Church Worship as a Journey to Heaven
Why is the first supplication to the Lord: “Hallowed be thy name”?
Q934 · The Model Prayer
St. John Chrysostom says, “Worthy of him who calls God Father, is the prayer to ask nothing before the glory of His Father, but to account all things secondary to the work of praising Him. For ‘hallowed’ is glorified .”[179 ]
St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “The Name of God is in its nature holy, whether we say so or not; but since it is sometimes profaned among sinners, according to the words, ‘Through you My Name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles’ (Isa. 52:5; Rom. 2:24), we pray that in us God’s Name may be hallowed; not that it comes to be holy from not being
175 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, De Decretis or Defence of the Nicene Definition 7.31 (NPNF II/4:171–172).
176 St. Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 4: On the Lord’s Prayer 11 (ANF 5:450).
177 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 23.11 (NPNF II/7:155)
178 Tertullian, On Prayer 2 (ANF 3:682) amended.
179 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 19.7 (NPNF I/10:131).
holy, but because it becomes holy in us, when we are made holy, and do things worthy of holiness.”[180 ]
The Fathers cited
- St. John Chrysostom
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem