Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 5.6

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

Summary: Origen quotes Ambrose's two questions: if God foreknows everything, and if his will cannot change, is prayer not vain?

Greek text · Koetschau 2:311

κείσθω δὲ ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν αὐταῖς λέξεσιν ἅπερ διὰ τῶν πρός με γραμμάτων ἔταξας, οὕτως ἔχοντα. „πρῶτον· εἰ προγνώστης ἐστὶν ὁ θεὸς τῶν μελλόντων, καὶ δεῖ αὐτὰ γίνεσθαι, ματαία ἡ προσευχή. δεύτερον· εἰ πάντα κατὰ βούλησιν θεοῦ γίνεται, καὶ ἀραρότα αὐτοῦ ἐστι τὰ βουλεύματα, καὶ οὐδὲν τραπῆναι ὧν βούλεται δύναται, ματαία ἡ προσευχή, “ χρήσιμα δὲ, ὡς οἶμαι, ταῦτα πρὸς λύσιν τῶν ἀποναρκᾶν πρὸς τὸ εὔχεσθαι ποιούντων προδιαληπτέον.

English · Claude translation

Let me set down here, in its very words, what you laid out in your letter to me, which runs thus: “First: if God foreknows the future, and it must come to pass, prayer is vain. Second: if all things happen according to the will of God, and his counsels are fixed, and none of the things he wills can be changed, prayer is vain.” Useful, I think, for the solution of the difficulties that make people slack in prayer are the following preliminary considerations.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:311 · 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.
Topics
Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quoted questions are from Ambrose's letter to Origen.

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 5.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/5/6/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 5.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/5/6/).

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