The Pilgrim's Tale by Aleksei Pentkovsky

Author:Aleksei Pentkovsky [Pentkovsky, Aleksei]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780809137091
Amazon: 0809137097
Barnesnoble: 0809137097
Published: 2020-08-31T00:12:00+00:00

FOURTH MEETING

activity; however, in my reading of the holy fathers I have come across a speculative, mystical explanation of the prayer.”

“In which of the fathers did you read this?”

“Well, in Maximos the Confessor, for example, and in Peter of Damaskos, from the Philokalia.”

“Please tell it to us if you remember it.”

“All right. The beginning of the prayer, Our Father who art in heaven, is explained as a call to Christian love toward our neighbors as children of the one Father. This is quite correct, but the holy fathers explain it further and more spiritually. They say that in this utterance it is necessary to lift the mind to heaven to the heavenly Father and to recall our obligation to place ourselves every moment in the presence of God and to walk before God. Hallowed be thy name is explained as the zeal not to pronounce the divine name without reverence or in a false oath; in a word, that his holy name should be pronounced in a holy manner, and not used in vain. The mystical interpreters see here plainly a petition concerning the interior prayer of the heart, that is, that God’s most holy name should be imprinted on the heart and be sanctified through self-activating prayer. It should hallow all the feelings and powers of the soul. May his kingdom come into our hearts refers to interior peace, quiet, and spiritual joy. Likewise well explained is that we must understand the words give us today our daily bread as a petition concerning the requirements necessary for our physical life, not for excess but only what is necessary and sufficient to help our neighbors.

Maximos the Confessor, however, understands the words ‘daily bread’ to mean food for the soul and the bread of heaven, that is, zeal for reading the Word of God, Holy Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, union of the soul with God, contemplation, and unceasing prayer of the heart.”

“Ah! This is a great work indeed. It is almost impossible for those living in the world to attain to interior prayer!” exclaimed the master of the house. “It’s all we can manage, with the Lord’s help, to say our normal prayers without sloth.”

“My good sir, do not think like that. If this were impossible and insurmountably difficult, God would not have commanded 1 14

FOURTH MEETING

everyone to do it. His strength is made perfect in weakness.9

Experienced as they are, the holy fathers suggest methods that make the path leading to the prayer of the heart easier. Of course, for those who renounce the world they recommend special lofty methods, but even for the laity they likewise prescribe suitable methods that truly lead to the acquisition of interior prayer.”

“Now here have I come across anything like that in my reading,” he said.

“Allow me, if you will, to read from my copy of the Philokalia.”

I picked up my Philokalia and found the article by Peter of Damaskos, part 3, page 48, and I began to read: “It is

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