Chapter Ten “As We Also Forgive:” Asceticism and Forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer, According to St. Maximus the Confessor

Abstract

“And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6: 12) This verse from the “Lord’s Prayer” surely represents the most familiar passage about forgiveness in English, and probably in any Western language. But do we really want to be forgiven to the degree that we ourselves have shown forgiveness? Vladimir Jankélévitch in his book Le Pardon considers the difficulty of authentic forgiveness, which he argues must be totally free from any ulterior motive. Given this high standard, he concludes that it is possible that there has never been a human instance of forgiveness in this “strict sense.” Through an examination of the exegesis of the Lord’s Prayer by St Maximus the Confessor, it is concluded that even this strict sense of forgiveness is possible, but only through divine grace, which itself presupposes a significant degree of asceticism. It is concluded that this mystical conception of forgiveness, with its ascetical prerequisites and which is intelligible only on the assumption of divine grace, represents the highest standard to which we can aspire.