Zacharias P Thundy

Pope Francis on the Lord's Prayer Zacharias P Thundy

This little book is primarily a theological and linguistic and scriptural study on why Pope Francis is recommending a change of wording in the Lord's Prayer from "Lead us not into Temptation" to "Do not let us be led into temptation." The first part of this study also shows that a change may be necessary in the wording of the Lord's Prayer in Modern English but not in Old English, which was most likely composed correctly under the leadership and directions of the Syrian Saint Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the seventh century. In the Syriac version of the Lord's Prayer found also in the Old English "Our Father," as in the Greek and Latin versions, we pray that we be delivered from the Evil One. One overlooked proviso, which I shall briefly discuss later, when we ask for forgiveness from God "Forgive us our trespasses/sins/debts as we forgive those trespass/sin against us," is different in the Syriac version of the Lord's Prayer. The Syriac version says: "As we have forgiven our debtors." The second part of this work takes us further into the Gospel writers', especially of the Fourth Gospel's, indebtedness to their Buddhist sources of their narratives of the temptations of Jesus. This excursus will explain why the Evil One played an important role in the Gospel narratives of the Temptations of Jesus even in the Fourth Gospel, albeit indirectly, and why we continue to pray that we be delivered from the Evil One. The Appendix shows that the Syriac influence, which accounts for the changes recommended in part one and two, on English literature continued even during the Middle English period especially on the famous poem "Pearl."