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holy, saying, Let your Holy Spirit come, and let it cleanse us. For the Father does not have the name as something acquired, nor do we understand the kingdom as a dignity that comes to him. For he did not begin to be, that he might also begin to be Father or King; but always being, he is also always Father and King; having never begun either to be, or to be Father or King. But if always being, he is also always Father and King, then the Son and the Holy Spirit also always subsist essentially with the Father, being both from him, and in him naturally, beyond cause and reason, but not after him, coming into being later for a cause 15Γ_234. For relation has the power of co-indications, not allowing the things of which it is and is called a relation to be considered after one another.

Beginning, therefore, with this prayer, we are led to honor [in cat. we are urged] the consubstantial and super-substantial Trinity, as the creative cause of our generation. And in addition, we are also taught to proclaim the grace of adoption towards us, being deemed worthy to call by grace Father him who is Creator by nature; so that, revering the title of the One who begets by grace, we may be zealous to display in our life the characteristics of the one who begot us, hallowing his name on earth, 0885 and being like the Father, and showing ourselves to be children through our deeds, and magnifying the natural Son of the Father, the author of this adoption, through what we think or do.

And we hallow the name of the Father in heaven by grace, that is, by mortifying worldly desire, and being cleansed of corrupting passions; if indeed sanctification is the complete immobility and mortification of desire according to sense; in which state we have come to be, we calm the unseemly barkings of anger, which no longer has desire to arouse it and persuade it to fight for its own pleasures, desire now having been mortified by holiness according to reason. For anger, being by nature the avenger of desire, is naturally made to cease from raging, whenever it sees desire mortified.

Rightly, therefore, with the putting away of anger and desire, the dominion of the kingdom of God and the Father supervenes according to the prayer, for those who, after putting these away, are deemed worthy to say, Thy kingdom come; that is, the Holy Spirit; having already been made a temple for God through the Spirit by the word and manner of meekness. For on whom, he says, will I rest, but on him who is meek and lowly, and trembles at my words? so that from this 15Γ_236 it is clear that the kingdom of God the Father belongs to the humble and meek. For blessed, he says, are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. God did not promise as an inheritance to those who love him this earth which by nature has taken its position in the middle of the universe; if indeed he speaks truly when he says, For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as angels in the heavens. And, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And elsewhere again to another who served with goodwill, Enter into the joy of your Lord. And after him the divine Apostle, For the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised first, incorruptible. Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Since these things have thus been promised to those who love the Lord, who, having fixed his mind only on the letter of Scripture, the heaven, and the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, and the joy of the Lord mystically hidden, and the perpetual and altogether inseparable [life] with the Lord of the worthy ones only and

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ἅγιον, φάσκων, Ἐλθέτω σου τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, καί καθαρισάτω ἡμᾶς. Οὐ γάρ ἐπίκτητον ὁ Πατήρ ἔχει τό ὄνομα, οὔτε μήν ὡς ἀξίαν ἐπιθεωρουμένην αὐτῷ νοοῦμεν τήν βασιλείαν. Οὐκ ἦρκται γάρ τοῦ εἶναι, ἵνα καί τοῦ πατήρ ἤ βασιλεύς εἶναι ἄρξηται· ἀλλ᾿ ἀεί ὤν, ἀεί καί πατήρ ἐστι καί βασιλεύς· μήτε τοῦ εἶναι, μήτε τοῦ πατήρ ἤ βασιλεύς εἶναι τό παράπαν ἠργμένος. Εἰ δέ ἀεί ὤν, ἀεί καί πατήρ ἐστι καί βασιλεύς, ἀεί ἄρα καί ὁ Υἱός καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον οὐσιωδῶς τῷ Πατρί συνυφεστήκασιν, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τε ὄντα, καί ἐν αὐτῷ φυσικῶς, ὑπέρ αἰτίαν καί λόγον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ μετ᾿ αὐτόν, γενόμενα δι᾿ αἰτίαν 15Γ_234 ὕστερον. Ἡ γάρ σχέσις συνενδείξεων κέκτηται δύναμιν, τά ὧν ἔστι τε καί λέγεται σχέσις, μετ᾿ ἄλληλα θεωρεῖσθαι μή συγχωροῦσα.

Ταύτης οὖν ἀπαρξάμενοι τῆς προσευχῆς, γεραίρειν ἐναγόμεθα [in cat. ἐπειγόμεθα] τήν ὁμοούσιόν τε καί ὑπερούσιον Τριάδα, ὡς ποιητικήν αἰτίαν τῆς ἡμετέρας γενέσεως. Πρός δέ, καί τήν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐξαγγέλειν διδασκόμεθα χάριν τῆς υἱοθεσίας, τόν φύσει δημιουργόν χάριτι Πατέρα καλεῖν ἀξιούμενοι· ἵνα τοῦ κατά χάριν Γεννήτορος αἰδεσθέντες τήν προσηγορίαν, ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούς χαρακτῆρας ἐπισημαίνειν σπουδάζωμεν τοῦ γεννήσαντος, ἁγιάζοντος αὐτοῦ ἐπί γῆς τό ὄνομα, 0885 καί πατρώζοντες, καί τέκνα διά τῶν πραγμάτων δεικνύμενοι, καί τόν ταύτης αὐτουργόν τῆς υἱοθεσίας φυσικόν τοῦ Πατρός Υἱόν, δι᾿ ὧν νοοῦμεν ἤ πράττομεν, μεγαλύνοντες.

Ἁγιάζομεν δέ τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς κατά χάριν Πατρός τό ὄνομα, τήν πρόσυλον δηλαδή νεκροῦντες ἐπιθυμίαν, καί φθοροποιῶν ἐκκαθαιρόμενοι παθῶν· εἴπερ ἁγιασμός ἐστιν, ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας παντελής ἀκινησία καί νέκρωσις· ἐν ᾗ γενόμενοι, τάς ἀπρεπεῖς τοῦ θυμοῦ κατευνάζομεν ὑλακάς, οὐκ ἔχοντος ἔτι διεγείρουσαν αὐτόν, καί τῶν οἰκείων ἡδονῶν ὑπεραγωνίζεσθαι πείθουσαν τήν ἐπιθυμίαν, ἤδη τῇ κατά τόν λόγον ἁγιότητι νεκρωθεῖσαν. Κατά φύσιν γάρ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ὑπάρχων ἔκδικος ὁ θυμός, τοῦ μαίνεσθαι παύεσθαι πέφυκεν, ὁπηνίκα ταύτην ἴδῃ νεκρωμένην.

Εἰκότως οὖν, τῇ τοῦ θυμοῦ καί τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἀποβολῇ, τό τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός κατά τήν προσευχήν ἐπιγίνεται κράτος, τοῖς μετά τήν τούτων ἀπόθεσιν λέγειν ἀξιουμένοις, Ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· τουτέστι, τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον· ἤδη τῷ τῆς πραότητος λόγῳ τε καί τρόπῳ ναοποιηθεῖσι τῷ Θεῷ διά τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἐπί τίνα γάρ, φησί, καταπαύσω, ἀλλ᾿ ἤ ἐπί τόν πρᾶον καί ταπεινόν, καί τρέμοντά μου τούς λόγους; ὡς ἐντεῦθεν 15Γ_236 εἶναι δῆλον, ὅτι τῶν ταπεινῶν καί πραέων ἐστίν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός. Μακάριοι γάρ, φησίν, οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοί κληρονομήσουσι τήν γῆν. Γῆν ταύτην κατά φύσιν μέσην τοῦ παντός ἀπολαβοῦσαν θέσιν ὁ Θεός οὐκ ἐπηγγείλατο τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν κληρονομίαν· εἴπερ ἀληθεύει φάσκων, Ὅταν γάρ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῶσιν, οὔτε γαμοῦσιν, οὔτε γαμίζονται· ἀλλ᾿ εἰσίν ὡς ἄγγελοί ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Καί, ∆εῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τήν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπό καταβολῆς κόσμου. Καί ἀλλαχοῦ πάλιν ἑτέρῳ μετ᾿ εὐνοίας δουλεύσαντι, Εἴσελθε εἰς τήν χαράν τοῦ Κυρίου σου. Καί μετ᾿ αὐτόν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, Σαλπίσει γάρ, καί οἱ νεκροί ἐν Χριστῷ, πρῶτοι ἐγερθήσονται ἄφθαρτοι. Ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες, οἱ παραλειπόμενοι, ἅμα σύν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καί οὕτω πάντοτε σύν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα.

Τούτων οὖν οὕτως ἐπηγγελμένων τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τόν Κύριον, τίς μόνῳ τῷ ῥητῷ τῆς Γραφῆς προσηλώσας τόν νοῦν, τόν οὐρανόν, καί τήν ἡτοιμασμένην ἀπό καταβολῆς κόσμου βασιλείαν, καί τήν τοῦ Κυρίου μυστικῶς ἀποκεκρυμμένην χαράν, καί τήν διηνεκῆ καί παντελῶς ἀδιάστατον σύν Κυρίῳ τῶν ἀξίων μόνην τε καί