Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 15.3

Origen · On Prayer · ca. 233–234 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: To the objection that angels are told to worship Christ, Origen answers that Scripture also says kings will bow down to the church, so worship in this sense is not the same as prayer.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:335

ἐὰν δέ τις, οἰόμενος δεῖν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ προσεύχεσθαι, συγχεόμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ προσκυνεῖν σημαινομένου προσάγῃ ἡμῖν τὸ „προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ, “ ὁμολογουμένως ἐν τῷ Δευτερονομίῳ περὶ Χριστοῦ εἰρημένον, λεκτέον πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία Ἱερουσαλὴμ παρὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὀνομαζομένη προσκυνεῖσθαι ὑπὸ βασιλέων καὶ ἀρχουσῶν, γινομένων τιθηνῶν αὐτῆς καὶ τροφῶν, λέγεται διὰ τούτων· „ἰδοὺ αἴρω εἰς τὰ ἔθνη τὴν χεῖρά μου, καὶ εἰς τὰς νήσους ἀρῶ σύσσημόν μου· καὶ ἄξουσι τοὺς υἱούς σου ἐν κόλπῳ, τὰς δὲ θυγατέρας σου ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἀροῦσι· καὶ ἔσονται βασιλεῖς τιθηνοί σου, αἱ δὲ ἄρχουσαι αὐτῶν τροφοί σου· ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς προσκυνήσουσί (σοι), καὶ τὸν χοῦν τῶν ποδῶν σου λείξουσι· καὶ γνώσῃ ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσῃ.“

English · Claude translation

But if someone, thinking that one ought to pray to Christ himself, and confusing this with what is meant by worship, should bring against us the words, “Let all the angels of God worship him,” admittedly spoken in Deuteronomy about Christ, we must say to him that the church too, called Jerusalem by the prophet, is said to be worshiped by kings and princesses, who become her nursing fathers and nurses, in these words: “Behold, I lift up my hand to the nations, and to the islands I will raise my signal; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and carry your daughters on their shoulders; and kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their princesses your nurses; with their faces to the earth they will worship you, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the Lord, and you shall not be ashamed.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:335 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 2: Buch V–VIII gegen Celsus, Die Schrift vom Gebet, GCS 3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899), 297–403 · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 2 (GCS 3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Koetschau, GCS 3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 3; made independently of existing English translations. No public-domain English translation exists; reviewed against the Greek.
Scripture
Topics
Prayer, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Deut 32:43 (LXX; quoted of Christ in Heb 1:6) and Isa 49:22–23. The same Greek verb προσκυνέω means “worship” and “bow down before.”

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 15.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/15/3/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 15.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/15/3/).

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