On Prayer 20.1
Summary: The saint prays not in the “synagogue” or on street corners to be seen by men, but in the church, on the narrow way, to appear before God.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:343–344
Εἰ δέ ἐστι τὶς διαφορὰ ἐκκλησίας καὶ συναγωγῆς (τῆς μὲν κυρίως ἐκκλησίας οὐκ ἐχούσης „σπῖλον ἢ ῥυτίδα ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων ἀλλὰ“ ἁγίας καὶ ἀμώμου τυγχανούσης, εἰς ἣν οὔτε ὁ „ἐκ πόρνης“ εἰσέρχεται οὔτε ὁ „θλαδίας“ ἢ „ἀποκεκομμένος“ ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ Αἰγύπτιος ἢ Ἰδουμαῖος, ἐὰν μὴ υἱῶν γεννηθέντων αὐτοῖς διὰ τὴν τρίτην γενεὰν μόλις δυνηθῶσιν ἐφαρμόσαι τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, οὐδὲ ὁ „Μωαβίτης“ καὶ „ Ἀμμανίτης, “ ἐὰν μὴ δεκάτη γενεὰ πληρωθῇ καὶ ὁ αἰὼν τελεσθῇ· τῆς δὲ συναγωγῆς ὑπὸ ἑκατοντάρχου οἰκοδομουμένης, ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τῆς Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημίας χρόνοις τοῦτο ποιοῦντος, ὅτε οὐδέπω μεμαρτύρηται „πίστιν“ ἔχειν, ὁπόσην „οὐδὲ ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ“ εὗρεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ), ὁ φιλῶν δὴ „προσεύχεσθαι“ „ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς“ οὐ μακράν ἐστι τῶν γωνιῶν „τῶν πλατειῶν.“ ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁ ἅγιος τοιοῦτος· οὐ φιλεῖ γὰρ „προσεύχεσθαι“ ἀλλὰ ἀγαπᾷ, καὶ οὐκ „ἐν συναγωγαῖς“ ἀλλʼ ἐν ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ οὐκ „ἐν γωνίαις πλατειῶν“ ἀλλʼ ἐν τῇ εὐθύτητι τῆς στενῆς καὶ τεθλιμμένης ὁδοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐκ ἵνα φανῇ „τοῖς ἀνθρώποις“ ἀλλʼ ἵνʼ ὀφθῇ „ἐνώπιον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ.“ ἄῤῥην γάρ ἐστι τὸν „δεκτὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου“ νοῶν καὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν τηρῶν τὴν λέγουσαν· „τρὶς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ὀφθήσεται πᾶν ἀρσενικὸν ἐνώπιον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ.“
English · Claude translation
And if there is a difference between church and synagogue (the church in the proper sense having no “spot or wrinkle or any such thing,” but being holy and without blemish, into which neither the one “born of a prostitute” enters, nor the one “crushed” or “cut off,” nor even the Egyptian or the Edomite, unless sons are born to them and by the third generation they can barely be fitted into the church; nor the “Moabite” and “Ammonite,” unless the tenth generation is completed and the age is ended; while the synagogue was built by a centurion, who did this in the times before Jesus' coming, when he had not yet been testified to have such “faith” as the Son of God had not found “even in Israel”), then the one who loves “to pray” “in the synagogues” is not far from “the street corners.” But the saint is not such; for he does not love to pray (φιλεῖ) but loves (ἀγαπᾷ) to pray, and not “in synagogues” but in churches, and not “at the street corners” but on the straightness of the narrow and hard way, and not to be seen “by men” but to appear “before the Lord God.” For he is a male who understands “the acceptable year of the Lord” and keeps the commandment that says, “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Eph 5:27, Deut 23:1–8 (23:2–9 in the Greek and Hebrew numbering), Luke 7:5 and 7:9, Matt 7:14, Isa 61:2 (Luke 4:19), and Exod 23:17 (34:23). Origen contrasts φιλεῖ (the hypocrites “love” to pray, Matt 6:5) with ἀγαπᾷ. The contrast of “church” and “synagogue” is allegorical.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 20.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/20/1/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 20.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/20/1/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text