"Thy Will be done on earth..."
What is the will of God? That we "turn from our sinfulness and live." It is the will of the Father that none of us should be lost, but that all who follow His only Begotten Son should have eternal life (Jn.6:39-40). "For this is the will of God, even your perfectionment" (1 Ths.4:3).
The will of God is that all His creation should dwell in peace and unity, wholly penetrated with love, every creature filled with the ineffable joy of communion and unity with Him.
When we pray, "Thy will be done," we ask for the day when all these things will come to pass, knowing that they will be manifested fully only on the day of Christ's glorious second coming. Yet, we also pray that His will be done in our lives each day. We taste of heaven in this life whenever we submit ourselves fully to His will, peacefully and patiently accepting all that He sends our way. We know that His will is our salvation and we pray most earnestly for that.
"...as it is in Heaven."
On earth, there is a constant rebellion against the will of God, a constant tension between good and evil. The will of God is often not fulfilled even by those who desire to fulfil it, because of our sinful nature. As a result, we are constantly at war, seldom having complete inner peace, and love is limited and ebbs and flows irregularly. In place of real, abiding joy, we have sporadic happiness and periodic feelings of elation.
In heaven, the primordial struggle has been resolved. There is nothing but peace, harmony, love and joy. Such a condition will exist throughout the universe only after the Second Coming of Christ, and the total manifestation of God's Kingdom. Thus when we pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are really praying for the end of this world and that God's Kingdom come, not only in our hearts, but in reality. We are, in a way, praying for an end to the present world and its order, and for the full, all encompassing presence of the Eternal Kingdom.
"Give us this day our heavenly bread..."
A little later He says, "...do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be concerned for itself. Each day has sufficient evil." In other words, let us not be overly concerned with material well-being, but seek what is necessary for life. As St John Chrysostom says, "He would have us be unencumbered in every way, and winged for flight, giving in to our nature only so much as necessity compels us to." Let us, therefore, ask for only what is sufficient for the day, and with it, strength and will to struggle against the evil of the day. And let us ask for no more, for whatever is beyond our basic needs does not contribute to our salvation, but more often detracts from it. Being free of the bondage and tyranny of material desires and passions, we may hope on God and endure patiently "unto the end."
"And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
This petition is both full of hope and also frightening. In the first place, as Chrysostom says, it gives us promise that we may be forgiven even though we sin. Though we are baptized and struggling to lead a Christian life, we still fall into sin. But here, we are promised that forgiveness is still possible. But a certain fearful condition is placed on this forgiveness: "forgive us, as we forgive others." Elsewhere in a parable, he makes this more abundantly clear, "So shall the heavenly Father do to you if you do not, from your heart, forgive every brother his offences" (Mt.18:23-35). And again the words, "Do not judge, lest you be judged in the same manner," and "With whatever standard you judge, you will be judged" (Mt.7:1-2).
It is evident that in all our moral and spiritual struggle, the struggle to truly forgive every offence, every trespass, every sin against ourselves, must be of the highest priority: and to forgive from the heart, not merely as a fiction, not merely formally, but with all sincerity.
"Lead us not into temptation..."
The word "temptation" is often misunderstood, and one is confused, "Why would God lead us into temptation? Why should we have to ask Him not to?" Many people think of temptation as the beguiling treachery of Satan as he seeks to lead us into a moral or spiritual fall.
The primary meaning of "tempt" (peirasmon) is to test or prove. When Christ was "tempted in the wilderness," Satan was not so much trying to cause Him to fall into sin, as to test Him to see if He was indeed the Messiah; Satan is not all-knowing (omniscient), nor does he have an infallible ability at prophecy and forevision. He knew what had been revealed concerning the coming of the Messiah, and he was able to surmise that the time was appropriate. He could also infer from what had taken place so far that Jesus might indeed be the Holy One of God. Moreover, Satan had no certain knowledge of the extent or limits of Jesus' power. When Jesus went away into the wilderness to fast and pray, therefore, Satan approached to test and prove Him, to find out Who and What He was.
When we ask God, "Lead us not into temptation," we are not inferring that He would lead us into beguilement to cause us to fall. We are asking, first, that we not be subjected to testing and proving, and second, that we be led away from the beguilements of Satan. We know that God does sometimes subject us to testing in order to lead us to salvation, but we know also that He does not permit us to be tested beyond our capacity, for, "No temptation comes upon you which is not common to man. But God is faithful and will not allow that you be tempted beyond your ability, but with every temptation, He provides a way to overcome it..." (1Cor.10:13).
"But deliver us from the evil-one."
"Man was all his lifetime held in bondage by him who had the power of death, that is, Satan" (Hb.2:15).
When our Saviour taught us how to pray, He did not say to ask for deliverance from evil, but specifically, "deliver us from the evil-one." For, in this life we are often subjected to evil, and those who actually struggle to follow Christ and His Holy Orthodox faith must often endure it. Indeed, in the Beatitudes, we are even assured that we must often endure evil. Moreover, in this world, evil often seems to triumph over good. Christ came to earth to redeem us from our bondage to the prince of this world, to deliver us from our bondage to the passions and sensuality. This freedom awaits those who will accept it and struggle for it according to the way God has provided for us.
~ II ~
Let us look at these words and gain a deeper, more complete understanding of the "Lord's Prayer."
1. Heavens/heaven
Our Father Who art in the heavens, the prayer begins. Why is it that at the first occurrence of the words, heavens is in the plural, while in the second occurrence, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," it is in the singular? In the first we read, in the original Greek:
In the second reference, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," the word "heaven" is singular, and is written in the Greek:
"Our Father Who art in the heavens..." This is said in the plural, because it refers to the entire universe and tells us that God is "everywhere present and fills all things." God is present everywhere, and has direct knowledge and control of all things throughout the heavens, throughout the entire universe. The earth is, of course, only a part or location in this universe, in "the heavens."
In the second instance, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." we have a significant difference. The will of God is done and obeyed fully only in "the heavenly kingdom." Thus, wherever the kingdom of God, the "kingdom of heaven" is fully manifested, the will of God is carried out joyously and completely.
The will of God is not freely followed elsewhere. On earth, mankind is in rebellion against God's will, and even in the air, the demons are opposed to God's will. Within His kingdom, however, the peace, joy and harmony of His will are present at all times, as the angelic hosts daily and hourly rejoice to do His will. It is significant that we understand the expression as signifying, not kingdom in the worldly sense but rather "the rule and reign of God," in the original Greek:
Thus, when the prayer is speaking of the "place" of God Himself, it shows us, by using "heavens" in the plural, that God is not limited in time and space, but is present everywhere at all times. When, however, the prayer wishes to have the will of God fulfilled on earth, it refers specifically to that spiritual heaven, the "kingdom of heaven," in which His will is truly done, that is, where His rule and reign are freely accepted with joy and obedience, and where peace and love reign through His will. What the prayer is actually asking for is that the kingdom of God, that is, His rule and reign, become fully manifested on earth. Heaven, the "kingdom of God" is not a "place" or "location" such as we might, in our limitedness, conceive. Indeed, it is not a "place" at all. One might say that the "location" of the kingdom of God is "there, where His will is fully and freely obeyed and done." If our earthly world is to become His kingdom, it is necessary that His will be fully done here, then the earth will also become the "location" of His kingdom. In this sense, the "kingdom of God" is within everyone, in the heart of each person, who seeks His will and allows His will to be done in them, in their hearts; that is, in each person who freely accepts the rule and reign of God in their hearts.
2. What kind of "bread?"
In every translation of the "Our Father" that we see in English, we read, "Give us this day our daily bread." Nevertheless, there is more to the meaning of the word than this.
The word being translated into English as "daily" is:
The meaning of the word clearly refers it to something spiritual and divine, rather than to material bread. Indeed, in this prayer, Christ makes reference to the Holy Mystery of Communion in which we receive that "heavenly bread," the Bread of Life, the Holy Communion.
3. Debts or Trespasses?
Since many of the modernist Orthodox jurisdictions have a preference for Protestant, rather than Orthodox Christian translations of Scripture and prayers, a conflict arises over the translation of the Greek words (ofeilemata / ofeiletais):
/ 
Should they be translated correctly as "debts / debtors," or should we simply accept the Protestant version, "trespasses / trespassers?"
In Matthew's Gospel, the words used in the original Greek are:
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These can mean only debts/debtors (lit. one who owes something to someone). This same word is used in Rm.1:14 ("I am a debtor..."), and in Rm.8:12; 15:27; Gal.5:3. In each of these instances it is translated as "debtor," and could not be translated in any other way. There is a completely different word in Greek which could be translated as "trespass." This word is paraptoma, which literally means "falling aside," and it has no relationship whatsoever to any word used in the Lord's Prayer.
In Luke's Gospel, the literal reading of the prayer is "forgive us our sins (amartias) as we forgive those who owe us (ofeilonti)," literally, our debtors. Thus, there is no logical or realistic way the word "trespasses" could be read into either rendition of the "Lord's Prayer" in the Scripture.
4. Deliver us - why and for what?
Toward the end of the Lord's Prayer, we read: Rescue us from the Evil One. The first word of this phrase we must examine is the one usually translated "deliver." Deliver and rescue are both satisfactory translations as far as they go, however, in examining the word in the original Greek, we receive a much deeper and more profound sense of the meaning of the prayer itself. The word in Greek is:
This word, pronounced reesai, is a construction called "middle voice imperative." It occurs in Greek, but not in English. Because of this construction of the word, it has the meaning, "save us `for thy sake'" that is, "for the sake of Thy Kingdom," "for the sake of Thy love," "for Thy name's sake."
If the word was intended only as "rescue" or "deliver," then, in Greek it would be reecite, and not reesai. In fact, in some of the prayers we read, we actually come across the phrase "deliver us for Thy sake" or "for Thy name's sake."
Thus, we are asking God to rescue/deliver/save us from the power of the Evil One, "for the sake of His kingdom and His love."
This is very important in the context of what follows: "Deliver us from the evil one." He does not say "deliver us from evil," but precisely, "from the evil one."
5. Deliver us from what or whom?
This is the last of our four words, and in the original Greek it is written:
This word, "poneroi," does not mean "evil," but precisely, "the evil one." Christ did not instruct us to pray to be delivered from evil, but rather to pray for our deliverance from the power of Satan's principality, into the kingdom of God. Apostle Paul expresses the meaning of this prayer clearly when he tells us that "Inasmuch as the children are flesh and blood, He also shared in their humanity so that, by His death, He might destroy him who possesses the power of death - namely, the devil - and free those who were held in bondage by him who has the power of death (Hb.5:14-15)." Paul informs us that it was precisely from this bondage to the evil one that Christ rescued us and brought us into His kingdom, the kingdom of God.
We should occasionally take time to think of the full meaning of the "Lord's Prayer," so that, when we say it, we will come to a fuller understanding of the nature of our redemption, and the depth and meaning of the words we are saying:
Our Father Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom [the rule and reign of Thy love] come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day that superessential bread, the Bread of Heaven, the Communion of the Body and Blood of Thine own Son. Forgive us our debts to the degree that we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into trials, but deliver us, for Thine own sake (for the sake of Thy Kingdom), from bondage to the evil one [Satan].
The verse, "For Thine are the kingdom, power and glory of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages," does not appear in the original Scripture. It is actually a response given by the priest in the Orthodox Christian Divine Liturgy, and was added into the Scripture accidentally by a copiest, and passed into subsequent copies. This is why only the priest says this verse and the people do not. The verse is not in the real Bible
