Our Father Who art in the heavens, Hallowed be Thy, Name. Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread  And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, of the Father and & the Son and of the Holy Spirit both now, and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen  

This prayer is called the “Lord’s Prayer”, because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave it to His disciples when they asked Him to teach them how to ‘pray. This prayer is therefore the most important prayer of all.

In this prayer we address God the Father, the first Person of the Holy Trinity. The prayer is divided into: address, seven petitions (requests), and doxology.

The address: “Our Father, Who art in the heavens”; with. these words we call upon God and calling Him the Heavenly Father, we can on Him to hear our requests or petitions. When we say that He is in the heavens, we must understand this to mean the spiritual, invisible heaven, and not the visible blue, vault that is stretched out above us and which we call “sky”.

1st petition: ‘ “Hallowed by. Thy Name,” that is, help us live in righteousnes and holiness and by our holy deeds to glorify Thy Name..

2nd: “Thy kingdom come,” that is, make us worthy even here on earth of Thy heavenly kingdom, which Is righteousness, love, ‘and peace; reign In us and rule us.

3rd:’ “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” that is, may everything be not as we want, but as it is pleasing to Thee, and help us to submit to this Thy will and to fulfill it on earth just as obediently as the holy angels fulfill it in heaven, with love and joy, without. complaining. Because Thou  alone knowest what is best and needful for us, and Thou dost desire good for us, more than we ourselves.

4th: “Give us this day our daily bread,” that is, grant us for today our daily bread. By the word “bread” here we mean all that is necessary for our earthly life: food, clothing, a place to live; but most important of all, the All-pure Body and’ precious Blood in the mystery of Holy Communion, without which there is no salvation, no eternal life.. The Lord commanded us to ask for our- selves not wealth, not luxury, but only the essential things, and to hope in God for all things, remembering that He, as a Father, cares for us.

5th: “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” that is, forgive us our sins just as we, forgive those who wrong or hurt us. In this petition, our sins are called “our debts” because the Lord gave us strength, abilities and everything else necessary to do good deeds, but we often use them for sin and evil, thus becoming “debtors” before God. And so, if we ourselves will not sincerely forgive our “debtors”, that is, people who have committed sins against us, then God will not forgive us. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself told us about this.

6th: “And lead us not into temptation.” Temptation occurs when someone or something tries to get us to commit a sin, attempts to get us to do something wrong or foolish. Here we ask God: do not let us get into temptations which we cannot overcome or resist; help us to overcome temptations that come to us.

7tht: “but deliver us from the evil one,” that is, deliver us from every evil in this world and from the cause (originator) of evil, from the devil (evil spirit), who is always ready to destroy us. Deliver us from this cunning evil power and its deceptions, which are nothing before Thee.

Doxology: “For Thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

For unto Thee, our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, belong the kingdom and the power and everlasting glory. All this is right, truly so. 

From The Law of God, by Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky)