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Holy Catechism
Nikolaos Voulgaris, tr. Daniel, 1893
Of the Lord’s Prayer
And vouchsafe to us, O Master.
As the time of Holy Communion approaches, it is fitting we should seek it from the hands of none other, only from our Master, God, speaking to Him as children adopted, and as sons by grace: Our Father, Governor and Maker, our daily bread give us to-day, which is interpreted as being the Holy Communion. The word ἐπιούσιον, John of Damascus explains, Orthodox Faith, iv. ch. 86, means either future, i.e., belonging to the future age, or what is taken for maintenance of our being. Whether it be taken one way or the other, the Body of the Lord is naturally called Daily Bread (ἐπιούσιος). And so at once is said the
Our Father.
A prayer so eminent and necessary as to be the composition of the infinite wisdom of the Word God-Man Himself. The schoolmen indeed write that it is so wonderful and fruitful in proportion as it contains in few words all that the holy Church of God prays for at length in so many services, and the Priest beseeches God and the Father to make us worthy to engage in such petition without condemnation and in boldness, in such sort that is, that we may please Him. And doubtless, if this prayer be not said with the aim unto which its Maker and God appointed it, it is no prayer, but a curse; since to say, Forgive us our debts as we too forgive our debtors, is just the same as though you had said, O my God, pardon me not, as often as from your heart you do not pardon your enemy. And you call on the devil as your father, to conclude agreeably with the words of the most holy patriarch Germanus.
Paraphrase of Our Father
1
Our Father, Which art in heaven.
A very bold cry, and exceedingly courageous, since by calling God your Father, you come at once to proclaim yourself both God’s son and Christ’s brother. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become children of God.” John i. 12. Beware henceforth, O Christian, because unless you mix deeds with words, and if you transgress the commands of God and the Father and of His spotless holy Bride, the Catholic Church, God’s adoption and the brotherhood in which you boast, becomes blasphemy to you.
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Do not suppose that God has need to be sanctified ever by our prayers. No. For God is always holy, and more than holy, holy by nature. Only we beseech that His all-holy Name may be hallowed as regards us; just as through the purifying bath of holy Baptism we were sanctified at first, so we may go on being sanctified even to the end.
Thy Kingdom come.
And when does not God reign, the great King of kings Whose Kingdom is universal and eternal? In saying then, Thy Kingdom come, we beseech Him to grant us the kingdom which He appointed us through the Blood of the Covenant of His Son, and to grant us the endless enjoyment of the good things “which eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, and which entered not into the heart of man, which God prepared for them that love Him.” 1 Cor. ii. 9.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
Or, the glorified will of God, as He wills in heaven, so be it done also by us here on earth without condemnation and without fault.
Our substantial bread give us to-day.
Here He means the spiritual bread, for Christ is our Bread; He Who said, I am the Living Bread Who came down from heaven. And by calling it substantial, (as what suits our substance, according to Suidas,) He bids us be always ready, free at every time from the soul-destroying burdens of sins, that we may be worthy of the heavenly food itself.
And forgive us our debts, as we too forgive our debtors.
This God desires from us more than anything else; and it is a clear thing in Scripture that God does not pardon any one’s debts and sins, unless he first with all his soul pardon his enemy. The parable of the ten thousand talents and the hundred pence which we find in the 18th of Matthew, guides and contributes much to this.
And lead us not into temptation.
“For God is untried in evil, and He Himself tempteth no man.” James i. 13. Nevertheless we beseech God not to bring us into temptation, or to set us free from the temptations of the devil, forasmuch as he is the tempter. Matt. iv. Whence also in Mark xiv. 38 Christ says, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”
But deliver us from evil.
This He says, since according to the Apostle, Rom. viii. 26, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought.” God Almighty is He Who through His extreme compassion frees us from whatever evil human weakness finds it impossible by natural power to avoid, even He Who lives and reigns for ever.
Peace be to all.
Peace again, because peace, John Chrysostom teaches, Col. hom. 3, is the mother of all good things.
Bow down your heads to the Lord.2
That one should bow the knee at the prayers, is a work which the Apostles and the Church from the first received, and hallowed it, and particularly on certain days according to the definition of the holy Councils and the tradition of the Church. Nevertheless in proportion as the head is more prominent than the knee, so is it more fitting to the Service now going on, when the holy Bread is lifted up, that all the Faithful should bow themselves, and with humility should lower their head with all their worldly thoughts, thus humbling both reason and heart to God, that they may receive the grace which the Priest invokes over all who bow their necks, for each one according to his several need.
This prayer, and every other which is said after Bow down your heads to the Lord, I notice gives no help at all to those who in no wise bow the head. On the contrary, by standing erect at such a time, and not bowing, they grievously sin in that they do not what the holy Church of God enjoins to be done.
Such people ought to take for their correction the example of Christ’s holy disciples themselves, who, though they were holy vessels and gods in comparison of us so mean and sinful, with what attention, with what devotion did they stand at these moments of the holy Liturgy. See what the blessed Proclus introduces about this: “The Apostles finding themselves with one accord together, betook themselves to prayers all day long, and having found the mystical celebration of the Saviour’s body consolatory, they sang it at full length. Nay, rather with joy and the greatest gladness they gave attendance to such a Divine Rite, always bearing in mind the Lord’s saying, This is My Body, and Do this in remembrance of Me, and Whoso eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me, and I in him. Wherefore also with contrite spirit they would sing many prayers, supplicating the Divine Majesty.” So we read in the treatise on the Tradition of the Holy Liturgy. And John Chrysostom, his great Teacher, 1 Cor. hom. 27: “When the Apostles partook of those holy Suppers, what did they do? did they betake themselves only to prayers and hymns? did they not resort to holy vigils, and to that long doctrine, so full of plenteous wisdom?” Consequently the holy Church too, intending at this sacred hour to lift up the holy gifts, calls out, cries with a loud voice,
Let us attend.
Let us give our attention here, let us attend, let us forsake what is earthly, let us elevate our thoughts to what is heavenly; away with words, whisperings, conversations, idle talk. “Let the deacons walk round and inspect the men and the women, that there be no disturbance; and let no one beckon or whisper or nod.” So we read in the rubrics of the Liturgy of S. Clement.
Notes
- Cyril of Jerusalem, in his often quoted Catechetics (xxiii. 11—18), has also a commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, which we introduce here as much fuller than that given above. “Our Father, Which art in heaven. What extreme love of God to man! when we had revolted from Him and were in the depth of woe, He granted such an amnesty of evil doing, and such participation of grace as for us to call upon a Father, Our Father, Which art in heaven: for such as wear the image of the heavenly, in whom God dwells and walks, would indeed be heaven. Hallowed be Thy Name. God’s Name is naturally holy, whether we call it so or not; but since by those who sin it is sometimes profaned, as it is said, For your sake My Name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles, (Isa. lii. 5,) we pray that in us God’s Name may be hallowed, not because that Name passes from not being holy to being holy, but because in us it becomes holy when we are hallowed and do things worthy of sanctification. Thy kingdom come. It belongs to the pure soul to say boldly, Thy kingdom come; for he who has listened to Paul saying, Let not sin reign then in your mortal body, (Rom. vi. 12,) but has purged himself in deed and thought and word, will say to God, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. The divine and blessed Angels of God do God’s will, as David in his song used to say, Bless the Lord, all His angels, ye that excel in strength, performing His will, (Ps. ciii. 20, 21); in reality therefore in praying you say, As in the angels Thy will is done, so also on earth be it done in us, O Master. Our substantial bread give us to-day. This common bread is not substantial, but this holy bread is substantial, instead of ‘fit to establish the substance of the soul.’ This bread passes not into the belly, nor is cast out into the draught, but is distributed throughout thy whole system for help of body and soul. And To-day stands for each day, even as Paul said, Whilst it is called to-day. (Heb. iii. 13, cf. also Luke xi. 3.) And forgive us our debts, as also we forgive our debtors. For we have many sins, for we offend both in word and in thought, and we do much worthy of condemnation; and if we say that we have not sin, we lie, as John saith. (1 John i. 8.) And we make a covenant with God, beseeching Him to forgive us our sins, as we forgive our neighbours their debts. Let us bethink ourselves therefore in return for what we receive how good a gift, and let us not delay to forgive each other. The offences committed against us are petty and trivial and easily atoned for; whereas what we have committed against God are great, requiring His loving kindness, and His alone. Beware therefore lest by reason of petty and trivial sins against thee thou shut off from thyself God’s pardon of the weightiest sins. And lead us not, O Lord, into temptation. Does the Lord teach us this, to pray that we may not at all be tempted? Then how has He said elsewhere, A man that is not tempted is unproved.* And again, Count it all joy, my brothers, when ye fall into manifold temptations? (James i. 2, 12.) But is entering into temptation being submerged by temptation? Because temptation is like a torrent hard to cross; some pass through without being submerged by temptations, excellent swimmers, as one might say, and without being entirely swept away by them. Whereas those who are not of this sort, enter in and are submerged; as for example, Judas entered into the temptation of avarice and could not swim across, but was submerged and drowned body and soul. Peter entered into the temptation of denial, but though he entered, he was not submerged, but nobly swam across and was delivered from the temptation. Hear again elsewhere, a company of perfect saints (perhaps, a whole company of saints) giving thanks for deliverance from temptation. Thou, O God, hast proved us, hast tried us like as silver is tried; Thou broughtest us into the snare; Thou laidest afflictions upon our back; Thou madest men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, and Thou broughtest us out into refreshment. (Ps. lxvi. 10—12.) Dost thou see them emboldened because they passed through and tarried not?† And Thou broughtest us out, he says, into refreshment. For them to come into refreshment is to be delivered from temptation. But deliver us from the evil. If Lead us not into temptation, implied not to be tempted at all, He would not have added, But deliver us from the evil. The evil one is our adversary the devil, from whom we pray to be delivered. Then after finishing the prayer, you say, Amen, setting your seal by the Amen, which means, So be it, to what is contained in the God-taught prayer.” Many others too of the Fathers have given interpretations of the Lord’s Prayer.
* [This quotation, resembling Ecclus. xxxiv. 9, 10, is referred to by Greg. Naz. Ep. 215; Dam. De Fide, ii. 30; Ephr. De pœn. et pat. p. 151; Ruff. De bened. Patr. II.—Ed.]
† For ἐμπαρῆναι, Migne conjectures ἐμπαγῆναι, stuck not fast. - In the Euchology it is written, Let us bow down our heads to the Lord, which is evidently more correct, because all the exhortations to the faithful, the deacon and priest pronounce in the first person, saying, Let us beseech, and let us attend, and let us hear, and let us stand orderly, and let us lift up our hearts, and let us give thanks, as being themselves also included.