From the Lord's Prayer, can you please explain "give us today our daily bread"?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

In the Lord's Prayer, the petition "Give us this day our daily bread" carries deep, layered theological significance.

The early Church Fathers and Orthodox tradition interpret this petition on three distinct, interconnected levels:

1. Physical Sustenance and Moderation

On the literal level, "daily bread" refers to the necessary food and material provisions required to sustain our physical life day by day.

• Contentment and Trust: The Lord teaches us to ask for daily bread—for "today" or "this day"—rather than hoarding or worrying about years to come. This trains the soul to rely on divine providence every single morning without anxiety, echoing Christ's command: "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things" (Matthew 6:34).
• Sobriety over Excess: St. Basil the Great emphasizes moderation, teaching that we care for the body only so far as is required to keep it vigorous in the service of the soul, never allowing it to become unmanageable through luxury or satiety. Similarly, St. Augustine noted that we pray for our daily sustenance so that we may have what is needed to live and carry out God's work without lack.

2. Spiritual Nourishment: The Word of God

Man is not merely flesh; he is an embodied soul. Therefore, material bread alone cannot satisfy human existence.

• As our Lord answered the tempter in the wilderness: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3).
• The petition asks that God feed our inner man daily through the holy Scriptures, divine contemplation, prayer, and orthodox doctrine. Without daily feeding upon the Word of God, the soul starves, falls into spiritual lethargy, and becomes vulnerable to the adversary.

3. The Eucharistic Bread: Christ, the Bread of Life

The highest and most profound Orthodox interpretation of this petition is sacramental.

• In the original Greek text of the Gospels, the word translated as "daily" is ἐπιούσιος (epiousios), a unique term that literally points to that which is "supersubstantial" or "pertaining to the coming age." In the Bohairic liturgical text, this is rendered as pen-oik eth-neyou, meaning "our bread of tomorrow" or "our bread which is to come."
• This refers directly to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who declared: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51).
• In the Divine Liturgy, the recitation of the Lord's Prayer immediately precedes the Fraction and the distribution of the Holy Mysteries. We ask God to give us the true Bread of Life—the precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ—which grants remission of sins and eternal life to those who partake worthily.

Summary

When we pray this petition, we bring our whole being before the Father:

1. Our bodies, asking for modest, necessary sustenance without greed.
2. Our minds, seeking the living nourishment of God's holy Word.
3. Our souls and spirits, yearning for union with Christ through the Holy Eucharist, the true heavenly Bread that prepares us for eternity.