Abba Macarius was asked, "How should one pray?"
The old man said 'There is no need at all to make long discourses; it is
enough to stretch out one's hands and say, "Lord, as you will, and as you
know, have mercy." And if the conflict grows fiercer say, "Lord, help!"
He knows very well what we need and he shows us his mercy.
---from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
These sayings, at first, seem to contradict
each other. The Holy Pachomius says that the prayers are too few and the
Holy Macarius says that they need not be many. We sometimes think that
we should be doing some heroic work of fasting or prayer, and indeed, both
are necessary to the life of the soul. But we say our little rule of prayer
(the Qauma) not very well if we miss saying it thrice in a day. If we say
it inattentively, without understanding or sincerity, we needn't say it
at all! The middle ground, where both truths meet to form a truth greater
than either, is where we realize that it is impossible to pray too much
if there is sincerity and simplicity of heart in those prayers. Let us
not concern ourselves more with the number of our prayers than with their
efficacy. Let us not pay more heed to the correct gesture and posture than
to the fact that we are speaking to the awesome God. But neither let us
forsake them.
Are the words of your prayer bearing their
fruit in your life? Our prayers begin: † In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God, to whom be glory and upon us,
weak and sinful, be mercy and compassion in both worlds unto the Aeon of
aeons. Amen. We say these words, and they are gone from us. We cannot
contemplate them once they have left our mouths. But we should remember
to whom we speak and not speak them idly without seeking some understanding
of and from them.
"In the Name" means, usually, "by the
authority" or "on behalf". Why do we say that here? For two reasons, one
of which leads directly to the other. By saying these words, we recall
the formula of our baptism, and by the authority of that baptism we offer
these prayers. How do we receive authority to pray from baptism? The Blessed
Apostle Paul writes: "As many of you as are baptized into Christ have put
on Christ." We have taken unto ourselves His death and burial so that we
may receive his resurrection, and if His resurrection then His ascension
to the right hand of the Father as well. We stand with Him at the holy
and heavenly altar of incense for the offering of prayer for the world.
This is why the prince of the Apostles, Simon Peter, quotes Moses our teacher
and says: "You are a nation of priests and a royal priesthood."
Just as I am priest to my congregation, so
are you the priests to those outside the fold. Just as I offer prayer for
you, so must you offer prayer for the world. This is your participation
in the eternal High Priesthood of Christ. It is the work you may not refuse
if you are to be paid in the coin of eternal life!
We call upon the Name, indeed we are clothed
then in the Name as Christ is clothed in human flesh, and we take up this
work of the Father who desires us, the Son who redeems us and the Holy
Spirit who keeps us, the One God in Three Persons. And we acknowledge that
we are weak and sinful, right away. It is because we are weak that we are
sinful, and so we beg for power to resist and for forgiveness when we have
not by asking for mercy, that God will help us and compassion, that He
will forgive us because of the greatness of His love for us.
And we ask this not for ourselves alone. We
say "upon us" and include in this His whole church, all of those
who are clothed in the garment of His holy Name, the garment that our father
Adam lost and was naked. We pray not only for those who are living but
those also who shall be and the dead in Christ who shall be again in the
World to Come. If you will concentrate on these things, and ask the Holy
Spirit for more insight, your prayer will be more attentive and better
address the God to Whom all prayers ascend.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Tzevaoth!
Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed
is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
The second prayer in the Qauma, or the Standard
Prayers, is the Qadisha. It appears right after the invocation of the Name
of the Most Holy Trinity, and is an exclamation of the glory of God that
we should be perceiving at the beginning of our prayers. Holy is the unoriginate
source of the Divinity, the Father, the God who is outside the duality
of existence and non-existence. Holy is the God Whose existence, the Son
eternally begotten of the unoriginate Father, is the ground of our existence
and that of all things. Holy is the Holy Spirit, Whose existence serves
to convey existence to all things, the life of all that lives, present
eternally with the Father and the Son and simultaneously with all things
that wake or wait to awaken to Her Presence in them. This is the Lord God
of Hosts (Tzevaoth), the One whose sign (Oth) is the Host (Tzeva) of all
things. Thus we cry out, "Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory!"
that is, by this turning to Thee in prayer we perceive with the eyes of
faith Thy Presence in all things, we seek Thine Image in all things with
the eyes of hope, and we find Thy Providence in all things by looking with
the eyes of love.
"Hosanna" we exclaim, meaning "save us!".
We call this out as an exclamation of praise to the One who has all power
so to do, the Rescuer of souls, the Redeemer of the World.
Lastly we say "Blessed is He that cometh"
by which we mean the Lord Jesus. We also intend, "Blessed is He that came
and that will come" for the words "Brikh d'etha" can bear all those meanings
at once. So we pray "Blessed is He that came to save us, blessed is He
that comes now to receive our prayer and blessed is He that will come to
judge, in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."
Let us not forget to pray this prayer with
attention. It draws us into the knowledge of the Presence of God, in which
and by which we are always really present.
Holy art Thou, O God! Holy and mighty,
holy and immortal, who was crucified for us: have mercy on us!
What is Holiness? Do we mean the same thing
when we say that a person or place or thing is holy as when we say God
is holy? No. There is a source of Holiness and then there are the receivers
of that Holiness. We can no more mean that a person or thing is holy in
the same way as God as we can say that they are existent in the same way
as God. Just as the existence of all things hangs from the existence of
God,
so does the holiness of anything depend from the holiness of God. Now,
it is easier for us to approach the smaller rather than the greater idea
because we ourselves are smaller rather than greater. Let us examine first
what we mean by the holiness of a thing, and then of a place or time, and
then of a person. Only then let us approach the concept of the holiness
of God.
What thing is holy? The table of the Lord
is certainly holy. What is set on the table? The oblation that is offered
in the Eucharist. Those things, bread and wine and water and the vessels
and cloths and lights and incense are set on the altar table. Because they
are set there, they become holy. Why is the table holy? It is holy because
of its use. It is used for God's worship. What place is holy? The temple
of the Lord is certainly holy. What is in the temple? The table of the
Lord is in the altar, and the bishop and the presbyters and deacons offer
their service there, and the altar is holy. The people of God stand in
the nave of the temple and they are holy. The narthex, where the people
prepare themselves to worship the Lord, is made holy by its proximity to
the nave and the nave by its proximity to the altar, and the altar by the
presence of the table of the Lord. It is made holy by its use. It is used
for God's worship. What time is holy? The Shaba is holy. It is holy because
on that day Christ God arose from the dead with great power, overcoming
death and hell and leading captivity captive. It is made holy by its use;
first God's, and then ours. On that day we meet to offer the sacrifice
of His new and everlasting covenant, the approved worship of God. By the
same token, any time that is used for the worship of God is holy; the high
holy days, the commemorations of the saints, the fasts, the three times
of prayer, all are holy. What person is holy? Whatever person is used by
God for His worship is holy! The laity are holy. The clergy are holy. They
are holy because they are the Church, the Body of Christ, and Christ is
holy in Himself as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Having said all
this, we may approach with fear and trembling the concept of the holiness
of God.
We have seen that all of the things and places
and times and people that are holy are such because of the worship of God.
Their holiness comes from their being set apart. God's holiness is also
a setting apart. He is holy because He is The Other. Because He is, we
are. Because we are, He is The Other, the Utterly Alien, the Unapproachable,
the Incomprehensible, the Great Mystery. He is Self-Existent; we are not.
He is Eternal; we are not. He is, except through His revelation of Himself,
Unknowable; we are certainly not.
This last idea, that He makes Himself known
to us, is a very important one in the prayer of the Qadishat Alaha. Let
us re-examine the words of the prayer using this idea of the inherent holiness
of the wondrous paradox of God in Flesh.
Holy art Thou, O God! unapproachable and unknowable
in Thine Essence, completely Other from us and from all of our experience.
Holy art Thou, yet mighty in acting in the world we see as well as in the
world invisible. Thy hand moveth seen and unseen in our time and space
and thought. Thou art holy and immortal, and yet didst Thou dwell among
us in our flesh and accept the death that is its heritage. Thou, the deathless,
didst die for us! Thou art the complete enigma! Have mercy on us! Touch
us in our lives by Thy commonality with us and make us holy by unity with
Thy holiness, empower our weakness by Thine entrance into our powerlessness,
make us deathless by Thy death and one with Thee in Thine Immortality.
May this be the mercy Thou showest us. Amen.
O Christ, hear us! O Christ, our God, hear
us and have mercy! O Christ, our God and King, hear us and have mercy and
compassion on us! Barekhmar!
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 tresspasses as we forgive
those who tresspass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver
us from evil, for † Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever
and ever. Amen.
What is the point of saying the Qauma? The
recitation of the Avvun, the Our Father. In the Eighth Chapter of the Didache
of the Holy Apostles we read: " But as for your fasts... do ye fast
on the fourth and sixth days. [And] as the Lord hath commanded in his gospel
so pray ye: Our Father, etc. Thrice a day pray ye in this fashion."
This is the discipline of Christians: to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays
and to pray the prayer Our Lord has taught us thrice a day. This is not
a hard discipline, but one which we have embraced from the very beginning
of the Church.
Now let us examine the words of these prayers.
The prayer before the Avvun prepares us to remember that Christ, Our God
and King hears us with mercy and compassion. He hears with Rachem, a mercy
that comes from inside, from the gut. It comes like the love of a mother,
from her womb, for her children. He hears us with Chnana, a compassionate
grace, a beautiful hearing that befits the Most Beautiful, the Most Gracious.
In the prayer we call upon Him to hear us, but He hears already, so it
serves to remind us of His hearing. It is because of His mercy and His
compassion that we can call upon God as Father at all.
"Our Father." What a thing to say! Christ
could have prayed "My Father." but in His grace towards us He allows us
in Him to call upon His Father as our own. It is for that reason that we
say "Barekhmar!" at the beginning. If He blesses, we may call His Father
our own. It is why we await the beginning words by the leader of the prayers.
He or she says "Our Father" and we join in after, to remind us that we
do not call Him Father on our own authority, but by the authority of Christ's
teaching and permission.
Now many essays and even some books, both
good and not so good, have been written on the meaning of the Our Father.
May you read them all with profit! I do not attempt here to instruct in
the mysteries that lie within the prayer, nor do I seek any meaning but
that which is plainly intended by the words.
"Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed
be Thy Name." Father, Whom we call our own by adoption into Thy Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ; Thou dwellest in a realm and an existence which
we cannot comprehend, and even Thy Name is consecrated as a word with only
One Meaning; a meaning which we cannot guess but which Thou hast revealed
in fullness to us in Thy Son by Thy Spirit. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will
be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Let us see Thy Rule among us,
and let Thy Will be accomplished by us, even as it is in that place where
Thou abidest All in All forever. "Give us this day our daily bread and
forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." Give us,
O Father, the food we need for our bodies. And give us also the forgiveness
we need for our souls, but only as we mete it out to them that have offended
us, for that too is the good of our souls. Neither give to us what is ill
for us, nor leave us in the ill that we ourselves have chosen. "For
† Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen."
All these things hast Thou the power to do, to Whom belongest sole
rulership, sole power, sole worship throughout all time and in every place.
Amen.
Peace be with thee, Virgin Mary, full of
grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blest is
the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners
in both worlds. Amen.
The last of the prayers of the Qauma, except
for the Doxology at its end, is a prayer to the Blessed Virgin, the Mother
of God, upon whom be peace. Why do we call her these things? We call her
the Blessed Virgin because of her own words in the Gospel of St Luke: "Behold,
from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed." Why do we call
her Mother of God? Because Christ is God.
The first two sentences of the prayer were
spoken by the Archangel Gabriel (uwbp) when he was sent from the heaven
of the Throne to ask her to bear the Messiah. "Shlama alekhi," he began.
It literally means "Peace be with thee," and thus is it translated,
but it is the greeting used by all in the East. Alas for us, who merely
say "Hello," which is simply an interjection denoting discovery. We are
impoverishing ourselves by not wishing each other Peace!
"The Lord is with thee" has come to
be used as a liturgical greeting by the bishop in some rites. It means
to the Church that hears it that the Presence of the Most High is among
them, even as the Messiah has promised. Thus did it signify to the Blessed
Virgin also that the Most High was about to keep His promise through her.
He was to make His Presence known to us in the flesh, to fully reveal His
will to us, to speak with us face to face. The whole world was to receive
the gift that none had received hitherto except for Moses. This time there
was no mountain. There was a maiden. There was no thunder. There was only
her "Yes." There were no tablets of stone graven with letters of fire.
There was the Living God in human flesh, the Word Himself. How shall we
not call her blessed?
And thus did her cousin Elizabeth, the mother
of the Seal of the Prophets, John the Baptist, call her. It was she who
called her blessed among women and who first blessed the fruit
of her womb, Jesus, calling Him Redeemer. Thus does all of the beginning
of the prayer first appear in the Gospel of St Luke. Originally, the prayer
ended with the blessing of her and her Son, but these Salutations were
later modified by an exclamation or a petition at the end. Moreover, these
were added by the people and not by theologians or liturgists.
This is how we came to say: "Pray for us
sinners in both worlds." By this we mean that we ask her to remind
God of us in this world and in the World to Come. May He remember us through
her prayers in this world, so that we may be spared from wrath and danger
and awful necessity, and may He remember us through her prayers in the
World to Come so that we will be raised up with all the righteous on the
Last Day, and given life everlasting. Amen.
Since it is fitting at the end of any good
work to bless the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, who make good all those
feeble efforts of the servants of God to do good, thus do we end our prayers
in the Qauma and this Commentary thereon. † Glory be to the Father and
to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, One God, in both worlds unto the Aeon
of aeons. Amen.