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Luke 11:1

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Read Chapter 11

Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
The first word, how gracious is it? You durst not raise your face to heaven, and suddenly you receive the grace of Christ. From an evil servant you are made a good son. Boast not then of your working, but of the grace of Christ; for therein is no arrogance, but faith. To proclaim what you have received is not pride, but devotion. Therefore raise your eyes to your Father, who begot you by Baptism, redeemed you by His Son. Say Father as a son, but claim no especial favor to t yourself. Of Christ alone is He the especial Father, of us the common Father. For Christ alone He begot, but us he created. And therefore according to Matthew when it is said, Our Father, it is added, which art in heaven, that is, in those heavens of which it was said, The heavens declare the glory of God. Heaven is wheresin has ceased, and where there is no sting of death. Or it is said, Hallowed be thy name; that is, let Your holiness be known toall the world, and let it worthily praise You. For praise becomes the...
4 mins1/19
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
“Your kingdom come.” To whom do we address this petition? Will the kingdom of God not come unless we ask for it? That kingdom will exist after the end of the world. God has a kingdom forever. He is never without a kingdom, for all creation is subject to him. Then for what kingdom do we wish? It is written in the Gospel, “Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” See, that is the kingdom of which we speak when we say, “Thy kingdom come.” May that kingdom come within us and may we be found within that kingdom. That is our petition. Of course it will come. How will that benefit you if it finds you at the left hand? In this petition, you also wish a blessing on yourself. It is on your own behalf that you pray. In this petition, this is what you desire and long for, namely, that you may so live as to have a share in the kingdom that will be given to all the saints. When you say, “Thy kingdom come,” you pray for yourself, because you pray that...
1 min2/19
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Basil the Great

AD 379
There are two kinds of prayer, one composed of praise with humiliation, the other of petitions, and more subdued. Whenever then you pray, do not first break forth into petition; but if you condemn your inclination, supplicate God as if of necessity forced thereto. And when you begin to pray, forget all visible and invisible creatures, but commence with the praise of Him who created all things. Hence it is added, And he says to them, When you pray, say, Our Father. As if He said, For your daily bread, namely, that which serves for our daily wants, trust not to yourself, but fly to God for it, making known to Him the necessities of your nature. It does not however become us to seek by our prayers bodily afflictions. For Christhas universally commanded men every where to pray that they enter not into temptation. But when one has already entered, it is fitting to ask from the Lord the power of enduring, that we may have fulfilled in us those words, He that endures to the end shall be saved...
1 min3/19
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
Now whereas He possesses every good in abundance, why does He pray, since He is full, and has altogether need of nothing? To this we answer, that it befits Him, according to the manner of His dispensation in the flesh, to follow human observances at the time convenient for them. For if He eats and drinks, He rightly was used to pray, that He might teach us not to be lukewarm in this duty, but to be the more diligent and earnest in our prayers. Since among those to whom the faith has not yet come, the name of God is still despised. But when the rays of truth shall have shined upon them, they will confess the Holy of Holies. Or they who say this seem to wish to have the Savior of all again illuminating the world. But He has commanded us to desire in prayer that truly awful time, in order that men might know that it behoves them tolive not in sloth and backwardness, lest that time bring upon them the fiery punishment, but rather honestly and according to His will, that that time may weave...
2 mins4/19
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
When we are intent in prayer, he commands us to say, “Lead us not into temptation.” Luke concludes the prayer with these words, but Matthew adds, “but deliver us from the evil one.” There is a certain close connection in the clauses, because when people are not being led into temptation, they are also delivered from the evil one. If anyone were perhaps to say that not being led into is the same as being delivered from it, he would not err from the truth. Commentary on Luke, Homily
< 1 min5/19
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
He requires his disciples to be gentle and slow to anger, so that they may be able to say blamelessly in their prayers, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted unto us.” … He first commands them to ask forgiveness of the sins they commit and then to confess that they entirely forgive others. If I may say so, they ask God to imitate the patience that they practice. The same gentleness that they show to their fellow servants, they pray that they may receive in equal measure from God, who gives justly, and knows how to show mercy to everyone….The Savior of all and Lord with good reason did not conclude this clause of the prayer at this point but commanded us to add, “For we also ourselves have forgiven every one who is indebted to us.” This is fitting to say only for those who have chosen a virtuous life and are practicing without carelessness “the will of God” that, as Scripture says, “is good and acceptable and perfect.” …We must ask God for the forgiveness ...
1 min6/19
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
Why then did he command the saints to say to God the Father in heaven, “Your will be done; as in heaven, so on earth?” … This petition is worthy of the saints and full of all praise….We request that power may be given to those on earth to do the will of God and imitate the conduct practiced above in heaven by the holy angels…. The saints request that both Israel as well as the Gentiles may be counted worthy of peace from on high and be comforted since they were in misery and caught in the net of sin without possibility of escape. Having received the righteousness that is in Christ by faith, they may become pure and skillful in every good work. They pray, “Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth for this reason.” As I said, the will of God over all is that those on earth should live in holiness, piously, without blame, being washed from all impurity, and diligent in imitating the spiritual beauty of the spirits above in heaven. The church on earth, since it was the visible likeness...
1 min7/19
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
God is our King before the worlds. Since God always reigns and is omnipotent, with what view do those who call God “Father” offer up to him their requests and say, “Your kingdom come”?They seem to desire to behold Christ the Savior of all rising again upon the world. He will come. He will come and descend as judge, no longer in a lowly condition like us or in the humility of human nature. He will come in glory such as becomes God, as he dwells in the unapproachable light, and with the angels as his guards. He somewhere said, “The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels.”…That judgment seat is terrifying. The Judge is unbiased. It is a time of pleading, or rather of trial and of retribution. The fire, enduring punishment and eternal torments are prepared for the wicked. How can men pray to behold that time?… The wicked and impure lead low and lewd lives and are guilty of every vice. In no way is it fitting for them in their prayers to say, “your kingdom co...
2 mins8/19
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
What, therefore, is the meaning of “hallowed be your name”?…When it is our settled conviction and belief that he who by nature is God over all is Holy of the Holies, we confess his glory and supreme majesty. We then receive his fear into our mind and lead upright and blameless lives. By this we become holy ourselves, and we may be able to be near unto the holy God…. The prayer is, therefore, “May your name be kept holy in us, in our minds and wills.” This is the significance of the word hallowed. If a person says, “Our Father, hallowed be your name,” he is not requesting any addition to be made to God’s holiness. He rather asks that he may possess such a mind and faith to feel that his name is honorable and holy. The act is the source of life and the cause of every blessing. How must being this influenced by God be worthy of the highest estimation and useful for the salvation of the soul? Commentary on Luke, Homily
1 min9/19
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
For the Savior said, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father.’ ” And another of the holy Evangelists adds, “who art in heaven.”…He gives his own glory to us. He raises slaves to the dignity of freedom. He crowns the human condition with such honor as surpasses the power of nature. He brings to pass what was spoken of old by the voice of the psalmist: “I said, you are gods, and all of you children of the Most High.” He rescues us from the measure of slavery, giving us by his grace what we did not possess by nature, and permits us to call God “Father,” as being admitted to the rank of sons. We received this, together with all our other privileges, from him. One of these privileges is the dignity of freedom, a gift peculiarly befitting those who have been called to be sons.He commands us, therefore, to take boldness and say in our prayers, “Our Father.” We, who are children of earth and slaves and subject by the law of nature to him who created us, call him who is in heaven “Father.” Most fittin...
1 min10/19
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Ephrem The Syrian

AD 373
“Give us our constant bread of the day.” Look, he has said, “Seek the kingdom of God, and these things over and above will be given to you as well.” He said “of the day” to teach us poverty in relation to the things of the world. It is sufficient for only our need, or else when we are anxious for a time, we might withdraw from intimacy with God. This bread of the day indicates necessity. He does not just give us only bread but also clothing and other things, as he said, “Your Father knows what your needs are before you ask him.” Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessarona.
1 min11/19
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Gregory of Nyssa

AD 394
He unfolds the teaching of prayer to His disciples, who wisely desire the knowledge of prayer, directing them how they ought to beseech God to hear them. See how great a preparation you need, tobe able to say boldly to God, O Father, for if you have your eyes fixed on worldly things, or court the praise of men, or are a slave to your passions, and utter this prayer, I seem to hear God saying, 'Whereas you that are of a corrupt life call the Author of the incorruptible your Father, you pollute with your defiled lips an incorruptible name. For He who commanded youto call Him Father, gave you not leave to utter lies. But the highest of e all good things is to glorify God's name in our lives. Hence He adds, Hallowed be thy name. For who is there so debased, as when He sees the pure life of those who believe, does not glorify the name invoked in such a life. He then who says in his prayer, Be thy name, which I call upon, hallowed in me, prays this, &#8220;May I through Your concurring aid b...
2 mins12/19
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John Cassian

AD 435
“Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.” Another Evangelist uses the term daily.The first expression indicates that this bread has a noble and substantial character by which its exalted splendor and holiness surpass all substances and all creatures.With “daily” the Evangelist shows that without this bread we cannot live a spiritual life for even a day. When he says “this day,” he shows that the bread must be eaten each day. It will not be enough to have eaten yesterday unless we eat similarly today. May our daily poverty encourage us to pour out this prayer at all times, for there is no day on which it is unnecessary for us to eat this bread to strengthen the heart of the person within us.“Daily” can also be understood as referring to our present life. That is, “give us this bread while we linger in this present world.” We know that in the time to come you will give it to whoever deserves it, but we ask that you give it to us today. He who has not received it in this life will no...
1 min13/19
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John Chrysostom

AD 407
For as when a man gazes upon the beauty of the heavens, he says, Glory beyou, O God; so likewise when He beholds a man's virtuous actions, seeing that the virtue of man glorifies God much more than the heavens. As if He says, Enable us, O Lord, to follow the heavenly life, that whatever You will, we may will in also. We must then require of God the necessities of life; not varieties of meats, and spiced wines, and the other things which please the palate, while they load your stomach and disturb your mind, but bread which is able to support the bodily substance, that is to say, which is sufficient only for the day, that we may take no thought of the morrow. But we make only one petition about things of sense, that the present life may not trouble us. Considering then these things, we ought to show mercy to our debtors. For they are to us if we are wise the cause of our greatest pardon; and though we perform only a few things, we shall find many. For we owe many and great debts to the L...
1 min14/19
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
When in a certain place he had been praying to that Father above,
< 1 min15/19
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
To complete the prayer which was so well arranged, Christ added that we should pray not only that our sins be forgiven but also that we should completely shun them. “Lead us not into temptation,” that is, do not allow us to be led by the tempter. God forbid that our Lord should seem to be the tempter, as if he were not aware of one’s faith or were eager to upset it! That weakness and spitefulness belongs to the devil. Even in the case of Abraham, God ordered the sacrifice of his son not to tempt his faith but to prove it. He did this to set an example for his commandment that he was later to teach that no one should hold his loved ones dearer than God. Christ himself was tempted by the devil and pointed out the subtle director of the temptation. He confirms this passage by his words to his apostles later when he says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” They were tempted to desert their Lord because they had indulged in sleep instead of prayer. The phrase that balances and i...
1 min16/19
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
Divine Wisdom arranged the order of this prayer with exquisite choice. After the matters that pertain to heaven—that is, after the name of God, the will of God and the kingdom of God—it should make a place for a petition for our earthly needs too! Our Lord taught us, “Seek first the kingdom, and then these things shall be given you besides.” We should rather understand “give us this day our daily bread” in a spiritual sense. For Christ is “our bread,” because Christ is life, and the life is bread. “I am,” he said, “the bread of life.” Shortly before this he said, “The bread is the word of the living God who has come down from heaven.” Then, because his body is considered to be in the bread, he said, “This is my body.” When we ask for our daily bread, we are asking to live forever in Christ and to be inseparably united with his body.
1 min17/19
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Theophilus of Antioch

AD 184
But He says not, which artin heaven, as though He were confined to that place, but to raise the hearer up to heaven, and draw him away from earthly things.
< 1 min18/19
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Titus of Bostra

AD 378
The disciples having seen a new way of life, desire a new form of prayer, since there were several prayers to be found in the Old Testament. Hence it follows, When heceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, in order that we might not sin against God in asking for one thing instead of another, or by approaching God in prayer in amanner that we ought not. And because in the name of Jesus is the glory of God the Father, the name of the Father will be hallowed whenever Christ shall be known. Or the bread of souls is the Divine power, bringing the everlasting life which is to come, as the bread which comes out of the earth preserves the temporal life. But by saying &#8220;daily,&#8221; He signifies the Divine bread which comes and is to come, which we seek to be given to us daily, requiring a certain earnest and taste of it, seeing that the Spirit which dwells in us has wrought a virtue surpassing all human virtues, as chastity, humility, and the rest. This also was...
2 mins19/19
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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20

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