Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer of St. Maximus the Confessor

Original Nous

Abstract

Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, also known as Pater Noster, is of special interest among St. Maximus the Confessor’s works. Importantly, this is the Prayer that the Savior Jesus Christ himself had taught his disci- ples. In a rather extensive introduction, prior to commencing with the com- mentary on specific sections of the Prayer, the Worthy Father expands on his own attitude towards the Savior that he as a devout Christian thinker derived over time: the ultimate humility, trepidation and fondness for the Savior combined with respect and benevolence, which reinforced his love and devotion towards God even more. This devotion with the resultant trep- idation to avert insulting the eternal Lord precluded him from writing, on the one hand, while benevolence towards God encouraged him to do so, on the other hand, which explains his resolve to put pen to paper.

Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, also known as Pater Noster, is of special interest among St. Maximus the Confessor’s works. Importantly, this is the Prayer that the Savior Jesus Christ himself had taught his disci- ples. In a rather extensive introduction, prior to commencing with the com- mentary on specific sections of the Prayer, the Worthy Father expands on his own attitude towards the Savior that he as a devout Christian thinker derived over time: the ultimate humility, trepidation and fondness for the Savior combined with respect and benevolence, which reinforced his love and devotion towards God even more. This devotion with the resultant trep- idation to avert insulting the eternal Lord precluded him from writing, on the one hand, while benevolence towards God encouraged him to do so, on the other hand, which explains his resolve to put pen to paper.

The above explication is logically followed by the next one elucidating why understanding the contents of the Lord’s Prayer and fulfilling the re- quirements it contains is so beneficial. Subsequently, Maximus the Con-

fessor goes into detailing specifically where and how this concise Prayer

preserves each of the mysteries: 1. Theology; 2.Sonship of Jesus Christ; 3. Glory and honor equal to that of Angels, which God crowned Man with; 4. Godly living that the Word of God (Logos) grants to the pious; 5. Restora- tion of human nature to the original innocuous form of its creation; 6. Puri- fication of human nature from the spirit of sin; and 7. Overthrowing the tyrannical authority of the evil.

Only after explaining the denotation of the incarnation and Calvary of the Word of God (Logos) does Saint Father commence to explicate the doc- trinal statements of the prayer. According to him, through the first statement God teaches us to start praying directly from theology and appreciating the consubstantiality of the Trinity. The word come in “Thy kingdom come” in the second section of the Prayer implies that the Holy Ghost comes to us naturally as a result of the expulsion of earthly desires and anxiety and turns us into God’s Temple. Hence it becomes clear that only the tranquil and humble shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Saint Maximus believes that whoever performs his Duty towards God tranquilly, solely through the power of reason, executes God’s will on Earth and becomes the Angels’ fellow servant and fellow citizen. It is solely the reasoning power that re- mains in the human being who is emancipated from desires and wrath; this reason leads the sentient being to the Original Nous (τὸν πρῶτον λόγον), i. e. God. Angels in the Heaven perform only sensible duties to God. God wants the same from us and therefore teaches us to request that God’s will be on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. Since “this day” (σήμερον), accord- ing to Maximus the Confessor, stands for the present century, i. e. life in this world, the bread that God prepared for us to mark our immortal nature since the beginning of time should be requested already in the current tran- sitory life so that we can defeat death through taking delight in daily bread. Of course, those who request daily bread get as much of it as they can rather than in its entirety.

Alongside daily bread, we also request material means of living, but for one only day lest we burden the years to come by thought thereof and forget that we are mortal. We should restrict our request of bread by one day’s need rather than brazenly ask it for yet another day.

And  forgive us  our trespasses,  as  we forgive them that  trespass against us. Explicating this statement, Saint Maximus first explains who specifically can forgive the trespassers against him - someone who has tast- ed the incorruptible bread of wisdom already in this world and who delights in success achieved solely through divine deeds.

Of special note is Saint Maximus’ courage, which he obtains through the fullness of love towards God and Man, to say that such a person, when ap- pearing in front of God, appeals to the incomparable (i.e. God) to emulate him and forgive him his trespasses (i. e. debts) just as he himself forgives his debtors. In other words, he beseeches God to be such as he himself is in relation to his neighbour.

And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. According to St Maximus’ explication, temptation (πειρασμόν) pertains to the spirit of sin that the original man did not bear when God brought him into being, while evil (πονηρόν) applies to devil that blended (ἐμφύραντα) this spirit with the nature of Man. To rephrase this, temptation is a voluntary inclina- tion towards carnal lusts, and evil is the means to effectively enforce the lustful disposition of the soul. According to St Maximus’ teaching, the righteous judge will not deliver anyone from these lusts unless they forgive debts to their debtors and seek salvation instead solely counting on the re- quest expressed in the Prayer.

In summation, if we seek deliverance from evil and shun being led into temptation, we should forgive debts to our debtors. Thus, we will receive not only remission of sins but also be able to defeat the spirit of sin and trample underfoot the begetter of sin, the devious serpent. At this moment, we will be led by Jesus Christ who conquered the universe, who attracts our unquenched desire and turns us into fellow servants with angels to fulfill the desires of the Father. Subsequently, he takes us up to the highest steps of godliness and makes us partakers of the divine nature through the providen- tial union with the Holy Spirit, by virtue of which we are all called children of God and bear within us wholly and holily the Son of God by nature – the executor of God’s grace.