Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ δυνάμεθα κατ αξίαν ποτὲ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, … ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως τὴν κατὰ δύναμιν ἀνενεγκεῖν εὐχαριστίαν δίκαιον ἂν εἴη·: “For though we cannot do the thing as it ought to be done … yet it is but just and fit that we offer up our thanksgiving, so far as is in our power.” (Johannes Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis.) ↩
כל עובדי פסל: את פסיליהם היו עובדים: “all they who serve images, are worshippers of images,” and similar passages (e.g. 2 Kings 17:41, Psalms 97:7). Deuteronomy 12:2 mention is made of the places, אשר עבדו שם הגוים וכו׳ “where the nations served their images, etc.” in the Chaldee paraphrase it is said פלחו, “worshipped them” (Targum Onkelos); and in the Septuagint it is said ἐλάτρευσαν, “worshipped them” (in the ecclesiastical sense) and the same in the vulgar Latin. ↩
עבדו אב סלך בבל: “Serve the king of Babylon.” (Jeremiah 27:17.) ↩
Plato applies the word “serve” even to the laws themselves, in that phrase, viz. δουλεύειν τοῖς νόμοις: “to serve the laws.” (Laws.) ↩
Ἐκείνῳ … οὐδὲν ἔξω φιλοδεσπότου γνώμης παρέξουσι: “We give no more to Him, than to one whom we freely acknowledge to have the dominion over us.” (Philo Judaeus, The Worse Attacks the Better.) ↩
משכיל יבין: “The wise will understand.” ↩
Care must be taken how we pray, lest we should ask what may be hurtful to us. Οὐχοῦν δοκεῖ πολλῆς προμηθείας γε προσδεῖσθαι, ὅπως μὴ λήσῃ τις αὑτὸν εὐχόμενος μεγάλα κακὰ, δοκῶν δ᾿ ἀγαθά: “for there seems to be need of great prudence, lest a man, by not rightly understanding himself, should ask for such things as he imagines to be good for him, but which are indeed great evils.” (Plato, Alcibiades.) Evertere domos totas, optantibus ipsis, Di faciles, etc.: “the Gods who are ready (to grant men’s petitions) have overthrown whole houses, at the request of the owners, etc.” is a Poet’s observation (Juvenal, Satires). The author of Sefer Hasidim adds that we should not pray for that שאי אפשר לעשות, or שאין נעשה כפי הפי הפבע, or שאיגו ראוי, or שיעשה הקב״ה נס בשנוי עולם: “which is not possible to be done, or which cannot be done according to the course of nature, or which is not fit to be done, or that the holy Being (God) should work a miracle and alter the world.” (Judah ben Samuel.) ↩
עיגי למטה לבי למעלה: “With my eyes downward, and my heart lifted up.” (Yevamot.) ↩
התפלה … ענף מסתעף מן ההשגחה: “Prayer … is a branch of providence shading us.” (Joseph Albo, Sefer ha-Ikkarim IV, 1.) בהשגחה יאמין שהתפלה מועיל לו וכו׳ “He that believes in providence, must believe that prayer is profitable to him.” (Joseph Albo, Sefer ha-Ikkarim.) ↩
Like those Ἀκοιμητὰι, “wakeful people,” at Constantinople, particularly, who continued divine service night and day without intermission. Or the Messalians, perhaps; (מצלין, Ἐυχίται: “praying people”) who placed (or pretended to place) all religion in prayer, μόνῃ σχολάζειν τῇ προσευχῇ προσποιούμενοι: “and so managed themselves, as never to be at leisure for anything else but prayer.” (Cyril of Alexandria, Epistola ad Calosyrium.) ↩
כל תפלה שאינה בכוונה אינה תפלה: “If a prayer is not performed with earnestness, it is no prayer.” (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkot Tefillah, IV, 15.) התפלה תלויה בלב: “A prayer suspended in the mind.” (Sefer Hasidim and the like everywhere.) ↩
This in general is true: notwithstanding which, I do not deny but there may be occasions when οὐδὲν κωλύει τόπος, οὐδὲ ἐμποδίζει καιρὸς, ἀλλὰ κᾂν γόνατα μὴ κλίνῃς, … διάνοιαν δὲ μόνον ἐπιδείξῃ θερμὴν, τὸ πᾶν ἀπήρτισας τῆς εὐχῆς· Ἔξεστι καὶ γυναῖκα ἠλακάτην κατέχουσαν καὶ ἱστουργοῦσαν ἀναβλέψαι εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ καλέσαι μετὰ θερμότητος τὸν Θεόν· ἔξεστι καὶ ἄνθρωπον εἰς ἀγορὰν ἐμβάλλοντα καὶ καθ᾿ ἑαυτὸν βαδίζοντα εὐχὰς ποιεῖσθαι ἐκτενεῖς, κ.τ.λ.: “the place is no hindrance, nor the time any interruption … let him show a fervent affection of mind, for this is the perfection of prayer; and a woman, even while she is spinning or weaving, may in her thoughts look up to heaven and call upon God with fervency; and a man as he is going to market, and walking by himself, may pray very intentively.” (St. Chrysostom, De Anna.) ↩
Ὁ μὲν λόγος ἑρμηνὲυς διανοίας πρὸς ἀνθρώτσες· ή δὲ διάνοια γίνεται τῷ λόγῳ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν: “Words are the interpreters of our thoughts to men, and we also make known our thoughts to God by words.” (Philo Judaeus, On the Migration of Abraham.) ↩
Cogitation itself, according to Plato, is a kind of speech of the mind. For he calls τὸ διάνοεῖσθαι (cogitation) “or thinking,” λόγον, ὃν αὐτὴ πρὸς αὑτὴν ἡ ψυχὴ διεξέρχεται, περὶ ὧν ἂν σκοπῇ: “the language by which the soul explains itself to itself, when it considers anything.” (Theaetetus.) And so Plotinus, Ὀ ἐν φωνῇ λόγος μίμημα τοῦ ἐν ψυχῇ: “the vocal words are an imitation of those of the soul.”
