Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 31.1

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

Summary: Origen turns to practical matters of prayer: the disposition of soul, bodily posture, place, direction, and time.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:395

Δοκεῖ δέ μοι μετὰ ταῦτα οὐκ ἄτοπον εἶναι ὑπὲρ τοῦ πληρωθῆναι τὸ περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς πρόβλημα διαλαβεῖν εἰσαγωγικώτερον περὶ τῆς καταστάσεως καὶ τοῦ σχήματος, ὃ δεῖ ἔχειν τὸν εὐχόμενον, καὶ τόπου, οὗ εὔχεσθαι χρὴ, καὶ κλίματος, εἰς ὃ ἀφορᾶν δεῖ χωρὶς πάσης περιστάσεως. καὶ χρόνου εἰς εὐχὴν ἐπιτηδείου καὶ ἐξαιρέτου, καὶ εἴ τι τούτοις ἐστὶν ὅμοιον. καὶ τὸ μὲν τῆς καταστάσεως εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν ἐγκαταθετέον, τὸ δὲ τοῦ σχήματος εἰς τὸ σῶμα. φησὶ τοίνυν ὁ Παῦλος, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγομεν, τὴν κατάστασιν ὑπογράφων ἐν τῷ δεῖν „προσεύχεσθαι“ „χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ, “ τὸ δὲ σχῆμα ἐν τῷ „ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας“· ὅπερ εἰληφέναι μοι δοκεῖ ἀπὸ τῶν ψαλμῶν, οὕτως ἔχον· „ἔπαρσις τῶν χειρῶν μου θυσία ἑσπερινή“· περὶ δὲ τόπου· „βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ“· περὶ δὲ κλίματος ἐν τῇ Σοφίᾳ Σολομῶντος· „ὅπως γνωστὸν ᾖ ὅτι δεῖ φθάνειν τὸν ἥλιον ἐπʼ εὐχαριστίαν σου καὶ πρὸ ἀνατολῆς φωτὸς ἐντυγχάνειν σοι.“

English · Claude translation

After this it seems to me not out of place, in order to complete the question of prayer, to discuss in a more introductory way the disposition and posture the one who prays should have, the place where one should pray, the direction to which one should look, apart from any special circumstance, and the time suitable and set apart for prayer, and anything similar. The disposition must be referred to the soul, the posture to the body. Paul, then, as we said above, describes the disposition when he says one must “pray” “without anger or disputing,” and the posture in “lifting up holy hands,” which he seems to me to have taken from the Psalms, which say, “The lifting up of my hands, an evening sacrifice.” About place: “I wish, then, that the men pray in every place.” About direction, in the Wisdom of Solomon: “that it may be known that one must rise before the sun to give you thanks, and meet you before the dawn of light.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:395 · 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
  • 1 Tim 2:8 · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 141:2 (140:2 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Extrabiblical texts
  • Wis 16:28 (Wisdom of Solomon) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are 1 Tim 2:8, Ps 141:2 (140:2 LXX), and Wis 16:28 (the direction is the east, where the sun rises).

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 31.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/31/1/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 31.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/31/1/).

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