Section CCLXXXIV

In this variety of opinions I do not think it difficult to determine what should be preferred, if the things which we add are considered. If I. it is considered that beneath the words used by Paul there lies of themselves a proper and distinct signification. For—

—a) δέησις properly is need, and, according to the testimony of Harpocration, δέησις is said ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐνδείας, in place of need; in this sense we read¹, οὐδὲ προσώχθισε τῇ δεήσει τοῦ πτωχοῦ, “nor did he disdain the supplication of the poor.” Hence δέησις is not only ἡ αἴτησις ἐνδεῶν, the petition of those things which are lacking, as it is explained by Gregory Nazianzen², but properly and expressly a deprecation of evils. To the point Theodoret says³: δέησις ἐστίν, ὑπὲρ ἀπαλλαγῆς τινων λυπηρῶν ἱκετεία προσφερομένη, “deprecation is a supplication offered for the removal of certain evils.” Nor does Theophylact speak otherwise⁴: δέησις ἐστὶν ἱκετηρία προσφερομένη ὑπὲρ ἀπαλλαγῆς τινων λυπηρῶν, “deprecation is a supplication which is offered for liberation⁵ from certain sorrowful things.” There follows b) προσευχή, a word which, although it extends most widely and embraces every pious declaration of the mind’s sentiments made to God, and prayers of every kind, nevertheless specifically expresses a petition directed to God, as though εὐχὴν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, a prayer to God, that we may obtain those things which are good. Προσευχή, in the words of Theodoret⁶, ἐστὶν αἴτησις ἀγαθῶν, “is a petition for goods.” Gregory of Nyssa concurs⁷: προσευχὴ ἱκετηρία ἐστὶ περὶ τινος τῶν συμφερόντων προσαγομένη θεῷ, “prayer is a supplication offered to God for some useful thing.” Basil⁸, Olympiodorus⁹, Cyril of Alexandria¹⁰, and the Suda¹¹ have very similar things. Let Cyril be heard: προσευχὴ ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν ἐκ θεοῦ πρὸς σωτηρίαν χορηγουμένων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθῶν ἐξαίτησις, “prayer is the petition of the goods which are supplied by God to men for salvation.” Furthermore, c) ἔντευξις properly is an approach, by which we go to another for the sake of any matter whatsoever. Hence Cyril¹² and Hesychius render ἔντευξιν by ἐντυχίαν and ἀπάντησιν. But because we are accustomed to approach others—

—that we may either petition or deprecate something, it therefore came about that ἔντευξις in common life signifies an intercession by which, conversing with another, we commend to him the affairs of our friends, but in religious life it expresses the prayers which we pour forth to God for others. To the point is the manuscript Lexicon cited by Alberti¹³: ἔντευξις παράκλησις προσαγομένη θεῷ περὶ σωτηρίας ἑτέρων, “petition is an entreaty offered to God concerning the salvation of others.” Finally, d) εὐχαριστία is thanksgiving and the testimony of a grateful mind which we render to God and to men. “Thanksgiving,” Chrysostom writes¹⁴, “is then said, ὅταν τις ὑπὲρ ὧν εὖ ἔπαθεν, εὐχαριστῇ τῷ θεῷ, when someone gives thanks to God for the benefits received.”

If II. it is considered that usage has brought it about that the words δέησις, προσευχή, and ἔντευξις are employed promiscuously and ἀδιαφόρως, indifferently. Suicer¹⁵, Wall¹⁶, and Schleusner¹⁷ collected a great number of examples which demonstrate even to evidence such promiscuous use; nor do I judge it worthwhile to linger longer over a matter most commonly known.

If III. it is considered that that commentary is deservedly preferred to the others in which apt provision is made both for the propriety of the words and for the mind and sentiments of him who writes; that is, in which regard is had no less for grammatical than for psychological interpretation¹⁸. For a perfect commentary, complete in all its parts, is one in which the laws of each interpretation are religiously observed.

If IV. it is considered that the form and habit of the discourse employed by Paul is such as it is accustomed to be when someone writes with his mind aroused and inflamed. For the word παρακαλῶ intimates this movement of sentiments and mind; the phrase πρῶτον πάντων shows it more fully; but the accumulated words demonstrate it most openly: ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις, προσευχάς, ἐντεύξεις, εὐχαριστίας ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων.

When these things are considered, as is fitting, those seem to me to touch the matter with a needle who establish: a) that, according to the laws of grammatical interpretation and for avoiding tautology, nothing more fitting can be said than that the distinct notions of the words must be retained, so that δεήσεις signify deprecations of evils; προσευχαί, prayers for goods; ἐντεύξεις, supplications poured forth for others; and εὐχαριστίαι, thanksgivings. But then b) that, according to the laws of psychological interpretation, it must be judged that Paul did not think distinctly about the proper notions of the individual words, that he saw them confusedly, and that he therefore accumulated so many words in order to designate every kind of prayer as vehemently as he could, and to express that which elsewhere¹⁹ he said more compendiously: διὰ πάσης προσευχῆς καὶ δεήσεως, “through every prayer and supplication.” In this matter we have Elsner agreeing with us, although he judged somewhat otherwise concerning the force of the individual words. For he writes²⁰: “Since even synonyms when joined must be distinguished in some way, that tautology may be avoided, and εὐχαριστία is without doubt distinct from the others, I would believe that they are to be expounded thus: that δέησις is the deprecation of evils; προσευχή, a wish for goods; ἔντευξις, an earnest request or petition, as the Vulgate rightly renders the Hebrew בקשות, elsewhere αἴτημα, Phil. IV.6; εὐχαριστία, thanksgiving; so that the faithful are commanded to deprecate the evils of all, to wish goods for them and ask earnestly, and finally to give thanks to God in the place of all.”