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The Savior led me to this understanding of the present saying, expressly commanding the disciples to take no account whatsoever of perceptible food, saying, *Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor for your body, what you shall put on. For all these things the nations of the world seek after. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.* How then does He teach to pray for things which He previously commanded not to seek? For it is clear (15Γ_254> that He did not command to ask for through prayer the things which He did not advise to seek through commandment. For only that which is to be sought by commandment is to be requested through prayer. Therefore, what we were not permitted to seek by commandment, it is perhaps not lawful to ask for through prayer. But if the Savior commanded to seek only the kingdom of God and His righteousness, He fittingly led those who long for divine gifts to ask for this also through prayer, 0900 so that by confirming through prayer the grace of things sought by nature, He might join the mind of those who ask to the will of Him who bestows grace, making it the same through a relative union.

But if we are also commanded to ask through prayer for our daily bread, by which our present life is naturally sustained, let us not transgress the bounds of prayer, by greedily looking ahead to many cycles of years, and forget that we are mortal, and have a life that passes away like a shadow; but let us ask through prayer for our bread for the day without anxiety; and let us show that, in a philosophical manner according to Christ, we make our life a meditation on death, anticipating nature with our mind, and before death arrives, cutting the soul off from anxiety for bodily things; so that it may not be nailed to perishable things, having exchanged for matter the use of its natural desire, and learn a greed that is bereft of the abundance of divine goods.

Let us therefore flee, with all our might, the love of matter, and let us wash away our relation to it as dust from our intelligible eyes; and let us be content only with the things that sustain, but also with the things that give pleasure to, our present life; and for these things let us beseech God, as we have been taught, so that we may be able to keep the soul unenslaved, in no way held fast by any of the visible things on account of the body; and let us be shown to eat for the sake of living, but not be convicted of living for the sake of eating. For the one is clearly proper to a rational nature, while the other (15Γ_256> is proper to an irrational nature. And let us be precise guardians of prayer, showing by our very actions that we hold fast to the one and only life in the Spirit, and that we direct the use of the present life [Marg. that is, of life] toward the acquisition of that same life; for which reason we cherish the use of this present life only so much as not to refuse to support it with bread alone, and to preserve its natural well-being incorrupt, as far as it is in our power; not so that we may live, but so that we may live for God; making the body a rational messenger of the soul through the virtues, and making the soul a herald of God, being formed by steadfastness in what is good; and limiting this bread naturally to a single day; not daring to extend our supplication for it to a second day on account of the giver of the prayer. For by thus disposing ourselves in reality according to the power of prayer, we might be able to approach the remaining sayings with purity, saying:

And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive the debtors

of us.

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Πρός ταύτην δέ με τοῦ παρόντος ῥητοῦ τήν ἔννοιαν ἤγαγεν ὁ Σωτήρ, προστάσσων διαῤῥήδην τοῖς μαθηταῖς τροφῆς αἰσθητῆς παντελῶς μή ποιεῖσθαι λόγον, εἰπών, Μή μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῆ ὑμῶν τί φάγητε, ἤ τί πίητε· μήτε τῶ σώματι ὑμῶν τί περιβάλησθε· ταῦτα γάρ πάντα τά ἔθνη τοῦ κόσμου ἐπιζητοῦσιν· ἀλλά ζητεῖτε πρῶτον τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί τήν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, καί ταῦτα πάντα προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν. Πῶς οὖν διδάσκει προσεύχεσθαι, περί ὧν μή ζητεῖν προλαβών ἐνετείλατο; δῆλον (15Γ_254> γάρ ὅτι διά προσευχῆς αἰτεῖν οὐ προσέταττεν, ἅπερ δι᾿ ἐντολῆς ζητεῖν οὐ παρῄνεσε. ∆ιά προσευχῆς γάρ μόνον ἐστίν αἰτητόν, τό κατ᾿ ἐντολήν ζητητόν. Ὅπερ οὖν ζητεῖν δι᾿ ἐντολῆς οὐκ ἐπετράπημεν, διά προσευχῆς αἰτεῖν, τυχόν θεμιτόν οὐ καθέστηκεν. Εἰ δέ μόνην ζητεῖν τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί τήν δικαιοσύνην ὁ Σωτήρ ἐνετείλατο· ταύτην εἰκότως καί διά προσευχῆς αἰτεῖν, τούς τῶν θείων ἐφιεμένους δώρων ἐνήγαγεν· 0900 ἵνα τῶν φύσει ζητητῶν διά προσευχῆς τήν χάριν ἐπικυρώσας, τήν τῶν αἰτούντων γνώμην, τῷ τοῦ παρεχομένου τήν χάριν συνάψῃ θελήματι, δι᾿ ἑνώσεως σχετικῆς ταυτό ποιουμένην.

Εἰ δέ καί τόν ἐφήμερον ἄρτον, ᾧ συγκρατεῖσθαι πέφυκεν ἡμῶν ἡ παροῦσα ζωή, διά προσευχῆς αἰτεῖν κελευόμεθα, μή παρέλθωμεν τούς ὅρους τῆς προσευχῆς, πολλάς ἐτῶν περιόδους πλεονεκτικῶς περισκοποῦντες, καί λάθωμεν ὄντες θνητοί, καί σκιᾶς δίκην τήν ζωήν παροδεύουσαν ἔχοντες· ἀλλά τόν πρός ἡμέραν ἀπεριμερίμνως διά τῆς προσευχῆς αἰτήσωμεν ἄρτον· καί δείξωμεν ὅτι φιλοσόφως κατά Χριστόν μελέτην θανάτου τόν βίον ποιούμεθα, τῇ γνώμῃ φθάνοντες τήν φύσιν, καί πρίν ἐπιστῆναι τόν θάνατον, τῆς τῶν σωματικῶν μερίμνης τήν ψυχήν ἀποτέμνοντες· ἵνα μή προσηλωθῇ τοῖς φθειρομένοις, ἀμείψασα πρός τήν ὕλην τήν χρῆσιν τῆς κατά φύσιν ἐφέσεως, καί μάθῃ πλεονεξίαν τῆς τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν περιουσίας στερητικήν.

Φύγωμεν οὖν, ὅση δύναμις, τήν φιλίαν τῆς ὕλης, καί τήν αὐτῆς σχέσιν καθάπερ κονιορτόν τῶν νοερῶν ὀμμάτων ἀπονιψώμεθα· καί μόνοις ἀρκεσθῶμεν τοῖς συνιστῶσιν, ἀλλά καί τοῖς ἡδονοῦσιν ἡμῶν τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν· καί ὑπέρ αὐτῶν τόν Θεόν, ὡς ἐδιδάχθημεν, ἀξιώσωμεν, ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν ἀδούλωτον φυλάξαι τήν ψυχήν, μηδενί τῶν ὁρωμένων διά τό σῶμα παντελῶς κρατουμένην· καί τοῦ ζῇν ἕνεκεν δειχθῶμεν ἐσθίοντες, ἀλλά μή τοῦ ἐσθίειν χάριν ζῶντες ἐλεγχθῶμεν. Τό μέν γάρ λογικῆς, τό δέ (15Γ_256> τῆς ἀλόγου σαφῶς ἴδιον καθέστηκε φύσεως. Καί φύλακες ὦμεν τῆς προσευχῆς ἀκριβεῖς, δι᾿ αὐτῶν δεικνύμενοι τῶν πραγμάτων, ὅτι μιᾶς καί μόνης ἀπρίξ ἀντεχόμεθα τῆς ἐν πνεύματι ζωῆς, καί πρός τήν αὐτήν κτῆσιν τῆς παρούσης [Marg. ζωῆς δηλονότι] τήν χρῆσιν ποιούμεθα· δι᾿ ἥν τοσοῦτον τήν ταύτης στέργομεν χρῆσιν, ὅσον ἄρτῳ ταύτην μόνῳ στηρίζειν μή παραιτεῖσθαι, καί τήν αὐτῆς φυσικήν εὐεξίαν φυλάττειν ὅσον τό ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν ἀδιάφθορον· οὐχ ἵνα ζῶμεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα Θεῷ ζῶμεν· ψυχῆς ἄγγελον τό σῶμα καθιστῶντες λελογισμένον ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, καί ταύτην Θεοῦ κήρυκα ποιοῦντες τῇ περί τό καλόν παγιότητι πεποιωμένην· καί τοῦτον μιᾷ φυσικῶς ἡμέρᾳ πειρικλείοντες τόν ἄρτον· ὑπέρ αὐτοῦ μή τολμῶντες εἰς δευτέραν ἡμέραν διά τό δοτῆρα τῆς προσευχῆς ἐπεκτεῖναι τήν δέησιν. Οὕτω γάρ ἄν πραγματικῶς κατά τήν δύναμιν τῆς προσευχῆς ἑαυτούς διαθέντες, δυνηθείημεν καί τοῖς λειπομένοις καθαρῶς προσβῆναι ῥητοῖς, φάσκοντες·

Καί ἄφες ἡμῖν τά ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καί ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις

ἡμῶν.