Reflections on the Lord's Prayer

Πάτερ ἡμῶν, ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου, ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον. Καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν. Καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. 

Πάτερ ἡμῶν, ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς / Our Father, who art in heaven

The Father is the sole origin of all things.  He is the origin of the Son and the Spirit as their begetter and source, coeternal, co-infinite, limitless, coessential, and undivided.  He is the origin of all created things, as the one who produces, provides for, and judges them through the Son in the Holy Spirit. –Saint Thalassios

The Body of Christ language used by the early Christians was applicable equally to the historical body of the Christ (born of the Theotokos), the Eschatological body of Christ (Sits at the right hand of the Father), the ecclesial body of Christ (the Church), and the Eucharistic body of Christ ("This is my body...").  This is true because they are one and the same!  This is not metaphor; this is the reality of the presence of the uncreated Logos in Creation.  This reality of the body of Christ is fully and always Trinitarian.  Beginning with the good will of the Father the pre-eternal Cause of Son and Spirit, the holy Spirit opens creation to receive the Father's Word.  Remember at the Annunciation the Father sends the Holy Spirit to "overshadow" the Virgin Mary in which she conceives Christ.  At Pentecost the Holy Spirit descends upon the early followers of Christ making them the body of Christ, the Church.  At ever Liturgy the Episkopos/Priest, an Icon of Christ, prays to the Father to send down the Holy Spirit making the Bread and Wine the Body and Blood of Christ.  This Trinitarian "movement" does not end with the presence of the Son.  The Son reveals the Father.  If we have seen Christ we have seen the Father.  Where can we see Christ?  We must remember Emmaous, Christ is recognized in the Breaking of the Bread, the Synaxis!  Now, as members of the Body of Christ, we are "without confusion and without division" united to the Only-Begotten Son and only in this are we sons and daughters of God the Father. -Micah

ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου / hallowed be Thy name

We thank Thee, holy Father, for Thy holy name which You didst cause to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which You made known to us through Jesus Thy Servant.

–Didache of the Twelve Apostles

For the name of God exists in hypostatic form as the only begotten Son. -Saint Maximos

ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου / Thy kingdom come

The Kingdom of God exists in hypostatic form as the Holy Spirit. -Saint Maximos

γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς  

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

 

²⁰ When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ ²¹ But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. ²³ And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. ²⁴ For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. – Holy Prophet Ezekiel 36

Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον     

Give us this day our daily bread

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." 53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. John Chapter 6

Kαὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν,ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν  
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  Matthew 6:14&15

Καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ  

 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The omnipotent God summoned us from the void. By nature we are of the void; yet even from God we expect consideration and regard. Suddenly the Almighty reveals Himself in boundless humility. The vision floods our entire being and instinctively we bow in adoration. Even this does not seem enough but however much we try to humble ourselves before Him we still fall short of His humility.

Prayer to this God of love and humility rises from the depths of our being. When our heart is filled with love for God we are wholly aware of our closeness to Him- although we know full well that we are but dust (cf. Gen. 3.19). Howbeit, in the visible form of our nature the immortal God described the likeness of His invisible Being, and thus we apprehend eternity. Through prayer we enter into Divine life; and God praying in us is uncreated life permeating us.

In making us in His image, after His likeness, God placed us before Him, not as action of His, entirely subject to Him, but as fact (datum) even for Him- as free beings And by virtue of this, relations between man and God are based on the principle of freedom. When we take advantage of this freedom and commit sin, we thrust God aside. This liberty to turn away from God is the negative, tragic aspect of free will but it is a sine qua non if we are to take hold of the life which is truly divine, life which is not predetermined.

We have the diametrically opposite alternatives: either to refuse God- the very essence of sin- or to become sons of God. Because we are made in the likeness of God we naturally desire the divine perfection which is in our Father. And when we follow Him we are not submitting to the dictates of some extraneous power: we are merely obeying our own impulse to assimilate His perfection. ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’ (Matt. 5:48). -Elder Sophrony of Essex