306

man, the transgression of the divine commandment did not permit. For if he had been filled with this divine food, he would not have been captured by the death of sin.

Yet he who prays to receive this daily bread does not in every case receive the whole, as the bread itself is, but according as he who receives is able. For the bread of life, as a lover of mankind, gives himself to all who ask, but not in the same way to all; but to those who have done great works, more abundantly; and to those who have done less than these, less so; to each, then, according to the worthiness of his mind to receive.

The Savior led me to this understanding of the present saying, when he expressly commanded his disciples to take no thought at all for sensible 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 will be added to you.” How then does he teach to pray for things which he had previously commanded not to seek? For it is clear that he did not command to ask through prayer for those things which he did not advise to seek through commandment. For only that which is to be sought by commandment is to be asked for 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 righteousness, he reasonably led those who long for divine gifts to ask for this also through prayer; (900) in order that, having confirmed by prayer the grace for things naturally sought, he might join the mind of those who ask to the will of him who provides the grace, making it the same through a relational union.

But if we are commanded to ask also through prayer for the daily bread, by which our present life is naturally sustained, let us not transgress the bounds of the prayer, greedily looking around for many cycles of years, and forgetting that we are mortal and have a life that passes away like a shadow; but let us ask without anxiety through prayer for the bread for the day; and let us show that we philosophically, according to Christ, 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 corruptible things, having exchanged for matter the use of its natural desire, and may learn that greed is a deprivation of the abundance of divine goods.

Let us therefore flee, with all our power, the love of matter, and let us wash its attachment from our intellectual eyes like dust; and let us be content only with those things that sustain, but also with those that give pleasure to our present life; and for them let us implore God, as we have been taught, so that we may be able to keep the soul unenslaved, not being held at all by any of the visible things on account of the body; and that we may be shown to be eating for the sake of living, and not be convicted of living for the sake of eating. For the one is clearly the property of a rational nature, the other of an irrational nature.

And let us be exact guardians of the prayer, showing by our very actions that we cling tenaciously to the one and only life in the spirit, and that we make use of the present [Marg. that is, of life] for the acquisition of that same life; for which reason we cherish the use of this present life 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 in order that we may live, but 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 its stability in what is good; and limiting this bread naturally to one day; not daring to extend our supplication for it to a second day because of the Giver of the prayer. For having thus in reality disposed ourselves according to the power of the prayer, we should be able also to approach purely the remaining sayings, saying:

306

ἄνθρωπον, ἡ παράβασις τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς οὐ συνεχώρησεν. Ὡς εἴγε ταύτης ἐνεφορήθη τῆς θείας τροφῆς, οὐκ ἄν τῷ θανάτῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡλίσκετο.

Πλήν ὁ τόν ἄρτον τοῦτον λαβεῖν εὐχόμενος τόν ἐπιούσιον, οὐ πάντως ὅλον δέχεται καθώς αὐτός ὁ ἄρτος ἐστίν· ἀλλά καθώς αὐτός ὁ δεχόμενος δύναται. Πᾶσι μέν γάρ ἑαυτόν δίδωσι τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν ὁ τῆς ζωῆς ἄρτος, ὡς φιλάνθρωπος, οὐ κατά τό αὐτό δέ πᾶσιν· ἀλλά τοῖς μέν μεγάλα ἔργα πεποιηκόσι, πλειόνως· τοῖς δέ τούτων ἥττοσι, ἡττόνως· ἑκάστῳ μέν οὖν καθώς ἡ κατά νοῦν ἀξία δέξασθαι δύναται.

Πρός ταύτην δέ με τοῦ παρόντος ῥητοῦ τήν ἔννοιαν ἤγαγεν ὁ Σωτήρ, προστάσσων διαῤῥήδην τοῖς μαθηταῖς τροφῆς αἰθητῆς 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 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· (900) 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 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·