Chapter XXIV.—Concerning our Lord’s Praying.

Prayer is an uprising of the mind to God or a petitioning of God for what is fitting. How then did it happen that our Lord offered up prayer in the case of Lazarus, and at the hour of His passion? For His holy mind was in no need either of any uprising towards God, since it had been once and for all united in subsistence with the God Word, or of any petitioning of God. For Christ is one. But it was because He appropriated to Himself our personality and took our impress on Himself, and became an ensample for us, and taught us to ask of God and strain towards Him, and guided us through His own holy mind in the way that leads up to God. For just as He814    St. Matt., Greg. Naz., Orat. 36. endured the passion, achieving for our sakes a triumph over it, so also He offered up prayer, guiding us, as I said, in the way that leads up to God, and “fulfilling all righteousness815    St. Matt. iii. 15.” on our behalf, as He said to John, and reconciling His Father to us, and honouring Him as the beginning and cause, and proving that He is no enemy of God. For when He said in connection with Lazarus, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I know that Thou hearest Me always, but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me816    St. John xi. 42., is it not most manifest to all that He said this in honour of His Father as the cause even of Himself, and to shew that He was no enemy of God817    Greg. Naz., Orat. 42; Chyrs., Hom. 63 in Joan.?

Again, when he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: yet, not as I willbut as Thou wilt818    St. Matt. xxvi. 39., is it not clear to all819    Chyrs. in Cat. in St. Matt. xxvi. that He said this as a lesson to us to ask help in our trials only from God, and to prefer God’s will to our own, and as a proof that He did actually appropriate to Himself the attributes of our nature, and that He did in truth possess two wills, natural, indeed, and corresponding with His natures but yet in no wise opposed to one another? “Father” implies that He is of the same essence, but “if it be possible” does not mean that He was in ignorance (for what is impossible to God?), but serves to teach us to prefer God’s will to our own. For that alone is impossible which is against God’s will and permission820    Greg., Orat. 36.. “But not as I will but as Thou wilt,” for inasmuch as He is God, He is identical with the Father, while inasmuch as He is man, He manifests the natural will of mankind. For it is this that naturally seeks escape from death.

Further, these words, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me821    St. Matt. xxvii. 46.? He said as making our personality His own822    Greg. Naz., Orat. 36; Cyril, De recta fide; Athanas., Contr. Arian., bk. iv.. For neither would God be regarded with us as His Father, unless one were to discriminate with subtle imaginings of the mind between that which is seen and that which is thought, nor was He ever forsaken by His divinity: nay, it was we who were forsaken and disregarded. So that it was as appropriating our personality that He offered these prayers823    Greg. Nyss., Orat. 38..

Περὶ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου προσευχῆς

Προσευχή ἐστιν ἀνάβασις νοῦ πρὸς θεὸν ἢ αἴτησις τῶν προσηκόντων παρὰ θεοῦ. Πῶς οὖν ὁ κύριος ἐπὶ Λαζάρου καὶ τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ πάθους προσηύχετο; Οὔτε γὰρ ἀναβάσεως τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐδεῖτο ὁ ἅγιος αὐτοῦ νοῦς ἅπαξ καθ' ὑπόστασιν τῷ θεῷ λόγῳ ἡνωμένος οὔτε τῆς παρὰ θεοῦ αἰτήσεως: εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός: ἀλλὰ τὸ ἡμέτερον οἰκειούμενος πρόσωπον καὶ τυπῶν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἡμέτερον καὶ ὑπογραμμὸς ἡμῖν γινόμενος καὶ διδάσκων ἡμᾶς παρὰ θεοῦ αἰτεῖν καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνατείνεσθαι καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου αὐτοῦ νοῦ ὁδοποιῶν ἡμῖν τὴν πρὸς θεὸν ἀνάβασιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ πάθη ὑπέμεινεν ἡμῖν τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν νίκην βραβεύων, οὕτω καὶ προσεύχεται ἡμῖν ὁδοποιῶν, ὡς ἔφην, τὴν πρὸς θεὸν ἀνάβασιν καὶ καταλλάττων ἡμῖν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα καὶ ὡς ἀρχὴν καὶ αἰτίαν ἑαυτοῦ τοῦτον τιμῶν καὶ δεικνύς, ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀντίθεος. Ὅτε μὲν γὰρ ἔλεγεν ἐπὶ Λαζάρου: «Πάτερ, εὐχαριστῶ σοι, ὅτι ἤκουσάς μου. Ἐγὼ δὲ ᾔδειν, ὅτι πάντοτέ μου ἀκούεις, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν παρεστηκότα ὄχλον εἶπον, ἵνα γνῶσιν, ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας», οὐ πᾶσι σαφέστατον πέφυκεν, ὅτι ὡς ἀρχὴν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ αἰτίαν τιμῶν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα καὶ δεικνύς, ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀντίθεος;

Ὅτε δὲ ἔλεγε: «Πάτερ, εἰ δυνατόν, παρελθέτω ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο: πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω, ἀλλ' ὡς σύ», οὐ παντί που δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὡς διδάσκων ἡμᾶς ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς παρὰ μόνου θεοῦ αἰτεῖν τὴν βοήθειαν καὶ τὸ θεῖον τοῦ ἡμετέρου προκρίνειν θελήματος καὶ δεικνύς, ὡς ἀληθῶς τὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας ᾠκειώσατο φύσεως ὅτι τε κατὰ ἀλήθειαν δύο θελήματα φυσικὰ μὲν καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ κατάλληλα φύσεων, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑπεναντία κέκτηται; «Πάτερ», φησὶν ὡς ὁμοούσιος, «εἰ δυνατόν», οὐκ ἀγνοῶν_τί δὲ καὶ τῷ θεῷ ἀδύνατον; _, ἀλλὰ παιδαγωγῶν ἡμᾶς τὸ θεῖον τοῦ ἡμετέρου προκρίνειν θελήματος: τοῦτο γὰρ μόνον ἀδύνατον, ὃ θεὸς οὐ βούλεται οὐδὲ παραχωρεῖ. «Πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω, ἀλλ' ὡς σύ», ὡς μὲν θεὸς ταυτοτελὴς ὢν τῷ πατρί, ὡς δὲ ἄνθρωπος τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος πεφυκὸς ἐνδείκνυται θέλημα: τοῦτο γὰρ φυσικῶς παραιτεῖται τὸν θάνατον.

Τὸ δὲ «θεέ μου, θεέ μου, ἱνατί με ἐγκατέλιπες;» τὸ ἡμέτερον οἰκειούμενος ἔφησε πρόσωπον: οὔτε γὰρ θεὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ πατήρ, εἰ μή γε διαιρεθέντος ἰσχναῖς τοῦ νοῦ φαντασίαις τοῦ ὁρωμένου ἐκ τοῦ νοουμένου, τάσσοιτο μεθ' ἡμῶν, οὔτε κατελείφθη ὑπὸ τῆς οἰκείας θεότητος, ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ἦμεν οἱ ἐγκαταλελειμμένοι καὶ παρεωραμένοι. Ὥστε τὸ ἡμέτερον οἰκειούμενος πρόσωπον ταῦτα προσηύξατο.