Since ancient times, people have developed a special attitude towards bread - respectful, respectful. Wealth in a peasant's house was always determined by the amount of grain stored. A respectful attitude towards bread has given rise to a number of phraseological units with this word, as well as with its related word “slurp”.
Not by bread alone
This is what they say when they want to emphasize that not only and not so much material needs are important for a person. Spiritual needs play a big role in people's lives.
Man does not live by bread alone - he heard this phrase more than once, and he completely agreed with it.
Live from bread to kvass
Live in poverty, from hand to mouth.
He was used to living in grand style, subsisting on bread and kvass—this went against his nature.
Meal'n'Real!
The expression is used as a demand for free food and entertainment. It comes from the times of the Roman Empire, whose rulers, in order to strengthen their power, distributed free food to poor Romans and organized free performances for them. In those days, crowds of idlers walked around Rome chanting the slogan “Bread and circuses!”
"Meal'n'Real!" - the angry townspeople demanded.
Don't feed me bread
This is what they say when, for the sake of a favorite activity, a person is ready to give up something valuable.
Don’t feed Vasily Yakovlevich bread, let him work in the garden.
“Bread and salt!”
A common greeting to guests, an invitation to the table. For many peoples, bread and salt are a symbol of wealth and prosperity. An offer to taste bread and salt is a sign of a welcoming attitude towards guests. Hospitable hosts are usually called hospitable.
“Bread and salt!” - Marfa Timofeevna said to the people who got off the ship.
Daily bread
What is necessary for human life, his existence. The expression comes from biblical texts.
The chairman’s report included the phrase: “After all, it is on the ground that the basis for the well-being of the region is created, the daily bread is grown.”
Bread place
A profitable position that brings certain income to a person.
Sergeev was lucky, he settled down well and ended up in a profitable position.
To slurp jelly seven miles away
To go somewhere far away, without any special need.
No, I won’t go to meet the new settlers; who wants to go seven miles away to slurp up jelly?
Leave unsalted with a slurp
That is, not getting something. The expression comes from a time when salt was a very expensive product. Therefore, all food was cooked without salt, and already at the table the owner salted the cooked food with his own hand. The amount of salt added to the guest's food expressed the degree of respect for him. The food of the most honored guests was often over-salted, while others left the table without ever tasting the salt.
Vasily Dmitrievich did not go to the dining room, he decided to go to Timofey’s relatives, and so he left without eating.
To fix the mess
Solve complex, confusing issues and problems.
Varvara Pavlovna will have to clear up the mess; she is now their boss.
Latem cabbage soup to slurp
To live in poverty, in ignorance and backwardness, that is, we are talking about the extreme degree of human degradation. There is also the opposite expression: “It’s not a bast shoe that slurps cabbage soup.” This is what they say about a smart, savvy person.
Petrovich has completely sunk down and is slurping his cabbage soup. What will you take from him? I lost interest in life.
Daily bread
Daily bread
From the Bible. In the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 6, v. 11) the prayer “Our Father” is given, where there are the words: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
The Russian translation of this verse is: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Allegorically: something vital, necessary for existence.
Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.
Daily bread
An expression from the prayer given in the Gospel (Matt. 6:11): “Give us this day our daily bread,” that is, give us the bread we need for existence this day. In addition to the direct meaning, it is used in the sense: vital.
Dictionary of catch words. Plutex. 2004.
Synonyms:
See what “Daily Bread” is in other dictionaries:
Like daily bread, a piece of bread, required, necessary, food, food, necessary, food, food, required, desired, required, desirable Dictionary of Russian synonyms. daily bread noun, number of synonyms: 13 food (82) ... Synonym dictionary
Daily bread- Express. High 1. The most necessary means for life, for existence. People think about more than just their daily bread. They care not only about themselves, but also about the nature of their region (I. Ryabov. Years and People). 2. Anything most important, vital... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language
- (necessary) Wed. Almost all of the working people in our homeland are without bread. Give us our daily bread today! So he, hungry, prays to the sky. And Dr. Mikh. Zhemchuzhnikov. Bread for everyone. Wed. We all know Pucherta flour; Since then we have been reading the prayer: Our daily bread... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary
Daily bread (necessary). Wed. Almost all of the working people in our homeland are without bread. “Give us this day our daily bread!” So he, hungry, prays to the sky. And dr Mikh. Zhemchuzhnikov. Bread for everyone. Wed. We all know Pucherta flour; Since then, prayer... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)
Daily bread- wing. sl. An expression from a prayer given in the Gospel (Matt. 6:11): “Give us this day our daily bread,” that is, give us the bread we need for subsistence this day. In addition to the direct meaning, it is used in the sense: vital... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky
daily bread- Food, food... Dictionary of many expressions
Necessary, daily bread, necessary, required, required, desirable, desired, required Dictionary of Russian synonyms. like daily bread adj., number of synonyms: 8 desired (14) ... Synonym dictionary
Ah, plural breads and breads, m. 1. only units. h. Food product baked from flour. Pecked bread. Rye bread. Wheat bread. White bread (wheat flour). Black bread (made from rye flour). A kilogram of bread. □ Long before the light, Ilyinichna flooded... ... Small academic dictionary
BREAD- Food product baked from flour (only singular bread); a food product made from flour in the form of a baked product of any shape (plural bread); grain from which flour is made (singular bread only); cereals... ... Linguistic and regional dictionary
urgent- oh, oh; puppy, puppy, puppy. see also urgently, urgently Having important life significance, absolutely necessary. Urgent question. New tasks, needs. daily bread … Dictionary of many expressions
Books
- Desmod. Continuation of the “Daily Bread” series, Pavel Karelin. The book “Desmod” is a continuation of the “Daily Bread” series. The author talks about the incredible adventures of a police officer. Sometimes a non-fictional story may seem like a lie because... eBook
…give us this day our daily bread (i.e. today)…
…τον άρτον ημων τον επιούσιον δος ημιν σήμερον·
(Matthew 6:11)
Question formulation
While saying the Lord’s Prayer, many of us probably thought, what kind of special bread are we asking from the Lord? What does this mean, “urgent”?
Those who seriously study the Bible know that the Greek adjective ἐπιούσιος (daily) is the so-called hapax (hapax legomena, Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον “only once named”). This term means a word that appears only once in a certain corpus of texts. Often such words, due to their isolation, cause difficulties in determining their etymology and meaning.
Thus, in all the works of A. S. Pushkin, the word “bolivar” appears only once. In the famous lines of “Eugene Onegin”:
While in morning dress,
Putting on wide bolivar
Onegin goes to the boulevard
And there he walks in the open space,
While the watchful Breget
Dinner won't ring his bell.
Pushkin himself commented on this word as “Hat à la Bolivar”, i.e. a hat like Simon Bolivar’s (and Simon Bolivar himself did not wear such hats). It seems that Alexander Sergeevich came up with this word as a rhyme for the word “boulevard”. Thus, bolivar is a classic hapax.
In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” there is a strange word “div”, the meaning of which no one knows. This word does not appear in any other text of ancient Russian literature. Its etymology is vague, and it is not always clear from the context what kind of creature was meant. At first they thought it was an eagle owl, then there was an opinion that it was a goblin, and new research gave a version - a hoopoe.
So this is the meaning of the Greek word ἐπιούσιος from Matt. 6:11 is not entirely clear. This word not only does not appear anywhere else in the Bible (well, except for the parallel text in Luke 11:3), but is also absent in all ancient Greek texts.
The etymology of this word is also unclear. In this regard, several translation (interpretation) options are possible.
Possible interpretations
1. Give us today the bread necessary for our existence, necessary for us.
This interpretation comes from the etymology of ἐπί + οὐσία. Where the preposition ἐπί, equivalent to the Russian preposition “na,” is combined with the noun οὐσία - in the meaning “being, existence.”
This interpretation was apparently adhered to by the translators of the synodal text. This is a very common interpretation.
The weakness of this version is that the word οὐσία in the times of the New Testament in simple spoken language did not mean either “being” or “existence.” These meanings were assigned to the word οὐσία in the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle. Later this word was used by Christian theologians to describe the essence of the Holy Trinity - one Essence, three Persons, i.e. one οὐσία (ousia), three ὑπόστασις (hypostases).
But at the time of Jesus Christ, in Koine Greek (a form of Greek that arose in the post-classical era, the New Testament was written in Koine) the word οὐσία meant only property, estate.
The noun οὐσία appears only twice in the New Testament, in chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, in the parable of the prodigal son: “...Father! give me the next portion of my estate (οὐσία)… and there I squandered my estate (οὐσία), living dissolutely...” (Luke 15:12-13).
Since Jesus’ disciples were “unlearned and simple” people (Acts 4:13), it can hardly be assumed that Jesus used the word form with the root οὐσία in an abstract philosophical meaning. The disciples could most likely understand this word as “bread for our property” - which, you see, is meaningless, since bread (ἄρτος - baked bread) is not property, but a perishable product that cannot be stored for future use.
2. Give us today superbread, extrabread, the highest of all breads.
This point of view also comes from the etymology of ἐπί + οὐσία. Where ἐπί is no longer a preposition, but an adverb “from above”, combined with the noun οὐσία - in the meaning of “being, existence”.
This interpretation implies an allusion to the expression “Bread that comes down from heaven” from John. Chapter 6
Thus, supporters of this interpretation see an allegory here. Here is what is said about this in Lopukhin’s explanatory Bible:
The interpretation is allegorical, partly due, apparently, to the difficulties of other interpretations. Tertullian, Cyprian, Cyril Jerome, Athanasius, Isidore Pilusiot, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine and many others explained this word in a spiritual sense. etc. Of course, in the application of the expression to “spiritual bread” there is, in fact, nothing subject to objection. However, in the understanding of this “spiritual bread” there is such a difference among interpreters that it deprives their interpretation of almost all meaning. Some said that by bread here we mean the bread of the sacrament of communion, others pointed to spiritual bread - Christ Himself, including the Eucharist here, and others - only to the teaching of Christ. Such interpretations seem to be most contradicted by the word “today,” as well as by the fact that at the time when Christ spoke His words, according to the Evangelist, the sacrament of communion had not yet been established.
3. Give us daily, everyday bread or bread pertaining to the day.
This interpretation is based on the etymology of ἐπί + εἶναι in the feminine participle form. With this understanding, the word ἐπιούσιος should be translated as “relating to (day)”, “daily”.
This interpretation leads to some linguistic redundancy both in the text of the Gospel of Matthew (bread relating to this day, give us today) and in the Gospel of Luke. After all, Luke gives another version of the Lord’s Prayer:
(Give us our daily bread every day).
In addition, Ulrich Lutz rightly notes:
Another interpretation comes from the concept of ἐπί τήν οὖσαν (ἡμέραν) and understands ἐπιούσιος as “today.” This interpretation is doubly problematic: it is contradicted by the fact that ἡ οὖσα without ἡμέρα is not attested anywhere as an expression meaning today, and by the fact that the correct word here would be: ἐπούσιος. Although the legend of manna in Exodus 16 would fit very well with this interpretation, the people of Israel were forbidden (except on Friday) to collect bread for tomorrow. But there is nothing to support the interpretation based on Exodus 16.
4. Give us tomorrow's bread today.
This understanding is based on the assumption that the word ἐπιούσιος comes from the word ἐπιοῦσα (tomorrow, next, coming). This word is used in the expressions “next day” - ἐπιοῦσα ἡμέρα - (for example in Acts 7:26) or simply without the qualifying “day” in the meaning of “tomorrow”, “tomorrow” (see for example Acts 16:11; 20: 15; 21:18).
Critics of this point of view note some of its inconsistency with the command of Jesus: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things: each day has its own troubles enough.” (Matthew 6:34). This remark seems to us unimportant, since prayer and care are phenomena of a different order. Caring is an experience, a stress. And prayer is an expression of faith, trust placed in the Lord.
Selected solution to the issue
Recognizing the issue of determining the etymology of the word επιούσιον is very complex, respecting all the interpretations presented above, we, nevertheless, consider it possible to agree with the fourth interpretation, which translates the word επιούσιον as “tomorrow”.
The principle of historical continuity
This interpretation is quite ancient. Origen already speaks about it (though not agreeing with it, but still speaking about it with respect) in his essay “On Prayer.” This understanding is reflected in the Coptic translation.
This interpretation is supported by Jerome of Stridon, referring to the apocryphal Gospel of the Hebrews, which has come down to us in scattered fragments, but represents important evidence for the early interpretation of the text of the Gospel of Matthew.
Here's what Ironim writes:
In the Gospel, which is called “from the Jews,” instead of daily bread, I found [the word] “mahar (םהד),” which means “tomorrow,” so the following meaning comes out: Give us our tomorrow’s bread, that is, the future, today. We can also understand [the expression] daily bread in another way, as that which is above all essences and surpasses all creations.
According to Lopukhin’s explanatory Bible, this same understanding is adhered to by: “many of the newest critics, including here the best, for example, the German compilers of grammars for the New Testament Wiener-Schmiedel, Blaess and the exegete Zahn...”
Bishop is inclined to the same understanding. Cassian (Bezobrazov). He's writing:
But there is another translation: ἐπιούσιος, means: “tomorrow”, from ἡ ἐπιοῦσα (sub.: ἡμέρα, tomorrow). This understanding can be justified by reference to a parallel passage in the Gospel of Hebrews, where, according to the passages that have come down to us, it stood: “tomorrow” ... it is very likely that the Gospel of Hebrews reflects the correct understanding of the image used by Jesus, and the above etymology solves the difficulty. The Lord carried out His ministry among the Galilean peasants. Tomorrow's bread, as one of the modern German scientists noted, is leavened by the housewife in the evening. If she doesn't leaven today, she won't have tomorrow. This is what prayer is about: only about what is most necessary. You need to have what you need for tomorrow today. This is the meaning of σήμερον, and there is no contradiction with 6:34.
Abbott-Smith in his lexicon puts this meaning in first place, as the most preferable.
Principles of grammar, lexical analysis, literary context and author's intent.
We have already made assumptions regarding the etymology of the word ἐπιούσιος. Its origin most likely comes from the word ἐπιοῦσα (tomorrow, next, coming).
All other assumptions have been quite successfully criticized by modern philological research.
So Ulrich Lutz writes:
Fruitful philological discussions show that all connections of the word ἐπί with derivatives of the root εἶναι should lead to the elision (omission) of the letter ι; that is, such a word would sound correctly ἐπούσιος. If the main root begins with a vowel, then the iota is retained only when aspiration or a dropped digamma before the initial vowel should be assumed.
Ulrich Lutz. Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Theological-exegetical commentary
This interpretation also avoids pleonasm in the text (give us today's (or every day's) bread today (or for every day).
It is best combined with the word σήμερον, for it elevates the understanding of the phrase to a poetically sublime opposition: “Give us today our bread for tomorrow.”
In addition, this interpretation best explains the presence of the definition “our” for the word bread. Ours - in the sense, earned, and not fallen from heaven. But Jesus, Matthew, and Luke know that what you earn today can only be spent tomorrow. Today you worked all day, received money and bought flour. Your wife kneaded the bread in the evening, which your family will eat tomorrow. This principle is expressed in the prayer request.
Principle of historical context research
Ulrich Lutz testifies:
The fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer fits into a situation of social oppression in which the availability of food the next day was not something to be taken for granted... This refers to the situation of a wage earner who does not know whether he will find a job the next day, thanks to which he could feed his family. “Bread for Tomorrow” at the same time contains a limitation: it is about physical survival, and not about wealth. In this regard, this interpretation is close in content to the second, which speaks of a living wage, but rejected above. “Today” is not a superfluous word at all; it makes one feel the urgency of the petition. There is a characteristic difference here from the ninth marriage of the Shemona prayer, where from an agricultural perspective they ask for the “fruit of the year.”
Ulrich Lutz. Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Theological-exegetical commentary.
Conclusion.
Don't worry about tomorrow, don't worry about it. But praying that God will allow you to earn bread today and that your family will have something to eat tomorrow is the duty of every Christian. “If anyone does not take care of his own and especially his family (Greek: προνοέω - think ahead), he has renounced the faith and is worse than an infidel.” (1 Timothy 5:8). It is also possible (and even quite likely) that the Lord commands us to pray for the coming Kingdom of Heaven, where the heavenly feast includes eating bread (Luke 14:15). In this case, we ask for heavenly blessings to fill our lives today.
Question. What's happened "daily bread", for whose daily alms we are taught to pray?
Answer. When a worker remembers the words of the Lord, Who says: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink.”(Matt. 6:25), and the words of the Apostle, who commands to do, “so that there is something to give to those in need”(Eph.4:28), he works not for his own needs, but for the sake of the Lord’s commandment (because "The worker deserves food"(Matt. 10:10): then he does not provide his daily bread, that is, what contributes to our nature for the daily sustenance of life, but asks it from God, and having revealed to Him the necessity of need, he thus partakes of what is given to him by those who , after testing, was assigned to do what was said every day: “everyone was given whatever they needed”(Acts 4:35)
The rules are summarized in the questions and answers.
St. John Chrysostom
give us this day our daily bread
What's happened " daily bread"? Everyday. Since Christ said: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”(Matthew 6:10), and He talked with people clothed in flesh, who are subject to the necessary laws of nature, and cannot have angelic dispassion, then, although He commands us to fulfill the commandments in the same way as the angels fulfill them, yet He condescends to weakness nature, and, as it were, says: I demand from you the strictness of life equal to the angels, however, without demanding dispassion, since your nature, which has a necessary need for food, does not allow it. Look, however, how there is a lot of spirituality in the physical! The Savior commanded us to pray not for wealth, not for pleasures, not for valuable clothes, not for anything else like that, but only for bread, and, moreover, for everyday bread, so that we would not worry about tomorrow, which is why he added: “ daily bread", i.e. everyday. He was not even satisfied with this word, but then added another: “ give us this day“so that we do not overwhelm ourselves with worries about the coming day. In fact, if you don’t know whether you will see tomorrow, then why bother yourself with worrying about it? The Savior commanded this and then later in His sermon: "don't worry", speaks, "about tomorrow"(Matt. 6:34) . He wants us to always be girded and inspired by faith, and to yield no more to nature than necessary needs require of us.
Conversations on the Gospel of Matthew.
Since He mentioned the earth, and the creatures that came from it and live on it and are clothed with an earthly body need appropriate food, then He necessarily added: “Give us this day our daily bread”. He commanded to ask for bread "urgent", not for gluttony, but for food that replenishes what is spent in the body and averts death from hunger - not luxurious tables, not various dishes, the works of cooks, the inventions of bakers, delicious wines and other things of the like that delight the tongue, but burden the stomach, darkens the mind, helps the body to rebel against the soul and makes this foal disobedient to the driver. This is not what the commandment asks or teaches us, but "daily bread", i.e., a body that turns into a being and can support it. Moreover, we are commanded to ask for it not for a great number of years, but for as long as we need for the present day.
"Don't worry, said the Lord, about tomorrow"(Matt. 6:34) . And why should one care about tomorrow, Who, perhaps, will not see tomorrow, who undertakes labor and does not reap the fruit? Trust in God, who "provides food for all flesh"(Ps. 136:25) . The One who gave you a body, breathed in a soul, made you a rational animal and prepared all the good things for you before he created you, how will he despise you created if “He makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”(Matt. 5:45) ? So, trusting in Him, ask for food only for the present day, and leave your concern for tomorrow to Him, as blessed David says: “Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you”(Ps. 54:23) .
About life according to God and the words: “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way...”, etc. and an explanation of the prayer “Our Father.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
give us this day our daily bread
Our common bread is not our daily bread. This Holy Bread is our daily bread: instead of saying, it is provided for the essence of the soul. This bread is not "the womb enters", A "comes from the aphedron"(Matthew 15:17), but your entire composition is divided for the benefit of body and soul. And the word "today" it says instead of “all day,” just as Paul said: “dondezhe, today, denounced”(Hebrews 3:13)
Secret teachings. Lesson 5.
St. Tikhon Zadonsky
give us this day our daily bread
1) Daily bread, according to the understanding of St. John Chrysostom, means everyday bread.
2) Here we mean not only bread, but also everything necessary for this temporary life, for example, drink, clothing, rest, home, etc., as some interpret.
3) We do not ask for wealth, but we ask for what is necessary to support this life. It is commanded to pray not for money, not for luxury, nor for valuable clothing, nor for anything similar, but only for bread, and for everyday bread, so that one does not worry about the morning, says Saint Chrysostom.
4) It follows that a Christian should not care about wealth, expensive clothing, rich houses, rich food, and so on. For a Christian must always be ready for the Lord to call him, and then he will be forced to leave all this. The Lord calls everyone to Himself through death. He wants, says St. John Chrysostom, for us to always be ready and be content with what our nature needs.
5) When we pray: "give us bread", we confess that we are beggars, wretched and needy, and therefore we must ask God for everything, and whatever we have, we must attribute to His goodness, as the Psalmist sings: “The eyes of all trust in You, and You give them their food in due season; You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with Your good pleasure.”(Ps. 145:15–16)
6) When we say: "Give us our bread", then we show that we ask not only for our own food, but also for others, out of Christian love. For Christian love requires that we take care not only of ourselves, but also of our neighbors.
7) It is known that God, since He is Generous, gives temporary blessings not only to Christians, but also to those who do not know Him. But Christians must ask Him with all their faith, like sons from a father, and thereby show that everything they have necessary for life is God’s good, and so, accepting the benefit, thank the Benefactor.
About true Christianity. Book II.
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
give us this day our daily bread
We are not talking about food that perishes here! “Don’t worry about anyone who says that there are pits, or what we drink, or what we wear.”(Matt. 6:31); it speaks of food that gives eternal life and endures forever, about new food that was given to people by the Son of God made man, about the bread of life that came down from heaven, about the bread of God, capable of satisfying and giving eternal life to the whole world (John 6:27, . Word "urgent" means that this bread is superior in quality to everything existing. His greatness and holiness are infinite, incomprehensible; the sanctification and dignity brought by eating it are immense and inexplicable. The bread given by the Son of God is His all-holy flesh, which He gave for "belly of the world"(John 6:51) . “Give us our daily bread every day”. Combined with the petition is a commandment that imposes on Christians the obligation, now so lost, of daily communion with the Holy Mysteries. "Having said "every day" The Lord expressed by this that without this bread we are unable to spend a single day in spiritual life. Having said "today", expressed by this that it must be eaten daily, that teaching it on the previous day is not enough if it is not taught to us again on the current day. The daily need for it requires that we make this petition more frequent and bring it at all times: there is no day on which it would not be necessary for us to strengthen the heart of our inner man by using and communing it.” This explanation of daily bread does not make it at all strange to read the Lord’s Prayer before the meal, according to the monastic rules: material bread serves as an image of bread, descended from heaven.
Ascetic sermon.
Sschmch. Cyprian of Carthage
give us this day our daily bread
This can be understood both in a spiritual and in a simple sense, because both understandings, by Divine gift, [equally] favor salvation. Christ is bread of life, and this one bread not everyone, but only our. As we say: Our Father(see Matt. 6:9), because [God] is the Father of those who know Him and believe, so we call Christ our bread, because He is bread those who touch His Body. And we ask daily that this bread be given to us, and that we, abiding in Christ and daily receiving His Eucharist as food of salvation, being, due to some grave sin, excommunicated from communion and deprived of heavenly bread, are not separated from the Body of Christ, since the Lord Himself preaches and says: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world(John 6:51) .
About the Lord's Prayer.
St. Isidore Pelusiot
give us this day our daily bread
The prayer that the Lord taught His disciples does not contain anything earthly, but everything heavenly and related to the benefit of the soul. For it teaches us to ask for neither superiority, nor wealth, nor beauty, nor strength, nor anything that quickly fades, from which, when it exists, we are commanded to abstain, and asking for pleasure, when it is not there, is an unnecessary matter.
Even what in it seems unimportant and sensual, in the opinion of wise men, is said more about the Word of God, which nourishes the disembodied soul and in some way enters its essence and unites with it. That's why it's called our daily bread, since the name “essence” is more appropriate for the soul than for the body. If this is also said about daily bread, commensurate with the needs of the body, then when consumed in this way, it becomes spiritual, for not demanding anything other than bread will be a sign of spiritual, bright and wise understanding. So, let us ask for what we have been taught, and not for what easily disappears. For it would be disastrous and would mean great foolishness to ask for what, even if we have it, we are commanded to give up.
Letters. Book II.
St. Maxim the Confessor
give us this day our daily bread
In a word " today”, as I think, means the present century. Or, to interpret this passage of the Prayer more clearly, we can say: our bread, which You prepared in the beginning for the immortality of [human] nature, give us today, in a real mortal life, so that eating the bread of life and knowledge will overcome sinful death - that bread, the communion of which was deprived by the crime of the Divine commandment by the first person. After all, if he had been satisfied with this Divine food, he would not have been taken captive by the death of sin.
However, the one who prays to receive this daily bread does not receive it entirely as it is, but receives only as much as the recipient himself can [perceive it]. For the Bread of Life, as a Lover of Mankind, although He gives Himself to all who ask, does not give Himself equally to everyone: to those who have done great deeds He gives more, but to those who have done [acts] lesser He gives less, that is, He gives to everyone as much as he can accept his spiritual dignity.
The Savior Himself led me to such an understanding of the present saying [of the Prayer], commanding [His] disciples not to worry at all about sensual food, saying to them: Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear.(Matt. 6:25) because all this is what the people of this world are looking for(Luke 12:30) [and you] seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you(Matt. 6:33) . How does [the Lord] teach in Prayer not to seek what He [Himself] previously commanded? - It is clear that in Prayer He did not order to ask for what He did not command in His commandment, for in Prayer we must ask for what we should seek according to the commandment. And what [the Lord] does not allow us to seek is unlawful to pray for. If the Savior commanded to seek one Kingdom of God and truth, then He encouraged those seeking Divine gifts to ask for the same thing in Prayer, so that, through this Prayer, having confirmed the grace of those sought by nature [goods], to unite and identify through relative unity the will of those asking with the desire of the Giver of grace .
If Prayer commands us to ask for that everyday bread that naturally supports our present life, then this is so that we do not go beyond the boundaries of Prayer, covering whole periods of years in thought, and do not forget that we are mortal and have [here] life, similar to a passing shadow, but so that, without being burdened with unnecessary worries, they ask in Prayer for bread for the day. And let us show that we wisely, according to Christ, transform [our earthly] life into a meditation on death, by our own will forestalling nature and, before death, cutting off the care of the body from the soul, so that it does not cleave to the corruptible and does not pervert [by attraction ] to the matter of natural use of [one’s] desire [for God], becoming accustomed to covetousness, which deprives the wealth of Divine blessings.
So, let us avoid, as far as possible, love for matter and wash away, like dust, from [our] mental eyes the very connection with it; Let us be content only with what supports our life, and not with what gives it pleasure. Let us pray to God, as we have learned, so that our soul does not fall into slavery and not, for the sake of the body, fall under the yoke of visible [things]. Then it will be clear that we eat in order to live, and do not live in order to eat, since the first is characteristic of rational nature, and the second - of irrational nature. Let us be strict guardians of this Prayer, showing by our very deeds that we firmly adhere to one and only life - life in the Spirit, and to acquire it we use [our entire] real life. Let us prove in practice that for the sake of spiritual life we only endure this [mortal life], supporting it with one bread and keeping it, as far as possible, in a healthy state, only so that we do not [simply] live, but live for God, making the body, inspired by virtues, a messenger of the soul, and a soul distinguished by constancy in goodness, making it a preacher of God. And we will naturally limit this bread to [the needs of] one day, not daring to extend requests for it to another day out of [obedience] to the One who granted this Prayer. Therefore, having actively adjusted ourselves in accordance with the meaning of the Prayer, let us proceed in purity to the rest of the sayings.
Interpretation of the Lord's Prayer.
Right John of Kronstadt
This petition means that we should not worry too much about the means of life, and if God has given these means for today, then thank Him and continue to hope in Him, in His Providence; not to be stingy, not to tremble, as they say, over everything, especially when guests or beggars and strangers come, but to receive them with good will and simplicity of heart, treat them or give them alms. The basis for this: God did not leave me with the means of life at all previous times, but gave them in abundance; will not, therefore, be left for the future.
Diary. Volume III. 1859-1860.
Give us our daily bread today- only today (today). It takes a little sense to understand this. Everyone sees how little a person needs to maintain his bodily life. And fire, cramped conditions, extreme torment and some kind of disappearance from the desire for silver and from avarice, don’t they tell us too clearly that in the hunger for silver there is death, and not life... These words mean, by the way: only the necessary book, the Bible and the Gospel, grant us like bread for the soul, but we do not seek or require many books. Grant us to read this book of books more often and understand it properly and apply its holy word to our hearts like bread, strengthening our hearts with it.
Diary. Volume V
He who wants to do the will of God does not worry much about food, drink, clothing, for he knows that the Lord knows, that you need all this(Matthew 6:32), for he knows that first of all and most of all it is necessary to seek the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, that with the dignity of his deified nature it is incompatible to be immersed in worries in materiality, but it is necessary to philosophize on heaven, where Christ sits at the right hand of God(Col. 3, 1) .
Word urgent(bread) shows that we should ask for and eat bread only to support life - no more.
These words of prayer are directed against those who are overly concerned about what to eat and drink and what to wear. Don't worry, says the Savior, about tomorrow, for tomorrow itself will take care of its own: enough for each day of its own care(Matt. 6:34) . The bird is sleeping on a branch this night and, foolish, neither sowing nor reaping, does not know what it will eat tomorrow, but the Heavenly Father feeds it every day.
Diary. Volume IV. 1860-1861.
Blzh. Hieronymus of Stridonsky
Art. 11-13 Give us daily the bread we need for subsistence. And forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil
What we put into words necessary for existence(supersubstantialem), in Greek expressed by the word έπιούσιον, is a word that the Seventy very often translates with the word περιούσιον, that is, abundant, excellent. Therefore we turned to the Hebrew language, and where they translated περιούσιον, we found sgolla (םגןלה), which Symmachus translated with the word έξαίρετον, i.e. “special” or: “excellent,” although in one place he also translated with the word “ special, one's own." So, when we ask God to give us special, special bread, we ask the One who says: (John 6:51) . In the Gospel, which is called “from the Hebrews,” instead of the bread necessary for subsistence, there is the word mahar (םהד), which means “tomorrow”; so the meaning is: “Give us today our bread for tomorrow,” i.e., “future.” By the word supersubstantialem we can also understand something else, namely bread, which stands above all essences and surpasses all creatures. Others - based on the words of the apostle: Having food and clothing, we will be content(1 Tim. 6:8) - they simply understand that the saints should care only about their daily bread. Therefore, in the further words of [the Savior] it is commanded: Don't worry about tomorrow(Matt. 6:34) .
Amen
This is like a seal in confirmation of the Lord's prayer; Aquila translates: “undoubtedly true” (fideliter); we can translate: “truly” (vere).
Blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria
give us this day our daily bread
Under " urgent“The Lord understands that bread that is sufficient for our nature and condition, but He eliminates concern for tomorrow. And the Body of Christ is daily bread, for whose uncondemned sacrament we must pray.
Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.
Evfimy Zigaben
give us this day our daily bread
Knowing that angelic nature does not need food, but human nature does need it, he commanded to ask for what is a necessity of nature. Our bread said, i.e. existing for our sake; A urgent called it as necessary for the being, existence and maintenance of the body. Or according to Chrysostom: urgent, i.e. daily. I also added today, distracting us from caring about the future time, because he wants believers in their prayers to ask for one bread, and only for today, and not worry about the coming day, since we do not yet know whether we will even live on that day. Therefore, it is unnecessary to worry about that day, regarding which we do not know whether we will travel the distance to it. Later He commands this in greater detail, saying: don't worry about it in the morning(Matthew 6:34) In this way, we will always be ready, yielding a little to natural necessity, and devoting everything else to spiritual work. It is fair to ask for bread for the soul, because it also needs daily bread, i.e. in enlightenment from above and delivery of Divine knowledge.
Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.
Origen
give us this day our daily bread
Following the Teacher Himself, Who teaches about bread, we will present this issue in more detail. He says in the Gospel of John to those who came to Capernaum to look for Him: Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw miracles, but because you ate bread and were filled(John 6:12) . For he who has tasted of the loaves blessed by Jesus and is filled with them earnestly seeks to more accurately comprehend the Son of God and hurries to Him. Therefore He gives a wonderful command, saying: Do not strive for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.(John 6:27) . When those who heard these words asked: What should we do to do the works of God?(John 6:28) Jesus responded by saying to them: This is God's work, that you believe in Him Whom He sent(John 6:29) . God, as it is written in the psalms, sent His Word and healed them(Ps. 106:20), that is, those who are sick. With this Word believers create works of God, that are food that endures to eternal life. And He says: My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world(John 6:32-33) . True bread there is one who nourishes the created in the image of God(Gen. 1:27) true man, who, being imbued with it, becomes [created] and in the likeness(Gen. 1:26) Creator.
About prayer.
Stephen of Thebaid
give us this day our daily bread
And it is also written: I am the living bread that came down from heaven(John 6:51). And further: And the bread that I give you is My flesh, which [I give] for the life of the world(John 6:51). [Therefore the saying] give us this day our daily bread implies [giving us] His Body, His Word and His Commandments.
Ascetic word.
Ep. Mikhail (Luzin)
give us this day our daily bread
Urgent. Daily (cf. James 2:15), or necessary for the maintenance of our being (Prov. 30:8). Our being is twofold - bodily and spiritual, and our food is twofold - bodily and spiritual; spiritual food is the word of God (John 5:24), the Holy Sacraments of the Church and especially the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ (John 6:35).
To this day. One must ask God for this only for the present day, without further concern for the future, since excessive care is contrary to trust in God (cf. below v. 34).
The Explanatory Gospel.
Lopukhin A.P.
give us this day our daily bread
Literally - give us our daily bread today(glory. today; Vulg. hodie). The word “bread” is completely similar to what is used in our Russian expressions: “earn your bread by labor,” “work for a piece of bread,” etc., i.e. here bread should be understood as a general condition for life, food, a certain well-being, etc. In sacred scripture, “bread” is often used in its proper sense (cibus, and farina cum aqua permixta compactus atque coctus - Grimm), but it also means in general all food necessary for human existence, and not only bodily, but also spiritual (cf. John chapter 6 - about the bread of heaven). Commentators do not pay any attention to the word “ our" This is, let’s say, a trifle, but in the Gospel, even the little things are important. At first glance, it seems not entirely clear why we need to ask God for bread when this bread “ our", i.e. already belongs to us. The word “our” seems to be superfluous; one could simply say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” An explanation will be given below. “Essential” (επιούσιος) is explained differently and is one of the most difficult. The word is found only here and also in Luke. 11:3. It has not yet been found anywhere in the Old Testament and classical Greek literature. Explaining it “was torture for theologians and grammarians” (carnificina theologorum et grammaticorum). One writer says that “wanting to achieve something precise here is like hammering a nail in with a sponge” (σπογγῳ πάτταλον κρούειν). They tried to avoid difficulties by pointing out that this was a copyist’s mistake, that in the original it was originally τον άρτον επί ούσίαν, i.e. bread for our existence. The scribe mistakenly doubled τον in the word άρτον and, in accordance with this, changed επιουσιαν into επιουσιον. This is how the Gospel expression was formed: τοναρτοντονεπιουσιον. To this, without going into details, we will say that the word ημών (τον άρτον ημών τον επιουσιον) completely prevents such an interpretation; in addition, in Lk. 11:3 undoubtedly stands επιουσιον - as in Matthew. Therefore, the interpretation in question is now completely abandoned. Of the existing and accepted interpretations by the latest scientists, three can be noted.
1. The word “urgent” is derived from the Greek. prepositions επί (on) and ουσία (sic) from είναι, to be. This interpretation has the authority of ancient church writers, and precisely those who wrote in Greek, among them Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigaben, etc. If the word is understood this way, then it will mean: “bread, necessary for our existence, necessary for us, give us today.” This interpretation is obviously accepted in our Slavic and Russian Bibles. It is objected to that if the word επιούσιος is not found anywhere except the Lord’s Prayer, then, however, επεστι and others are found, a word composed of the same preposition and verb, but with the omission of ι. Therefore, if the Gospel spoke specifically about “daily bread,” it would say not επιούσιος, but έπούσιος. Further, ουσία in popular usage meant property, state, and if Christ had used ουσία in exactly this sense, then it would not only be “purposeless” (Wiener-Schmiedel), but would also have no meaning; if He used it in the sense of being (the bread needed for our being, existence) or being, essence, reality, then all this would be distinguished by a philosophical character, since ουσία in this sense is used exclusively by philosophers, and the words of Christ would not be understandable to the common people.
2. The word επιούσιος is derived from επί and ίέναι - to come, to advance. This word has different meanings; All that matters for us is that in the expression έπιούσα ήμερα it means tomorrow, or the coming day. This word was composed by the evangelists themselves and attached to άρτος in the meaning of future bread, the bread of the coming day. Support for such an interpretation is found in the words of Jerome, in whom, among his rather brief interpretations, the following note is found. “In the Gospel, which is called the Gospel of the Hebrews, instead of daily bread I found mahar, which means tomorrow (crastinum); so the meaning should be this: our bread is tomorrow, i.e. give us the future today.” On this basis, many of the newest critics, including the best, for example, the German compilers of grammars for the New Testament Wiener-Schmiedel, Blaess and the exegete Zahn, suggested that the word means tomorrow (from ή έπιούσα, i.e. ήμερα). This explanation is given, by the way, by Renan. It is absolutely clear what a difference in meaning comes from whether we accept this interpretation or agree with the previous one. However, if we accept Jerome’s interpretation, then we should admit, not to mention various philological difficulties, that it contradicts the words of the Savior in 6:34 - “do not worry about tomorrow”; It would also be unclear why we ask: “Give us tomorrow’s bread today.” Pointing at mahar, Jerome himself translates επιούσιος with the word super-substantialis. From ίέναι and complexes with it, according to Kremer, it is impossible to prove a single production ending in ιουσιος; on the contrary, many such words are produced from ουσία. In words compounded with επί, in which the root begins with a vowel, fusion is avoided by omitting ι, as in the word έπεϊναι; but this does not always happen and ι is retained, for example, in such words as έπιέτης (in other cases επέτειος), έπιορκειν (in church Greek έπιορκίζειν), επιει κής, έπίουρος (in Homer = έφορος). Thus, it should be assumed that επιούσιος was formed from ουσία, like similar formations from words ending in ία - ιός (επιθυμία - έπιθύμιος, επικαρπία - ε πικαρπίος, περιουσία - περιούσιος, etc.). The meaning of ουσία in the place under consideration will not be philosophical, but simply - being, nature, and άρτος επιούσιος means “bread necessary for our existence or for our nature.” This concept is well expressed in the Russian word “urgent”. This explanation is strongly confirmed by the use of the word, ουσία among the classics (for example, Aristotle) in the sense of even life, existence. “Daily bread,” that is, necessary for existence, for life, is, according to Kremer, a short designation of what is found in Proverbs. Hebrew 30:8 lechem hok, urochny bread, which in LXX is translated by the words: necessary (necessary) and sufficient (Russian: urgent). According to Kremer, it should be translated: “give us our bread, necessary for our life, today.” The fact that the interpretation of “tomorrow” is found only among Latin writers, but not Greek, is of decisive importance here. Chrysostom, of course, knew the Greek language well, and if he had no doubt that επιούσιος was used in the sense of “essential,” then this interpretation should be preferred to the interpretation of Latin writers, who sometimes knew Greek well, but not as well as natural Greeks.
3. Allegorical interpretation, partly caused, apparently, by the difficulties of other interpretations. Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasius, Isidore Pilusiot, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine and many others explained this word in a spiritual sense. etc. Of course, in the application of the expression to “spiritual bread” there is, in fact, nothing subject to objection. However, in the understanding of this “spiritual bread” there is such a difference among interpreters that it deprives their interpretation of almost all meaning. Some said that by bread here we mean the bread of the sacrament of communion, others pointed to spiritual bread - Christ Himself, including the Eucharist here, and others - only to the teaching of Christ. Such interpretations seem to be most contradicted by the word “today,” as well as by the fact that at the time when Christ spoke His words, according to the Evangelist, the sacrament of communion had not yet been established.
The translations “daily” bread, “supernatural” should be considered completely inaccurate.
The reader sees that of the above interpretations, the first seems to be the best. With him, the word “our” also receives some special meaning, which, they say, although “does not seem superfluous,” could have been omitted. In our opinion, on the contrary, it makes sense, and quite an important one. What kind of bread and by what right can we consider “ours”? Of course, the one that is acquired through our labors. But since the concept of earned bread is very flexible - one works a lot and gains little, another works a little and gains a lot - then the concept of “our”, i.e. earned, bread is limited to the word “daily”, i.e. , necessary for life, and then with the word “today”. It has been well said that this simply indicates the golden mean between poverty and wealth. Solomon prayed: “Do not give me poverty and wealth, feed me with my daily bread”(Prov. 30:8) .
Prot. Alexander (Schmeman)
give us this day our daily bread
This is the fourth petition - for daily bread. Urgent translated from Slavic it means essential, necessary for life. And therefore this word was also translated as daily, which we need every day. If the first three petitions related to God, were our desire for His Name to be sanctified, His Kingdom to come, His will to be accomplished not only in heaven, but also on earth, then now, with this fourth petition, we seem to move on to our own needs , we begin to pray for ourselves. By bread in this petition we mean, of course, not only bread as such, and not even only food, but also everything that we need for life. Everything on which our life, our existence on earth depends.
To understand the full depth, the whole meaning of this petition, we must first of all remember everything that is associated with the symbol of food in the Bible, for only then does this petition cease to be limited, so to speak, to one physical life of a person and is revealed to us in all its authenticity meaning.
We find the meaning of food in the very first chapter of the Bible, in the story of the creation of man. Having created the world, God gives it to man as food, and the first thing this means is the dependence of human life on food, and therefore on the world. Man lives from food, transforms food into his life. This dependence of man on the outside, on matter, on the world is so self-evident that one of the founders of materialist philosophy concluded man in the famous formula - “man is what he eats.” But the teaching and revelation of the Bible is not limited to this dependence. Man receives food, that is, life itself, from God. This is God’s gift to man, and he lives not in order to eat and thus affirm his physiological existence, but in order to realize in himself the image and likeness of God.
Thus, food itself is a gift of life as knowledge of the freedom and beauty of the spirit. Food is translated into life, but life is shown from the very beginning as a victory over this dependence on food alone, for, having created man, God gives him the commandment to possess the world. Thus, receiving food from God as a gift of God means filling a person with Divine life. And therefore, the biblical story about the Fall of man is also connected with food.
This is the famous story about the forbidden fruit that a man ate secretly from God in order to become like God. The meaning of this story is simple - a person believed that from food alone, from dependence on it alone, he would receive what only God could give him. Through food he wanted to free himself from God, and this led him to slavery to food, enslavement to the world; man became a slave to the world. But this also means a slave of death, for food, while giving him physical existence, cannot give him that freedom from the world and from death that only God can give him. Food - a symbol and means of life - has also become a symbol of death. For if a person does not eat, he dies. But if he eats, he also dies, for food itself is communion with mortals and death. And therefore, finally, salvation, restoration, forgiveness, and resurrection itself are connected in the Gospel again with food.
When Christ, tempted by the devil, felt hungry, the devil invited Him to turn stones into bread. And Christ refused, saying: “Man cannot live by bread alone”(Matthew 4:4), He overcame and condemned the very complete dependence of man on one bread, on physical life, to which the first man doomed himself in the biblical symbol. He freed himself from this dependence, and food again became a gift from God, a participation in Divine life, freedom and eternity, and not dependence on the mortal world.
For this is the deep meaning of that new, Divine food, which from the very first days of Christianity has constituted the main joy, the main sacrament of the Christian Church, which Christians call the Eucharist, which means “thanksgiving.” The Christian revelation about food ends with the Eucharist, faith in the communion of new food, new and Divine bread. And only in the light of this revelation, this joy, this thanksgiving can one truly understand the depth of the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: . Give us – today – the food we need.
Yes, of course, this is, first of all, a request for what we need for life, for the simplest, necessary and essential: for bread, for food, for air, for everything that the participation of is translated into our lives. But that's not all. "Give it to us" this means that the final source of all this for us is God Himself, His love, His care for us; No matter from whom and no matter how we receive a gift, it is all from Him. But this also means that the final meaning of this gift or these gifts is He Himself.
We receive bread, we receive life, but in order to reveal the meaning of this life. And the meaning of this life is in God, in knowing Him, in love for Him, in communication with Him, in His joyful eternity and that life that the Gospel calls "life... abundantly"(John 10:10) .
My God, how far we are from the small and blind mole whose name is Feuerbach. Yes, of course, as he said, a person is what he eats. But he eats the gift of Divine love, but he partakes of light and glory and joy, but while living, he lives with all that God has given him.
“Give us this day our daily bread”. Give us all this today in Your love, let us not just exist, but actually live, that full, meaningful and ultimately Divine and eternal life for which You created us, which You gave and are forever giving to us and in which we will know, and we love and thank You.
“Give us this day our daily bread”- so that I receive my whole life, all its joys - but also all its sorrows, beauty - but also suffering, as a gift, from the hand of God, with gratitude and trembling, so that I live only in the essential - the main and lofty, and not in what for which the priceless gift of life is pettyly exchanged.
Conversations on Radio Liberty. Lord's Prayer.
Trinity leaves
give us this day our daily bread
After asking for heavenly things, that is, for the glory of God, for the Kingdom of Heaven, for the will of God, Divine wisdom makes room for petitions for earthly needs: give us this day our daily bread. The word daily bread can be understood both spiritually and simply. “We call Christ our bread,” explains Saint Cyprian, “because we eat His Body, as He Himself says: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever(John 6:51) and threatens, saying: If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you(John 6:53) . At the same time, we also ask for bodily food, daily food.” “The Savior,” says Saint Chrysostom, “commanded to pray not for wealth, not for pleasures, not for valuable clothes, but only for bread, and moreover, for daily bread, so that we do not worry about tomorrow. For this purpose I added: urgent, i.e. day. He wasn’t even satisfied with this word, but added something else after it: give us this day, so that we do not overwhelm ourselves with worry about the coming day. And why worry about tomorrow for someone who, perhaps, will not see tomorrow? The One who gave you a body, breathed in a soul, made you a rational animal and prepared all the blessings for you before He created you - will He forget you, His creation? Trusting in Him, ask for food only for the present day, and leave your concern for tomorrow to Him, as blessed David says: Cast your worries on the Lord and He will support you(Ps. 54:23).” “With the word bread,” explains St. Gregory of Nyssa, “it’s as if the Lord is saying to those who listen: stop, people, tormenting yourselves with vain desires. Stop multiplying your own reasons for hard work. Your nature does not need much; You are obliged to provide food to your flesh: it is a small and easy task if you only have in mind the need. Why do you impose on yourself the yoke of carrying so many debts? Ask for yourself only one bread; in this nature has made you a debtor to the body. If Evin’s advisor (the devil) enters into a conversation with you about what is beautiful to the eye and pleasing to the taste, then you will certainly become entangled in the nets of covetousness. From necessary food you will then move on to tasty foods, and from them to luxury and every need. Therefore, limit your prayer to asking only for bread.” “When we pray,” says Blessed Augustine, “for our daily bread, we ask for everything that our flesh needs on earth. But we need food and drink, clothing and shelter. And the word of God, which is proclaimed to you daily, is your daily bread. And his mind hungers like his belly hungers for material bread. This is what we ask for in the Lord’s Prayer. Thus, by daily bread we mean everything that is necessary for soul and body in this life.” “When we say: give us our bread,” notes Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, “we show that we ask the same for others. Christian love requires that we strive not only for ourselves, but also for our neighbors.” God, in His goodness, gives everything needed to those who do not know Him; but Christians must with faith ask Him for these blessings, like children do with the Father, in order to show that they consider everything necessary for life to be God’s gift and accept this gift from the hand of God with thanksgiving. So, the meaning of this petition can be expressed in these words: Heavenly Father! You know our needs better than ourselves; the eyes of all trust in You, and You give them their food in due season; You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with Your good pleasure(Ps. 144:15) . We do not ask You for luxury, wealth, or golden palaces; We don’t ask for sweet foods to overeat; do not deprive us of the most necessary things: give us this day our daily bread. Bread for food, water for drinking, air for breathing, clothing to cover a sinful body, a home where we can lay our heads - these are the things we cannot do without while we live on earth. Thy Holy Word, Thy grace distributed in the Sacraments of Thy Church, especially the living bread, the heavenly bread - the most pure Body and Blood of Thy Son - this is it daily bread, without which our souls perish in hunger! Give us, Our Father, all this, give us the strength, although by the sweat of our brow, to earn our own bread through righteous labor! Give us for this day - not for the barns for many years, but for this day only, for we ourselves do not know whether we will live to see tomorrow and what tomorrow will give birth to, maybe tomorrow we will no longer be on earth; and when tomorrow comes for us, we believe that if You give the day, you will also give us food...
Trinity leaves. No. 801-1050.
Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev)
give us this day our daily bread
Expression "daily bread" has firmly entered the vocabulary of modern man in the sense of everyday food necessary for life. In Russian the word "urgent", meaning “vital”, “important”, appeared exclusively thanks to the prayer “Our Father” in its Slavic version. In many languages there is no such word at all, and the Greek επιουσιος in the phrase "daily bread" is conveyed using the words “everyday”, “daily” (Latin panis quotidianus, French pain quotidien, English daily bread).
However, the exact meaning of this word has been the subject of debate for many centuries. In classical Greek there is no such word at all. The Aramaic word that is translated with its help is unknown, and all attempts to reconstruct it are hypothetical. The combination of the prefix επι- (on-, over-) with the noun ουσια (essence, existence, content, property) can be understood in several senses. If we understand ουσια as “content” or “property” - in this sense the word is used, for example, in the story of the woman who spent all her property on doctors (Luke 8:43) - then επιουσιος can be understood as “necessary for existence.” If the term ουσια is understood as “essence,” as is typical of Greek patristics, then the literal translation would be “supra-essential” or “super-essential.”
Based on the semantic proximity of the term in question to the expression η επιουσα, meaning “tomorrow,” one could translate the petition of the Lord’s Prayer as follows: “Give us our tomorrow’s bread today.” The term is also close to the concept επι την ουσαν ημεραν, meaning “for today.” Finally, the interpretation of the term may be related to the concept of το επιον, meaning “future”: in this case "our daily bread" would turn into “our future bread.”
To understand the original meaning of Jesus' words, it seems to us that we need to focus not so much on the meaning of an ambiguous and ambivalent term "urgent" how much on the meaning of the concept itself "bread".
For the first time on the pages of the Bible the term "bread" used in God's address to Adam after his fall: by the sweat of your face you will eat bread(Gen. 3:19) Further, bread is mentioned in the story of how Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought bread and wine as a blessing to Abraham (Gen. 14:18). Abraham treats three travelers who came to him with bread (Gen. 18:5). Bread plays an important role in the story of Joseph and his brothers: when Joseph, who had saved a lot of grain, becomes second in command to Pharaoh, and there is a famine in all the surrounding lands, they come to him for bread (Gen. 42:1-5).
Bread in the Bible is a universal symbol of food. The quality of bread and the mood with which a person eats bread symbolizes the quality of a person's life. In sorrow, tears become his bread (Ps. 41:4; 79:6), and when God is pleased with his deeds, he eats bread with joy (Eccl. 4:17).
When interpreting the Lord's Prayer, it is necessary to take into account the Eucharistic context in which the early Church perceived this prayer. From the very beginning it became part of the Eucharist, in the context of which the words “Give us this day our daily bread” could mean only one thing: a request for communion with the bread that came down from heaven, that “super-essential” bread, which is the Body of Christ broken at the Eucharist. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are filled with this meaning whenever they are heard at the liturgy.
If the Lord’s Prayer is read outside the liturgical context, for example, before a meal, then daily bread is understood as ordinary earthly food, which every person, every family needs. In a broad sense, daily bread can be understood as everything that a person needs for life.
Jesus Christ. Life and teaching. Book II.
