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The proposed book by Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), "The Lord's Prayer," was only recently available to the monks of the Pskov Caves Monastery, since the only typewritten copy of this book was kept in the cell of one of the elders of this monastery.The author of the book, Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov, 1880-1961), an outstanding hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, lived a long, difficult and interesting life, wholly devoted to the service of God, the Holy Church and the people of God. The Lord destined him to go through the life in the years of severe trials that befell our Church and Fatherland (on his life see the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1993, NoNo 2-10 "At the Turn of Two Epochs", as well as the book of the same name, published in Moscow in 1994). He happened to be a witness and participant in many events of our recent history, to know the bitterness of exile and the joy of the second acquisition of the homeland. He knew the life of the people well, for he was born and brought up in a peasant family, but no less well he knew the deeds and thoughts of the powerful of this world. Even if we simply mention some of the names of these people, it becomes clear how wide the circle of Vladyka's communication was. He met and had conversations with Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky, later Patriarch) and Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Bishop Theophan (Bystrov), P.N. Wrangel and many, many other outstanding figures. Throughout his life, he collected spiritual wisdom bit by bit in conversations and meetings with "great people" and generously shared his spiritual wealth with the readers of his books.The works of Vladyka Benjamin, fortunately, have survived to this day, although the whereabouts of many of his works are still unknown. Judging by what has come down to us, he has always been attracted by the mystery of holiness. A living faith in God, in the intercession of the Mother of God and the saints breathes in every line of Vladyka's works.He speaks about lofty, heavenly things simply, sincerely and confidentially.Vladyka Benjamin spent the last years of his life in retirement in the Pskov Caves Monastery. The old-timers of the monastery still remember his heartfelt sermons, which many listened to with tears of joy and tenderness. Vladyka was given by God not only to penetrate into the innermost mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but also to tell his listeners and readers about these mysteries in a surprisingly simple and intelligible way.Originally published in the form of separate issues of the "Pskov-Pechersk Leaflets", the remarkable book by Metropolitan Veniamin is presented to a wide range of readers for the first time in its entirety.

Preface

The reason for the bold attempt to write an interpretation of the Lord's Prayer was an accidental circumstance. One person, even of a non-Orthodox confession (but deeply sympathetic to Holy Orthodoxy), observing the modern "Christian" society of various confessions, came to a sad and horrifying fact: people almost do not pray! The whole world is entangled in unsolvable questions of various kinds. Everyone is anxious and expecting even worse disasters. Everyone is looking for the resolution of the world nodes. And they almost do not pray to God for help in such great disasters... Moreover, believers of various trends, even those who openly confess themselves to be Christians, still seek the solution of painful questions in the same ways as non-believers of various degrees, that is, by reason, politics, war, agreements, and not by prayer to the Most Wise. Worse still, declaring themselves believers, people in their constant daily life either do not pray at all, or limit themselves to visiting their parish churches on certain feast days (if they still do so). Even if they "speak" about God, they do not pray to Him, as if He does not exist at all, and for them in particular. If before the words of the Apostle James were repeated: "Faith without works is dead," now we have to add: "Faith without prayer is dead." Prayer disappears from life. And such devastation of the soul brought this person into a painful, terrible state: if they do not pray, then the matter is bad! Looking for some spiritual outlet, in accordance with the usual rules of an ordinary individual, this person decided to publish a book on prayer. To do this, it stopped at the Lord's Prayer. The reasons are clear. First, the authority of this prayer is exceptional: it was given to the world by God Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ. This means that we need to pray. Secondly, this prayer is the most common among Christians. Thirdly, it is common for different Churches. And fourthly – and this is the most important thing – in this prayer the Lord pointed out to mankind the content of our prayers – how and for what we should pray. No one will dare to object on this question, for the God-Man Himself gave this prayer and not another. And in order to interest readers in the question of prayer in general, and the Lord's in particular, this person wanted to preface the readers of the booklets with interpretations of the Lord's Prayer by three main confessions: Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant; so that believers of different confessions could be interested in both the book and prayer. For a similar purpose, this person turned to me, as a representative of the Orthodox Church, with a request to give some authoritative interpretation of the Lord's Prayer.We have a brief interpretation of it in the catechism, but this was not enough: a more extensive one was needed and corresponding to the current state of minds and souls of readers. In our literature there is a special book published by the famous theologian Bishop Theophan the Recluse, in which he collected together the interpretations of the famous Fathers of the Church - John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian, Maximus the Confessor and others. There is an interpretation by Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov), but it is too lofty and ascetic, beyond the power of an ordinary believer. There is an interpretation in English by John Cassian the Roman (Orthodox), which was also used by Bishop Ignatius; but his interpretations are also ascetic. That is why I dared to write down what I had to read and experience. May God help me and the readers to benefit from this.

The Lord's Prayer

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; 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.

The Main Idea of the Lord's Prayer