On Prayer 15.1
Summary: Origen argues that prayer in the strict sense should be addressed only to the Father, not to Christ, but always through Christ the High Priest.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:333–334
Ἐὰν δὲ ἀκούωμεν ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι προσευχὴ, μή ποτε οὐδενὶ τῶν γεννητῶν προσευκτέον ἐστὶν οὐδὲ αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ ἀλλὰ μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὅλων καὶ πατρὶ, ᾧ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν προσηύχετο, ὡς προπαρεθέμεθα, καὶ διδάσκει ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι. ἀκούσας γάρ· „δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι“ οὐ διδάσκει αὑτῷ „προσεύχεσθαι“ ἀλλὰ τῷ πατρὶ, λέγοντας· „πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς“ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. εἰ γὰρ ἕτερος, ὡς ἐν ἄλλοις δείκνυται, κατʼ οὐσίαν καὶ ὑποκείμενόν ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ πατρὸς, ἤτοι προσευκτέον τῷ υἱῷ καὶ οὐ τῷ πατρὶ ἢ ἀμφοτέροις ἢ τῷ πατρὶ μόνῳ. τὸ μὲν οὖν τῷ υἱῷ καὶ οὐ τῷ πατρὶ πᾶς ὁστισοῦν ὁμολογήσει εἶναι ἀτοπώτατον καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἐνάργειαν λεχθησόμενον ἄν· εἰ δὲ ἀμφοτέροις, δῆλον ὅτι κἂν ἀξιώσεις προσενέγκοιμεν πληθυντικῶς, παράσχεσθε καὶ εὐεργετήσατε καὶ ἐπιχορηγήσατε καὶ σώσατε, καὶ εἴ τι τούτων ὅμοιον, διὰ τῶν προσευχῶν λέγοντες· ὅπερ καὶ αὐτόθεν ἀπεμφαῖνον, οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ἔχει τις δεῖξαι κείμενον ὑπό τινων λεγόμενον. λείπεται τοίνυν προσεύχεσθαι μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ τῷ τῶν ὅλων πατρὶ, ἀλλὰ μὴ χωρὶς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, ὅστις „μεθʼ ὁρκωμοσίας“ κατεστάθη ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς κατὰ τὸ „ὤμοσε, καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται· σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ.“
English · Claude translation
But if we understand what prayer is, perhaps we should pray to no one who is begotten, not even to Christ himself, but only to the God and Father of all, to whom our Savior himself prayed, as we have set out before, and to whom he teaches us to pray. For when he heard, “Teach us to pray,” he did not teach them to pray to himself but to the Father, saying, “Our Father in heaven,” and so on. For if, as is shown elsewhere, the Son is other than the Father in being and in subject, then we must pray either to the Son and not to the Father, or to both, or to the Father alone. That we should pray to the Son and not to the Father, anyone at all will admit would be most absurd, and would be said against the evidence. If to both, clearly we would make our requests in the plural, saying in our prayers, “Grant,” “do good,” “supply,” “save” (in the plural), and anything like these; which is plainly incongruous, and no one can show it written in the Scriptures as said by anyone. It remains, then, to pray to God alone, the Father of all, but not without the High Priest, who was appointed by the Father “with an oath,” according to the words, “He has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Luke 11:1–2 (Matt 6:9), Heb 7:20–21, and Ps 110:4 (109:4 LXX). “Other than the Father in being and in subject” (ἕτερος κατʼ οὐσίαν καὶ ὑποκείμενον) and “one who is begotten” (γεννητός, which in Origen's time was often not distinguished from γενητός, “originated”) are Origen's terms, written before the fourth-century controversies fixed the language of the Trinity; the Council of Nicaea (325) later confessed the Son “of one being” (ὁμοούσιος) with the Father. Origen's view that prayer strictly so called is addressed only to the Father was not generally followed; he himself allows thanksgiving, intercession, and supplication to Christ (14.6).
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 15.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/15/1/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 15.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/15/1/).
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