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the soul’s cohabitation with the Logos, the deprivation of which is an unending punishment, naturally circumscribing all the ages. And for this reason, leaving behind the body and all things of the body, he is borne intensely toward the divine cohabitation; considering it the one loss, even if he should rule over all things on earth, the failure to attain the awaited deification by grace.

(896) Let us therefore cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, that we may hallow the divine name, having extinguished desire that is unseemly feigned by the passions; and let us bind with reason the anger that rages disorderly for pleasures; so that through meekness we may receive the coming kingdom of God the Father. And let us fit the next phrase of the prayer to what has gone before, saying.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. He who according to the rational power alone, separated from desire and anger

mystically offers worship to God, this one on earth, as the ranks of angels in heaven, has fulfilled the divine will; having become in all things a fellow-worshipper and co-habitant with the angels, as the great Apostle says somewhere, But our citizenship is in heaven; among whom there is no desire that paralyzes the tones of the intellect through pleasure; nor raging anger, and shamelessly barking at what is kindred; but only reason, naturally leading rational beings to the first Reason; in which alone God rejoices, and which He requests from us His servants. And this he indicates when speaking to the great David: For what have I in heaven, and what have I desired from you on earth? For there is nothing offered to God in the heavens by the holy angels, except rational worship; and seeking this also from us, He taught us when we pray to say: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Therefore, let our reason also be moved toward the seeking of God, and our desiderative power toward longing for Him, and let our incensive power struggle for His keeping; or rather, to speak more properly, let the whole intellect be directed toward God; as if being strengthened by a certain tone in the manner of the incensive power, and being inflamed with longing by the highest impulse of desire. For thus, imitating the angels in heaven, we shall be found worshipping God in all things; manifesting the same way of life as the angels on earth; having our intellect not at all moved toward anything after God, just as they. For conducting our lives thus according to our prayers, we shall receive, as it were, a supersubstantial and life-giving bread for the nourishment of our souls, (897) and for the preservation of the well-being of the good things bestowed on us, the Logos who said: I am the bread which came down from heaven and gives life to the world; becoming all things for us who are nourished by virtue and wisdom, in a way that is analogous to us; and being embodied in each of the saved in various ways, as He Himself knows; while we are still in this age, according to the power of the saying of the prayer that says

Give us this day our daily bread. For I think this age is indicated by "today"; as if someone for the

taking it more clearly, would say the passage of the prayer, Our bread, which You prepared from the beginning for the immortality of our nature, give to us today, being in the present life of mortality; so that it may conquer the death of sin, the food of the bread of life and of knowledge; of which the first one became a partaker

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ψυχῆς πρός τόν λόγον συμβίωσιν, ἧς ἡ στέρησις κόλασίς ἐστιν ἀτελεύτητος, πάντας φυσικῶς περιγράφουσα τούς αἰῶνας. Καί διά τοῦτο, τό τε σῶμα, καί πάντα τά τοῦ σώματος ἀφείς, πρός τήν θείαν φέρεται σύντονος συμβίωσιν· μίαν ζημίαν ἡγούμενος, κἄν πάντων δεσπόζῃ τῶν ἐπί γῆς, τήν τῆς προσδοκωμένης κατά χάριν θεώσεως ἀποτυχίαν.

(896) Ἁγνίσωμεν οὖν ἑαυτούς παντός μολυσμοῦ σαρκός καί πνεύματος, ἵνα τό θεῖον ἁγιάσωμεν ὄνομα, ἀκκιζομένην τοῖς πάθεσιν ἀπρεπῶς τήν ἐπιθυμίαν κατασβέσαντες· καί λόγῳ, ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ἀτάκτως ἐπιμαινόμενον τόν θυμόν, καταδήσωμεν· ἵνα διά τῆς πραότητος παραγινομένην ὑποδεξώμεθα τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός βασιλείαν. Καί τόν ἐφεξῆς λόγον τῆς προσευχῆς τοῖς προτέροις ἁρμόσωμεν, λέγοντες.

Γενηθήτω τό θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καί ἐπί τῆς γῆς. Ὁ κατά μόνην τήν λογικήν δύναμιν, ἐπιθυμίας τε καί θυμοῦ κεχωρισμένην

μυστικῶς προσάγων τῷ Θεῷ τήν λατρείαν, οὗτος ἐπί γῆς, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ τῶν ἀγγέλων αἱ τάξεις, τό θεῖον πεπλήρωκε θέλημα· διά πάντων τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ὁμολάτρης γενόμενος καί ὁμοδίαιτος, καθά πού φησιν ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος, Ἡμῶν δέ τό πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει· παρ᾿ οἷς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπιθυμία, δι᾿ ἡδονῆς τούς νοερούς παραλύουσα τόνους· οὔτε θυμός λυσσῶν, καί τό συγγενές ἀσέμνως καθυλακτῶν· ἀλλά λόγος μονώτατος, πρός τόν πρῶτον λόγον φυσικῶς ἄγων τούς λογικούς· ᾧ μόνῳ χαίρει Θεός, καί παρ᾿ ἡμῶν αἰτεῖ τῶν αὐτοῦ δούλων. Καί τοῦτο δηλοῖ πρός τόν μέγαν φάσκων ∆αβίδ· Τί γάρ μοι ὑπάρχει ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καί παρά σοῦ τί ἠθέλησα ἐπί τῆς γῆς; Ὑπάρχει δέ τῷ Θεῷ ἐν οὐρανοῖς προσαγόμενον παρά τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων, πλήν τῆς λογικῆς λατρείας οὐδέν· ἥν καί παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐπιζητῶν, προσευχομένους λέγειν ἐδίδαξε· Γενηθήτω τό θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καί ἐπί τῆς γῆς.

Οὐκοῦν κινείσθω καί ἡμῶν πρός τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ ζήτησιν ὁ λόγος, πρός τε τόν αὐτοῦ πόθον ἡ κατ᾿ ἐπιθυμίαν δύναμις, καί πρός τήν αὐτοῦ φυλακήν ἀγωνιζέσθω τό θυμικόν· μᾶλλον δέ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, ὁ μέν νοῦς τετάσθω πᾶς πρός Θεόν· οἱονεί τόνῳ τινί τῷ θυμικῷ τρόπῳ νευρούμενος, καί πόθῳ τῇ κατ᾿ ἄκρον ἐφέσει τῆς ἐπιθυμίας πυρούμενος. Οὕτω γάρ τούς κατ᾿ οὐρανόν ἀγγέλους μιμούμενοι, τῷ Θεῷ διά πάντων λατρεύοντες εὑρεθησόμεθα· τήν αὐτήν τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἐπί τῆς γῆς πολιτείαν ἐπιδεικνύμενοι· πρός οὐδέν τῶν μετά Θεόν ἴσως ἐκείνοις ἔχοντες τόν νοῦν τό παράπαν κινούμενον. ∆εξόμεθα γάρ κατ᾿ εὐχάς οὕτω πολιτευόμενοι, καθάπερ ἄρτον ἐπιούσιόν τε καί ζωτικόν εἰς ἀποτροφήν τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν, (897) καί συντήρησιν τῆς τῶν χαρισθέντων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν εὐεξίας, τόν εἰπόντα Λόγον· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος, ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, καί ζωήν διδούς τῷ κόσμῳ· ἀναλόγως ἡμῖν τοῖς τρεφομένοις δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί σοφίας, πάντα γινόμενον· καί δι᾿ ἑκάστου τῶν σωζομένων ποικίλως, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός, σωματούμενον· ἔτι κατά τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον ὑπάρχοντες, κατά τήν τοῦ ῥητοῦ τῆς προσευχῆς δύναμιν τοῦ λέγοντος

Τόν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τόν ἐπιούσιον δός ἡμῖν σήμερον. Τοῦτον γάρ οἶμαι δηλοῦσθαι τόν αἰῶνα διά τοῦ σήμερον· ὡς εἴ τις ἐπί τό

σαφέστερον ἐκλαβών, εἴποι, τόν τόπον τῆς προσευχῆς, Τόν ἄρτον ἡμῶν, ὅν καταρχάς ἐπ᾿ ἀθανασίᾳ τῆς φύσεως ἡτοίμασας, δός ἡμῖν σήμερον, κατά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν οὖσιν τῆς θνητότητος· ἵνα νικήσῃ τόν θάνατον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἡ τροφή τοῦ ἄρτου τῆς ζωῆς καί τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως· ἧς μέτοχον γενέσθαι τόν πρῶτον