On Prayer 32.1
Summary: Christians should face east when they pray, as a symbol of the soul turning to the rising of the true light, even indoors.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:400–401
Ἤδη δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ κλίματος, εἰς ὃ ἀφορῶντα εὔχεσθαι δεῖ, ὀλίγα λεκτέον. τεσσάρων δὲ ὄντων κλιμάτων, τοῦ τε πρὸς ἄρκτον καὶ μεσημβρίαν καὶ τοῦ πρὸς δύσιν καὶ ἀνατολὴν, τίς οὐκ ἂν αὐτόθεν ὁμολογήσαι τὸ πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἐναργῶς ἐμφαίνειν τὸ δεῖν ἐκεῖ νεύοντας συμβολικῶς, ὡς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐνορώσης τῇ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ἀνατολῇ, ποιεῖσθαι τὰς εὐχάς; ἐὰν δέ τις ὅπου δή ποτε τῶν θυρῶν τοῦ οἴκου νευουσῶν βούληται μᾶλλον κατὰ τὸ ἀνεῳγὸς τῆς οἰκίας προσφέρειν τὰς ἐντεύξεις, λέγων τὴν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ὄψιν ἔχειν τι μᾶλλον προκαλούμενον ἐφʼ ἑαυτὴν τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν τοῖχον ἐπιβλέψεως. εἰ τύχοιεν μὴ διανεῳγότα τοῦ οἴκου τὰ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς, λεκτέον πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι θέσει τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων ἀνθρώπων κατὰ τάδε τὰ κλίματα ἢ τάδε διανοιγομένων, φύσει δὲ τῆς ἀνατολῆς τῶν λοιπῶν προκεκριμένης κλιμάτων, τὸ φύσει τοῦ θέσει προτακτέον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ἐν πεδίῳ εὔξασθαι βουλόμενος, τί μᾶλλον κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἐπʼ ἀνατολὰς ἢ ἐπὶ δύσιν προσεύξεται; εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖ προκριτέον τὰς ἀνατολὰς κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον, διὰ τί τοῦτο οὐ πανταχοῦ ποιητέον; καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον.
English · Claude translation
Now a few words must be said about the direction to which one should look when praying. There are four directions, north and south, west and east; who would not at once admit that the east clearly indicates that we should turn that way and make our prayers symbolically, as the soul looks toward the rising of the true light? And if someone prefers to offer his petitions toward the open part of the house, wherever the doors of the house face, saying that the view of the sky has something that invites one more than looking at a wall, if the eastern side of the house happens not to be open, we must say to him that since the buildings of men open toward these or those directions by convention, while the east is by nature preferred to the other directions, what is by nature must be put before what is by convention. Moreover, according to this reasoning, why should one who wishes to pray in a plain pray toward the east rather than the west? And if there the east is reasonably to be preferred, why should this not be done everywhere? So much for this.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are John 1:9 (the true light) and Mal 4:2 (the rising sun of righteousness).
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 32.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/32/1/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 32.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/32/1/).
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