The First Petition: “Hallowed Be Your Name.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa. It seems to me that a simple exposition of the words of the prayer does not at first glance offer us a readily intelligible meaning. It is said: “Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come.” How does this relate to my need? — some person might say, who either chastises himself with repentance for sins, or, seeking to flee from the prevailing sin, calls upon God for help, because he always has before his eyes the one assailing him with temptations. There, anger throws reason out of its ordered state; here, desire for what is unseemly weakens the strength of the soul; at another time covetousness, arrogance, pride, hatred, and the rest of the opposing host—like some troop of enemies surrounding one on all sides and at the very extreme pressing the soul into danger. After all this, for one who strives with God’s help to be delivered from these evils, what words would be most suitable? Would they not be those used by the great David, who said: “Let me be delivered from those who hate me” (Ps. 68:15), and again: “Let those who devise evil against me turn back” (Ps. 34:4), and again: “Grant us help from distress” (Ps. 59:13)—and others like these, by which one may call forth God’s assistance against enemies? Now, however, what does the law of prayer say? “Hallowed be Your name.” Even if I do not say this, can it be that the name of God would fail to be holy?! “Your kingdom come.” But what has been removed from under the authority of God, who, as Isaiah says, holds all the heavens in the palm of His hand, all the earth in His fist, controls the watery element with His hand, and carries in His embrace all creation both in this world and above the world (Isa. 40:12)? Therefore, if the name of God is always holy, if nothing has escaped the dominion of God’s sovereignty, if He rules all things, lacking nothing in holiness, full and perfect in all things—what does the prayer mean by the words: “Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come”?

St. Cyprian answers in this way: “we say, ‘hallowed be Your name’—not as though we were wishing God that He be sanctified by our prayers; but we ask of Him that His name be hallowed in us. For by whom would God be sanctified, who Himself sanctifies all things?”

Tertullian adds: “so we pray not that it is proper for people to wish God well, as though there were still something that could be wished for Him and in which He would be lacking if we did not wish it for Him. But since it is fitting for us to bless God (Ps. 102:22) in every place and at every time, ever mindful of His great benefits toward us, this word (‘hallowed be Your name’) stands here in place of blessing—that is, in place of ‘may He be blessed.’ — Moreover, when is the name of God not holy and not being hallowed in itself, since He sanctifies all things from Himself? But since the surrounding host of angels unceasingly cries out: ‘holy, holy, holy’ (Isa. 6:3. Rev. 4:8)—we also, as candidates for the angelic order, are even now being taught to send up to God the same heavenly voice, being trained here already for the future jubilation. Thus the first thought here is a thought of the glory of God.”

St. John Chrysostom. “Hallowed be Your name,” He says. To ask for nothing before the glory of the heavenly Father, but to count everything as lower than His praise—this is a prayer worthy of one who calls God Father! …God has His own glory, filled with all majesty and never changed. …By beholding it, the Seraphim also, in praising God, cry out thus: “holy, holy, holy” (Isa. 6:3).

He also says: Let no one harbor the foolish thought that an increase of holiness is granted to God by the words: “hallowed be Your name.” He is holy and all-holy and holier than all the holy ones. And the Seraphim offer Him such a hymn, crying unceasingly: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isa. 6:3). Just as those who offer praises to kings and call them kings and sovereigns do not give them something they do not have, but glorify what they do have—so we too do not impart holiness to God as though it were not already in Him when we say: “hallowed be Your name”—but we glorify the holiness that is in Him; for “be hallowed” is here used in place of “be glorified.”

St. Cassian. Having attained so high a degree as to be children of God, we cannot help but burn with a love proper to good deeds, which will cause us to seek in all things not our own benefit but the glory of our Father. Therefore we also say: “hallowed be Your name”—by which we testify that our hope, our joy, is the glory of our Father—following Him who said: “He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (John 7:18).

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. “Hallowed be the name”—that is, may Your name be glorified, says St. John Chrysostom. This means that we seek nothing other than the glory of God. A prayer worthy of one who calls God Father, says Chrysostom, is to ask for nothing before the glory of God, but to prefer His praise to all things. The name of God is holy and glorious without our glorifying it—but we must strive that it also be glorified in us.

The Compiler (St. Theophan the Recluse). A second thought in the word “be hallowed” is this: may it be reverently honored. For what is holy we surround with every kind of respect, before it we always stand with reverence, toward it we relate with fitting awe. “Hallowed be Your name” is the same as: implant Your fear in the hearts of us who sing to You! — And it is fitting for this petition to stand in first place: for reverent fear of God is the source of spiritual wisdom and a God-pleasing life. One who has it has both a guide, and an awakener, and a sustainer. As long as it is present, the soul is filled with unbreakable strength against every sin and for every good. Since, then, it is the first thing in the spiritual life, the prayer for it is also the first prayer.

Blessed Augustine. It has been said who He is to whom we direct our prayer, and where He dwells. (This is in the words: “Our Father, who is in the heavens.”) Now let us see what it is fitting to ask of Him. The first of all that is petitioned is: “hallowed be Your name.” We ask this not as though the name of God were not holy, but so that it may be held holy among people—that is, may God be known to them in such a way that they would not count anything else as more holy and would fear to offend anything more than His name. Similarly, when it is said: “God is known in Judah; in Israel His name is great” (Ps. 75:2), this is not to be understood as though God were less great in one place and more great in another; but His name is great there where it is named according to the greatness of His greatness. Thus the name of God is named there as a holy thing, where it is named with reverence and fear of offending it.

Why do you ask that God’s name be hallowed? It is holy. What then is there to ask—that what is already holy should be made holy? Besides, when you ask that His name be hallowed, are you not asking this on His behalf rather than your own? But understand rightly the sense of these words and you will see that you are asking it for yourself. For you are asking that what is in itself always holy may be hallowed in you. What does “may it be hallowed” mean? May it be held as holy, may it not be despised. Do you see now that you desire good for yourself when you desire this? For it is to your ruin to despise the name of God—not to God’s.

When we say “May Your name be hallowed,” we are urging ourselves to desire and seek that His name, which is always holy in itself, may be held as holy among people—that is, may not be despised; which is needful not for God, but is saving for people.

The Compiler (St. Theophan the Recluse). To these two thoughts, as a supplement and application, the following two may be added.

First. The name of God is glorified and reverently honored when the ineffable all-perfection of God is known, together with His majesty with its incorruptible righteousness and judgment, surpassing the measure of our comprehension. One can arrive at such knowledge even through one’s own reflection, guided by divine revelation. The humble contemplator of God cannot but conclude his God-contemplation either with doxology to God, wondrous in His perfections, or by falling before Him in fear and trembling at the contemplation of His boundless majesty and His awesome righteousness and incorruptible judgments. But such manifestations of doxology and reverence, proceeding from the measure of comprehension of God’s attributes and majesty, do not themselves rise above that measure and remain far from the measure of God. Besides, they arise as a result of the mind pressing upon the heart and are therefore superficial. True doxology and reverence, however, spring like a fountain from the heart, causing the mind only to marvel. This is produced by the action of God’s grace. It grants the feeling a taste of how good and great the Lord is, and after the heart draws the mind into the contemplation of this. And then true doxology and reverence arise in the depths of the soul. It also happens that, once established in them, they never depart from them. And it is this gracious operation that the words of the prayer proclaim: “May Your name be hallowed.” Grant, O Lord, that by Your grace our heart may taste how good, wondrous, and great You are, and that our mind may enter into the contemplation of this, so that our doxology and reverence may, even a little, approach Your measure and, having taken up dwelling within us, never depart from us! Is it not for this reason that the Lord commanded us to say “may it be hallowed” rather than “may we hallow”—because gracious doxology and the fear of God, when they come, act of themselves, leaving our spirit to be only a witness of what is happening and a taster of it.

Second. May Your name be glorified and reverently honored by all people. Those who pray for this certainly themselves glorify God and stand in reverence before Him, having recognized their duty to do so. Children naturally both honor and praise their father. But the very love for a father will not allow them to be satisfied with their father’s glory and honor only within their own circle; they desire and seek that their father be glorified and honored by all. So also with regard to God: those who call Him their Father cannot be satisfied with glorifying and honoring Him alone, but desire that all people glorify Him and stand in reverence before Him. Since this can only be fulfilled through the spread of true knowledge of God—through the spread of divine revelation—in the desire that all may glorify and honor God our Father, the desire is also naturally expressed that the good news of God be spread and His name be known by all. For our God is such that if you but know Him, you cannot but glorify Him and stand in reverence before Him. Blessed Augustine, having expressed the thought that the words “may it be hallowed” contain a petition that the name of God be reverently honored, added: “and this very thing the Gospel accomplishes now, as it is proclaimed to all peoples!” St. Cassian, after the words cited above about the desire for glory for the Heavenly Father on the part of children moved by love for Him, adds: “the chosen vessel, being filled with these feelings, desires to be accursed from Christ (Rom. 9:3), if only to gain for Him a numerous family, and to add to the glory of his Father the salvation of all Israel.” Tertullian expresses the same thought: “we pray that God’s name may be hallowed not only in us, who have already devoted ourselves to Him, but also in the rest of people, whom God’s grace still awaits. We obey the commandment that bids us pray for all, and even for our enemies (Matt. 5:44). Not saying ‘may the name of God be hallowed only in us,’ we thereby say: may it be hallowed in all as well.” Thus when we pray “may it be hallowed,” we pray that true knowledge of God may spread throughout all of humanity, so that from all people there may be formed one family of God—naming Him their Father, glorifying Him, and reverently honoring Him.

There is yet a third thought in the words “may it be hallowed”—which may be regarded as supplementary, like the two proposed before it, or taken as the direct thought of the prayer: namely, that God may be glorified by our life. This is the thought that all the holy fathers instill above all.

St. John Cassian. The words “may Your name be hallowed” may rightly also convey the thought that the hallowing of God is perfection. Therefore when we say to Him “may Your name be hallowed,” we speak as follows: “Father, make us such that we may understand the greatness of Your holiness, or be counted worthy to receive it, or rather, may Your holiness be revealed in our spiritual life.” And this is truly fulfilled only when people “see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

St. Cyprian of Carthage. Since God has said “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16), we ask and pray that we who have been sanctified in baptism may remain as we have begun to be. And we pray for this daily, because we need daily sanctification, so that we may cleanse our daily sins through unceasing sanctification. What the sanctification granted us by God in His goodness consists in—this the apostle explains, saying: “neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9–11). He calls us sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God; and we pray that such sanctification may remain in us. And since the Lord and our Judge commanded one whom He had healed and restored to life—with a stern warning—to sin no more, lest something worse befall him (John 5:14), we ceaselessly implore, we pray day and night, that the sanctification and restoration to life that we have received from God’s grace may be preserved in us by divine protection.

St. Gregory of Nyssa. Does Scripture, perhaps under the guise of prayer, not teach something of this kind: that human nature is too weak to attain anything good, and therefore whatever good we might strive for, we would not attain it unless God’s assistance were to bring it about in us? And the chief of all goods for me is that through my life the name of God may be glorified.

This meaning will become clearer through the consideration of its opposite. I hear that Holy Scripture somewhere condemns those who become the cause of blasphemy against God. For it is written: woe to those through whom “My name is blasphemed among the nations” (Isa. 52:5). And this means: those who have not yet come to believe the word of truth look upon the life of those who have received faith in the mystery, and therefore, when some bear the name of faith while their life contradicts that name—either serving idols through covetousness, or behaving disorderly in drunkenness and at feasts, or wallowing like swine in the mud of debauchery—among unbelievers there is immediately a ready judgment that condemns not the willfulness of those who use their life badly, but the mystery itself, as if it taught one to behave in such a manner, and as if such a person, initiated into the divine mysteries, would not have become abusive or covetous or rapacious or subject to some other vice, had sinning not been lawful for them. Therefore Scripture addresses such people with a stern threat, saying: woe to those through whom “My name is blasphemed among the nations.”

If this is clear to us, it will be timely to turn our attention to what is said on the opposite side. For above all, I think, one must pray and set as the chief subject of prayer that the name of God be not blasphemed through my life, but glorified, and that faith in the mystery be hallowed. Therefore in me, says the one praying, may the name of Your lordship, which I invoke, be hallowed; may people “see good works and glorify the Father in Heaven” (Matt. 5:16). But who is so bestial and senseless that, seeing in those who believe in God a life that is pure, advancing in virtue, free from all the defilements of sin, removed from all suspicion of evil, shining with chastity, worthy of respect for its prudence, manfully repelling the assaults of the passions, not at all weakened by bodily sensuality, keeping most aloof from entertainments, luxury, and vainglorious vanity, making use of earthly things only so far as necessary, touching the earth only with the tips of its toes, not drowning during its stay on earth in the pleasures of this earthly life, but standing above all sensory allure and in fleshly life rivaling the life of the incorporeal, counting the acquisition of virtue as the only wealth, kinship with God as the only nobility, mastery of oneself and non-servitude to human passions as the only dignity and only dominion, burdened by the prolonged duration of life in the material age and, like those in distress at sea, hastening to the harbor to find rest there—who, seeing all this and the like, would not glorify the name invoked by such a life?!

Therefore, whoever says in prayer “May Your name be hallowed”—in my view, by force of these words he prays the following: “With the help of Your assistance, may I become blameless, righteous, godly; may I abstain from every evil deed, speak truth, do what is right, walk in uprightness, be distinguished by chastity, adorned with incorruption, think on heavenly things, despise earthly things, shine with angelic life.” This and the like is contained in this brief petition, which in prayer calls out to God: “May Your name be hallowed.” For it is not otherwise possible for God to be glorified in a person except when his virtue testifies that the cause of all good things lies in God’s power.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem. “May Your name be hallowed.” The name of God is holy by nature, whether we say so or not. But since it is sometimes dishonored among those who sin, according to the saying: “because of you My name is always blasphemed among the nations” (Isa. 52:5); we pray that the name of God may be hallowed in us—not because He goes from being not holy to being holy, but because it is holy in us when we are sanctified and do what is worthy of holiness.

St. John Chrysostom. Therefore, “may it be hallowed” means—may it be glorified. Grant us—as if the Savior thus teaches us to pray—to live so purely that through us all may glorify You. To show before all a blameless life, so that everyone who sees it may give praise to the Master—this is the mark of perfect wisdom.

St. Maximus the Confessor. We will hallow the name of our heavenly Father by grace when we mortify the lust that clings to matter and cleanse ourselves from the corrupting passions. For hallowing is the fullest stillness and mortification of sensual lust. Being in such a state, we silence the unseemly howling of rage, having no longer the lust that provokes it nor the lust that goads it to fight for its pleasures. And therefore lust, through holiness in accordance with reason, is mortified in us. For rage, bearing by its nature the retribution for lust, usually ceases to rage when it sees lust mortified.

Blessed Theophylact. “May Your name be hallowed”—that is, make us holy, so that through us Your name may be glorified. For as by my evil deeds God is blasphemed, so by my good deeds He is hallowed—that is, glorified as holy.

“May it be hallowed”—in place of “may it be glorified”—meaning: order our life so that it may be to Your glory. For as by the wicked the name of God is blasphemed, so by those who lead a good life it is glorified.

Symeon of Thessalonica. “May Your name be hallowed.” Since You are holy, hallow Your name also in us, so that, having become Your own, we may hallow Your name—and that being proclaimed by us as holy, it may be glorified through us and not blasphemed because of us.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. The name of God is glorified when His word is preached purely and we order our life according to His word, as Christ says: “Let your light so shine before people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven” (Matt. 5:16). This we ourselves cannot do without God’s grace. Therefore we ask the Heavenly Father to grant this to us graciously. Hence is seen our weakness—that without God we can do no good, as Christ says: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). If we pray that the name of God may be hallowed and glorified, then we must not seek glory from our good deeds for our own name. Whoever teaches or lives otherwise than God’s word teaches does not glorify the name of God. Therefore, that God Himself may not allow us to fall into this, we pray to Him: “May Your name be hallowed.”