Three Letters of Metropolitan Gregory of Boston

~ First Letter on the Encyclical "Divergent Teachings" ~

~ Second Letter on the Encyclical "Divergent Teachings" ~

~ Third Letter: the Royal Path in the Theology on the Name of God ~

Against the Error of Nominalism

CRITIQUE OF THE 1913 EPISTLE OF THE RUSSIAN SYNOD ON THE NAME OF GOD

By Vladimir Ern (+1918)

"To the Known God"

HUMAN LANGUAGE AND DIVINE REVELATION:
ON THE THEOLOGICAL NOMINALISM OF METROPOLITAN ANTHONY KHRAPOVITSKY AND FR. JOHN ROMANIDES

Talk Delivered by Hierodeacon Samuel (Nedelsky) at the
Clergy Synaxis of the Holy Orthodox Church in North America

October 3-4, 2014.

On Inner Christianity (Excerpt)

By Archpriest John Zhuravsky

Fr. John Zhuravsky was born into a priestly family in Latvia in 1867, later graduating from the Riga Theological Seminary. As a young man he met St. John of Kronstadt, whose example he sought to emulate during the entire course of his pastoral ministry, not only in prayer and asceticism, but also in his labors to help the poor and imprisoned. Noted for his gift of clairvoyance, he reposed in the Lord in Riga in 1964.     

The Saints of God came to know the innermost Mystery hidden in the Name of God; they came to know by experience the saving effect of this Name on the whole person: on the body, the mind, and the heart. They came to know that the greatness of the Name of the Lord Jesus is loftier than any attainment of reasonable creatures, either earthly or heavenly. They came to know that the Name of the Lord Jesus is above all names: It is the source of joy, the source of Divine life. It is Spirit. It grants life, transforms, refines, and deifies.  

The Name of the Lord Jesus Christ contains within itself a special, divine strength. The strength of this Name heals the body of ailments and the soul of passions. The demons tremble before the Name of Jesus, tormented by the fear of the greatness of its Divinity; they flee from it. Therefore the Fathers said: flog the foe with the Name of Jesus, for there is no greater weapon in heaven or on earth (St. John of the Ladder). For the sake of the Name of Jesus, invoked by the one who prays, help from God descends upon him and he is granted remission of his sins. For the sake of the Name of the Lord, our sinful prayers are heard; and for the sake of this Name salvation is granted unto us.

The power of the Name of Jesus frees the mind from the wavering and whirling of empty thoughts, while the will is strengthened in the fulfillment of the Lord’s commandments. The power of this Name enlightens the mind and permits God-pleasing thoughts and feelings, which belong to immaculate human nature, to dwell in the soul. There is no room left in it for alien thoughts and feelings (Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov), vol. II, p. 282 [in Russian]).

By the Name of the Lord Jesus, revival is bestowed upon the soul and sin is put to death. Christ the Lord Jesus is Life – and His Name is vivifying and full of Life. “His Name is Life Eternal” (St. Symeon of Thessalonica).

It grants life to those who invoke it with faith, making them partakers of Life Eternal. The Name of the Lord Jesus is holy and sanctifying for those who invoke it: it sanctifies the mouth, the tongue, the heart, and the whole body; it even sanctifies the surrounding air.

God hath given Him a Name above every name, the Apostle writes, “That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

"Hallowed Be Thy Name"

By Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos)

At the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer we call upon God our Father Who is in the Heavens, since He is holy by nature, as we discussed last Sunday. Now we come to the first request: to ask that His name be hallowed. We say: “hallowed be Thy name.”

The name of God is the energy of God. It is known from our Orthodox theology that God has essence and energy. Even created things have essence and energy; the sun, for example, is a heavenly body and emits its light, and its fire is something that burns and emits energy, that is, heat and light. But God, since He is uncreated, is both uncreated essence and uncreated energy; with regard to His essence, God is without name and beyond names, but with regard to His energies, He has many names.

Whenever God revealed Himself to men, He revealed one of His energies, like love, peace, righteousness, or love for mankind. In this way He has communion with men. For this reason also I say that the names of God are His energies. Whenever, indeed, anyone mentions the name of God with compunction, humility, repentance, faith, etc., he receives knowledge and experience of the energy of God.

When we pray “hallowed be Thy name,” this does not mean that the name of God is not holy, or that we need to pray that it be made holy.

Rather, this request has two meanings. The first meaning of “hallowed be [Thy name]” is that His name should “be glorified” and that we should glorify it by our own lives. For we blaspheme the name of God in our own lives when we do not respond to our noble calling; and we glorify the name of God when we observe the will of God and live according to His commandments. The second meaning of the request “hallowed be Thy name” is not unrelated to or independent of the previous one. It is “make us holy,” so that God may be glorified through our hallowed lives.

This petition shows what the purpose of man is and for what reason he lives. Man’s purpose is to be united with God and to become holy according to the grace and energy of God. God is holy by nature and people are [called] to become holy by grace. In the language of the Fathers of the Church, this is called deification and those who are made holy by their participation in the grace of God are called deified. For one to become holy, to be deified, means that all one’s spiritual and bodily faculties are transfigured, that God is the center of one’s life.

Unfortunately many Christians who pray this prayer, do not have such lofty goals, but limit their Christian life and conduct to good behavior, to some customs and observances and some religious traditions; they pray for earthly things. But this is by no means enough. Many times in the Bible we find the exhortation: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (I Peter 1:16). There are people who try to justify themselves by saying: “This life of holiness is not for me,“ “I want to experience the joys of this life, and I do not want to be deprived of what earthly life offers me,” “I’m not a saint because I get angry,” etc.

Because our lives are not consistent with this petition [in the Lord’s prayer] and we do not strive to live according to the will of God, our conduct is anti-Christian. We are full of vices and passions, hatreds and animosities, and we commit injustices and slanders. And that is why other people see us and do not believe in God; hence we cause the name of God to be blasphemed among the nations. Usually, when we pray to God we ask Him to give us health, prosperity, material goods, etc. And it is fitting that we do this. But above all we must pray to God to make us holy. But we must know that this does not happen independent of our will. So it is necessary for us, along with our prayer, to also offer our free will, and thereby glorify the name of God in the world.

Hierotheos (Vlachos), Metropolitan of Naupaktos and Hagios Vlasios, “Hollowed Be Thy Name” (written sermon, Sunday, July 10, 2005), translated from the Greek original in Ekklēsiastikē Paremvasē, June 2005, http://www.parembasis.gr/2005/05_06_13.htm

Father Pavel Adelgeim on the Name of God

“The Name of God is the content and characteristic of every text of prayer. This means that the grace-filled power of the prayer lies in the Name of God. God abides and is revealed in His Name. By calling upon the Name of God, the one praying encounters and is united with God in His Name. Calling upon the saints by means of their names and commemorating the living and the departed also have the same meaning. The name is bound up with the person of him who bears it. By calling upon the name, we come into contact with the person of him who is being named”

Presbyter Pavel Adelgeim, The Dogma of the Church in Canons and Practise, Chapter 2.  

ΨΑΛΜΟΣ 19:1

Υπό

Μητροπολίτου Βοστώνης Εφραίμ

Όταν ο Σωτήρας μας απευθύνθηκε στους Αγίους Αποστόλους με τις λέξεις: «Λάβετε Πνεύμα Άγιο», δεν εννοούσε ότι θα λάμβαναν την Ουσία ή την Υπόσταση του Αγίου Πνεύματος.

Γιατί;

Επειδή κανένα πλάσμα δεν μπορεί να λάβει ή να συμμετάσχει της Ουσίας του Θεού. Αν ήταν δυνατόν να λάβει ή να συμμετάσχει της Ουσίας του Θεού μας, θα ήτανε τότε ο ίδιος Θεός! Αλλά αυτό είναι φύσει αδύνατο για τον άνθρωπο, που είναι ένα δημιούργημα. Ο Θεός είναι αδημιούρητος, ενώ ο άνθρωπος είναι δημιούργημα. Ο Θεός είναι αιώνιος εκ φύσεως, ενώ ο άνθρωπος είναι θνητός. Ο Θεός είναι εκ φύσεως άγιος, ενώ ο άνθρωπος είναι προφανώς πεπτωκός και αμαρτωλός.

Όμως, με τη Χάρη του Θεού, τα πάντα είναι δυνατά.

Με την Χάρη του Θεού, ο άνθρωπος μπορεί να γίνει αιώνιος. Με την Χάρη ο άνθρωπος, ένα πεπτωκό πλάσμα, μπορεί να γίνει άγιος. Με την Χάρη του Θεού, οι άνθρωποι μπορούν να αποθεωθούν.

Ο Μωϋσής ο Αιθίοπας, ο κλέφτης και δολοφόνος, θα μπορούσε και με τη Χάρη του Θεού, έγινε ο πράος Άγιος Μωϋσής ο Αιθίοπας.

Η Μαρία, η έκλυτη πόρνη της Αιγύπτου, θα μπορούσε και τω όντι, με τη Χάρη του Θεού, να γίνει η Αγία Μαρία Αιγυπτία, η διορατική, η εξαιρετικά σοφός, η καθαρά νύμφη του Χριστού.

Έτσι, όταν ο πρώτος στίχος του Ψαλμού 19 μας ευλογεί με τις λέξεις:

«Επακούσε σου Κύριος εν ημέρα θλίψεως,

Υπερσπίσαι σου το Όνομα του Θεού Ιακώβ»

είναι παρόμοιες με τις λέξεις, «Λάβτετε Πνεύμα Άγιο.» Όπως αναφέραμε παραπάνω, δεν λαμβάνουμε, τω όντι, δεν είναι δυνατόν να λάβουμε την Ουσία ή την Υπόσταση του Αγίου Πνεύματος, αλλά μπορούμε να λάβουμε τη Χάρη του Αγίου Πνεύματος. Έτσι, στην πραγματικότα, ο Σωτήρας μας μας λέει εδώ: «Λάβετε τη Χάρη του Αγίου Πνεύματος.»

Ομοίως, όταν ο ψαλμωδός λέει, «Υπερσπίσαι σου το Όνομα του Θεού Ιακώβ», εννοεί «η Δύναμη, η άκτιστη Χάρη, του Θεού του Ιακώβ να σε υπερασπίσει.»

Όπως έχουμε επισημάνει και αλλού, «το Όνομα του Θεού (η κυρία σημασία και το νόημά του και όχι τα έξωτερικά γράμματα και οι ήχοι του) είναι η θεϊκώς αποκεκαλυμμένη Αλήθεια περί Αυτού του ίδιου του Θεού, και όλες οι αποκαλύψεις του Θεού περί του εαυτού Του είναι η Δύναμη, η Ενέργεια, η Χάρη Του. Σύμφωνα με τη διδασκαλία της Εκκλησίας, η Χάρη του Θεού είναι ο ίδιος ο Θεός (όχι η Ουσία Του, αλλά η Ενέργειά Του).[1] Ως εκ τούτου, με αυτή την έννοια πρέπει να εννοήσουμε το περίφημο ρητό του Αγ. Ιωάννου Κρονστάνδης ‟το Όνομα του Θεού είναι ο ίδιος ο Θεός.” Η έκφραση του Αγ. Κλήμεντος Ρώμης ότι «το Όνομα του Θεού έδωσε ύπαρξη σε όλη τη δημιουργία»[2] πρέπει επίσης να γίνεται αντιληπτή με αυτή την έννοια.

Αυτό, επίσης, είναι ακριβώς που ο προφήτης Δαβίδ λέει με τον ακόλουθο παραλληλισμό:

Και φοβηθήσονται τα έθνη το Όνομά Σου, Κύριε,

Και πάντες οι βασιλείς της γης την Δόξα Σου.

(Ψαλμός 101:15)

Το ίδιο ακριβώς, λέγει και ο Αγ. Κύριλλος Αλεξανδρείας:

[Ιωάννην 17:11: «Πάτερ Ἅγιε, τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ Ὀνόματί Σου ᾧ δέδωκάς Μοι».] «Λέει ότι οι μαθητές Του θα πρέπει να φυλάσσονται στο Όνομα του Πατρός, δηλαδή, στη Δόξα και την Δύναμη της Θεότητας Του, έτσι ώστε να πρέπει να είναι έξω από τη δύναμη του εχθρού.»[3]

Ως εκ τούτου, όταν προφέρουμε το Όνομα του Θεού, όταν το γράφουμε ή το διαβάζουμε όταν το αποτύπωνουμε στο νου μας, αυτό είναι η δημιουργημένη όψη, που ανήκει στην ανθρώπινη ομιλία μας. Είναι μια λέξη, μια λεκτική εικόνα, ένα σύμβολο που δημιουργήθηκε. Αλλά η Αλήθεια, που περιέχεται και εκφράζεται σ’ αυτά τα δημιουργημένα ονόματα, η Αλήθεια αυτή που απαυγάζεται και απορρέει, απ’ αυτά τα ονόματα είναι αιώνια και άκτιστη, είτε το εκφράζουμε είτε όχι. Η Αλήθεια του Θεού, αυτή η Αλήθεια περί Θεού, όπως αποκάλυψε ο ίδιος ο Θεός, είναι το άκτιστο Όνομα του Θεού, είναι η Δόξα Του, η Δύναμη Του, η Μεγαλοσύνη Του, η Χάρη Του, κλπ. Αυτό είναι το Όνομα του Θεού, και η Εκκλησία το δοξάζει και το υμνεί από καταβολής κόσμου, και θα συνεχίζει να το μεγαλύνει εις τους απεράντους αιώνες. Όπως ο Άγ. Ιωάννης του Τομπόλσκ (+1715) το εκφράζει τόσο συνοπτικά.

«Οι εκλεκτοί του Θεού επιθυμούν πολύ όπως το Όνομα του Θεού, η Σοφία Του, η Δύναμη Του, το Έλεος και η Αλήθειά Του λατρεύεται με αγιοσύνη από όλα τα έθνη και τις φυλές, ούτως ότι όλοι οι λαοί (ως πλάσματα του ενός Θεού) να ζουν με ειρήνη και ομόνοια.»[4]

Το Όνομα του Θεού δεν είναι μόνο ένα κτιστό σύμβολο, όπως λένε μερικοί (αν και είναι κι αυτό), είναι, πιο σημαντικά, η άκτιστηστη Δύναμη και Χάρης του Θεού.

«Λάβεται Πνεύμα Άγιο.»

«Υπερσπίσαι σου το Όνομα του Θεού Ιακώβ.»

---

[1] « ἑκάστη Δύναμις ἢ Ἐνέργεια Αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός ». Άγ. Γρηγόριος ο Παλαμάς, επιστολη προς τον ιωαννην γαβραν 13, στον Παναγιώτης Κ. Χρήστου, επιμελ., γρηγοριου του παλαμα συγγραματα, τόμ. 2 (Θεσσαλονίκη, 1966), σελ. 340.

[2] «τὸ ἀρχέγονον πάσης κτίσεως ὄνομά Σου.» Άγ. Κλήμης Ρώμης, επιστολη προσ κορινθιουσ αʹ 59.3.

[3] «… ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Πατρὸς χρῆναι λέγων τηρεῖσθαι τοὺς μαθητὰς, οἱονεὶ τὸ ἐν δόξῃ καὶ δυνάμει θεότητος, τῆς τοῦ κακοῦν ἐθέλοντος ἔξω γενέσθαι χειρὸς …». Άγ. Κύριλλος Αλεξανδρείας, εξηγησις εις το κατα ιωαννην ευαγγελιον 11.9 (επιμέλ. P.E. Pusey, Sancti patris nostri Cyrilli archiepiscopi Alexandrini: In D. Joannis evangelium: accedunt fragmenta varia necnon tractatus ad Tiberium diaconum duo (3 τόμοι, Oxonii: E Typographeo Clarendοniano, 1872), τόμ. 2, σελ. 714–715, http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.fig:002921833.

[4] Άγ. Ιωάννης (Μαξιμόβιτς) του Τσερνίγκοφ και του Τομπόλσκ, илиотропион, или сообразование человеческой воли с божественной волей (ηλιοτροπιον: συμφωνα με τη θεια θεληση) (1714), κεφ. 4, http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/russian/iliotropion.htm.

PSALM 19:1

By Metropolitan Ephraim of Boston (Holy Orthodox Church in North America) When our Saviour addressed the Holy Apostles with the words: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit,” He did not mean that they should receive the Essence or the Hypostasis of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because no creature can receive or partake of God’s Essence. If he were able to receive or partake of our God’s Essence, he would then be God Himself! But this is impossible for man, a creature. God is uncreated, whereas man is created. God is eternal by nature, whereas man is very much temporal. God is holy by nature, whereas man is obviously fallen and sinful.

But, by God’s Grace, all things are possible. By God’s Grace, man too can become eternal. By Grace, man, a fallen creature, can and does become holy. By God’s Grace, men can become deified.

Moses the Ethiopian, the thief and murderer, could and did, by God’s Grace, become the meek Saint Moses the Ethiopian.

Mary the dissolute prostitute of Egypt, could and did, by God’s Grace, become Saint Mary of Egypt, the clairvoyant, the supremely-wise, the pure bride of Christ.

So, when the first verse of Psalm 19 blesses us with the words:

The Lord hear thee in the day of affliction;

the Name of the God of Jacob defend thee

it is similar to the words, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” As we mentioned above, we do not—indeed, we cannot—receive the Essence or the Hypostasis of the Holy Spirit, but we can and do receive the Grace of the Holy Spirit. So that is what our Saviour is actually saying here: “Receive ye the Grace of the Holy Spirit.”

Likewise, when the Psalmist says, “The Name of the God of Jacob defend thee,” he means “the Power, the uncreated Grace, of the God of Jacob defend thee.”

As we have pointed out elsewhere, “the Name of God (its inner significance and meaning and not its outward letters and sounds) is the divinely-revealed Truth about God Himself; like all revelation of God about Himself, it is His Power, His Energy, His Grace. According to the teaching of the Church, the Grace of God is God Himself (not His Essence, but His Energy). Hence, it is in this sense that St. John of Kronstadt’s famous saying ‘The Name of God is God Himself’ should be understood.” St. Clement of Rome’s statement that “the Name of God gave existence to all creation” must likewise be understood in this sense.

This, too, is precisely what the Prophet David says when he makes the following parallel:

And the heathen shall fear Thy Name, O Lord,

And all the kings of the earth Thy Glory.

(Psalm 101:15)

This, exactly, is what St. Cyril of Alexandria also says:

[John 17:11: “Keep them in Thy Name which Thou hast given Me.”] He says that His disciples ought to be kept in the Name of the Father, that is to say, in the Glory and Power of His Godhead, so that they should be out of the power of the enemy.

(Commentary on the Gospel of St. John 11.9 [John 17:16–17])

Therefore, when we pronounce the Name of God, when we write or read it, when we imprint it in our minds, that is the created aspect, which belongs to our human speech. It is a word, a verbal icon, a created symbol. But the Truth that these created names contain and express, the Truth that shines and flows from them, this Truth is both eternal and uncreated, and it exists whether we articulate it or not. This Truth of God, this Truth about God, as revealed by God Himself, is the uncreated Name of God; it is His Glory, Power, Majesty, Grace, etc. This is the Name of God that the Church has been glorifying and praising from the very foundation of the world, and which she will continue to magnify unto endless ages. As St. John of Tobolsk (+1715) puts it so concisely:

The chosen ones of God greatly desire that the Name of God, His Wisdom, Power, Mercy, and Truth be venerated in holiness by all the nations and tribes, that all the peoples (as creatures of one God) should live in peace and concord.

In Accordance with the Divine Will, Chapter 4

The Name of God is not just a created symbol, as some say (although it is that too); it is, more importantly, God’s uncreated Power and Grace.

“Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”

“The Name of the God of Jacob defend thee.”

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra on the Name of God

There is nothing left for the monk except this one thing:  to wash the eyes of his heart with the tears of his face while repeating with the Psalmist:  "Every night I flood my bed with my tears;  I drench my couch with my weeping"  (Ps. 6:6), and to touch the fringes of Jesus' cloak (cf. Matt. 14:36) while crying, like the blind man of the Gospel:  "Lord have mercy on me, that I may receive my sight!"  (Luke 18:39-41), such that the darkness may be scattered by the invocation of the Name of the Lord.  The Name of Jesus, of One of the Holy Trinity, becomes thus the personal and inner echo of the divine voice that the disciples heard on Tabor coming from the cloud in order to bear witness to the Savior's divinity.  Christ makes Himself present here through the sacrament of His Name, and dim night is transfigured into "bright cloud," into a darkness where God dwells.

In the dimness of the night, struggling against the darkness of egoism and the attacks of "the world rulers of this present darkness"  (Eph. 6:12),  repelling every false brilliance, that is, every thought, product of imagination, or apparition coming from the devil who knows how to "disguise himself as an angel of light" (1 Cor. 11:14), the monk clings to nothing other than the Name of Jesus alone, not in order to analyze it, but to taste the Lord's presence.  Then the lack of light within his cell is transformed into that "swift cloud" upon which the Lord of glory sits (Isa. 19:1).

Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra

The Way of the Spirit: Reflections on Life in God



Letter of Prof. Vladimir Lossky on the controversy concerning the Name of God

"You await from me an answer concerning name-glorifying [imiaslavie]. I will attempt to answer your question very briefly and systematically, or more accurately – to outline only that which I would like to say (otherwise one would have to write volumes, so substantive is this theme). The (dogmatic) question about the Divine Name, about verbal-intellectual expressions (“symbols”) of the Divinity are as important as the question of icons. Just as then, the Orthodox formulation of the Truth about icons became a “triumph of Orthodoxy,” so too, now, the Orthodox teaching about names, as well as all the questions connected with it (the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas, forgotten by many – grace, prayer, authentic “anthropology,” teaching about the mind and heart, about the “inner man” and so on) – must lead to a new Triumph of Orthodoxy, to the appearance of new grace-filled strength and holiness. The question about “name-glorifying” stands somewhere in the depth of Church consciousness. It has not yet received an answer (a truer formulation: the Church always has an answer, but one needs to hear and express it). But the “name-glorifying controversies” outlined two currents in Russian theology, consciously or unconsciously being defined in relation to “name-glorifying.” One current – the opponents of name-glorifiers, rejecting the very question of the veneration of the Name: this is mere “iconoclasm,” rationalism, seeing in religion only a volitional aspect and blind to nature (Divine grace); such was Metropolitan Anthony [Khrapovitsky], as the most striking example. The other tendencies – not always openly and openly affiliated with name-glorifying – represent, nonetheless, an extreme, “name-worshiping” [“imiabozhnoe”] in its expression, where the very spoken matter, the “flesh” so to speak of the name becomes Divine by nature, a sort of natural power (just as if the opponents of iconoclasm began to affirm the Divine “uncreatedness” of the board and paint of the icon). This last tendency – in the broad sense – develops as Sophiology, where God and creation are confused. Both one and the other are false. The path to the Orthodox understanding of name-glorifying lies through the careful, still overly pale, formula of Archbishop Theophan (of Poltava): “In the Divine Name the Divinity is honored” (Divine energy). When there will be a clear formula, using spiritual experience and “obviously” spiritual – many questions will fall aside on their own, and many difficulties will become childishly simple."

January 6/19, 1937

(Cited in Sacred Mystery of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 205)

Father Sophrony (Sakharov) on the Name of God

But what does the Divine Name mean? In order to pray 'in the Name of' is it necessary to understand its significance, its nature, its essence? Yes, indeed, it is even vital if our joy is to be full. (John xv: 11) p. 122

I arrived on Mt. Athos in 1925. Recently fierce arguments had raged concerning the nature of the Divine Name. The bitter controversy - similar to theological polemics of the 14th century concerning the nature of the Light on Mt. Tabor - had promoted not a few initiatives which ought not to occur among people who have given their souls into the hands of the Almighty. A certain analogy may be drawn in these polemics with the age-old divisions between nominalists and realists, idealists and rationalists. Now they die down, only later to flare up in another guise. Two different natural formations may be observed. On the one side are the prophets and poets. On the other – scientists and technocrats. I do not propose to dwell on the outward aspect of events that occurred at that time, preferring to concentrate on the essence of the problem, in order to apprehend the imperishable knowledge from on High vouchsafed to the holy ascetics, the lovers of mental prayer. p. 123

He Who is above all Names in His Substance reveals Himself to the reasonable beings created in His image under many Names: Eternal, All-knowing, Almighty; Light, Life, Beauty, Wisdom; Goodness, Truth, Love; Saviour, Hallowed, et al. In each and through all of these we feel the presence of the One God, and in virtue of His indivisibility we possess Him altogether. It is meet to think thus but at the same time not one of these attributes affords us full comprehension of Him 'as He is'. His Being in Its Essence transcends all Names. And yet He goes on revealing Himself in Names. p. 129

By virtue of the unity of God the Name I AM applies likewise to all the Trinity and to each Hypostasis separately. Like many other Names, this Name can and must be understood both as a common appellative and as proper to each Person - in the same way as the Name 'Lord' refers likewise to all Three Persons and at the same time serves as the proper Name for each of the Three. The same can be said about the Name JESUS - that is, God the Saviour. But in our practice of prayer we use this Name JESUS exclusively as Christ's own Name, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. p. 132

The Name Jesus as knowledge, as 'energy' of God in relation to the world and as His proper Name, is ontologically bound up with Him. It is spiritual reality. Its sound can merge with its reality but not necessarily so. As a name it was given to many mortal men but when we pray we utter it with another content, another 'frame' of spirit. For us it is the bridge between us and Him. It is the canal along which the streams of divine strength flow to us. As proceeding from the Holy God it is holy and it hallows us by its invocation. With this Name and through it prayer acquires a certain tangibleness: it unites us with God. In it, this Name, God is present like a scent- flask full of fragrance. Through it, the Celestial One can be sensed imminently. As divine energy it proceeds from the Substance of Divinity and is divine itself. pp.133-134

We know that not only the Name Jesus but all the other Names, too, are revealed to us from on High, are ontologically linked with Him - God. p. 134

Neglect of the ontological character of the Divine Names, the lack of this experience in prayers and the celebration of the divine office has desolated the lives of many. For them prayer and the sacraments themselves lose their eternal reality. The Liturgy becomes, not a Divine Act but simply a psychological or mental commemoration. p. 135

It is very important that we should become like Moses who 'endured, as seeing him who is invisible,' (Heb. xi: 27) and invoke Him recognising the ontological connection between the Name and Him Who is named, with the Person of Christ. p. 137

When our brain stops functioning and all other prayers become difficult to remember and pronounce, the light of knowledge of God proceeding from the Name which we know intimately will continue imprescriptible in our spirit. p. 150

Archimandrite Sophrony, On Prayer.

Bishop Nikolai of Zicha (Velimirovich) on the Name of God

"Hallowed by Thy Name"

Thou wouldest not be holier by our hallowing Thee, but in hallowing Thy Name we make ourselves holy.

Thy Name is wondrous. The people quarrel on this earth about names: whose name is great? It is good that sometimes Thy Name is mentioned in these quarrels, because all the loquacious tongues become at once slow and hesitating, and all the great human names melted together cannot compare with Thy Name, Holy, All-Holy!

When men want to hallow Thy Name they ask nature for help. They take stone and wood to make the temples; they adorn the altars with pearls and flowers, and make fire of plants, their sisters; and take scent of the cedars, their brothers; and strengthen their voices by the voice of the bells; and call the animals for help, to hallow Thy Name. Nature is as pure as Thy stars, and as innocent as Thine Angels, O Lord. Be merciful with us for the sake of the pure and innocent nature which hallows Thy Name, together with us, Holy, All-Holy!

In what way should we hallow Thy Name?
Is it by innocent joy? – then be merciful with us for the sake of our innocent children.
Is it by suffering? – then look at our cemeteries.
Or is it by self-sacrifice? – then remember our mothers, O Lord!

Thy Name is stronger than steel and clearer than light. Blessed be the man who depends upon and enlightens himself by Thy Name!

The fools says: “We are armed with steel; who can resist us?” And Thou destroyest kingdoms with invisible insects!

Terrible is Thy Name, O Lord! It illuminates and it consumes like a great fire-cloud. Nothing is holy and nothing terrible that is not bound with Thy Name. Give me, O Holy, give me as friends those in whose hearts Thy Name is engraved, and as enemies those who do not wish to know anything about Thee. For such friends will be my friends to the death, and such enemies will kneel and surrender to me as soon as their steel is broken.

Holy and terrible is Thy Name, Holy, All-Holy! Let us remember Thy Name in every moment of our joy and of our abasement in life, as we remember it in the hour of our death, yea, our heavenly Father, our Holy Father!

Explanation of the  the Lord's Prayer