On the Lord's Prayer 28
Summary: As Isaiah foretold, Christ gave a short word: brief summaries of eternal life, the law, and prayer.
Latin text · CSEL 3.1:287–288
Quid mirum, fratres dilectissimi, si oratio talis est quam Deus docuit, qui magisterio suo omnem precem nostram salutari sermone breuiauit? hoc iam per Esaiam prophetam fuerat ante praedictum, cum plenus Spiritu sancto de Dei maiestate ac pietate loqueretur. uerbum consummans, inquit, et breuians in iustitia, quoniam sermonem breuiatum faciet Deus in toto orbe terrae. nam cum Dei sermo Dominus noster Iesus Christus omnibus uenerit et colligens doctos pariter et indoctos omni sexu adque aetati praecepta salutis ediderit, praeceptorum suorum fecit grande conpendium, ut in disciplina caelesti discentium memoria non laboraret, sed quod esset simplici fidei necessarium uelociter disceret. sic cum doceret quid sit uita aeterna, sacramentum uitae magna et diuina breuitate conplexus est dicens: haec est autem uita aeterna ut cognoscant te solum et uerum Deum et quem misisti Iesum Christum. item cum de lege et prophetis praecepta prima et maiora decerperet, audi, inquit, Israel: Dominus Deus tuus Dominus unus est, et: diliges Dominum Deum tuum de toto corde tuo et de tota anima tua et de tota uirtute tua. hoc primum, et secundum simile huic: diliges proximum tuum tamquam te. in his duobus praeceptis tota lex pendet et prophetae. et iterum: quaecumque uolueritis ut faciant uobis homines bona, ita et uos facite illis. haec est enim lex et prophetae.
English · Claude translation
What wonder is it, dearest brothers, if such is the prayer that God taught, who by his teaching has shortened all our prayer into a saving word? This had already been foretold through the prophet Isaiah, when, filled with the Holy Spirit, he spoke of God's majesty and kindness: "Completing and shortening the word in righteousness," he says, "for God will make a shortened word in the whole world." For when the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, came to all, and, gathering learned and unlearned alike, gave out the precepts of salvation to every sex and age, he made a great summary of his precepts, so that the memory of learners should not labour in the heavenly teaching, but should learn quickly what was necessary to simple faith. So, when he was teaching what eternal life is, he embraced the mystery of life with great and divine brevity, saying: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Likewise, when he was drawing out the first and greatest precepts from the law and the prophets, he said: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one Lord," and: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the first; and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets." And again: "Whatever good things you wish that men should do to you, so do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets."
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Isa 10:22–23 (LXX, as in Rom 9:28), John 17:3, Mark 12:29–31 with Matt 22:37–40, and Matt 7:12. "The Word" renders sermo.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "n" for "u" (Matt 7:12, "do you").): ita et nos facite → ita et uos facite.
Cite this passage
Cyprian, Dom. or. 28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-dominica-oratione/28/).
Plain text
Cyprian, Dom. or. 28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-dominica-oratione/28/).
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