On Prayer 13.2
Summary: Scripture gives many examples of answered prayer: Hannah, Hezekiah, Mordecai and Esther, Judith, the three youths, Daniel, and Jonah.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:326–327
τί δὲ δεῖ καταλέγειν τοὺς διὰ τοῦ ὃν δεῖ τρόπον προσεύξασθαι μεγίστων ἐπιτετευχότας ἀπὸ θεοῦ, παρὸν ἑκάστῳ ἑαυτῷ ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν ἀναλέξασθαι πλείονα; Ἄννα γὰρ ὑπηρέτησε τῇ γενέσει Σαμουὴλ, τῷ Μωϋσεῖ συναριθμηθέντος, ἐπεὶ μὴ τίκτουσα πιστεύσασα προσηύξατο πρὸς κύριον· Ἐζεκίας δὲ ἔτι ἄπαις τυγχάνων, μαθὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου τεθνήξεσθαι, προσευξάμενος εἰς τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος γενεαλογίαν ἀνείληπται· ἤδη δὲ ὑφʼ ἓν πρόσταγμα ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς τοῦ Ἀμὰν ἀπόλλυσθαι μέλλοντος τοῦ λαοῦ, προσευχὴ μετὰ νηστείας Μαρδοχαίου καὶ Ἐσθὴρ ἐπακουσθεῖσα πρὸς ταῖς κατὰ Μωϋσέα ἑορταῖς τὴν Μαρδοχαϊκὴν ἐγέννησεν εὐφροσύνης τῷ λαῷ ἡμέραν· ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἰουδὴθ ἁγίαν ἀνενεγκοῦσα προσευχὴν τοῦ Ὀλοφέρνου μετὰ θεοῦ περιγίνεται καὶ μία γυνὴ τῶν Ἑβραίων αἰσχύνην ἐποίησε τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ· „Ἀνανίας“ δὲ „καὶ Ἀζαρίας καὶ Μισαὴλ“ „πνεῦμα δρόσου διασυρίζον, “ οὐκ ἐῶν ἐνεργεῖν τὴν φλόγα τοῦ πυρὸς, ἄξιοι γεγόνασιν ἐπακουσθέντες λαβεῖν· οἱ δὲ ἐν τῷ λάκκῳ Βαβυλωνίων λέοντες φιμοῦνται διὰ τὰς τοῦ Δανιὴλ προσευχάς· καὶ Ἰωνᾶς δὲ, οὐκ ἀπογνοὺς τὸ ἐπακουσθήσεσθαι ἐκ κοιλίας τοῦ καταπιόντος αὐτὸν κήτους, τὸ ἐλλιπὲς τῆς πρὸς τοὺς Νινευΐτας προφητείας ἐξελθὼν τὴν τοῦ κήτους γαστέρα ἀναπληροῖ.
English · Claude translation
But why need I list those who, by praying as they ought, obtained the greatest things from God, when each can gather more for himself from the Scriptures? Hannah ministered to the birth of Samuel, who was counted with Moses, when, being childless, she prayed in faith to the Lord. Hezekiah, while still childless, having learned from Isaiah that he would die, prayed and was taken up into the genealogy of the Savior. When the people were about to perish by a single decree through Haman's plot, the prayer with fasting of Mordecai and Esther was heard and, in addition to the feasts appointed by Moses, brought forth for the people the day of Mordecai's rejoicing. Judith, too, having offered a holy prayer, overcame Holofernes with God's help, and one Hebrew woman brought shame on the house of Nebuchadnezzar. Ananias and Azarias and Misael, being heard, were counted worthy to receive “a whistling wind of dew” that did not allow the flame of the fire to act. The lions in the pit of the Babylonians were muzzled through Daniel's prayers. And Jonah, not despairing of being heard from the belly of the sea monster that had swallowed him, came out of the monster's belly and completed what was lacking in his prophecy to the Ninevites.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The references are 1 Sam 1 and Jer 15:1 (Samuel with Moses; compare Ps 99:6), 2 Kgs 20:1–6 and Isa 38:1–5 (Origen's claim that Hezekiah was then childless is his inference from 2 Kgs 21:1), Esth 4 and 9 (Purim) with Add Esth 13–14, Jdt 13 and 14:18, Pr Azar 27 (Dan 3:50 LXX), Dan 6:22, and Jonah 2–3.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 13.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/13/2/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 13.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/13/2/).
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