On Prayer 24.5
Summary: The Lord's Prayer uses imperatives that express wishes; Origen refutes Tatian, who wrongly took God's “Let there be light” as a prayer rather than a command.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:355–356
ἔτι περὶ τοῦ „ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου“ καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς προστακτικῷ χαρακτῆρι εἰρημένων λεκτέον ὅτι συνεχῶς προστακτικοῖς ἀντὶ εὐκτικῶν ἐχρήσαντο καὶ οἱ ἑρμηνεύσαντες, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ψαλμοῖς· „ἄλαλα γενηθήτω τὰ χείλη τὰ δόλια, τὰ λαλοῦντα κατὰ τοῦ δικαίου ἀνομίαν, “ ἀντὶ τοῦ γενηθείη καὶ „ἐξερευνησάτω δανειστὴς πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτῷ·“ „μὴ ὑπαρξάτω αὐτῷ ἀντιλήπτωρ“ ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ ὀγδόῳ περὶ Ἰούδα· ὅλος γὰρ ὁ ψαλμὸς αἴτησίς ἐστι περὶ Ἰούδα, ἵνα τάδε τινὰ αὐτῷ συμβῇ. μὴ συνιδὼν δὲ ὁ Τατιανὸς τὸ „γενηθήτω“ οὐ πάντοτε σημαίνειν τὸ εὐκτικὸν ἀλλʼ ἔσθʼ ὅπου καὶ προστακτικὸν, ἀσεβέστατα ὑπείληφε περὶ τοῦ εἰπόντος „γενηθήτω φῶς“ θεοῦ, ὡς εὐξαμένου μᾶλλον ἤπερ προστάξαντος γενηθῆναι τὸ φῶς· „ἐπεὶ, “ ὥς φησιν ἐκεῖνος ἀθέως νοῶν, „ἐν σκότῳ ἦν ὁ θεός.“ πρὸς ὃν λεκτέον, πῶς ἐκλήψεται καὶ τὸ „βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου“ καὶ „συναχθήτω τὸ ὕδωρ (τὸ) ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ“ καὶ „ἐξαγαγέτω τὰ ὕδατα ἑρπετὰ ψυχῶν ζωσῶν“ καὶ „ἐξαγαγέτω ἡ γῆ ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.“ ἆρα γὰρ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐπὶ ἑδραίου στῆναι εὔχεται συναχθῆναι „τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν, “ ἢ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μεταλαβεῖν τῶν βλαστανόντων ἀπὸ γῆς εὔχεται τὸ „βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ“; ποίαν δὲ χρείαν ὁμοίαν ἔχει τῷ χρῄζειν φωτὸς τῶν ἐνύδρων καὶ πτηνῶν ἢ χερσαίων, ἵνα καὶ περὶ τούτων εὔχηται; εἰ δὲ καὶ κατʼ αὐτὸν ἄτοπον τὸ περὶ τούτων εὔχεσθαι, προστακτικαῖς ὀνομασίαις εἰρημένων, πῶς οὐ τὸ ὅμοιον λεκτέον καὶ περὶ τοῦ „γενηθήτω φῶς, “ ὡς μὴ εὐκτικῶς ἀλλὰ προστακτικῶς εἰρημένου; ἀναγκαίως δέ μοι ἔδοξεν, ἐν ταῖς προστακτικαῖς φωναῖς εἰρημένης εὐχῆς, ὑπομνησθῆναι τῶν παρεκδοχῶν αὐτοῦ διὰ τοὺς ἠπατημένους καὶ παραδεξαμένους τὴν ἀσεβῆ διδασκαλίαν αὐτοῦ, ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς ποτε πεπειράμεθα.
English · Claude translation
Further, about “Hallowed be your name” and the following petitions expressed in the imperative mood, it must be said that the translators also continually used imperatives instead of optatives, as in the Psalms: “Let the deceitful lips be made dumb, which speak iniquity against the righteous,” instead of “may they be made”; and, “Let the creditor search out all that he has”; “Let there be no helper for him,” in the hundred and eighth psalm, about Judas; for the whole psalm is a request about Judas, that certain things may happen to him. But Tatian, not seeing that “let there be” does not always signify a wish but sometimes a command, supposed most impiously of God, who said “Let there be light,” that he prayed rather than commanded the light to come into being; “since,” as he says with his godless understanding, “God was in darkness.” To him we must say: how will he take “Let the earth bring forth green herbage,” and “Let the water under the heaven be gathered together,” and “Let the waters bring forth creeping things with living souls,” and “Let the earth bring forth a living soul”? Does God pray that the water under the heaven be gathered “into one gathering” so that he may stand on firm ground, or does he pray “Let the earth bring forth” so that he may partake of what grows from the earth? And what need has he, like the need of light, of creatures of the water, the air, or the land, that he should pray about these too? And if, even on his view, it is absurd to pray about these things, which are expressed in the imperative, how must not the same be said of “Let there be light,” as spoken not as a wish but as a command? I thought it necessary, since the prayer is expressed in imperative words, to recall his misinterpretations, for the sake of those who have been deceived and have accepted his impious teaching, which we too once encountered.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 31:18 (30:19 LXX), Ps 109:11–12 (108:11–12 LXX; Origen gives the Greek number), and Gen 1:3, 1:11, 1:9, 1:20, and 1:24. Tatian's interpretation of Gen 1:3 came from a lost work, perhaps his Problems; it is known only from this passage and a few others. Greek has a separate optative mood for wishes; the Septuagint translators often used the imperative instead.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text; missing accent and breathing in the digital text): αὐτᾷ ἀντιλήπτωρ → αὐτῷ ἀντιλήπτωρ; πρὸς ον λεκτέον → πρὸς ὃν λεκτέον; τὸ ομοιον → τὸ ὅμοιον.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 24.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/24/5/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 24.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/24/5/).
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