"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

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. Nicephorus of Constantinople

“In truth, just as churches receive the name of their holy patron saints, so also images of those saints have their names written on them, for it is what is written on them [the name] that makes them holy.”

(Discours contre les iconoclastes, Nicéphore de Constantinople, Marie-José Mondzain-Baudinet, trad., Paris, Éditions Klincksieck, III, 54, 1989, pp. 259-260.)

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. Peter of Kiev

"Let us glorify the Unoriginate Father and His Only-begotten Son, Christ our God, and the All-pure, All-good, Life-creating Spirit. For this is how the faithful glorify the All-holy Name of God and with that Divine Power we are delivered from the visible and invisible enemies in this age and in the age to come."

First Epistle of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Kiev Lives of the Russian Saints, Optina 1993, p. 568

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. Hesychius the Presbyter

Truly blessed is the man whose mind and heart are as closely attached to the Jesus Prayer and to the ceaseless invocation of His Name as air to the body or flame to the wax. The sun rising over the earth creates daylight; and the venerable and holy Name of the Lord Jesus, shining continually  in the mind, gives birth to countless intellections radiant as the sun.

St. Hesychius  the Presbyter, On Watchfulness and Holiness, 196.
(The Philokalia, Vol. I, trans. Palmer, et al)

The Name of God in the Holy Scriptures: Proverbs of Solomon

The Name of the Lord is of great strength; and the righteous running to it are exalted.

Proverbs 18:10

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. Nicholas Cabasilas

Since the Chrism is the power of the Altar, it was necessary that the matter subject to it should be appropriate. Thus, I think, it would be more efficacious, just as also fire and light act through fitting bodies. For, since the very Name of our Saviour, which, when invoked, could do all things, did not manifest its power in the same way in the mouths of all men, so the consecrator, as he seeks whatever body might be fitting to subject to the Chrism, has found nothing more suitable than the bones of Martyrs.

St. Nicholas Cabasilas, On Life in Christ, Book 5.
(St. Vladimir Seminary Press, 1997)

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.  

The Name of God in the Divine Services: Menaion

"The great weight of the stony slab and the burning of fiery flame by God’s care and forethought, and Angel swiftly changed, making the one as a weightless leaf, the other, as dewy breeze, like that which that Fourth One brought, Whom the Children beheld of old; with them thou didst cry: All-compassionate Lord, great is Thy mercy; hence, in gladness do I worship Thy holy Name, which is praised of all.”

Aposticha Vespers for Feast of the Holy Righteous Martyr Paraskeve, July 26. (Trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, MA)

From the letter of Bishop Juvenaly of Tula and Odoevo to Holy Patriarch Tikhon the Confessor

November 6, 1920

"From my numerous talks with them [i.e. leaders of the Athonite Fathers living in exile in Moscow: Abbot David of St. Andrews Skete, monks Iriney, Peter and Manasses of St. Panteleimon’s Monastery] and having been  acquainted with them for over five months, I was fully convinced in their Orthodoxy, and I have not noticed anything heretical in their reasoning. With your blessing, I even sent monk Iriney to Your Holiness [i.e. to Patriarch Tikhon] for a personal interview, and as you told me, neither did Your Holiness find anything heretical in him."

The Athonite debate over the Name of God and its consequent fate Hegumen Andronik (Trubachev) Pravoslavnaya Beseda, #4 (2000) 39.

The Name of God in the Divine Services: Triodion

The only invisible God was seen bearing a body, and He chose you as His disciples, to proclaim His Name and super-mundane Glory unto all the world, O all-blessed divine Apostles.

Triodion, Tone 1, Canon on Thursday Morning, Ode Three

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain

"Brethren, the reason I composed these prayers dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ was none other than to motivate you to continuously meditate upon and repeat the salvific, most sweet, and joy-producing Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the bringer of all good things. You should not simply repeat it with your mouth, but also with your heart and your mind, for this continual repetition of the saving Name of Jesus — in addition to the other heavenly, supernatural, and  inexpressible spiritual gifts which it will grant to you, as St. Callistos Xanthopoulos, St. Gregory of Sinai, and St. Symeon the New Theologian all speak about in the book called the Philokalia — will also raise you to the highest virtue, that of divine love, and it will fashion your heart into a temple and a dwelling place of that Holy Name, both in this life and after death."

St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain
Prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ

(Fr. Georgre Dokos tr. 2010)

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. Irenaeus of Lyons

“But ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."(1 Cor. 6:11) He [the Apostle] shows in the clearest manner through what things it is that man goes to destruction, if he has continued to live after the flesh; and then, on the other hand, [he points out] through what things he is saved. Now he says that the things which save are the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God.

Against Heresies, Book 5, 11, 1.

(Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1 , Philip Schaff Ed.)

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

Let us remember that at God’s Judgement, we will be required to give account for every idle word. So the more fearful is to give account for the words spoken against the fundamental dogma of the Christian Faith. The teaching concerning the Divine Power of the Name of Jesus, is a fundamental dogma [of our Faith] and is numbered among its holy dogmas. Disdainful, blasphemous opinions against the Prayer of Jesus have all the symptoms of a heretical thinking.

On Prayer of Jesus, Conversation of an Elder with his Disciple,
Ascetical Experiences, Vol. II (Russian ed. Jordanville, 1985)

A Reply to the Errors of Bishop Photios of Marathon and Fr. Panagiotis Carras

By Nikolai Stromsky

Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple,

November 21 / December 4, 2011

The Divine Name controversy involved deeply complex theological issues that have as of yet not been fully resolved in conciliar manner by the Orthodox Church. It has been the subject of a small but expanding library of books and articles written by theologians, historians, and churchmen in a variety of languages and from a variety of perspectives. It is a topic about which reasonable people can disagree, inasmuch as the Church has not yet definitely resolved the issue.

What is unacceptable, however, is for people with no knowledge of either the theological complexities involved or the language in which the controversy was conducted, and with no familiarity with either the historical context or the primary sources, unilaterally to declare it a “condemned heresy” and “superstition” (in Bishop Photios' words) purely for reasons of jurisdictional rivalry (hence Bishop Photios' reference to “the parasynagogues of the deposed or un-ordained [sic]” and Fr. Panagiotis' explicit reference to Bishop Gregory of Petrograd and Gdonsk). This is all the more the case when such people display their ignorance by making a series of egregious factual mistakes.

The following is a list of factual errors made by Bishop Photios of Marathon and Fr. Panagiotis Carras with a brief response to each.

1. The “heresy” of name-glorifying was neither “lit” (Bishop Photios) nor “begun” (Fr. Panagiotis) by Schema-monk Ilarion, author of In the Mountains of the Caucasus. This book was originally blessed for publication in 1907, republished in 1910 with funds provided by the New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna; and printed a third time in an enormous print run by the Kiev-Caves in 1912. All were printed with full ecclesiastical sanction. Nowhere, contrary to what Fr. Panagiotes writes, does Fr. Ilarion make the explicit claim that the “name of God is God Himself.”

2. Fr. Panagiotes writes concerning the name-glorifiers: “Many of them argued that, since according to the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, the name of an object exists before the object itself does, so the name of God must pre-exist before the world was created, and that it (the Name) cannot be anything but God Himself. Among other things, this was thought to mean that knowledge of the secret name of God alone allows one to perform miracles. A similar concept exists in Jewish Kabbalah and in Buddhism.” This is false from beginning to end. Who are the “many” that argued such evident nonsense? Can Fr. Panagiotis name a single name-glorifier who cited Plato? Where is the evidence that the name-glorifiers taught that God had a “secret name”? What is Fr. Panagiotis source for this information? Has he read any of the works of Fr. Anthony (Bulatovich)? In fact, the answer is quite clear: he copied and pasted this nonsense and slander verbatim from Wikipedia, hardly a reliable source for theological discussion.1

Papism in the Orthodox Church

Michael Alexandrovich Novoselov

(future Hieromartyr and Catacomb Bishop Mark, +1937)

In May of the present year [1913], the Holy Synod published an epistle dedicated to the analysis of the teaching concerning the Name of God. This epistle must be subject to a serious and substantial discussion by Orthodox people to whose consciousness matters of faith are close. Such analyses are already appearing in print. Without touching the above-mentioned teaching, we would like to answer one question, entirely unrelated to the above-mentioned teaching, but which is being posed to us from all sides: “Do we accept the unconditional authority of the synodal epistle [i.e. the decision of May 1913 against the Athonite fathers]? Do we see in it “the voice of the Church”, which is the “Pillar and Foundation of Truth” - as the Synod demands from us? We answer decisively - no, no and no. We were shocked to read it and we reject the conclusive thought of the synodal epistle, which says: “now that the leadership of the Churches of Constantinople and Russia have expressed their position, their (that is, of Schema-monk Hilarion, Hieromonk Anthony and others) further insistence on “Name-glorifying” will equal to the opposition to the truth.” This is an unlawful infringement of the inalienable rights of the ecclesiastical body, the guardians of the faith - the Orthodox faithful.

It seems that the Holy Synod has forgotten that “the infallibility rests only in the catholicity of the Church, united in mutual love” (A. S. Khomyakov). It [i.e. the Synod] does not want to remember what was declared in 1848 to the whole Orthodox and heterodox world by the Ecumenical Patriarch, in his answer to the Roman bishop: “With us, neither patriarchs, nor councils could ever introduce anything new, because the guardian of the faith is the very body of the Church, that is, the faithful.” The spiritual collegium [i.e. the Synod] not only did not wish to invite and hear out the voice of the faithful, but to the contrary, it tried to smother it with draconian methods far surpassing even those of the Roman high-priest [i.e. the Pope].

And now, we are paying the price of such hastiness.

Published in "Religious-Philosophical Library"

Moscow, 1913, p. 4.

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: SS. Callistus and Ignatius Xanthopoulos

The gift and the advent of the Holy Spirit is given to the faithful from God the Father through Jesus Christ and His Holy Name.

Directions to Hesychasts, 12, Philokakia, Vol. 4 (tr. Palmer et al)

The Name of God in the Lives of Saints: St. Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia

One luminary is the sovereign of the day, and it is like unto the unquenchable, unfailing, inextinguishable and uninterrupted light of Thine Only-begotten Son, which will be revealed to Thy righteous ones in the age to come, where there are no days, no nights, no months and no weeks, and hours, and no periods of time, no rotation of years and ages, but there is only the Lord and only His Name.

Life of St. Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia Agathangelos, History of the Aremnians, 91.

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.

The Name of God in the Holy Scriptures: Acts of the Apostles

And Peter and John were going up at the same time to the temple, at the hour of the prayer, the ninth hour, and a certain man, being lame from the womb of his mother, was being carried, whom they were laying every day at the gate of the temple, called Beautiful, to ask a kindness from those entering into the temple, who, having seen Peter and John about to go into the temple, was begging to receive a kindness. And Peter, having looked steadfastly toward him with John, said, 'Look toward us;' and he was giving heed to them, looking to receive something from them; and Peter said, 'Silver and gold I have none, but what I have, that I give to thee; in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and be walking.' And having seized him by the right hand, he raised him up, and presently his feet and ankles were strengthened,and springing up, he stood, and was walking, and did enter with them into the temple, walking and springing, and praising God... Peter having seen, answered unto the people, 'Men, Israelites! why wonder ye at this? or on us why look ye so earnestly, as if by our own power or piety we have made him to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, did glorify His child Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, he having given judgment to release him, and ye the Holy and Righteous One did deny, and desired a man -- a murderer -- to be granted to you, and the Prince of the life ye did kill, whom God did raise out of the dead, of which we are witnesses; and on the faith of His Name, this one whom ye see and have known, His Name made strong, even the faith that is through Him did give to him this perfect soundness before you all.

Acts 3:1-17

Holy Fathers on the Name of God: St. John of Tobolsk

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.

St. John of Tobolsk, "In Accordance with the Divine Will," Chapter 4.

Letter of Holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas to the Overseer of the Holy Synod V.K. Sabler

"On this Feast of Feasts, when the hearts of the faithful strive with love to God and to neighbor, my soul is grieved about the Athonite monastics, who have been deprived of the joy of communing the Holy Mysteries and of the consolation of attending the Church [services]. Let us forget the quarrel: it is not for us to judge about the Greatest of Holies – the Name of God, and by doing so to incur the wrath of the Lord on the Motherland; the trial must be cancelled, all monastics must be settled in different monasteries, they must receive back (following the example of metropolitan Flavian) their monastic habit and they should be allowed to serve [the divine services]."

Pascha, April 15, 1914

The Name of God in the Holy Scriptures: Prophet Ezekiel

And they went in among the nations, among which they went, and they profaned my holy Name, while it was said of them, These are the people of the Lord, and they came forth out of his land. But I spared them for the sake of my holy Name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations, among whom they went. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; I do not this, O house of Israel, for your sakes, but because of my holy Name, which ye have profaned among the nations, among whom ye went. And I will sanctify my great Name, which was profaned among the nations, which ye profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, when I am sanctified among you before their eyes.

Ezekiel, 36:20-23