The Lord's Prayer

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

SUMMARY: In the Lord's Prayer is included a short summary of the whole Gospel. Tertullian: The Lord teaches us about the Father who is in heaven. Irenaeus: It is beyond dispute, then, that the Lord is the Son of the Creator. Clement of Alexandria: The Father is always the Father since the Son is always with Him. Because of the Son He is called the Father. Alexander of Alexandria: The Father is above all. Hippolytus: We are not allowed to pray to anyone else. Origen: When we call God Father, we should act like God's children. Cyprian: What moreover does God want except that we should live according to His discipline? Tertullian: The one who prays for the coming of the Kingdom of God prays for the rising, fruit-bearing, and perfecting of God's Kingdom within him. Origen: We ask that the Kingdom of God may be shown to us, just as we also ask that His name may be made holy in us. Cyprian: Give us today our daily needful bread, or the food of today. The Didache and Tatian: We are commanded to ask for what is enough to keep the body alive, not for luxury. Hippolytus, Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian also believed Christ is the daily bread for Christians. It was not only in words but also in actions that the Lord taught us to pray. Cyprian: He has taught us to say in prayer, "And forgive us our debts, since He is our Father." We were His debtors because we broke His commandments. Irenaeus: A Christian never holds onto the memory of those who have sinned against him, but forgives them. Clement of Alexandria: The Lord knew Himself to be the only one without guilt, and so He teaches that we ask to have our debts forgiven. Tertullian: Let us pray for nothing else but pardon for our sins, even if we have none. Lactantius: Lead us not into temptation, that is, do not allow us to be led into it by the one who tempts, but it should never even be thought that the Lord would seem to tempt. Tertullian: Therefore, we should pray, not that we would not be tempted—that is impossible—but that we would not be surrounded and overcome by temptation. Origen: It is shown that the adversary can do nothing against us unless God has permitted it first. Cyprian: And when we say, "Deliver us from evil," nothing more remains that should be asked. Cyprian: Three times a day, pray like this. The Didache: For a longer discussion, see Origen on Prayer, 12 through 19, Tertullian, and Cyprian. The Didache: Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done as in heaven, so on earth. Give us today our daily needful bread, and forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, or evil. For Yours is the power and the glory forever. Three times a day, pray like this.

IRENAEUS: That God is the Creator of the world is accepted even by those very people who in many ways speak against Him, and yet they still acknowledge Him; they call Him the Creator and an angel. Not to mention that all the Scriptures say the same thing, and the Lord teaches us about this Father who is in heaven and no other.

TATIAN: now pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy; may your kingdom come; may your will be done, as in heaven so also on earth. Give us the food we need today, and forgive us our trespasses as we have forgiven those who trespassed against us; and do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: and the Lord says in His prayer, "Our Father in heaven," and the heavens belong to Him who created the world; therefore, it is indisputable that the Lord is the Son of the Creator.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: But set apart the Lord Christ, he says, in your hearts. For you have this, in the Lord's Prayer: hallowed be your name.

TERTULLIAN: The Father wanted people to think of the Son as being on earth, and of himself as being in heaven. The Son also looked up to heaven. He prayed and made requests to the Father. He also taught us to lift ourselves up to the Father and pray, "Our Father in heaven," and so on, even though he is truly present everywhere. The Father wanted heaven to be his own throne. At the same time, he made the Son a little lower than the angels by sending him down to the earth. But he also meant at the same time to crown him with glory and honor, even by taking him back to heaven.

TERTULLIAN: In the Lord's Prayer, there is a summary of the whole Gospel. The prayer begins with a witness about God and with the reward of faith when we say, "Our Father in the heavens." When we say this, we are at the same time praying to God and praising faith, because this name is faith's reward. It is written: "To them who believed on Him He gave power to be called sons of God." However, our Lord very often announced God as a Father to us. More than that, He even gave a command that we call no one on earth Father but the Father whom we have in the heavens. So, when we pray this way, we are also obeying the command. Happy are those who recognize their Father. This is the charge brought against Israel. The Spirit calls heaven and earth as witnesses, saying, "I have begotten sons, and they have not recognized me." Also, when we say Father, we also call Him God. This name shows both a child's duty and God's power. Again, when we call on the Father, we are also calling on the Son, "For I," He says, "and the Father are one." When we say, "Hallowed be Your name," we are praying for this, that His name may be honored as holy in us who are in Him and also in all others for whom the grace of God is still waiting. We pray this so that we may also obey the command to pray for all, even for our personal enemies. And so, with careful words, we do not say, "Hallowed be it in us," we say, "In all."

HIPPOLYTUS: I will not speak of two gods, but of one. However, I will speak of two persons, and of a third economy, namely, the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Father is one, but there are two persons, because there is also the Son. Then there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees. The Word carries it out, and the Son is shown, through whom the Father is believed in. The economy of harmony is brought back to one God, because God is one. It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding. The Father is above all, and the Son is through all, and the Holy Spirit is in all. We cannot think of one God in any other way than by truly believing in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

ORIGEN: After learning to call these beings "angels" because of the work they do, we find that, because they are divine, they are sometimes called "God" in the Holy Scriptures. But this does not mean we are commanded to honor and worship, in place of God, those who serve us and bring us His blessings. Every prayer and request and intercession and thanksgiving must be sent up to the Supreme God through the High Priest. He is above all the angels; He is the Living Word and God. We must also pray to the Word Himself; we must make intercessions to Him and offer thanksgivings and requests to Him, if we are able to tell the difference between the right use of prayer and the wrong use of prayer. To call on angels without having gained knowledge of their nature that is greater than what people have would be against reason. But, in keeping with our view, suppose this knowledge of them is gained, even though it is something wonderful and mysterious. Then this knowledge, by making their nature known to us and the duties each one is appointed to do, will not allow us to pray with confidence to anyone other than the Supreme God. He is enough for all things, and we pray to Him through our Savior, the Son of God.

ORIGEN: Pray to the Word of God, who is able to heal, and even more to his Father.

ORIGEN: Celsus, a pagan critic, forgets that he is speaking to Christians who pray to God alone through Jesus.

ORIGEN: But if we give thanks to people who are saints, how much more should we give thanks to Christ, who, under the Father's will, has given us so many blessings? Yes, and we should also speak with Him as Stephen did when he said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Following the example of the father of the boy with the evil spirit, we will say, "I ask, Lord, have mercy, either on my son or on myself," or whatever the situation is. But if we take prayer in its full meaning, we should never pray to any created being, not even to Christ Himself; we should pray only to the God and Father of all. Our Savior both prayed to Him Himself, as we have already shown, and He teaches us to pray to Him. When He heard someone say, "Teach us to pray," He did not teach people to pray to Himself; instead, He taught them to pray to the Father, saying, "Our Father in heaven," and so on. For if, as is shown elsewhere, the Son is different from the Father in being and essence, then prayer must be made either to the Son and not the Father, or to both, or to the Father alone. Everyone will admit that praying to the Son and not the Father is very wrong. It should only be suggested by someone who is going against clear truth. If we pray to both, it is clear we would have to speak in the plural. In our prayers, we would have to say, "Grant you both, bless you both, supply you both, save you both," or something like that. That is obviously wrong. Also, no one can show that such words are found in the Scriptures as something anyone ever said. So, it remains that we should pray to God alone, the Father of all. But we should not pray to the Father without the High Priest. The Father appointed this High Priest with an oath, according to the words: "He has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." So, in giving thanks to God during their prayers, saints recognize His gifts through Christ Jesus. In the same way, a person who is careful about prayer should not pray to someone who also prays; instead, that person should pray to the Father, the one our Lord Jesus taught us to call on in our prayers. But we also must not offer any prayer to the Father without Him. He clearly shows this when He says, "Truly, truly I tell you, whatever you may ask of my Father, He will give you in my name. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be full."

ORIGEN: Our Father in Heaven. It is worth looking carefully at the so-called Old Testament to see whether we can find anywhere in it a prayer where someone speaks to God as Father. Even though I have searched as well as I can, up to now I have not found one. I am not saying that God is never spoken of as Father. I am also not saying that believers in God are not called sons of God. I am saying that I have not yet found, in prayer, that confident way of calling God Father that the Savior has announced. That God is spoken of as Father, and that those who have waited for God's word are spoken of as sons, can be seen in many places. For example, in Deuteronomy: "You have forsaken God your parent and forgotten God your nourisher." And again: "Is he not your father himself that got you and made you and created you?" And again: "Sons who have not faith in them." And in Isaiah: "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." And in Malachi: "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear?" So then, even though God is called Father, and they are called sons because they have been begotten because of their faith in Him, still. Sure and unchangeable. Sonship is not seen in the ancient people. The very passages I have quoted show the subjection of those so-called sons. This is because, according to the apostle, the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. But the fullness of time is in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then those who desire it receive adoption as sons, as Paul teaches in the words: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery unto fear, but you received a spirit of adoption as sons, wherein we cry, Abba Father." And as it says in the Gospel according to John: "To as many as received Him, He gave authority to become children of God, if believers on His name." And because of this spirit of adoption as sons, we learn in the Catholic epistle of John about those begotten of God that: "Everyone that is begotten of God does no sin because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God." And yet, if we think about the meaning of the words written in Luke, when you pray, say Father, we will hesitate to use this expression to Him unless we have become true sons. Otherwise, in addition to our other sins, we might also become guilty of impiety. Here is what I mean. In the first epistle to Corinthians, Paul says: "No one can say, Jesus is Lord save in a Holy Spirit, and no one that speaks in God's Spirit says, Cursed be Jesus calling the same thing a Holy Spirit and God's Spirit." What it means to speak in a Holy Spirit and say that Jesus is Lord is not completely clear. Countless actors and many heterodox people say the words. Sometimes even demons, conquered by the power in the name, say the expression. So no one will dare to say that any of these calls Jesus Lord in a Holy Spirit. For the same reason, they could not be shown to call Jesus Lord at all. Only those truly called Jesus Lord who say it from an inner attitude of serving the word of God, and who, in all their behavior, proclaim no other Lord than Him. And if only such people say Jesus is Lord, then it may be that everyone who sins, because he curses the divine word by his wrongdoing, has by his actions cried out, Cursed be Jesus. And so, just as one kind of person says Jesus is Lord, and the person with the opposite attitude says, Cursed be Jesus. In the same way, everyone that has been begotten of God and does not sin, because he shares in God's seed that turns him away from all sin, says by his way of life, Our Father in Heaven. The Spirit itself witnesses with their spirit that they are children of God, heirs to Him, and joint heirs with Christ. Since they suffer with Him, they reasonably hope that with Him they will also be glorified. But so that their saying Our Father is not one-sided, they also have, along with their actions, a heart. This heart is a fountain and source of good actions. It believes to righteousness, and in agreement with that, their mouth makes confession to salvation. Let us, therefore, not think that we are being taught words to say only at some set time of prayer. On the contrary, if we understand what we said earlier about praying without ceasing, then let our whole life, as a prayer without ceasing, speak the words Our Father in the heavens. Let this life have its citizenship in no way on earth, but in every way in heaven. Heaven is God's throne because the kingdom of God is founded in all who wear the image of the heavenly one, and therefore become heavenly. When the Father of Saints is said to be in the heavens, we must not suppose that He is limited by a material form and lives inside heaven.

ORIGEN: "Hallowed be your name." This may mean either that what we pray for has not happened yet, or that after it happens, it might not last. In that case, the request is that it would be kept. But the wording here makes it clear that we are told, according to Matthew and Luke, that is, to say "Hallowed be your name," with the idea that the Father's name has not yet been hallowed. Then someone might say, how should a person ask for God's name to be hallowed, as if it is not already hallowed? Let us understand what the Father's name means, and what it means for it to be hallowed. A name is a short description that points to the special character of the thing that is named. For example, the Apostle Paul has a special character. Part of it is his soul, which is a certain kind. Part of it is his mind, which thinks about certain things. Part of it is his body, which is also a certain kind. It is what is special in these traits, the one-of-a-kind combination, because there is no other being exactly the same as Paul that is shown by the name Paul. But with people whose special traits can change, their names also, by a proper use, are changed according to Scripture. When Abram's character was changed, he was called Abraham. When Simon's was changed, he was named Peter. And when Saul, the persecutor of Jesus, was changed, he was called Paul. But with God, since he is always unchangeable and cannot be altered, the proper name that he may be said to have is always one and the same. It is the one mentioned in Exodus: "He that is," or something like it. Therefore, even though we all have some idea of God and we think about him in different ways, we do not all understand what he truly is. Few, yes, fewer than few, understand his complete holiness. So we are rightly taught to reach a holy understanding of him. Then we may see his holiness as Creator, Provider, Judge, Elector, Abandoner, Accepter, Rejector, Rewarder, and Punisher of each person according to what he deserves. In these and similar words, God's special character may be said to be outlined. I take this to be the meaning of the phrase "God's name," according to the Scriptures. In Exodus, it says, "Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." In Deuteronomy, it says, "Be my utterance awaited as rain, as dew let my words descend, as showers upon herbage, and as moisture upon grass. For I have called on the Lord's name," and in Psalms it says, "They shall remember your name in every generation." On prayer.

CYPRIAN: Let each one of us pray to God not only for himself but for all the brothers and sisters. The Lord has taught us to pray this way. He tells each one of us not to pray only in private. Instead, when we pray, He commands us to pray for everyone together, with shared prayer and united asking. If the Lord looks at us and sees that we are humble and peaceable, that we are joined to one another, and that we fear His anger, then He will keep us safe from the enemy's attacks. If we are corrected and changed by the trouble we are going through now, He will keep us safe from the enemy's disturbances. Discipline has come first; pardon will also follow. So let us keep asking without stopping. Let us ask with full faith that we will receive. In simplicity and unity, let us beg the Lord, asking Him not only with groans but with tears.

CYPRIAN: He, along with his other saving warnings and divine commands by which he guides his people for their salvation, also gave a pattern for prayer. He himself advised and taught us what we should pray for. He who made us live also taught us to pray with the same kindness by which he has chosen to give and grant all other things. He did this so that when we speak to the Father in the prayer and request that the Son has taught us, we may be heard more easily. He had already foretold that the hour was coming when the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He then fulfilled what he had promised before. So we, who by his making us holy have received the Spirit and truth, may also by his teaching worship truly and spiritually. What prayer could be more spiritual than the one given to us by Christ, by whom the Holy Spirit was also given to us? What prayer to the Father could be more truthful than the one given to us by the Son, who is the truth spoken from his own mouth? So, to pray in a different way than he taught is not only ignorance; it is also sin. For he himself has established this and said, "You reject the commandments of God, that you may keep your own traditions." Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, let us pray as God our Teacher has taught us. It is a loving and friendly prayer to ask God using his own word so that it rises to his ears in the prayer of Christ. Let the Father recognize the words of his Son when we pray, and let him who lives within our chest also live in our voice. And since we have him as an advocate with the Father for our sins, let us, when we sinners ask about our sins, present the words of our advocate. For since he says that whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in his name, he will give us, how much more effectively do we receive what we ask in Christ's name if we ask for it in his own prayer? Before all things, the Teacher of peace and the Master of unity did not want prayer to be made alone and separately, as if someone praying should pray only for himself. For we do not say, "My Father in heaven," nor "Give me this day my daily bread." Each person does not ask that only his own debt should be forgiven, and he does not request only for himself that he may not be led into temptation and delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and shared. When we pray, we do not pray for one person, but for the whole people, because we, the whole people, are one. The God of peace and the Teacher of agreement, who taught unity, wanted one person to pray this way for all, just as he himself carried us all in one. After this manner, he says, "Pray, our Father in heaven." The new person, born again and brought back to his God by his grace, says Father first, because he has now begun to be a son. He came, he says, to his own, and his own did not receive him; but as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. So the person who has believed in his name and has become God's son should, from this point on, begin both to give thanks and to say openly that he is God's son. He does this by declaring that God is his Father in heaven. He also gives witness in the very first words of his new birth that he has turned away from an earthly and fleshly father. He has begun to know and to have as Father only him who is in heaven, as it is written. They who say to their father and their mother, "I have not known you," and who have not acknowledged their own children, these have observed your precepts and have kept your covenant. Also, the Lord in his gospel has commanded us to call no man our father upon earth, because there is to us one Father who is in heaven. And to the disciple who mentioned his dead father, he replied, "Let the dead bury their dead." For the disciple had said that his father was dead, while the Father of believers is living. Nor should we, beloved brothers and sisters, only notice and understand that we should call him Father who is in heaven. We also add to it and say, "Our Father," that is, the Father of those who believe. These are the ones who, being made holy by him and restored by the birth of spiritual grace, have begun to be sons of God. This word also rebukes and condemns the Jews. They not only, in unbelief, rejected Christ, who had been announced to them by the prophets and sent first to them, but they also cruelly put him to death. These cannot now call God their Father, since the Lord exposes and refutes them, saying, "You are born of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do." For he was a murderer from the beginning and did not abide in the truth, because there is no truth in him. And through Isaiah, the prophet God cries in anger, "I have begotten and brought up children, but they have despised me. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel has not known me, and my people have not understood me." Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with sins, a wicked seed, corrupt children. You have forsaken the Lord; you have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. In rejection of these, we Christians, when we pray, say our Father, because he has begun to be ours. And he has stopped being the father of the Jews who have forsaken him. Nor can a sinful people be a son. But the name sons is given to those whose sins are forgiven and to whom immortality is promised again in the words of our Lord himself: "Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin." And the servant does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. But how great is the Lord's patience and mercy! How great his lowering of himself and his overflowing goodness toward us! He has wanted us to pray before God in such a way that we call God Father and call ourselves sons of God, even as Christ is the Son of God. None of us would dare to use this name in prayer unless he himself had allowed us to pray this way. So then, beloved brothers and sisters, we should remember and know that when we call God Father, we should act like God's children. Then, as we take joy in thinking of God as a Father, he may also be able to take joy in us. After this, we say, "Hallowed be your name." We do not mean that God needs to be made holy by our prayers; instead, we ask him that his name may be made holy in us. But who makes God holy, since he himself makes others holy? Still, because he says, "Be holy even as I am holy," we ask and beg that we, who were made holy in baptism, may continue in what we began to be. We pray this every day, because we need daily holiness. We fall short every day, and we need our sins washed away by ongoing holiness. The apostle explains what this holiness is, which is given to us by God's kindness, when he says, "Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor deceivers, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such indeed were you; but you are washed, but you are justified, but you are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." He says that we are made holy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. We pray that this holiness will remain in us. And because our Lord and Judge warns the man who was healed and made alive by him to sin no more, so that something worse does not happen to him, we make this request in our constant prayers. We ask this day and night that the holiness and new life received from the grace of God may be kept safe by his protection.

CYPRIAN: The Lord taught us to pray not only with words but also with actions. He often prayed and asked God for help. In this way, by the witness of His own example, He showed us what we needed to do. As it is written, "But he himself departed into a solitary place, and there prayed; and again he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." But if he prayed, who was without sin, how much more should sinners pray? And if he prayed continually, staying awake through the whole night with unbroken requests, how much more should we stay awake at night in constantly repeated prayer? But the Lord prayed and asked not for Himself. Why should He who was guiltless pray for His own sake? Instead, He prayed for our sins. He Himself said this when He said to Peter, "Look, Satan has desired that he might sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith does not fail." After that, He asks the Father for everyone, saying, "Neither do I pray for these alone, but for them also which will believe on Me through their word, that they all may be one; as you, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us." The Lord's lovingkindness, no less than His mercy, is great for our salvation. He was not satisfied to redeem us with His blood; He also prayed for us. Look now at what He wanted in His request. Just as the Father and the Son are one, so we should remain in complete unity. From this, we can understand how greatly a person sins who breaks unity and peace. The Lord Himself asked for this very thing. He surely wanted His people to be saved in this way and to live in peace because He knew that discord cannot enter the kingdom of God.

ARCHELAUS: The Lord Jesus taught people to pray: "When you pray, say, 'Our Father in heaven,' and again, 'Pray to your Father who is in secret.'"

ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA: The Father is always the Father. He is the Father because the Son is always with Him. Because of the Son, He is called the Father. Therefore, since the Son is always with Him, the Father is always perfect. He lacks nothing in anything good. He has begotten His only begotten Son not in time, not after any interval, and not from things that are not.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The earthly church is an image of the heavenly church. We also pray that the will of God may be done on the earth as in heaven. Therefore, put on hearts of mercy, gentleness, humility, meekness, and patience. Put up with one another and forgive one another if anyone has a complaint against someone, just as Christ has forgiven us, so we should forgive. Above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. You are called to this peace in one body, and be thankful.

TERTULLIAN: Following this pattern, we add, "Your will be done in the heavens and on the earth." This does not mean there is some power fighting against God to stop His will, and it does not mean we are praying that He will succeed in doing His will. Instead, we pray that His will would be done in everyone. What does God will, except that we should live according to His discipline? So we ask that He would give us what His will requires and the ability to do it. We ask this so that we may be saved both in the heavens and on earth. The main point of His will is the salvation of those whom He has adopted. The Lord also, when He wanted to show us, even in His own flesh, how weak the flesh is by truly suffering, said, "Father, remove your cup." Then, remembering Himself, He added, "Not my will, but your will be done." He Himself was the will and the power of the Father. And yet, to show the patience that was required, He gave Himself up to the Father's will. "Your kingdom come" also points to the same thing: that "your will be done" points to, that is, in us. For when does God not reign, since the heart of every king is in His hand? But whatever we want for ourselves, we also ask for Him, and we give Him credit for what we expect from Him. So, if the revealing of the Lord's kingdom belongs to the will of God and to our eager expectation, how can some people pray for the age to be extended, when the kingdom of God, which we pray will come, moves toward the completion of the age? We want our reign to come sooner, not our slavery to last longer. Even if the Lord's prayer had not told us to ask for the coming of the kingdom, we still would have cried out for it on our own, hurrying toward the fulfillment of our hope. The souls of the martyrs under the altar cry out with strong desire to the Lord: "How long, Lord, do You not avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" Of course, their avenging is set by the end of the age. "No, Lord, let Your kingdom come quickly." This is the prayer of Christians, the shame of the pagans, and the joy of angels. It is for this kingdom that we suffer. And even more, it is for this kingdom that we pray.

ORIGEN: Your kingdom come. According to the word of our Lord and Savior, the kingdom of God does not come in a way you can watch with your eyes. People will not say, "Look, it is here," or "Look, it is there." Instead, the kingdom of God is within us, for the message is very near in our mouth and in our heart. So it is clear that the person who prays for the coming of the kingdom of God is, with good reason, praying for God's kingdom within him to rise up, to bear fruit, and to be made complete. Every saint is ruled by God, obeys God's spiritual laws, and lives like a well-ordered city. The Father is present with that person, and Christ rules together with the Father in the soul that has been made complete. This is according to the saying I mentioned a little earlier: "We will come to Him and make our home with Him." By God's kingdom I mean the blessed condition of the mind and the steady order of wise thinking. By Christ's kingdom I mean the speaking of words of salvation to those who hear, and the doing of righteous acts, and the other excellencies. For the Son of God is word and righteousness. We are traveling toward perfection if we forget what is behind and press on toward what is ahead. Therefore, the kingdom of God within us will be brought to completion in us as we keep moving forward without stopping. This will happen when the saying in the apostle is fulfilled, that Christ, after all His enemies have been made subject to Him, will deliver the kingdom to God the Father so that God may be all in all. For this reason, let us pray without ceasing, with a heart made godly by the word. Let us say to our Father in heaven, "Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come." About the kingdom of God, it should also be said, to make a clear distinction, that just as righteousness has no partnership with lawlessness, and light has no community with darkness, and Christ has no argument with Belial, so a kingdom of sin cannot fit together with the kingdom of God. So, if we want to be ruled by God, we must not let sin rule in our mortal body. We must not obey sin's commands when it calls our soul out to do the works of the flesh, which are foreign to God. Instead, let us put to death the parts of us that belong to the earth. Let us bear the fruits of the Spirit so that the Lord may walk in us like in a spiritual garden. May He rule over us alone, with His Christ seated within us at the right hand of the spiritual power that we pray to receive. May He sit there until all His enemies within us become a footstool for His feet, and until every rule and authority and power is removed from us. These things can happen in each of us. Then death, the last energy, will be removed so that Christ may also say within us, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" Even now, therefore, let what is corruptible in us put on the holiness and incorruptibility that consists in chastity and purity. Let what is mortal in us, with death removed, wrap itself in the Father's immortality. Then, being ruled by God, we may even now live among the blessings of regeneration and resurrection. On prayer.

ORIGEN: "Your will be done on earth also as in heaven." After the line, "Your kingdom come," Luke skips these words and instead puts the line, "Give us daily our needful bread." Therefore, let us look next, step by step, at the words I put first, which are written only in Matthew. As people who are still on earth and who are asking God for help, we believe that God's will is done in heaven among all the household of the heavens. So let us pray that God's will may be done by us also who are on earth in the same way it is done by them. This will happen when we do nothing that goes against His will. And when the will of God, as it is in heaven, has been carried out by us also who are on earth, we will inherit a kingdom of heaven. We will do this because, like them, we have worn the image of the Heavenly One. Meanwhile, those who come after us on earth will be praying to become, in their turn, like us who have come to be in heaven. Everyone in the church ought to pray to receive the Father's will in the same way Christ has done. Christ came to do the will of His Father, and He completed it fully. Because it is possible, by being joined to Him, to become one spirit with Him. We can be able to receive the will. The goal is that, just as it has been completed in heaven, so it may be completed on earth also. For the one who is joined to the Lord, according to Paul, is one spirit. For the one who sins, wherever he may be, is earth, and he will somehow turn into what is like earth unless he repents. But the one who does the will of God and does not disobey the spiritual laws of salvation is heaven. Therefore, whether we are still earth because of sin, let us pray that the will of God may bring restoration to us also, just as it has already reached those who have become heaven, or who are heaven, before us. Or if God already counts us as not earth but heaven, then let our request be that, in the same way as in heaven, the will of God may also be fulfilled on earth. By "on earth" I mean in lower things. Let it be fulfilled up to what I might call earths being made into heaven, so that there will no longer be earth, but all things become heaven.

ORIGEN: We are taught to say in the Lord's Prayer, "Your kingdom come." It is as if it has not yet come. And the Lord Himself, when He began to preach, does not say, "The kingdom of heaven has come." Instead, He says, "The kingdom of heaven has come near." But the present time, I would say, seems not so much like a time of ruling as a time of war. This is because the rule of death is now broken in part and is being slowly destroyed. Before, that rule had spread out to all people. This agrees with the words of Scripture: "For he must reign until he puts every enemy under his feet."

CYPRIAN: Next in the prayer comes: "Your kingdom come." We ask that the Kingdom of God may be shown to us, just as we also ask that His name may be made holy in us. Because when does God not rule, or when does something begin with Him that has always been and never stops being? We pray that our kingdom may come. God has promised it to us. It was bought by the blood and suffering of Christ. We, who are first His people in the world, will later rule with Christ when He rules. He Himself promises and says, "Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world." But Christ Himself, dearest believers, may be the Kingdom of God. We day by day want Him to come. We long for His coming to be quickly shown to us. Since He is the resurrection, and since in Him we rise again, so the Kingdom of God can also be understood to be Him. Because in Him we will rule. But we do well to seek the Kingdom of God, that is the heavenly kingdom. There is also an earthly kingdom. But the one who has already turned away from the world is greater than its honors and its kingdom. Therefore, the one who gives Himself to God and Christ does not desire earthly kingdoms but heavenly kingdoms. But we need continual prayer and asking so that we do not fall away from the heavenly kingdom. The Jews, to whom this promise was first given, fell away. The Lord explains and proves this: "Many," He says, "will come from the east and from the west, and will recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." He shows that the Jews were once children of the kingdom as long as they continued to be children of God. But after the name of Father stopped being recognized among them, the kingdom also stopped. Therefore, we Christians, who in our prayer begin to call God our Father, also pray that God's kingdom may come to us. We also add and say, "Your will be done, as in heaven so in earth." This does not mean that God should do what He wants. It means that we may be able to do what God wants. For who can resist God so that He cannot do what He wants? But since the devil keeps us from obeying God's will in all things, in our thoughts and actions, we pray and ask that God's will may be done in us. And for His will to be done in us, we need God's good will, that is, His help and protection. No one is strong by his own strength. A person is safe by the grace and mercy of God. And further, the Lord, showing the weakness of the human nature He carried, says, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." And giving an example to His disciples that they should not do their own will, but God's, He went on to say, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." And in another place He says, "I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Now, if the son obeyed to do his father's will, how much more should the servant obey to do his master's will? In his epistle, John also urges and teaches us to do the will of God, saying, "Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world." If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the ambition of life, which is not of the Father but of the lust of the world. And the world will pass away and the lust thereof. But he that does the will of God abides forever, even as God also abides forever. We, who want to live forever, should do the will of God, who lives forever. Now, the will of God is what Christ both did and taught. It is this: humility in daily life, steadiness in faith, modesty in words, justice in actions, mercy in works, discipline in morals, being unable to do wrong and being able to endure wrong when it is done, keeping peace with the brothers and sisters, loving God with all one's heart, loving Him because He is a Father, fearing Him because He is God, preferring nothing at all to Christ because He did not prefer anything to us, holding tightly to His love without letting go, standing by His cross bravely and faithfully when there is any struggle for His name and honor, showing in speech the firmness by which we confess, in torture the confidence by which we fight, in death the patience by which we are crowned. This is to desire to be fellow heirs with Christ. This is to do the commandment of God. This is to carry out the will of the Father.

CYPRIAN: in the Gospel according to John: "I did not come down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." On this same matter, according to Matthew: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will." Also in the daily prayer: "Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." Also according to Matthew: "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, he will enter into the kingdom of heaven." Also according to Luke: "But that servant who knows his lord's will, and did not obey his will, will be beaten with many stripes." In the epistle of John: "But he who does the will of God remains forever, even as he himself also remains forever."

HIPPOLYTUS: For this reason, we are commanded to ask for what is enough to keep the body alive. We should not ask for luxury. We should ask for food that replaces what the body loses and keeps us from dying of hunger. We should not ask for rich tables that stir up and push us toward pleasures. We should not ask for things that make the body grow wild against the soul. Instead, we should ask for bread, and we should not ask for it for a great number of years, but only what is enough for us today.

TERTULLIAN: But how beautifully divine wisdom has arranged the order of the prayer. After heavenly things, that is, after the name of God, the will of God, and the kingdom of God, it also gives earthly needs a place for a request. For the Lord also gave this command: "Seek first the kingdom, and then even these shall be added." Still, we may better understand: "Give us this day our daily bread in a spiritual way." For Christ is our bread, because Christ is life, and bread is life. I am, He says, the bread of life. And a little above, the bread is the word of the living God, who came down from the heavens. Then we also find that His body is counted as bread. This is my body. And so, when we ask for daily bread, we ask to remain in Christ forever, and not be separated from His body. But because that phrase can also be understood in a physical sense, it cannot be used that way without a faithful reminder of spiritual training. For the Lord commands that we pray for bread, which is the only food believers truly need. For all other things the nations seek after. He teaches the same lesson by examples, and He repeats it in parables when He says: "Does a father take away bread from his children and hand it to dogs?" And again: "Does a father give his son a stone when he asks for bread?" In this way He shows what children expect from their father. Yes, even the person who knocked at night knocked for bread. Also, He rightly added: "Give us this day," since He had already said: "Take no careful thought about the morrow, what you are to eat." He also connected this to the parable of the man who thought about making his barns bigger for his coming harvest, and about times of long-lasting safety. But that very night, he dies.

TERTULLIAN: How unworthy is the way you twist the fact that the Lord ate and drank freely to support your own lust! But I think he must also have fasted because he has called blessed not the full, but the hungry and thirsty. He was used to saying that food was not what his disciples thought it was; instead, it was the complete doing of the Father's work. He also taught us to work for the food which lasts to eternal life. In our regular prayer, he also commands us to ask for bread, not for wealth, for.

ORIGEN: "Give us today our needful bread," or as Luke has it, "Give us daily our needful bread." Some people think this means we should pray for physical bread. Their mistaken opinion should be removed, and the truth about the needful bread should be explained in the following way. We can ask them this question: How can it be that he, who says that heavenly and great things should be asked for, now, on their view, seems to have forgotten his teaching and commands us to pray to the Father for something earthly and small? The bread that becomes part of our flesh is not a heavenly thing, and it is not asking for a great thing to request it. For my part, I will follow the teacher's own teaching about the bread. I will quote the passages in detail. "To the men who came to Capernaum to look for him," he says in the Gospel according to John, "truly, truly, I tell you, you seek me not because you saw signs but because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled." For the one who has eaten and been filled with the loaves of bread that have been blessed by Jesus seeks even more to hold on to the Son of God more closely and hurries toward him. Therefore he commands, "Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." Then those who heard asked, "What are we to do that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. As it is written in Psalms, 'God sent his word and healed them, that is, the sick.' And believers in that word do the works of God. These works are food that lasts to eternal life." "And my Father," he says, "gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. It is true bread that feeds the true man, who is made in God's image. And the one who is fed by it also becomes like the Creator." What feeds the soul more than the word? What is more valuable to the mind of the one who can receive it than the wisdom of God? What fits our rational nature better than truth? If someone objects to this view and says that, in that case, he would not teach people to ask for needful bread as if it were something other than himself, we should notice this. In the Gospel according to John, he sometimes speaks as if the bread were something other than himself, but at other times he speaks as if he himself is the bread. He speaks in the first way in these words: "Moses has given you the bread from heaven, yet not the true bread, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." He speaks in the second way to those who said to him, "Ever give us this bread." He says, "I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall not hunger, and he that believes in me shall not thirst." And shortly after, "I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live to eternity. Yes, and the bread which I shall give is my flesh which I shall give for the sake of the life of the world."

CYPRIAN: As the prayer continues, we ask and say, "Give us this day our daily bread." This can be understood in two ways, both spiritual and literal. Either way of understanding it is full of divine help for our salvation. For Christ is the bread of life. This bread does not belong to all people, but it is ours. Just as we say, "Our Father," because He is the Father of those who understand and believe, so we also call it "Our Bread," because Christ is the bread of those who are united with His body. We ask that this bread should be given to us daily. We who are in Christ also receive the Eucharist daily as the food of salvation. We ask this so that we may not, because of some terrible sin coming in between, be kept back. We do not want to be held back and not share in communion. We do not want to be kept from taking part in the heavenly bread. If that happened, we could be separated from Christ's body. He Himself predicts and warns, "I am the bread of life which came down from heaven. If any man eat of my bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Therefore, when He says that whoever will eat of His bread will live forever, it is clear that those who take part in His body and receive the Eucharist by the right of communion are living. But on the other hand, we must fear and pray. We must fear and pray that anyone who is kept from communion and is separated from Christ's body might remain far from salvation. He Himself also threatens and says, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you." And so we ask that our bread, that is Christ, may be given to us daily. We ask this so that we who remain and live in Christ may not leave His holiness and His body. But this can also be understood in another way. We who have renounced the world and have thrown away its riches and its showy pride in the faith of spiritual grace should ask only for food and support for ourselves. The Lord teaches us and says, "Whosoever does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple." But the one who has begun to be Christ's disciple, giving up all things according to the word of his Master, ought to ask for daily food. He should not stretch the desires of his request out over a long time. The Lord again commands this and says, "Take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow itself shall take thought for itself; sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: A Christian never keeps thinking about those who have sinned against him. Instead, he forgives them. Therefore, he rightly prays and says, "Forgive us, for we also forgive." This is also one of the things God wants: to want nothing that belongs to someone else, and to hate no one. For all people are the work of one will.

TERTULLIAN: The Lord knew Himself to be the only one without guilt, so He teaches that we ask to have our debts forgiven. A request for pardon is a full confession, because the person who asks for pardon fully admits his guilt. In the same way, repentance is shown to be pleasing to God. God wants repentance rather than the death of the sinner. Also, in the Scriptures, debt is a picture of guilt. This is because guilt is owed to the sentence of judgment, and judgment demands payment. Guilt does not escape the justice of this demand unless the demand is forgiven. It is like the Lord who forgave that slave's debt in the parable. This is what the whole parable is aiming at. There is also this fact: that same servant, after being set free by his Lord, does not show the same mercy to his own debtor. Because of that, he is blamed before his Lord. Then he is handed over to the tormentor to pay the very last farthing. That means every guilt, even the smallest one. This matches what we say when we pray, "We also forgive our debtors." In fact, in another place, in agreement with this form of prayer, he says, "Forgive, and you will be forgiven." And when Peter asked whether forgiveness should be given to a brother seven times, he said, "Rather, seventy-seven times." He said this to reshape the law for the better. In Genesis, vengeance was set at seven times for Cain, but for Lamech it was seventy-seven times.

ORIGEN: "And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors," or as Luke has it, "And forgive us our sins, for we also ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us." About debts, the apostle also says, "Pay your debts to all, to whom you owe tribute, tribute; to whom fear, fear; to whom taxes, taxes; to whom honor, honor. Owe no man anything except mutual love." So we owe certain things because we have duties. We owe not only by giving, but also by kind speech and matching actions. In fact, we owe a certain attitude toward one another. When we owe these things, we either pay them by obeying the commands of God's law, or, if we do not pay them and we treat the saving word with contempt, we remain in debt. The same idea applies to debts toward brothers and sisters. This includes those who, in a religious sense, have been born again with us in Christ. It also includes those who share a common mother or father with us. If we remember what we, as debtors, have not paid but have held back during the time when it was our duty to do this or that for our neighbor, then we will be gentler toward those who, in turn, have fallen into debt to us and have not paid what they owe. This is especially true if we do not forget our sins against God and the wrong things we have said against the Most High, either because we did not know the truth or because we were upset about the troubles that have happened to us. But if we refuse to become gentler toward those who have fallen into debt to us, then our experience will be like that of the man who did not forgive the hundred shillings to his fellow servant. In the parable written in the Gospel, even though he had already been forgiven, the master strictly demands what had already been forgiven. The master says to him, "Wicked servant and slothful, was it not right for you to pity your fellow servant as I also pitied you? Cast him into prison until he pay all that is owed." And the Lord continues, "So shall the heavenly Father do to you also if you do not forgive each his brother from your hearts." However, we are to forgive those who have sinned against us when they confess repentance, even if our debtor does this often. For he says, "If your brother sin against you seven times a day and seven times turn and say, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him." It is not we who are harsh toward the one who will not repent. They are the ones who are cruel to themselves because the one who rejects instruction hates himself. Still, even in such cases, we should try in every way to help healing grow within the person who is so deeply twisted that he is not even aware of his own sickness. He is drunk with a drunkenness more deadly than wine. This drunkenness comes from the darkness of evil. When Luke says, "Forgive us our sins," he means the same thing as Matthew: sins happen when we owe and do not pay. Yet Luke does not seem to support the person who would forgive only debtors who repent. When Luke says that the Savior has commanded that we should add in prayer, "For we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us," and it seems that we have full authority to forgive the sins committed against us. This is clear from both parts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and "For we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us." But a man forgives what God has forgiven and holds on to sins that cannot be healed only when he is inspired by Jesus, as the apostles were. This is when he can be recognized by his fruits as someone who has received the Holy Spirit and has become spiritual. He is led by the Spirit, like a son of God, to every reasonable duty, and just as the prophets served God by speaking not their own message but the message of the divine will, so this man also serves the God who alone has authority to forgive.

ORIGEN: You will often find in the holy books that sins are called debts. The Lord himself taught us to say in prayer, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."

CYPRIAN: In the Gospel, in the daily prayer. Forgive us our debts, even as we forgive our debtors. Also, according to Mark. And when you stand for prayer, forgive, if you have anything at all against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you your sins. Also, in the same place, in what measure you meet, in that shall it be measured to you again.

LACTANTIUS: But so that he may receive God's favor and be free from every stain, let him always beg for God's mercy. Let him pray for nothing else except forgiveness for his sins, even if he has none. If he wants anything else, there is no need to say it out loud to one who knows what we want. If something good happens to him, let him give thanks. If something evil happens, let him make amends. Let him admit that the evil happened to him because of his own faults. And even in times of trouble, let him still give thanks. Also, in good times, let him make amends so that he may be the same at all times: steady, firm, unchangeable, and unshaken. And let him not think this should be done only in the temple. Let him do it at home and even in his own bed. In short, let him always have God within himself, set apart in his heart, because he himself is a temple of God. But if he has served God, his Father and Lord, with this diligence, obedience, and devotion, then justice is complete and perfect. And the one who keeps this, as we said before, has obeyed God and has met the obligations of religion and his own duty.

ARNOBIUS: Before him, we all bow down, according to our custom. We worship him in prayers together. From him we ask for things that are just and honorable, and worthy of his attention. It is not that he needs our prayers, or loves to see the honor of so many thousands placed at his feet. This helps us, and it is for our good. Since we are likely to make mistakes, and to give in to many desires and cravings because of the weakness we are born with, he allows us at all times to keep him clearly in our thoughts. Then, as we pray to him and work to be worthy of his gifts, we can gain a desire for purity. We can also free ourselves from every stain by removing all our faults.

POLYCARP: Leaving behind the empty ways of many people and their false teachings, let us return to the Word that has been handed down to us from the beginning. Let us be "watching in prayer" and keep going in fasting. Let us beg in our prayers the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation, as the Lord has said, "The Spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."

POLYCARP: I praise You for all things. I bless You. I glorify You, together with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son. With Him, to You, and to the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and for all ages to come. Amen.

THE DIDACHE: and do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one or evil. For yours is the power and the glory forever. Pray this way three times a day.

THE DIDACHE: a prayer after communion. But after you are filled, give thanks like this: We thank you, Holy Father, for your holy name, which you caused to live in our hearts. We thank you for the knowledge and faith in immortality that you made known to us through Jesus, your servant. To you be the glory forever. You, almighty Master, created all things for your name's sake. You gave food and drink to people for enjoyment, so that they might give thanks to you. But to us you freely gave spiritual food and drink and eternal life through your servant. Before all things, we thank you because you are mighty. To you be the glory forever. Remember, Lord, your church. Deliver it from all evil and make it perfect in your love. Gather it from the four winds, made holy for your kingdom that you have prepared for it. For yours is the power and the glory forever. Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God, Son of David. If anyone is holy, let him come. If anyone is not, let him repent. Maranatha. Amen.

TERTULLIAN: To complete this short prayer, he added this: he did it so that we would ask not only for forgiveness, but for the full turning away of guilty actions. Lead us not into temptation. That means, do not allow us to be led into it by the one who tempts, of course. But it should never enter our minds that the Lord himself would seem to tempt anyone, as if he were either unaware of anyone's faith or eager to destroy it. Weakness and evil are traits of the devil. For God commanded even Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. He did this not to tempt Abraham, but to prove his faith. He did it so that, through Abraham, he could set an example for his command. Later on, he was going to require that Abraham should hold no pledge of affection dearer than God. The Lord himself, when he was tempted by the devil, showed who it is that rules over temptation and is the source of it. He supports this passage with later ones, saying, "Pray that you are not tempted." Yet they were tempted, as they showed by deserting their Lord. They gave in to sleep rather than prayer. Therefore, the final clause fits with this and explains the meaning of "do not lead us into temptation," for the meaning is, but carry us away from the evil one.

ORIGEN: And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. In Luke, the words "but deliver us from evil" are left out. If we assume that the Savior does not command us to pray for something impossible, then it seems to me that we should think carefully about what it means when we are told to pray not to enter into temptation, since all human life on earth is a test. Because on earth we are surrounded by the flesh, which fights against the Spirit, and whose purpose is to be an enemy to God, we are in temptation. The flesh is not able to be subject to the law of God in any way, so we are in temptation. We have learned that all human life on earth is a trial from Job, in the words, "Is not the life of men on earth a trial?" And the same thing is made clear from the seventeenth psalm, in the words, "In you will I be delivered from trial." Paul also, writing to the Corinthians, says that God does not give freedom from temptation, but freedom from temptation beyond one's power. Therefore, we should pray not that we will not be tempted because that is impossible, but that we will not be surrounded by temptation. That is the fate of those who are open to it and are overcome. Now, since outside of the Lord's Prayer it is written, "Pray that you do not enter into temptation," and the meaning of that may be clear from what has already been said, but in the Lord's Prayer we should say to God our Father, "Bring us not into temptation." It is worth looking at what it means to think of God as leading someone into temptation when that person does not pray or is not heard. If entering into temptation means being overcome, then it is clearly wrong to think that God leads anyone into temptation as if He handed that person over to be overcome. It is my belief that God rules over each rational soul with its everlasting life in mind. He does this in such a way that the soul always has free will. The soul itself is responsible either for moving forward in the better way toward the perfection of goodness, or, if it is careless, for going down into this or that level of worse and worse vice.

CYPRIAN: With shared prayers, let us take turns caring for one another, guarding one another, and strengthening one another. Let us pray for those who have fallen away, that they may be lifted up again. Let us pray for those who are standing firm, that they may not be tempted so much that they are destroyed. Let us pray that those who are said to have fallen will admit how great their sin is. Let them understand that it does not need a quick cure or a rushed fix. Let us pray that repentance will also follow the results of the pardon given to those who have fallen away. Then, when they have understood their own wrongdoing, they will be willing to be patient with us for a while, and they will no longer upset the unsteady condition of the Church. Otherwise, they may seem to have stirred up an inner persecution against us, and their restlessness will be added to the pile of their sins.

CYPRIAN: Also, the Lord must warn us to say in prayer, "And do not permit us to be led into temptation." These words show that the adversary can do nothing against us unless God has first permitted it. So all our fear, devotion, and obedience should be directed toward God. In our temptations, nothing is permitted to evil unless power is given from Him. Now, power is given against us in two ways. It is given either for punishment when we sin, or for glory when we are tested. We see this was done with Job. God Himself explains it, saying, "Look, all that He has I give into your hands, but be careful not to touch Him." And the Lord in His gospel says, at the time of His suffering, "You could have no power against Me unless it were given to you from above." But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our frailty and weakness. We ask this so that no one will boast in a rude way. We ask it so that no one will proudly and arrogantly claim anything for himself. We ask it so that no one will take the glory of confession or of suffering as if it were his own. The Lord Himself taught humility when He said, "Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." So a humble and submissive confession comes first, and everything is credited to God. Then whatever is asked for, with humble pleading, with fear and honor toward God, may be granted by His own lovingkindness. After all these things, at the end of the prayer, there comes a short line. It briefly and fully sums up all our requests and our prayers. We end by saying, "But deliver us from evil." In this, we include all the harmful things the enemy tries to do against us in this world. From these things, there can be faithful and sure protection if God delivers us, if He gives His help to us who pray for it and beg for it. And when we say, "Deliver us from evil," there is nothing more that should be asked. When we have asked for God's protection against evil and have received it, then we stand secure and safe against everything the devil and the world do against us. For what fear is there in this life for the person whose guardian in this life is God?