Not one of the truly saints, inspired by the Holy Spirit, whose utterances were written by Divine providence for the edification of subsequent generations, will be found to be adding utterances about anything evil. But there is only one goal in their words: it tends to correct nature from the vice that has entered into it. Therefore, just as one who prays that there may be no sick, that there be no beggars, desires not the death of people, but the destruction of sickness and poverty, so each of the saints, praying that everything hostile and hostile to nature may be destroyed, gives rise only to the most ignorant people to think that the saints are hardened and irritated against people. For the Psalmist, having said: "Let sinners perish from the earth, and let the wicked be no more" (Psalm 103:35), prays that sin and lawlessness may perish; for it is not man who is hostile to man, but by the vicious movement of arbitrariness that is united with him by nature becomes his enemy. Therefore David prays that evil may disappear; But man is not evil. For how can the likeness of the Good be evil? Thus, if he prays for the shame and shame of his enemies, then he points out to you the host of adversaries, attacking human life from an invisible enemy, of whom Paul expresses himself more frankly, saying that we are at war... against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness8 of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12), to demonic intrigues, by which evil cases of sin are presented to people, irritating encounters, reasons for lust, pretexts for envy, hatred, pride, and similar vices.

Seeing that all this maliciously surrounds the soul of everyone, the great Prophet, who prays for vengeance on these enemies, prays that they may be ashamed, that is, that he himself may be saved.9 for it is natural for the defeated in the struggle to be ashamed of his fall, just as it is natural for the victor to rejoice in victory. And that this is really so, gives us to understand the form of prayer. Let them be ashamed, it is said, and be ashamed of those who seek my soul (Psalm 34:4). The prophet prays for vengeance, not to those who plot to damage property, or dispute about the limits of possessions, or point out any vice in his body, but who plot against the soul. And what else does malice against the soul consist in if not in its alienation from God? And the human soul is alienated from God only by passionate disposition. Since the Divinity is always impassible, he who is constantly in passion is separated from communion with the Divine. Therefore, in order not to suffer this, David prays for the shame of the opposing ones. And this means nothing else than to ask for victory over one's adversaries. And these adversaries are passions. In the same way, Jeremiah, having a zeal for godliness, since the king of that time was madly devoted to idols, and his subjects were carried away with him, does not heal his own misfortune, but in general offers prayer for people, desiring that the whole human race may be chaste by the blow inflicted on the wicked.

8 This is how it reads from the manuscript.

9 According to the manuscript: τὸν α̉υτὸν. 5

so that the bitter suckers of sin may dry up, and that evil may not be born and nurtured in men any more. Therefore the Prophet says: Give unto them, O Lord... the womb that does not give birth, and dry breasts (Hos. 9:14). And if the saints find some other similar word by which a certain irritation is expressed and signified, then, of course, the thought is hidden in it, that evil should be banished, and not that man should be destroyed. God did not create death (Wis. 1:13). Do you hear this decisive sentence! Therefore, how would the Prophet beg death for his own enemies from God, to Whom the activity of death is alien? He does not rejoice over the destruction of the living. Only he who speaks too much and wishes to turn away from his own enemies God's love for mankind encourages us to rejoice over human misfortunes.

But they say: some have already been vouchsafed authority, honors, riches, having used prayer for this, and by such success they have given the idea that they are God-loving. Therefore someone will say: How then do you forbid us to offer up prayers to God for anything like this? Everyone, however, knows that everything depends on God's will, and the present life is arranged from above, and no one will contradict this teaching. However, we also recognize other reasons for such success of prayer: and without a doubt, God does not give it as good to those who ask, but so that faith in God may be strengthened in superficial people, and so that, ascertaining by experience how God hearkens to our prayers, by asking for unimportant things, little by little we will gradually rise to the desire for higher and divine gifts, as we see in our children. As long as they are at their mother's breasts, as much as nature can accommodate them, they demand from the woman who gave birth. But if the infant grows to manhood and acquires a certain ability to speak, he no longer looks at the nipples, but looks at the mother's eyes, such as the hair on her head, or her clothes, or the like, with which the child's eye is amused. When he comes to age and receives an increase in mind along with the body, then, abandoning all childish desires, he will ask his parents for a servant for a perfect life. In the same way, God, by all means accustoming man to turn his gaze to Him, is often attentive to unimportant petitions for this very reason, so that by a good deed in small things he who has received this mercy may be summoned to the desire of the highest. Therefore, if such and such a person, by God's Providence, has become famous and famous from the invisible, or has acquired anything else that people seek in this life: leadership, or wealth, or a brilliant position, imagine the purpose of this, namely, that God's love for mankind in this serves for you as proof of God's great power, so that, having received children's toys, you may send up petitions to the Father for the most important and most perfect. And this is everything that benefits the soul. For it would be most foolish of all if he who approaches God should ask the Eternal for temporal things, the Heavenly for earthly things, the Most High for him who creeps on earth, the Giver of the heavenly kingdom for this earthly and lowly well-being, the Giver of the inalienable, for the short-term use of another's possessions, and the taking away of which is necessary, and the enjoyment of which is short-lived, and the disposal of which is dangerous.

The Lord beautifully depicts this incongruity by addition, saying as the pagans. But to have concern for what is visible is characteristic of those who have no hope for themselves in the age to come: neither fear of judgment, nor the threat of hell, nor expectation of blessings, nor anything hoped for after the resurrection, is characteristic of people who, like cattle, see only the present life, recognize as good only that which they can give to satisfy the larynx, the belly, and other voluptuous demands of the body. Either to be the first among others and to make oneself think that one is superior to others, or to rest on a multitude of talents, or to possess something else that only serves to deceive life, is characteristic of such people to whom whoever speaks of hope in the future seems to be idle talk, as soon as he begins to describe paradise, and the kingdom, and heavenly life, and the like. Thus, since it is characteristic of those who have no hope to cling to the present life, the excesses and vanities of desire, which voluptuous people hope to successfully attain through prayer, are beautifully called by Scripture 6

peculiar to the pagans, who think, by the persistence of absurd petitions, to bring the Divinity to assistance in which it is not necessary. For they think, it is said, that in their verbosity they shall be heard (Matt. 6:7).

But just as we have learned from what we have examined what we should not ask,10 so we will hear what prayer should be offered to God in the future, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever! Amen.

Homily 2

Our Father who art in heaven! (Matt. 6:9)

When the great Moses prepared the people of Israel for the secret guidance on the mountain, then he did not vouchsafe them the Manifestation of God, but having prescribed to the people the law of purification by the observance of bodily purity and washing. And even after this, the Israelites did not dare to see the manifestation of God's power, but they were terrified by everything visible: fire, darkness, smoke, chimneys; and turning again to themselves,11 they asked the lawgiver to be their mediator before the divine will, since they did not have sufficient power to draw near to God and to endure the presence of God. And our Lawgiver, our Lord Jesus Christ, intending to lead us to Divine grace, does not point out to us by a word the mountain of Sinai, covered with darkness and smoking with fire, not the sound of trumpets sounding something indistinct and terrible, and not by the observance of the three-day purity of the flesh, not by the water that washes away the impurities, having cleansed the soul, and leaving the whole church at the foot of the mountain, only allowing us to ascend to the top, covered with darkness, which conceals in itself the Divine glory; but, on the contrary, instead of a mountain, he first raises it up to heaven itself, making it passable for people through virtue; then He makes them not only spectators, but also partakers of the Divine power, and in a certain way brings those who approach Him into kinship with the supreme nature, and does not cover all that surpasses glory with darkness, so that it may be incomprehensible to those who seek, but, having illumined the darkness with the clear light of teaching, He has made the pure in heart contemplate the ineffable glory in full clarity. And He also gives water for sprinkling, not drawn from strange streams, but flowing within ourselves, whether anyone understands by it the source of the eyes, or the clear conscience of the heart, – having decreed that no slimes of iniquity should be allowed; and he also establishes bodily purity12 in abstinence, not only from the lawful communion of spouses, but also from every material and passionate disposition, and in this way by means of prayer he leads to God. For such is the power of utterances, of which we do not know any sounds pronounced in syllables from the word of God, but the predestination of the ascent to God, which is successfully carried out by a lofty life.

But from the very words of the prayer one can understand the Divine mystery. When you pray (Luke 11:2), says the Lord. He did not say, "When you pronounce a vow έυχησθε," but says, "When you pray" (προσέυχησθε), because what is due according to the vow must already be fulfilled before you approach God with prayer. What difference is there in the meaning of these names? That a vow (ε̉υχὴ) is an announcement of something that is pietially consecrated as a gift to God; and prayer (προσευχὴ) is a petition for blessings, humiliatingly addressed to God. And so, since we need boldness, when we approach God, making humble petitions for what is useful for us, it is necessary to precede the fulfillment of what is declared according to the vow, so that, having done what depends on us, then we will more boldly express a desire to receive recompense from God. For this reason the Prophet says: "I will give Thee my prayers (τὰς ε̉υχὰς – vows), which my mouth has uttered" (Psalm 65:13-14), and again: "Pray (έ̉υξασθε – make a vow) and make vows to the Lord your God (Psalm 75:12). And in many places of Scripture

10 The manuscript reads: α̉́ δεˆι μὴ α̉ιτεὶν.