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

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 saying, "how can you believe, when you receive glory from men, and do not seek the glory that is from the only God?", to despise all glory from men, even if it is thought to be for a good cause, and to seek the principal and true glory which is from the only One who glorifies the one worthy of glory, fittingly for Himself, above the worth of the one being glorified. And so the very thing that might be thought good and praiseworthy is defiled when it is considered to be done, when we do it "so that" we may be glorified "by men," or "so that" we may appear "to men"; wherefore no reward from God follows for us for this. For every word of Jesus is true, and, if one must force the expression, it becomes even more true when it is spoken with His customary oath. And He says the same thing concerning those who seem to do good to their neighbor for the sake of human glory, or who pray "in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets," "so that they may be seen by men": "Truly I say to you, they have received their reward." For just as the rich man in Luke received "good things" "in his" human "life," and because he had received these things, no longer had a place to receive them after the present life; so the one receiving "his reward," whether he gives something to someone or in prayers, since he has not sown "to the spirit" but "to the flesh," will "reap" "corruption," but will not "reap" "eternal life." And he sows "to the flesh" who gives "alms" with a trumpet "before" him "in the synagogues and in the streets, so that" he may be glorified "by men," or who loves to stand and "pray" "in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets," "so that" being seen "by men" he might be thought by those who see him to be someone pious and holy. 19.3 But also everyone who travels the broad and spacious road, which leads to "destruction," having nothing right and straight but being entirely crooked and full of corners (for the straight line is greatly broken), stands on it wrongly, praying "on the corners of the streets," through love of pleasure being not in one but in many broad places; in which those who die "like men," because they have fallen from divinity, are found glorifying and calling blessed those in the broad places who are considered by them to be acting impiously. And many who are seen at prayer are always "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God," in the midst of banquets and drunken revels behaving insolently toward prayer, truly "standing on the corners of the streets" and praying; for everyone who lives according to pleasure, having loved the spacious, has fallen from the narrow and afflicted way of Jesus Christ, which has not a single bend and is not at all angular. 20.1 But if there is some difference between church and synagogue (the church in the proper sense not having "spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but" being holy and blameless, into which neither one "born of a prostitute" enters, nor one with "crushed testicles" or a "severed member," nor even an Egyptian or an Edomite, unless after sons are born to them they might with difficulty be fitted to the church in the third generation, nor a "Moabite" and "Ammonite," unless the tenth generation is completed and the age is finished; while the synagogue is built by a centurion, doing this in the times before the coming of Jesus, when he has not yet been attested to have "faith" such as the Son of God "found not even in Israel"), so then he who loves "to pray" "in the synagogues" is not far from the corners "of the streets." But the holy man is not such; for he does not *like* "to pray" but *loves* it, and not "in synagogues" but in churches, and not "on corners of streets" but in the straightness of the narrow and afflicted way, and not that he may appear "to men" but that he may be seen "before the Lord God." For he is a male, understanding the "acceptable year of the Lord" and keeping the commandment which says: "Three times in the year shall every male appear before the Lord God."

ὑποκριτῶν γὰρ ἔργον ἐστὶ τὸ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐναβρύνεσθαι ἐπ' εὐσεβείᾳ θέλειν ἢ τῷ κοινωνικῷ. δέον δὲ μεμνημένους τοῦ «πῶς δύνασθε πιστεῦσαι ὑμεῖς, δόξαν παρὰ ἀνθρώπων λαβόντες, καὶ τὴν δόξαν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ μόνου θεοῦ οὐ ζητεῖτε;» πάσης τῆς παρὰ ἀνθρώποις δόξης, κἂν ἐπὶ τῷ καλῷ γίνεσθαι νομίζηται, καταφρονεῖν καὶ ζητεῖν τὴν κυρίαν δόξαν καὶ ἀληθῆ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ μόνου τὸν τῆς δόξης ἄξιον πρεπόντως ἑαυτῷ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν τοῦ δοξαζομένου δοξάζοντος. καὶ αὐτὸ οὖν τὸ νομισθὲν ἂν καλὸν εἶναι καὶ ἐπαινε τὸν μολύνεται νομιζόμενον γίνεσθαι, ὅτε, «ὅπως» δοξασθῶμεν «ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων» ἢ «ὅπως» φανῶμεν «τοῖς ἀνθρώποις,» ποιοῦμεν αὐτό· διόπερ οὐδεμία ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἀμοιβὴ ἡμῖν ἕπεται. ἀψευδὴς γὰρ πᾶς ὁ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λόγος καὶ, εἰ δεῖ βιαζόμενον εἰπεῖν, ἀψευδέστερος γίνεται, ἐπὰν μετὰ τοῦ συνήθους αὐτοῦ ὅρκου λέγη ται. φησὶ δὲ περὶ τῶν δι' ἀνθρωπίνην δόξαν εὖ τὸν πέλας δο κούντων ποιεῖν ἢ «ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ ταῖς γωνίαις τῶν πλα τειῶν» προσευχομένων, «ὅπως φανῶσι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις,» τὸ αὐτό· «ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀπέχουσι τὸν μισθὸν αὐτῶν.» ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀπέσχεν ὁ κατὰ Λουκᾶν πλούσιος «τὰ ἀγαθὰ» «ἐν τῇ» ἑαυτοῦ ἀνθρωπίνῃ «ζωῇ,» διὰ τὸ ἀπεσχηκέναι ταῦτα οὐκέτι χωρῶν τυχεῖν αὐτῶν μετὰ τὸν ἐνεστηκότα βίον· οὕτως ὁ ἀπέχων ἑαυτοῦ «τὸν μισθὸν,» εἴ τι δώσει τινὶ ἢ ἐν εὐχαῖς, ἅτε μὴ σπείρας «εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα» ἀλλὰ «εἰς τὴν σάρκα,» «θερίσει» μὲν τὴν «φθορὰν,» οὐ «θερίσει» δὲ τὴν «αἰώνιον ζωήν.» «εἰς τὴν σάρκα» δὲ σπείρει ὁ «ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ ταῖς ῥύμαις, ὅπως» δοξασθῇ «ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων,» ποιῶν «ἐλεημοσύνην» μετὰ σαλπισμοῦ τοῦ «ἔμπροσθεν» ἑαυτοῦ, ἢ ὁ φιλῶν «ἐν ταῖς συνα γωγαῖς καὶ ταῖς γωνίαις τῶν πλατειῶν» ἑστὼς «προσεύχεσθαι, ὅπως» φανεὶς «τοῖς ἀνθρώποις» εὐσεβής τις καὶ ὅσιος εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς ἑωρακόσι νομισθῇ. 19.3 ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶς ὁ τὴν πλατεῖαν καὶ εὐρύχωρον ὁδεύων ὁδὸν, τὴν ἀπάγουσαν ἐπὶ «τὴν ἀπώλειαν,» οὐδὲν ὀρθὸν καὶ εὐθὲς ἔχουσαν ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν σκολιὰν τυγχάνουσαν καὶ γεγωνιωμένην (κέκλασται γὰρ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἡ εὐθεῖα), ἐν αὐτῇ ἕστηκεν οὐ καλῶς, «ἐν ταῖς γω νίαις τῶν πλατειῶν» προσευχόμενος, διὰ τῆς φιληδονίας οὐχὶ ἐν μιᾷ ἀλλ' ἐν πλείοσι γινόμενος πλατείαις· ἐν αἷς οἱ «ὡς ἄνθρωποι» ἀποθνῄσκοντες διὰ τὸ τῆς θεότητος ἀποπεπτωκέναι τυγχάνουσι δοξάζοντες καὶ μακαρίζοντες τοὺς ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἀσεβεῖν αὐτοῖς νενομισμένους. πολλοὶ δὲ ἀεὶ οἱ φαινόμενοι ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαι «φιλήδονοι μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόθεοι,» ἐν μέσοις τοῖς συμποσίοις καὶ παρὰ ταῖς μέθαις ἐμπαροινοῦντες τῇ προσευχῇ, ἀληθῶς «ἐν ταῖς γωνίαις τῶν πλατειῶν ἑστῶτες» καὶ προσευχόμενοι· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ κατὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν βιοὺς, τὸ εὐρύχωρον ἀγαπήσας ἐκπέπτωκε τῆς στενῆς καὶ τεθλιμμένης ὁδοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὐδὲ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἐχούσης κάμπην καὶ οὐδὲ ὅλως γεγωνιωμένης. 20.1 Εἰ δέ ἐστι τὶς διαφορὰ ἐκκλησίας καὶ συναγωγῆς (τῆς μὲν κυρίως ἐκκλησίας οὐκ ἐχούσης «σπῖλον ἢ ῥυτίδα ἤ τι τῶν τοιού των ἀλλὰ» ἁγίας καὶ ἀμώμου τυγχανούσης, εἰς ἣν οὔτε ὁ «ἐκ πόρνης» εἰσέρχεται οὔτε ὁ «θλαδίας» ἢ «ἀποκεκομμένος» ἀλλ' οὐδὲ Αἰγύπ τιος ἢ Ἰδουμαῖος, ἐὰν μὴ υἱῶν γεννηθέντων αὐτοῖς διὰ τὴν τρί την γενεὰν μόλις δυνηθῶσιν ἐφαρμόσαι τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, οὐδὲ ὁ «Μωα βίτης» καὶ «Ἀμμανίτης,» ἐὰν μὴ δεκάτη γενεὰ πληρωθῇ καὶ ὁ αἰὼν τελεσθῇ· τῆς δὲ συναγωγῆς ὑπὸ ἑκατοντάρχου οἰκοδομουμένης, ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τῆς Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημίας χρόνοις τοῦτο ποιοῦντος, ὅτε οὐδέπω μεμαρτύρηται «πίστιν» ἔχειν, ὁπόσην «οὐδὲ ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ» εὗρεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ), ὁ φιλῶν δὴ «προσεύχεσθαι» «ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς» οὐ μακράν ἐστι τῶν γωνιῶν «τῶν πλατειῶν.» ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁ ἅγιος τοιοῦτος· οὐ φιλεῖ γὰρ «προσεύχεσθαι» ἀλλὰ ἀγαπᾷ, καὶ οὐκ «ἐν συναγωγαῖς» ἀλλ' ἐν ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ οὐκ «ἐν γωνίαις πλατειῶν» ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ εὐθύτητι τῆς στενῆς καὶ τεθλιμμένης ὁδοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐχ ἵνα φανῇ «τοῖς ἀνθρώποις» ἀλλ' ἵν' ὀφθῇ «ἐνώπιον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ.» ἄῤῥην γάρ ἐστι τὸν «δεκτὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου» νοῶν καὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν τηρῶν τὴν λέγουσαν· «τρὶς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ὀφθήσεται πᾶν ἀρσενικὸν ἐνώπιον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ.»