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to do, shouting like a mob, and by their posture and their voice making themselves ridiculous. Do you not see that even in the marketplace, if someone approaches doing such things and supplicating with a shout, he will drive away the one being supplicated; but if he does so quietly and with a becoming posture, then he is more likely to win over the one who is able to grant the favor? Let us not, therefore, make our prayers with the posture of the body, nor with the shouting of the voice, but with the eagerness of the mind; nor with noise and clamor, and for display, so as to drive away even those near, but with all gentleness, and contrition of mind, and tears from within. But do you grieve in your soul, and are you unable not to cry out? And yet it is the part of one who is deeply grieving to pray and entreat in this way, as I have said. For even Moses was grieving, and prayed in this way, and was heard; for this reason God also said to him: Why do you cry to me? And Hannah again, though her voice was not heard, accomplished all she wished, because her heart cried out. But Abel, not in silence, but even in dying was praying, and his blood sent forth a voice clearer than a trumpet. Groan, therefore, you also in this way, like that saint; I do not forbid it. Rend, as the Prophet commanded, your heart, and not your garments. Call upon God from the depths; For from the depths, it says, I have cried to you, O Lord. From the bottom of your heart draw forth a voice; make your prayer a mystery. Do you not see that even in palaces all disturbance is removed, and there is great silence from every side? You, therefore, as you are entering into a palace, not one on earth, but one far more awesome than these, the one in the heavens, show much decorum. For you are a fellow-chorister of angels, and a companion of archangels, and you sing with the Seraphim. And all these choirs show great order, singing with great awe that mystical melody and the sacred hymns to God, the king of all. Mingle yourself, therefore, with these as you pray, and emulate their mystical order. For you are not praying to men, but to God who is present everywhere, who hears even before the voice, who knows the secrets of the mind. If you pray in this way, you will receive a great reward. For your Father, he says, who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. He did not say, He will grant you a favor, but, He will reward you. For He has made himself your debtor, and has honored you with a great honor from this also. For since he himself is invisible, he also wishes your prayer to be of such a kind. Then he also says the very words of the prayer. For when you pray, he says, do not use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do. For when he was discoursing on almsgiving, he only put away the harm from vainglory, and added nothing more, nor did he say from where one must give alms; for example, from just labors, but not from plunder, nor from covetousness; for this was strongly agreed upon by 57.278 all. And he had already cleared this up above, when he called blessed those who hunger for righteousness. But in the case of prayer he adds something more, not to use vain repetitions. And just as there he satirized the hypocrites, so here the Gentiles, everywhere shaming the hearer especially by the worthlessness of the persons. For since for the most part this especially stings and rebukes, the seeming to be likened to outcast men, he turns them away from this, here calling idle talk "vain repetition"; for example, when we ask from God things that are not fitting, power and glories, and to overcome enemies, and abundance of money, and simply things that do not concern us. For he knows, he says, what things you have need of. d. Along with these things it seems to me that he commands here not to make long prayers; long, not in time, but in the multitude and length of the things said. For it is right to persist in asking for the same things; For, he says, continue steadfastly in prayer. And he himself through that parable of the widow, who bent the unmerciful and cruel judge by the persistence of her petition, and of the friend, who came at an unseasonable hour of the night, and the one sleeping from his bed

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ποιεῖν, συρφετωδῶς βοῶντες, καὶ τῷ σχήματι καὶ τῇ φωνῇ καταγελάστους ποιοῦντες ἑαυτούς. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὅτι καὶ ἐν ἀγορᾷ, ἂν μὲν τοιαῦτα προσέλθῃ τις ποιῶν καὶ μετὰ βοῆς ἱκετεύων, σοβήσει τὸν ἱκετευόμενον· ἂν δὲ ἡσυχῆ καὶ μετὰ τοῦ προσήκοντος σχήματος, τότε ἐπισπᾶται μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον δοῦναι τὴν χάριν; Μὴ τοίνυν τῷ σχήματι τοῦ σώματος, μηδὲ τῇ κραυγῇ τῆς φωνῆς, ἀλλὰ τῇ προθυμίᾳ τῆς γνώμης τὰς εὐχὰς ποιώμεθα· μηδὲ μετὰ ψόφου καὶ ἠχῆς, καὶ πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν, ὡς καὶ τοὺς πλησίον ἐκκρούειν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ ἐπιεικείας πάσης, καὶ τῆς κατὰ διάνοιαν συντριβῆς, καὶ δακρύων τῶν ἔνδοθεν. Ἀλλ' ἀλγεῖς τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ οὐκ ἂν δύναιο μὴ βοᾷν; Καὶ μὴν τοῦ σφόδρα ἀλγοῦντός ἐστι τὸ οὕτως εὔχεσθαι καὶ παρακαλεῖν, ὥσπερ εἶπον. Ἐπεὶ καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἤλγει, καὶ οὕτως ηὔχετο, καὶ ἠκούετο· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἔλεγε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Θεός· Τί βοᾷς πρός με; Καὶ ἡ Ἄννα δὲ πάλιν, τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῆς οὐκ ἀκουομένης, πάντα ἤνυσεν ὅσα ἠθέλησεν, ἐπειδὴ ἡ καρδία αὐτῆς ἐβόα. Ὁ δὲ Ἄβελ οὐχὶ σιγῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τελευτῶν ηὔχετο, καὶ τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ σάλπιγγος λαμπροτέραν ἠφίει φωνήν. Στέναξον τοίνυν καὶ σὺ οὕτως ὡς ὁ ἅγιος ἐκεῖνος· οὐ κωλύω. ∆ιάῤῥηξον, ὡς ὁ Προφήτης ἐκέλευσε, τὴν καρδίαν σου, καὶ μὴ τὰ ἱμάτια. Ἐκ βαθέων κάλεσον τὸν Θεόν· Ἐκ βαθέων γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐκέκραξά σοι, Κύριε. Κάτωθεν ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας ἕλκυσον φωνήν· μυστήριον ποίησόν σου τὴν εὐχήν. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὅτι καὶ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις θόρυβος ἐκποδὼν ἅπας, καὶ πολλὴ πανταχόθεν ἡ σιγή; Καὶ σὺ τοίνυν ὡς εἰς βασίλεια εἰσιὼν, οὐ τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἀλλὰ τὰ πολλῷ φρικωδέστερα τούτων, τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, πολλὴν ἐπιδείκνυσο τὴν εὐσχημοσύνην. Καὶ γὰρ ἀγγέλων εἶ συγχορευτὴς, καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων κοινωνὸς, καὶ μετὰ τῶν Σεραφὶμ ᾄδεις. Πάντες δὲ οὗτοι οἱ δῆμοι πολλὴν ἐπιδείκνυνται τὴν εὐταξίαν, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς φρίκης τὸ μυστικὸν ἐκεῖνο μέλος καὶ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ὕμνους ᾄδοντες τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων Θεῷ. Τούτοις τοίνυν ἐγκατάμιξον σαυτὸν εὐχόμενος, καὶ τὸν μυστικὸν αὐτῶν ζήλωσον κόσμον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀνθρώποις εὔχῃ, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ τῷ πανταχοῦ παρόντι, τῷ καὶ πρὸ τῆς φωνῆς ἀκούοντι, τῷ τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα τῆς διανοίας ἐπισταμένῳ. Ἂν οὕτως εὔχῃ, πολὺν ἀπολήψῃ τὸν μισθόν. Ὁ Πατὴρ γάρ σου, φησὶν, ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ, ἀποδώσει σοι ἐν τῷ φανερῷ. Οὐκ εἶπε, Χαριεῖταί σοι, ἀλλ', Ἀποδώσει σοι. Καὶ γὰρ χρεώστην ἑαυτόν σοι, κατέστησε, καὶ μεγάλῃ σε καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἐτίμησε τιμῇ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αὐτός ἐστιν ἀόρατος, καὶ τὴν εὐχήν σου τοιαύτην εἶναι βούλεται. Εἶτα λέγει καὶ τὰ ῥήματα αὐτὰ τῆς εὐχῆς. Προσευχόμενοι γὰρ, φησὶ, μὴ βαττολογήσητε ὥσπερ οἱ ἐθνικοὶ ποιοῦσιν. Ὅτε μὲν γὰρ περὶ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης διελέγετο, τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς κενοδοξίας λύμην ἀπέστησε μόνον, καὶ οὐδὲν πλέον προσέθηκεν, οὐδὲ εἶπε πόθεν ἐλεημοσύνην δεῖ ποιεῖν· οἶον ἀπὸ δικαίων πόνων, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς, μηδὲ πλεονεξίας· καὶ γὰρ σφόδρα ἦν ὡμολογημένον παρὰ 57.278 πᾶσι. Καὶ ἀνωτέρω δὲ τοῦτο προδιεκάθαρεν, ὅτε τοὺς πεινῶντας τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐμακάρισεν. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς εὐχῆς καὶ ἕτερόν τι προστίθησι πλέον, τὸ μὴ βαττολογεῖν. Καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖ τοὺς ὑποκριτὰς, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα τοὺς ἐθνικοὺς κωμῳδεῖ, πανταχοῦ τῇ τῶν προσώπων εὐτελείᾳ μάλιστα ἐντρέπων τὸν ἀκροώμενον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὡς τὰ πολλὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα δάκνει καὶ καθάπτεται, τὸ δοκεῖν ἀπεῤῥιμμένοις ἀνθρώποις ἐξομοιοῦσθαι, ἐντεῦθεν αὐτοὺς ἀποτρέπει, βαττολογίαν ἐνταῦθα τὴν φλυαρίαν λέγων· οἷον ὅταν τὰ μὴ προσήκοντα αἰτῶμεν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, δυναστείας καὶ δόξας, καὶ τὸ ἐχθρῶν περιγενέσθαι, καὶ χρημάτων περιουσίας, καὶ ἁπλῶς τὰ μηδὲν ἡμῖν διαφέροντα. Οἶδε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὧν χρείαν ἔχετε. δʹ. Μετὰ τούτων δοκεῖ μοι κελεύειν ἐνταῦθα μηδὲ μακρὰς ποιεῖσθαι τὰς εὐχάς· μακρὰς δὲ οὐχὶ τῷ χρόνῳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ πλήθει καὶ μήκει τῶν λεγομένων. Παραμένειν μὲν γὰρ χρὴ τὰ αὐτὰ αἰτοῦντας· Τῇ γὰρ εὐχῇ, φησὶ, προσκαρτεροῦντες. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ τοῦ παραδείγματος ἐκείνου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν χήραν, ἣ τὸν ἀνελεῆ καὶ ὠμὸν ἐπέκαμψεν ἄρχοντα τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῆς ἐντεύξεως, καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν φίλον, τὸν ἀωρὶ τῶν νυκτῶν παραγενόμενον, καὶ τὸν καθεύδοντα ἀπὸ τῆς κλίνης