Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 8.1

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

Summary: Just as children require a woman, some things are obtained only by praying rightly: without babbling, anger, or unforgiveness, and for heavenly rather than earthly things.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:316–317

Ἔτι δὲ οὐκ ἄλογον καὶ τοιούτῳ τινὶ παραδείγματι χρήσασθαι πρὸς τὸ προτρέψασθαι ἐπὶ τὸ εὔξασθαι καὶ ἀποτρέψασθαι τοῦ ἀμελεῖν τῆς εὐχῆς. ὥσπερ οὐκ ἔστι παιδοποιήσασθαι χωρὶς γυναικὸς καὶ τῆς εἰς παιδοποιΐαν χρησίμου παραλαμβανομένης ἐνεργείας, οὕτως τῶνδέ τινων οὐκ ἄν τις τύχοι, μὴ οὕτως εὐξάμενος μετὰ διαθέσεως τοιᾶσδε, πιστεύων οὕτως. οὐ πρὸ τῆς εὐχῆς τόνδε βιώσας τὸν τρόπον. οὐ βαττολογητέον οὖν οὐδὲ μικρὰ αἰτητέον οὐδὲ περὶ ἐπιγείων προσευκτέον οὐδὲ μετὰ „ὀργῆς“ καὶ τεταραγμένων λογισμῶν ἐπὶ τὴν προσευχὴν ἐλθετέον. ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ χωρὶς καθαρεύσεως ἔστιν ἐπινοῆσαι γινομένην „τῇ προσευχῇ“ σχολήν· ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτημάτων οἷόν τε τυχεῖν τὸν εὐχόμενον. μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας ἀφιέντα τῷ πεπλημμεληκότι καὶ συγγνώμης τυχεῖν ἀξιοῦντι ἀδελφῷ.

English · Claude translation

Further, it is not unreasonable to use an example like this to urge people to pray and to turn them from neglecting prayer. Just as it is not possible to beget children without a woman and without the activity that serves for begetting children, so one would not obtain certain things unless one prayed in a certain way, with a certain disposition, believing in a certain way, having lived in a certain manner before the prayer. So one must not babble, nor ask for small things, nor pray about earthly things, nor come to prayer with “anger” and troubled thoughts. Nor can leisure given “to prayer” be conceived without purification; nor can the one who prays obtain forgiveness of sins unless he forgives from the heart the brother who has offended him and asks to be pardoned.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:316–317 · 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

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Matt 6:7, 1 Tim 2:8, 1 Cor 7:5, and Matt 18:35 (Mark 11:25).

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/8/1/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/8/1/).

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