St.
Nikolai
When
the clouds are thundering and the oceans roaring, they call to Thee:
“Our Lord!”
When
the meteors fall, and fire springs up from the earth, they speak to
Thee: “Our Creator!”
When
the flowers are opening their buds in the spring, and the swallows
are picking up pieces of dry hay with which to make their nests for
their young, they sing to Thee: “Our Master!”
And
when I life my eyes up to Thy throne I am whispering to Thee: “Our
Father!”
There
was a time, a long and fearful time, when man too spake to Thee and
called Thee: Lord, or Creator, or Master! Yea, when man felt himself
to be only a thing among things. But now by merit of Thy First-born
and Best Son, we learned Thy right name. Therefore, I too, with
Christ, dare to call Thee: “Father!”
If
I address Thee as “Lord,” I bow in fear before Thee as a slave
amongst an army of slaves. If I call Thee “Creator,” I separate
myself from Thee, as night is apart from day, or as a leaf from its
tree.
If
I look to Thee and say “Master,” I am as a stone among stones,
and as a camel among camels.
But
if I open my mouth and whisper “Father,” love takes the place of
fear, earth seems lifted nearer to Heaven, and I walk with Thee, as
with my companions in the garden of this world, and share Thy glory,
and sorrows, and strength.
Our
Father! Thou art the Father of us all, and I would lessen both Thee
and me if I call Thee: My Father!
Our
Father! Thou dost not care so much about me, a single individual, as
about the whole world. Thy Kingdom is Thy aim, and not a single man.
Selfishness cries to Thee: My Father! But Love cries: Our Father!
In
the name of all men, my brothers, I pray: Our Father!
In
the name of things which surround me and with which Thou hast woven
me, I pray to Thee, Our Father!
I
pray to Thee, Father of the universe, for one thing only I pray to
Thee: let soon dawn the great day when all men, the living and the
dead, in harmony with the Angels and stars, and the animals and
things, call to Thee by Thy true name: Our Father!
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