐχώμεθα, ἰδιωτικὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατὰ πολλὴν ἀκεραιότητα διὰ τὸ ἀβασάνιστον καὶ ἀνεξέταστον ἁμαρτανόντων τῶν προσευχομένων τῷ υἱῷ, εἴτε μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς εἴτε χωρὶς τοῦ πατρός; προσευχώ μεθα τοίνυν ὡς θεῷ ἐντυγχάνωμεν δὲ ὡς πατρὶ δεώμεθα δὲ ὡς κυρίου εὐχαριστῶμεν δὲ ὡς θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ, οὐ πάντως δούλου ὄντι κυρίῳ· ὁ γὰρ «πατὴρ» εὐλόγως ἂν νομισθείη τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ κύριος καὶ τῶν δι' αὐτὸν γενομένων υἱῶν κύριος· ὥσπερ δὲ «οὐκ ἔστι θεὸς νεκρῶν ἀλλὰ ζώντων,» οὕτως οὐκ ἔστι κύριος ἀγε νῶν δούλων ἀλλὰ τῶν κατὰ μὲν τὰς ἀρχὰς φόβῳ διὰ τὴν νηπιό τητα ἐξευγενιζομένων μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν ἀγάπην μακαριωτέραν τῆς ἐν φόβῳ δουλείαν δουλευόντων· εἰσὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ μόνῳ τῷ καρδίας βλέποντι χαρακτῆρες φανεροὶ δούλων θεοῦ καὶ υἱῶν αὐτοῦ. 16.2 πᾶς τοιγαροῦν ὁ «τὰ ἐπίγεια» καὶ «μικρὰ» αἰτῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ παρακούει τοῦ ἐντειλαμένου «ἐπουράνια» καὶ «μεγάλα» αἰτεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ μηδὲν ἐπίγειον μηδὲ μικρὸν χαρίζεσθαι ἐπισταμένου θεοῦ. ἐὰν δέ τις ἀνθυποφέρῃ τὰ κατὰ τὸ σωματικὸν ἐκ προσευχῆς τοῖς ἁγίοις δωρηθέντα ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου φωνὴν, διδάσκοντος «τὰ ἐπίγεια» ἡμῖν προστίθεσθαι καὶ «τὰ μικρὰ,» ἀπαντητέον πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι, ὥσπερ οὐ λεκτέον, δωρουμένου τινὸς ἡμῖν ὅ τι δή ποτε σῶμα, ὅτι ὁ δεῖνα τὴν σκιὰν ἡμῖν τοῦ σώματος ἐδωρήσατο (οὐ γὰρ προθέμενος δύο τινὰ χαρίσασθαι, σῶμα καὶ σκιὰν, δέδωκε τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ' ἡ πρόθεσις τοῦ διδόντος ἐστὶ διδόναι σῶμα, ἐπακολουθεῖ δὲ τῇ δόσει τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὸ τὴν σκιὰν αὐτοῦ ἡμᾶς λαβεῖν), οὕτως, εἰ μεγαλοφυεστέρῳ γενομένῳ ἡμῶν τῷ νῷ κατανοήσαιμεν τὰς προ ηγουμένως ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῖν διδομένας δωρεὰς, οἰκειότατα ἐροῦ μεν παρακολουθήματα τῶν μεγάλων καὶ ἐπουρανίων πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων εἶναι τὰ σωματικὰ, «ἑκάστῳ» διδόμενα τῶν ἁγίων «πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον» ἢ «κατ' ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως» ἢ «καθὼς βούλεται» ὁ διδούς· βούλεται δὲ σοφῶς, εἰ καὶ ἡμεῖς μὴ δυνάμεθα ἑκάστῳ τῶν διδομένων αἰτίαν καὶ λόγον ἄξιον τοῦ διδόντος εἰπεῖν. 16.3 μᾶλλον οὖν κεκαρποφορήκει ἀπό τινος στειρώσεως μετα βαλοῦσα ἡ τῆς Ἄννης ψυχὴ ἤπερ τὸ σῶμα, κυῆσαν τὸν Σαμουήλ· καὶ μᾶλλον ὁ Ἐζεκίας θεῖα γεγεννήκει τέκνα νοῦ ἤπερ σώματος, ἐκ τοῦ σωματικοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν γεγεννημένων· ἐπὶ πλεῖόν τε ἀπὸ νοητῶν ἐπιβουλῶν ῥυσθέντες ἐτύγχανον Ἐσθὴρ καὶ Μαρδοχαῖος καὶ ὁ λαὸς ἤπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀμὰν καὶ τῶν συμπνεόντων ....... τοῦ δια φθεῖραι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῆς θέλοντος ἄρχοντος τὴν δύναμιν διακεκό φει ἢ ἐκείνου τοῦ Ὀλοφέρνου. τίς δ' οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσαι τῷ Ἀνανίᾳ καὶ τοῖς