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

being set apart, but is subject to every quality just like a prepared place. And by qualities they mean dispositively the activities and productions in general, in which movements and relations happen to be; for they say that substance does not partake of any of these according to its own nature, but that this substance is always inseparable from some of them by affection, and is no less receptive of all the activities of the maker, as that maker may act and change it; for the tension which is with it and has permeated through all things would be the cause of every quality and of the economies concerning it; and they say that it is changeable through and through and divisible through and through, and that all substance can be mixed with all, being united, however. 27.9 But since, inquiring about substance because of «0the supersubstantial» «bread20» and the peculiar people in order that the things signifying substance might be distinguished, we have said these things, and since the 20bread20 in what preceded was intelligible, for which we ought to ask, it is necessary to conceive substance as being kindred 20to the bread20; so that just as the corporeal 20bread20, being assimilated, passes into the body of the one being nourished, into his substance, so also «the living» and «from heaven» having come down «0bread20», being assimilated into the mind and the soul, may impart of its own power to the one who has offered himself to the nourishment from it; and thus will be the «0bread» «supersubstantial20.» And again, in whatever way, according to the quality of the «food,» being «solid» and suitable for athletes or something milky and vegetable-like, the one being nourished comes to be in a different state of power, so it follows that, from the Word of God being given either as milk suitably for children or as a vegetable fittingly for the weak or as flesh for those who are struggling <seasonably>, each of those being nourished, according to the proportion to which he has offered himself to the Word, is able to do this or that, and to become of this or that kind. There is, however, a certain so-called food, which is poisonous, and another which causes sickness, and another which cannot even be assimilated; all of which must be transferred by analogy also to the differences of the so-called nutritious teachings. The 20supersubstantial20 20bread20, therefore, is that which is most suitable to the rational nature and akin to its very substance, procuring health and well-being and strength for the soul and imparting of its own immortality (for the Word of God is immortal) to the one who eats of it. 27.10 This very 20supersubstantial bread20 seems to me in Scripture to have been called by another name, «tree of life», of which he who has stretched out «his hand» and taken from it «shall live forever.» And by a third name this «tree» is called the «wisdom» of God by Solomon in these words: «She is a tree of life to all who lay hold of her, and for those who lean on her, as on the Lord, she is secure.» And since the angels are also nourished by the wisdom of God, being empowered by the contemplation of truth with wisdom to accomplish their own works, it is said in the Psalms that the angels also are nourished, while the men of God, who are called Hebrews, share with the angels and become, as it were, their fellow-banqueters. Such is the saying, «0bread20 of angels did man eat.» For let not our mind be so impoverished as to suppose that the angels are always nourished by partaking of some corporeal 20bread20, that which is recorded to have come down from heaven upon those who had come out of Egypt, with the Hebrews themselves having shared this with the angels, the ministering spirits of God. 27.11 But it is not inopportune for us who are seeking «0the supersubstantial» «bread20» and the «tree of life» and the wisdom of God and the common food of holy men and angels, to pay attention also to the three men written of in Genesis, who were hosted by Abraham and partook of three measures of kneaded «fine flour» for the making of cakes, lest perhaps these things are said merely tropically, since the saints are able at times to impart intelligible and rational food not only to men but also to more divine powers, either for their benefit or as a demonstration of the most nutritious things they have been able to procure for themselves, rejoicing and being nourished in such

ἀποτεταγμένον ἔχουσα, πάσῃ δὲ ἔγκειται ποιότητι καθάπερ ἕτοιμόν τι χωρίον. ποιότητας δὲ διατακτικῶς λέγουσι τὰς ἐνεργείας καὶ τὰς ποιήσεις κοινῶς, ἐν αἷς εἶναι τὰς κινήσεις καὶ σχέσεις συμβέβηκεν· οὐδέ τινος γὰρ τούτων κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον λόγον μετέχειν φασὶ τὴν οὐσίαν, ἀεὶ δέ τινος αὐτῶν ἀχώριστον εἶναι πάθει τήνδε, οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ ἐπι δεκτὴν πασῶν τῶν τοῦ ποιοῦντος ἐνεργειῶν, ὡς ἂν ἐκεῖνο ποιῇ καὶ μεταβάλλῃ· ὁ γὰρ συνὼν αὐτῇ τόνος καὶ δι' ὅλων κεχωρηκὼς πάσης τε ποιότητος καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν αἴτιος ἂν οἰκονομιῶν· δι' ὅλων τε μεταβλητὴν καὶ δι' ὅλων διαιρετὴν λέγουσιν εἶναι, καὶ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν πάσῃ συγχεῖσθαι δύνασθαι, ἡνωμένην μέντοι. 27.9 ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῆς οὐσίας ζητοῦντες διὰ «0τὸν ἐπιούσιον» «ἄρτον20» καὶ τὸν περιούσιον λαὸν εἰς τὸ τὰ σημαίνοντα διακριθῆναι τῆς οὐσίας ταῦτ' εἰρήκαμεν, 20ἄρτος20 δὲ ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτων νοητὸς ἦν, ὃν αἰτεῖν ἡμᾶς ἐχρῆν, ἀναγκαῖον συγγενῆ 20τῷ ἄρτῳ20 τὴν οὐσίαν εἶναι νοεῖν· ἵν' ὥσπερ ὁ σωματικὸς 20ἄρτος20 ἀναδιδόμενος εἰς τὸ τοῦ τρεφομένου σῶμα χωρεῖ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν οὐσίαν, οὕτως «ὁ ζῶν» καὶ «ἐξ οὐρανοῦ» καταβεβηκὼς «0ἄρτος20» ἀναδιδόμενος εἰς τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μεταδῷ τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως τῷ ἐμπαρεσχηκότι ἑαυτὸν τῇ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τροφῇ· καὶ οὕτως ἔσται ὃν αἰτοῦμεν «0ἄρτον» «ἐπιούσιον20.» καὶ πάλιν ὃν τρόπον κατὰ τὴν ποιότητα τῆς «τρο φῆς,» «στερεᾶς» οὔσης καὶ ἀθληταῖς ἁρμοζούσης ἢ γαλακτώδους τινὸς καὶ λαχανώδους, ἐν διαφόρῳ δυνάμει ὁ τρεφόμενος γίνεται, οὕτως ἀκόλουθόν ἐστι, τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ ἤτοι ὡς γάλακτος παιδίοις ἁρμοζόντως διδομένου ἢ ὡς λαχάνου ἀσθενοῦσιν ἐπιτηδείως ἢ ὡς σαρκὸς ἀγωνιζομένοις προσ<καίρως>, ἕκαστον τῶν τρεφομένων κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν, ᾧ ἐμπαρέσχεν ἑαυτὸν λόγῳ, τόδε τι ἢ τόδε δύνασθαι καὶ τοιόνδε ἢ τοιόνδε γίνεσθαι. ἔστι μέντοι γε τὶς νομιζομένη τροφὴ, οὖσα δηλητήριος, καὶ ἑτέρα νοσοποιὸς καὶ ἄλλη μηδὲ ἀναδοθῆναι δυναμένη· ἅπερ πάντα κατ' ἀναλογίαν μετενεκτέον ἐστὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς διαφορὰς τῶν νομιζομένων τροφίμων μαθημάτων. 20ἐπιούσιος20 τοίνυν 20ἄρτος20 ὁ τῇ φύσει τῇ λογικῇ καταλληλότατος καὶ τῇ οὐσίᾳ αὐτῇ συγγενὴς, ὑγείαν ἅμα καὶ εὐεξίαν καὶ ἰσχὺν περιποιῶν τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀθανασίας (ἀθάνατος γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ) μεταδιδοὺς τῷ ἐσθίοντι αὐτοῦ. 27.10 οὗτος δὴ ὁ 20ἐπιούσιος ἄρτος20 ἄλλῳ ὀνόματι δοκεῖ μοι ἐν τῇ γραφῇ «ξύλον ζωῆς» ὠνομάσθαι, ἐφ' ὅπερ ὁ ἐκτείνας «τὴν χεῖρα» καὶ λαβὼν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ «ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.» καὶ τρίτῳ ὀνόματι τοῦτο τὸ «ξύλον» «σοφία» τοῦ θεοῦ ὀνομάζεται παρὰ τῷ Σολομῶντι διὰ τούτων· «ξύλον ζωῆς ἐστι πᾶσι τοῖς ἀντεχομένοις αὐτῆς, καὶ τοῖς ἐπερειδομένοις ὡς ἐπὶ κύριον ἀσφαλής.» ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι σοφίᾳ τρέφονται θεοῦ, ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν μετὰ σοφίας θεωρίας δυναμούμενοι πρὸς τὸ τὰ ἴδια ἔργα ἐπιτελεῖν, λέγεται ἐν ψαλμοῖς καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους τρέφεσθαι, κοινωνούντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦ θεοῦ, οἵτινες Ἑβραῖοι προσαγορεύονται, τοῖς ἀγγέλοις καὶ οἱονεὶ καὶ συνεστίων αὐτοῖς γινομένων. τοιοῦτον δέ ἐστι τὸ «0ἄρτον20 ἀγγέ λων ἔφαγεν ἄνθρωπος.» μὴ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον πτωχεύσαι ὁ νοῦς ἡμῶν, ὡς οἰηθῆναι σωματικοῦ τινος 20ἄρτου20, τοῦ ἱστορουμένου οὐρα νόθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐξεληλυθότας τὴν Αἴγυπτον καταβεβηκέναι, τοὺς ἀγγέλους ἀεὶ μεταλαμβάνοντας τρέφεσθαι, τούτου αὐτοῦ κεκοινω νηκότων τῶν Ἑβραίων τοῖς ἀγγέλοις, τοῖς λειτουργικοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ πνεύμασιν. 27.11 οὐκ ἄκαιρον δὲ ζητοῦσιν ἡμῖν «0τὸν ἐπιούσιον» «ἄρτον20» καὶ τὸ «ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς» καὶ τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ θεοῦ τήν τε κοινὴν ἁγίων ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀγγέλων τροφὴν ἐπιστῆσαι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν Γενέσει γεγραμμένων τριῶν ἀνδρῶν, καταχθέντων παρὰ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ μεταλαβόντων πεφυραμένων τριῶν μέτρων «σεμιδάλεως» εἰς ἐγκρυφιῶν ποίησιν, μή ποτε γυμνῶς τροπικῶς ταῦτα εἴρηται, δυ ναμένων τῶν ἁγίων μεταδοῦναί ποτε τροφῆς νοητῆς καὶ λογικῆς οὐ μόνον ἀνθρώποις ἀλλὰ καὶ θειοτέραις δυνάμεσιν ἤτοι εἰς ὠφέ λειαν αὐτῶν ἢ εἰς ἐπίδειξιν ὧν δεδύνηνται περιποιῆσαι ἑαυτοῖς τρο φιμωτάτων, εὐφραινομένων καὶ τρεφομένων ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ