On the Interpretation of the Doxology:
Daily Prayer Life
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The Divine Liturgy is eminently a prayer and offering up to God which is made by the Church, every Sunday, on the memorials of the saints, but also whenever it must be performed. In the monasteries, especially on Mount Athos, it is performed daily.
But beyond the prayers of the Church and the Divine Liturgy, Christians must pray daily. Man is in fact a praying being, he is a being who must pray. After all, he was created by God in His image and according to His likeness, the prototype of his creation is the Son and Word of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, and this means that he must be trace back to his prototype and refer to Him. When he does not do this, he shows that he has lost his destination.
We find this in the verses of the Doxology, which we will look at today, and in which the word "day" is included and refers to prayer and every day life.
After praising the Triune God and the incarnation of His Son, we then confess that He is the center of our lives. We chant:
"Every day will I bless You, and praise Your Name forever, unto the ages of ages."
Having previously felt the love of God, we now confess that we will praise His Name daily, but also unto all ages. Indeed, the Name of God has great power and whoever invokes it receives great Grace and blessing. This is praised by the angels, but also by the saints in heaven. This remembrance of the Name of God will be the only worship and Divine Liturgy in the ages after the Second Coming of Christ. Thus, when we praise God's Name every day, we will be found worthy to praise it forever.
In the next verse we ask God:
"Find us worthy, Lord, that we be kept this day without sin."
Man flows towards wickedness from his youth, as Holy Scripture says, because he has in himself the tendency to turn away and accepts many temptations from the devil, the passions that exist within him and from the world of sin and injustice that surrounds him. Insults and temptations are repeated and man falls every day. There is no way to live a day and not sin. What a bitter experience we have in this situation! Every day we disgrace ourselves and mourn for what we do. We say, "Did I do that? How could I do that?"
That is why when we wake up from sleep, we feel the need to ask God to protect us, to guard us so that we do not sin, do not turn away from His will, do not lose His Grace. After all, sin is not merely a denial of God's commandments, but the removal of man from the source of life and the true light, so that man enters into death and darkness. Man with his will and his small powers cannot completely avoid sin, so he seeks the protection of God. We are small and weak and we ask for help from the Grace of God.
Therefore, every day and all day let us praise the Name of God, to pray with the prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me", so that we cannot sin by the power of the Name of Christ.
But beyond the prayers of the Church and the Divine Liturgy, Christians must pray daily. Man is in fact a praying being, he is a being who must pray. After all, he was created by God in His image and according to His likeness, the prototype of his creation is the Son and Word of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, and this means that he must be trace back to his prototype and refer to Him. When he does not do this, he shows that he has lost his destination.
We find this in the verses of the Doxology, which we will look at today, and in which the word "day" is included and refers to prayer and every day life.
After praising the Triune God and the incarnation of His Son, we then confess that He is the center of our lives. We chant:
"Every day will I bless You, and praise Your Name forever, unto the ages of ages."
Having previously felt the love of God, we now confess that we will praise His Name daily, but also unto all ages. Indeed, the Name of God has great power and whoever invokes it receives great Grace and blessing. This is praised by the angels, but also by the saints in heaven. This remembrance of the Name of God will be the only worship and Divine Liturgy in the ages after the Second Coming of Christ. Thus, when we praise God's Name every day, we will be found worthy to praise it forever.
In the next verse we ask God:
"Find us worthy, Lord, that we be kept this day without sin."
Man flows towards wickedness from his youth, as Holy Scripture says, because he has in himself the tendency to turn away and accepts many temptations from the devil, the passions that exist within him and from the world of sin and injustice that surrounds him. Insults and temptations are repeated and man falls every day. There is no way to live a day and not sin. What a bitter experience we have in this situation! Every day we disgrace ourselves and mourn for what we do. We say, "Did I do that? How could I do that?"
That is why when we wake up from sleep, we feel the need to ask God to protect us, to guard us so that we do not sin, do not turn away from His will, do not lose His Grace. After all, sin is not merely a denial of God's commandments, but the removal of man from the source of life and the true light, so that man enters into death and darkness. Man with his will and his small powers cannot completely avoid sin, so he seeks the protection of God. We are small and weak and we ask for help from the Grace of God.
Therefore, every day and all day let us praise the Name of God, to pray with the prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me", so that we cannot sin by the power of the Name of Christ.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
