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

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 greater things by one who has been prepared by former nourishing lessons, which gladdened and, so to speak, nurtured them. And it is not surprising if a man feeds angels, since Christ Himself confesses that He stands at “the door” and knocks, so that when He enters to the one who opened for Him, He might dine “with him” from what is his, and after this He Himself will impart of His own things to the one who first feasted the Son of God according to his own ability. 27.12 Therefore, he who partakes 20of the20 20supersubstantial20 20bread20, having his “heart” strengthened, becomes a son of God; but he who partakes “of the” “dragon” is none other than the spiritual Ethiopian, through the snares of the “dragon” being himself transformed into a serpent, so that when he is reproached by the Word, even if he says he wants to be baptized, he hears: “You serpents, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” And David says these things concerning the dragon's body being feasted upon by the Ethiopians: “You broke the heads of the dragons on the water, <you crushed the head of the dragon,> you gave him as food to the peoples, to the Ethiopians.” And if it is not absurd, since the Son of God subsists essentially and His adversary also subsists, that each of them should become food for this person or that person, why do we hesitate to accept, with regard to all powers better and worse, and with regard to men, that each one of us is able to be nourished from all these things? At any rate, Peter, when he was about to associate with the centurion Cornelius and those gathered with him in Caesarea, and after this to impart the words of God to the Gentiles, saw the “vessel” “let down from heaven by four corners,” “in which” were “all the four-footed animals and reptiles and beasts of the earth”; at which time he is also ordered to “rise,” kill and eat, being commanded after he had refused, saying: you know “that nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth,” “to call no man common or unclean,” because what has been cleansed by God ought not to be made common by Peter; for the text says: “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.” Therefore, the clean food and the unclean according to the law of Moses, distinguished in the names of many animals, having an allegorical reference to the different characters of rational beings, teaches that these are nourishing for us, but these are the opposite, until God, having cleansed all, makes them nourishing, or those “from every kind.” 27.13 Since these things are so, and since there is such a difference of foods, one above all those mentioned is the 20supersubstantial bread20, for which we must pray, that we may be deemed worthy of it and, being nourished by the Word who was “in the beginning” “with God,” who was God, we may be deified. But someone will say that “0supersubstantial20” is formed from “the coming on,” so that we are commanded to ask for 20the bread20 proper to the age to come, so that God, anticipating it, may already grant it to us, so that what is to be given, as it were, tomorrow may be given to us “0today20,” with “0today20” being taken as the present age, and tomorrow as the age to come. But since the former interpretation is better, as far as I am the judge, let us examine what is added to these words concerning “0today20” in Matthew, or 20the “daily”20 written in Luke. Indeed, it is a custom in many places in the scriptures for the entire age to be called “0today20,” as in “this one is the father of the Moabites to 20this very20 day” and “this one is the father of the Ammonites to 20this very20 day” and “this saying was spread among the Jews to 20this day20,” and in the Psalms: “0Today20, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” And in Joshua this is said most clearly thus: “do not depart from the Lord in these 20present20 days.” But if “0today20” is this entire age, perhaps “yesterday” is the age that has passed. And this we have supposed is said in the Psalms and by Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in

ἐπιδείξει τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ ἑτοιμοτέρων γινομένων πρὸς τὸ παντὶ τρόπῳ συν εργῆσαι καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς συμπνεῦσαι τῇ πλειόνων καὶ μειζόνων καταλήψει τοῦ ἐπὶ προτέροις παρεσκευασμένου τροφίμοις μαθήμασιν, εὐφράναντος καὶ, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, ἀναθρέψαντος αὐτούς. οὐ θαυ μαστὸν δὲ εἰ ἀγγέλους τρέφει ἄνθρωπος, ὅπου γε καὶ Χριστὸς ὁμο λογεῖ ἑστὼς παρὰ «τὴν θύραν» κρούειν, ἵν' εἰσελθὼν παρὰ τὸν ἀνοίξαντα αὐτῷ δειπνήσῃ «μετ' αὐτοῦ» ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνου, μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ αὐτὸς μεταδώσων τῶν ἰδίων τῷ πρότερον ἑστιάσαντι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ. 27.12 20τοῦ20 μὲν οὖν 20ἐπιουσίου20 ὁ μεταλαμβάνων 20ἄρτου20 στηριζό μενος τὴν «καρδίαν» υἱὸς θεοῦ γίνεται· «τοῦ» δὲ «δράκοντος» ὁ μετέχων οὐκ ἄλλος ἐστὶ τοῦ νοητοῦ Αἰθίοπος, διὰ τὰς τοῦ «δράκοντος» ἄρκυς μεταβάλλων καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς ὄφιν, ὥστε ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου ὀνειδιζόμενον αὐτὸν, κἂν λέγῃ βαπτίζεσθαι θέλειν, ἀκούειν· «ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς;» λέγει δὲ περὶ τοῦ δρακοντείου σώματος ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰθιόπων ἑστιωμένου ὁ ∆αυῒδ ταῦτα· «συνέτριψας τὰς κεφαλὰς τῶν δρακόντων ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος, <σὺ συνέθλασας τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ δράκοντος,> ἔδωκας αὐτὸν βρῶμα λαοῖς τοῖς Αἰθίοψιν.» εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀπεμφαίνει, οὐσιωδῶς ὑφεσ τῶτος τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ὑφεστῶτος δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἀντικειμένου, ἑκά τερον αὐτῶν τροφὴν γίνεσθαι τοῦδε ἢ τοῦδε, τί ὀκνοῦμεν παρα δέξασθαι ἐπί γε πασῶν τῶν δυνάμεων κρειττόνων καὶ χειρόνων· καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ δύνασθαι τρέφεσθαι ἀπὸ πάντων τού των ἕνα ἕκαστον ἡμῶν; κοινωνεῖν γοῦν τῷ ἑκατοντάρχῳ Κορνηλίῳ καὶ τοῖς ἅμα συναχθεῖσιν ἐν τῇ Καισαρείᾳ ὁ Πέτρος μέλλων μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσι μεταδώσειν τῶν λόγων τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁρᾷ τὸ «τέτταρσιν ἀρχαῖς καθιέμενον» οὐρανόθεν «σκεῦος,» «ἐν ᾧ» «πάντα τὰ τετράποδα καὶ ἑρπετὰ καὶ θηρία τῆς γῆς»· ὅτε καὶ κελεύεται «ἀναστὰς» θῦσαι καὶ φαγεῖν, προστασσόμενος μετὰ τὸ παραιτού μενον αὐτὸν εἰρηκέναι· σὺ οἶδας «ὅτι οὐδέ ποτε κοινὸν ἢ ἀκάθαρτον εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου» «μηδένα κοινὸν ἢ ἀκάθαρτον λέγειν ἄνθρωπον» τῷ τὰ καθαρθέντα ὑπὸ θεοῦ μὴ δεῖν ὑπὸ Πέτρου κοι νοῦσθαι· φησὶ γὰρ ἡ λέξις· «ἃ ὁ θεὸς ἐκαθάρισε σὺ μὴ κοίνου.» οὐκοῦν τὸ καθαρὸν βρῶμα καὶ τὸ ἀκάθαρτον κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσέως νόμον ἐν ὀνομασίαις διακρινόμενον πλειόνων ζῴων, τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἔχον ἐπὶ τὰ διάφορα ἤθη τῶν λογικῶν, διδάσκει τούσδε μὲν τροφί μους ἡμῖν τυγχάνειν τούσδε δὲ ἐναντίως ἔχειν, ἕως καθαρίσας πάν τας ποιήσῃ τροφίμους ὁ θεὸς ἢ τοὺς ἀπὸ «παντὸς γένους.» 27.13 τούτων δὴ οὕτως ἐχόντων καὶ τοσαύτης διαφορᾶς βρωμά των οὔσης, εἷς παρὰ πάντας τοὺς εἰρημένους ἐστὶν ὁ 20ἐπιούσιος ἄρτος20, περὶ οὗ εὔχεσθαι δεῖ, ἵνα ἐκείνου ἀξιωθῶμεν καὶ τρεφόμενοι τῷ «ἐν ἀρχῇ» «πρὸς θεὸν» θεῷ λόγῳ θεοποιηθῶμεν. ἐρεῖ δέ τις τὸ «0ἐπιούσιον20» παρὰ τὸ ἐπιέναι κατεσχηματίσθαι, ὥστε αἰτεῖν ἡμᾶς κελεύεσθαι 20τὸν ἄρτον20 τὸν οἰκεῖον τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, ἵνα προ λαβὼν αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς ἤδη ἡμῖν δωρήσηται, ὥστε τὸ οἱονεὶ αὔριον δοθησόμενον «0σήμερον20» ἡμῖν δοθῆναι, «0σήμερον20» μὲν τοῦ ἐνεσ τῶτος αἰῶνος λαμβανομένου αὔριον δὲ τοῦ μέλλοντος. ἀλλὰ βελ τίονος οὔσης τῆς προτέρας ἐκδοχῆς ὅσον ἐπ' ἐμοὶ κριτῇ, τὸ περὶ τῆς «0σήμερον20» παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ τούτοις προσκείμενον ἢ 20τὸ «καθ' ἡμέραν20» παρὰ τῷ Λουκᾷ γεγραμμένον ἐξετάσωμεν. ἔθος δὴ πολλαχοῦ τῶν γραφῶν τὸν πάντα αἰῶνα «0σήμερον20» καλεῖσθαι, ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ «οὗτος πατὴρ Μωαβιτῶν ἕως τῆς 20σήμερον20 ἡμέρας» καὶ «οὗτος πατὴρ Ἀμμανιτῶν ἕως τῆς 20σήμερον20 ἡμέρας» καὶ «ἐφη μίσθη ὁ λόγος οὗτος παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις ἕως τῆς 20σήμερον20,» καὶ ἐν τοῖς ψαλμοῖς· «0σήμερον20 ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε, μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν.» ἐν δὲ τῷ Ἰησοῦ σαφέστατα οὕτω τοῦτο εἴρη ται· «μὴ ἀπόστητε ἀπὸ κυρίου ἐν ταῖς 20σήμερον20 ἡμέραις.» εἰ δὲ «0σήμερον20» ὁ πᾶς οὗτος αἰὼν, μή ποτε «ἐχθὲς» ὁ παρεληλυθώς ἐστιν αἰών. τοῦτο δὲ ἐν ψαλμοῖς καὶ παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους λέγειν ὑπειλήφαμεν, ἐν