II. (printed '11.')
But it is likely, most God-fearing and industrious Ambrose, and most modest and courageous Tatiana — from whom, I pray, womanly frailty has already departed, as it had departed from Sarah — that you wonder why, when our treatise concerns prayer, these opening remarks have been about things impossible for men but made possible by God's grace. What I am persuaded of is this: that to expound the whole subject of prayer exactly and worthily of God — both how one must pray, and what to say to God in prayer, and which times are fitter than other times for prayer — is, given our weakness, one of those impossibilities. [Here T has illegible letters, probably a further elaboration.]
The one of these, then — I mean the 'what' — is the words of prayer; the 'how' is the disposition of the one who prays. For example, of the 'what': Ask for the great things, and the small shall be added to you; and ask for the heavenly things, and the earthly shall be added to you; and pray for those who persecute you; and beg the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest; and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Of the 'how': pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath; and in praying, do not babble; and whatever resembles these. Of the 'how' again: I desire then that men pray in every place, lifting holy hands without anger and doubting; and likewise that women adorn themselves in modest dress, with shame and self-control, not with braids or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but — as befits women professing godliness — with good works. Instructive of the 'how' is also this: if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first be reconciled to your brother, and then come offer your gift. For what greater gift can be sent up to God from a rational being than the fragrant word of prayer, offered from a conscience bearing no stench of sin? Further of the 'how': do not deprive one another, except by agreement for a time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again, lest Satan test you for your lack of self-control. For the 'how' is hindered by these things, unless even the act of the marriage mysteries — things fit to be passed over in silence — becomes more solemn and slower and more passionless, when the harmony named here dissolves passion's dissonance and consumes intemperance and checks Satan's malicious gloating. Besides, instructive of the 'how' is this: whenever you stand praying, forgive whatever you hold against anyone. And Paul's word: every man praying or prophesying with his head covered dishonors his head; but every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonors her own head. You illustrate the 'how.'
But Paul knew all these things, and many times more from the Law and the prophets and the fullness of the Gospel, which he could set forth with varied exposition of each — and he speaks from a disposition not merely moderate but truthful. Yet seeing, beyond all this, how far short we fall of knowing what to pray as we ought — but what to pray as we ought, we do not know — he adds to his treatise the source from which the lack is filled: for the one who does not know, yet has made himself worthy to have the lack filled in him. For he says that the Spirit itself intercedes with unutterable groanings; and he who searches hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, for he intercedes for saints according to God. And the Spirit crying Abba, Father in the hearts of the blessed, which knows well the groans in the tent — groans [obscure clause, see note] the fallen and transgressors — intercedes with God with unutterable groanings, taking up our groans in great love for man and sympathy. And seeing in its wisdom our soul humbled to dust and confined in the body of humiliation, it intercedes with God not with just any groans but with certain unutterable ones, akin to the unspeakable words which no man may utter. This Spirit, then, not content with that for which it intercedes with God, straining its intercession on our behalf — concerning, I think, the more-than-conquerors, like the one who says, In all these things we are more than conquerors. And it is likely that it intercedes only for those not so great as to be more than conquerors, nor again such as to be conquered, but for conquerors.
Next, attached to 'but what to pray as we ought, we do not know, but the Spirit intercedes with unutterable groanings' is 'I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also.' For our mind cannot pray unless the Spirit first prays, as in accompaniment of it — just as it cannot sing and hymn the Father in Christ rhythmically, melodiously, metrically, harmoniously, unless the Spirit who searches all things, even the depths of God, first praises and hymns him whose depths it has searched and, as far as it could, grasped.
But I think some one of Jesus' disciples, sensing human weakness — falling short of how one ought to pray — and realizing this especially when he heard learned and great discourses uttered by the Savior in his prayer to the Father, said to the Lord when he stopped praying: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. The whole sequence of the saying runs thus: And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples to pray. For would a man reared on the Law's catechism, hearing the prophetic readings, never missing the synagogues, not have known how to pray at all until he saw the Lord praying in a certain place? To say so is absurd. He prayed according to Jewish custom, of course — but he saw that he needed a greater knowledge for prayer's ground. And what did John teach his disciples about prayer — they who came to be baptized by him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the countryside — if he did not see something more than a prophet concerning prayer, which [here T has a gap of about two lines, perhaps holding Matthew 3:5-6] it is likely he delivered not to all the baptized but in secret to those being discipled toward baptism? Such prayers, truly spiritual — the Spirit praying in the saints' hearts — were written down, full of secret and marvelous doctrines. In First Kingdoms, Hannah's prayer is partly recorded — for the whole of it, when she multiplied praying before the Lord, speaking in her heart, was not written down — and among the Psalms the sixteenth is entitled A prayer of David, and the eighty-ninth A prayer of Moses, the man of God, and the hundred and first A prayer of the afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his petition before the Lord. These prayers, since they truly were prayers, spoken in the Spirit and full of the doctrines of God's wisdom — one might say of the promises in them: Who is wise and will understand these things? And discerning, and will know them?
Since, then, expounding prayer is so great a task that we need the Father who also illuminates for this, and the firstborn Word himself teaching, and the Spirit empowering, to conceive and speak worthily of so great a proposal — having prayed as a man (for I hardly grant myself to contain prayer), I ask to obtain, before the treatise, the Spirit's prayer: that a most full and spiritual discourse may be granted us, and the prayers recorded in the Gospels clarified. We must now begin the treatise on prayer.
Greek (GCS)
§1. Ἀλλ᾽ εἰχὸς, Ἀμβρόσιε θεοσεβέστατε καὶ φιλοπονώτατε καὶ Τατιανὴ κοσμιωτάτη καὶ ἀνδρειοτάτη (ἀφ᾽ ἧς ἐκλελοιπέναι τὰ γυναικεῖα, ὃν τρόπον ἐξέλειπε τῇ Σάρρᾳ, ἤδη εὔχομαι), ὑμᾶς ἀπορεῖν τί δή ποτε, περὶ εὐχῆς προκειμένου ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου, ταῦτα ἐν προοιμίοις περὶ τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἀνθρώποις δυνατῶν χάριτι θεοῦ γινομένων εἴρηται. ἕν τῶν ἀδυνάτων ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ ἡμῶν πείθομαι τυγχάνειν τρανῶσαι τὸν περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς ἀκριβῶς καὶ θεοπρεπῶς πάντα λόγον καὶ τὸν περὶ τοῦ τίνα τρόπον εὔχεσθαι δεῖ, καὶ τίνα ἐπὶ τῆς εὐχῆς λέγειν πρὸς θεόν, καὶ ποῖοι καιροὶ ποίων καιρῶν πρὸς τὴν εὐχήν εἰσιν ἐπιτηδειότεροι. [After ἐπιτηδειότεροι T has illegible letters, probably a further elaboration; the Oxford transition supplement is conjectural and not rendered.] §2. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἕτερον τούτων, λέγω δὴ τὸ ὃ δεῖ, οἱ λόγοι εἰσὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, τὸ δὲ καθὸ δεῖ ἡ κατάστασις τοῦ εὐχομένου· οἷον ἐπὶ παραδείγματος τὸ μὲν ὃ δεῖ· αἰτεῖτε τὰ μεγάλα, καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ὑμῖν προστεθήσεται, καὶ αἰτεῖτε τὰ ἐπουράνια, καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια ὑμῖν προστεθήσεται, καὶ προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς, καὶ δεήθητε οὖν τοῦ κυρίου τοῦ θερισμοῦ ἵνα ἐκβάλῃ ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν θερισμὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ προσεύχεσθε μὴ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς πειρασμόν. [ὃ δεῖ examples: agraphon + John 3:12/Matt 6:33 + Luke 6:28 + Matt 9:38 + Luke 22:40.] τοῦ δὲ καθὸ δεῖ· προσεύχεσθε ἵνα μὴ γένηται ὑμῶν ἡ φυγὴ χειμῶνος μηδὲ σαββάτῳ, καὶ προσευχόμενοι δὲ μὴ βαττολογήσητε, καὶ εἴ τι τούτοις ἐστὶ παραπλήσιον. τοῦ δὲ καθὸ δεῖ· βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ· ὡσαύτως καὶ γυναῖκας ἐν καταστολῇ κοσμίῳ, μετὰ αἰδοῦς καὶ σωφροσύνης κοσμεῖν ἑαυτάς, μὴ ἐν πλέγμασιν ἢ χρυσῷ ἢ μαργαρίταις ἢ ἱματισμῷ πολυτελεῖ ἀλλ᾽, ὃ πρέπει γυναιξὶν ἐπαγγελλομέναις θεοσέβειαν, δι᾽ ἔργων ἀγαθῶν. τοῦ δὲ καθὸ δεῖ διδασκαλικόν ἐστι καὶ τό· ἐὰν προσφέρῃς τὸ δῶρόν σου ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κἀκεῖ μνησθῇς ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἔχει τι κατὰ σοῦ, ἄφες ἐκεῖ τὸ δῶρόν σου ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καὶ ὕπαγε πρῶτον διαλλάγηθι τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, καὶ τότε ἐλθὼν πρόσφερε τὸ δῶρόν σου. ποῖον γὰρ θεῷ δῶρον ἀπὸ τοῦ λογικοῦ μεῖζον ἀναπέμπεσθαι δύναται εὐώδους λόγου εὐχῆς, προσφερομένης ἀπὸ συνειδότος [one word illegible in scan] μὴ ἔχοντος δυσῶδες ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας; ἔτι δὲ τοῦ καθὸ δεῖ· μὴ ἀποστερεῖτε ἀλλήλους, ἐὰν μή τι ἐκ συμφώνου πρὸς καιρόν, ἵνα σχολάσητε τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἦτε, ἵνα μὴ πειράζῃ ὑμᾶς ὁ σατανᾶς διὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν ὑμῶν [scan reads ἐπιχαρῇ; see note]. διὰ τούτων γὰρ ἐμποδίζεται τὸ καθὸ δεῖ, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν γάμον σιωπᾶσθαι ἀξίων μυστηρίων τὸ ἔργον σεμνότερον καὶ βραδύτερον [βραχύτερον Bent.?] καὶ ἀπαθέστερον γίνηται, τῆς λεγομένης ἐνταῦθα συμφωνίας τὸ ἀσύμφωνον τοῦ πάθους ἀφανιζούσης καὶ τὴν ἀκρασίαν ἀναλισκούσης τοῦ τε σατανᾶ τὸ ἐπιχαιρησίκακον κωλυούσης. πρὸς τούτοις τοῦ καθὸ δεῖ ἐστι διδασκαλικὸν καὶ τό· ὅταν στήκητε προσευχόμενοι, ἀφίετε εἴ τι ἔχετε κατά τινος· καὶ τὸ παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ δέ· πᾶς ἀνὴρ εὐχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, πᾶσα δὲ γυνὴ προσευχομένη ἢ προφητεύουσα ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν ἑαυτῆς· τοῦ καθὸ δεῖ ἐστὲ παραστατικόν [ἐστέ as printed; sense 'you illustrate' or 'it illustrates']. §3 (printed '8.'). ἀλλὰ ταῦτα πάντα ἐπιστάμενος Παῦλος καὶ τούτων πολλαπλασίονα ἀπὸ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν τοῦ τε εὐαγγελικοῦ πληρώματος παραθέσθαι δυνάμενος μετὰ ποικιλότητος τῆς εἰς ἕκαστον διηγήσεως, ἀπὸ διαθέσεως οὐ μετριαζούσης μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀληθευούσης φησίν — ὁρῶν δὲ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάντα ὅσον ἀπολείπεται τοῦ εἰδέναι προσεύξασθαι τί δεῖ καθὸ δεῖ — τὸ δὲ ὃ τι προσεύξασθαι δεῖ καθὸ δεῖ οὐκ οἴδαμεν. καὶ τοῦτο τῷ λόγῳ προστίθησιν, ὅθεν ἀναπληροῦται τὸ ἐλλεῖπον — τῷ μὴ εἰδότι μὲν, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἄξιον τοῦ ἀναπληρωθῆναι ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ ἐλλεῖπον παρασκευάσαντι — λέγει γὰρ ὅτι αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις ὑπερεντυγχάνει· ὃ δὲ ἐρευνῶν τὰς καρδίας οἶδε τί τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅτι κατὰ θεὸν ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἁγίων. τὸ δὲ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις τῶν μακαρίων κρᾶζον ἀββὰ ὁ πατὴρ πνεῦμα, ἐπιστάμενον ἐπιμελῶς τοὺς ἐν τῷ σκήνει στεναγμούς, ἀξίους τυγχάνοντας [sense obscure; see note] τοὺς πεπτωκότας ἢ παραβεβηκότας, στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις ὑπερεντυγχάνει τῷ θεῷ, τοὺς ἡμετέρους διὰ τὴν πολλὴν φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ συμπάθειαν ἀναδεχόμενον στεναγμούς· κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ σοφίαν ὁρῶν τὴν ταπεινωθεῖσαν εἰς χοῦν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι τῆς ταπεινώσεως καθείργμενην, οὐ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν στεναγμοῖς χρώμενον ὑπερεντυγχάνει τῷ θεῷ, ἀλλά τισιν ἀλαλήτοις, ἐχομένοις τῶν ἀῤῥήτων λόγων ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλεῖν. τοῦτο δὴ τὸ πνεῦμα, οὐκ ἀρκούμενον ἐφ᾽ ᾧ ἐντυγχάνει τῷ θεῷ, ἐπιτεῖνον τὴν ἔντευξιν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἐγὼ οἶμαι ὅτι περὶ τῶν ὑπερνικώντων — ὁποῖός ἐστιν ὁ λέγων· ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν ὑπερνικῶμεν. εἰκὸς δ᾽ ὑπερεντυγχάνειν μόνον περὶ τῶν οὐ τηλικούτων μὲν ὡς ὑπερνικᾶν, οὐ τοιούτων δὲ πάλιν ὥστε νικᾶσθαι, ἀλλὰ νικώντων. §4. ἐχόμενον δὲ τοῦ τί δὲ δεῖ προσεύξασθαι καθὸ δεῖ οὐκ οἴδαμεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πνεῦμα στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις ὑπερεντυγχάνει τὸ προσεύξομαι τῷ πνεύματι, προσεύξομαι δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ· ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι, ψαλῶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ. οὐδὲ γὰρ δύναται ἡμῶν ὁ νοῦς προσεύξασθαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρὸ αὐτοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα προσεύξηται οἱονεὶ ἐν ὑπηχῷ(?) αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ψᾶλαι καὶ εὐρύθμως καὶ ἐμμελῶς καὶ ἐμμέτρως καὶ συμφώνως ὑμνῆσαι τὸν πατέρα ἐν Χριστῷ, ἐὰν μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ τὰ πάντα ἐρευνῶν καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ πρότερον αἰνέσῃ καὶ ὑμνήσῃ τοῦτον, οὗ τὰ βάθη ἠρεύνηκε καὶ ὡς ἐξίσχυσε κατείληφεν. §5 (head lost in scan). ἐγὼ δὲ οἴομαι συναισθόμενόν τινα τῶν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μαθητῶν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας, ἀπολειπομένης τοῦ ὃν τρόπον εὔχεσθαι δεῖ, καὶ μάλιστα τοῦτ᾽ ἐγνωκότα, ὅτε ἐπιστημόνων καὶ μεγάλων λόγων ἤκουεν ἀπαγγελλομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εὐχῇ, παυσαμένῳ τοῦ προσεύχεσθαι τῷ κυρίῳ εἰρηκέναι· κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξε τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ. ὅλος δὲ ὁ εἱρμὸς τοῦ ῥητοῦ οὕτως ἔχει· καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν προσευχόμενον ἐν τόπῳ τινί, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπέ τις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξε προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ. ἆρα γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ἐντεθραμμένος τῇ νομικῇ κατηχήσει καὶ τῇ ἀκροάσει τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων τῶν τε συναγωγῶν μὴ ἀπολειπόμενος, οὐκ ἠπίστατο ὁπωσδήποτε εὔχεσθαι, μέχρις οὗ ἴδῃ τὸν κύριον εὐχόμενον ἐν τόπῳ τινί; ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἄτοπον φάσκειν· ηὔχετο μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὰ Ἰουδαίων ἔθη, ἑώρα δὲ μείζονος ἐπιστήμης ἑαυτὸν δεόμενον εἰς τὸν περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς τόπον. τί δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδασκε τοὺς μαθητὰς περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων καὶ πάσης τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ τῆς περιχώρου ἐρχομένους βαπτισθῆναι πρὸς αὐτόν, εἰ μή τινα κατὰ τὸ περισσότερον ἢ προφήτου ἔβλεπε περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, ἅπερ [T-LACUNA ~135 letters, perhaps Matt 3:5-6] εἰκὸς ὅτι οὐ πᾶσι τοῖς βαπτιζομένοις ἀλλὰ τοῖς πρὸς τὸ βαπτίζεσθαι μαθητευομένοις ἐν ἀποῤῥήτῳ παρεδίδου; αἷ τοιαῦται δὲ εὐχαὶ αἱ ὄντως πνευματικαὶ, προσευχομένου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ πνεύματος, ἀνεγράφησαν, πεπληρωμέναι ἀποῤῥήτων καὶ θαυμασίων δογμάτων· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἐκ μέρους ἡ τῆς Ἄννης (ὅλη γάρ, ὅτε ἐπλήθυνε προσευχομένη ἐνώπιον κυρίου, λαλοῦσα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς, οὐκ ἐγράφη [scan: ἐχάρη γραφῇ; Koetschau conjectures οὐκ ἐγράφη]), ἐν δὲ ψαλμοῖς ὁ ἑκκαιδέκατος ψαλμὸς προσευχὴ τοῦ Δαυὶδ ἐπιγέγραπται, καὶ ὁ ἔνατος καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὸς προσευχὴ τῷ Μωϋσεῖ ἀνθρώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ἑκατοστὸς προσευχὴ τῷ πτωχῷ, ὅταν ἀκηδιάσῃ καὶ ἐναντίον κυρίου ἐκχέῃ τὴν δέησιν αὐτοῦ· αἵτινες προσευχαί, ἐπεὶ ἀληθῶς ἦσαν προσευχαὶ γινόμεναι, πνεύματι λεγόμεναί τε καὶ τῶν δογμάτων τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας πεπλήρωνται, ὥστε εἰπεῖν ἄν τινα περὶ τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ἐπαγγελλομένων· τίς σοφὸς καὶ συνήσει ταῦτα; καὶ συνετὸς καὶ ἐπιγνώσεται αὐτά; §6. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν τηλικοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς διαλαβεῖν ὡς δεῖσθαι τοῦ καὶ εἰς τοῦτο φωτίζοντος πατρὸς καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πρωτοτόκου λόγου διδάσκοντος τοῦ τε πνεύματος ἐνεργοῦντος εἰς τὸ νοεῖν καὶ λέγειν ἀξίως τοῦ τηλικούτου προβλήματος, εὐξάμενος ὡς ἄνθρωπος (οὐ γάρ που ἐμαυτῷ δίδωμι χωρεῖν τὴν προσευχὴν) τοῦ πνεύματος πρὸ τοῦ λόγου τυχεῖν τῆς εὐχῆς ἀξιῶ, ἵνα λόγος πληρέστατος καὶ πνευματικὸς ἡμῖν δωρηθῇ, καὶ αἱ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἀναγεγραμμέναι σαφηνισθῶσιν εὐχαί. ἀρκτέον οὖν ἤδη τοῦ περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς λόγου.