Our Father,
When the skies roar and the oceans roar, they call to You: Our Lord of hosts, Lord of the hosts of heaven!
When the stars fall and fire bursts out of the earth, they say to You: Our Creator!
When in the spring the flowers open their buds and the larks collect dry blades of grass to build a nest for their chicks, they sing to you: Our lord!
And when I raise my eyes to Your throne, I whisper to You: Our Father!
There was a time, a long and terrible time, when people called You Lord of Hosts, or Creator, or Master! Yes, then man felt that he was only a creature among creatures. But now, thanks to Your Only Begotten and Greatest Son, we have learned Your real name. Therefore, I, together with Jesus Christ, decide to call You: Father!
If I call you: Vladyko, I fall on my face in fear before You, like a slave in a crowd of slaves.
If I call you: Creator, I am moving away from You, as the night is separated from the day, or as a leaf is torn from its tree.
If I look at You and tell You: Mister, then I am like a stone among stones or a camel among camels.
But if I open my mouth and whisper: Father, love will take the place of fear, the earth will seem to become closer to heaven, and I will go for a walk with You, as with a friend, in the garden of this light and will share Your glory, Your strength, Your suffering.
Our Father! You are the Father for us all, and I would humiliate both You and myself if I called You: My Father!
Our Father! You care not only about me, one single blade of grass, but about everyone and everything in the world. Your goal is Your Kingdom, not one person. Selfishness in me calls You: My Father, but love calls: Our Father!
In the name of all people, my brothers, I pray: Our Father!
In the name of all the creatures that surround me and with whom You have woven my life, I pray to You: Our Father!
I pray to You, Father of the Universe, for only one thing I pray to You: may the dawn of the day come soon when all people, living and dead, together with angels and stars, animals and stones, will call You by Your true name: Our Father!
Who is in heaven!
We raise our eyes to heaven every time we cry to You, and lower our eyes to the ground when we remember our sins. We are always below, at the very bottom because of our weakness and our sins. You are always on top, as befits Your greatness and Your holiness.
You are in heaven when we are not worthy to receive You. But You joyfully descend to us, into our earthly abodes, when we greedily strive for You and open the doors to You.
Although You condescend to us, You still remain in heaven. You live in heaven, you walk in heaven, and together with heaven you descend into our valleys.
Heaven is far, too far from the person who rejects You in spirit and heart, or who laughs when Your name is mentioned. However, heaven is close, very close to a person who has opened the gates of his soul and is waiting for You, our dearest Guest, to come.
If we compare the most righteous person with You, then You rise above him like the heavens above the valley of the earth, like eternal life above the kingdom of death.
We are made of corruptible, perishable material - how could we stand on the same peak with You, Immortal Youth and Strength!
Our Father Who is always above us, bow down to us and lift us up to Himself. What are we if not tongues created from the dust of Your glory! The dust would be forever mute and would not be able to pronounce Your name without us, Lord. How could the dust know You if not through us? How could You work miracles if not through us?
Oh Our Father!
Hallowed be Thy name;
You do not become holier from our praises, however, by glorifying You, we make ourselves holier. Your name is wonderful! People bicker about names - whose name is better? It is good that Your name is sometimes remembered in these disputes, for at that very moment the speaking tongues become silent in indecision because all the great human names, woven into a beautiful wreath, cannot compare with Your name, Holy God, Most Holy!
When people want to glorify Your name, they ask nature to help them. They take stone and wood and build temples. People decorate altars with pearls and flowers and light fire with plants, their sisters; and they take incense from the cedars, their brothers; and give strength to their voices by the ringing of bells; and call the animals to glorify Your name. Nature is pure as Your stars and innocent as Your angels, Lord! Have mercy on us for the sake of pure and innocent nature, which sings Your holy name with us, Holy God, Most Holy!
How can we glorify Your name?
Maybe innocent joy? - then have mercy on us for the sake of our innocent children.
Maybe suffering? - then look at our graves.
Or self-sacrifice? - then remember the torment of the Mother, Lord!
Your name is stronger than steel and brighter than light. Good is the man who places his hope in You and becomes wiser through Your name.
Fools say: “We are armed with steel, so who can fight us back?” And You destroy kingdoms with tiny insects!
Your name is terrible, Lord! It illuminates and burns like a huge cloud of fire. There is nothing holy or terrible in the world that is not associated with Your name. Oh, Holy God, give me as friends those who have Your name engraved in their hearts, and as enemies those who do not even want to know about You. For such friends will remain my friends until death, and such enemies will fall to their knees before me and submit as soon as their swords are broken.
Holy and terrible is Your name, Holy God, Most Holy! May we remember Your name in every moment of our life, both in moments of joy and in moments of weakness, and let us remember it in our hour of death, our Heavenly Father, Holy God!
Thy kingdom come;
May Your Kingdom come, O Great King!
We are sick of kings who only imagined themselves to be greater than other people, and who now lie in their graves next to beggars and slaves.
We are sick of the kings who yesterday declared their power over countries and peoples, and today are crying from toothache!
They are disgusting, like clouds that bring ashes instead of rain.
“Look, here is a wise man. Give him the crown! - the crowd shouts. The crown doesn't care whose head it's on. But You, Lord, know the value of the wisdom of the wise and the power of mortals. Do I need to repeat to You what You know? Need I say that the wisest among us ruled over us madly?
“Look, here is a strong man. Give him the crown! - the crowd shouts again; This is a different time, another generation. The crown silently moves from head to head, but You, Omnipotent, you know the price of the spiritual strength of the exalted and the power of the strong. You know about the weakness of the strong and those in power.
We finally understood, after suffering, that there is no other king but You. Our soul passionately desires Your Kingdom and Your Power. Wandering everywhere, haven’t we, living descendants, received enough insults and wounds on the graves of small kings and the ruins of kingdoms? Now we pray to You for help.
Let it appear on the horizon Your Kingdom! Your Kingdom of Wisdom, Fatherland and Strength! Let this land, which has been a battlefield for thousands of years, become a home where You are the master and we are the guests. Come, King, an empty throne awaits You! With You will come harmony, and with harmony comes beauty. All other kingdoms are disgusting to us, that's why we are waiting now You, Great King, You and Your Kingdom!
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
Heaven and earth are Your fields, Father. In one field You sow stars and angels, in another you sow thorns and people. The stars move according to Your will. The angels play the stars like a harp, according to Your will. However, a man meets a man and asks: “What is God's will?»
How long does man not want to know Your will? How long will he humble himself before the thorns under his feet? You created man to be equal to the angels and stars, but look - even thorns surpass him.
But you see, Father, a person, if he wants, can glorify Your name better than thorns, just like angels and stars. Oh, You, Spirit-Giver and Voled-Giver, give man Your Will.
Your will wise, clear and holy. Your will moves the heavens, so why not the same will move the earth, which in comparison with the heavens is like a drop before the ocean?
You never get tired, working with wisdom, Our Father. There is no place for any stupidity in Your plan. Now You are as fresh in wisdom and goodness now as on the first day of creation, and tomorrow you will be the same as today.
Your will holy because she is wise and fresh. Holiness is inseparable from You, like air from us.
Anything unholy may ascend to heaven, but nothing unholy will ever come down from heaven, from Your throne, Father.
We pray to You, our Holy Father: make the day come quickly when the will of all people will be wise, fresh and holy, like Your will, and when all creatures on earth will move in harmony with the stars in the sky; and when our planet will sing in choir with all Your amazing stars:
God, teach us!
God, lead us!
Father, save us!
Give us this day our daily bread;
He who gives the body also gives the soul; and He who gives air also gives bread. Your children, merciful Gifter, expect from You everything they need.
Who will brighten their faces in the morning if not You with Your light?
Who will watch over their breath at night while they sleep, if not You, the most tireless of all watchmen?
Where would we sow our daily bread if not in Your field? How could we refresh ourselves if not Your morning dew? How would we live without Your light and Your air? How could we eat if not with the lips that You have given us?
How could we rejoice and thank You for being full, if not for the spirit that You breathed into lifeless dust and created a miracle out of it, You, the most amazing Creator?
I do not ask you for my bread, but about our bread. What good would it do if I had bread, and my brothers starved next to me? It would be better and more just if You took away from me the bitter bread of the selfish, for satisfied hunger is sweeter if shared with a brother. Your will cannot be such that one person thanks You, and hundreds curse You.
Our Father, give us our bread, so that we glorify You in a harmonious choir and so that we joyfully remember our Heavenly Father. Today we pray for today.
This day is great, many new beings were born today. Thousands of new creations, which did not exist yesterday and which will no longer exist tomorrow, are born today under the same sunlight, fly with us on one of Your stars and together with us say to You: our bread.
O great Master! We are Your guests from morning to evening, we are invited to Your meal and wait for Your bread. No one except You has the right to say: my bread. He is yours.
No one except You has the right to tomorrow and to tomorrow’s bread, only You and those of today’s guests whom You invite.
If it is Your will that the end of today be the dividing line between my life and death, I will bow to Your holy will.
If it be Your will, tomorrow I will again be a companion of the great sun and a guest at Your table, and I will repeat my gratitude to You, as I constantly repeat day after day.
And I will bow before Your will again and again, as the angels in heaven do, the Giver of all gifts, physical and spiritual!
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
It is easier for a person to sin and break Your laws, Father, than to understand them. However, it is not easy for You to forgive us our sins if we do not forgive those who sin against us. For You founded the world on measure and order. How can there be balance in the world if You have one measure for us, and we have another for our neighbors? Or if You give us bread, and we give our neighbors a stone? Or if You forgive us our sins, and we execute our neighbors for their sins? How then would measure and order be maintained in the world, O Lawgiver?
And yet You forgive us more than we can forgive our brothers. We defile the earth every day and every night with our crimes, and You greet us every morning with the clear eye of Your sun and every night You send Your merciful forgiveness through the stars, which stand as holy guards at the gates of Your Kingdom, Our Father!
You shame us every day, Most Merciful, for when we expect punishment, You send us mercy. When we wait for Your thunder, You send us a peaceful evening, and when we expect darkness, You give us sunlight.
You are eternally exalted above our sins and always great in Your silent patience.
It’s hard for a fool who thinks that he will alarm You with crazy speeches! He is like a child who angrily throws a pebble into the waves to drive the sea away from the shore. But the sea will only wrinkle the surface of the waters and continue to irritate weakness with its enormous power.
Look, our sins are common sins, we are all together responsible for the sins of everyone. Therefore, there are no pure righteous people on earth, for all righteous people must take upon themselves some of the sins of sinners. It is hard to be an immaculately righteous person, for there is not a single righteous person who does not bear the burden of at least one sinner on his shoulders. However, Father, the more a righteous person bears the sins of sinners, the more righteous he is.
Our heavenly Father, You, Who send bread from morning to evening to your children and accept their sins as payment, lighten the burden of the righteous and dispel the darkness of sinners!
The earth is full of sins, but also full of prayers; it is full of the prayers of the righteous and the despair of sinners. But isn't despair the beginning of prayer?
And in the end you will be the winner. Your Kingdom will stand on the prayers of the righteous. Your will will become a law for people, just as Your will is a law for angels.
Otherwise, why would You, our Father, hesitate to forgive the sins of mortals, because by doing so You give us an example of forgiveness and mercy?
and do not lead us into temptation,
Oh, how little it takes for a person to turn away from You and turn to idols!
He is surrounded by temptations like storms, and he is weak as foam on the crest of a stormy mountain stream.
If he is rich, he immediately begins to think that he is equal to You, or places You after himself, or even decorates his house with Your faces as luxury items.
When evil knocks at his gates, he falls into the temptation to bargain with You or throw You away completely.
If You call him to sacrifice himself, he becomes indignant. If You send him to death, he trembles.
If You offer him all earthly pleasures, in temptation he poisons and kills his own soul.
If You reveal to his eyes the laws of Your care, he grumbles: “The world is wonderful in itself, and without a Creator.”
We are embarrassed by Your holiness, O our Holy God. When You call us to the light, we, like moths at night, rush into the darkness, but, rushing into the darkness, we seek the light.
A network of many roads stretches out before us, but we are afraid to reach the end of any of them, because temptation awaits and beckons us at any edge.
And the path that leads to You is blocked by many temptations and many, many failures. Before temptation comes, it seems to us that You accompany us like a bright cloud. However, when temptation begins, You disappear. We turn around in concern and silently ask ourselves: what is our mistake, where are you, are you there or are you not?
In all our temptations we ask ourselves: “Are You really our Father?” All our temptations throw into our minds the same questions that the whole world around us asks us day after day and night after night:
“What do you think about the Lord?”
“Where is He and who is He?”
“Are you with Him or without Him?”
Give me strength Father and Creator mine, so that at any moment of my life I can correctly respond to every possible temptation.
The Lord is the Lord. He is where I am and where I am not.
I give Him my passionate heart and stretch out my hands to His holy robes, I reach out to Him like a child to its beloved Father.
How could I live without Him? This means that I could live without myself.
How can I be against Him? This means that I will be against myself.
A righteous son follows his father with honor, peace and joy.
Blow Your inspiration into our souls, Our Father, so that we may become Your righteous sons.
but deliver us from evil.
Who will free us from evil if not You, our Father?
Who will reach out to drowning children if not their father?
Who cares more about the cleanliness and beauty of the house, if not its owner?
You created us from nothing and made something out of us, but we are drawn to evil and again turn into nothing.
We warm to our hearts the snake that we fear more than anything in the world.
With all our strength we rebel against darkness, but still darkness lives in our souls, sowing the germs of death.
We are all unanimously against evil, but evil is slowly creeping into our home and, while we scream and protest against evil, it takes one position after another, getting closer and closer to our hearts.
Oh, Almighty Father, stand between us and evil, and we will lift up our hearts, and evil will dry up like a puddle on the road under the hot sun.
You are high above us and do not know how evil grows, but we are suffocating under it. Look, evil is growing in us day after day, spreading its abundant fruits everywhere.
The sun greets us every day with “Good morning!” and asks what can we show our great King? And we demonstrate only the old, broken fruits of evil. Oh, God, truly dust, motionless and inanimate, is purer than a person who is in the service of evil!
Look, we built our homes in the valleys and hid in caves. It is not at all difficult for You to command Your rivers to flood all our valleys and caves and wipe out humanity from the face of the earth, washing it away from our dirty deeds.
But You are above our anger and our advice. If you had listened to human advice, You would have already destroyed the world to the ground and You Yourself would have perished under the ruins.
O Wise One among fathers! You smile forever in Your divine beauty and immortality. Look, the stars grow from Your smile! With a smile You transform our evil into good, and graft the Tree of Good onto the tree of evil, and with endless patience you ennoble our uncultivated Garden of Eden. You patiently heal and patiently create. You are patiently building Your Kingdom of goodness, Our King and Our Father. We pray to You: free us from evil and fill us with good, for You abolish evil and fill us with good.
For Thine is the Kingdom,
The stars and the sun are citizens of Your Kingdom, Our Father. Enroll us in Your shining army.
Our planet is small and dark, but it is Your work, Your creation and Your inspiration. What else can come out of Your hands but something great? But still, with our insignificance and darkness, we make our habitat small and gloomy. Yes, the earth is small and gloomy every time we call it our kingdom and when we say in madness that we are its kings.
Look how many among us are those who were kings on earth and who now, standing on the ruins of their thrones, are surprised and ask: “Where are all our kingdoms?” There are many kingdoms that do not know what happened to their kings. Blessed and happy is the man who looks into the sky-high heights and whispers the words that I hear: Yours is the Kingdom!
What we call our earthly kingdom is full of worms and fleeting, like bubbles in deep water, like clouds of dust on the wings of the wind! Only You have the true Kingdom, and only Your Kingdom has a King. Take us off the wings of the wind and take us to You, merciful King! Save us from the wind! And make us citizens of Your eternal Kingdom near Your stars and the sun, among Your angels and archangels, let us be close to You, Our Father!
and strength,
Yours is the power, for Yours is the kingdom. False kings are weak. Their royal power lies only in their royal titles, which are truly Your titles. They are wandering dust, and dust flies wherever the wind blows. We are just wanderers, shadows and flying dust. But even when we wander and wander, we are moved by Your power. By Your power we were created and by Your power we will live. If a person does good, he does it with Your power through You, but if a person does evil, he does it with Your power, but through himself. Everything that is done is done by Your power, used for good or abused. If a man, Father, uses Your power according to Your will, then Your power will be Yours, but if a man uses Your power according to His own will, then Your power is called his power and will be evil.
I think, Lord, that when You yourself have Your strength at your disposal, then it is good, but when the beggars who borrowed strength from You proudly dispose of it as their own, it becomes evil. Therefore, there is one Owner, but there are many evil stewards and users of Your power, which You graciously distribute at Your rich table to these unfortunate mortals on earth.
Look at us, Almighty Father, look at us and do not rush to bestow Your power on the dust of the earth until the palaces there are ready for it: good will and humility. Good will - to use the received divine gift for good deeds, and humility - to forever remember that all the power in the universe belongs to You, great Power-Giver.
Your power is holy and wise. But in our hands Your power is in danger of being desecrated and can become sinful and insane.
Our Father, who art in heaven, help us to know and do only one thing: to know that all power is Yours, and to use Your power according to Your will. Look, we are unhappy, because we have divided what is indivisible with You. We separated power from holiness, and separated power from love, and separated power from faith, and finally (and this is the first reason for our fall) we separated power from humility. Father, we pray to You, unite all that your children have divided through foolishness.
We pray to You, exalt and protect the honor of Your power, which has been abandoned and dishonored. Forgive us, for although we are like this, we are Your children.
and glory forever.
Your glory is eternal, like You, our King, our Father. It exists in You and does not depend on us. This glory is not from words, like the glory of mortals, but from a true, imperishable essence, such as You. Yes, she is inseparable from You, just as light is inseparable from the hot sun. Who has seen the center and halo of Your glory? Who has become famous without touching Your glory?
Your brilliant glory surrounds us on all sides and looks at us silently, smiling slightly and slightly surprised at our human worries and grumblings. When we become silent, someone secretly whispers to us: you are the children of the glorious Father.
Oh, how sweet is this secret whisper!
What do we desire more than to be children of Your glory? Isn't that enough? Without a doubt, this is enough for a righteous life. However, people want to be the fathers of fame. And this is the beginning and apogee of their misfortunes. They are not content to be children and participants in Your glory, but they want to be fathers and bearers of Your glory. And yet You alone are the only bearer of Your glory. There are many who abuse Your glory, and many who have fallen into self-deception. There is nothing more dangerous in the hands of mortals than fame.
You show Your glory, and people argue about theirs. Your glory is a fact, but human glory is only a word.
Your glory eternally smiles and comforts, but human glory, separated from You, frightens and kills.
Your glory nourishes the unfortunate and guides the meek, but human glory is separated from You. She is Satan's most terrible weapon.
How ridiculous people are when they try to create their own glory, outside of You and apart from You. They are like some fool who hated the sun and tried to find a place where there was no sunlight. He built himself a shack without windows and, entering it, stood in the darkness and rejoiced that he had escaped from the source of light. Such is the fool and such is the inhabitant of darkness, he who tries to create his glory outside of You and apart from You, Immortal Source of Glory!
There is no human glory, just as there is no human strength. Yours is both the power and the glory, Our Father. If we do not receive them from You, we will not have them, and we will wither and be carried away by the will of the wind, like dry leaves falling from a tree.
We are pleased to be called Your children. There is no greater honor on earth or in heaven than this honor.
Take from us our kingdoms, our strength and our glory. Everything we once called ours lies in ruins. Take from us what belonged to You from the very beginning. Our whole history has been a foolish attempt to create our kingdom, our power and our glory. Quickly end our old story where we struggled to become masters in Your house, and begin a new story where we strive to become servants in the house that belongs to You. Truly, it is better and more glorious to be a servant in Your Kingdom than to be the most important king in our kingdom.
Therefore, make us, Father, servants of Your Kingdom, Your power and Your glory in all generations and forever and ever. Amen!
“Our Father” in Church Slavonic, Russian, Greek, Latin, English.
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An explanation of prayer and its use in daily life...
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, just as we forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
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Lord Almighty (Pantocrator). Icon
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“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 our daily bread this day; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors ours; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” (Matthew 6:9-13).
Πάτερ ἡμῶν, ὁἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. ἁγιασθήτω τὸὄνομά σου, ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶἐπὶ γής. Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον. Καὶἄφες ἡμῖν τὰὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν. Καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ρυσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ του πονηρου.
In Greek:
In Latin:
Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie. Et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo.
In English (Catholic liturgical version)
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Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed to be your 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.
Why did God Himself give a special prayer?
“Only God Himself can allow people to call God Father. He granted this right to people, making them sons of God. And despite the fact that they withdrew from Him and were in extreme anger against Him, He granted oblivion of insults and the sacrament of grace” ( St. Cyril of Jerusalem).
How Christ taught the apostles to pray
The Lord's Prayer is given in the Gospels in two versions, more extensive in the Gospel of Matthew and brief in the Gospel of Luke. The circumstances under which Christ pronounces the text of the prayer are also different. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord's Prayer is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Evangelist Luke writes that the apostles turned to the Savior: “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1).
The Lord's Prayer is part of the daily prayer rule and is read both during Morning Prayers and Bedtime Prayers. The full text of the prayers is given in Prayer Books, Canons and other collections of prayers.
For those who are especially busy and cannot devote much time to prayer, Venerable Seraphim of Sarov gave a special rule. "Our Father" is also included in it.
In the morning, afternoon and evening you need to read “Our Father” three times, “Virgin Mother of God” three times and “I Believe” once. For those who, due to various circumstances, cannot follow this small rule, Rev. Seraphim advised reading it in any position: during classes, while walking, and even in bed, presenting the basis for this as the words of Scripture: “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
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There is a custom to read “Our Father” before meals along with other prayers (for example, “The eyes of all trust in You, O Lord, and You give them food in due season, You open Your generous hand and fulfill every animal’s good will”).
Interpretation of Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria on the Lord's Prayer "Our Father..."“Pray like this: Our Father who art in heaven!”
A vow is one thing, prayer is another. A vow is a promise to God, as when someone promises to abstain from wine or anything else; prayer is asking for benefits. Saying “Father” shows you what blessings you have received by becoming the son of God, and with the word “in heaven” he points you to your fatherland and your father’s house. Therefore, if you want to have God as your Father, then look at heaven, not at earth. You do not say: “My Father,” but “Our Father,” because you must consider all the children of one Heavenly Father to be your brothers."Hallowed be Thy name" -
that is, make us holy, so that Your name may be glorified, for just as God is blasphemed through me, so through me He is sanctified, that is, glorified as Holy."Thy kingdom come"
- that is, the second coming: for a person with a clear conscience prays for the coming of resurrection and judgment."Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
As the angels, he says, carry out Your will in heaven, so grant us to do it on earth."Give us this day our daily bread."
By “daily” the Lord means that bread that is sufficient for our nature and condition, but He eliminates concern for tomorrow. And the Body of Christ is our daily bread, for whose uncondemned communion we must pray. Since we sin even after baptism, we pray that God will forgive us, but forgive us in the same way that we forgive. If we hold a grudge, He will not forgive us. God has me as His example and does to me what I do to others.
"And do not lead us into temptation". We are weak people, so we should not expose ourselves to temptation, but if we fall, we must pray so that temptation does not consume us. Only the one who is consumed and defeated is drawn into the abyss of trial, and not the one who fell but then won.
There is no person who has not heard or does not know about the existence of the prayer “Our Father who art in heaven!” This is the most important prayer to which Christian believers around the world turn. The Lord's Prayer, as it is commonly called “Our Father,” is considered the key property of Christianity, the oldest prayer. It is given in two Gospels: from Matthew - in chapter six, from Luke - in chapter eleven. The version given by Matthew has gained great popularity.
In Russian, the text of the prayer “Our Father” exists in two versions - in modern Russian and in Church Slavonic. Because of this, many people mistakenly believe that in Russian there are 2 different Lord's prayers. In fact, this opinion is fundamentally incorrect - both options are equivalent, and such a discrepancy occurred due to the fact that during the translation of ancient letters, “Our Father” was translated from two sources (the above-mentioned Gospels) differently.
Biblical tradition says that the prayer “Our Father who art in heaven!” The apostles were taught by Christ himself, the Son of God. This event took place in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, on the territory of the Pater Noster temple. The text of the Lord's Prayer was imprinted on the walls of this temple in more than 140 languages of the world.
However, the fate of the Pater Noster temple was tragic. In 1187, after the capture of Jerusalem by the troops of Sultan Saladin, the temple was completely destroyed. Already in the 14th century, in 1342, a piece of a wall with an engraving of the prayer “Our Father” was found.
Later, in the 19th century, in the second half, thanks to the architect Andre Leconte, a church appeared on the site of the former Pater Noster, which subsequently passed into the hands of the female Catholic monastic order of the Discalced Carmelites. Since then, the walls of this church have been decorated every year with a new panel with the text of the main Christian heritage.
When and how is the Lord's Prayer said?
“Our Father” serves as an obligatory part of the daily prayer rule. Traditionally, it is customary to read it 3 times a day - in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Each time the prayer is said three times. After it, “To the Virgin Mary” (3 times) and “I Believe” (1 time) are read.
Modern Russian version
In modern Russian, the “Our Father” is available in two versions - in the presentation of Matthew and in the presentation of Luke. The text from Matthew is the most popular. It sounds like this:
Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer is more abbreviated, does not contain doxology, and reads as follows:
A praying person can choose any of the available options for himself. Each of the texts of “Our Father” is a kind of personal conversation between the person praying and the Lord God. The Lord's Prayer is so strong, sublime and pure that after saying it, every person feels relief and peace.
Synodal translation of the prayer
Interpretation of the Lord's Prayer
Complete interpretation of the prayer. Analysis of each phrase
Prayer Our Father in Russian
Modern translation of the prayer into Russian
Pater Noster Church
This church contains prayers in all languages of the world.
In the Synodal translation of the Bible, Our Father, the text of the prayer is as follows:
Our Father 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 debts, 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.
Matthew 6:9-13
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 our daily bread;
and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Luke 11:2-4
Fragment of the Catholic Church Pater Noster (Our Father) in Jerusalem. The temple stands on the Mount of Olives; according to legend, Jesus taught the apostles the Lord’s Prayer here. The walls of the temple are decorated with panels with the text of the Our Father prayer in more than 140 languages, including Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian and Church Slavonic.
The first basilica was built in the 4th century. Shortly after the conquest of Jerusalem in 1187 by Sultan Saladin, the building was destroyed. In 1342, a fragment of a wall with the engraved prayer “Our Father” was discovered here. In the second half of the 19th century, the architect Andre Leconte built the church, which was transferred to the Catholic female monastic order of the Discalced Carmelites. Since then, the walls of the temple are annually decorated with new panels with the text of the Our Father prayer.
Fragment of the text of the Lord's Prayer Church Slavonic in the temple Pater Noster V Jerusalem.
Our Father is the Lord's prayer. Listen:
Interpretation of the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer:
“It happened that when Jesus was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). In response to this request, the Lord entrusts His disciples and His Church with basic Christian prayer. Evangelist Luke gives it in the form of a short text (of five petitions)1, and Evangelist Matthew presents a more detailed version (of seven petitions)2. The liturgical tradition of the Church preserves the text of the Evangelist Matthew: (Matthew 6:9-13).
Our Father who art in heaven!
Hallowed be Thy name,
may your kingdom come,
Thy will be done
and on earth as it is in heaven;
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.I
Very early on, the liturgical use of the Lord's Prayer was supplemented by a concluding doxology. In the Didache (8, 2): “For to You belongs power and glory forever.” The Apostolic Constitutions (7, 24, 1) add the word “kingdom” at the beginning, and this formula is preserved to this day in worldwide prayer practice. The Byzantine tradition adds after the word “glory” - “To the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” The Roman Missal expands on the last petition3 in the express perspective of “the expectation of the blessed promise” (Titus 2:13) and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ; this is followed by the proclamation of the assembly, repeating the doxology of the Apostolic Constitutions.
Article one interpretation Our Father prayers (text)
I. At the Center of the Scriptures
Having shown that the Psalms constitute the main food of Christian prayer and merge in the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, St. Augustine concludes:
Look through all the prayers that are in the Scriptures, and I don’t think you will find anything there that is not included in the Lord’s Prayer6.
All the Scriptures (Law, Prophets and Psalms) were fulfilled in Christ7. The Gospel is this “Good News”. Its first proclamation was set forth by the holy evangelist Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount8. And the Lord's Prayer is at the center of this proclamation. It is in this context that each request of the prayer bequeathed by the Lord is clarified:
The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers (...). In it we not only ask for everything that we can rightly desire, but we also ask in the order in which it is proper to desire it. Thus, this prayer not only teaches us to ask, but also shapes our entire state of mind9.
The Mount on Mount is a teaching for life, and the Lord's Prayer is a prayer; but in both cases, the Spirit of the Lord gives a new form to our desires - to those internal movements that animate our life. Jesus teaches us this new life through His words, and He teaches us to ask for it in prayer. The authenticity of our life in Him will depend on the authenticity of our prayer.
II. "The Lord's Prayer"
The traditional name "Lord's Prayer" means that the Lord's Prayer was given to us by the Lord Jesus, who taught it to us. This prayer we received from Jesus is truly unique: it is “the Lord’s.” Indeed, on the one hand, with the words of this prayer, the Only Begotten Son gives us the words given to Him by the Father10: He is the Teacher of our prayer. On the other hand, as the Word incarnate, He knows in His human heart the needs of His brothers and sisters in humanity and reveals them to us: He is the Model of our prayer.
But Jesus does not leave us a formula that we must repeat mechanically11. Here, as in all oral prayer, by the word of God the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus gives us not only the words of our filial prayer; at the same time He gives us the Spirit, through whom these words become “spirit and life” in us (John 6:63). Moreover: the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father “sent into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying: “Abba, Father!” (Gal 4:6). Because our prayer interprets our desires before God, again the “Searcher of hearts” Father “knows the desires of the Spirit and that His intercession for the saints is in accordance with the will of God” (Rom 8:27). The Lord's Prayer is part of the mystery of the mission of the Son and the Spirit.
III. Prayer of the Church
The indivisible gift of the words of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, which gives life to them in the hearts of believers, was received by the Church and lived in it from its foundation. The first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer "three times a day"12 instead of the "Eighteen Blessings" used in Jewish piety.
According to the Apostolic Tradition, the Lord's Prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer.
The Lord teaches us to pray together for all our brothers. For He does not say “My Father who art in heaven,” but “Our Father,” so that our prayer may be unanimous for the entire Body of the Church.
In all liturgical traditions, the Lord's Prayer is an integral part of the main moments of worship. But its ecclesiastical character is especially clearly manifested in the three sacraments of Christian initiation:
In baptism and confirmation, the transmission (traditio) of the Lord's Prayer marks a new birth into the Divine life. Since Christian prayer is a conversation with God through the word of God Himself, “those who are born again from the living word of God” (1 Peter 1:23) learn to cry to their Father with the only Word to which He always listens. And from now on they are able to do this, for the seal of the anointing of the Holy Spirit is indelibly placed on their hearts, on their ears, on their lips, on their entire filial being. That is why most of the patristic interpretations of the “Our Father” are addressed to the catechumens and the newly baptized. When the Church says the Lord’s Prayer, it is the people of the “regenerated” who are praying and receiving God’s mercy14.
In the Eucharistic Liturgy, the Lord's Prayer is the prayer of the entire Church. Here its full meaning and its effectiveness are revealed. Occupying a place between the Anaphora (Eucharistic Prayer) and the Liturgy of Communion, it, on the one hand, reunites in itself all the petitions and intercessions expressed in the epiclesis, and, on the other hand, it knocks on the door of the Feast of the Kingdom, which is anticipated by the communion of the Holy Mysteries.
In the Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer also expresses the eschatological nature of the petitions it contains. It is a prayer belonging to the “end times,” the times of salvation that began with the descent of the Holy Spirit and which will end with the return of the Lord. The petitions of the Lord's Prayer, unlike the prayers of the Old Testament, are based on the mystery of salvation, already realized once and for all in Christ, crucified and risen.
This unshakable faith is the source of hope that carries each of the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer. They express the groan of the present time, a time of patience and waiting, when “it has not yet been revealed to us what we will be” (1 John 3:2)15. The Eucharist and the Lord's Prayer are directed towards the coming of the Lord, “until He comes” (1 Cor 11:26).
Short
In response to the request of His disciples (“Lord, teach us to pray”: Luke 11:1), Jesus entrusts them with the basic Christian prayer “Our Father.”
“The Lord’s Prayer is truly a summary of the entire Gospel”16, “the most perfect of prayers”17. It is at the center of the Scriptures.
It is called the “Lord’s Prayer” because we receive it from the Lord Jesus, the Teacher and Model of our prayer.
The Lord's Prayer is in the full sense the prayer of the Church. It is an integral component of the main moments of worship and the sacraments of introduction to Christianity: baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist. As an integral part of the Eucharist, it expresses the “eschatological” character of the petitions it contains, in anticipation of the Lord “until He comes” (1 Cor 11:26).
Article two Our Father prayer
"Our Father who art in heaven"
I. “We dare to proceed with full confidence”
In the Roman liturgy, the Eucharistic congregation is invited to approach the Lord's Prayer with filial boldness; in Eastern liturgies similar expressions are used and developed: “With boldness without condemnation,” “Vouchsafe us.” Moses, being in front of the Burning Bush, heard these words: “Do not come here; take off your sandals" (Exodus 3:5). This threshold of divine holiness could only be crossed by Jesus, who, “having made atonement for our sins” (Heb. 1:3), introduces us into the presence of the Father: “Here am I and the children whom God has given me” (Heb. 2:13):
The awareness of our slave state would make us fall through the earth, our earthly state would crumble into dust, if the power of our God Himself and the Spirit of His Son did not prompt us to this cry. “God,” says [the Apostle Paul], “has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying: ‘Abba, Father!’” (Gal. 4:6). (...) How would mortality dare to call God its Father, unless the soul of man were inspired by a power from above?18
This power of the Holy Spirit, Which leads us into the Lord's Prayer, is expressed in the liturgies of East and West by a beautiful word, typically Christian: ???????? - frank simplicity, filial trust, joyful confidence, humble boldness, confidence that you are loved19.
II. Interpretation of a fragment of the text “Father!” Our Father prayers
Before making this first impulse of the Lord’s Prayer “ours,” it is not superfluous to cleanse our hearts with humility from some false images of “this world.” Humility helps us to recognize that “no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal him,” that is, “to little children” (Mt 11:25-27). Purification of the heart concerns the father or mother images generated by personal and cultural history that influence our relationship to God. God, our Father, transcends the categories of the created world. To transfer our ideas in this area to Him (or to use them against Him) means to create idols to worship them or to overthrow them. To pray to the Father means to enter into His mystery - who He is and how His Son revealed Him to us:
The expression “God the Father” has never been revealed to anyone. When Moses himself asked God who He was, he heard another name. This name was revealed to us in the Son, for it means a new name: 0father20.
We can call on God as “Father” because He is revealed to us by His Son made man and His Spirit makes us know Him. The Spirit of the Son gives us - those who believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we are born of God21 - to join in what is incomprehensible to man and what is invisible to angels: this is the personal connection of the Son with the Father22.
When we pray to the Father, we are in communion with Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. Then we come to know Him and recognize Him, each time with new admiration. The first word of the Lord's Prayer is a blessing and an expression of worship before the petitions begin. For it is the glory of God that we recognize in Him the “Father,” the true God. We thank Him for revealing His name to us, for giving us faith in Him, and for allowing His presence to dwell in us.
We can worship the Father because He regenerates us into His life by adopting us as children in His only begotten Son: by baptism He makes us members of the Body of His Christ, and by the anointing of His Spirit, which is poured out from the Head upon the members of the Body, He makes us “Christs.” (anointed ones):
Truly, God, who predestinated us as sons, has made us conformed to the glorious Body of Christ. Being partakers of Christ, you are rightfully called “Christs.”24
The new man, regenerated and returned to God by grace, from the very beginning says “Father!” because he has become a son25.
Thus, through the Lord’s Prayer we reveal ourselves to ourselves at the same time as the Father reveals himself to us26:
O man, you did not dare to raise your face to heaven, you lowered your gaze to the ground and suddenly you found the grace of Christ: all your sins were forgiven. From a bad slave you became a good son. (...) So, lift up your eyes to the Father, who redeemed you with His Son, and say: Our Father (...). But do not refer to any of your pre-emptive rights. He is in a special way the Father of Christ alone, while He created us. So, by His mercy, say: Our Father, so that you may deserve to be His son27.
This free gift of adoption requires continuous conversion and new life on our part. The Lord's Prayer should develop in us two main dispositions:
The desire and will to be like Him. We, created in His image, are restored to His likeness by grace, and we must respond to this.
We should remember when we call God “our Father” that we must act as sons of God28.
You cannot call the all-good God your Father if you retain a cruel and inhuman heart; for in this case there no longer remains in you the sign of the goodness of the Heavenly Father.
We must continually contemplate the splendor of the Father and fill our soul with it30.
A humble and trusting heart that allows us to “be converted and become like children” (Mt 18:3); for it is to “babies” that the Father is revealed (Mt 11:25): This is a look at God alone, the great flame of love. The soul in it is melted and immersed in holy love and converses with God as with its own Father, in a very kindred way, with a very special pious tenderness31.
Our Father: this appeal evokes in us at the same time love, commitment in prayer, (...) and also the hope of receiving what we are going to ask (...). Truly, how can He refuse the prayer of His children, when He has already allowed them to be His children in advance?32
III. Interpretation of the fragmentOur Father prayerstext
The address “Our Father” refers to God. On our part, this definition does not mean possession. It expresses a completely new connection with God.
When we say “Our Father,” we first acknowledge that all His promises of love through the prophets have been fulfilled in the new and everlasting covenant of His Christ: we have become “His” People and He is now “our” God. This new relationship is a mutual belonging freely given: with love and fidelity33 we must respond to the “grace and truth” given to us in Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
Because the Lord's Prayer is the prayer of the People of God in “the last times,” the word “our” also expresses the confidence of our trust in God’s last promise; in the New Jerusalem He will say: “I will be his God, and he will be My son” (Rev 21:7).
When we say “Our Father,” we are addressing personally the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not separate the Divinity, since the Father in Him is the “source and beginning,” but by the fact that the Son was pre-eternally begotten from the Father and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. We also do not confuse the Divine Persons, since we confess communion with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in their one Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is consubstantial and indivisible. When we pray to the Father, we worship Him and glorify Him with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Grammatically, the word “our” defines a reality common to many. There is one God, and He is recognized as Father by those who, by faith in His Only Begotten Son, were reborn from Him by water and the Spirit. The Church is this new communion of God and man: in unity with the Only Begotten Son, who became “the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29), she is in communion with the one Father Himself in the one Holy Spirit Himself35. Saying “Our Father,” every baptized person prays in this communion: “The multitude of them who believed were of one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32).
That is why, despite the divisions of Christians, prayer to “Our Father” remains a common property and an urgent call for all the baptized. Being in communion through faith in Christ and baptism, they must become participants in Jesus' prayer for the unity of His disciples36.
Finally, if we truly say the Lord’s Prayer, we abandon our individualism, for the love we accept delivers us from it. The word "our" at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer - like the words "we", "us", "us", "our" in the last four petitions - does not exclude anyone. To pray this prayer in truth,37 we must overcome our divisions and our oppositions.
A baptized person cannot say the prayer “Our Father” without presenting before the Father all for whom He gave His Beloved Son. God's love has no boundaries; Our prayer should be the same. When we say the Lord’s Prayer, it brings us into the dimension of His love revealed to us in Christ: to pray with and for all those people who do not yet know Him, in order to “gather them together” (John 11:52 ). This Divine concern for all people and for all creation has inspired all the great prayer books: it should expand our prayer in love when we dare to say “Our Father.”
IV. Interpretation of a text fragment prayers Our Father "Who art in heaven"
This biblical expression does not mean a place (“space”), but a way of being; not the remoteness of God, but His greatness. Our Father is not “elsewhere”; He is “beyond all” that we can imagine of His holiness. Precisely because He is the Trisagion, He is entirely close to the humble and contrite heart:
It is true that the words “Our Father who art in heaven” come from the hearts of the righteous, where God dwells as in His temple. That is why the one who prays will want the One to whom he calls to dwell within him39.
“Heaven” can be those that bear the image of the heavenly and in which God dwells and walks40.
The symbol of heaven refers us to the covenant mystery in which we live when we pray to our Father. The Father is in heaven, this is His abode; The Father's house is thus also our “fatherland.” Sin has driven us from the land of the covenant41 and the conversion of the heart will again lead us to the Father and to heaven42. And heaven and earth are reunited in Christ43, for the Son alone “descended from heaven” and allows us to rise there again with Him, through His Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension44.
When the Church prays the “Our Father who art in heaven,” she confesses that we are the People of God, whom God has already “seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6), a people “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3) and, at the same time, “he who sighs, desiring to be clothed with our heavenly habitation” (2 Cor 5:2)45: Christians are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth, but they are citizens of heaven46.
Short
Trust in simplicity and devotion, humble and joyful confidence - these are the appropriate states of the soul of the one who prays the Lord's Prayer.
We can call on God, addressing Him with the word “Father,” because He was revealed to us by the Son of God made man, into whose Body we became members through baptism and in which we were adopted as sons of God.
The Lord's Prayer brings us into communion with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. At the same time, it reveals us to ourselves47.
When we say the Lord's Prayer, it should develop in us the desire to be like Him and make our heart humble and trusting.
By saying “our” to the Father, we invoke the New Testament in Jesus Christ, communion with the Holy Trinity and Divine love, which through the Church acquires a universal dimension.
“He who is in heaven” does not mean a given place, but the greatness of God and His presence in the hearts of the righteous. Heaven, the House of God, represents the true fatherland to which we strive and to which we already belong.
Article three interpretation of the Lord's Prayer (text)
Seven Petitions
Having brought us into the presence of God our Father so that we worship Him, love Him and bless Him, the Spirit of adoption raises from our hearts seven petitions, seven blessings. The first three, more theological in nature, direct us to the glory of the Father; the other four - as paths to Him - offer our nothingness to His grace. “The deep calls upon the deep” (Ps 43:8).
The first wave carries us to Him, for His sake: Thy name, Thy kingdom, Thy will! The property of love is, first of all, to think about the One we love. In each of these three petitions we do not mention “us” ourselves, but the “fiery desire”, the very “longing” of the Beloved Son for the glory of His Father, embraces us48: “Hallowed be (...), let him come (...), let it be...” - God has already heeded these three prayers in the sacrifice of Christ the Savior, but from now on they are turned in hope to their final fulfillment, until the time when God will be all in all49.
The second wave of petition unfolds in the vein of some Eucharistic epiclesis: it is an offering of our expectations and attracts the gaze of the Father of Mercy. It rises from us and touches us now and in this world: “give to us (...); forgive us (...); do not lead us in (...); deliver us." The fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such, our daily bread and cure for sin; the last two petitions relate to our battle for the victory of Life, the basic battle of prayer.
With the first three petitions we are confirmed in faith, filled with hope and inflamed with love. Creatures of God and still sinners, we must ask for ourselves - for "us", and this "we" carries the dimension of the world and history that we offer as an offering to the immeasurable love of our God. For in the name of His Christ and the Kingdom of His Holy Spirit, our Father fulfills His plan of salvation, for our sake and for the whole world.
I. Interpretation of the fragment "Hallowed be thy name"
Our Fathertext prayers
The word “sacred” should be understood here primarily not in its causal sense (God alone sanctifies, makes holy), but mainly in an evaluative sense: to recognize as holy, to treat as holy. This is how in worship this address is often understood as praise and thanksgiving50. But this petition is taught to us by Jesus as an expression of desire: it is a request, a desire and an expectation in which both God and man participate. Beginning with the first petition addressed to our Father, we are plunged into the depth of the mystery of His Divinity and the drama of the salvation of our humanity. Asking Him that His name may be hallowed introduces us into “the favor which He has bestowed,” “that we may be holy and blameless before Him in love.”51
At the decisive moments of His economy, God reveals His name; but reveals it by doing His work. And this work is carried out for us and in us only if His name is sanctified by us and in us.
The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of His eternal mystery. That in which it manifests itself in creation and in history, Scripture calls Glory, the radiance of His greatness52. Having created man in His “image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26), God “crowned him with glory” (Ps. 8:6), but by sinning, man “fell short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Since that time, God has demonstrated His holiness by revealing and bestowing His name in order to restore man “in the image of Him who created him” (Col 3:10).
In the promise made to Abraham, and in the oath with which it is accompanied,53 God Himself accepts the obligation, but does not reveal His name. It is to Moses that He begins to reveal it54 and reveals it before the eyes of all the people when He saves it from the Egyptians: “He is covered with glory” (Exodus 15:1*). Since the establishment of the Sinai covenant, this people are “His” people; he must be a “holy nation” (that is, consecrated - the same word in Hebrew55), because the name of God dwells in him.
Despite the holy Law, which the Holy God gives them again and again,56 and also despite the fact that the Lord “for His name’s sake” shows long-suffering, this people turns away from the Holy One of Israel and acts in such a way that His name is “blasphemed before the nations.”57 That is why the righteous of the Old Testament, the poor, those who returned from captivity and the prophets burned with passionate love for the Name.
Finally, it is in Jesus that the name of the Holy God is revealed and given to us in the flesh as Savior58: it is revealed by His being, His word and His sacrifice59. This is the core of the High Priestly prayer of Christ: “Holy Father, (...) for them I consecrate myself, that they may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:19). When He reaches His limit, then the Father gives Him a name that is above every name: Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father60.
In the waters of baptism we are “washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11). In all our lives, “the Father calls us to sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:7), and since “we also come from Him in Christ Jesus, who became sanctification for us” (1 Cor 1:30), then His glory is also ours. life depends on His name being sanctified in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first petition.
Who can sanctify God, since He Himself sanctifies? But, inspired by these words - “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 20:26) - we ask that, sanctified by baptism, we remain steadfast in what we began to be. And this is what we ask all days, for every day we sin and must be cleansed of our sins by continually repeated sanctification (...). So we again resort to prayer that this holiness may dwell within us61.
Whether His Name will be hallowed among the nations depends entirely on our life and our prayer:
We ask God that His Name may be hallowed, for by His holiness He saves and sanctifies all creation (...). We are talking about the Name that gives salvation to a lost world, but we ask that this Name of God be sanctified in us through our lives. For if we live righteously, the Divine Name is blessed; but if we live badly, it is blasphemed, according to the word of the Apostle: “Because of you the name of God is reproached among the Gentiles” (Rom 2:24; Eze 36:20-22). So, we pray that we may be worthy to have in our souls as much holiness as the Name of our God is holy.”62
When we say: “Hallowed be Thy Name,” we ask that it be hallowed in us who abide in it, but also in others for whom Divine grace still awaits, so that we conform to the injunction obliging us to pray for everyone, even about our enemies. That is why we do not say definitely: Hallowed be Thy Name “in us,” for we ask that it be hallowed in all people63.
This petition, which contains all petitions, is fulfilled by the prayer of Christ, like the next six petitions. The Lord's Prayer is our prayer if it is done “in the name” of Jesus64. Jesus asks in His High Priestly Prayer: “Holy Father! keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me” (John 17:11).
II. Interpretation of a text fragment Our Father prayers"Thy Kingdom Come"
In the New Testament the word itself???????? can be translated as "royalty" (abstract noun), "kingdom" (concrete noun), and "kingship" (action noun). The Kingdom of God is before us: it has come near in the incarnate Word, it is proclaimed by the whole Gospel, it has come in the death and resurrection of Christ. The Kingdom of God comes with the Last Supper and in the Eucharist, it is among us. The Kingdom will come in glory when Christ hands it over to His Father:
It is even possible that the Kingdom of God means Christ personally, whom we daily call upon with all our hearts and whose coming we wish to hasten by our expectation. Just as He is our resurrection - for in Him we are resurrected - so He can also be the Kingdom of God, for in Him we will reign65.
These are petitions - “Marana fa”, the cry of the Spirit and the Bride: “Come, Lord Jesus”:
Even if this prayer did not oblige us to ask for the coming of the Kingdom, we ourselves would emit this cry, hastening to embrace our hopes. The souls of the martyrs under the throne of the altar cry out to the Lord with great cries: “How long, O Lord, will You hesitate to exact a reward for our blood from those living on the earth?” (Rev 6:10*). They must truly find justice at the end of time. Lord, hasten the coming of Your Kingdom!66
The Lord's Prayer speaks mainly about the final advent of the Kingdom of God with the second coming of Christ67. But this desire does not distract the Church from its mission in this world - rather, it obliges it even more to fulfill it. For from the day of Pentecost, the coming of the Kingdom is the work of the Spirit of the Lord, who, “by completing the work of Christ in the world, completes all sanctification.”68
“The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). The end times in which we live are the times of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when there is a decisive battle between the “flesh” and the Spirit69:
Only a pure heart can say with confidence: “Thy kingdom come.” One must go through the school of Paul in order to say: “Let sin therefore not reign in our mortal body” (Rom 6:12). Whoever keeps himself pure in his deeds, his thoughts and his words can say to God: “Thy kingdom come.”70
When reasoning according to the Spirit, Christians must distinguish the growth of the Kingdom of God from the social and cultural progress in which they participate. This difference is not separation.
Man’s calling to eternal life does not negate, but rather strengthens, his duty to use the powers and means received from the Creator to serve justice and peace on earth71.
This request is made and fulfilled in the prayer of Jesus72, present and active in the Eucharist; it bears fruit in a new life according to the Beatitudes73.
III. Interpretation of a text fragment Our Father prayers“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
Our Father’s will is “that all people should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:3-4). He is “longsuffering, not willing that anyone should perish” (2 Peter 3:9)74. His commandment, which includes all other commandments and communicates to us all His will, is that “we love one another, as He loved us” (John 13:34)75.
“Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He ordained in Him for the fulfillment of the fulness of times, to unite all things in heaven and on earth under the head of Christ in Him, in whom we also were made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the predestination of Him who perfects all things. the decision of His will" (Eph 1:9-11*). We continually ask that this plan of benevolence be fully realized on earth, as it has already been realized in heaven.
In Christ - His Human will - the will of the Father was perfectly done once and for all. Jesus said as He entered the world: “Behold, I come to do Your will, O God” (Heb 10:7; Ps 40:8-9). Only Jesus can say: “I always do what pleases Him” (John 8:29). In prayer during His struggle in Gethsemane, He completely agrees with the will of the Father: “Not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42)76. This is why Jesus “gave himself for our sins according to the will of God” (Gal 1:4). “It is by this will that we were sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10).
Jesus, “though He was a Son, learned obedience by what He suffered” (Heb 5:8*). How much more should we do this, creatures and sinners who have become sons of sons in Him. We ask our Father that our will unite with the will of the Son, for the sake of fulfilling the will of the Father, His plan of salvation for the life of the world. We are completely powerless in this, but in unity with Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit, we can surrender our will to the Father and decide to choose what His Son has always chosen - to do what is pleasing to the Father77:
By joining Christ, we can become one spirit with Him and thereby fulfill His will; thus it will be perfect on earth as it is in heaven78.
See how Jesus Christ teaches us to be humble, letting us see that our virtue depends not only on our effort, but on the grace of God, He commands here every praying faithful to pray everywhere for everyone and for everything, so that this can be done everywhere for the sake of the whole earth . For He does not say, “Thy will be done,” in Me or in you; but "in all the earth." So that error would be abolished on earth, truth would reign, vice would be destroyed, virtue would flourish, and earth would no longer differ from heaven79.
Through prayer we can “know what the will of God is” (Rom 12:2; Eph 5:17) and gain “patience to do it” (Heb 10:36). Jesus teaches us that one enters the Kingdom not by words, but by “doing the will of My Father in heaven” (Mt 7:27).
“Whoever does the will of God, God listens to him” (John 9:31*)80. Such is the power of the Church’s prayer in the name of her Lord, especially in the Eucharist; it is intercessory communication with the Most Holy Mother of God81 and all the saints who “pleased” the Lord by not seeking their own will, but only His will:
We can also, without prejudice, interpret the words “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” this way: in the Church, as in our Lord Jesus Christ; in the Bride betrothed to Him, as well as in the Bridegroom, who fulfilled the will of the Father82.
IV. Interpretation of the fragment Our Fatherprayers text “Give us this day our daily bread”
“Give to us”: wonderful is the trust of children who expect everything from the Father. “He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45); He gives to all living “their food in due season” (Ps 104:27). Jesus teaches us this petition: it truly glorifies the Father, for we recognize how good He is, beyond all kindness.
“Give to us” is also an expression of union: we belong to Him, and He belongs to us, He is for us. But by saying “us,” we recognize Him as the Father of all people and pray to Him for all people, participating in their needs and sufferings.
"Our bread." The Father, who gives life, cannot but give us the food necessary for life, all the “appropriate” benefits, material and spiritual. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on this filial trust, which contributes to the Providence of our Father83. He does not in any way call us to passivity,84 but wants to free us from all anxiety and all anxiety. Such is the filial trust of the children of God:
To those who seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, God promises to provide everything. In fact, everything belongs to God: he who possesses God lacks nothing if he himself does not distance himself from God85.
But the existence of those who experience hunger due to lack of bread reveals a different depth to this petition. The tragedy of famine on earth calls upon truly praying Christians to effective responsibility towards their brethren, both in their personal conduct and in their solidarity with the whole family of humanity. This request of the Lord’s Prayer is inseparable from the parable of the beggar Lazarus and from what the Lord says about the Last Judgment86.
As leaven raises the dough, so the newness of the Kingdom must lift the earth by the Spirit of Christ. This newness must be manifested in the establishment of justice in personal and social, economic and international relations, and we must never forget that there can be no just structures without people who want to be fair.
We are talking about “our” bread, “one” for “many”. The poverty of the Beatitudes is the virtue of sharing: the call to this poverty is a call to transfer material and spiritual goods to others and share them, not under coercion, but out of love, so that the abundance of some helps others in need88.
“Pray and work”89. “Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on you.”90 When we have done our work, food remains a gift from our Father; it is right to ask Him, giving Him thanks. This is the meaning of blessing food in a Christian family.
This request and the responsibility it imposes also apply to another famine from which people suffer: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of God” (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4) - then is His word and His breath. Christians must make every effort to “proclaim the gospel to the poor.” There is a hunger on earth - “not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but a thirst for hearing the words of the Lord” (Am 8:11). That is why the specifically Christian meaning of this fourth petition refers to the Bread of Life: the word of God, which must be received with faith, and the Body of Christ, received in the Eucharist91.
The words “today” or “to this day” are also expressions of trust. The Lord teaches us this92: we could not have come up with this ourselves. For in its presumption, especially concerning the word of God and the body of His Son, the words "to this day" refer not only to our mortal time: "this day" signifies the present day of God:
If you receive bread every day, every day is today for you. If Christ is in you today, He rises for you all the days. Why is that? “You are My Son; Today I have given birth to You” (Ps 2:7). “Now” means: when Christ is resurrected93.
"Essential." This word - ????????? in Greek - has no other use in the New Testament. In its temporal sense, it represents a pedagogical repetition of the words “for this day”94 in order to “unconditionally” confirm us in our trust. But in its qualitative sense, it means everything necessary for life and, more broadly, every good necessary to maintain existence95. In the literal sense (?????????: “essential”, above the essence), it means directly the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the “medicine of immortality”96, without which we have no life within ourselves97. Finally, in connection with the meaning of “everyday” bread, bread “for this day” discussed above, the heavenly meaning is also obvious: “this day” is the Day of the Lord, the Day of the Feast of the Kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist, which is already a foretaste of the coming Kingdom. This is why the Eucharistic celebration should be celebrated “every day.”
The Eucharist is our daily bread. The virtue belonging to this divine food is the power of union: it unites us with the Body of the Savior and makes us His members, so that we become what we have received (...). This daily bread is also in the readings that you hear every day in church, in the hymns that are sung and that you sing. All this is necessary in our pilgrimage98.
The Heavenly Father exhorts us, as children of heaven, to ask for Heavenly Bread99. Christ “He Himself is the Bread, Who, sown in the Virgin, sprouted in the flesh, prepared in the passion, baked in the heat of the tomb, placed in the storehouse of the Church, offered on the altars, supplies the faithful with heavenly food every day.”100
V. Interpretation of a text fragment Our Father prayers“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
This request is amazing. If it contained only the first part of the phrase - "forgive us our debts" - it could be silently included in the three previous petitions of the Lord's Prayer, since Christ's sacrifice is "for the remission of sins." But, according to the second part of the sentence, our request will be fulfilled only if we first satisfy this requirement. Our request is addressed to the future, and our answer must precede it. They are united by one word: “how.”
“Forgive us our debts”...
With bold confidence we began to pray: Our Father. By praying to Him that His name may be sanctified, we ask Him to sanctify us more and more. But we, although we have put on baptismal clothes, do not stop sinning and turning away from God. Now, in this new petition, we come to Him again, like the prodigal son101, and admit ourselves to be sinners before Him, like the publican102. Our petition begins with “confession,” when we simultaneously acknowledge our nothingness and His mercy. Our hope is sure, for in His Son “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:14; Eph 1:7). We find an effective and undoubted sign of His forgiveness in the sacraments of His Church103.
Meanwhile (and this is scary), the flow of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts until we have forgiven those who have offended us. Love, like the Body of Christ, is indivisible: we cannot love God, whom we do not see, if we do not love the brother or sister whom we see104. When we refuse to forgive our brothers and sisters, our heart becomes closed, hardness makes it impervious to the merciful love of the Father; when we repent of our sins, our heart is open to His grace.
This petition is so important that it is the only one to which the Lord returns and expands on it in the Sermon on the Mount105. Man is unable to satisfy this necessary requirement, which belongs to the mystery of the covenant. But “all things are possible with God.”
... “just as we forgive our debtors”
This word “how” is no exception in Jesus’ preaching. “Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mt 5:48); “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “A new commandment I give to you: love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13:34). It is impossible to keep the Lord’s commandment if we are talking about external imitation of the Divine model. We are talking about our vital and coming “from the depths of the heart” participation in the holiness, mercy and love of our God. Only the Spirit, by whom “we live” (Gal. 5:25), is able to make the same thoughts “ours” that were in Christ Jesus106. In this way, unity of forgiveness becomes possible when “we forgive one another, just as God in Christ forgave us” (Eph 4:32).
This is how the Lord’s words about forgiveness, about that love that loves to the end107 come to life. The parable of the unmerciful lender, which crowns the Lord’s teaching about the church community,108 ends with the words: “So will My Heavenly Father do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart.” Indeed, it is there, “in the depths of the heart,” that everything is tied up and untied. It is not in our power to stop feeling grievances and forgetting them; but a heart that opens itself to the Holy Spirit turns offense into compassion and cleanses the memory, transforming offense into intercessory prayer.
Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies109. She transforms the student into the image of his Teacher. Forgiveness is the pinnacle of Christian prayer; the gift of prayer can only be accepted by a heart conformed to Divine compassion. Forgiveness also demonstrates that in our world love is stronger than sin. Martyrs past and present bear this witness to Jesus. Forgiveness is the main condition for reconciliation110 of the children of God with their Heavenly Father and people among themselves111.
There is neither limit nor measure to this forgiveness, Divine in its essence112. If we are talking about grievances (about “sins” according to Luke 11:4 or about “debts” according to Matthew 6:12), then in fact we are always debtors: “Do not owe anyone anything except mutual love” (Rom 13, 8). The communion of the Holy Trinity is the source and criterion of the truth of all relationships113. It enters our life in prayer, especially in the Eucharist114:
God does not accept sacrifice from the perpetrators of discord; He removes them from the altar because they have not first reconciled with their brothers: God wants to be reassured by peaceful prayers. Our best commitment to God is our peace, our harmony, unity in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of all believing people115.
VI. Interpretation of a text fragment Our Father prayers"Lead us not into temptation"
This petition touches the root of the previous one, for our sins are the fruits of yielding to temptation. We ask our Father not to “lead” us into it. It is difficult to translate the Greek concept into one word: it means “do not let us enter into”116, “do not allow us to succumb to temptation.” “God is not susceptible to temptation by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone” (James 1:13*); on the contrary, He wants to deliver us from temptations. We ask Him not to allow us to choose the path that leads to sin. We are engaged in a battle “between the flesh and the Spirit.” With this petition we pray for the Spirit of understanding and power.
The Holy Spirit allows us to recognize what is a test necessary for a person’s spiritual growth117, his “experience” (Rom 5:3-5), and what is a temptation leading to sin and death118. We must also distinguish between temptation to which we are exposed and yielding to temptation. Finally, discernment exposes the falsity of temptation: at first glance, the object of temptation is “good, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable” (Gen. 3:6), while in reality its fruit is death.
God does not want virtue to be forced; He wants her to be voluntary (...). There is some benefit to temptation. No one except God knows what our soul has received from God - not even ourselves. But temptations show us this so that we learn to know ourselves and thereby discover our own wretchedness and undertake to give thanks for all the good that temptations have shown us119.
“Do not enter into temptation” presupposes a determination of the heart: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (...) No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:21.24). “If we live by the Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). In this agreement with the Holy Spirit, the Father gives us strength. “No temptation has come upon you that exceeded the measure of man. God is faithful; He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Together with the temptation, He will give you the means to escape from it and the strength to withstand it” (1 Cor 10:13).
Meanwhile, such a battle and such a victory are possible only through prayer. It is through prayer that Jesus defeats the tempter, from the very beginning120 to the last struggle121. In this request to the Father, Christ introduces us to His battle and to His struggle before the Passion. Here the call is persistently heard for vigilance of the heart,122 in unity with the watchfulness of Christ. The whole dramatic meaning of this petition becomes clear in connection with the ultimate temptation of our battle on earth; it is a petition for ultimate endurance. Watchfulness is “keeping the heart,” and Jesus asks the Father for us: “Keep them in Your name” (John 17:11). The Holy Spirit works continually to awaken in us this vigilance of the heart123. “Behold, I come like a thief; Blessed is he who watches” (Rev 16:15).
VII. Interpretation of a text fragment Our Father prayers"But deliver us from evil"
The last petition addressed to our Father is also present in the prayer of Jesus: “I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15*). This petition applies personally to each of us, but it is always “we” who pray in communion with the entire Church and for the deliverance of the entire family of humanity. The Lord's Prayer continually brings us to the dimension of the economy of salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of sin and death becomes solidarity in the Body of Christ, in the “communion of saints”124.
In this petition, the evil one - evil - is not an abstraction, but means a person - Satan, an angel who rebels against God. The “devil,” dia-bolos, is the one who “goes against” God’s plan and His “work of salvation” accomplished in Christ.
“A murderer” from the beginning, a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), “Satan, the deceiver of the whole universe” (Rev 12:9): it was through him that sin and death entered the world and through his final defeat all creation will be “ freed from the corruption of sin and from death."125. “We know that everyone born of God does not sin; but he who is born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and that the whole world is in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:18-19):
The Lord, who took upon Himself your sin and forgave your sins, is able to protect you and preserve you from the machinations of the devil, who is fighting against you, so that the enemy, accustomed to giving birth to vice, does not overtake you. He who trusts God is not afraid of the demon. “If God is for us, then is he against us?” (Rom 8:31).
Victory over “the prince of this world” (John 14:30) was won once and for all in the hour when Jesus voluntarily gave Himself up to death in order to give us His life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is “cast out” (John 12:31; Rev 12:11). “He rushes to pursue the Woman”126, but has no power over Her: the new Eve, “filled with the grace” of the Holy Spirit, is free from sin and from the corruption of death (Immaculate Conception and Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary). “So, being angry with the Woman, he goes to fight against the rest of Her children” (Rev 12:17*). That is why the Spirit and the Church pray: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:17.20) - after all, His coming will deliver us from the evil one.
When we ask for deliverance from the evil one, we equally pray for deliverance from every evil of which he is the initiator or instigator - the evil of the present, past and future. In this last petition, the Church presents to the Father all the suffering of the world. Along with deliverance from the troubles that oppress humanity, she asks for the precious gift of peace and the grace of constantly looking forward to the second coming of Christ. Praying in this way, she, in the humility of faith, anticipates the union of everyone and everything under the head of Christ, who “has the keys of death and hell” (Rev 1:18), “the Lord Almighty, who is and who was and is to come” (Rev 1:8)127 .
Deliver us. Lord, from all evil, graciously grant peace in our days, so that by the power of Your mercy we may always be delivered from sin and protected from all confusion, awaiting with joyful hope the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ128.
Concluding doxology of the text of the Lord's Prayer
The final doxology - “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever” - continues, including them, the first three petitions of the prayer to the Father: this is a prayer for the glorification of His Name, for the coming of His Kingdom and for the power of His saving Will. But this continuation of prayer here takes the form of worship and thanksgiving, as in the heavenly liturgy129. The prince of this world falsely arrogated to himself these three titles of kingdom, power and glory130; Christ, the Lord, returns them to His Father and our Father until the delivery of the Kingdom to Him, when the mystery of salvation is finally accomplished and God will be all in all131.
“After the prayer is fulfilled, you say “Amen,” imprinting through this “Amen,” which means “So be it,”132, everything that is contained in this prayer given to us by God.”133.
Short
In the Lord's Prayer, the subject of the first three petitions is the glory of the Father: the sanctification of the name, the coming of the Kingdom, and the fulfillment of the Divine will. The other four petitions present to Him our desires: these petitions relate to our life, sustenance, and preservation from sin; they are connected with our battle for the victory of Good over evil.
When we ask: “Hallowed be Thy name,” we enter into God’s plan for the sanctification of His name, revealed to Moses, and then in Jesus, by us and in us, as well as in every nation and in every person.
In the second petition, the Church mainly refers to the second coming of Christ and the final advent of the Kingdom of God. She also prays for the growth of the Kingdom of God in “this day” of our lives.
In the third petition, we pray to our Father to unite our will with the will of His Son in order to fulfill His plan of salvation in the life of the world.
In the fourth petition, saying “give to us,” we - in communion with our brothers - express our filial trust in our Heavenly Father, “Our Bread” means earthly food necessary for existence, as well as the Bread of Life - the Word of God and the Body of Christ. We receive it in the “present day” of God as the necessary, daily food of the Feast of the Kingdom, which is anticipated by the Eucharist.
With the fifth petition we pray for God's mercy for our sins; this mercy can penetrate our hearts only if we have been able to forgive our enemies, following the example of Christ and with His help.
When we say, “Lead us not into temptation,” we are asking God not to allow us to take the path that leads to sin. With this petition we pray for the Spirit of understanding and strength; we ask for the grace of vigilance and constancy to the end.
With the last petition - “But deliver us from the evil one” - the Christian, together with the Church, prays to God to reveal the victory already won by Christ over the “prince of this world” - over Satan, the angel who personally opposes God and His plan of salvation.
With the final word "Amen" we proclaim our "Let it be" ("Fiat") of all seven petitions: "So be it."
1 Wed. Luke 11:2-4.
2 Wed. Matthew 6:9-13.
3 Wed. Embolism.
4 Tertullian, On Prayer 1.
5 Tertullian, On Prayer 10.
6 St. Augustine, Epistles 130, 12, 22.
7 Wed. Luke 24:44.
8 Wed. Matthew 5, 7.
9 STh 2-2, 83, 9.
10 Wed. John 17:7.
11 Wed. Matthew 6, 7; 1 Kings 18, 26-29.
12 Didache 8, 3.
13 St. John Chrysostom, Discourses on the Gospel of Matthew 19, 4.
14 Wed. 1 Peter 2, 1-10.
15 Wed. Col 3, 4.
16 Tertullian, On Prayer 1.
17 STh 2-2, 83, 9.
18 St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermons 71.
19 Wed. Eph 3:12; Hebrews 3, 6. 4; 10, 19; 1 John 2:28; 3, 21; 5, 17.
20 Tertullian, On Prayer 3.
21 Wed. 1 John 5:1.
22 Wed. John 1. 1.
23 Wed. 1 John 1, 3.
24 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Secret Teachings 3, 1.
25 St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lord’s Prayer 9.
26 GS 22, § 1.
27 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Sacraments 5, 10.
28 St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lord's Prayer 11.
29 St. John Chrysostom, Discourse on the words “Strait is the gate” and on the Lord’s Prayer.
30 St. Gregory of Nyssa, Discourses on the Lord's Prayer 2.
31 St. John Cassian, Coll. 9, 18.
32 St. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount of the Lord 2, 4, 16.
33 Wed. Os 2, 19-20; 6, 1-6.
34 Wed. 1 John 5:1; John 3:5.
35 Wed. Eph 4:4-6.
36 Wed. UR 8; 22.
37 Wed. Matthew 5, 23-24; 6, 14-16.
38 Wed. NA 5.
39 NA 5.
40 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Secret Teachings 5, 11.
41 Wed. Genesis 3.
42 Wed. Jer 3, 19-4, 1a; Luke 15, 18. 21.
43 Wed. Isa 45:8; Ps 85:12.
44 Wed. John 12, 32; 14, 2-3; 16, 28; 20, 17; Eph 4, 9-10; Hebrews 1, 3; 2, 13.
45 Wed. F 3, 20; Hebrews 13, 14.
46 Epistle to Diognetus 5, 8-9.
47 Wed. GS 22, §1.
48 Wed. Luke 22:15; 12, 50.
49 Wed. 1 Cor 15:28.
50 Wed. Ps 11:9; Luke 1:49.
51 Wed. Eph 1:9.4.
52 See Ps 8; Isa 6:3.
53 See Hebrews 6:13.
54 See Exodus 3:14.
55 See Exodus 19:5-6.
56 Wed. Lev 19:2: “Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
57 Wed. Ezekiel 20:36.
58 Wed. Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31.
59 Wed. John 8, 28; 17, 8; 17, 17-19.
60 Wed. Phil 2:9-11.
61 St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lord's Prayer 12.
62 St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermons 71.
63 Tertullian, On Prayer 3.
64 Wed. John 14, 13; 15, 16; 16, 23-24, 26.
65 St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lord's Prayer 13.
66 Tertullian, On Prayer 5.
67 Wed. Titus 2:13.
68 MR, IV Eucharistic Prayer.
69 Wed. Gal 5, 16-25.
70 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Secret Teachings 5, 13.
71 Wed. GS 22; 32; 39; 45; EN 31.
72 Wed. John 17, 17-20.
73 Wed. Matthew 5, 13-16; 6, 24; 7, 12-13.
74 Wed. Matthew 18:14.
75 Wed. 1 John 3, 4; Luke 10:25-37
76 Wed. John 4, 34; 5, 30; 6, 38.
77 Wed. John 8:29.
78 Origen, On Prayer 26.
79 St. John Chrysostom, Discourses on the Gospel of Matthew 19, 5.
80 Wed. 1 John 5:14.
81 Wed. Luke 1:38.49.
82 St. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount of the Lord 2, 6, 24.
83 Wed. Matthew 5:25-34.
84 Wed. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13.
85 St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lord's Prayer 21.
86 Wed. Matthew 25, 31-46.
87 Wed. AA 5.
88 Wed. 2 Cor 8:1-15.
89 Saying attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola; Wed J. de Guibert, S.J., La spiritualite de la Compagnie de Jesus. Esquisse historique, Rome 1953, p. 137.
90 Wed. St. Benedict, Rules 20, 48.
91 Wed. John 6, 26-58.
92 Wed. Matthew 6:34; Exodus 16, 19.
93 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Sacraments 5, 26.
94 Wed. Exodus 16, 19-21.
95 Wed. 1 Tim 6:8.
96 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians 20, 2.
97 Wed. John 6, 53-56.
98 St. Augustine, Sermons 57, 7, 7.
99 Wed. John 6:51.
100 St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermons 71.
101 See Luke 15:11-32.
102 See Lk 18:13.
103 Wed. Matthew 26, 28; John 20, 13.
104 Wed. 1 John 4:20.
105 Wed. Matthew 6, 14-15; 5, 23-24; Mark 11, 25.
106 Wed. Phil 2, 1. 5.
107 Wed. John 13, 1.
108 Wed. Matthew 18:23-35.
109 Wed. Matthew 5:43-44.
110 Wed. 2 Cor 5:18-21.
111 Wed. John Paul II, Encyclical “Dives in misericordia” 14.
112 Wed. Matthew 18, 21-22; Luke 17, 1-3.
113 Wed. 1 John 3, 19-24.
114 Wed. Matthew 5:23-24.
115 Wed. St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lord's Prayer 23.
116 Wed. Matthew 26:41.
117 Wed. Luke 8, 13-15; Acts 14, 22; 2 Tim 3:12.
118 Wed. James 1, 14-15.
119 Origen, On Prayer 29.
120 Wed. Matthew 4:1-11.
121 Wed. Matthew 26:36-44.
122 Wed. Mark 13, 9. 23; 33-37; 14, 38; Luke 12:35-40.
123 RP 16.
124 MR, IV Eucharistic Prayer.
125 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Sacraments 5, 30.
126 Wed. Rev. 12, 13-16.
127 Wed. Rev. 1, 4.
128 MR, Embolism.
129 Wed. Rev. 1, 6; 4, 11; 5, 13.
130 Wed. Luke 4:5-6.
131 1 Cor 15:24-28.
132 Wed. Luke 1:38.
133 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Secret Teachings 5, 18.
Our Father is a sacred prayer for Christians, particularly Orthodox Christians. Even if you are in heaven, it is from these lines that true believers begin to read a prayer to the Lord, no matter what language they speak or what country they are in. The Our Father prayer text in Russian is Orthodox, the most famous of all. People know God will hear them and help resolve many problems.
How to read Our Father correctly
There is nothing complicated about this, now we will try to figure out how to do it.
- First of all, it is necessary to remember that the Lord’s Prayer must be said with faith and pure thoughts. If you are planning something bad, turning to God will not help.
- Second, you must understand that it doesn’t matter how you read the golden Our Father, the main thing is to put your soul into it.
- Third, we must remember that the power of prayer is very strong, with each reading you become lighter and more cheerful in your soul.
- Fourth and last, realize why you are reading the prayer.
Reading a prayer brings you closer to God
Believers believe that the more often the Orthodox prayer is heard, the closer they are to the Lord. These lines can help you renounce earthly problems, turn directly to God and convey the pain of your soul to the high spheres in heaven.
The Lord's Prayer is most often read in Russian in its entirety, since it cannot be shortened, the meaning will be lost and the effect will be lost. At the bottom of the article there is a text in Russian with translation and accents; in addition, there are many other options and translations in foreign languages, including Ukrainian. You will find the text of the Our Father prayer in other languages with emphasis and other stylistic features.
Multiple variations of the prayer Our Father who art in heaven give rise to questions, for example, how to correctly read the text of the prayer. The answer is simple, each version is correct, you just need to follow the four points described above.
Why read a prayer 40 or more times
Let's figure out why we read the Lord's Prayer 40 times. This is done to enhance the effect for a specific person; the more times the sacred lines are said (a multiple of 40), the more significant the results of the request will be. The Our Father in all languages has the power to move mountains and help the one who asks in his request.
Prayer in Russian is suitable for everyone
It doesn’t matter what nationality a person is and where he lives. You can read Our Father 40 times at any time, in the morning or in the evening, there is no difference, the most important thing is your mental attitude and true gratitude to God. If possible, download this text with accents, save or learn it.
To download the text of the Lord's Prayer, right-click on the picture and select “Save picture as...”. Save it to any convenient place, and you can print it later.
The Lord's Prayer in Russian text
Our Father! Who is 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 debts, 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.
Sacred text in Old Church Slavonic
Our Father, who art in heaven!
Hallowed be Thy name,
may your 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,
just as we leave to our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever and ever.
Amen.
Video Our Father in Russian
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