Contents
“Our Father, Who art in heaven”
“Hallowed be Thy Name”
“Thy Kingdom Come”
“Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth”
“Give us this day our daily bread”
“Give us this day our daily bread”
“Give us this day our daily bread”
“And forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors.”
“And do not lead us into temptation”
“But deliver us from evil”
“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”

“Our Father, Who art in heaven”

Truly, my brothers, how great is the mercy of our Lord and how indescribable is the love for mankind that He has shown and continues to show to us, ungrateful and insensitive towards Him, our Benefactor. For He not only raised us up, having fallen into sin, but also, out of His infinite Goodness, He also gave us a model of prayer, raising our minds to the highest theological spheres and preventing us from falling again, through our frivolity and feeble-mindedness, into the same sins.

And therefore, as befits, from the very beginning of prayer, He lifts our mind to the highest spheres of theology. He introduces us to His Father by right of nature and to the Creator of all visible and invisible creation and reminds us that all of us, Christians, are worthy to be adopted by the Lord, and therefore we can call Him by Grace “Father.”

For when our Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, He gave the right to all who believe in Him to become children and sons of God through the sacrament of Holy Baptism, according to the words of the Evangelist John the Theologian: “And to those who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the power to become children of God.” And in another place: “And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: “Abba, Father!” This means that all believers and Orthodox Christians are children of God by their faith, by the Grace of God. In other words, since you are all children of God, the Lord and by Grace your Father sent the Holy Spirit of His Son into your hearts, mysteriously crying out from their depths: “Father, Our Father.”

And therefore the Lord showed us how to pray to our Father according to Grace, in order to remain forever and until our very end in the Grace of His Sonship. So that we remain children of God not only at the moment of our rebirth in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, but also in the future, throughout our entire lives and deeds. For the one who does not live a spiritual life and does not perform spiritual deeds worthy of the above-mentioned rebirth, but does the works of Satan, is not worthy to call God Father. Let him call the devil his father, according to the words of the Lord, Who said: “Your father is the devil; and you want to do the lusts of your father.” That is, you were born into evil by your father, that is, the devil, and you want to fulfill the evil and vicious lusts of your father.

He commands us to call God Father, firstly, to tell us that we have truly become children of God after our rebirth in Holy Baptism, and secondly, in order to indicate that we must preserve the traits, that is, the virtues of our Father, feeling a certain embarrassment for the relationship that we have with Him, for He Himself says: “Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” That is: be merciful to everyone, just as your Father is merciful to everyone.

And the Apostle Paul says: “Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, being watchful, have complete hope in the grace that is given to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not conform to your former lusts that were in your ignorance, but, following the example of the Holy One who called you, be holy in all your actions. For it is written: Be holy, for I am holy. And if you call Father the One who impartially judges everyone according to their deeds, then spend the time of your pilgrimage with fear, so as not to be condemned by Him.”

And Basil the Great also says that “it is inherent in the One who was born of the Holy Spirit to be, as much as possible, similar to the Spirit from Whom he was born, for it is written: he who is born of a carnal father is himself flesh, that is, carnal. But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, that is, it abides in spirit.”

Thirdly, we call him “Father,” because we believe in Him, in the Only Begotten Son of God, who reconciled us with God, with our heavenly Father, us who were previously His enemies and children of wrath.

And when the Lord commands us to cry out to Him “Our Father,” He indicates to us that those who were reborn in Holy Baptism are all truly brothers and children of one Father, that is, God, in other words, children of the Holy Eastern Apostolic and Catholic Church. And therefore we must love each other, like true brothers, as the Lord commanded us, saying: “This is My commandment, that you love one another.”

And in relation to all “being”, that is, to all creation and the creation around us, God appears and is called the Father of all people, both believers and non-believers. And therefore we must love all people, for the Lord honored them and created them with His Hands, and hate only malice and wickedness, and not God’s creation itself.  In relation to “well-being,” that is, to our renewal, God again appears and is called the Father of all people. And therefore we Orthodox Christians must love each other, for we are doubly one both in nature and in Grace.

For all people are divided into three groups: true servants, unfaithful servants and wicked servants, the enemies of God.

True slaves are those who believe correctly, and therefore they are called Orthodox and fulfill the will of God with fear and joy.

Unfaithful slaves are those who, although they believe in Christ and have received Holy Baptism, do not fulfill His commandments.

Others, although they are also His servants, that is, His creations, are evil creatures, enemies and adversaries of God, even though they are weak and insignificant, and are not capable of bringing Him any harm. And they used to believe in Christ, but then fell into various heresies.

In their number we include both the unbelievers and the wicked.

But we, who have been worthy to become servants of God by Grace, having been reborn in Holy Baptism, may we not again become slaves of our enemy the devil, satisfying his evil lusts according to our will, and may we not become like those who, in the words of the Apostle, were caught “in the snare of the devil, who ensnared them in his will.”

Since our Father is in heaven, we must also turn our minds to Heaven, to where our homeland is, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and not fix our eyes down on the earth, like pigs. We must look up at Him, our sweetest Savior and Master, and at the heavenly paradise beauty. And this should be done not only during prayer, but at all times and in any place, one must turn the mind to Heaven, so that it does not dissipate here below into corruptible and transitory things.

And therefore, if we force ourselves daily, according to the words of the Lord, that “the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it,” with the help of God it will be preserved in us “in the image,” unshakable and pure. And so little by little we will ascend from “in the image” to “in the likeness”, sanctified by God and ourselves sanctifying His Name on earth, jointly calling upon Him with the words of the main prayer “Hallowed be Thy Name.”

“Hallowed be Thy Name”

Is it really true that the Name of God is not already holy from the very beginning, and therefore we must pray for it to be holy? Is it possible to allow this to happen? Is He not the Source of all holiness? Is it not from Him that everything that is on earth and in heaven is sanctified? Why then does He command us to sanctify His Name?

The name of God in itself is holy and most holy and the source of holiness. The mere mention of Him sanctifies everything about which we pronounce Him. Therefore, it is impossible to increase or decrease His holiness. However, God desires and loves when all creation glorifies His Name, as the prophet and psalmist David testifies:

“Bless the Lord, all His works,” that is, “Glorify God, all His creatures.” And this is exactly what He wants from us. And not so much for Himself, but so that all His creation would be sanctified and glorified by Him. And therefore, whatever we do, we must do it for the glory of God, according to the words of the Apostle: “So whether you eat, drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God, so that the Name of God may be hallowed through us.”

The name of God is hallowed when we do good and holy deeds, as holy as our faith. And then people, seeing our good deeds, if they are already believing Christians, will glorify God, who makes us wise and strengthens us to work for good, but if they are unbelievers, they will come to the knowledge of the truth, seeing how our deeds confirm our faith. And the Lord calls us to do this, saying: “So let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

However, the opposite also happens when, through our fault, the Name of God is blasphemed from the mouths of pagans and unbelievers, according to the apostolic words: “For for your sake, as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the pagans.” And this, undoubtedly, creates great confusion and terrible danger, because people, and especially non-believers, believe that God commands us to behave in this way.

And therefore, in order not to expose God to blasphemy and dishonor, and in order not to subject ourselves to eternal hellish torment, we must try to have not only right faith and piety, but also a virtuous life and deeds.

By a virtuous life we ​​mean fulfilling the commandments of Christ, as He Himself called upon us, saying: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” And we will keep His commandments, in order to demonstrate in this the love that we have for Him. For our faith in Him is confirmed by keeping His commandments.

Saint John Chrysostom says: “If even the Name of the Lord Jesus cannot be mentioned without the Grace of the Holy Spirit, how much more impossible is it to keep our faith unshakable and steadfast without the help of the Holy Spirit? How can we gain the Grace of the Holy Spirit, how can we be worthy of preserving it forever in our lives? Good deeds and a virtuous life. For, just as the light of a lamp is ignited by oil, and as soon as it burns out, the light immediately goes out, so the Grace of the Holy Spirit pours out on us and illuminates us when we do good deeds and fill our souls with mercy and love for our brothers. If the soul has not accepted all this, Grace leaves it and moves away from us.”

So let us keep within ourselves the light of the Holy Spirit with our inexhaustible love for mankind and inexhaustible mercy for all those who need it. Otherwise, our faith will be destroyed. For faith, first of all, needs the help and presence of the Holy Spirit in order to remain indestructible. The grace of the Holy Spirit is usually preserved and abides in us in the presence of a pure and virtuous life. And therefore, if we want our faith to remain strong in us, we must strive for a holy and bright life, so that we can convince the Holy Spirit with its help to abide in us and protect our faith. For it is impossible to have an unclean and dissolute life and keep your faith pure.

And in order to prove to you the truth of my words that evil deeds destroy the strength of faith, listen to what the Apostle Paul writes in his Epistle to Timothy: “In order to advance in life and fight, you must have this weapon in your good fight, that is, have faith and a good conscience (which is born from a right life and good deeds). Having rejected this conscience, some subsequently suffered shipwreck in their faith.”

And in another place John Chrysostom says again: “The root of all evil is the love of money, to which, having given in, some have deviated from the faith and subjected themselves to many sorrows.” Do you see now that those who did not have a righteous conscience and gave in to the love of money have lost their faith? Thinking carefully about all this, my brothers, let us strive to lead a good life in order to receive a double reward – one prepared as a reward for our good and godly deeds, and the other as a reward for firmness in faith. What food is to the body, so is life to faith; and just as our flesh, by its nature, cannot be sustained without food, so faith is dead without good works.

Truly, many had faith and were Christians, but without doing righteous deeds they were not saved. Let us take care of both: faith and good deeds, so that we can continue to read the main prayer without fear.

“Thy Kingdom Come”

Since human nature of its own free will fell into slavery to the murderer devil, our Lord commands us to pray to God and our Father to free us from the bitter captivity of the devil. This, however, can only happen if we create the Kingdom of God within us. And this will happen if the Holy Spirit comes to us and drives out the tyrant and enemy of the human race from our souls, and He Himself rules in us, for only the perfect can ask for the Kingdom of God and the Father, since it is they who have achieved perfection in the maturity of spiritual age.

Those who, like me, are still tormented by remorse, do not even have the right to open their lips to ask for this, but must ask God to send us His Holy Spirit in order to illuminate us and strengthen us in the fulfillment of His holy will and in works of repentance. For the honest John the Baptist calls out: “Repent, for fear bring the Kingdom of Heaven closer.” That is, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” As if to say: people, repent of the evil you are committing and get ready to meet the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the Only Begotten Son and the Word of God, who came to rule over the whole world and save it.

And therefore we must speak the words bequeathed to us by Saint Maximus the Confessor: “Let the Holy Spirit come and cleanse us all: both soul and body, so that we may become an abode worthy to receive the Holy Trinity, so that God may reign here from now on in us, that is, in our hearts, for it is written: “The Kingdom of God is within us, in our hearts.” And in another place: “I and My Father will come and make our abode in him who loves My commandments.” And let sin no longer dwell in our hearts, for the apostle also says: “Let sin therefore not reign in your mortal body, so that you should obey it in its lusts.”

And therefore, drawing strength from the presence of the Holy Spirit, may we fulfill the will of God and our Heavenly Father and may we say without shame the words of our prayer: “Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth.”

“Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth”

There is nothing more blessed and more peaceful, either on earth or in heaven, than to do the will of God. Lucifer lived in heaven, but, not wanting to do the will of God, he was cast into hell. Adam lived in paradise, and all creation worshiped him as a king. Without keeping, however, God’s commandments, he was plunged into the most severe torment. So, someone who does not want to do the will of God is completely overwhelmed by pride. And therefore the prophet David is right in his own way when he curses such people, saying: “You have tamed, Lord, the proud who refuse to obey Your law.  Cursed are those who turn away from Your commandments.” In another place he says: “The proud commit many iniquities and crimes.”

With all these words, the prophet indicates that the cause of lawlessness is pride. And on the contrary, the cause of pride is lawlessness. And therefore it is impossible to find a humble person among the lawless, and a person keeping the law of God among the proud, for pride is the beginning and end of all evil.

The will of God is that we get rid of evil and do good, according to the words of the prophet: “Avoid evil and do good,” that is, “avoid evil and do good.” Good is what the Holy Scripture says about and what the Holy Fathers of the Church conveyed to us, and not what each of us unreasonably proclaims on our own and which is often harmful to souls and leads people to destruction.

If we follow what is accepted in the world, or if each of us acts in accordance with our own desires, then we Christians will not differ in any way from the infidels who do not believe in the Scripture and do not live according to it. We will also not be different from those people who lived in times of anarchy and who are described in the Book of Judges. It says, “Everyone did what seemed right to him in his own eyes and in his own understanding, for in those days Israel had no king.”

And therefore the Jews wanted to put our Lord to death out of envy, while Pilate wanted to let Him go, for he did not find guilt on Him for execution. They, having asked for a word, said: “We have a law, and according to our law He must die, for he called himself the Son of God.” All this, however, was a lie. For there is no such thing in the law that the one who calls himself the son of God must die, for the Holy Scripture itself calls people gods and sons of God. “I said that you are gods and sons of the Most High – all of you.” And therefore the Jews, when they said that they “have a law,” lied, for such a law does not exist.

Do you see, my beloved, that they have turned their envy and malice into law? The wise Solomon speaks about these people in these words: “Let us make our strength a law and secretly establish forges of righteousness.” Both the law, of course, and the prophets wrote that Christ would come and be incarnate and die for the sake of the salvation of the world, and not for the sake of the goal set by them, the lawless.

So, let us try to avoid what the Jews fell into. Let us strive to keep the commandments of our Lord and not deviate from what is written in the Holy Scriptures. For, as the Evangelist John says: “His commandments are not grievous.” And since our Lord completely fulfilled the will of His Father on earth, we must also ask Him to give us strength and enlighten us, so that we too would fulfill His holy will on earth, as the holy angels do it in heaven. For “without His help we can do nothing.” And just as the angels unquestioningly obey all His Divine commands, so we, all people, must submit to His Divine will, contained in Holy Scripture, so that there may be peace on earth among people, as well as in heaven among the angels, and so that we can boldly cry out to God our Father: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

“Give us this day our daily bread”

Bread is called daily bread in three senses. And in order to know when we pray what kind of bread we ask from God and our Father, let us consider the meaning of each of these meanings.

Firstly, we call daily bread ordinary bread, bodily food mixed with the bodily essence, so that our body grows and strengthens, and so that it does not die of hunger.

Therefore, meaning bread in this sense, we should not look for those dishes that will give our body nutrition and voluptuousness, about which the Apostle James speaks:

“You ask the Lord and do not receive, for you do not ask the Lord what you need, but to use it for your lusts.” And in another place: “You lived luxuriously on earth and enjoyed; feed your hearts as for the day of slaughter.”

But our Lord says: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with overeating, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and lest that day come upon you suddenly.”

And therefore, we should ask only the necessary food, for the Lord condescends to our human weakness and commands us to ask only for our daily bread, but not for excesses. If it were different, He would not have included the words “give us this day” in the main prayer. And St. John Chrysostom interprets this “today” as “always.” And therefore these words have a synoptic (overview) character.

Saint Maximus the Confessor calls the body a friend of the soul. The inflower instructs the soul so that it does not care about the body “with both feet.” That is, so that she would not care about him unnecessarily, but would only care with “one leg.” But this should happen rarely, so that, according to him, the body does not become satiated and rise up over the soul, and so that it does the same evil that demons, our enemies, do to us.

Let us listen to the Apostle Paul, who says: “Having food and clothing, let us be content with this. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and into the devil’s snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people and lead them into disaster and destruction.”

Perhaps, however, some people think this way: since the Lord commands us to ask Him for the necessary food, I will sit idle and carefree, waiting for God to send me food.

We will answer in the same way that care and care are one thing, and work is another. Care is a distraction and agitation of the mind about many and excessive problems, while to work means to work, that is, to sow or labor in other human labors.

So, a person should not be overwhelmed by worries and cares and should not worry and darken his mind, but place all his hopes on God and entrust all his worries to Him, as the prophet David says: “Cast your sorrow on the Lord, and He will feed you,” that is, “Cast on the Lord the care of your food, and He will feed you.”

And he who places his hope most in the works of his own hands, or in the labors of himself and his neighbors, let him hear what the prophet Moses says in the Book of Deuteronomy: “He who walks on his hands and trusts and trusts in the works of his hands is unclean, and he who falls into many worries and sorrows is also unclean. And the one who always walks on four is also unclean.”

And he walks both on his hands and on his feet who places all his hopes on his hands, that is, on those works that his hands do, and on his skill, according to the words of Saint Nilus of Sinai:

“He walks on four who, having given himself over to sensual affairs, constantly occupies his master’s mind with them. A multi-legged man is one who is surrounded by the body from everywhere and is based on it in everything and embraces it with both hands and with all his strength.”

The prophet Jeremiah says: “Cursed be the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his support, and whose heart withdraws from the Lord. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”

People, why are we worrying in vain? The path of life is short, as both the prophet and king David say to the Lord: “Behold, Lord, You have made the days of my life so short that they are numbered on the fingers of one hand. And the composition of my nature is nothing before Your eternity. But not only me, but everything is in vain. Every person living in this world is vain. For a restless person does not live his life in reality, but life resembles his painted picture. And therefore he worries in vain and collects wealth. For he does not really know for whom he is collecting this wealth.”

Man, come to your senses. Don’t rush like crazy all day long with a thousand things to do. And at night again, do not sit down to calculate the devil’s interest and the like, for your whole life, in the end, passes through the accounts of Mammon, that is, in wealth that comes from injustice. And therefore you do not find even a little time to remember your sins and cry about them. Do you not hear the Lord telling us: “No one can serve two Lords.” “You cannot,” he says, “serve both God and Mammon.” For He wants to say that a person cannot serve two masters, and have a heart in God, and wealth in unrighteousness.

Have you not heard about the seed that fell among the thorns, that the thorns choked it, and that it did not bear any fruit? This means that the word of God fell on a man who was mired in worries and worries about his wealth, and this man did not bear any fruit of salvation. Don’t you see here and there rich people who have done something similar to you, that is, who have collected great wealth, but then the Lord breathed on their hands, and the wealth left their hands, and they lost everything, and with it their minds, and now they wander around the earth, overwhelmed by anger and demons. They received what they deserved, for they made wealth their God and applied their minds to it.

Hear, O man, what the Lord says to us: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” And you should not collect treasures here on earth, lest you hear from the Lord the same terrible words that He said to one rich man: “You fool, this night they will take your soul from you, and to whom will you leave everything that you have collected?”

Let us come to our God and Father and cast all the worries about our lives on Him, and He will take care of us. As the Apostle Peter says: let us come to God, as the prophet calls us, saying: “Come to Him and be enlightened, and your faces will not be ashamed that you were left without help.”

This is how, with God’s help, we interpreted for you the first meaning of your daily bread.

“Give us this day our daily bread”

The second meaning: our daily bread is the Word of God, as Holy Scripture testifies:

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

The Word of God is the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in other words, all of Holy Scripture. Both the Old Testament and the New. From this Holy Scripture, as from a source, the Holy Fathers and teachers of our Church drew, watering us with the pure spring waters of their God-inspired teaching. And therefore we must accept the books and teachings of the Holy Fathers as our daily bread, so that our soul does not die from hunger for the Word of life even before the body dies, as happened with Adam, who violated the commandment of God.

Those who do not want to listen to the Word of God and do not allow others to listen to it, either with their words or the bad example they set for others, and similarly those who not only do not contribute to the creation of schools or other similar initiatives for the benefit of Christian children, but also create obstacles for those who want to help, will inherit the words

“Alas!” and “Woe to you!” addressed to the Pharisees. And also those priests who, through negligence, do not teach their parishioners everything that they need to know for salvation, and those bishops who not only do not teach their flock the commandments of God and everything necessary for their salvation, but through their unrighteous lives become a hindrance and a cause of departure from the faith among ordinary Christians – and they will inherit “Alas!” and “Woe to you!”, addressed to the Pharisees and scribes, for they close the Kingdom of Heaven to people, and neither themselves enter into it, nor others – those who wish to enter – are allowed in. And therefore these people, as bad stewards, will lose the protection and love of the people.

In addition, teachers who teach Christian children must also instruct them and lead them to good morals, that is, to good morals. For what is the benefit if you teach a child to read and write and other philosophical sciences, but leave him with a corrupt disposition? How can all this benefit him? And what kind of success can this person achieve, either in spiritual matters or in worldly ones? Of course, none.

I say this so that God would not tell us those words that He spoke to the Jews through the mouth of the prophet Amos: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine to the earth—not a famine of bread, not a thirst for water, but a thirst for hearing the words of the Lord.” This punishment befell the Jews for their cruel and unyielding intentions. And therefore, so that the Lord does not say such words to us, and so that this terrible grief does not befall us, may we all awaken from the heavy sleep of negligence and be saturated with the words and teachings of God, each according to our abilities, may bitter and eternal death not befall our souls.

This is the second meaning of daily bread, which is just as superior in importance to the first meaning as the life of the soul is more important and necessary than the life of the body.

“Give us this day our daily bread”

The third meaning: daily bread is the Body and Blood of the Lord, as different from the Word of God as the sun is from its rays. In the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, the entire God-man, like the sun, enters, unites and becomes one with the whole person. It illuminates, enlightens and sanctifies all mental and physical powers and feelings of a person and leads him from corruption to incorruption. And it is precisely for this reason that we call our daily bread the Holy Communion of the Most Pure Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it supports and restrains the essence of the soul and strengthens it to fulfill the commandments of the Lord Christ and to any other virtue. And this is true food for both soul and body, for our Lord also says: “For My Flesh is truly food, and My Blood is truly drink.”

If anyone doubts that the Body of our Lord is called our daily bread, let him listen to what the holy teachers of our Church say about this. And first of all, the luminary of Nyssa, the Divine Gregory, who says: “If a sinner comes to himself, like the prodigal son in the parable, if he desires the Divine food of his Father, if he returns to His rich table, then he will enjoy this meal, where there is an abundance of daily bread, feeding the Lord’s workers. The workers are those who work and toil in His vineyard, in the hope of receiving wages in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Saint Isidore of Pelusiot says: “The prayer that the Lord taught us does not contain anything earthly, but its entire content is heavenly and is aimed at spiritual benefit, even that which seems small and insignificant in the soul. Many wise people believe that the Lord wants to teach us with this prayer the meaning of the Divine Word and bread, which feeds the incorporeal soul, and in an incomprehensible way comes and unites with its essence. And that is why bread was called daily bread, because the very idea of ​​essence is more suitable for the soul than for the body.”

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem also says: “Ordinary bread is not daily bread, but this holy bread (the Body and Blood of the Lord) is daily bread. And it is called essential, because it is communicated to your entire composition of soul and body.”

Saint Maximus the Confessor says: “If we adhere in life to the words of the Lord’s Prayer, then let us accept, as our daily bread, as vital food for our souls, but also for the preservation of everything that has been given to us by the Lord, the Son and the Word of God, for He said:

“I am the bread that came down from heaven” and gives life to the world. And this happens in the soul of everyone who receives Communion, according to the righteousness and knowledge and wisdom that he possesses.”

Saint John of Damascus says: “This bread is the firstfruits of the bread to come, which is our daily bread. For the word daily means either the bread of the future, that is, of the future century, or the bread eaten to preserve our being. Consequently, in both senses, the Body of the Lord will be equally appropriately called our daily bread.”

In addition, Saint Theophylact adds that “The Body of Christ is our daily bread, for whose uncondemned Communion we must pray.”

However, this does not mean that since the Holy Fathers consider the Body of Christ to be our daily bread, they do not consider ordinary bread necessary to support our body to be daily. For he too is the gift of God, and no food is considered contemptible and reprehensible, according to the Apostle, if it is received and eaten with thanksgiving: “Nothing is reprehensible if it is received with thanksgiving.”

Ordinary bread is incorrectly called daily bread, not according to its basic meaning, because it strengthens only the body, not the soul. Basically, however, and according to the generally accepted opinion, we call the Body of the Lord and the Word of God our daily bread, for they strengthen both body and soul. Many holy men testify to this with their lives: for example, Moses, who fasted for forty days and nights without eating bodily food. The prophet Elijah also fasted for forty days. And later, after the incarnation of our Lord, many saints lived for a long time only on the Word of God and Holy Communion, without eating other food.

And therefore, we, who have been worthy of being reborn spiritually in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, must continually receive this spiritual food with ardent love and a contrite heart, in order to live a spiritual life and remain invulnerable to the poison of the spiritual serpent – the devil. For even Adam, if he had eaten this food, would not have experienced the double death of both soul and body.

It is necessary to partake of this spiritual bread with due preparation, for our God is also called a burning fire. And therefore, only those who eat the Body of Christ and drink His Most Pure Blood with a clear conscience, having first sincerely confessed their sins, are cleansed, enlightened and sanctified by this bread. Woe, however, to those who receive communion unworthily, without first confessing their sins to the priest. For the Divine Eucharist burns them and completely corrupts their souls and bodies, as happened to the one who came to the wedding feast without a wedding garment, as the Gospel says, that is, without having done good deeds and not having fruits worthy of repentance.

People who listen to satanic songs, stupid conversations and useless chatter and other similar meaningless things become unworthy of listening to the word of God. The same applies to those who live in sin, for they cannot partake and partake of the immortal life to which the Divine Eucharist leads, for their spiritual powers are killed by the sting of sin. For it is obvious that both the members of our body and the containers of vital forces receive life from the soul, but if any of the members of the body begins to decompose or dry up, then life will no longer be able to flow into it, for the vital force does not flow into dead members. Likewise, the soul is alive as long as life force from God enters it. Having sinned and stopped receiving vital forces, she dies in agony. And after some time the body dies. And so the whole person perishes in eternal hell.

So, we talked about the third and final meaning of our daily bread, which is just as necessary and beneficial for us as Holy Baptism. And therefore it is necessary to regularly partake of the Divine Sacraments and accept with fear and love the daily bread that we ask in the Lord’s Prayer from our heavenly Father, as long as “this day” lasts.

This “today” has three meanings:

firstly, it can mean “every day”; secondly, the entire life of each person;

and thirdly, the present life of the “seventh day”, which we are completing.

In the next century there will be neither “today” nor “tomorrow,” but this entire century will be one eternal day.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”

Our Lord, knowing that there is no repentance in hell and that it is impossible for a person not to sin after Holy Baptism, teaches us to say to God and our Father: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

Since before this, in the Lord’s Prayer, God spoke about the holy bread of the Divine Eucharist and called on everyone not to dare to partake of it without proper preparation, therefore now he tells us that this preparation consists in asking forgiveness from God and from our brothers and only then proceeding to the Divine Mysteries, as it is said in another place of Holy Scripture: “So, man, if you bring your gift to the altar and there If you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go, first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

In addition to all this, our Lord touches on three other issues in the words of this prayer:

firstly, he calls on the righteous to humble themselves, which He says in another place: “So you too, when you have done everything commanded you, say: we are slaves, worthless, because we did what we had to do”; secondly, He advises those who sin after Baptism not to fall into despair; and thirdly, he reveals with these words that the Lord desires and loves when we have compassion and mercy for each other, for nothing makes a person more like God than mercy.

And therefore, let us treat our brothers the way we want the Lord to treat us. And let us not say about anyone that he grieves us so much with his sins that we cannot forgive him. For if we think how much we grieve God with our sins every day, every hour and every second, and He forgives us for this, then we will immediately forgive our brothers.

And if we think how numerous and incomparably greater our sins are in comparison with the sins of our brothers, that even the Lord Himself, Who is truth in His very essence, likened them to ten thousand talents, while He likened the sins of our brothers to a hundred denarii, then we will be convinced of how truly insignificant the sins of our brothers are compared to our sins. And therefore, if we forgive our brothers their small guilt before us, not only with our lips, as many do, but with all our hearts, God will forgive us our great and countless sins, of which we are guilty before Him. If we happen to fail to forgive the sins of our brothers, all our other virtues, which, as it seems to us, we have acquired, will be in vain.

Why do I say that our virtues will be in vain? For our sins cannot be forgiven, according to the decision of the Lord, who said: “If you do not forgive your neighbors their sins, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins.” In another place, he says about a man who has not forgiven his brother: “Evil servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you?” And then, as it is said further, the Lord became angry and handed him over to the torturers until he repaid the entire debt to Him. And then: “So will My Heavenly Father do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother his sins from his heart.”

Many say that sins are forgiven in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Others claim the opposite: that they are forgiven only if they confess to a priest. We tell you that both preparation and confession are obligatory for the remission of sins, and the Divine Eucharist, for neither one gives everything, nor the other. But what happens here is similar to how, after washing a dirty dress, it must be dried in the sun to remove dampness and moisture, otherwise it will remain wet and rot, and a person will not be able to wear it. And just as a wound, having been cleansed of worms and removed the decomposed tissue, cannot be left without being lubricated, so having washed away the sin, and cleansed it with confession, and removed its decomposed remains, it is necessary to receive the Divine Eucharist, which completely dries up the wound and heals it, like some kind of healing ointment. Otherwise, in the words of the Lord, “a person again falls into the first state, and the last is worse for them than the first.”

And therefore it is necessary to first cleanse yourself of any filth by confession. And, first of all, cleanse yourself of rancor and only then approach the Divine Mysteries. For we need to know that just as love is the fulfillment and end of all law, so rancor and hatred are the abolition and violation of all law and any virtue. The inflower, wanting to show us all the malice of the vindictive, says: “The path of the vindictive is to death.” And in another place: “He who holds vindictiveness is a transgressor.”

It was precisely this bitter leaven of rancor that the accursed Judas carried within himself, and therefore, as soon as he took the bread into his hands, Satan entered into him.

Let us fear, brothers, condemnation and the hellish torments of rancor and forgive our brothers for everything they have done wrong to us. And we will do this, not only when we gather for Communion, but always, as the Apostle calls us to do with these words: “If you are angry, do not sin: let not the sun set on your anger and malice on your brother.” And in another place: “And do not give place to the devil.” That is, do not let the devil take up residence in you, so that you can cry out with boldness to God and the remaining words of the Lord’s Prayer.

“And lead us not into temptation”

The Lord calls us to ask God and our Father not to allow us to fall into temptation. And the prophet Isaiah on behalf of God says: “I form light and create darkness, I create peace and allow disasters to happen.” The prophet Amos says in a similar way: “Is there any disaster in a city that the Lord would not allow?”

From these words, many of the ignorant and unprepared fall into various thoughts about God. It is as if God Himself throws us into temptation. All doubts on this issue are dispelled by the Apostle James with these words: “When tempted, no one should say: God is tempting me; because God is not tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone Himself, but everyone is tempted by being carried away and deceived by his own lust; lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin that is committed gives birth to death.”

Temptations that come to people are of two types. One type of temptation comes from lust and happens according to our will, but also at the instigation of demons. Another type of temptation comes from sadness, suffering and misfortune in life, and therefore these temptations seem more bitter and sad to us. Our will does not participate in these temptations, but only the devil assists.

The Jews experienced these two types of temptations. However, they chose of their own free will the temptations that come from lust, and strived for wealth, for glory, for freedom in evil and for idolatry, and therefore God allowed them to experience everything the opposite, that is, poverty, dishonor, captivity, and so on. And God again frightened them with all these troubles, so that they would return to life in God through repentance.

These various guilts of God’s punishments are called “disaster” and “evil” by the prophets. As we said earlier, this happens because everything that causes pain and grief in people, people are accustomed to calling evil. But this is not true. That’s just how people perceive it. These troubles occur not according to the “original” will of God, but according to his “subsequent” will, for the admonition and benefit of people.

Our Lord, combining the first cause of temptation with the second, that is, combining temptations that come from lust with temptations that come from grief and suffering, gives them a single name, calling them “temptations,” because they tempt and test a person’s intentions. However, in order to better understand all this, you must know that everything that happens to us comes in three types: good, evil and mean. Good includes prudence, mercy, justice and everything like them, that is, qualities that can never turn into evil. The evil ones include fornication, inhumanity, injustice and everything similar to them, which can never turn into good. The middle ones are wealth and poverty, health and illness, life and death, fame and infamy, pleasure and pain, freedom and slavery, and others like them, in some cases called good, and in others evil, according to how they are governed by the intention of man.

So, people divide these average qualities into two types, and one of these parts is called good, because this is what they love, for example, wealth, fame, pleasures and others. Others of them they call evil, because they have an aversion to it, for example, poverty, pain, dishonor, and so on. And therefore, if we do not want what we ourselves consider to be evil to befall us, we will not do real evil, as the prophet advises us:

“Man, do not willingly enter into any evil or any sin, and then the Angel who guards you will not allow you to experience any evil.”

And the prophet Isaiah says: “If you are willing and obedient, and keep all My commandments, you will eat the good things of the land; But if you deny and persist, the sword of your enemies will devour you.” And still the same prophet says to those who do not fulfill His commandments: “Go into the flame of your fire, into the flame that you kindle with your sins.”

Of course, the devil first tries to fight us with voluptuous temptations, for he knows how prone we are to lust. If he understands that our will in this is subordinate to his will, he distances us from the grace of God that protects us. Then he asks God for permission to bring bitter temptation upon us, that is, grief and disaster, in order to completely destroy us, due to his great hatred of us, causing us to fall into despair from many griefs. If in the first case our will does not follow his will, that is, we do not fall into voluptuous temptation, he again raises the second temptation of grief upon us, in order to force us, now out of grief, to fall into voluptuous temptation.

And therefore the Apostle Paul calls to us, saying: “Be sober, my brethren, watch and be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” God allows us to fall into temptation, either according to His economy in order to test us, like the righteous Job and other saints, according to the words of the Lord to His disciples: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to sow you like wheat, that is, to shake you with temptations.” And God allows us to fall into temptation by His permission, just as He allowed David to fall into sin, and the Apostle Paul to deny Him, in order to save us from self-satisfaction. However, there are also temptations that come from being abandoned by God, that is, from the loss of Divine grace, as was the case with Judas and the Jews.

And the temptations that come to the saints according to God’s economy come to the envy of the devil, in order to demonstrate to everyone the righteousness and perfection of the saints, and in order to shine even brighter for them after their victory over their adversary the devil. Temptations that occur with permission are sent in order to become an obstacle to the path of sin that has happened, is happening, or is yet to happen. The same temptations that are sent out of abandonment by God are caused by a person’s sinful life and bad intentions, and are allowed for his complete destruction and destruction.

And therefore, we must not only flee from temptations that come from lust, as from the poison of an evil serpent, but also if such a temptation comes to us against our will, we must not fall into it in any way.

And in everything that concerns the temptations in which our body is tested, let us not expose ourselves to danger through our pride and insolence, but let us ask God to protect us from them, if such is His will. And may we bring Him joy without falling into these temptations. If these temptations come, let us accept them with great joy and pleasure, as great gifts. We will only ask Him for this, so that He might strengthen us to victory to the very end over our tempter, for this is exactly what He tells us with the words “and do not lead us into temptation.” That is, we ask you not to leave us, so as not to fall into the maw of the mental dragon, as the Lord tells us in another place:

“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” That is, so as not to be overcome by temptation, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

However, let no one, hearing that one must avoid temptations, be justified

“excusing sinful deeds,” referring to one’s weakness and other similar things when temptations come. For in difficult times, when temptations come, the one who is afraid of them and does not resist them will thereby renounce the truth. For example:  if a person happens to be subjected to threats and violence for his faith, or in order to renounce the truth, or to trample on justice, or to renounce mercy towards others or any other commandment of Christ, if in all these cases he retreats out of fear for his flesh and cannot bravely resist these temptations, then let this person know that he will not be a partaker of Christ and in vain he is called a Christian. Unless he later repents of this and sheds bitter tears. And he must repent, for he did not imitate the true Christians, the martyrs, who suffered so much for their faith. He did not imitate Saint John Chrysostom, who went through so much torment for justice, the Monk Zosima, who suffered hardships for his mercy towards his brethren, and many others whom we cannot even list now and who endured many torments and temptations in order to fulfill the law and commandments of Christ. We must also keep these commandments, so that they free us not only from temptations and sins, but also from the evil one, according to the words of the Lord’s Prayer.

“But deliver us from evil”

The devil himself is called the evil one, brethren, mainly, for he is the beginning of all sin and the creator of all temptation. It is from the actions and instigations of the evil one that we learn to ask God to free us and believe that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond our strength, in the words of the Apostle, that God “will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with temptation He will also give relief, so that you can endure it.” It is, however, necessary and obligatory not to forget to ask Him and pray to Him about this in humility.

“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”

Our Lord, knowing that human nature always falls into doubt due to its lack of faith, consoles us by saying: since you have such a powerful and glorious Father and King, do not hesitate to turn to Him with requests from time to time. Only, when bothering Him, do not forget to do it the way the widow bothered her master and the heartless judge, saying to Him: “Lord, free us from our adversary, for yours is the everlasting Kingdom, invincible power and incomprehensible glory. For You are a mighty King, and You command and punish our enemies, and You are the glorious God, and You glorify and exalt those who glorify You, and You are a loving and man-loving Father, and You care for and love those who through Holy Baptism have been deemed worthy to become Your sons, and have loved You with all their hearts, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.” Amen.