Triumph in Prayer (Part II): Propriety in prayer

Many people today take advantage of the relationship that God our Father has graciously established with us only by the saving death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. When we pray therefore, our prayers can be shallow and without true reverential fear of God. Do we truly understand that when we are praying, we are conversing with God almighty? The maker of all things; visible and invisible? Yes, we are living in the grace which allows us to commune with God our Father, but we have to remind ourselves that we are not just talking to our ‘mate next door’.

When we truly understand more about God, who He is, how holy and mighty He is and see that in His mercy loves to hear us, His children call out to Him; we will be faced with the stark reality that we are truly unworthy sinners not deserving of such a privilege and yet have been made worthy through Christ alone so God our Father longs to hear us pray to Him, no matter how underserving we are (Jeremiah 33:3).

Knowing all of this, our faithful and blessed forefathers were indeed acquainted with the understanding of this reality and their faithful Spirit eagerly lead them into a state of humble submission before the Father. As they grew closer to God through constant prayer, fasting and the reading of the scriptures, they became more in-tune with the ‘language’ with which they were to communicate with God. And we today, can learn much about ‘pure prayer’ from their faithful life examples.

St. Isaac of Nineveh claims that reverential outward postures are conducive to one’s inward progress towards pure prayer. It is not God who needs external signs of reverence; rather, a reverential outward posture is necessary for us so that we may be trained in a pious attitude to God. ¹

Continuing his description of the outward forms of prayer, Isaac then comes to prayer with outstretched hands. This posture, according to him, promotes concentration of thought and a deep feeling of compunction. Isaac also emphasizes the necessity of prayer with one’s own words; this prayer, he is convinced, leads to inner spiritual insights. The advantage of prayer with one’s own words is that it does not require one to recite certain texts from a book or to learn texts by heart or to repeat them. Some ancient saints, Isaac notes, did not know the psalms at all, yet their prayer reached God because of their humility.²

The more we start to understand who God is - Holy, sovereign, awesome, magnificent (and immeasurably more) and who we are - imperfect sinners who have been forgiven by His merciful grace, we will desire to draw nearer to Him and as a result we will humble ourselves more and physically lower ourselves in prostration as we faithfully pray to Him (Romans 12:1).

A perfect example of this type of faithful prayer is one that Christ Himself gave to us when He spoke of the prayer that is accepted in God’s eyes. The tax collector’s prayer; which was one of humility and unworthiness. He believed in God, but he knew himself to be an unrighteous, unworthy person. He acknowledged that he was a man of many sins that was in the presence of the Holy and almighty God. This knowledge and conviction caused him to fall prostrate, beat his chest and pray earnestly to God. (Luke 18:13-14) Whereas Christ also shows us the contrasting way of prayer that people take, as being self-righteous like the Pharisee who stood, looking down at those who acknowledge their unworthiness and pray in this way, and think themselves better or more righteous than they are. Too righteous to even kneel before God (Luke 18:9-12).

In the Bible, we see our Lord Jesus teaches us to pray in an un-hypocritical fashion (Matthew 6:1, 6:5-6). St. Paul teaches us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18) and when we do not have the words to pray, the Spirit will pray on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27). St. Paul further states “ I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that women adorn themselves in a modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. (1 Timothy 2:8-10)

St. Paul is exhorting us all to pray in a quiet and godly manner. These verses would at face value seem to contradict Christ’s teaching of praying in secret, not to be seen by men (Matthew 6:5-6). But Christ’s warning here is about mankind’s motive for prayer, spoken in the context of praying in a hypocritical manner, not referring to congregational worship:

St. Aphrahat further explains these important verses on prayer: “But why, my beloved, did our Saviour teach and say, "Pray to your Father in secret with the door closed?". I will demonstrate you about this as much as I have understood. For he said, "Pray to your Father in secret with the door closed". But this, the word of our Lord shows us thus, "Pray in secret in your heart, and close the door". What is the door that he said to close? If not your mouth, which is (the door to) the temple in which Christ dwells as the Apostle said, "You are the temple of the Lord" (1 Cor. 3:16), for him to enter into your inner man, to this house, cleanse it from everything that is unclean, while the door, that is your mouth, is to be closed.”(Aphrahat Demonstration IV on Prayer)

Are we praying in a self-righteous manner where we think we are good enough to not stoop down and earnestly pray a pure prayer that calls out from The Spirit abiding in us? Do we think that this type of prayer is not really necessary since we have been brought into saving grace through baptism and are continually being saved and sanctified through the gracious sacraments? If we think about it, this should be the very reason we stoop down and humble ourselves all the more in thanks to God every day. That we are in fact living in His grace, and we do not deserve this awesome gift from a Holy God that He has bestowed upon us.

We will conclude with more encouraging words from St Isaac of Nineveh: Outward forms of prayer are necessary, but they should be measured in accordance with the strength of every person. Not only the old and infirm are freed from the necessity of performing many prostrations and other external actions of prayer: anyone who is exhausted from prayer is deserving of rest. One can pray standing, sitting or kneeling, in his room or while he is at work; what is more important is that prayer should be accomplished with the fear of God.³

This week’s song: The time in between – Francesca Battistelli

1.        Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian, Prayer in St. Isaac of Nineveh (Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2000. P.p 3

2.       Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian, Prayer in St. Isaac of Nineveh (Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2000. P.p 3

3.       Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian, Prayer in St. Isaac of Nineveh (Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2000. P.p 4

Triumph in Prayer - The Lord's Prayer

“Prayer” is a commonly used term in the Church and is a deed we are taught and encouraged to practice often. Many do not realize that prayer is a gracious blessing from God to us, and its relevance and importance can too often be overlooked and taken for granted by many Christians who may fall into the risk of lip service and recitations alone. We often do not realize the importance or centrality that prayer holds in our lives as children of God and more often than not we do not make it an important or essential practise in our daily lives apart from the times we are in a blessed Church service, or when we are in trouble or going through a trial and remember to pray and ask God to help us through these times.

We know that communication is a basic and essential requirement to maintain any relationship. We communicate to our beloved and closest friends and family regularly through phone, sms emails, tweets etc. in order to maintain our relationships and stay close to one another. Keeping in mind that we are living in a mended relationship with God through baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity and abiding in Him through partaking in the Church Sacraments, why do we still find it challenging to willingly pray to God consistently, in both good times and in bad?

Simply defined; prayer is the practise of communicating with God. If we contemplate this fully, we sinners, have been undeservingly blessed with the privilege of communicating with God; the perfect, holy creator of all! There are no other religions apart from Christianity that allow man-kind the freedom to openly pray to God their creator and have the assurance that their prayers are heard.

We are instructed to pray by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:9-13. Here, Christ gives us the pattern for prayer and teaches us to pray the “Lord’s Prayer” (Awon dwashmaya):

Our Father in Heaven

Hallowed be your name

Your kingdom come

Your will be done

As in Heaven, so on earth

Give us the bread of our need this day

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Lead us not into trial

But deliver us from evil

For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory

Forever, Amen

From this prayer we learn from Christ Himself how we are to pray and what we are to ask for:

Firstly, we have the undeserved privilege of addressing God as our “Heavenly Father.” This means we have accepted Christ as our saviour and have been sealed by the Holy Spirit through baptism into His name and have become co-heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:14-16)

Secondly, we are to praise God for His magnificent Holiness and glorify His name. To follow on from this pattern, we should wholeheartedly desire and ask for God’s Kingdom to come into our lives – for Him to be the Lord of our life and genuinely ask for His perfect will to be fulfilled in our lives in accordance with His plan for us, following the example of our Lord Jesus (Luke22:42, John 6:38) as co-heirs with Him (see above).

When we are asking God to “give us our daily bread”, this does not merely mean bread to eat and sustain us physically and provide for our everyday needs (Matthew 6:26), but it is the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God. Food for the nourishment of our immortal soul. This living bread is Christ Himself which we partake in when we receive the Holy Eucharist (John 6:27-58).

As temptation looms and surrounds us in this fallen world, we can slip up in sin, but the Holy Spirit convicts us so that we can identify our sin and mournfully repent and seek absolution for it. One of the most common prayers amoung Christians is that of asking God to forgive our sins, however, do we realize that there is a pre-requisite we must fulfil in order for our sins to be forgiven? We must forgive those who are indebted to us, before we can ask and expect God to forgive our debts by the same token (cf. Matthew 6:14-15).

When we pray and ask God “not to lead us into trial, but deliver us from evil” we are not asking Him to keep us from the trials that develop our faith (James 1:2-4), but are asking Him to lead us away from the trial of judgement (Revelation 3:10) and deliver us from the evil one.

Finally, we are to always acknowledge God’s sovereignty over all… To Him belongs the Kingdom to which we belong, all power and glory for eternity. When we know and understand that all things in creation are in God’s powerful control, that all things were created by Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16) how can we not trust Him to deliver us and answer our prayers according to His good will?

We witness the power of what pure, faithful prayer can achieve in the lives of faithful men and women as we look to their extraordinary life changing occurrences as recorded in the Bible and throughout Church History in the saints:

My beloved, now give me your heart and your mind, and hear about the power of pure prayer and see how our righteous forefathers were triumphant before God through their prayer and how it became a pure offering for them.

For the offerings were accepted through prayer (Gen. 4:4).

And it furthermore changed the flood (Gen. 8:20-22).

And it healed barrenness (Gen. 18; 1 Sam. 1-2).

And it destroyed armies (Jos. 12).

And it revealed the mysteries (Ex. 3:2).

And it divided the sea (Ex. 14; Jos. 4).

And it forced a passage through the Jordan (Ex. 14; Jos. 4).

And it withheld the sun and made the moon to standstill (Jos. 10:12-13).

And it destroyed the unclean and it caused fire to come down (Num. 16:35; 1 Kgs 18:38; 2 Kgs 1:10).

And it shut up the heaven (1 Kgs 17:1). And it caused to ascend from the pit (Dan. 6). And it saved from the fire (Dan. 3). And it delivered from the sea (Jon. 2).

And its power is very great, just as the power of pure fasting is great. (Aphrahat Demonstration IV on Prayer)

Prayer is an essential daily requirement for all of God’s children to practise willingly and wholeheartedly, not out of a sense of routine obligation. Whether we are asking for God’s help and guidance through a trial, thanking Him for His blessings or trials or just longing to glorify His Holy name and acknowledge Him for the great God that He is… We are to acknowledge Him, beseech Him and thank Him every single day as we follow the example of our Lord Jesus and heed His words which give us the assurance that our prayers of faith will be answered:

Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14)

Finally, Aphrahat exhorts us to: “See, my beloved, sacrifices and offerings are rejected and in their place prayer was chosen. Therefore love pure prayer and toil at petition. At the beginning of all your prayers you should pray the prayer of your Lord. Be diligent in everything that I have written to you, and whenever you pray remember your friend.”

Next week: Triumph in prayer Part II – How to pray?

This week’s song: The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic – Vian Inanna

Saint Ephraim the Syrian (Mar Aphrem Suraya)

As we commemorate the day of St Ephraim the Syrian or Saint Ephraim the Great (Mar Aphrem Raba) today, let us shed some light on the truly gifted theological writer and highly esteemed Church father, whose hymns, homilies and in-depth commentaries have been referred to by our Church fathers throughout the centuries, the present day and most certainly will be cited and read for spiritual encouragement and enlightenment of faithful in the future.

Ephraim pertains the high and unique distinction of having originated—or at least given its living impulse to—a new departure in sacred literature; and that, not for his own country merely, but for Christendom.

From him came, if not the first idea, at all events the first successful example, of

making song an essential constituent of public worship, and an exponent of theological teaching; and from him it spread and prevailed through the Eastern Churches, and affected even those of the West.

To the Hymns, on which chiefly his fame rests, the Syriac ritual in all its forms owes much of its strength and richness; and to them is largely due the place which Hymnody holds throughout the Church everywhere. And hence it has come to pass that, in the Church everywhere, he stands as the representative Syrian Father, as the fixed epithet appended to his name attests—“Ephraim the Syrian,”—the one Syrian known and reverenced in all Christendom. ¹

Ephraim was born within the Roman pale, in the ancient and famous city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, in, or before, the earliest days of the reign (A.D. 306–337) of Constantine

the Great: he was a disciple of St. Jacob, Bishop of that city, who died A.D. 338: and he lived in it, under Jacob and the three Bishops who successively followed him, through three unsuccessful sieges laid to it by Sapor, King of Persia, down to its final surrender under the terms of the ignominious peace concluded with Sapor by the Emperor Jovian after the defeat and death of his predecessor Julian (A.D. 363). Nisibis was then abandoned by its Christian inhabitants; and Ephraim finally settled at Edessa, and took up his abode as a “Solitary” in a cell on the “Mount of Edessa”—a rocky hill close to the city (Mount Nimrud today in South Eastern Turkey), where many anchorites sought retreat. Here he rose into repute as a

teacher, and a champion against heresy; and no less as an ascetic and saint. The fame of St. Basil, metropolitan of Caesarea in Cappadocia (370–379), drew him from his solitude to visit that great prelate and doctor, and from him he received the diaconate; but (though some affirm that he was advanced to the priesthood) it is agreed that he never became a Bishop. He died at an advanced age, in his retreat, in the year 373 according to most authorities, but some suppose him to have lived to 378.

He was a most copious writer, and left an immense quantity of writings of which a

large part is extant,—Sermons, Commentaries, and Hymns. These constitute such a body of

instruction in the substance of Scripture and the faith of the church, that they have justly earned for him the title of malpona, or teacher. And not only have his Hymns done much to shape the ritual of the Syrian Churches, in which large portions of them are embodied, but to his Sermons this singular honour is paid, that lessons selected from them were appointed, and are still read, in the regular course of public worship. ²

Following is one of the many hymns written by St. Ephraim after the Christians of Edessa became victorious over the persecutions of the Arian Emperor Valens who sought to make the Church submit to him in approximately 371AD. When the emperor heard that the faithful Christians of Edessa would rather be killed as an oblation to the Lord than to submit to him, the Emperor was moved to relent; the people, their bishops and priests came forward and gave him their plea making him ashamed of his purpose and the emperor pardoned their disobedience and departed from Edessa. 

St. Ephraim writes:

“The doors of her homes Edessa

Left open when she went forth

With the pastor to the grave, to die,

And not depart from her faith.

Let the city and fort and building

And houses be yielded to the king;

Our goods and our gold let us leave;

So we part not from our faith!

Edessa is full of chastity,

Full of prudence and understanding.

She is clad in discernment of soul;

Faith is the girdle of her loins;

Truth her armour all-prevailing;

Love her crown, all-exalting.

Christ bless them that dwell in her,

Edessa, whose name is His glory,

And the name of her champion her beauty!

City that is lady over her fellows,

City that is the shadow

Of the Jerusalem in heaven!” ³

Let us be encouraged by the copious spiritual words of our great father, Saint Ephraim, and let us heed his poetic words in view of God’s work through his hymns, homilies and commentaries which shine light on the grace of God that is bestowed upon us through His Son. As we look into the various genres of this saint’s writings which capture historical events in Church history and glorify God’s name, let us also be encouraged in our faith and pursue a life of faith, love and hope in Christ’s name.

St Ephraim the Syrian

1.        Schaff, Philip, 2004. NPNF-213 Gregory the Great (II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. P.196

2.       Schaff, Philip, 2004. NPNF-213 Gregory the Great (II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. P.197

3.       Schaff, Philip, 2004. NPNF-213 Gregory the Great (II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. P.211

The Friday of Gold

The Friday of Gold was commemorated in the Church of the East Calendar this past Friday. The title for this day holds particular significance in the eyes of the Church as she endeavours to help us gain more depth and insight about our faith in Christ and appreciate the treasure’s that God’s grace has bestowed upon us through His Son and the teaching of His Apostles.

The Friday of Gold is commemorated as we look back to the time of the Apostles of Christ and we read about one of the first miracles they performed in the name of Jesus following the birth of the Church at Pentecost. In Acts 3:1-16 we read of how St. Peter and St. John were about to enter the temple gates at the time of prayer when they came across a crippled beggar who had been sitting at the entrance of the temple gate called “Beautiful” for most of his life begging the temple goers for money.

St. Peter’s enlightening response to the beggar was “silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”. It is because this powerful, life changing statement full of authority and faith, that we remember this Friday called the Friday of Gold. But it doesn’t just stop there. This one line spoken from the mouth of St. Peter still speaks to us today, and offers us Christians of the 21^st Century and beyond much hope and encouragement as we learn about the priceless treasure (Gold) that each and every one of us have been unworthily blessed with by the grace of God alone…

Immediately after St. Peter’s authoritive statement in the name of Jesus, he took the beggar by the right hand and lifted him up. The beggar leaped up, stood and walked and entered the temple with John and Peter (Acts3:8-9) as a testament to the miraculous work that God had performed in his life through the hand of the Apostles, the founders of the Church, built on Christ.

A treasure more precious than Gold.

As members of the Church of Christ, we too possess a great treasure that is more valuable and eternal than material gold and wealth; that is the grace of God which enriches us with forgiveness of our sins, God’s love and mercy and the promise of eternal life as co-heirs with Christ (Ephesians3:6). These gracious gifts from God are unworthily bestowed upon us when we faithfully partake in the Sacraments of the Church, to build up our wealth in the Body of Christ.

His Grace Mar Awa explains the riches which the Sacraments bring to a Christian’s life: “We may further define the sacraments as being : material means through which God communicates to us his divine grace, of which we are in need in our lives on a daily basis, for our edification sanctification and utter salvation, and share in everlasting life.”¹

We like the crippled beggar, may experience weaknesses, pains and trials of our own that we are suffering in life, and are seeking deliverance from. However in the mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Maran Esho Msheekha) we can overcome, just as the beggars faith allowed him to, all for the glory of God’s name as we stand as a testament to the world for receiving true wealth that can only be gained through trusting in the Lord.

St. Paul exhorts the Church in order to expound on the need for its reliance on Christ. He likens mankind to simple ‘jars of clay’, in order to illustrate our temporal humanity, show us that we are in need of God’s gift of grace every day and that God’s working in our lives is the treasure within us that we are indeed blessed to possess.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [jars of clay], so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).

For we are merely ‘jars of clay’ created by our Mighty Creator. But the Holy Spirit who lives within us completes us and is the true treasure working in our body and in our life to enrich us eternally. This treasure is working within us to draw us near to God each day in order to rely on His power to work within us as we glorify His name through His working in our lives (Romans 8:9-11).

As we acknowledge the power of God working in our lives, we are indebted to offer up our thanks to Him (Romans 12:1-2) for giving us this treasure at the expense of the death and resurrection of His One and only Son, Jesus our Lord. ^“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

For although in today’s world, we may gain physical wealth, this can distract us from wanting to gain spiritual wealth if we let the former be our focus and priority in life. Like the beggar, many of us may think that material wealth is the only means to happiness and providence in life. Indeed these may bring us temporary happiness, but can be lost just as easily as they are gained. The temporal happiness that material wealth may bring will never compare to the true contentment and joy that comes from living in the grace of Christ that brings power and life that can never be accidentally lost or taken away. “For where your treasure is there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

In times of our suffering and begging for an awaited deliverance, we should be encouraged by St. Paul’s joy during his afflictions and poverty which can be relayed into our lives as we look to his faithful example as he states; “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [his true treasure], for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7-8). He received so much joy and contentment through living with Christ as His Lord that even in his trials, sufferings and persecutions, he stood firm in His faith, unmoved by the pains of the world, knowing that his work for the Lord was not in vain, but would rather glorify His name and allow St. Paul to receive his prize (1 Corinthians 9:25) and his true treasure… The Kingdom of God.

Through St. Paul’s actions, we can learn so much about the un-measurable true riches that God offers us apart from what is in this world (Ephesians3:8) when we see St. Paul willingly endure martyrdom for His faith in order to inherit the blessings that are promised to all who remain in the body of Christ.

Let us hold on to this treasure we have been unworthily blessed with through living with Jesus Christ as our Lord. Let us live to share His love and forgiveness, glorify His name through our faithful actions and unswervingly hold on to the true treasure we have been given through partaking in the gracious Holy Sacraments of the Church which are given to sanctify us and build us up in faith as we await the day of our Lord, when we will receive our glorious inheritance. 

“Now to Him who is able to do [and give] far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

This week’s song: Everything I need- Kutless

1.       H.G. Bishop Mar Awa Royel, Mysteries of the Kingdom: The Sacraments of the Assyrian Church of the East, CIRED 2011 p.p.33