Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Orthodox Christians, the Lord’s Prayer is more than a passage of Scripture. It literally amounts to the instructions of Christ, Himself, teaching us how to address God in prayer. It is recited in unison at nearly every Orthodox Divine Service or Sacrament. And also, while praying at home, as the nucleus of the Trisagion, the Lord’s Prayer is a common link between private prayers of devotion and prayers and worshipping with fellow Christians in church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At St. Anna, during the Sunday Divine Liturgy, we are accustomed to reciting the Lord’s Prayer now in six different languages. English, Greek, Spanish, Slavonic, Arabic and Portuguese are the languages commonly used to express the Lord’s Prayer during corporate worship. I invite everyone who knows any of these languages to join in. The person in front with the microphone is not lecturing or performing. They are not there to simply represent themselves. Please, join them in enthusiastically proclaiming the Lord’s Prayer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also invite you to contact me if you are interested in adding a language that is representative of your cultural identity. It’s not an open mic session, and is part of our local worship experience, so I do need to know if a language is added beforehand. And primarily, if anyone is able to participate using American Sign Language (ASL) that would be greatly appreciated. Please get ahold of me if you are so compelled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the use of the Lord’s Prayer is so central to our personal and public spiritual lives, please read the following excerpt from the renowned Fr. Thomas Hopko. I trust that you will find a greater appreciation for the words of the Lord’s Prayer after his inspirational explanation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When teaching men to pray, Christ said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nPray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil<\/em>(Mt 6.9\u201313, cf. Lk 11.2\u20134).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This is the usual translation of the prayer used in the Orthodox Church. It begins with a petition to God as \u201cour Father.\u201d There was no such prayer before this teaching of Christ. The Old Testament people did not address God as \u201cAbba: Father\u201d (Rom 8.15, Gal 4.6). This name of \u201cFather\u201d for God is given by Christ, the divine Son of God. Men can dare, \u201cwith boldness and without condemnation\u201d to call upon the \u201cheavenly God\u201d with the name of \u201cFather\u201d only when they are made worthy to do so by Christ (cf. Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom). In the early church the prayer \u201cOur Father\u201d was taught only to the baptized members of the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement that the Father is \u201cin heaven,\u201d or literally \u201cin the heavens,\u201d means that He is everywhere and over all things. The heavens are over all and encompass all. Wherever man goes on the earth or in the air, or even in space, the heavens are around him and over him. To say that the Father is \u201cin the heavens\u201d means that He is not tied down or limited to any one location\u2014as were the gods of the heathens. The heavenly God is the \u201cGod of gods\u201d (Deut 10.17, 2 Chron 2.5), the \u201cFather of us all, who is above all and through all and in all\u201d (Eph 4.5), the one in whom \u201cwe live and move and have our being\u201d (Acts 17.28). To say that God is \u201cin heaven\u201d is not to place Him somewhere; it is rather to say that He transcends all things and yet is present to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHallowed be Thy name\u201d means that God\u2019s name is holy and should be treated with respect and devotion. In the old covenant it was the custom of the Jews never to say the sacred name of God: Yahweh, the I AM (cf. Ex 3.13\u201315). This was to guard against defilement of the divine name, and to safeguard against transgressing the commandment: \u201cYou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain\u201d (Ex 20.7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the New Testament, God gives Jesus the \u201cname which is above every name\u201d (Phil 2.9) and in making the name of the Father holy, Christians do so in the name of His Son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThy Kingdom come\u201d in the Lord\u2019s Prayer is first of all the prayer for the end of the ages. Christians want the world to end so that God\u2019s Kingdom would fill all creation with divine glory and life. \u201cCome Lord Jesus; Marantha!\u201d is the prayer of the faithful, the last prayer of the Scriptures (Rev 22.20, cf. 1 Cor 16.22). It is the calling for the final appearance of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the spiritual tradition of the Church, the prayer \u201cThy Kingdom come\u201d has also been understood as an invocation of the Holy Spirit to dwell in God\u2019s people. In his commentary on the Lord\u2019s Prayer, Saint Gregory of Nyssa says that there was another reading for this petition which said \u201cThy Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us.\u201d Thus he says, following the scriptures, that the presence of the Holy Spirit in man is the presence of Christ and the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nFor the Kingdom of God is .\u202f.\u202f. righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit<\/em>(Rom 14.17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
.\u202f.\u202f. it is God who establishes us with you in Christ .\u202f.\u202f. He has put His seal upon us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee<\/em>(2 Cor 1.22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Him .\u202f.\u202f. you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
.\u202f.\u202f. do not grieve the Holy Spirit in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption<\/em>(Eph 1.13\u201314, 4.30).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The seal of the Holy Spirit on men\u2019s hearts is the pledge and guarantee of the Kingdom of God still to come in all power and glory. In the prayer \u201cThy Kingdom come,\u201d believers in Jesus ask that the Kingdom of God \u201cnot coming in external signs of observation\u201d for the faithless to behold, might dwell powerfully and secretly within the faithful (cf. Lk 17.20\u201321).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThy will be done on earth as it is in heaven\u201d is the center of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, the central desire of Christians. The whole purpose of prayer, the very purpose of man\u2019s life, is to do the will of God. This is what Jesus prayed and did (cf. Mt 26.42). And this is what His followers must pray and do. There is but one purpose of prayer, say the spiritual teachers, to keep God\u2019s commandments so as not to sin, thus leading to deification and divine sonship with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe only thing that God demands of us mortals is that we do not sin. But this .\u202f.\u202f. is merely keeping inviolate the image and rank we possess by nature. Clothed thus in the radiant garment of the Spirit, we abide in God and He in us; through grace we become gods and sons of God and are illumined by the light of His knowledge .\u202f.\u202f.<\/em>(Saint Simeon the New Theologian, 10th c.,Practical and Theological Precepts<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
To pray \u201cThy will be done\u201d according to the spiritual teachers, is a daring and dangerous act. This is so, first of all, because when one makes this prayer, he must be ready, like Christ, to follow where it leads. God will answer this prayer, and make known His will. The person who prays must be ready to obey, whatever the consequences. When asked why many Christians are frustrated and irritated, grouchy and mean, and sometimes even somewhat \u201cunbalanced,\u201d one spiritual teacher responded that the reason is clear. They pray \u201cThy will be done,\u201d and continue daily to do so, while at the same time they resist God\u2019s will in their lives and so are always ill at ease. Then they begin to justify their attitudes and actions, to explain and to rationalize their behavior, before their own consciences and others. A person in such as state can never be at peace, for \u201cit is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God\u201d (Heb 10.31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second reason why it is said that the prayer \u201cThy will be done\u201d\u2014and prayer generally\u2014is daring and dangerous is because the devil ferociously attacks the person who prays. Indeed one of the greatest proofs of demonic temptation, and the reality and power of the devil, is to be fervent in prayer. For the devil wants nothing so much as for man to fail to accomplish the will of God which is the purpose of all prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI<\/em>f you strive after prayer, prepare yourself for diabolical suggestions and bear patiently their onslaughts; for they will attack you like wild beasts .\u202f.\u202f. Try as much as possible to be humble and courageous .\u202f.\u202f. He who endures will be granted great joy<\/em>(Saint Nilus of Sinai, 5th c.,Texts on Prayer<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The prayer for our \u201cdaily bread\u201d is normally understood to signify generally all of our bodily needs and whatever we require to sustain our lives in this world. In the spiritual tradition however, this petition, because it literally says our \u201cessential\u201d or \u201csuper-essential\u201d bread, is often understood in the spiritual sense to mean the nourishment of our souls by the Word of God, Jesus Christ who is the \u201cBread of Life;\u201d the \u201cBread of God which has come down from heaven and given life to the world\u201d (Jn 6.33\u201336); the bread which \u201ca man may eat of it and not die,\u201d but \u201clive forever\u201d (Jn 6.50\u201351). Thus the prayer for \u201cdaily bread\u201d becomes the petition for daily spiritual nourishment through abiding communion with Christ so that one might live perpetually with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prayer \u201cforgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us\u201d has been especially emphasized by the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nFor if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your<\/em> trespasses (<\/em>Mt 6.14\u201315).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This is the point of Christ\u2019s parable about the unforgiving servant (Mt 18.23\u201335). All men need the forgiveness of God and must pray for it. All men are indebted to God for everything, and fail to offer the thanksgiving and praise and righteousness that are due. The only way that God will overlook and forgive the sins and debts of His servants is if they themselves forgive their brothers, not merely in words and formal gestures, but genuinely and truly \u201cfrom their hearts\u201d (cf. Mt 18.35). In the prayer taught by Christ this is clearly acknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d should not be understood as if God puts His people to the test or brings them in to the occasion of evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nLet no one say when he is tempted, \u201cI am tempted by God;\u201d for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death<\/em>(Jas 1.13\u201315).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d means that we ask God not to allow us to be found in situations in which we will be overcome by sin. It is a prayer that we be kept from those people and places where wickedness reigns and where we in our weakness will certainly succumb. It is a prayer that we will be liberated from the deceit and vanity of our minds and hearts, from the carnal lusts that dwell in our bodies. It is a prayer that God Himself would be man\u2019s shelter and refuge (cf. Ps 91).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDeliver us from evil\u201d says literally \u201crescue us from the evil one,\u201d that is, the devil. The meaning is clear. There are but two ways for man: God and life or the devil and death. Deliverance from the devil means salvation and redemption from every falsehood, foolishness, deceit, wickedness and iniquity that leads to destruction and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, as Metropolitan Anthony of Sorouzh has explained, the Lord\u2019s Prayer shows the whole meaning of the life of man (cf. Anthony Bloom, Living Prayer<\/em>). Delivered from evil, man is saved from temptation, in so doing he is merciful to all and receives the forgiveness of his own sins. Being forgiven his sins, by his mercy to others, he has all that he needs for life\u2014his \u201cdaily bread\u201d; and being nourished by God, he accomplishes His will. Having accomplished His will, God\u2019s Kingdom is present, His name is sanctified and He becomes the Father of the one who shows himself to be in truth the child of God who can say, \u201cOur Father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we pray the Lord’s Prayer together, let us always have our hands and hearts extended wide, open to receive the Blessings from above. I remain,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Love in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As Orthodox Christians, the Lord’s Prayer is more than a passage of Scripture. It literally amounts to the instructions of Christ, Himself, teaching us how to address God in prayer. It is recited in unison at nearly every Orthodox Divine Service or Sacrament. And also, while praying at home, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoral-letter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8241,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions\/8241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}