August/September
2009
- Vol. 32
On
the Lord's Prayer
From
a sermon by Gregory of Nyssa, 4th
century
Our Father
Anyone with a bit of good sense would not
make so bold as to call
God by the name of Father until he had come to
be like him.
It is impossible for God who is goodness in
his very being to
be father to someone of evil will. It is
impossible for the Holy One to
be father of a depraved person. It is
impossible for the Giver of life
to have as a child one whose sin has subjected
him to death.
So if one of us, in examining himself,
discovers that his conscience
is covered in mud and needs to be cleansed, he
cannot allow himself such
familiarity with God. First he must be
purified.
Then why, in this prayer of his, does
the Lord Jesus teach us
to call God by the name of Father? I suppose
that, in suggesting this word,
he is only putting before our eyes the holiest
life as the criterion of
our behavior.
[Breviario Patristico
© 1971 Piero Gribaudi
Editore, Turin, Italy; translated by Paul
Drake]
| Introduction
Sermons
on God the Father
»
I
believe in God the Father,
by Augustine of Hippo
»
God
is
Father, by Cyril of
Jerusalem
»
The
Foundation
Stone of the Soul, by
Cyril of Jerusalem
Sermons
on the Lord's Prayer
»
Our
Father, by Gregory of
Nyssa
»
Who
art
in Heaven, by Gregory of
Nyssa
»
Hallowed
by
thy Name, by Origen
»
Thy
Kingdom
Come, by Origen
»
Thy
will
be done, by Origen
»
Give
us
our daily bread, by
Gregory of Nyssa
»
Forgive
us
our trespasses, by
Cassian
»
And
lead
us not into temptation,
by Origen
»
But
deliver
us from evil, by Cyprian
of Carthage
|
